moosepup

RubyStar - my suburb falls within the Rockingham council. I just needed to fill in an application form and pay $55. The ranger comes out to inspect your property, make sure there's adequate shelter, water, food, backyard room etc etc. They will also consult your immediate neighbours to see if they have any issue with it. I thought I would've heard back by now so I'll ring them later on. Let you know how I go!

I've applied to the City of Rockingham for an exemption to the 2 dog limit. Ranger came out a couple of weeks ago but still haven't heard back yet. Must ring them tomorrow. I'm surprised Gosnells is so strict on the limit, that sucks. I only have 2 Chihuahuas so you would barely notice a 3rd. They aren't yappy either so I don't think the neighbours would mind. I would avoid going down the route of getting a 3rd and not registering it. Wouldn't want a fine or put a dog in a situation where I may have to give them up.

I'm sure you've asked this question before... Yes you can import a cropped dog (I'd be keeping paperwork that proves it was done prior to importation though) but I don't think you can show it. Cropping is typically done at 8 - 12 weeks. Bit barbaric if you ask me, I wouldn't import a cropped dog unless I was a breeder and I felt it was essential to the line I was trying to produce. Plus I'm sure it's hideously expensive to import.

(true story, happened this morning!) This is sounding more like a poem then a song. :D

Sorry I'm dumb. :D

Zoe. And I've had a Stimpy and a Blossom in the past.

Moose and I stress each other out I get the vet nurses to do it or take him to the groomers when Zoe gets a haircut and they do it for me.

I feed the Dr B's BARF patties to my two. I mix in a little bit of Vets All Natural Health Booster too. They love it. I don't find the cost prohibitive but then I'm only feeding a Chihuahua and a Chi X. 2 patties last me about 3 nights. The 3rd night is usually quite skint so they get sardines and a bit of yogurt too. They also get chicken necks a few times a week. The BARF diet works for me too because their poos are a lot smaller, firmer and less smelly! I would say I spend about $60 a month so about $2 a day ($1 per dog). :D

Did she win?

Serious???? People should get another dog if they don't want a drooler. Geez! On a side note, Moose drools on me when I eat rainbow paddlepops. Wonder if this applies to all Chi's or just mine?

Sorry to hijack but... if you decide to titre and the results are good when do you need to do it next? Is it yearly? Also, if the results come back low/nil I'm sure I read somewhere that that doesn't necessarily mean they have no immunity, it just means they haven't been exposed recently so do you just go ahead and vacc if they are low? (I hope that made sense ) Zoe hasn't been vacc'd in quite a while and has been fine (she's nearly 11). Moose is coming up to needing his booster so I think I will go with titre testing after that.

I was at the vets once and there was this tiny little puppy called Dave. He was the coolest little guy!

Another foreign object up his btm - . Yes pretty scary for you particularly because he is so tiny. Yep, that's 5 things he's had up there now, in less than 24 hours! The vets at emergency had to use their little finger. He's still acting a bit funny but I'm hoping it's just a combo of my paranoia and his getting over the ordeal. I love my Chi's but they certainly make me panic when stuff like this happens. Just seem so vulnerable!

It makes your heart sink when you see them like that. It was worse cos I was by myself and had noone to calm me down! Just back from the vet and he thinks he should be fine. Toxicities like this usually pass in 12 to 24 hours and his temp is normal so hopefully it's all passed.

I did read that they shouldn't eat any nuts because of phosphorus content... and macadadmias and walnuts are definite no-no's.

On Sunday night around 7pm my dad dropped a container of nuts on the floor (walnuts, peanuts, almonds, macadamias, etc). They were cleaned up quickly and chucked in the bin and we never gave it a second thought. On Monday morning I thought maybe Moose was a bit off but nothing really obvious, thought maybe he just hadn't quite woken up yet so I went off to work as normal (about 8am). Everyone else in the house left at around 9.30am so they were home alone from then on (kept inside). I got home at around 6pm and Moose was definitely off. He's usually jumping up and down and excited when we get home but he was just standing there, ears back, tail down, shaky, looking pretty upset. I let them outside and he sort of just followed me out and then went back inside and got in his bed. He NEVER does this... he's either scritching my leg for attention or sitting on my lap. He never goes off on his own like this. Anyway I did a look around the house and noticed that he'd vomited on the couch. It looked a little chunky and it had what I'm pretty sure was a whole macadamia in it. Jumped on google and searched "macadamias and dogs". They can cause macadamia toxicity which can cause nausea and paralysis! Panic stations! Immediately rang my vet but was diverted to emergency and they said to bring him straight down. It's 30 mins away so jumped in the car and raced up there. I'm thinking he either managed to get a couple of nuts when they were first dropped or maybe early the next day (but I'm sure we cleaned them all up). Luckily no one else was waiting so I got in pretty much straight away. A final year vet student saw him first, got his history and gave him a thorough check over. She also got a stool sample from him (he really enjoyed that, not!) and there were definitely crushed up nuts in it. He was otherwise okay, gum colour good, temperature a little high but nothing concerning and heart rate good. She thought maybe he was a little compacted so he might need an enema. He was then seen by the vet on duty and she thought he seemed okay, checked his back passage (again!) and thought it felt fine so no need for an enema. Also checked his abdomen but didn't think she could feel any blockages. In the end they gave him some charcoal to bind whatever may be left in his tummy and an anti-vomiting injection so he wouldn't bring the charcoal back up. I took him home and was to bring him straight back if he worsened and if he was okay just take him to his reg vet today. He did a nice poop when we got home and luckily slept right through the night and seemed okay. I was a mess, waking up every couple of hours to check!! He slept most of this morning and I gave him some food around 11am which he munched down. He's active now, giving Zoe a heard time so I'm breathing a hesitant sigh of relief. Off to his regular vet for a check up in 10 minutes so hopefully they will give him the all clear. Poor little tacker has been through a lot in his first year... lost a nail in a door vs dog accident, got burnt with a hot water bottle when he was desexed, and now this!! Phew! Hope this story serves as a reminder to be careful with your dogs around nuts (and other non doggy foods). ETA - he does keep checking his bum but I think he's just concerned about what happened to it last night!

If Moose ever nips at my fingers (which he sometimes does during play) I immediately close my fist and say no! and that stops him in his tracks. He is pretty smart and knows that nip = game over. Chi's are very intelligent (I think mine is anyway!) and it sounds like your girl has decided that she is the boss when YOU should be topdog. I think you need to take the advice of others on here, especially Nekhbet and Cosmolo, and see a trainer to help you solve this. Better to "nip" it in the bud now rather than have problems later.

Moose had his first trip to the beach this morning. I didn't really think that he would enjoy it but he LOVED it. We went at about 5am to do some fishing (caught a blowfish!) so there were very few people around. He doesn't have the best recall so I'm hesitant about taking him off lead but the beach is quite a ways from the road so I was able to let him off. He tore up and down the beach, splashed around in the surf, watched as the tide went in and out and dug for pippies! This surprised me most though... I was standing about 2m into the water (fairly shallow) and he wanted to get to me so just jumped right in! This from the guy who whinges all through his baths. He kinda made a face like "what did I do that for??" spun around and caught a little wave back to shore but looked pretty pleased with himself. So proud of my little beach Chihuahua. :D I only had my phone with me so could only catch a few snaps. Here he is... Casting shadows Seaweed! How's the serenity Home, bathed, commence napping!

Our vet referred Zoe to an opthamologist after we took her in when she started squinting one night. The opthamologist said it looked like a plant frond had gone straight through her eye. She was "lucky" though because it went in and straight back out cleanly. She was put on some drugs to reduce swelling and healing. Worked a treat so we were able to avoid surgery to repair the lens.

Because I'd like to give a dog that hasn't had a loving home (like my purebred has) a second chance at life. They deserve one as much as a purebred no? Knowing Moose's sire, dam, actual birthdate etc etc doesn't have any bearing on the type of dog he is. Besides, any dog I get from rescue, be it pure or not will more than likely be aged over a year. I'm pretty sure at that age they look a lot like they're going to look for the next 10 years. Sigh... this has nothing to do with my question anyway.

Moose doesn't like having his date checked.

Thanks for all the replies. I guess I will have to use a bit of my own smarts when choosing a rescue and if it says it's 1 year old but looks like my nanna, maybe go with my instincts.

Hmm that was my concern. Eventually I would like to get another dog closer to Moose's age to keep him company and I'd like for it to be a rescue but I wouldn't want to get a 10 year old dog advertised as 1 year old!

Please excuse me if this is a dumb question but... how do you determine a dogs age? I spend quite a bit of time looking at rescue sites and I wonder how they determine some of the dog's ages, especially those that have just been found wondering or dumped. Is it just a guess or is there a way to get pretty close? I think if they found my Zoe wondering around (dog forbid) noone would think she was nearly 11!

Zoe will often lick & nibble Moose's armpits while he licks her eyeballs.