tdierikx

I used to think that I could only ever share my life with a Rottie (or 5)... but I got a Rottie/Pittie cross pup for the other half (now ex other half), and she decided that I was the one to devote herself to... she's now nearly 12 and still with me... My brother and I adopted a Labrador each - Trouble is now 5, and I don't think I was quite prepared for exactly how rambunctious and naughty a young Lab can be... and the shedding... aarrgghh!! Don't think I'd go for another Lab... lovely dogs once they grow a brain though... My most recent adoption is a true blue Aussie camp dog - god knows what breeds are in there - she was born in an Aboriginal camp in the middle of the Northern Territory, and a kind soul noticed she was disabled (brain injury that causes an awkward gait) and brought her to Sydney to the rescue that I foster for. I was fostering her and just fell in love with her always happy and great attitude to life, so I adopted her. Pickles has fit in perfectly with my other girls, and she also plays well with other foster pups, so win-win all around there. Working with rescue has also given me plenty of opportunity to interact with a large number of different breeds (and their crosses) - and really, I've found that it's the DOG that steals your heart, not it's breed mix... *grin* T.

If I were buying a dog to show and I am a beginner in such things, I'd probably be happy enough to have the breeder mentor me in that pursuit - up to a point... Any agreement that has me (the owner of the dog) being dictated to as to how I raise or care for that dog, outside of showing it to it's best potential, would have me backing off a bit from that particular breeder - it comes across as me having to pay for the privilege to "babysit" (at MY expense) someone else's dog... Vetting of potential homes is no easy task, but if you are really that precious about where your pups are going, then maybe you should breed less of them and only sell them to others you know and trust, and who really want to do everything with the dog that you would do if it were yours... Anyways - are the "breeder's terms" conditions legal and enforceable? T.

I'll be in Bringelly on Saturday - I can bring one of my larger crates for your friend if she'd like to pick it up from Bringelly... Feel free to PM or email me so we can arrange something, OK? T.

Cage crate or travel crate? I have 2 sizes of cage crate here - what size dog do you need to contain? T.

PIAA can only "regulate" their members' pet shops... plenty of pet shops out there that aren't members of the PIAA... and the only thing the PIAA can really do to their members is revoke their memberships... *sigh* Wouldn't they be regulated by Animal Welfare Acts, POCTAA, and various other state run government bodies like the DLG in NSW? Not to mention Fair Trading, etc... T.

My friend has a Staffy that actually runs away when you point anything with a camera in it at her - she even knows about mobile phone cameras! T.

When we were kids, we lived in PNG - and we had to leave our dog behind when we came back to Australia. She had had Distemper when she was 6 months old, and the cost and length of time she would have had to be in quarantine was financially prohibitive. We found her a lovely family who would send us cards on her birthday and at Christmas with updates as to how she was doing - right up until she passed away. T.

Thanks Ashanali... just missed the closing date yesterday... *sigh* I'll keep looking though - it would be interesting to see whether I make the grade... *grin* Honestly, I look at myself as a "hobby" photographer - I just point my camera at things and push the button. I've been told that I have a reasonable knack for where I point the thing though... lol! And the beauty of digital cameras is the ability to take LOTS of photos, then cull the ones that don't make the grade, yes? T.

Thanks heaps Ashanali! I hope I never come up against you in a show/competition... your work is incredible! One day I hope to have the skill and the equipment to capture some action shots like the last one in your sig... it's an awesome pic! T.

My foster pups have given m some classic "silly" photos... Zoe was getting a bit "over" the camera thing... As did Winston (now Herc) Jmes quickly learned that this was the thing to do when the camera came out... Zeddy does this most times... and Trouble is a total camera tart... T.

I've sometimes thought of entering photos in small shows or competitions, but honestly wouldn't know where to start or how to go about it... Was wandering through the photo displays at the Easter Show, and my friend said that maybe I should enter something myself next year... she reckoned that some of my photos were easily viable in that context. Has anyone here entered shows or competitions? How does one actually go about it? And how do you find them? T.

Rex lives forever in your heart and memory MonElite... I lost my Rotti girl Woosie back in 2004, and I know exactly how you are feeling. The pain of not being able to physically connect with our beloved babies never lessens, but with time we can learn to harness that to remember them with love, and take some comfort that they shared their lives with us so fully and with such love and trust. T.

I'm not a fan of taking "people" photos... I like photographing dogs mainly - and do so a lot for the rescue I volunteer at. I team up with the owner of the rescue, and we have 2 DSLR's getting hundreds of photos of each dog from every angle possible, and doing all sorts of fun things. Then it takes ages to cull the best photos from the myriad taken, and only the best photos that actually capture the true nature of the dog will be used for their rescue pages. I took my camera to my cousin's wedding last December. I approached the official photographer, showed him my camera and asked if he minded me snapping away during the day if I didn't get in his way - he was quite fine with that, and even allowed me to be beside him for a few of the formal shots - and I snapped my shots after he had taken his shot (courtesy, etc). I ended up with over 900 photos of the day, and actually most of them turned out pretty bloody good. I had one up on the official photographer in that I actually knew the families and most of the guests on a personal level, and I was going for shots showing them having an awesome time, and managed to catch a few terrific ones of the groom watching the bride coming towards him, and some of her absolutely radiant and happy smile as she was making her way to him too. The best part of the whole wedding photographing that day was that I could immediately put all of the photos onto USB sticks for the bride's parents to take back to the UK with them - and I resized a few of the best ones down to emailable size to send immediately to her uncle who was too sick to come to Australia for the wedding. That cheered him up no end! Oh, and I sent some via email to my parents who couldn't attend too - then they also wanted the USB stick with all of the photos... lol! The wedding was on Christmas Eve, so the Christmas day email with the photos for the bride's very sick uncle was something I was proud to be able to do for him. He said it was the best Christmas present ever... *grin*... her parents took a USB stick back for him too. Gave a USB stick to the bride and one to my aunt also... A couple of times during the day, me and the official photographer were checking each other's shots on the cameras, and he actually reckoned I was doing a great job of it. He wasn't overly worried that my photos would be given to the bride and family members for no fee - he was actually quite forthcoming with tips and tricks and was very accommodating, and I appreciated that immensely. T.

I have pictures of what a larger breed pup can do to a crate if they really don't want to be in it... Pickles fractured her leg and had to be crated for it to heal. She had other ideas and just chewed her way out... she bent the steel bars enough to actually get half her body out! She sleeps on my bed now... *sigh*... my first and only crate training failure to date... I found it MUCH easier to crate train my older girls when they decided that they no longer want to play nice if loose together. Soft warm bedding and a couple of toys, and they settled down to their crates just fine - Trouble even goes to her crate voluntarily when it's her turn to be contained - I just say "in your box" and she gets in and sits for her pat and then just settles when I shut the door. Zeddy will go into hers if I give her a treat - usually a small biscuit or something like that. All of my foster pups have settled to their crates pretty quickly. Some prefer to be positioned where they can see you, some prefer to have the crate covered like a den, some prefer to have a big teddy to snuggle up to, and some like to have another pup companion while they get used to the crate. My current foster will have a tantrum for about 5 minutes before settling down in her crate for the night - and as soon as my alarm goes off in the morning, she is a second alarm telling me to get the hell up and let her out for a play... *grin* T.

Most of my neighbours have been great with my dogs. One place I used to live, the elderly couple next door used to always cook extra treats for my dogs with their regular Sunday roast, then come to the fence and have them all lined up to get their roast dinner treats in turn - no mean feat when the dogs in question are 5 Rottweilers... lol! My current neighbours are all lovely too... the young boy next door has a permanent ladder set up next to the fence so he can check out all of the foster pups when they are out playing in the yard - and to have a chat with me about what he's been up to at school, etc... T.

And this is exactly how something like this could and will no doubt be used maliciously. There are no doubt those who would think nothing of doing exactly the same thing to a breeders dogs. Knowing Katdogs - and the dogs she is referring to - I can see where she's coming from. They are regular visitors to her place and mine. The escapees are intact male crossbred SWF's - luckily all our females are desexed and contained to our properties. The owners of the escapees won't desex them because they want to breed with them... again... and they have a little female Pom cross they bought just for the purpose... *sigh* I know that you can get injections to put off a bitch's season - we had it done to a dog of ours when we lived in PNG way back in the late 70's. Not too sure about a pill to permanently sterilise a dog or cat though - who knows what long term side effects it could have... T.

My friend's Rotti boy Clay was her soul mate - he was also the nephew of my heart dog Woosie... that was the longest 11 days of all of our lives looking for poor lost Clay! My friend was so traumatised at him being missing that her parents came over to stay with her, and I lent her my Woosie for a few days so she had something similar to her beloved Clay to sleep on her bed at night. I think there were abou 10 of us out every day searching and calling and dropping leaflets in letterboxes - we covered every inch of 4 whole Sydney suburbs more than once over the 11 days he was missing. Clay was a very special boy - much loved by everyone who ever met him - we HAD to get him back! T.

When my friend's Rotti was let out of his yard by a stranger, we had a team of people walking the surrounding 4 suburbs doing letterbox drops and looking for him - every day for 2 whole weeks!! Eventually one of her workmates rang one of the popular radio stations and they put out a call for anyone knowing about this dog to call in... that resulted in the person who had been "looking after" the dog to hand him in to a local vet clinic, who scanned him and contacted my friend. As she was at work and I was second contact on his chip, I went and picked him up... they didn't even ask me for any ID because Clay immediately went mental with cuddles and kisses for me and my OH, they realised that we were definitely some of his fave people on the planet... *grin* T.

I think you are doing just fine PanzerAttack... each dog you share your life with will be different, and your relationship with them will also be different. You obviously DO love this tiny terrorist on some level or you wouldn't be trying your hardest to bond with him. Take it at a pace that suits both of you and I think you'll finally click into a relationship that suits you both, OK? Personally I've had a number of dogs, and each one has been different in the way they decide to share themselves with me - I have had 1 "heart dog", and I know that is a very tough act to follow for all of my subsequent furkids, but I'm not expecting them to be her either. T.

I found that Supercoat Puppy kibble started to give my pups the trots after a while - switched them to the Adult Chicken one, and all was well with the world again... I now prefer Bonnie Puppy kibble to the Supercoat one now - all of my foster pups seem to do well on it, and it's not overly expensive. T.

My dogs don't smell, so they only get a bath if they start to look dirty... been about 2 years so far since their last proper bath... *grin* T.

I've been known to stop my car, open the door, and if the dog jumps in, take it to the nearest vet clinic or pound and drop it off as a stray... If I know the dog, and it's normally kept secure in it's yard, I'll take it home and make sure it can't get out again. My own dogs are locked in my house when I'm not home - no real chance of them getting out and terrorising the neighbourhood - and if we are going out somewhere, they are on lead and secure with me BEFORE I open the door. T.

I've seen small pups go off their food and poo blood after worming if they have had a hookworm infestation. The worming can be pretty hard on their little guts. Hang in there King Tip, you are in great hands little man! T.

OK - the two strangest mixes I've actually seen myself were Labrador/Corgi - think Cardigan Corgi (black/tan), only larger and with a Labrador coat - she was a lovely dog though... and the other was a Staffy/Maltese - think Staffy size and shape with longish fine hair like a Maltese but a bit sparser than the actual Malt coat - so wrong on so many levels, but she was a truly lovely dog in all respects. Both of the above were in rescue and have been rehomed to awesome forever homes who dote on them like the princesses they are... *grin* I'll never forget the pups from a friend's GSD bitch who had been potted by the neighbour's Mini Foxy dog... none of the pups were viable, some had large bodies and small heads, small bodies and long legs, small bodies with big heads... very scary! T.

Let's face it, blue Staffords are darned pretty... but they are as rare as rocks nowadays - seems like every second ad on those popular websites has some for sale at exhorbitant prices. No completely ethical registered breeder in this country would be intentionally breeding for a blue litter. Sure, an unknown dilute may pop up here or there, but it's not a predominant goal to breed for them if you are breeding for show quality dogs. I heard from a vet nurse that she has seen a couple of blue Staffords that have not only had the alopecia problem, eye and hearing issues, but also were hermaphrodite... now that is darned scary if it's true... I don't know why we aren't seeing large numbers of blue Staffords in pounds, but the theory that people pay more for them and are more prepared to protect their investment by looking after them better might have a little bit of truth to it. A lot of animals that have high price tags when bought as pups are significantly under represented in pounds as a general rule. Many of the pet shop sourced "oodle" types and other crazy crosses are also under represented in pounds, as are most of the registered pure breeds. What we see a lot of in pounds are (IMHO) more likely to be dogs that have been sourced cheaply from BYB sources, the stats for unchipped and unregistered dogs in pounds tends to indicate they have been sourced from places that don't chip them... T.