PuddleDuck

Good idea rsa, she does eat a few lizards!

No marrow bones. Lately it's just been chicken frames. None of that Perse. So annoying. She's just been out and seems 200% fine. I'm leaning towards postponing until my long term preferred vet is on duty next week. Poor thing - it's her birthday today and she won't get q cupcake!

I'll start by saying we already have an appointment with the vet, just looking for some ideas of causes.... Over the last couple of months bear (8 year old toller) has had 3 random cases of vomiting and diarrhoea. It invariably seems to happen inside so she's not getting much warning before it happens. Otherwise, she's in perfect health and does normal poos before and after each occurrence within 24 hours. She's still bouncy and mental Her diet is mixed, raw, Costco grain free kibble, raw meaty bones, occasional left over meat and veg. I'm going to start keeping a diary of what she eats but I can't see any correlation between this and what she's eaten. Any ideas? Any tests in particular I should run? She's my heart dog. I'm stressed as all hell every time she gets sick

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good hands free dog walking belt? I would prefer one where I can attach one dog on each hip with around a 2-3 foot leash. I'm finding I walk better when I don't hold leashes...I'm currently trying their leads to the belt of my treat pouch and it works but it's bulky and uncomfortable. So I thought I'd ask the Dol enablers :laugh:

Oh OK then. How dare they! I think this is rad, and 22kg!!! Go Bev! This! That's awesome well done!

You know the rules...photos!

Got both my Tollers right, so it's smarter than 95% of the people in my local area :laugh:

The best before date is not a hard date ie 5 days after that date means it can't be eaten. The date is the date that the manufacturer is stating that the nutritional composition of the product will still be as stated on packaging and any vitamins and minerals which are claimed to be providing a benefit, will still provide that benefit. This is the same rational that applies to the majority of food products for humans. It's common sense that if you don't store it properly once opened then the quality will degrade more quickly. Absolutely. I have fed it after the best before date and never had any issues. But the manufacturer would never recommend it as an option of course :) You'd be surprised how many people don't have the common sense to store it properly. It was quite amazing what some people expect the kibble to survive in optimum condition! :laugh:

I don't know if things have changed but I worked for one of the multinational major pet food manufacturers for a long while. The product had a shelf life for dry kibble of 18 months from date of manufacture. Treats (hard biscuits) were 12 months, cans were 24 months. Once opened it was recommended that food be stored in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight. It could also be frozen without loss of nutrients. There was no specific guideline on how long you could keep a bag of kibble open for.

Yeah they smell like rank eggs. The dog seems to think they're worth a try lol

Every time I buy chicken hearts they absolutely stink. Is that normal or are the woolies ones dodgy? Hubby had to leave the room last night :laugh:

Noooo! I met a family when I was out walking our Tollers recently, they had lost their toller last year and were so thrilled to see another, there aren't many in our area. The dad said 'oh aren't they the best dogs for families, every family needs a toller' and the mum and I turned in unison going 'don't be ridiculous how crazy.... if everyone had them they would ruin them and they wouldn't be so special anymore!' I almost never recommend my breed - but lately I've been recommending stuffed dogs more and more often :laugh: Same here! I think I've only ever suggested them once or twice but no ones ever been keen. More for me! Haha. Well if I'm being honest, I don't share well :laugh:

Noooo! I met a family when I was out walking our Tollers recently, they had lost their toller last year and were so thrilled to see another, there aren't many in our area. The dad said 'oh aren't they the best dogs for families, every family needs a toller' and the mum and I turned in unison going 'don't be ridiculous how crazy.... if everyone had them they would ruin them and they wouldn't be so special anymore!' I almost never recommend my breed - but lately I've been recommending stuffed dogs more and more often :laugh:

Sorry but if you find a dog that is continually roaming the streets take it in no one comes forward and wants it which unfortunately happens just ask the shelters then I say good on you for caring about that animal That's theft, and a really low act. I'm 6,000,000% sure no shelter would condone breaking the law by stealing a dog because you have an opinion that it's better off with you. Proper channels exist for a reason If you want to do the right thing by the dog, and keep it, take it to a shelter and tell them if it's not claimed you will adopt it. Some dogs are escape artists. My old boy went through a brief period of it and if someone had stolen him because they thought they were 'helping' the 'poor dog' it would have broken his heart and mine.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever because someone wanted to use all the words they possibly could to make sure when someone asks me what sort of dog I have I need to take a big breath to say it all at once. Possibly the same someone really enjoyed hearing people say 'norva Scot...what?! Seriously?! that's not a thing! Someone ripped you off lady!'

I get in trouble if I wake up the girlchild from her arvo nap so bear is trained to go open her door and if that doesn't work we tell bear to wake her up and she sticks her nose in the girlchilds ear :laugh: soooo handy We've had a few awkward moments when we tell bear to open the door when it's been closed and latched properly...I get a very filthy doggie look then after she faceplants into the door

I live on the northern beaches and honestly, you can't avoid them. They're everywhere and the reports about how bad they are is true, they are bloody well everywhere. My vet recommends the oral preventatives this year, and advantix too. The best thing you can do is be vigilant about checking your dog. We do 2-4 tick checks a day. Ticks are the work of the devil but I wouldn't let it stop you from having fun :)

(Sorry to hijack) could you possibly post a photo please? I need a new dog bed and a have a friend that belongs to Costco :)

Bear loves a foot massage :)

So sorry T

A whole disposable nappy including poo inside then we took him to the vet to induce vomiting and got a worried call to come have a look an hour later because there were some strange coloured flecks through it and they were worried he'd eaten a bait. Came back and was presented with a bag full of poo and nappy vomit and was able to reassure them that no, it's all ok but it appeared he had eaten a box of crayons as well...

That's awesome, thanks Roova!

We blew in her face the first couple of times, that always makes her flap her ears. Then the girlchild followed her around for 4 days yelling 'head' and throwing food every time she did it unrequested/unprompted. Then tonight she said 'bear, do head!' And she did! If bear doesn't do it I just blow into the air (me standing, her sitting about a metre away) and that seems to be an effective cue. At my in laws yesterday she kept tickling their cat's ears and screaming 'head!' every time the poor beastie tried to shake her fingers off. It was quite funny. She's actually rather good at this training thing :D Is the low 5 standing between your legs how they start to teach standing on your feet for dancing? Has anyone ever taught sneezing on command? Apparently that's the funniest thing EVER :laugh: actually that may be how we got onto the head shaking, the kid blowing on her hoping she'd sneeze. She also really wants to teach bear to hop (after a brief but hysterical 'I want a bunny' argument that ended when I said we'd teach the dog to hop instead) but bear has all the balancing ability of a drunk with hypothermia and a wooden leg, so I'm not sure if that would be possible. Thanks all for the ideas. Any tips on how to train them would be great. Maybe we should start a dog tricks challenge!

She's never been big on holding stuff in her mouth, my old boy learned it quickly cos he was so ball mad but bear isn't. The only thing she might do it with is a plastic bottle but only really hyped up. So I'm not sure how to teach her that, I'd really like to though! Tips would be great :)

So last week with the storms and everyone in this house going crazy, every night after dinner the girlchild (aged 3) and I would sit down and run bear through her tricks to kill some time. Now the kid is addicted and wants more tricks for bear. We taught her to shake her head (big ear flapping shake) in 4 days. The things she knows Hi 5 Shake (paw) Wave Knuckles (bump fist with nose) Extreme knuckles (has to leap to reach my fist) Shake her head Drop Roll over Sit Backup Open door (push with nose) Wake up the girlchild (jump on bed, sit on kid) Find (treats) Beg (she has no balance, if she can't support herself on your hand/arm she melts into a uncoordinated toller puddle) Watch (eye contact) So I need some ideas on more tricks to teach her, and possibly steps to train the behaviour. Apparently they have to be 'fun'. Hit me with your ideas peeps! :D