Odin-Genie

:D That's priceless!!! Update: I called the emergency vet last night and they said it should pass through her system without any major problems. But if she seems to have trouble with her poos then there might be a blockage. We will watch her and see how she goes. So far she is her usual self, no signs of distress. Vetrg, she did not eat the wick. That was left intact with the rest of the candle. Thanks for your replies.

Hi all, Our Golden retriever Genie has just chomped off the top part of a perfumed wax candle. The wick is, we think largely intact. Should we be very worried or will she sort it out through vomiting and loose motions? Any help will be greatly appreciated :-) We are a wee bit stressed!

I find this particularly worrying: To make their life easier, some rangers would simply come to the house when there is no one around and seize the dogs. this is the stupidest proposed law I've ever seen. What's wrong with people? And shouldn't the option to debark be made easier before seizing and putting the dogs down?

See i see the first as being the alpha or pack leader. i agree they are a peacekeeper but not really a 'dominant' personality. The 'dominant' dog is usually not a pack leader. I personally think you'll have some submissive personalities and some dominant personalities and varying degrees in a litter. I think dominance isn't created through lack of training but is more likely made much worse through lack of training and poor owner responsibility. I don't have much experience but i see dominant nature as something you handle not necessarily cure but would be interested to know others views on handling the dominant nature. The 'peacekeeper' sounds like my elkhound. He is extremely gentle with older dogs and small dogs and tends to leave other dogs alone. But most dogs defer to him, including dogs twice his size. He would never be aggressive though he sometimes tells off extremely boistrous puppies. However, he wouldn't back off if a dog tried to dominate him. But he has no interest in bossing other dogs and never humps other dogs.

Totally agree. I know that legally my dogs are my property and I own them. But I never use the word 'owner' in relation to them. They are part of my family. For me 'adopted' is a better word. I don't use 'mum' or 'dad' simply because we don't have kids so we have never referred to each other in those terms. But I have no issues with people referring to them as our 'kids'. I fail to understand why people find it weird. Yes, they are a different species who need to be treated differently. But they can still be loved as much as any human being. To me, my dogs are like adopted children.

No, retrievers ears would not be cropped, as the ear leather falling over the canal muffles the sound of the guns. Other spaniels which work closer to the guns have longer and thicker ears because they are exposed to more noise. Most retrievers/pointers/setters who were bred to work in the field do have "floppy" ears for exactly the same reason. And they would never be cropped. Agree. I think there are valid reasons for cropping ears and docking tails when these dogs are working. Just as you pointed out the reasons for floppy ears in the gun dogs. However, my point was about non-working dogs. If people crop the ears of dobes etc for health reasons, even when they are not working, then the same logic should apply to non-working GRs as well. Some dogs do look better with cropped ears and some don't. My issue is with the statement that people crop their non-working dogs' ears for health reasons when it is actually to improve their looks.

If that is the case and these dogs are structurally faulty in their natural state, why is that standard recognised as the breed standard? ANKC recognises both floppy and erect ears in Dobermans, as well as docked and undocked tails. Shouldn't dog shows stop accepting faulty features? Shouldn't the breeders work towards removing these faults from their lines to improve the breed instead of conforming to the breed standard (which, without surgery, would have floppy ears)? I don't buy the argument that non-working dogs have cropped ears due to health reasons. It is a purely cosmetic procedure for non-working dogs. If the health reason was paramount, we would see Golden Retrievers with cropped ears. No one does that because it doesn't look good!!!

I don't think it's a loyalty issue. My dogs are part of my family, who grew up as part of my family and I know their food requirements better than anyone else. I check their poos, I watch their weight and know exactly what they do well on. So I decide what they eat based on my research and observation of my dogs. My dogs get Canidae grain free salmon food along with barf patties and raw bones. The vets have recommended Hills's Science but I wouldn't feed that to my dogs.

Recently I found a hard lump near my elkhound's shoulder. I took him to the vet who first tried to drain it with a syringe. But that was inconclusive since there was no liquid in the lump. He suggested surgical removal. Turned out to be a sebaceous cyst that had hardened. But I'm feeling so relieved that I know for sure it was benign. If there is even a little bit of doubt, get it checked by a vet.

I don't withhold water. However, since my dogs sleep in the bedroom which has carpet and the door is closed due to AC, we don't keep the water bowl inside the bedroom. My dogs let us know when they want a drink and we open the door for them.

That's lovely. Happy birthday to Emmy.

Thanks Huga. I'm getting two lenses with my camera with AF ability. I guess I'll just have to hold off buying more lenses for now

Thanks FranCQ. Do you need to use the auto focus often? With SLRs I would have thought that manual focus will be more in use. That's why I didn't opt for the D90. I liked the ability to turn the screen for odd angle photos.

Many people in this forum have suggested adding a bit of pineapple juice to the food. Apparently it stops them from eating poo. I think it is important to feed a diet that gets digested well. Then the poo is not going to smell like food to them. If you are feeding kibble, get a high quality kibble. Raw meat/bones are good as well. I feed my dogs Canidae grain free salmon kibble (this also lists pineapple juice as one of the ingredients) as well as barf patties and bones. My dogs have never attempted to eat poo.

Hi BC Crazy, To add a word of reassurance... when I got my GR puppy, she behaved in exactly the same way, but at a slightly lower level of aggression. I called in the trainer/behaviourist who has helped train all my dogs. We used the same method suggested here. I gave her little bits of raw meat to chew on and every time I walked past her, I would give her an additional tasty morsel. Did the same during her regular meal times. Now my two dogs eat their bones sitting next to each other and I can take bones out of their mouths without any issue. So please see a behaviourist but don't consider it a huge problem. I hope it works out well.

Hi, I'm getting a Nikon D5000. Has anyone used it? What are the pros and cons?

I would always get puppies. Even though they are hard work, I wouldn't want to miss out on a crucial part of my dog's life.

What an absolutely gorgeous and caring idea I would be over the moon with that even a lovely card Same here. I got a card from the breeders printed with a very early puppy photo of the litter for my dog's first Christmas and I adored it!!!

While that's a good point, and while it may not have physically harmed the dog - I'd probably punch someone if I saw them drag and lift my dog up from the neck by the lead... vet or not, especially when they haven't tried other options or asked me to try to get them to on the scales myself. It's just not what I consider the right thing to do, and not the kind of care that I expect to be given to my dogs. Totally agree. While it may not physically hurt them, it may affect them psychologically if they are not used to rough handling. My vet would always ask me or OH to put our dogs on the scales. We also hold our dogs for vaccinations, removals of stiches etc. When my dogs are unwilling to go on the scales, we have physically lifted them. And that includes my GR. If someone treated my dogs like that in front of me, I would seriously worry what they would do behind my back.

That's just a typo on the page. They have spelled it correctly in the first paragraph. There are plenty of typos on DOL. If their methodology is faulty or their assumptions unscientific, those are valid grounds for criticism.

I usually take my dogs along when I holiday in NSW. However, it is not easy to find fully fenced dog friendly properties that allow dogs inside. I usually have to spend a lot of time on stayz to find an appropriate place. If we go overseas for a holiday, then of course it is not practical to take them with us.

There are some cafes and restaurants in NSW that allow dogs in the outside area. I have one such restaurant near me and I often take our two dogs when we go out go dinner. My dogs sit near the table and usually people come over to pet them. The first time I did this, my dogs went a little crazy. But now they are used to going out and sitting quietly. I wish there were more such places. I think it would definitely socialize the dogs more and improve the human- dog bonding.

I have an issue with this sentiment. There are innumerable dogs in pounds who could be saved. But can any of them replace a loved family pet, however untrained? To me each dog is unique. They are not cars that if one breaks down you simply get another one. I know that legally dogs are property, but for many people dogs are family. That needs to be taken into account before we callously ask for dogs to be PTS. We don't know the history, we have only read newspaper accounts of what happened, and we don't know if it was the first time this occured. If my dogs had been aggressive and some one had suggested I should PTS them since I could save a better tempered one from the pound, it would be extremely offensive. Yes, aggressive dogs need to be contained. Yes, the owner is responsible for what happened. But if it was my dog who did this, I would do anything to keep it safe, including keeping the dog in a dog run so that this can never happen again. And I would do this because it is my individual unique dog that I love, not the idea of 'a dog'. And I would spend as much time and energy as it takes to keep my dogs safe.

Our dogs belong to both of us and are registered in both our names. My OH is an extreme dog person as well and we love both our dogs equally.

Same here. I don't take my dogs to the beach very frequently, but they always get a bath when we get home. My dogs are allowed on my bed and I wouldn't want anything yucky to cling to their coats.