Odin-Genie

A dog is not a child but a dog can be as precious as a child. Mine certainly are. Yap, this is a terrible thing to happen. But please see a grief councellor as others have suggested.

My dogs usually get grain free kibble, Dr B's barf patties and raw bones. However, I do feed them canned food every once in a while. I use Ziwi Peak. These are grain free canned food with no colours, preservatives or fillers. Their websites say that only ingredients passed for human consumption are used. My dogs love Ziwi Peak and their poos are great too after eating this.

When my dog was a puppy, he refused to eat kibble unless it was mixed with something exciting such as mince or canned goodies such as sardines. Now he has no issues. I wonder if the puppy is being fussy about food and adding a bit of extra something would help.

People used to mistake my goldie for a lab or a lab x till she was about 16 months old!!!! She used to have a very light and short coat. But now at nearly three years she has a thick, lustrous coat and looks great.

Totally agree. I think it's fair enough to enforce strong fences. That should be the case for all dogs, not just the ones declared 'menacing'. But to have to put a notice declaring you have a menacing dog just because someone got scared is extremely unfair on dog owners. I had some people over once who were so scared of dogs that they wouldn't be in the same room as my 3 month old puppy. If that puppy ran up to someone on the other side of the fence who had a dog phobia, it could easily be declared menacing. Also, at present this is about front yards. But when this law is enforced, it's likely that neighbours who don't like dogs would want to enforce it for shared fence lines. So if there is a dog in the back yard with a shared fence, the neighbour on the other side could claim they find it scary and get it declared menacing. I understand the principle of the law, but I really really hope this never becomes the law in NSW. I don't have enough trust in the council's ability to judge a dog's temperament to be able to make a fair call. If it was just about putting up strong fences, I wouldn't have an issue. But a notice about or declaration of a menacing dog could very quickly become the precursor for a dangerous dog declaration, leading to severe restrictions or PTS orders.

When I got my second puppy (my goldy), my first dog was about 6 months old. I never fed them in separate rooms. Each time I got a puppy, I asked their trainer to come home and do a few one-on-one sessions at home before puppy class. She showed me how to train them to sit side by side and receive treats or eat side by side without going for each others' food. Worked like a wonder. Now I can leave my dogs eating with their bowls a few inches apart and they won't touch each others' bowl. They can sit next to each other and chew their bones. In three years I haven't had a single instance of food aggression except at the very beginning when I brought home my goldy puppy. However, even though they have no food aggression, I will never leave them alone at home with food around. Now my sister has a new puppy and I'm getting all three dogs to eat in the same room. I will reiterate what my dogs' trainer said, that the dogs need to be trained to see the owners as food providers and not feel any need to sort out food allocation among themselves.

My dogs are on Advantix. They've never been bothered by flies even though we have a fare number of flies around this time.

Totally agree. There should be some way to fine people who don't pick up after their dogs. Next to barking, dog poo is probably the reason most non-dog owners dislike dogs. I don't want to watch what I'm stepping on every time I go for a walk.

I put Advantix on three spots (between the shoulder blades, middle of the back and just above the tail). That's what the vet advised. My dogs never lick it so that's not a problem.

It's fairly big... size of a normal backyard pool. Looks great. Can you book it for your dogs only or is it open to all dogs like a dog park?

Both my dogs get bathed in the bath tub. In summer they usually get a bath every fortnight. In winters, once a month.

By the way, love your dog in the avatar photo! Lovely eyes.

Thanks Saxonpup. As I said, Odin walked into the house on his very first day as if he owned the place Was very confident. The breeder (Elkie1) told me that he might not eat anything or cry in the night. Well, the little devil promptly cleaned off his dinner and slept through the night By the way, this was a lucky shot. Most photos from that time include half a tail, one paw, a disappearing ear......

He is. He is amazing. When he is playing with smaller dogs, he would sit down or roll over to make them comfortable, with old dogs he is extremely gentle. And this is particularly impressive considering that he is extremely confident and will never be submissive to a dog trying to bully him. He is also very independent and cheeky, but extremely caring. I could go on and on........ But yes, I am extremely proud of him. What kind of dogs do you have Moselle?

Thanks. How can I resist posting photos of Odin Here are two photos, one puppy photo taken 5 minutes after he got home on the very first day

I got two 10m dog leads from ebay. They are quite sturdy!!

Thanks. Elky visited us last evening and the two brothers played non-stop for over four hours. I grilled minced turkey patties for them with sprinkled cheese on top!!! We initially had plans to take them out but the rain killed that plan. However, I think they enjoyed wrestling on the carpet more

Three years back we drove in pelting rain to pick up a darling little puppy who stole our hearts the moment we set eyes on him at the breeders' place. When I took him in my arms and started walking towards the car, I was quite nervous. I had only had dogs when I was a child. This was the first dog I and my OH were going to be responsible for as adults. Would we be able to take care of him properly? Would he be happy with us? Odin slept in my arms during the 1 hr drive home, his tiny cold nose poking my neck. We had everything set for him at home: the puppy pen, bed, food, toys. He walked in like he owned the place and started playing. It was a delight to watch him. At puppy class, he was the teacher's pet. He got everything in one go. But he was stubborn. He wouldn't do stuff unless he wanted to. At home, he would often turn the training into a game and soon we would all be laughing and playing. He chewed through my walls, trashed at least 20 dog beds, poured mulch all over my carpet during his first six months. But no one could look at those eyes and be angry at him. Today he is a joy to have around. I can never cuddle him enough. He is sensitive, happy, non-reactive. But more than anything else, he fills my heart with joy. So here's wishing my darling Odin a very happy birthday. He is three today. And here's also wishing his siblings Elky and Hannah a very happy birthday as well. :D

My dogs are always fed inside twice a day and if they don't finish what's in their bowl (which has never happened yet) it will be taken away. I never leave food around. My dogs are fed bones inside as well on their feeding mats. They are not allowed to take the bones outside. When they lose interest in the bones before it is finished, it's taken away. Even when my dogs were younger and needed to be fed three times a day, I would lock them inside with food in treat balls.

I have a dog door so the dogs come and go as they please. Though they spend most of their time inside lounging on bean bags!! They usually get walked and taken to the dog park for about 1 hour every week day. It's usually more on weekends. However, when it rains they stay inside. My elkhound hates getting wet. My goldy would love a walk in the rain but she is prone to hotspots if she gets wet, and doesn't enjoy the drier. So she stays inside as well. We don't go for walks if it is too hot. None of my dogs can handle heat. On really hot days we go to the dog park late in the evening and let them stroll at their own pace.

If you are going to use the seat belt buckle, it's best to use a harness that fits around the body instead of a collar.

I have harnesses with short leads that clip into the seat belt buckles. Very convenient. My profile photo is of my dogs in the car with their harnesses. They don't chew or get tangled in the leads.

Of course puppies require a lot of attention, but if you think that you have to be at home 24/7 to raise a pup you are dead wrong. It is quite possible to work and raise a pup, and do it properly. Agree. Both I and my OH work full time. I took a week off work each time I got my puppies to settle them, but otherwise they were on their own in a secure area inside the house. I had no issues. However, i do think it is important to take some time off to settle a puppy.

My dogs, as puppies, did not poo on lead. I put in a lot of effort to train them to do so. I take them everywhere with me, on long drives, dinners, walks, and it is important that they can do their stuff on command when we take breaks. They are not allowed to mark on lead. I would find it quite inconvenient if my dogs would only poo in the backyard, and it wouldn't be good for them either when they are out with us the whole day.

I am pretty certain these are illegal in NSW. Section 16 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1979 No 200 states it quite clearly: Schedule 1 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (General) Regulation 2006 list the devices that are illegal. They include: However, I am sure a lot of people still use them in NSW. I am not personally against them. But I wouldn't use them if they are illegal. Odin-Genie has not quoted the full text of Shedule 1, Whereas the remote control e-collars are therefore illegal in NSW, the ones used for invisible fence collars are allowed under Schedule 1. Collars are available that can be used with both a hand-held remote control and buried wire. I am not sure of the legal status of these. That's because the rest of Sch 1 is not relevant. Pingg strings etc are ok since they are not attached to the dogs. The dogs can get away. Anything like a collar from which dogs can't get away would be illegal.