grumpette

Smiling in a very Freddie Krooga (sp?) kind of way

Zeph enjoying his Christmas bone And Zeph smiling even whilst up side down My smiling trio in black and white Miss Dee Dee And the always happy Old Chook, Miss Baylee

Absolutely brilliant action shots maddogdodge and anniek. This is what I am aspiring to achieve. Clear, sharp action shots. :)

You are usually affiliated with another organisation like Delta, Kintala, Dogs Victoria etc who have an assessment program and public liability insurance.

OMG Ronin is divine. He is absolutely stunning and I love the photos with your gorgeous daughter. denali is so right, there can never be too many Ronin photos. The friendship with the Greyhound is amazing and something that should be celebrated. Oh and HW, Stan's FB page is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Maddie's excavation skills would make any backhoe operator very jealous.

Yes Helen I am going to see Black Beauty Breed. It does look really interesting. I have been stalking these guys for a few weeks, since the beginning of December. They come around every year for a few weeks to trim the hakea tree and eat the nuts. I was taking rubbish to the bin, heard the snap of twigs in the tree and their calls. Grabbed the camera, put the zoom lens on and started shooting. This is not the sharpest photo, but I am thrilled with it. Oh and I burnt the rissoles that I was cooking for dinner. Anybody for salad 52/2015 - 3

Very sorry to hear about Bella passing away Helen. May your happy memories of her be many. RIP Bella

I just got a quote from Pet Insurance Australia for the exact cover that they are on with Medibank, except the annual limit is $15,000 not %12,000 and: Dee would be $90.91 per month Zeph would be $83.01 per month I am guessing that Rottweilers are more expensive than Labradors.

I have my two Rottweilers insured with Medibank. Both dogs are covered for vet expenses for life as the cover was taken out when they were younger than 9 years old. They are both on Silver Paw Cover (Accident and Illness cover, not Routine Care like vaccinations, worming etc) with $100 excess and now 80% cover. The Annual Benefit Limit is $12,000. I get a 10% Medibank Private discount and 5% additional pet discount on Zeph, and the 10% Medibank Private discount on Dee's policy. I pay both dog's insurance monthly through direct debit and a summary of the costs of each policy since January 2011 (including GST and stamp duty) over the years is as follows: Dee - born July 2008, desexed female (not covered as it is considered an elective procedure associated with breeding or obstetrics) 2011 - $43.11 per month - $100 excess and 100% cover, with a claim this year for accident, foot through window 2012 - $40.18 per month - $100 excess and 100% cover 2013 - $48.04 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) 2014 - $61.59 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) 2015 - $75.63 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) Zeph - born April 2009, entire male 2011 - $40.74 per month - $100 excess and 100% cover, with a claim this year for illness, lump removal 2012 - $38.17 per month - $100 excess and 100% cover, with a claim this year for illness, toe removal 2013 - $42.81 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) 2014 - $54.28 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) 2015 - $67.04 per month - $100 excess and 80% cover (20% co payment) As you can see they are getting more expensive the older they get.

I love the foreboding feeling that is captured in the silo photos. Brilliant. This photo was taken on my phone last night at dusk. It shows the sun shining on a gum, tree turning it an eerie red colour. 52/2015 - 2

I am so very sorry to hear of Ness's passing. Even though you are devastated at her loss, rejoice in all the amazing things that you did together and all the fantastic things that you achieved. RIP the gorgeous and talented Ness.

Or the swooping and the hanging upside down to look you squarely in the face while you are hanging out the washing. King Parrots and Kookaburras are so bloody cheeky.

The Gorgeous Old Chook - Baylee 12-5-2002 to 10-11-2013 Aged 9 weeks here when she first came home. Chasing bubbles the weekend before she passed away. She loved bubbles, balls and swimming. She was always happy and smiling. The Dazzling Miss Dee Dee This is Dee aged 10 weeks on the day that she came home. We stopped off at a friend's house for dinner and she decided that sleeping in a JRT bed was the way to go. She is 4 months old in this photo and growing very fast. You can see the mischief in her face. This was taken in October 2014 at Lake Hume and was her first kayak ride. And the Handsome Hound, Mr Zeph Zeph is 5 weeks old here Zeph is 4 months old here and came to us for a weeks socialisation, but he never went home He has turned into the biggest Mummies Boy, with a huge grin constantly on his face. This was taken in August 2014.

Absolutely this. The fire we had in 2006 was the absolute opposite of what we had in 2009 and I believe that peoples' incorrect assumption that the 2009 fire would move slowly like in 2006, and their complacency regarding fire preparation caused many people to loose their lives.

Okay I am going to comment from the perspective of a volunteer fire fighter here in Victoria and a pet owner. Firstly, every volunteer has the ability and right to decide which incident they choose to attend. They are not forced to respond to every incident. They may not be capable of attending the incident due to lack of skill, injury or other commitments. They may look at the fire behaviour, the terrain, the predicted wind direction and decide that the fire is likely to impact on their house, and thus decide not to get on the truck, but to defend their house and the neighbours' houses. In 2009 we responded to the fire burning 2 suburbs away in Whittlesea. We left the dogs at home. The neighbours were home and they knew we had gone out on the truck. We were out for 4 hours. Then we knew that the wind was changing and the fire was heading towards Kinglake. There was nothing more that we could do where we were, as the fire was all around us, one of our trucks was trapped, so we pulled back to the fire station, rescuing a person along the way. OH and I decided that we were going back to Kinglake to get the dogs and bring them back to the safety of the fire station, as it was well prepared and defendable. Members of the community were starting to come to the station to seek refuge as all roads off the mountain were blocked by fire and falling trees. We made it back to Kinglake. I put two crates, a water bowl, two leads, two dogs and a computer hard drive in my car, while OH wet the house down. 10 minutes later I left to head back towards the station. I made it. The OH did not. I got a message on my phone saying "House on fire. Trapped on Glenburn Rd. Cannot get out". I did not hear from him or see him for another 6 hours. Should we have turned out originally to the fire 2 suburbs away and left the dogs? Yes because the neighbours were prepared to take them with them when they left. They were doing this when we arrived back. Should we have left the fire station when the fire was headed towards our home to get the dogs when the community was gathering there and needed protection? Yes because there was a truck there, a very large pump and 220,000 litres of water, all operated by very competent and experienced fire fighters. If we had not gone home, 3 houses would not have been saved, neither would the pub and neither would 2 separate people and a gorgeous dog, because of the efforts of my OH. However, this year there was a large fire in a highly populated area that is extremely hilly, which started on a deemed "extreme" day. Very dear friends of ours were away interstate and they had organised to have a pet sitter stay at their home and look after all the pets: dogs, ducks, chickens and birds. The pet sitter was a volunteer fire fighter. The fire started in their area. The pet sitter left the property and the animals to fend for themselves and got on the truck to fight the fire. We received a frantic interstate call from our friends asking if we could go and defend their house and protect the animals. We did. Their house is fully sprinklered and defendable. Should the pet sitter have gone on the truck? Hell no. They were getting paid to protect the animals in this exact situation. You see it all depends on your current responsibilities and the circumstances. If the kennel owner was indeed a CFS volunteer then it was his responsibility to use his knowledge and experience to protect those animals that he was responsible for, not to be on a truck trying to protect others in the community.

trifecta young animals are so spirited and enthusiastic denali what a lovely view

Beautiful colour and silhouette Marg

After the 2009 fires it took a very long time for me to be able to leave the dogs home alone. Even now I only leave them for a long time alone if I know that the neighbours are home, as they are able to get the dogs out if something should happen.

TS what a great shot. Great timing

What a gorgeous Princess Helen

Yep that was Zeph. :D Of course ZB. You can capture some amazing photos using a phone. And the composition is also important, so let your imagination run free.

Please do Helen. I love being inspired by the numerous professional photographers that post here. By the way, how did the photos of the Rotty Elf come up from the Dogs Day Out?

I hear you Kirislin. We are very lucky to have access to a bore and very large roof area, including the shed, to catch rain water. We have a 34,000 litre in ground concrete tank and a 10,000 litre fire water/garden tank, so we are rather lucky. :)

This is how Dee and Zeph kept cool today. Although Zeph was determined to keep the sprinkler out of the pool and make a mud pit to dig in (roll eyes) How are your dogs staying cool and comfortable?

I love the fireworks shot Teekay. It is beautiful. And I think the New Years dog is brilliant Tay and the kitten is gorgeous Kirty. I agree that Hazy would brighten this thread with Stan and Maddie photos, regardless of how frequent they are. What a beautiful photo of Phoebe :D