Rascalmyshadow

If these dogs had their ears plucked properly since they were puppies the hair should come out easily without hurting the dog. If the hair is not touched until they are adults it becomes much tighter and a lot harder to remove. As usual too many people getting puppies, have no idea what they are doing or how to maintain them then of course the dog suffers.

Rabbits are one of the most territorial animals I have ever had, they will rip each other apart in seconds if they dislike one another. My British Giant boy will take on anything in his path if he feels threatened, my Angora girl kicked me in the face a few weeks ago as I knelt down to pick her up, left a nice scratch from my forehead, over my eyelid and down my cheek. Also had a cashmere mini lop a few years ago, would lunge and bite anyone that stepped into her run, I let my guard down one morning and she sunk her teeth into my bare thigh, left a nice hole and huge bruise. 20 years of grooming dogs and I've never had injuries like that, usually my injuries are caused by my own scissors not the dogs I'm grooming.

Karly101 thank you for your reply, I am lucky enough to have worked in the industry for so long I have rarely paid full price for any vet work but I have seen a lot of customers very upset about paying high prices without getting good service, especially when on many occasions I have found problems with dogs the vets have missed. I would never deny my own animals medical care due to costs but I expect 110% from the vets and nurses handling them and I also expect them to do everything asked. I guess working in a clinic for so long I have very little tolerance for incompetence and overcharging.

I have seen many vets way overcharge, why can the exact same surgery cost hundreds of dollars difference depending on the clinic. I have seen vets charge rip off prices for dentals that nurses have done but they've told the client it was done by a vet. Why do vets charge huge dispensing fees on drugs just to print out a label. If any of my customers needed a reversible sedation for grooming when I was in the vet clinic they were only charged an extra $10 yet if they were a vet client they were charged a fortune.

There were no leash laws in Vic until 1994 (if I remember correctly) dogs only had to be under effective control even if it was by voice command.

Christina agree with you 110%, Big D that is a load of rubbish. I was born and raised around GSD's, Dobes, Rotties and Pitbulls all of them were house pets and family members, some belonged to friends and family, a few were ours. All of them were stable well socialised family pets, all of them went everywhere with their owners generally without leads. They were exposed to everything and would never bite/attack for no reason. It amazes me that a dog rushing at someone with no contact can be classed as an attack. My silkyxshihtzu greets people by barking, grinning and jumping all at once, certainly far from aggressive but I guess he could be classed as dangerous if he approached the wrong person. Our government has a lot to answer to, it's about time they take responsibility for the problems they've caused.

Schnauzers are one of the worst breeds for ear hair, it's often very tight and completely blocks the ear canal. I would recommend shaving inside the ear flap with a 10# blade then plucking out the very centre hair. A few years ago I rescued 4 poodles from a well known registered breeder (more like a puppy farmer) two of them ended up with permanent hearing loss because they had never had the hair plucked. The ears were infected and the hair turned into concrete like corks and completely sealed the ear canals. Vets flushed them under anaesthetic but couldn't repair the damage.

Sounds typical of many vets, I would demand they do it for free and only use a light injectable sedation rather than an anaesthetic or heavy sedation. Vets way over charge for sedation it doesn't cost them much at all, same with fluids.

Sounds typical of many vets, I would demand they do it for free and only use a light injectable sedation rather than an anaesthetic or heavy sedation.

I've been grooming since 1995 and I agree ear plucking was a huge deal back then, when I started in the vet clinic there was quite mixed opinions between vets. I decided to do a trial on a few customers dogs and two of my own poodles to see what would happen if we stopped plucking. Results ended up being multiple dogs with yucky infected ears including my own dogs. Now if the dogs have only a small amount or fine hair in the ears I trim it with scissors but don't pluck, if it's thick and the ear canal is quite full then I definitely pluck. Most of my customers leave it to me to decide and don't worry too much about what the vets have said.

The incident did cause the issue I am well aware of how common it is in the breeds, he has had his patellas checked at least twice a year since a puppy and there was nothing wrong with them. I worked in a vet for almost 13 years so I'm no novice. The dog pushed him down so hard he screamed, I took him to the vet and they found the luxating patella as well as inflammation all caused by excess force. This all happened within seconds of a passing hello and sniff. Edited to add: I see no reason for my dogs to play with large dogs, they have each other and plenty of othet small dogs to socialise with.

I do not agree that tiny dogs need to socialise with much larger dogs. My little pomxchi is extremely social with all other dogs even though we have mostly kept him away from larger dogs. Even meeting on a lead is risky, we had an over friendly GSD push down on his back with its paw which caused a luxating patella in one knee, he had perfect patellas before the incident and both dogs were on lead.

I have 4 dogs, 1.8kg chi, 2.6kg chixpom, 2.2kg toy poodle and a 5.5kg shihtzuxsilky. They all play well together and the chi is the toughest. I would not let them free play with any unfamiliar dog over 5kg.

I've been grooming for 20 years and have owned poodles for almost as long, always happy to take on new ones. I have a purpose built airconditioned grooming room at home and do one on one appointments. Located in a very quiet part of Seaford. My customers travel from all over Melbourne, from the Docklands right down to Mt Martha, Vermont, Dingley, Brighton, Beaumauris etc.

Awesome think we might have to give one a go . Don't think I would leave it on unsupervised especially with other dogs around.

Out of the three chosen breeds I would go for the westie as long as you don't mind the grooming, they are loyal little dogs with good stamina. Pugs are one if the heaviest shedding dogs I have ever groomed it doesn't stop no matter what you do, also it's a short coat that sticks in everything probably one of the worst coats for an asthmatic. A retriever while not as bad if the coat is groomed and blown out regularly having such a big dog could make it harder when you are ready to move out.

I have been given some really nice gifts fromgrooming customers, a beautiful puzzle with dogs sitting on and around an armchair, my customer put it together and had it mounted, a lop eared rabbit carved out of timber (I love my rabbits),a ceramic pink poodle candle holder, an apron with a photo of my old standard girl on the front, a calendar with professional photos of their dogs, collectors edition stuffed poodle, doggie themed photo frames, animal themed signs, toys for my dogs, cute dog beds and there's other things I can't think of. Hopefully that gives a few ideas.

I haven't read the other posts but having tiny dogs I wouldn't ever feed once a day, little dogs blood sugars drop easily and they shouldn't be fed huge meals unlike bigger dogs.

We put down floating laminate floorboards through the main parts of the house a few years ago, while it is tough and easy to clean I hated it so much we ended up pulling most of it up and replacing it with textured tiles. We still have it in the loungeroom but are about to pull the last of it up and go back to vinyl. My main issues have been the slipperiness, the dogs have ended up with a few injuries just running in and out of the back door, I have also slipped over a couple of times after the kids walked through the house with wet feet. The other major issue is the timber edge they put around it to hold it in place and finish the edges, dirt and liquid go into the cracks and is nearly impossible to clean. I personally would go for either vinyl or cork.

Brainless morons!!! The only dog to ever give me a serious scare in almost 20 years of grooming was a golden retriever, he was a perfect angel until he found a pigs ear in my grooming room, he changed in an instant and was not going to let me out of the room. If didn't have the experience I have I would have been in serious trouble.

One of my dogs is the same at the moment, I am a groomer and I know I rinse properly so I think it's the weather combined with blow drying and such a big coat but do make sure you rinse exceptionally well because any shampoo residue will cause problems.

Whoops should read things properly before posting.

Looks from the photo like a patch of seborrhoea (spelling) is the skin at all greasy compared to the rest of the body or is there little pimple looking spots,I would wash with diluted Malaseb regularly, if it's a hot spot it will spread and look angry usually quite quickly, malaseb will also help.

Sounds behavioural but if there is any sign of infection or urinary incontinance in the near future go straight to the vet. My old poodle displayed signs of being in season when I rescued four intact boys, after years of infections (vets didnt know what was wrong with her) she was finally diagnosed with a stump pyometra, vet that desexed her didn't remove enough.

Sounds reasonably normal especially with the puppy going interstate. We had to have a home check done to get our first standard poodle and our new toy I offered to send the breeder pics of our family, other dogs etc. same when we got our chi.