silentchild

Donatella, those photos made me :D. The first one looks reluctant to step on the sand haha awww how gorgeous are they!

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen a Pomeranian at the beach?

Not sure if this applies as I don't have puppies, but with my cat and my Rottie it took about 2 weeks over a period of very slow introductions - separated in the house to separated within sight, to free roaming together (supervised). My Rottie taught my cat how to love dogs so now she is a dog lover. Thus when I brought home my new Aussie Shepherd, my cat loved her from the get go, but it has taken my Aussie several months to be comfortable enough to snuggle together, and even now she still doesn't prefer it and treats the cat with a healthy amount of wariness and respect. I don't expect they will ever be as close as my Rottie was with kitty, and I don't force it. These things take time for different individuals.

I love this thread right now because I can relate to all the rants in here! Scootaloo, I've had more or less the exact same thing happen to me as well, walking in the suburbs is like walking through a minefield. Recently I've started going to the off lead park at dusk - I used to walk late at night when there was nobody around but then there was an incident with drunks that completely scared me. So now I go when it is still fairly light - there are a couple of dogs around but they are usually under control and we can keep away from them, even if a dog comes for a sniff it only lasts a few seconds before we are on our way... I am dreading when daylight savings ends and it gets darker earlier and busier at the park at later hours.

My Aussie Shepherd gets a chew or treats in a treat ball, kong or puzzle ball when I leave the house every day, but that is all. I rotate what she gets every day. She has a terrific off switch and knows how to relax when not being asked to work. Sometimes before I leave she will get some form of training, be it heelwork, finding food I hide in a little 'course' in the backyard, short tricks session, or just a walk. She also gets training or exercise in the evenings after work, we usually have training classes to attend twice a week as well as heaps of training at home (I am a junkie for enrolling in online training courses!) as we do quite a few dog sports and I am preparing her for our forray into the trial scene, fitness conditioning work, off leash runs, backyard agility, playing fetch, swimming, etc etc... I think she may be thankful she gets to sleep during those hours at home!! :laugh: Edited to add, she also loves squeaky toys and can spend hours just laying around making them squeak, so I leave her a squeaky toy to play with if she gets bored. She loves squeaking away casually whilst sunbathing.

I only voted hog the bed... she just has to stretch out as long as she can, back legs out straight, front paws out like Superman, and upside down, horizontally across the entire bed. I don't mind it so much though as I like to feel her pressed up against me when I sleep - and always feel a little sad or rejected when she moves to sleep at the end of her bed or in her crate! :laugh:

Based on my vet's recommendations I no longer do annual vaccinations, we give three-yearly vaccinations or titre test. I still treat with Sentinel Spectrum for worms etc.

I use plaque off too, it does soften the plaque a little but I also don't find that much difference. I brush my girl's teeth and also try picking at it with my fingernails, it doesn't seem to make much difference. Next thing I will try a tooth scaler but I worry about accidentally stabbing her LOL. My girl is missing teeth (genetically inherited) so I have a lot of trouble keeping her teeth clean even tho I give her bones and stuff to chew regularly. I too want to avoid a GA for teeth cleaning because of her sensitivity to certain types of medication. I'd be interested in any other tips anyone has.

I've just ordered some tea and calendula cream from Steve too - for the humans! This thread is true to the DOL enabling powers. :laugh:

oh my gosh how terrible, I felt the horror in my chest reading this!! Get well soon Feather and hopefully she has not injured herself too badly.

A few months ago Breeze was so intently focused on licking her butt she licked and licked and licked and fell off the bed. :laugh: She looked very sheepish afterwards. :laugh:

omg so cute and I don't even know why I teared up!! :laugh:

I'd like to know too! My dog also tends to sleep on the floor during the day, despite her having several beds and mats. I've often looked at her and wondered if it's bad for joints! She does sleep on my bed and is on the couch in the evenings so I try and placate myself with that fact, lol.

My dog also doesn't like other dogs sniffing her face, she is more than happy and polite with bum sniffings and calm greetings, but as soon as a dog sniffes her face she tenses up and will often warn the other dog that she is uncomfortable. I don't correct her for warning, I simply move her away or get the other dog to move away. I also do a lot of counter conditioning with her. I try to avoid putting my dog in positions where she will be uncomfortable - so I am very careful with greetings, we tend to follow the 3 second rule for greetings with strange dogs. If I as a human would be quite disgusted at a random stranger coming up and sniffing my face, I can't blame her for feeling the same! Obedience training is a great idea to get her to be used around dogs in a controlled setting and learn to focus on you instead of other dogs. You can also try the Look At That game, that might help with the barking - it is basically counter-conditioning, so rewarding your dog to look at another dog calmly - the book Kavik recommended is very good with explaining LAT. It helped me a lot with my previous dog who was reactive.

Haha that was super adorable!

My dog just tilts her head when strange dog noises come on tv, but she doesn't really watch it per se and loses interest quickly. She looked at it for a bit when Marmaduke was on a few weeks ago and there was a fellow Aussie Shepherd on screen, but then lost interest and didn't really care. My cat on the other hand has sat and watched with great interest 30 minutes of a David Attenborough nature documentary. :laugh:

Oh how lovely, what a beautiful boy and a wonderful tribute to him you wrote. I too hope he will be with you for a long time to come. There's always something special about the oldies. :)

I never feed my dog those Jerhigh chews or rawhide. I've heard cases of dogs being ill or dying from consuming jerky made in China as well. You can always make your own treats at home, there are plenty of recipes online on how to dry your own treats. I rarely, if ever, purchase treats from pet stores. I buy all my treats online, from australian stores which make their treats themselves in Australia using Australian ingredients, and states no preservatives or additives. I usually purchase my chews from www.australianpettreatcompany.com.au/ However lately I've found that some of their treats come in a different packaging which does include preservatives etc, so I am just super careful when selecting what to buy. I do love the extra large bully sticks, keeps my Aussie occupied for several hours. There are also lots of stores that sell homemade treats online, like Happy Paws Training Treats and BJ's Organics. I have used both and am happy with them. Sometimes local farmers markets also have stalls selling homemade treats & chews, if I see one I stock up. Bones are a great way to keep dogs occupied as well. Deer antler is a favourite of mine, but I've found some dogs like it and some don't. My Rottie who was a huge chewer loved it, but my Aussie with a softer mouth is not a fan.

Best of luck to you and your boy, SaltyDog. :)

Cool change is here for me!! It's lovely outside now. Doors and windows open!

I just soaked one of my cats and she felt so much better she climbed onto my lap. Not helpful but very sweet I just wiped my cat down with a damp towel, she decided it was a toy and tried to eat my hand, steal the towel and try to eat it. Clearly the heat is not putting a dampener on her cheekiness. She's now lying in a sunny spot by the window.................

Cool change coming at 5, earlier than forecast, yayyyyyy. http://m.theage.com.au/victoria/temperature-to-plummet-as-cool-change-makes-its-way-across-victoria-20140117-30ydr.html Dog is going to town on some ice cubes at the moment while the cat just bats hers around and chases it as it slides across the floor...

I feel the same way as Rebanne, looking back now on how I cared for my osteo girl and how long I kept her alive with painkillers, and the long difficult months of keeping her comfortable, even though she was happy and bright still, now looking back I reflect and I do wish I had her PTS earlier - not because of how I feel or anything but just because of the sheer struggle I selfishly put her through in the hopes that she would have more good days - every day she had a happy smile on her face I kept her alive - and now looking back I feel like she was happy because that is what she does - she stays happy for me, with me, and I really should have done the right thing by her and let her go before she even felt any more pain. Back then I kept feeling that if I PTS I was "giving up on her" or even committing "murder", but now with the benefit of hindsight I see it all so differently. On the day before she was PTS she suffered a terrible seizure-type attack, I believe as a result of her medications, it was so traumatizing watching her lose herself and I will never forgive myself for it. It haunts me to this very day that I let her stay that one day extra. If my current dog was ever diagnosed with osteosarcoma again (touch wood), I think I would PTS much quicker, so that she will know no suffering and can leave in a dignified manner. My sorrow is a small price to pay for her peace. There is no right or wrong decision, it is all individual cases, and my heart really really goes out to you. I just wanted to share my thought process with you. If you look in the palliative care forum my thread is there which dictates very similiarly to the thoughts that are currently running through your post. At the end of the day our dogs give us so so so much, it is our final duty as their caretakers and our turn to do something for them. Osteo is a terrible, terrible disease but this experience will also help you learn and grow yourself as a pet owner and a human being. Cancer changes lives. Big hugs to you whatever you decide.

Just want to say I really feel for you, I went through the same ordeal with osteosarcoma with my old Rottie girl, we chose not to amputate as we didn't believe she would cope with the recovery and have quality of life after, as her remaining limbs were also bad. We did not do chemo as she would have to go under GA several times a week to have it done and it was not an ordeal I was willing to put her through as anesthetics affected her as well. We went down the route of palliative care with our vets and had an extra 8 months with her, making sure she was comfortable and cherishing every moment together. It is a very tough and lonely journey, my thoughts are with you.

ohh sweet respite, it just started raining here so I quickly grabbed the dog and we used it as an opportunity to go for a walk in the cool rain... lovely. She is much more settled now after the walk. Alas the rain didn't last very long.