tdierikx

Awww... Akbar looks a bit like my oldest dog... getting a bit more grey every year... lol! T.

I have a photo somewhere of my brother's assistance dog manning the callcentre phones... he had the headset on and everything... lol! Most times though we used him as the office shredder... *grin* T.

Hugs to you Jed... T.

Ridgebacks are generally larger than Rotties... just sayin'... T.

That tiger looks rather Bengal marked... check out the amount of white on it's eyebrows and less ruff around the cheeks... but the stripes and ears are more Sumatran. I'd love to see a pure Bengal or Siberian up close... we have a Bengal/Sumatran cross at Symbio (ex-Dreamworld tiger), and he's huge! I've found that the big cats in the zoos I visit are most active first thing in the morning (just after they've been let out of their night dens), and at the keeper talk times when they get some food. T.

No problems... but picking just ONE photo from my 2 zoo trips every week will be the hardest part... lol! Just this past weekend, I took 1800 photos at one zoo, and 1300 at the other... errr! Oh - and that was the count of photos AFTER I'd deleted the crappy blurry ones! I don't post them all to Flickr though - just pick out the ones I like the best - usually about 30-50 depending on what turns out really nice. For anyone interested in a sneak preview... http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdierikx/ T.

What a handsome boy! They all ended up looking so different from each other, didn't they? I wonder what the ones that went to Fetching Dogs ended up looking like? T.

All of my rescue foster pups were crated at night... if they kicked up a stink, they were ignored and they got the idea pretty quickly that no-one was coming to get them out when they wanted it. If I had litters, they would double up for company in their crates - singletons had a bucket type beddie with a teddy to simulate a littermate environment. I tend to place the crates where they can see me on the bed in my bedroom, so tantrums were pretty rare anyways. My older dogs were crate trained at an older age (4 and 9 years old) - after they'd had a fight and needed cage rest. Both are still perfectly fine to get into a crate and settle when asked. T.

I'm a Zoo junkie - can I post zoo animal pics? And how many are we allowed as a maximum per week? I go to 2 different zoos most weeks - so can I post one from each zoo per week? T.

Do your ratties like ice-cream T? My rat (RIP RatRatRattie) always got a little gob of ice-cream whenever we had some, she would go bonkers and lose her manners when she smelt it, she used to hold it in her hands and scoff it down then rub her hands together to warm them up :laugh: Toblerone chocolate was their biggest weakness. B-rat used to actually climb up on my shoulder and try to reef my mouth open to get to the chocolate... cheeky little sod! Bogart was my heart rat... she was the sweetest little lady ever. I had her from a pinkie... T.

Another vote for a Rottie... a female one would be perfect... most of the males I've owned have been much sookier than the girls when it came to alerting to strangers about. My last male used to actually hide when strangers came to the door... lol! T.

I had to use public transport while on crutches a while back... that was a serious eye-opener as to the general "care-not" attitude many have nowadays... many would stare as if giving me a challenge to ask for their seat too! I have a serious back problem - not that you'd know it from looking at me - until I've been standing for about 30 mins straight... the pain factor apparently starts to show on my face then... *grin* I will still stand or move seats to make room for someone older than me or pregnant though... no matter where it may be - public transport, vet clinic, doctor's clinic, or anywhere else where seats are at a premium. T.

Wow! Such a reaction to tiny little tame ratties... but we get offended when someone isn't fussed about our dogs... *grin* T.

Ermm NO. I would not get anywhere near her little paws. I don't even want to think about rats paws. Do rats have paws? Is that what their feet are called? They do have paws... they are like little hands really... A well trained and tame pet rat is a pure delight to snuggle with. Nothing like the yukky wild ones... They really aren't all that different to dogs in their temperaments, honest! T.

My dogs are too big to allow on the seats at the vet, so they are leashed tight and under control in front or next to my feet. When they were pups, they were crated and placed in the same place. I'm not really a fan of dogs on seats in a vet clinic myself - they are actually for humans to sit on. T.

That sight would probably have me running to the next suburb, let alone running across the road. T's Rat would certainly have me crossing the road with undue haste. Bogart was the best friendly little rattie soul... I reckon you would have been putty in her little paws. She cured many a person's rat phobia did my sweet little girl. Piglet, on the other hand, used to beat up cats! T.

Damn! I work fulltime and I can't afford to go on a cruise or have tattoos done on a whim... Maybe I need to make Harper the Horse Puppy into my "assistance" dog and go for the sympathy donations? I do have a serious medical condition... honest! Actually Pickles the Spastic Camp Dog would be a better "assistance" dog for getting donations rolling in - she's disabled too... lol! Does that count? T.

Of a pet rat poking out of your pocket... *grin* T.

When I owned Rotties we took advantage of the crowd parting abitities by taking at least one to Flemington Markets with us on a Sunday (not the food markets) - much easier to make your way through the crush of people that way... *grin* The illusion was usually shattered when we'd stop and buy the dog an icecream... people would stop and take photos of the dog having it's treat, and then all the kids around would ask to have a pat/cuddle. My dogs loved their Sunday outings to the Markets... lol! I remember one time when my current old girl (Rottie/Pittie cross) was having a lovely time playing ball and chasies with some kids at a local park. She'd been playing with them for about 10 minutes before the mother asked me what breed she was... and when I told her, she started yelling for the kids to get away from the "vicious" dog... the kids decided to ignore her, funnily enough, and kept playing with their new best friend... hehe! Not all large dogs are child/dog killers, just as not all small dogs are nasty snappy yappies... but there are obviously enough of both out there to keep the myths of same alive, yes? Best to give any/all dogs some space when they are out on a walk unless the owner indicates that the dog would like some further interaction with you or your dog. T.

Run free now Boof... T.

Smart girl!!! T.

Awww... what a handsome boy! T.

Awww... tiny puppy "big girl" teefies! T.

I saw a dog getting stressed that it could not see the source of the crying... T.

The problem is that the ID would most likely distinguish what kind of disability the people have, and some people would prefer to not have all and sundry know that they have a mental disability for example. Besides, if the accreditation papers can be faked, and the leads, coats, etc can be faked - the ID's would most likely be easily faked also... and making the legitimate people jump through even more hoops than they already do. T.