tdierikx

Any Pet Barn type store will have puppy playpens that will serve your purpose just fine - I bought one for under $100 and it managed to contain a couple of 6 week old Great Dane cross puppies perfectly... T.

Hahaha! It was a bit scary there with the pups for a day or two, but I followed the advice of a very wise vet, and they all pulled through. I also foster pups for rescue, and a few of them have had the cough... no biggie nowadays... *grin* I have a pup here at the moment that is on the tail end of her cough - she's only had a very mild dose though - the C5 vacc may have assisted with that. She is only coughing early in the morning and late at night now. I'll agree that the first time you are confronted with a dog seemingly coughing it's lungs up, it's a bit of a fright... as long as they are eating and acting normally and have nothing nasty coming from their nose or eyes, you just ride it out, and they'll be just fine... The fun part for you will be that you still can't take them out for 2 weeks AFTER the cough stops - as they are apparently still contagious. T.

Try having 3 large breed adult dogs hawking up all night while they sleep on your bed... then a week later have 9 two week old pups come down with it... pups that young can't cough, so they can get very gurgly and it sounds horrible! Cure for the pups was plenty of mum's milk (she'd had the cough the week before) and keep them warm and very dry - as soon as the bedding gets damp in any way, change it! All 9 pups survived and thrived... T.

I foster care young pups myself... and ALL are desexed before rehoming. My job is to make sure that they are ready (read fit and healthy, big enough and old enough) BEFORE they get booked in to the vet for their operations. They also learn valuable socialisation skills with other dogs (my dogs) and people in a home environment. My rescue coordinator trusts MY judgement as to when my young charges are ready for their surgeries - as I'm the one with them in my possession/care... We haven't lost any rescue pups under GA yet... and that's not just down to luck... I have never personally lost one of my own dogs under a GA, but I have had one that came close to bleeding out on the table because the vet ignored my instruction to test her clotting factor prior to surgery (she had Von Willebrandts(sp?)). Needless to say that we don't go to that particular vet any more... I have also had a dog that reacted badly to sedation, but handled GA just fine - anything requiring sedation in a normal dog, my boy was knocked out completely for instead. I understand your concern about the dog you had in your care, but if the rescue was itching to "turn her around and out the door quickly", then they didn't seem to have had HER best interests at heart, did they? T.

My Lab is lean - I think she has a booty - but she's lean compared to most pet Labs. My vet thinks she's just perfect, and so do I... Idiots in the street/park saying she's skinny just get the reply that she's crossed with a Dingo... lol! (not entirely impossible seeing as she was BYB from Moree) I think Honey looks just right! T.

We see a lot of KC in rescue - and I wouldn't be too concerned unless the dog develops other symptoms, like a yellow or green discharge from the nose, goes flat, or generally not it's normal self. If the coughing is upsetting the dog, then talk to your vet about using Benadryl to ease the sore throat. No need for AB's unless it turns to an infection (the green/yellow snot, or a high temperature) Generally, in a normally healthy dog, the cough can last about 6-7 days - not much fun when they are sleeping on your bed, I can tell you... *grin* Call the vet and ask questions rather than taking the dog for a walk up there - you will be spreading the KC everywhere if you do that... T.

My tugs arrived yesterday and were waiting on my doorstep when I got home from work... Thank you so much nikivds... my babies love them. I'll have to try to get some photos this afternoon after work of my foster pups enjoying them, OK? T.

If it's not a healthy dog, then wait... which seems to be what the OP is having issues with - the rescue want the dogs turned around and out the door as quick as possible so that they can get another out of the pound and into care... not sure I like the inference of that myself... T.

I have two 10kg Advance tubs with screwtop lids... just the right size to move around if I have to... T.

Did I read right that they had a dog out in foster care with a possible case of Parvo? or had Parvo-like symptoms? and they wanted it desexed and out the door quickly? Ummm... Danger Will Robinson!! I'd disassociate myself from that particular group methinks... T.

A drop of peppermint oil on the collar can work quite well - just make sure that you don't get it directly on the dog's skin until it's dried... T.

I've had my own crossbreed and my other flatmate's 2 cattle dogs stand between me and a flatmate wielding a knife... none were trained in protection or guard work... and the cattle dogs were not mine. They saw where the threat was coming from, and diffused the situation by getting between me and the crazy guy and letting him know in no uncertain terms that they would do something if he came any closer to me. I would have no hesitation in believing that my current 2 dogs would do the same thing... but thankfully we haven't had to test that... *grin* T.

My take on "heart dog" is the dog that grabs yer heart the moment you meet... and breaks your heart when they have to leave forever... Ahhh hell... now I'm crying... and I'm at work too... T.

My 2 foster puppies can pee like there is no tomorrow - mainly smaller ones wherever they may be at the time of need... you don't even want to know how much they can do in their crates overnight... but at least they are now not doing number 2's in there as well... *grin* My own experience is that puppies can pee a lot more often than adult dogs - and unless it is excessive even for the pup in question (as all can be different), and the pup seems otherwise completely fine, then the watch and wait principle applies... T.

That is so wrong on so many levels... yet hilariously funny... *giggle* If I knew which hard drive I had the one of my Rottie as a pup fast asleep with a rubber chicken between his legs, a beer can and pack of cigs nearby... I post it... T.

Awesome! PM sent... You rock nikivds! T.

Not enough info in the article to establish any real theory as to why they attacked and killed their owner. T.

Awesome!!! I'd love a couple for my foster babies... how much would you sell them for? T.

I'm all for anything that comes down hard on owners who leave their dogs barking at everything and anything all night long - but during the day? If it ticks you off, don't stand there and annoy the dog further... leave, and it will shut up... The dog that lives next door to me will run up the fence line and bark at me when I open my lounge room windows - fair enough, he's telling me not to come over the fence. I tell him he's a good boy, and then move out of his sight, and he shuts up and goes back to whatever he was doing. Sometimes, if my foster pups or my adult dogs are in my back yard, he will have a little bark or a whine, but my dogs don't react, and he quiets down again. His owners have him inside at night (as I do mine) so we don't have any night time barking... I have good neighbours... My older girl will "greet" people at my front screen door with a full on display, but she stops when told and is as friendly as all get out when I let people in. Most of my friends are fine with this - and I don't really care what the doorknockers who want to sell me stuff I don't want think... hehe! Dogs barking at a back yard fence being declared "menacing" is stupid... T.

Ever since I could crawl, my Mum reckons I started bringing "stray" animals in... a wide and varied lot I can tell you! My Mum actually said no to the octopus though... lol! I've brought home dogs, kittens, mice, rats, snakes, birds, lizards, rabbits, the octopus, a baby fruit bat... and I'm sure Mum could fill in some other categories... Once when I was about 5, we lived in Alice Springs, and some of my parents' friends did wildlife rehab. Well - there was a "nice doggy" on a run out the back, and I just had to go and pat/cuddle it... the horrified and anxious looks on the adults' faces as they tried to get me to come back away from the "doggy" was totally lost on me, and I kept up the cuddling until I was good and ready to make my way back to the house. Guess who got their hide tanned for approaching the wild and injured Dingo? Apparently he wasn't all that friendly to anyone else... errr! At least the Dingo enjoyed it, and he went on to be released back to the wild with no major issues... *grin* I'm now in my 40's and have shared my life with mainly large breed dogs - my fave are Rotties, but I currently have a Rottie/Pittie and a Labrador... and I foster care large breed puppies for rescue. T.

Even the stray dogs that end up in my street come to my door... that must get me a CDL title too... *grin* T.

"good carpet, bewdiful animal we breed to make carpet, for you I make special deal" I can donate some yellow hair - you can make multicolour carpet... T.

Kelpie cros Yoda? hehe! Whatever she is, it's a very pretty mix... T.

Pups are docked somewhere between birth and 3 days, so how were they playing happily afterwards ? You know what I mean SBT123 - they didn't show any signs of trauma during or after the procedure, OK? T.

It's an amazingly varied list as to why people "discard" their pets in the numbers they do... it's hard to pinpoint any particular type of dog (or cat) that ends up in a pound - different pounds may see different "breeds" predominately, depending on the areas they service and the types of dog generally preferred in those areas... T.