Michelleva

No, I'm in Melbourne. The only thing I can think of that she had yesterday, that she hasn't had before was some liver treats, but they were made from pork liver, I normally buy the beef liver ones. We did some training in the afternoon and she had some then, but not a huge quantity.

Ok, thanks guys.

Last night Georgia came inside, after being outside for over an hour and did a sloppy poo on the tiles. On inspection it actually had quite a bit of blood and mucus in it. I've booked her in for a vet visit, but couldn't get in till 5pm. I didn't give her any breakfast, so her tummy can settle down. Should I feed her today or leave it till she's seen the vet? She's a 1 yo sheltie. She's fine in herself, happily playing and harassing the cats.

I don't mind you adding your own questions, so go for it. I don't really think two dogs is too much, but in my head I know I shouldn't, but my heart says yes. I'm generally a pretty sensible person, and yes I have answered my own question. And as for kids, we already have those, and the youngest just started school. I have the time, but I really need to continue putting that into my girls recovery and continued training. So no little puppers here for a while.... oh well, can I still go and keep checking on him, just to make sure they're looking after him...... Thanks for the sensible replies, somehow I knew you'd have the right thing to say.

I wasn't really planning on a second dog for a while, our sheltie is just one. But......... I went to buy cat food at pet barn and they have dogs and cats from a shelter there for rehoming. I have fallen in love with a bootiful little jack russell puppy. There is one issue, they suspect that he is deaf, and I'm 100% sure of it too. That doesn't bother me, only makes me love him more. What I love about him is his attitude, he's so laid back and calm for a little guy... mmmm but I don't know. We took our dog back in with us to see him again and they let them sniff noses. They were both just curious of each other, which I thought was positive. We've never owned more than one dog, let alone a deaf one. If I'm honest I don't think now is the right time, but I can't get this little guy out of my head. Georgia had patella surgery done 9 weeks ago and is doing really well, I do worry that they will get a bit over the top with each other. I do think Georgia would love to have a doggy friend though. I've been researching how you train a deaf dog and I think we could train both the dogs with the same hand signals... HELP!!!

A beautiful tribute to a gorgeous little girl Gayle.

I'm sorry Gayle, Kassy was truly blessed to have a long and happy life with a family who adored her... RIP old girl

I'm sorry to hear this Gayle, its very sad, 17 is a long life for any animal. Hugs to you and the family.

My son was in 4yo kinda last year and they had a dog education program run in their class, it was done by the council to prevent dog bites. They taught the kids to present a closed fist first, so the dog could sniff it. So I practiced what I learnt that day. I didn't ask if I could pet the dog, but she walked up to me, so inviting me to pet them. I know if my hand wasn't a closed fist it could have got a better bite on me. But lesson learnt. And Sas, I don't feel foolish at all, I feel the dog owner was in the wrong for not telling me that her dogs are not good with other people and will bite. She never even apologised after the fact.

I have a small dog and she's FULL of personality. She is however treated like the dog she is. A few months ago we went to the Pets Day Out in Frankston, where everyone is allowed to bring their dogs, ferrets and whaterver else along. I met so many fabulous dogs that day and the only aggression I spotted all day was from a chi, it had its teeth bared and was growling, at its owners feet. Not exactly a great advertisement for the breed.

Hubby and I were on our walk this morning and a lady was walking towards us with two little chihuaha's (?) and they were trying to rip her arm out to get towards me. They seemed friendly, and of course I said oh look at the cuties, they just want to say hello. So she stopped and I leaned down, one of them was barking at me and the other one seemed interested. I presented my closed fist, so it could smell me, and it nipped me near the knuckle. It didn't break the skin, but I could feel it for a while. I can't understand why the woman didn't say they bite.... She just wandered off muttering about her naughty dog. I think next time I better just keep my hands to myself. I've petted all sorts of dogs on our walks and never had an issue and the tiniest one, is the one who wants to eat me....

Thinking of you and the family Danielle.

Thats a bugger Golden Girl. My sheltie had the surgery just over 6 weeks ago. She's getting stronger and fitter by the day. Hers was caused by an injury, not that we ever saw a specific incident. I have no idea if a chiro could cause the condition. Georgia followed what we now know is the classic symptoms of holding up one foot, then trotting off like nothing was wrong. But it only got worse and surgery was recomended by 3 vets.

She is, she's very dainty. She's been licking that jar since about 9.30 this morning.

She's been licking the jar for hours...

Well my little Miss turned one on boxing day. I finally got some new pics at the park tonight with my new camera. She's such a pretty little girl, we love her to bits...

I'm in Narre Warren, Victoria Aiden. I had some success yesterday. Whenever the cat came near her, I got her attention with treats and got her to a multitude of things, like sit, drop, look at me, quiet etc and I really emphasised the quiet command and without fail she was quiet and totally forgot about the cat. Now I need to keep being consistant.

She does like to play tug of war games. She's not so much into fetch as such, but she loves chasing a soccer ball and goes crazy over it. She runs, barks and generally goes nuts over it. In fact anything that moves is very exciting for her, things like brooms or the vacuum, even the mower. At the moment she's not allowed to run and jump so a lot of these games we can't really play with her atm. I was just doing a bit of reading up about prey drive, and it definitely sounds like what this behaviour is. Now how do I use it for good and avoid having my cat getting hurt by her.

I do understand what your saying Ams, her training has been a bit lacklustre since we found out she needed and had the surgery... but I can try that. I guess it comes down to me being consistant. I just want her to be less reactive to him.

We have an almost 1yo shetland sheepdog as well as three cats. The two younger cats are fine and get along with the dog no problems, in fact they all love each other. The problem lies with my oldest cat, he is a scardey cat. He's scared of everything, especially the dog. He's been that way his whole life, so getting him to change is not going to happen, its just his personality. When he comes within close proximity of the dog his instinct is to flee the situation. He's an indoor/outdoor cat. Now when Georgia sees the scardey cat she goes mental. She barks, wants to chase him just goes ballistic. How on earth can I train her to not be so obsessed over him? She is driving me crazy. The dog is currently recovering from patella surgery so has been confined to a big crate for a lot of the day. So she can't chase him, but that doesn't stop her barking, whining and generally carrying on a treat everytime she sees Oscar. She doesn't have the same reaction to the others. I think she sees him as weak because he won't stand up to her. With the other cats, she has great respect because she knows if she puts a paw wrong, she'll get a smack for it. Any suggestions?

We have an almost 1yo shetland sheepdog as well as three cats. The two younger cats are fine and get along with the dog no problems, in fact they all love each other. The problem lies with my oldest cat, he is a scardey cat. He's scared of everything, especially the dog. He's been that way his whole life, so getting him to change is not going to happen, its just his personality. When he comes within close proximity of the dog his instinct is to flee the situation. He's an indoor/outdoor cat. Now when Georgia sees Oscar (aka scardey cat) she goes mental. She barks, wants to chase him just goes ballistic at him. How on earth can I train her to not be so obsessed over him? She is driving me crazy. The dog is currently recovering from patella surgery so has been confined to a big crate for a lot of the day. So she can't chase him, but that doesn't stop her barking, whining and generally carrying on a treat everytime she sees Oscar. She doesn't have the same reaction to the others. I think she sees him as weak because he won't stand up to her. With the other cats, she has great respect because she knows if she puts a paw wrong, she'll get a smack for it. Any suggestions?

thanks for your input. My girl saw three different vets before we gave the go ahead for the surgery. I wanted to be sure, and I've seen the x-rays and I'm convinced the surgery she had was necessary. But I do realise that the surgery may not necessarily be the end of her treatment. She does now walk on all four feet, but there definitely seems to still be weakness in the joint that had surgery, which I guess is to be expected after such invasive surgery.

I'm in Melbourne, in the Narre Warren/Berwick area.

I agree completely. There is no way I was going to let her cry in agony for weeks on end. That was one thing I discussed with the vet before she was booked in. She is putting the whole foot on the ground now. I did take her for a small walk just up and down our street this morning and she was walking quite well. I can see small improvements each day, which makes me happy. I guess my only concern is that things seem to have gone around the wrong way for her. I'd have thought she'd be hesitant to walk on it in the first two weeks, and then gradually improve. Whereas, she looked and acted normal in those two weeks while she was medicated, and then once the pain meds stopped she's been much more reluctant to walk on it. But we are making progress, day by day. I know a great doggy chiro, we saw her before the surgery, but she's 1 1/2 hours drive from me. Georgia also had a few rounds of bowen therapy before the surgery and that helped greatly too. I'm going to try and get her back for another session next week. Thats good for pain relief too.

About 3 weeks ago my dog underwent surgery for a luxating patella. She came home with good pain relief in the form of a patch stuck on her butt area, as well as AB's and an anti-inflammitory tablet. We were so surprised in her recovery for the first two weeks. You would have never thought she had a problem, she was happy, walking well, eating well and resting well. Then last Saturday, her recovery seems to have gone backwards. All weekend she would put no weight on the leg at all, and this week, she's slowly improving again. She's at the point where she will walk but it seems to be quite uncomfortable for her. She was checked at the vet last Saturday and had an injection. At the time he checked everything and said its all in place, she's just done too much. I 100% followed the vets advice on recovery, but now she's worse than she was in the first week. A friend who is a vet nurse thinks she probably felt little pain in the first 10 days or so, so acted normal, then when the pain relief stopped, she decided that it hurts to walk, so I'll just hop instead. Has anyone else had a dog go through this surgery and have a similar experience? I think its gone the reverse of how I expected it. The vet is confident she'll make a full recovery, its just going to take time. She's getting pretty bored in the crate now, but I do bring her out and walk her around the yard and house, as well as let her sit with me if I'm watching TV or on the computer.