Tim'sMum

Ugh...I know how hard it is. When our old ACD Jed was suffering my OH was all for trying something else, more vet visits etc.. He couldn't let go. I picked Jed up and said to him 'Get the keys, because both Jed and I can't stand it any more.' He came with me in the end. 17 years is a great age Gayle....Kassy has obviously had a wonderful life. Run free old girl. :rofl: :D :D from me and also from Mother Moocher, who also sends hugs and her condolences. She is thinking of you.

I noticed this sign on Friday when I walked past the pet shop in our local shopping centre. It was quite large and noticeable....placed over the glass boxes that hold various puppies, kittens and rabbits. Perhaps I should go in and ask..."Now you are seemingly no longer buying from puppy farms, are you just buying from BYBs instead?"

Our back door is always open...and yes, our Staffy despises getting her little tootsies wet when it is raining and has been known to do a piddle inside during extended periods of rain. I make a point of taking her outside periodically if it is raining. I would suggest you do the same, using a food treat to reinforce good behaviour if she does wee outside.

Apart from the excellent information posted by Natsu chan, other issues with pet shop puppies that should be examined are that they are often an impulse buy...ie: gorgeous little puppy in the window. Particularly with small breeds, a dog can live for 16 yrs plus. 'A dog is for life...not for Christmas!' should be hammered into people's heads but it is not. There is also a lot of incorrect information given in pet shops too...especially with poodle cross puppies. ie: They don't shed - most of them do. They need minimal grooming - they do and often more so than a purebred poodle. eg: One lady I met at our dog park a few years back bought a poodle X puppy and was told that he was a Miniature Poodle X miniature Curly Coated Retriever (which does not exist as a 'miniature'). She was also told at the pet shop that he would need minimal grooming, just a trim with scissors on his tummy occasionally. When he got the stage of looking like a walking shag pile carpet, we (the other dog walkers and I) finally convinced this lady that he HAD to go to a grooming salon and regularly. I suspect she thought she had bought a low maintenance dog but he certainly wasn't, and will require ongoing costs with grooming for the rest of his life. Another issue is what the adult dog will look like. eg: the Puggle, a cross between a Pug and a Beagle. Every puppy is cute but honestly, adult 'Puggle' crosses are not a pretty dog. Without seeing an adult example of the dog, people have no idea what the end result will be....and as a result end up with a dog that looks nothing like the cute puppy it was. Yet another issue is 'hybrid vigour'....an idea pushed by a certain TV personality called 'He who shall not be named', who espoused the joys of cross bred puppies having hybrid vigour. This falls apart when you cross two breeds who are prone to certain conditions such as luxating patellas and hip dysplasia or breed from dogs indiscriminately as they do in the large scale puppy farms. If you look at some of the larger pet shop chains, they are often staffed by young girls who work part time, particularly on weekends. Whilst they may love animals and be enthusiastic...they probably have minimal experience of dog ownership/dog training etc. and probably get little or no training from the shop owner/management. Just some more food for thought.

Good work MM! Pennant Hill Rd...... :birthday: :D As you haven't heard from the owner...they could be away on holidays and someone is going in to feed the dog on a daily basis perhaps? A lonely Staffy can be an escapologist...being the needy creatures they are. I found two lost dogs late one afternoon a few years ago and kept ringing the phone number on the collar. It turned out the owner was in the UK and someone was minding them. They rang the pound next morning and retrieved the dogs.

Because I think photographing or filming people against their their will in this way makes push and shove situations inevitable. These wardens have gone beyond the role of guarding penguins, and with that comes risk. It does not matter if you think they "should" push, fact is, people do. You or I being pushed is nothing, an old lady that is pushed could be seriously hurt, thats why age is a factor. These people are volunteers, guarding an endangered species. There is no excuse for anyone to push any volunteer....particularly an older lady. Cody....yes, it is a public beach at Manly and a busy tourist area. Anyone can stand there and take a photo and many people do just that. Dogs are definitely not allowed on the beach, even on lead. We locals place great value on the Fairy Penguins and the fact that they call our area home. You can often see them hiding under the steps down to the beach, right beside Manly Wharf.

My dogs know that 'Granma' is a soft touch here too. They do very well, when Mum thinks no-one is looking. They don't use a 'begging bowl' however.

My ACD (who died 8 years ago) Jed protected me twice. The first time I was walking him, off lead on a fairly rough isolated bush track when a man ran past us both...he was in full jogging clothes. Neither the dog or I took much notice of him. He must have stopped, turned and ran back towards me, although I was unaware of him until he was right behind me....and my dog went for him. He yelled and I spun around. I called Jed off and clipped him on the lead but not before he left two red grazes on this bloke's leg. He yelled that he just wanted to ask me the time. He could have called out instead of running right up behind me? The second time, I was walking Jed quite late at night, about 11.00pm as I had been out and had a busy day. I was just past the local shops and heading home when two young blokes appeared in front of me, having come out of a narrow laneway at the end of the shops. One asked me if I had a light....a strange question when I wasn't smoking and didn't have a bag or handbag. I said 'No' and started to walk on when he stepped in front of me again and the other one was standing to the side. Jed stepped in front of me, lifted his lip and gave the most gutteral ferocious growl I have ever heard from any dog. The young bloke in front of me yelled at me to 'Call my dog off!'. Ummmm not likely! I told them to b***er off or I would let the dog go. Being big brave blokes....they bolted. OH used to worry about me walking the dog at night, but wasn't concerned after that.

I wouldn't be leaving my dogs...no way. Either OH or I would be staying with them if there was no way to get them out.

What a gorgeous photo of her with your Rottweiler. I suspect that whatever breeds there are in her.....there is something big/tall! ;) She is not going to be small when she is fully grown....and as for Staffy? Not a chance that there is any Staffy there. There may have been two sires to the litter though...so it's a possibility that her littermates were Staffy X perhaps. One of my dogs comes from a mixed litter apparently....with more than one sire. His mum was a Kelpie and some of his siblings looked like Staffy X, but he is obviously a Kelpie/GSD X.

Thanks for the laugh! What a cutie. He reminds me of my son at the same age....a big chunky bub who was into everything and loved the dog. 15 yrs later....he is 6'2" tall and as skinny as a rake.

I'd advise the Permoxin too Onstill. Put it on a few days before you leave and again while you are there.....and after a swim if he does manage to get into water. If I remember rightly the instructions suggest using it once a week. You must check him all over too....particularly inside his ears, under his collar and under his legs.

Thank Souff....for saying what I wanted to say. I have heard, that in her younger years, she was a superb trainer and handler of Labradors and could work them better than many professional trainers. She is also well aware of how important pedigrees are..in both dogs and horses. I would suspect she just kept up the X breeds because they come from dogs she has loved. It's not as if she has a sign on the fence of Buckingham Palace saying...'Designer puppies for sale!' By the way...I'm not sure which palace grounds it is in, but the Royals have a special pet cemetary, where each and every much loved dog is buried, with a headstone. She is also Patron of Dogs Trust....a dog welfare/rehoming organisation and the largest dog welfare charity in the UK. From the Royal's website...... "The Queen is Patron of over 30 animal charities from the RSPCA to The Red Poll Cattle Society and the Labrador Retriever Club. Many of the charities reflect Her Majesty’s personal interests: she is patron of The Royal Pigeon Racing Association and owns her own pigeons which are kept on the Sandringham Estate; her Patronage of the Royal Windsor Horse Show was a natural choice as the Royal Family have been involved with the event since its inception and her involvement with the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association is indicative of her private interest in breeding and racing horses. The Duke of Edinburgh’s animal patronages reflect his interest in birds (the British Falconers' Club, Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology and Birds Australia) and conservation (World Wide Fund for Nature, South Saskatchewan Wildlife Association and Friends of the Sea Otter amongst others). The Duchess of Cornwall takes a keen in interest in animal welfare and is Patron of the following animal organisations, the Animal Care Trust, the Brooke Hospital for Animals, the Moorland Mousie Trust, and the Langford Trust which supports the University of Bristol's School of Veterinary Science. Other members of the Royal Family are involved in numerous animal charities, from small, niche organisations such as St Tiggywinkles or the British Goat Society to international wildlife organisations."

Hopefully the seizures will be rare events Ruthless. I know they can be scary.

People I know had a full Pitbull. The daughter of the family was living in Qld at the time and 'rescued' this pup from ferals who wanted a fighting dog, and had bought it from a BYB....somehow talking them into giving it to her. The pup was only 6 weeks old at the time. She drove all the way back to Sydney and then back to Brisbane over a weekend, so she could deliver the pup to her mum to care for....as she was well educated on bull breeds, having always had them. This dog was the most amazing dog.....she was perfectly trained, fully socialised with other dogs, loved kids, loved anyone who would give her attention. She went to work with the son of the family quite often. He is a gardener and has a lot of old ladies as customers. Some of them had a special water bowl bought just for the dog and kept treats for her. She would keep the little old ladies company while their gardens were being looked after. She was chipped and registered as a Ridgeback X due to her coat colour. The mum did worry that someone might tag her as a Pitbull...(which I did straight away), but as her nature was so placid we all hoped that it would never happen, and it didn't. The mum's care with training and socialisation from day one paid off and this dog responded beautifully. I would suggest that this fellow work extremely hard at socialisation and training from today if he wants to keep the dog. If the dog is from fighting lines and unless he is prepared to put in the hard work now...he is better off not having it.

Focal epilepsy usually affects one part of the body and is localised to the motor cortex of the brain. A focal seizure can become a generalised seizure however. Eg: a focal seizure will usually start with one limb twitching. It can stop with no further involvement of any other part of the body...or the electrical disturbance can spread to other parts of the brain and cause further seizing. Focal seizures usually stem from some sort of structural anomaly within the brain. With dogs and humans...seizures are more common after just waking or on the threshhold of sleep....when brainwave patterns are changing. Being woken suddenly can often induce a seizure. You see seizures in older humans & dogs due to brain degeneration, or in dogs that have had some brain damage...but usually there is no known cause for epilepsy in mammals. Ruthless...what you describe is most likely a clonic seizure, where Angel does not lose conciousness but the muscles contract and relax rythmically....often described as 'petite mal'....a term that covers an array of seizure types where, the person or animal does not fall over and lose conciousness....which is called a tonic/clonic seizure or 'grand mal'. You would need to discuss this latest seizure with your Vet. The blood tests that Angel had previously should have discounted some sort of metabolic cause, such as poisoning or diabetes, so you can probably assume that she has mild form of ideopathic epilepsy. 'Ideopathic' means there is no known cause. She can be medicated....anti-convulsants often control seizures extremely well...in many cases stopping them entirely, but once you start them they must be continued and given on a twice daily basis. Stopping medication suddenly can cause a more serious seizure. As with any medication there are side effects that can affect a dog (probably the same as in humans), which can cause rashes, itching or affect liver function. It may be worthwhile waiting to see whether the seizure activity escalates before deciding on medication....but do discuss this with the Vet.

It's taken 21 years to partially train mine too. As for dogs in the house....it was just the way I was brought up. Dogs have always been inside dogs...even with my grandparents, who always had their dogs in the house. OH had never had a dog before he moved in with me....so he just had to learn. If he didn't want a dog inside the house...tough! My oldest friend was shocked when I suggested she get rid of her OH, when he insisted their dog not even be on the verandah because she shed hair there. He makes her go into the yard. :) Would I put up with an OH like that...no way!

Could you take her next time....and muzzle her perhaps? It may save some more messes to come home to?

Good on the Postie for saving the dog's life. Such a shame he got bitten in the process, but I imagine that the dog was very stressed and panicking...and probably would have bitten anyone trying to help get it off the fence, even an owner. In a way, I can understand people leaving a dog in the front yard, if they have been robbed at some stage, as it would certainly deter would be thieves, but when a fence is low enough for a dog to leap high enough to get it's collar caught, then a rethink is necessary. A local house here has a waist high front fence and when I walk past with my dogs I have been caught by the dog living there (if it's in the front yard) going totally feral at the fence. I have avoided that corner for ages. As I hadn't seen the dog for months, I walked past again last week...only to have the dog almost leap the fence in it's frenzy to attack mine. It scared the *&%$ out of me...and my dogs, so I can imagine how a postie feels.

Oooops....that's a radical way to complain then.

The local paper (Sydney - Northern Beaches) has an article this morning about a break-in at a local dog grooming salon, Scoobydooz Doggie Day care & Grooming Salon at Brookvale, on Wednesday night. $7,000 worth of dog grooming equipment was stolen...yet other valuables like computers and office equipment were ignored. Someone setting up in opposition perhaps? It's a bit of a low act. If anyone suspects they may know who did it...call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or Dee Why Police - 9971.3399

A friend is taking her dog to Japan in a few weeks and is having to take him unvaccinated for rabies due to the shortage of vaccine....which she was told will not be available here until next year. It's not a hassle with Japan though as he is coming from a rabies free country....and he does not need to be vaccinated once he arrives, as it is considered rabies free there too. AQIS have some weird rules though. When another friend moved back to live in Sweden AQIS insisted that her dog be vaccinated for rabies...yet Sweden do not need imported dogs to be vaccinated if they come from a rabies free country?

Advantix is a much better option than Frontline. Nothing beats a check of the dog every day though. Paralysis ticks have a 3 year growth cycle...nymph ticks live in lower undergrowth, adult ticks move higher up. We live in Sydney's 'tick central' and have bandicoots here, which are a good indicator of lots of ticks, as bandicoots are a common carrier of ticks (and are immune to them)...ticks feed on them, drop off, grow some more, feed again etc.. In the last two months I have had 4 ticks, as has one of our dogs, despite using prevention. Luckily I have found the ticks early.

I met a lady whose dog escaped the yard in Newcastle....and was found two years later wandering the streets in western Sydney. He was microchipped so the pound contacted her. This little dog could have been picked up, found or even stolen anywhere...then either escaped or been dumped. Good on you Dee al for catching her...hopefully she will find her owner.

So you think it is worth the risk to place a rescued dog into an unknown situation...just in case a home check offends a prospective buyer? A dog that has already lost one home through whatever circumstances? I think any rescuer, or breeder has a right to know that a dog or puppy they sell is going to a safe, secure home with adequate yard space for the breed. Having rehomed a Kelpie X, there is no way I would had let someone have her who worked full time and lived in an apartment or only had a small courtyard. I knew the dog and knew what was the best type of home for her....and don't necessarily believe what people may tell me over the phone. It was easy...unless I did a home check, they didn't get the dog, and could go elsewhere.