tdierikx

First night cries are heartbreaking, aren't they? Well done for not succumbing... I have found that pups tend to settle better if they are in a crate in my bedroom - positioned so they can see me on the bed. I also put a teddy bear of a slightly larger size to the pup in their bed for them to snuggle up to like a litter mate. I love the little jacket - gorgeous! T.

Awww... Penny playing surrogate mummy... so sweet. Need pics of Penny snuggles... T.

Love the taste test with the horse poo... lol! T.

My mobility challenged girl Pickles weighs in at 14kg, but needs to be fed as much as a 28kg dog to keep her condition. Her mobility issues mean that she works much harder at getting about than my other dogs - and she's a busy little bugger at the best of times anyways. People tell me she is skinny, but she is also muscled dfferently to most dogs due to her mobility issues and how she gets about. She is kept lean, but not skinny, due to her isses - if she was to carry too much weight, it would negatively impact on her quality of life enormously. I got into a fight with a new vet at a local vet clinic once about her condition - she said Pickles was proportioned wrong, and I pointed out that the reason she has no discernable chest muscles is that she doesn't actually use them like other dogs... her walking style is "unique" to put it mildly... *grin* Her regular (read treating) vet is more than happy with how she is proportionally and health-wise - Pickles is perfect for Pickles basically. My old girl Zeddy is 14 years old now, and apart from a little bit of arthritis and some greying about the face and feet, doesn't look her age at all. She is a Rotti/Pittie mix, and weighs in at 28kgs - perfect weight, and she has a lovely waistline/tuck. Most people and vets put her age at around 7-8 years old - and then are amazed at finding out her actual age. The only real hint that Zeddy is older than she looks is that she doesn't run too good any more, and takes a little longer to get out of bed in Winter... *grin*... but she still tries to play zoomies... *sigh* If either Pickles or Zeddy were to carry any extra weight, I'm sure they wouldn't be with me much longer... so I do regiment what they get fed. Funnily enough, I'm not as fussy with feeding myself as I am feeding my dogs... lol! I could probably drop 10kg, but I can't be arsed... *grin* I have a friend who has 2 larger than life young Labs - she says she only feeds them the same amount of food I feed mine, and she takes hers for a lot more walks than I take mine - but her boys are easily in the 40kg range, whereas mine is only 28kgs... I just tell them they look well loved when I see them... they appear to be really healthy in every other respect, their activity levels are normal for crazy Labs, etc. T.

*waiting patiently for news and pics of new puppy fun* T.

Run free and healthy at the Bridge sweet Rosie... T.

This is my Lab in her prime... at around 4 years old... She is now nearly 8 and is carrying about 2kgs more weight than in the above photo - so still nicely proportioned - but I tell her she has "booty" and think she's a bit chubbier than I'd like. Funnily enough no-one else thinks she's chubby... This is a photo taken around January this year - to me she looks a bit more portly than I'd like... T.

I am vicariously getting my puppy fix through your gorgeous photos Kirislin... I can't have pups here for some more time yet... so thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous little new addition with us. Looking forward to the looks on the Whippets' faces when she meets them... they are going to be looking at her as if to say "she looks like us, but is so TINY!" Mini Me time methinks... lol! Have you settled on Neko as her name yet? T.

Woohoo!!! Puppy day today!!! T.

NO MORE SLEEPS! Today is Puppy Day! T.

Only ONE MORE SLEEP!!!!!! Tomorrow is Puppy Day! T.

OMG! OMG! Puppy day on Saturday! You lucky devil you! T.

One of the vets at Annandale Vet Clinic is an expert in expressing anal glands - he doesn't get the ewwie stuff all over the dog either... T.

Try these guys for help with the goats... http://www.edgarsmission.org.au/ T.

How many more sleeps now Kirislin? T.

There will be some awesome photos of him once ruthless has been... *grin* T.

Some rescues have a more thorough screening process than for adopting a human child... I'm of the opinion that those ones are taking their responsibilities a little too far really... Some rescues have virtually no screening process at all. The best rescues have found a happy medium between the two, and adjust their screening for each and every individual animal available for adoption - after all, they all have different needs to be met, yes? T.

Sums it up perfectly really... *grin* T.

If you've paid the $40 NSW lifetime registration, that will stay with the dog for it's lifetime in NSW. Any council that tries to charge you again is misleading you. If you move, all you need to do is to update the Chip registry details - and depending on the council involved, they may charge you some sort of filing fee to do it for you on the spot - alternately, you can go to the DLG NSW website here... http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/dlg_InformationIndex.asp?mi=9&ml=1&areaindex=CA&index=303#Home - and download the forms, etc to do it yourself... T.

Guardienne seems to have a thing for LDH - pops up in every thread about them... definitely "con" LG... And dogmad - I have not denigrated ANY Victorian rescues that have managed to build any form of working relationship with the LDH in Victoria - more power to them I say! I'm happy to denigrate any rescues that cause any steps backwards with regards to rescue having any kind of working relationship with LDH in any state... Seriously woman - you should know me a bit better than that by now... *grin* T.

Hmmm... http://dogshome.com/pets/dogs/ ... quite a few long haired, large breed, not traditionally "pretty", and older dogs available for adoption across the LDH shelters... So you reckon that if the dogs actually up for adoption were actually getting adopted reasonably quickly, that wouldn't inspire them to put more up for adoption? Pretty big call to make there... You can call me ignorant all you like - if it makes you feel superior and more learned, that's fine by me. T.

You might have to rope Marcus into joining in with Sparky... lol! T.

Running to the media and screaming "killer" every time a rescue doesn't get the dog/cat it wants from a pound/shelter isn't exactly the way to charm the people who run said pound/shelter though, is it? At the end of the day, the pound is a business - and in the case of the LDH, it's a privately run business... tendered for and appointed with council approval. If you want to change things, you need to talk to council. Go to council with a plan to improve the problem as you see it - provide costings, and how to allocate funds/manpower towards what you'd like to see as a viable animal management plan. Make note of things such as space constraints, staffing levels, number of incoming and outgoing animals per annum, etc... Be part of the solution, rather than the "problem"... it's all too easy to run to the media with sob stories, but what else are you doing to try to solve the problem? It's not as simple as just saying "hand over the animals to rescue" when you take into account the myriad other things that go into running a pound/shelter effectively. In the meantime, ADOPT the available animals from LDH - they come desexed, vaccinated, and chipped for the price... and you are within your rights to rehome them after they are in your care, yes? Maybe if the LDH sees adoption numbers increase, they may put more of them up for adoption, ya think? T.

She'll be as fast as the Whippets if the boys keep that up... lol! T.

LOL - considering that the rescue I'm with (in NSW) has successfully rescued dogs from the Victorian LDH without paying a full adoption fee, and have spoken to GS on the phone myself with regards to the rescue of those animals... I may just have more "expertise" in this area than you might think... Your suggestions have some merit - however, have these tactics (especially the media campaigns) actually made a difference to the Victorian LDH kill stats or their willingness to work with local rescue? T.