Zebette

Really really pleased that Arnie is doing better and hope he continues to do so. We've been watching our Lab all week as last Sunday he managed to steal a square of polar fleece out of the laundry basket and swallowed it whole. I almost died but have been watching his poop and behaviour all week and he's been eating, drinking and playing just as normal ..until 5.18am this morning when he suddenly let it all out and there was the piece of polar fleece all still in one perfect square. I am so relieved it's finally shown itself and I can relax again now.

I've been trying to get the 3 boys next door to stop throwing balls (and other crap) into my garden for the last 8-10 years now. To say it's been a long saga would be an understatement and neither of the parents of these kids are approachable. This week alone we have had 2 tennis balls, a soccer ball and 2 proper hard cricket balls arrive in our garden (we assume all from them but can't be sure) Is it really so hard to teach kids not to put balls over a fence? Had a cricket ball hit the dogs they would have serious injuries not to mention my kids can't play out there and even hanging out my washing is dangerous. They just won't stop. Sorry for my vent it's is a very touchy subject for me that goes way beyond "normal suburban" balls over the fence behaviour. In your case I would go and speak to your neighbour immediately and let him know of the beahviour.

Both my dogs are dreamers, but Sam moreso than Delilah..and more when he was a puppy than now. They "run" in their sleep, "wuff" and the only time I have ever heard Delilah growl was in her sleep. Sam has recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and you would absolutely know the difference between a seizure and a dream. His first seizure he just dropped to the ground while at our friends house and started thrashing around, had no control of himself whatsoever and the fear on his face I will never forget, it is devastating and broke my heart to see. After the thrashing stops comes the recovery time where he is extremely disoriented, he has twice lost use of his back legs and once lost use of both his back and front legs. In this stage we keep him calm, talk gently to him as he "looks through" us and we tend to pat his nose a lot so he can smell us and know we are with him. Bless him but the first sign he is coming good again is always his tail starts to wag just a little. It usually takes a good 10-15 minutes to come around and then he is literally his normal bouncy self again...just a bit tired.

We got Delilah when she was 10 weeks old, and Sampson was 10 months old. It calmed him down heaps, he now listens to us, is much less destructive as he burns off his energy playing with her and he's become a real sookie-bum. His training also improved once he saw her getting treats for doing what she was told. He learned a lot by watching us train her. Delilah is now about 18 months old and Sam just over 2 years and he continues to improve with his behaviour and even lets our 12 year old put him into sits, stays and drops when outside and he loves to shake paws now with our 6 year olds.

I would go with the breeder option too, sounds like he would have a great time. We recently left our two dogs in boarding kennels for 4.5 weeks while we were overseas and I can assure you they did not forget us at all...their faces just lit right up when they saw us (as much as a dog's face can light up anyway!) They had had a great time, looked wonderful and did not come home with any bad habits at all. I would prefer to go back to a breeder than use a vet or home carer service.

Our black Lab Sam is a BYB. I never saw his parents as he was born out in the country but my friend who took one of the girls from the same litter did and she said they were lovely. I didn't know anything about breeders, BYB, puppy farms or what health checks to look for. The "breeders" were coming up to the city to sell the last couple of pups and having seen the photos of my friend's pup we decided to go look at the two males (we had intended to get a Lab so that part wasn't impulsive at least!) By the time we got to see the pups there was only one left and of course we fell in love straight away, I had no idea that 6.5 weeks old was too young to be getting a puppy and so he came home with us the next day. I can't even begin to tell you what a learning curve it is for two people who have NEVER been around dogs in their life taking on a very spirited pup. It's been a rollercoaster but he has grown, matured and settling at last in to a lovely big bear. We joined DOL and that is where the learning curve continued. Needless to say when we added Delilah to the family we were much more aware, and got a lot of advice from the SA Dalmatian Club, went to dog shows and found a well recommended breeder who was fantastic to deal with.

Awww she's just beautiful. Keep up the good work, Sam and the Spotty Princess here send waggy tails to Tilly.

Thankyou for this thread, I just said to DH a couple of nights ago that I should keep an eye out for an new blanket or two for Delilah's crate as she feels the cold so much even though the dog crates are in our bedroom and the heating is on overnight. I went to Kmart at Munno Para yesterday and got her a red blanket and a raspberry pink one, and then while in Coles today I picked up two of the stripey ones for her as well (and another stripey one to cut up for our rat cage too!) What a bargain, 5 blankets for less than $20! As you can see even though Delilah liked the red one she grabbed the pink one from off the bed and tried to put that one in too. She's such a girly girl!

We just picked up our doggies on Monday after leaving them for 34 days while we were in UK/France. They have come home happy, healthy and smelling delicious! I was very nervous about leaving them as I wanted someone with good Labrador experience that would also manage a very princessy Dalmatian who very much feels the cold. They stayed at Bencubbin (they are Lab breeders as well) and we were very happy with the price and care that they got. We had also left them for two nights a couple of months ago to see how they coped and make sure we were happy with our choice and we definitely were. Any concerns we had were dealt with ie I was worried that Delilah would be cold outside at night as she struggles with the cold weather and is used to sleeping inside so they had them sleep inside at night in crates just as they were used to. They have been good as gold since they came home and I could tell by the way the dogs acted around Darryl when we picked them up that they enjoyed playing with him, he was also able to tell us some interesting insights into Sam and Delilah's relationship that only someone who spends time with them would know so we knew he had been interacting with them enough.

Our two play rough (well I consider it rough) but none of the noises are growling and much of the time the tails are still wagging, neither seems to be actually trying to get away from the other and they have never broken skin on each other either and when not playing they love each other's company, sleep near to each other, don't fight over food etc. The only issue I have with my dogs playing is the noise of it...our Delilah is so so so vocal and loud. It's not barking, it's not growling..I can only describe it as her "talking" but I sometimes wonder what on earth the neighbours must think of it! Even when not playing though she can be vocal (again not barking) but with her sighs, whimpers, snorty smiles etc. Apparently her breeder says her mother was very vocal too.

Our youngest kitten, Matilda LOVES our dog Delilah, and while all the other cats run from both our dogs Matilda actively seeks the dogs out for a snuggle. Sam the Labrador licks her head until she is drenched and she always goes back for more. Delilah often gets overwhelmed by Matilda's affection as you can see below:

Our Lab has destroyed a hell of a lot in his time (20 months old) but the only toy he still has from his puppy days is his yellow ultimate tuffy ring. He adores it, and tosses it about and then uses it as his pillow every night in his crate. We also bought our Dally girl her very own pink one on her first birthday a couple of weeks ago and she hasn't destroyed it yet (she's not a major chewer usually) and she too uses in her crate. Sam (the Lab) is so funny to watch when he wiggles across his crate to literally pull the tuffy ring under his head, so human like! It has loads of wear left in it yet.

I am about to try a furminator that I can use on both my Lab and my 5 cats. I hear they are really good. It seems you can get them cheaper on Ebay than elsewhere but I have no idea how to tell if it's a real furminator a fake!? Depending on the breed of your dog maybe look into a furminator?

I just wanted to say I hope your dog is doing better, it's an awful thing to see a dog have a seizure. Our Lab Sampson had one about two weeks ago, he is by no means an older dog either..he's just 18 months old. We rushed him to the emergency vet and were given several possible causes but for us it's a wait and see game if he has anymore we will get further testing done but at this stage it was a one off. Keeping your girl in my thoughts and prayers.

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