Odin-Genie

People could use the same excuse when they walk their dog offlead in onlead only ovals etc (yeah I know it's illegal but my dog loves it), or bring their dog to the dog park without having any control (yeah that's against council regulations but my dog requires the exercise). I don't understand selective adherence to law.

It worries me too. Do police dog handlers let the police dogs run off lead into someone's fenced backyard without checking if there are dogs around? And if there are dogs around, do the dog handlers have 100% control to ensure their dogs don't react to the owner's dogs? Would the police be held accountable if their dog bit someone's dog in their backyard? Would the owner be held accountable if an offlead police dog jumped into the backyard and was bitten by the owner's dog? Most police dogs I have seen have a pretty aggressive body language and I'm sure most dogs would react to them if they jumped into the yard.

Totally agree. I will never PTS my dog because he/she bit me. I will do anything and everything to keep my dogs safe, including keeping them in a way that they can't bite others even if they had the inclination.

I don't think that's correct. My GR jumped my fences because a bush turkey walked near the fence. They had never seen a bush turkey before. It wasn't due to nervousness, fear or aggression. Just a desire to chase something unique. Once she got out she lost interest in the turkey and did a few zoomies instead before my neighbour caught her (very dangerous I know, but we are on a quiet road). I changed my fences and put full colour bond fences the same week.

My female golden retriever was in a litter of nine and she was easily double that size/weight. To me Oscar looks much younger than 8 weeks. I am also surprised that the breeder did not mention that the puppy is seriously underweight and small when they handed over the pup. The breeder of my GR puppy spent about two hours talking through the puppy's requirements, health needs, grooming requirements, showing me all health tests etc when I went to pick up my puppy.

Totally agree. While my dogs are perfectly friendly with all strangers, I still get them to move to the nature strip when I see people walking on the footpath. But if any of my dogs had ever snapped at a passer-by, I would ensure that the dog is always walked with a muzzle. I would do this to ensure the safety of my dog, as well as the safety of everyone else.

My dogs travel in the back seat with harnesses buckled to the seat belt. However, when they travel in the boot of my wagon, I tether their harness with a lead to the loops near the back door. That way they can't go over to the back seat.

That's what I worry about too even though I know that my dogs would be most comfortable at home. I have heard so many horror stories about dogs getting out when owners are away. I prefer to keep them in a nice kennel (I like the Terrigal Pet Resort in Sydney) where they can have their own air-conditioned room and their own small grassy yard. Even if they stress a little, I'll at least know that they are safe.

My dogs (25 kg and 32 kg) play very well with small dogs. In particular my Elkhound. When he is playing with smaller dogs, it is usually chase with the smaller dog chasing him, otherwise he would sit down to be at the same level with the smaller dog. However, I do worry when my two dogs are playing together and a small dogs wants to jump in and bark at them. My dogs love to wrestle and chase each other and it would be really great if the small dog owners could call their dogs back and not let them get involved. But since that rarely happens, I have to stop my dogs from playing with each other, put them on a leash and walk out. That is why I prefer to go to the dog park when there is no one around, and ask people to wait while I get my dogs out if people/dogs I don't know try to come in.

I have a Golden Retriever, and that's a breed that tends to smell. However, in my experience dogs that stay outside and get wet regularly smell more. My goldy is mostly inside so she usually smells quite pleasant. If she gets wet in the rain we towel dry her immediately, and use a dryer if required. On the odd occassions when we can't do that she gets very smelly. I normally wet a towel with hot water and wipe her all over. Then I use the Plush Puppy Odour Muncher after toweling her dry. It's got a pleasant smell and works well if you can't give your smelly dog a bath immediately.

I hadn't heard that one before. I thought microchip scanners could scan all chips. What's the point in having a microchip otherwise if pounds can't scan them? I'm sure pounds won't go out and buy all the scanner brands available and then try each one on every dog!!! Can someone who works with microchips and scanners confirm this?

You can always call your dog "Artemis" though. My dog's kennel name is Brandulfer. But his name is Odin and he is regiatered as Odin with the local council with the kennel name in brackets. Your dog's name doesn't have to be the kennel name. And the breeders of both my dogs were very prompt in transferring the ownership to my name.

I feel the same about my elkhound. While he does have the independence of the northern breeds, he is very affectionate and good with people.

I wonder if female golden retrivers tend to be a bit of a princess Mine is like that too. Very good tempered but quite demanding. I actually call her my "little princess"

How can people do that? Do they not realise how heart breaking it can be to lose a pet? Recently, while walking over to the car park from work, I found two labs walking near the Pacific Highway. No owners around, and no contact details on the collar. So I got hold of the labs, called people at work to find anything that could work as a leash (they made a string of lanyards), and called the rangers. I had to wait for one hour for the ranger to arrive who was extremely happy that I had called him. Apparently the owners had been looking desparately for these dogs. But the interesting thing was while I was waiting with the dogs, people passing by asked me if they were mine. When I said no and that I was waiting for the rangers, most of the comments were: "such lovely dogs, you should take them home", "why would anyone dump them", "I would take them home if I had enough space"..... It looks like people assume that if dogs are on their own they must have been dumped. Perhaps that is why they feel they can simply take them home?

Wouldn't the opposite apply to dogs though? I would want my dogs to be very comfortable with strangers approaching them in case they ever get out. I wouldn't want them to panic and attack someone or run away.

Do thundershirts work on dogs who want to go out and bark at the sound of thunder and don't try and hide? My elkhound does that. He doesn't want to be comforted. And no treats can distract him when he is in this mode. I normally keep him inside, use "thunderpetics' drops and play classical music. But I was wondering if there was anyhting else. He is much better now and doesn't get bothered by minor thunderstorms. But we have had some pretty bad ones recently. Also, the actual storm or the lightening doesn't bother him. It's just the sound of thunder that sets him off. Though he is not bothered by other loud noises such as aeroplanes, helicopters, drills, lawnmowers etc.

That is annoying. However, please keep in mind that walking more than four dogs in public by one person is illegal in NSW and is not considered effective control (section 13, subsection 4 of the Companion Animals Act NSW). I assume you are in NSW since that's what your signature says.

I totally agree that it is rude to just walk up to your dog/puppy and try to pat it without asking first. It is particularly annoying when young kids do that since they usually have no clue how to interact with a dog. But I don't think socialising damages dogs. It has helped my dogs a lot, and calmed them down significantly. I let pretty much everyone pat my dogs when they were puppies, and they were super cute fluff balls so they did draw a lot of attention. What I did ensure was that I would intervene if my dogs looked uncomfortable. How you socialise your puppy depends on what you want to achieve. I socialised my puppies all the time. Took them everywhere with me. They were initially quite crazy and super excited. But as I continued to socialise them, took them to restaurents, shops, they calmed down and now they are so well behaved in public that I get complements on their behavious wherever I take them. But saying that, I never intended them to focus on me. My only intention was to have nice, friendly dogs who would behave well in public and around strange dogs and people so that I could take them everywhere with me.

I got my male puppy first, and got my female puppy six months later. That meant that I had the time to train the first puppy and the second followed the first in most instances. However, because the difference in age is not much, they loved playing and continue to love playing with each other.

My dogs do all of the above.... If the grass is wet, Odin would rather stand on my feet (or better still be picked up)... When he wants to cuddle he leans against me looking at me with soulful eyes... When he wants to play he brings his toy and tries to push into my hands while he is doing a play bow... My dogs always get to go through a door before me so that I can see where they are going... same with walks And yes, they sleep on the couch and the bed... They are perfectly happy dogs who have never tried to dominate.

I wonder if people would react the same way if there was a children's play area next to their house!! They generate the same amount of noise, if not more. People threaten dogs because they know there won't be serious consequesces (as demonstrated by the rangers and police replies). If someone had threatened to put poison in a children's area, I'm sure the police would have taken it very seriously indeed.

RANGER AND POLICE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED. Just incase the offender sees this as a good thing... I'll add: RANGER AND POLICE HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED of the threat.

Every single moment I look upon my dogs.....

Here is mine: Watching the street......