tdierikx

Smart Molly... knows that she must use her own bed... lol! T.

Such tragic news... my heart breaks for all of her carers... Such a pretty girl, and your photos are a beautiful reminder of a lovely soul... maybe you could print a few and make a collage for the primate team's wall? I'm sure that would be highly appreciated. T.

The joys of owning a pup... lol! T.

If you suspect he's developing separation issues, then you need to start giving him "alone time" more often... Start with short periods where you leave him for a few minutes, and when you return,don't make a fuss of him, just let him out and carry on with normal tasks. I'm suspecting that you are spending a LOT of time together, and he's beginning to expect that you should always be around and paying attention to him. Another option is that maybe you can train him up to be an assistance dog (I get the vibe that you have some disability going on), and then he can be with you pretty much wherever you go... as it will be his job to help you with your daily life. My brother's assistance dog even went to hospital with him, so it could be a good option for you both in that respect. Worth looking into anyways... T.

When he displays nervousness, don't react to it... just act normally and he should get the idea that nothing is really that scary... As for not eating his pigs ear while you were gone... do you know what he was doing instead? Are you 100% certain he didn't settle and sleep, only waking when he heard the car arrive back home? T.

One of my boys hated getting a bath... but loved cool hosing of his boy bags on hot days... so that's where we'd start if he needed a bath... lol! 2 of my current 3 dogs go completely mental if they get wet... so we don't bath as such, just go to a friend's place who owns a pool, and we paddle around for a while on a hot day... not as thorough as a proper bath, but seems to do the trick. I have to carry them into the pool, but once they are in they are fine for a quick rub down while they paddle in the shallows. T.

Try removing the spray gun part and just slowly start wetting from the front feet upwards with the slower flow. Plenty of hands on while wetting down and talk to him... tell him what a good boy he is, and if possible, feed a treat at regular intervals to reinforce this notion. The lathering up is the easy part... they love the massaging effect... *grin* Rinsing off - repeat the initial slow wetting stage, and massage/rub while doing so to remove the suds... and keep telling him what a good boy he is throughout. Slow and steady wins the race... T.

Fumo is definitely leaner than Zuri, and he's shorter too... which is interesting because Fumo and Shikamoo are not small chimps. Sudi is easily the same size or taller than Fumo now, and Liwali is catching up too. T.

Nope... lol! There will most likely be a naughty teen stage from about 18 months to 2 years where he might try pushing boundaries again... You are doing really well so far... keep up the great work. T.

Fumo will be 4 in October, so there is a decent age gap, but I don't think he's going to be as large as Zuri at 4.5... Zombi is an awesome mother methinks... T.

Zuri is nearly 4, right? So much bigger and adult looking than our Fumo, who is around a similar age... T.

I can't get over the growth spurt Zuri has had since Enzi was born... she's looking so much more mature than her tender years now. T.

He sounds like a completely normal cheeky 14 week old pup to me... lol! T.

No problems Paul777... glad to be of any assistance... T.

Ash is such ahandsome boy now, isn't he? But I still love "my" Pudden bestest... *blows kisses at the boofhead boy* T.

Wandering cats can cause car accidents when people swerve to try to avoid them... seen it happen more than once... I am allergic to cats, so can't have any of my own, but would never go out of my way to hurt one in any way... however, I have neighbours who think that their cats have the right to go wandering whenever and wherever they please. I must say that a cat going over 2 fences to go into my dog pen with 3 Rotties in it was not the smartest move a cat could make... and not only the owner was traumatised by the outcome... but responding by poisoning 2 of my dogs (one died as a result) was not exactly a civil course of action either. One place I lived at, the neighbour's cat had a penchant for dismembering birds on my front lawn. I had a polite word with said neighbour (who was horrified that her cat was doing it), and she would periodically come and remove the mess left by her cat... At my current residence, there used to be a tomcat that would come and mark my front door every night... not pleasant... so I invested in a very lifelike concrete black snake ornament - no more marking... even scared the poor parcel delivery person a couple of times... lol! Not a fan of cats deciding to make babies underneath my bedroom window in the wee hours either... jeebus they are noisy! And they set the dogs off to boot! T.

From the photos you've posted in another thread, Zagan looks like he's doing just fine... just keep feeling him over when he's going through his spurts and feed accordingly. If he's gained enough coverage in a couple of days, then ease back on too much extra, as we don't want to overdo it either... *grin* There's no formula as to how much to feed really... so the best way to judge is by feeling/looking and going by overall condition of each individual pup. You are doing great... T.

Can you see his hip bones when he's standing normally? If so, feed a bit more... if not, you are doing fine... *grin* Pups can go through spurts of not being able to fill them up one week, and then not wanting much at all for a while... it can be bloody frustrating... lol! My general rule is that as long as you can't actually see their hips and ribs sticking out when they are in a standard standing pose, then they should be fine... pups can carry a little extra weight, but you wouldn't want too much extra on a large breed growing pup - just to make sure he has the right start for his primary joints. T.

OMG... he's adorable! Hi Zagan! T.

Intranasal has a faster take-up than the injection version by a couple of days... but if your breeder advises the injection, I'd be going with that. Both cover the same 2 strains and last for the same length of time (approximately 6 months). T.

Mary wears lippie... lol! T.

I'm not attacking anybody... just voicing an opinion that might differ from theirs or yours is all. I don't make any decisions for other rescues other than to choose to donate my time or resources... or not... We all know that there are people in rescue that really shouldn't be... for a myriad reasons... not least of which, when things go pear shaped, those types that manage to give rescue in general a bad name. And as for questionable practices... you were there and can verify if the rumours were/are true, can you? Because that's all it was... rumours... I should know, I WAS actually there. But it's so much more fun to keep rumours circulating without any proof, and bringing them up years later to try to score some sort of "moral victory" when someone doesn't necessarily agree with your point of view, isn't it? Beats me... T.

You're free to do whatever you like, I just think it's unfair (or perhaps even dishonest) to tear down other groups with very vague statements, while ignoring or purposely not mentioning that some of your own decisions could be considered as bad, if not worse. I'm all for open discussion, as long as it's actually open, and not just open where it suits certain people. Let's get something straight here... the rescue I was with (that you are obviously referring to) closed down around 4 years ago, and I did not run it, nor make the decisions as to how it ran. I was a volunteer and foster carer is all. We took in our fair share of special needs (read abuse and neglect) cases over the years also, but people seem to conveniently "forget" that part of our rescue's work. Most had a good outcome, but some didn't, and hard decisions had to be made at times regarding animals we had grown to love, but were simply not able to have a decent quality of life afterwards, or to be safely adopted out. I learned a lot during my time with that rescue - and the main thing was that it's NOT all happy endings and feelgood moments... it can be hard work and emotionally draining actually. There is nothing vague in my statements regarding spending time and resources on animals that have little prospect of resonable quality of life after those resources have been allocated to them - nor my statements regarding allocation of same to those that CAN have a decent quality of life afterwards. Calling me dishonest and inferring that I am unethical because I chose to donate my time and energy to helping care for rescue animals - regardless whether YOU believe they should have been allowed to exist in the first place - is a bit rich. I made my choice to donate that time and energy to that rescue, just like you made the choice to do the same with the rescue you are with. I still stand by my statement that everyone in rescue is free to make the choices they do for their own reasons, and that the general public is also free to make the choice as to which rescues they will donate money or resources to. T.

And I'd be willing to be money that rescues whose choices you question probably feel the same way. And we are all free to question each other, and choose who we want to support and who we don't, yes? It's still about choices... *grin* T.

Because expecting everyone to agree to a set of guidelines when it's an entirely subjective question is absurd? I think allowing rescue dogs to have puppies is very wrong, but others (like you) would disagree on that point. Are the lives of unborn puppies worth the resources? Who knows, because that is a values question, not something rational that can be worked out with a calculator. Is it right to bag another rescue's use of resources when your own could legitimately be questioned? With regards to the bolded point.. when you're rescuing greyhounds (and possibly other working breeds), saying no to a surrender could (and very likely would) mean that dog's death. So yeah, you have the option to "just" say no. But it's not a simple issue. It comes back to (again) personal values. Having a profitable rescue would be great (I hear puppies are good sellers) but I'd rather have my morals intact Rescues and rescuers still have the choice what they take in and what they allocate resources to... your choices may be different to rescues that I've worked with in the past, but that doesn't mean that either of us are "wrong" in the choices made... I get the sense that you are having a bit of a dig at a rescue that I worked with previously - which shut down a few years ago and the owner is now retired. For the record, I'm not bagging your rescue or your choices... I'm simply stating that the public who make donations are within their rights to select who or what they choose to support based on their own values. T.