OSoSwift

I have no idea but I am interested. I would assume that the fact the floor is not smooth would actually be beneficial in working the ligaments and tendons and keeping their feet catlike.

First, keep the gate shut, If they are starting to run out they will get hit by a car if nothing else. They are essentially herding things along the fence. When you have a dog wiith working instinct this can be very difficult to stop. Can you restrict their access to the front of the property? If you can then I would take them out only under supervision so you can train them to stop and they are not self reinforcing when you are not out with them.

I like mine to be outside for at least 2 to 4 hours a day. That can be us doing outside jobs, going for walks or them chewing their bones or chews out in the dog runs. If it is really hot or really cold, then they are inside pretty much all day. In summer they sleep out in the dog runs at night as the house gets very stuffy and it is cooler outside. If I have to go out mine are in the dogs runs. I never leave them locked inside and we don't have dog doors due to snakes liking to get in via dog and cat doors.

Our Stafford was done at 8years, he had rather large testicles and is scrotum isn't very big at all now

Unfortunately when you are dealing with an arrogent human being you wil get the - you are wrong and I am right, never mind what the issue is you are discussing! As with anything that involves humans you get the good and the bad. There are always going to be purebred rego'd breeders who do their utmost to breed the best animals they can, they will do everything in their power to improve their breed and sink their heart and soul into their dogs. Then you get people who are no where near as dicerning with matings, babies, placement of babies and after sale care. We will never get rid of that element, they are there in every facet of life. I strongly agree that dogs should not be bred and housed like livestock, it completely goes against my grain. I do not care if a Puppy farm was the most modern, clean and well ran, dogs should not live in concrete runs day in and day out and pump puppies out every season they have until they are too old to do it any more. They are companion animals and should live with and around humans. Don Burke will not go away until he graces thie earth no longer, he is very vocal and will not stop. We need to stand up and show how our babies are born, bred and reared. How they are socailised and the processes we go through to find them the best homes, how we give our back up to that baby until it dies of an old age. I have had a Dobermann she died at 8 and a half from a hereditary disease. Do I blame all regod breeders-NO, Do I blame the ANKC - No I blame the breeder for not doing the right thing. I now have two very healthy rego'd purebred dogs and wouldn't have it any other way.

Rommi had had Kennel cough before I took out insurance for here. Her first year excluded any treatment for kennel cough or complications from it for 12 months. The next year they ask for a copy of her history for the previous 12 months and then the exclusion was lifted. Ring them they are more than happy to talk to you about what you can and cannot claim.

I would also second acrate. Yes it is going to be a steep learning curve for her, but the recovery phace of these types of surgery is absolutely vital. I would be crating her and walking her outside on a lead to toilet, she should be kepy very still. Confining her to a house and small toilet yard will not be enough it is much to large of an area. I always advocate crate training for this reason as a young dog, you may not use it alot as an adult ( And I hope that no dog ever has to go through surgery that requires confinement) but if they have been crate trained it will come in handy later. Not only that but ANY time they need to stay at the vets they will be in a small hospital cage. Having a dog used to the greatly reduces the stress on them. I would buy a crate and start now! Good luck with her surgery.

Are they sore at all or is it more of a preventative thing??? I have found given correct and slow and steady time to work up to increasing exercise is enough to allow the pads to toughen up naturally. I trained my dog for the ET trial and didn't have any pad dramas, even the day we did the trial and the ground was extremely hard.

There is research to say that if bitches are desexed before their first season they have a very very low chance of things like mammary tumours in later life, so that has to be a good thing. Also the younger they are desexed, for example at your bitches age instead of at 2 years old, the more quickly they recover. She should be fine in a day or two and then you will have trouble keeping her quiet. The quieter you keep her the better. DO not let her lick - very important- if she licks her sutures they can get infected and yukky. She may not want to eat or eat much the night after she has been desexed but should be wanting to eat the next day. Most vet hospitals give them an injection of painkilelrs after their spey, this lasts for a short time so as mentioned if you think she needs more ask your vets for some. Sending lots of cuddles your girls way

It cost me $125 for a trienniel vaccine. If I get that and the yearly BB & PI2 it ends up costing me $20 more than in if had gotten a C5 every year for 3 years.

You should be able to send them through the vet they were done at.

Buy a pine pole, get a bag of rapid set concrete, pole concreted in, set toy at height required - all sorted

I picked Lewis up off the plane on the Thursday night, He was insured by 10am the next day. What was even worse was I had the dogs out in a little yard toileting etc, brought them in fairly early as it was hot, looked out the window less than half an hour later and there was a large dugite in the yard where they had been. Helped to get my bum into gear I can tell you! Four days after that he was doing zoomies and ran into my agility table at full speed. He screamed sommersaulting through the air and stood there with his leg out screaming while I bolted thinking he had smashed his shoulder. He hadn't he was fine, no limp or anything after 15 minutes but I figured in a really short amount of time this one really needed to be insured. Interestingly he has only had one other incident of no look when running, but no injuries thank goodness.

My old Stafford quite often needs to be asked more than once. One reason is his dad trained him that way and the other is he is not the sharpest tool in the shed, so once he has figured out what you mean he will happily do it. Lovely dog, not much upstairs.

How fantastic so great to hear. I was wondering also how is his hair growing back???? I am not sure I have seen a photo of the handsome boy since the last one showing his haircut

Thank you for that, unfortunately the closest stockist is nearly 500kms away. Freight is the killer especially when you want to frieght the big bags.

I am after the names and or links for purchase for a DVD for the average dog owner. This person lives in a remote area so does not have ready access to trainers. They want a DVD to cover average dog training, socilaisation and manners. If you know of the name of a good DVD and even better also the link to where one can be readily purchased I would be very thankful

I would love to get some of the foods mentioned, but I have to get them freighted from Perth and it is costly, not to mention remembering to order it in time. The only premium ranges I can access easily are Advance, Science Diet and Eukanuba none of which I want to use.

In Australia as a general rule you couldn't have dogs if you lived in a small unit or apartment. I am thankful to say that perception is changing. It can be done as long as people are prepared to do it properly. It is common in many other countries to see many animals living in apartments. I think a pet resume is a great idea and I have heard of people saying they wouldn't mind people with responsible pets but their realestate managers put no pets allowed as a default thing. If we ever get the money to buy a rental there will be dogs and animals allowed, however there will be boundries and expectations from me.

There is a vast difference between obedience training and manners/boundries. The problem being that many/most Joe Blows need to go to an obedience school to get a basic idea of how to train manners. I have worked with a few vets and to be honest only a third would have any idea about training. One I only worked a short time with really loved training and had a great mind for it and a great way of working out how to train particular issues someone may be having. The others came to me for advice for their own dogs. My family dogs were never "obedience" trained but all had impeccable house manners and manners in general. All came when called, got on their beds when asked etc.

Looks like a Bull Mastiff cross to me, not sure what with though

That Fluffy Corgi is just devine. I wasn't a real Corgi fan until I met two who were just gorgeous and Oh so smoochy. One has now sadly passed on, but they changed my attitude towards them.

I haven't had to fight for anything as yet, the few claims I have had have gone thorugh without a hitch. I am only interested if they will pay for the implant due to the fact it is generally used for chemical castration and my level of insurance does not pay out anything for the cost of desexing. The way I look at it is. I have insurance to cover for the big things, broken bones, stitch ups and snake bites etc. Snake bite is a very real risk here, skin lacerations are not uncommon in a fine skinned breed such as the Whippet. Broken bones can happen easily when you have two Whippets racing each other and they crash or misjudge and run into a tree-also reasonably likely. So far we have only had a few small things, the way I figure it is if I have one of my dogs gets bitten by a snake - heaven forbid - I can throw all the treatment at them I can and not have to worry about where I can find $3000 plus. I am trying to save for a new car and we have on going building/renovations that we buy more stuff and do some more as we have the money. If I had $4000 or so sitting around, it would most likely not be, but would probably have bought all the stuff to do my bathroom for example. It is easier to find $400 once a year for the next 8 to 10 years than $4000 right now. If I never cover my premiums (which I mostly have or have been paid back more than half) then I don't really care as that means I am not rushing a dog, who is trying to die after being bitten by a tiger snake, to the vets. In 10 years I have never had a dog bitten by a snake out here, but we do have quite a few and many many dogs get bitten around here every year, some after a few warms days in the middle of winter. It is peace of mind for me.

FOr a start it is not an Australian phone number, if it was I would call them. As it is I would just ignore it.

My dog is desexed and is on Suprelorin implant and my insurance company paid up. I would never go without Pet Insurance, I have had good experiences on the whole and saved a fortune too. That's interesting cointreau...have just had superlorin in my boy again and never thought to claim as its not an accident or illness. I've been with Medibank for about a year with no claims yet so don't know what they're like at paying up. My dane is a girl and has the implant for incontinence I thought I would give claiming for it a go and they paid up so I can't complain. My boy isn't desexed, which is why I am thinking they may not want to, but desexing him is not an option at this stage.