~*Shell*~

Lol - i find it effective to yell "argh!" from where ever i am in the house when Zero is doing something naughty (like taunting the cat) - he knows what it means! As for Barkley, well he's just too darn cute to yell at... I think you should just resign yourself to having your dishes "cleaned" by a gorgeous black and white dog. Fail.

The main thing i would be watching for would be a gastro infection from eating spoiled meat. My dog did the same thing one day (he only ate 1 bite before i called him off - i didn't notice the possum before he had it in his mouth) and the next day he was vomiting, had diarrhoea and there was blood in both. Other than that, he seemed completely well - tail wagging, not sluggish or wanting to sleep or anything like that. I took him down to the vet who gave him some antibiotics and he was as good as new in a few days. A couple of worm tablets will take care of anything she might've got worm-wise, and i would be checking her over for ticks (another thing my vet did when i took Zero in because apparently they're carried on possums) and then just keeping an eye on her. I don't know about diseases - hopefully someone will know about it!

Lol - I have hundreds of photos of food that I've taken at the good food and wine show and when a few celebrity chefs have come out for different promotional things we've done with them but none on my work computer! Grrr! Oh well - I'll try and find some tonight.

Thanks everyone - tomorrow marks the 2nd anniversary of the day i got Zero and he has come so far (behaviour and physical appearance-wise) and i'm really happy with him! He did get his new duckie today - and wagged his tail at a couple of staffies that were in the store at the same time - so he's happy to lol!

I'm heading to the pet store today to get some fly repellent for his ears so he can definitely have a new duckie today (i think i might get him the bigger one).

Yep - already done Erny (I was thinking the same as you)! We did a training session this afternoon in the backyard and then back at the park with a couple of the dogs he knows to walk past, but not very well (mostly keeping his attention on me and walking in heel, doing figure 8s around them). There were a couple of dogs he didn't know too which we asked if we could approach on lead and he didn't have a problem with any of them. Not a growl, not a stare nothing. I'll repeat the same training over the next couple of days and just make sure that he won't have problems resulting from it but for the moment it looks like we're in the clear.

I must admit that i felt bad about doubting him - I suppose it'll need a little getting used to.

I'm not sure how many of you remember Zero but long story short, he's a rescue that came to me with a lot of problems (he was afraid of everything, dog aggressive and unsocialised after being abused and neglected by his old owners), the worst of which was his dog aggression which got to the point where i couldn't control him if he saw another dog. We went out to see Steve at K9 Force and got help about 6 months ago - and so now Zero is able to be around other friendly dogs without a problem (even unfriendly ones if they're in a crate or on a short leash) and has even got some doggie friends which he loves to be around. Today I took Zero out for his walk and we were walking through a park where there are usually quite a few dogs (not a problem, they're all on lead for the most part unless they're training and Zero usually knows them all). I came around the corner and noticed that there was a big brown dog (i think it was a labradoodle, but i haven't really been around them so i can never tell) and some kind of small terrier mix. The brown dog was tied up to the chairs his owner was sitting on and the terrier had a leash on but wasn't tied to anything, but she didn't react when we came around the corner (If small dogs come at him with aggression, he just bowls them over and walks off so I wasn't too worried about it). The brown dog is jumping all over the place at the sight of Zero so i told him to heel and went to give the dog a wide birth but as i was looking at Zero (he holds eye contact when heeling a lot of the time), the owner swore and all i could see was this massive wooly dog running at us growling. Zero growled back (and i must admit i thought "oh crap - that brown dog's going to get it and Zero's going to get a dangerous dog order out on him") but the brown dog kept coming and went straight for Zero's neck! Instead of turning and attacking when the dog let go, Zero just skirted out of the way and tried to come back to me, jumping out of the way every time the brown dog came at him again (scariest thing i've seen in a long time!). The owner of the brown dog finally managed to catch him, and was very apologetic (the dog had broken it's leash to get at Zero) but i must admit that i was too happy with Zero's reaction at that point to really listen to him. I just told him to buy a stronger leash (maybe a leather one) and off we walked, with Zero still in heel! Then somehow the guys loses control of the terrier and the thing comes after us, trying to bite Zero's thigh and he totally ignored it! I just grabbed the terrier's leash and marched over to the seat, tied the terrier up (the guy was still wrestling with the bigger dog) and off we went. I'm so proud right now! I can't believe what a good boy Zero was!

I love my wahl km2s! They don't heat up quickly and they're comfortable in your hand - I'm a big fan!

Zero has had rabbit a few times and really liked it. My step father'scompany owns a massive property that they use for testing new products (nothing chemical or anything like that) and because the property is rather secluded, they have a big population of rabbits which one of the guys at his work likes to go out and shoot every few months. I wouldn't buy rabbit but because i can get it when Sakesh goes out there shooting (he uses a lot in his own cooking) and Zero's on a diet, but because it's free and Sakesh doesn't mind bringing us back a couple that he has skinned it's a nice change for Zero. We've never had a rabbit shot that wasn't healthy - if it wasn't, we wouldn't use it.

What they said about all imports being irradiated isn't true - only imports cooked a certain way have to be. I was thinking of emailing them today to ask them to clarify it. ETA: Never mind - what they actually said was this: While the company exports its popular cat food to more than a dozen countries it says only Australia has experienced the disease outbreak and blames Australia's irradiation for the problem. Under Australian quarantine laws all imported pet food has to be irradiated or heat treated, to kill off potential diseases. Yay for transcripts.

My husky isn't interested in ball games either - I try and play other games with him like getting him to find things and we do a lot of free-shaping with his training so he has to work out what i want him to do to get a click. When the mood strikes him, he likes to play with a squeaky toy but sometimes he just can't be bothered.

Ripe tomatoes are less likely to cause a dog problems (due to the tomatine in them which metabolises as the fruit ripens) but still can cause a whole heap of different issues. I would advise removing the plants if you dog is eating them and you have no intention of eating the fruit yourself.

I use half the human dose for Pele (28kg). I've heard that you can't overdose the dog in the same way that you can't overdose yourself on those capsules (apparently your body can get rid of any excess). I take 6 a day myself (preventative measure because rheumatoid arthritis runs in my family) and I give Zero a few too. He's 33kgs atm (he's been overweight since i got him so i'm hoping his joints haven't been affected) and usually i give him 3 or 4.

Zero and I have been working on backend awareness (with a plastic crate rather than phonebooks because Zero is terrible at doing it on phonebooks!), a couple of other tricks like beg (he sucks at keeping his balance), dead dog (so he lies on his side) and shaking/nodding his head and we're also working on his heeling position in the hall, and his retrieve.

As with any aggression issue, I suggest you see a behaviourist (or a trainer with experience in dog aggression) sooner rather than later. It's really hard to diagnose or help a problem like this online and a professional will be able to address your dog on an individual basis. ETA: Where are you located? I'm sure someone will be able to recommend someone who can help.

Zero goes nuts for carrot! He "steals" them (when i leave one on the floor for him) and then he takes off up to the end of the backyard and gnaws on it until it's gone. Poor thing - you'd think i don't feed him.

I've heard that different things work in different areas because of the fleas building up a tolerance for some products - I use advantix and don't have a problem, but i know a friend up in queensland says that it doesn't do anything to the fleas up there! I personally would be flea bombing your house. We use 1 mortein flea bomb per carpeted room (it's a bit of overkill but very effective) and then vacate the house for 12 hours (i think it says 4 hours on the box but we go for longer because we use more bombs). When we come home we open all the windows and vacuum. We never have to bomb more than once and after having fleas really badly in the house (after we looked after a friend's cat) it was the only thing we could do to get rid of them!

The way I worm Zero is to get some liver or kidney, cut it up into 4 pieces and give him 2 pieces without tablets in them, the 3rd has a tablet in it and then the 4th doesn't. I don't even think he tastes them the food goes down so fast!

Oooooo - I'm getting out of work early today - i think i know where i'll be going!

This happens to Zero too when he eats preservatives and when we've just mowed the lawn. I put his feet in salt water to dry it out and then he gets half a hayfever tablet for it. He also gets gunky eyes which are helped by the the antihystamine.

Poor little boy! Hope he continues to get better quickly! Zero sends husky hugs from one spitzy to another!

I love my 450d - though i would've liked to have got the 40d. I might wait a few years and then when i've had a chance to do a couple of courses, treat myself to a new camera... First though i have to get some better lenses!

There are plenty reasons for and against. Personally I would've had Zero done even if he hadn't had to have been desexed when he left the pound but most of that was because he has 1 testicle kicked back up inside him (which is dangerous) and because i didn't want to risk him getting out and impregnating a bitch. I've also heard that it helps calm them down, and desexed males don't react as much when a bitch is in season as an entire male would (then again, i've also heard that some desexed males will try and tie with a bitch in heat). On the other side of the argument, there are many reasons for a bitch (or a dog for that matter) not to be desexed which include other health problems as well as the slight risk that something may go wrong during surgery.

Hope the pup's alright!