Koemi

Le boy and I met through this forum. He's probably a bigger dog nerd than I am, he's very involved in dog sports etc where as I focus more on the grooming. He's got me hooked on training and my next dog is going to be an obedience and agility dog, whereas Tucky and Bam were pets only. He's very upset with me at the moment as when I come over, Barkly always comes straight to me, walking past him without so much as a sniff. LOL. I'd die if Tucky start preferring him over me! The pup is going to be in my name, but he's already offered to take care of it for the first couple of weeks until he/she is fully vaccinated and can start coming to work with me. I could never be with someone who didn't love dogs. The ex and I got T together and both adore him. Luckily we're still the best of friends, and can live together without any problems, so Tucky still has both his parents even though we broke up years ago!

I made the mistake of leaping right into getting my second dog and ended up with a rescue full of health problems. I don't regret Bambi for a second and I miss her terribly, but I would never EVER repeat what I did. I've happened across a wonderful breeder who I've chatted to a fair bit, I've admired her bitch for a long time and stalked her on DOL for a while I know exactly what I want in my next dog and she's more than willing to work with me (but I swear to god if you call my pup <Prefix> The Fluffinator I WILL hunt you down!!). It was incredible timing that Puppy Mummy got knocked up when she did, and I've still got a few months to get completely used to the idea. I wanted a Bedlington originally but both the breeders I would consider very recently had pups on the ground and I am not ready for another dog yet, it's too soon. My Papillon pup won't be 'ready' until April. So I'll wait. I've been waiting 5 years so far for my little lamby, what's another 5? I understand that it's a bit difficult for rarer breeds and I'm willing to wait for as long as I have to. A couple of years ago tho and I would not have been willing to wait. I have a much better understanding of registered breeders now and the fallout of getting a dog that has been in a BYB/mill situation and would never ever do it again.

Mmm, Laube... I really want a laube clipper... Another one saying please don't wreck the coat further. When I had my double coated little girl, people would constantly stop me when I was out with her and ask what I did to keep her coat looking so nice. Many of them could not believe that she had never been clipped. Never clipped her (would scissor her pants because she was incontinent and it was disgusting when they got long), brushed her once every couple of weeks and washed her sparingly. Clipping does wreck the coat and I would highly recommend you try something like a Coat King, Furmy or Les Pooches brush before chopping the coat off again. Clipping a Samoyed and an OES were the worst grooming tasks I have ever performed and I would NEVER EVER do it again. And I'm a professional! Actually... I remember a few years ago a lady had shaved half of her large double coated herding breed and asked us to finish it. This dog was patchy, had skin that almost hurt to touch it was so irritated and hot, and had cuts ALL over him. Poor darling We took photos to document and she still tried to tell us we did it afterward :p. He would have had the most horrific sunburn too...

I had to feed Bambi (RIP) 100% dry because her poor stomach could not process anything raw at all. She also did not eat rawhide, was incredibly picky about treat biscuits and dry-offal treats made her vom. Very frustrating! When I was feeding her Hills her coat fell out, when I fed her Nutro she vomitted it back up 75% of the time, she tolerated Royal Canin half half and wouldn't touch any other kibble besides the Eagle Pack Holistic fishy. EPH suited her quite well until I believe there was a formula change and then it was just as crap as any other food. She died a couple of weeks later (not related to food) so I don't know what I would have done after that. Feeding her was a constant nightmare. I was just very lucky that I worked at a pet supply store and could afford to trial virtually every dry available. My current dog is on 80% kibble 20% bones. We feed half a meal a day in a bowl, the rest is used in training or he's given a meaty bone to chew. He does well on his current kibble (Advance), but has also done really well on Black Hawk, EPH, Nutro, Royal Canin, okay on Eukanuba, pretty crappy on SD, the supermarket foods (altho he was pretty good on Optimum when I went thru a particularly poor period). I admire people that feed 100% raw and would like to do something like it one day, but his current training schedule means it's a lot more convienient to feed kibble with the clicker, and I'm just so relieved to have a dog that eats whatever he gets that I really can't be bothered stressing out about food again for the time being.

PS offer a palatability guarantee on all their premium foods. Which means you can take the bag back as long as a whole bunch of it hasn't been eaten. The suppliers will then take the open bag back and swap it for a new one, or give a credit and the bag will be given to a rescue or shelter. I was told that EP did change their formula (by a rep) when I was still working at a PS and Black Hawk is probably the most similar food you can buy in Aus. I believe there is a new food in the US that uses the old EP formula. Sucks. My Bambi girl would only eat the EPH fishy one and she started getting sick off it again at the end . I tried Black Hawk and was VERY happy with it - but Tucky is bomb proof and will eat anything. He's currently on Advance. Highly recommend Nutro tho It's a great food! EP has been having such awful supply issues over the last couple of years I cannot understand why anyone would be sticking with it. It sucks because it really is a very good food. JMHO.

Oh wow, thanks for the advice guys!! Lots of excellent ideas here! He's not SUPER drivey for anything (except maybe food) but I don't expect him to be as he's never needed it until now. Today I got home from work and he was chasing me around, so I gave him his bone... he ate it and came back and I realised he was trying to get me to train with him!!! Which he's never done before!!! I'll definitely try the clicking, I think le boy has a meshy tug thing I can test him with, and the chicken neck in a sock! Excellent idea! I've tried soaking a rope in broth before but he just didn't care.

Hi I'm a very newbie trainer and I was just wondering if anyone else has had a similar situation to me. My dog is a 7 year old JRT x Corgi (we think), we adopted him from a pound at 1 and a half and he was never interested in toys. However, he displays typical terrier drive whenever he sees rabbits, birds, mice etc. This means that he has a decent prey drive, right? And that can be successfully converted into toy/tug drive? I want him to be able to play with toys, fetch and tug and enjoy himself and also be able to reward him as such, because it's hard to keep weight off a corgi x and I don't want to feed him too many treats! Currently I'm treating his dinner kibble to him during training but would love to get to tugging. Any experiences? I've been made aware that it will take a long time to happen, but I'm willing to put in the effort. Suggestions of training toys are also more than welcome. Currently all he has is a smallish rope bone. Thanks so much! PS: we clicker train if that helps at all. Very very new at it but he does get excited when the clicker comes out.

I never bothered to train Tucky to walk on a loose lead. Bambi walked beautifully, and T always pulled and I didn't really care because at least one dog behaved. It's a completely different kettle of fish now I only have one and we have started clicker training (today). After one session he is already not pulling so hard and has learned to sit and look at me if he tugs to the point where I stop and wait for him It can be hard and I understand why a lot of people don't bother, because I didn't, but it's become an inconvenience for me now and I really want to be able to stroll along with him without dreading it. I don't want to let him down either. He can heel but only for about 3 seconds before he gets bored and starts pulling again! So that's something else we have to work on.

oooh, Tucky has never been to a real dog beach before... he'd dig it, he loves chasing seagulls. If I'm not working and can pester someone (perhaps someone with a blue roan Cocker) to come with, I'd love to meet you guys.

Watching this thread for updates you poor thing. Come home, Tessie. x

I'm so sorry, dogmad. You love your little rescue babies so dearly and it's tragic to hear you've lost one. RIP sweet Pepper.

It's taken me almost two weeks to gather the strength to be able to write this and I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish. On the 3rd of December at 6pm I gave my little rescue girl her real set of angel wings. Bambi came to us two years ago, from a large shelter. We were never 100% sure of her background but she was in a situation with many other seized dogs and had not been desexed. Many of the other dogs that were seized would have been her babies. She had birthed many litters. She was a very scared and timid girl when we took her home and did not eat for three days. When we paid for her, we signed a little disclaimer saying that she had a slightly luxating patella and that we would be more than happy to follow it up with veterinary attention if needed. I let the staff know that she was going to be an agility dog, and they said that was fine. I should have known better! She was scared of being in a house, scared of my housemates (male and female), scared of my other dog. She was the first dog I had ever paid for and the first dog that was ever 'mine'. Tucker was a present given to me by my ex and is still shared between the two of us. Bambi was different from the very beginning. Immediately she started to follow me around and would ignore everyone except me. We thought she was deaf for the first week, lol. She would freeze when a hand went near her, when someone dropped something, when someone stepped too loudly in the house, when the doorbell went off. After the first couple of days, all her hair fell out. She started losing weight very quickly. She began to eat but would immediately vomit the food back up (and would then run away while T ate the vom unless I was there to supervise). I was terrified that she was dying. My boss and some friends told me to take her back to the shelter but I couldn't do it. The first of many vet visits and tests, I was told that she was a heck of a lot older than the 4 years that was put on her adoption sheet. Since then, she has been aged anywhere from 8-12 years old. We changed her diet (the shelter had been feeding her Science Diet) immediately and I was informed that she had some advanced arthritis possibly in her spine. Tests revealed this to be true. After two months (MONTHS!) of trialling her on different foods she finally began to eat properly. Her hair started to grow back. She was never able to eat raw, or anything particularly hard, a bunch of her teeth were pulled, she started seeing a doggy chiro and her eyes started weeping so much that I had to give her drops every day. Her mystery reflux returned and disappeared many, many times without warning. Then the incontinence started. We had her successfully toilet trained for a few months thanks to Erny coming to our house, and then one day she lost it completely. She also began limping more so I put her on glucosamine and a bunch of other supplements. It was pot luck as sometimes she wouldn't throw it back up, and other times she would. She started becoming more confident in herself as time went on, but was always horrid to walk. She would stop and start at every tiny movement or noise, but she LOVED going outside to sniff. She would also refuse to walk after a certain distance and sit down, but being all of 4kg she was quite easy to carry! After about a year I sat down with her 'dad' and said that her mounting issues were becoming very difficult to deal with, both emotionally and monetarily. We agreed that if one more thing went wrong that we would have to have a hard decision on our hands. A month after that, she started reverting. Her hair started to lose its lustre, her confidence started going backwards, her weeing was getting worse. Her vet at the time (she had so many vets) took a bunch of blood tests but couldn't find anything. I emailed Cosmolo on the advice of Ravyk, and she suggested maybe she had dementia. Back to another vet who did more tests and said it was the most likely scenario. Needless to say, we decided if one more thing went wrong after this bunch of things it would be time. Things cruised along for a few months, she seemed to be stable. Until one day she got into a fight with my housemate's (I'd moved places) dog. Bam weighed about 3.something kg at this point and the other dog weighed uhm 30?! so it was over very quickly. Betty was a very gentle dog and only gave her a warning nip, but unfortunately being so much bigger than Bambi she was bleeding like crazy from her neck and had to be rushed to the vet. Very odd behaviour for Bam to be picking a fight with another dog. Then the bomb hit. Vet (ANOTHER one) told us she had a heart murmur. She was put on antibiotics and taken back home. We were advised not to walk her anymore (which was becoming harder and harder due to her arthritis which was getting worse despite the meds she was on), and to bring her in regularly. None of the other vets had picked up on the murmur, so it was theorised that it was a recent thing. Once again, we said if one more thing went wrong it would be it. She was never the same after that. She started biting me. She stopped responding to her name. She forgot things, would get lost in the house and cry, wee herself CONSTANTLY (I had her on meds for a while but they made her sick, so we made do with a nappy and constant bathing of her privates) and started to attack Tucker. Looking back on it now, I think I waited too long, but I was at a loss. She was my angel. She deserved SO much better than what she had. When the bites began to draw blood and there was no reason for her to attack dog or human, her heart was getting worse, she was having real trouble walking and would wee constantly... it was time. She fell asleep for the last time in my arms, watched over by her daddy and the kindest most understanding vet I have ever met. He let us stay in the consult room with her for half an hour while we cried and cried. She tried so hard and in the end I couldn't save her. :D I miss you so much Bambi. Tucky and I will never ever forget you and we love you so very much. I never wanted a small fluffy, and ended up with the only one in the world that would ever steal my heart. Luke W took a series of pics for me just before she went downhill for the last time. This one is framed and will be sitting with her ashes when I get them back. A part of me died with her. I love you, my girl. xxxx Thank you to everyone from DOL who have been an absolute god send to me, and to the beautiful caring women from Rescued With Love who were a huge support. Even tho Bambi was not a RWL dog, they were always there to give me advice, and a hug when it was needed. xoxo

I just had to say goodbye to my special rescue angel too. You and Loki are in my thoughts RIP beautiful Rinse. xoxoxo

Try your state gumtree (dot com dot au). We just sold ours on there, it was a fiberglass model that was about 5 years old and it went for $8000, which is quite a reasonable amount for a trailer!

My Bambi's usual vet is no longer practicing and I need a vet that is willing to trust me enough to say goodbye to my little girl without putting her through any unnecessary trauma. She had an awful life before coming to us and she is starting to lose it. This is a decision I have been struggling with for months and don't want to be questioned so I am not going to go into much detail. I'm in Templestowe but can travel. Her brain is broken. She is a rescue. She's around 11 years old and has had many litters. She bites but doesn't mean to, she can't help it. I need somewhere ASAP She is the first dog I have ever failed, and the first dog I have ever had to say goodbye to.

At the moment I am in love with the Fuzzyard Naturals range. Smells sooo good and there are a few different options. T has fairly sensitive skin so it suits him well. Have used Fidos in the past on both of them but really prefer this. At work I was using Isle of Dogs which I utterly adore ♥ but had almost run out of samples. Usually had to resort to cheap crap but really like the IoD.

Is Lamb and Rice the only type of food that BH is going to be making, Sherel? My little boy loves it (and we'll be a one dog family soon so I suppose it doesn't matter too much as I still have over 10kg of EPH to get thru) but I would really prefer to feed him chicken based food. Bam can only eat the fishy EP but... yeah. Looking forward to you releasing the smaller bags. Tucker LOVED the sample bag, so much so that he figured out how to open the cupboad and ate half of it before I discovered him Thanks for sending it so promptly

I know of a Springer breeder in Sunbury that was doing home grooming for a while, I'm not sure if she's still doing it but I can pass on her details if need be. Hand stripping is a bit of an effort but well worth it - I'm a weirdo and think it's fun Can you ask your breeder to recommend someone? A lot of groomers will not do hand stripping because it is very time consuming (or they don't know how).

This x 100000. Grooming really is a thankless job. Yes, it looks expensive, but considering they get a bath, blowdry, nails, flea rinse, ears cleaned and check, eyes cleaned and checked, anal glands squeezed if asked, a general check over and the clip it is more than reasonable. YOU may look after your dogs, S&F, but most owners do not. I think it takes someone to start grooming their dogs themselves to realise what a pain it can be!! It does end up being a hell of a lot cheaper tho. Just make sure you buy a decent clipper (andis, wahl, laube), get advice in regards to blades and service and clean as appropriate. It is a large set up cost (you're looking at $300+ and even then won't get a proper clean unless you get a shower attachment for your bath/laundry sink or get them hydroed or do a REALLY good scrub with good quality shampoo) but will be worth it esp with two dogs. I charge $50 for a swf and that is not enough TBH. I am a complete soft touch tho and am getting out of the industry because my wussy heart can't take it anymore. edit: and I've never heard of a groomer charging less for the 'off season'? A dog is still a dog.

I have a double silver that I use on dogs like Borders and I cannot rate it enough. There is no other brush like it for double coats. You will never go back!

RIP lovely dog. I'm so sorry. I loved his photos.

Hello I have a few questions about this breed. 1) what are the waiting lists like? I'm not looking for another dog -now- (I have a sick older girl and a 7 yo boy) but would it be worth going on a breeders list if I was looking in the next year or two? 2) how difficult are they to show? 3) what is their coat like in its natural state? straight? wavy? easy to style? are they an ideal breed for a groomer? 4) is the breed genuinely playful? I've never had a dog that likes playing with toys... 5) how hard would it be to find a breeder that does entire health testing? Like, for every possible health issue? 6) since they're a rare breed in Aus how hard would it be to find a breeder happy to sell a pup to a pet home? Thank you. OH and bonus question - are these an ideal breed to recommend to someone who is looking for a "purebred maltese shitzu"?

Eagle Pack Holistic (the fishy one). Luckily I work at a pet supply store so I still have a chance of getting it - one of my friends manages another store in the chain so if I can't get it at my work (usually the case, we obviously can't take it for ourselves if it's in short supply) she'll help me out with it. When I can't get EP, Tucker gets Nutro lamb & rice and Bambi gets Royal Canin Mini Mature.

Wow, Jed... apart from the difficulty with her legs, Chi sounds so much like my Bambi girl. She was from a mass dog situation (I'm still not entirely sure what happened to her but she is a very broken dog!) and I can NEVER tell what is going on in her head. She will climb up onto my lap (she's so bonded with me, the month I was away in hospital my housemate had to all but force food down her throat ) and just... sit there and stare. For ages. And then looks awkward like she's not really sure why she's there or what she's doing. She doesn't respond to her name half the time, only high pitched excited voices, which flips a switch in her brain and makes HER excited and over stimulated!!! She does my head in, but she's my baby girl. Even tho she'll never learn how to toilet outside 100%. Even tho she'll throw up her food for no real reason and in no particular pattern. Even tho she NEVER sleeps unless I am sleeping (I have never, ever seen her sleep when I have been awake). I could write a book about all the weird things she does. Good on you for rescuing Chi. I think everyone needs to be blessed with a spethul dog or two.

Why not? Way before I was a professional groomer I always used our hand held dryer to blow dry our dogs after grooming. Much better than having a wet mess running around the house that ends up in tangles. Not to mention a great way to see down to the dogs skin. I was quite surprised to discover how many of my clients actually use dryers on their dogs. It's quite nice to have a doggie come in for their first clip and not poop themself with fear!