PuddleDuck

Then maybe you should put forward the studies that prove your theory or disproves Jo's?

Bjelkier that would have been awful One of our dogs, a JRTx, we got from renbury farm shelter in 2000. She was abused before she was dumped. She had to be dragged out of the kennel and pee'd as they pulled her out because she was so terrified. She spent many a long hour in my arms because she was too scared to walk around on her own. But overall, in her (very) simple little brain, she's happy. Regardless of what was coming next, rusty exhibited the behaviour that some posters are describing to prove dogs are scared before being PTS. It would have made no difference why they took her out of the kennel, she could have been taken to a room full of roast chickens and she still would have freaked. While some dogs do panic before the procedure, I think it is unfair to continually push the point that it is cruel and they are scared, because its a bloody hard decision as it is and I think by talking about how hard it is for the dog you may inadvertently influence some people to put off PTS where it is needed, and that is far more cruel on the dog.

Wow, nekhbet could make a fortune if she starts dressing her ferrets up all poodley

At the vet I used to work at we had a dachshund who was living with a family after her owner died, with the estate covering all the costs. They were the loveliest family and adored her so much, they told me they would never have been able to afford a dog and were so grateful every day for the opportunity. It was just so lovely to see

I would love to own another pitty one day, pop him in a bogan style studded collar and name him fluffy :laugh: I also have a real thing about only using names you can shorten....with pets and kids! So Doofus is Doof and Kodiak Bear is Kodi or Bear, our turtle Darwin gets called Dizzle cos it's all I could think of, but thankfully he is less intelligent than the average MKR contestant so he doesn't care.... I've rejected a few kids names off the 'possibilities' list cos I can't work out how to shorten them nicely We had an ACD named 'ballbag' on the books at my old work, never got to meet him though!

I don't like giving dogs people names because it was too awkward with my old dog being a Kerry at the same time 2 of my brothers were engaged to girls called Kerry! Thankfully I am yet to meet a human named Doofus I met a dog at the dog park called precious too. That's out, it was like a scene from lord of the rings watching those owners yelling out for their precious all arvo

We have a Samsung front loader and its awesome! Love love love it! It's 6 years old, does at least 1 load a day and gets the dog hair and lint off really. If I leave a tissue in a pocket I never get tissue coated clothes. I'm not sure where it all goes as we've never had to clean out the lint tray can only assume the elves that live in it are super helpful I will never go back to a top loader-our clothes last longer and don't get stretched

Dumbledore!

But, but .... they can be a godsend used ON small children! ;) Hmmmm, I must pop out and buy one before we take the toddlersaurus girl child to the Easter show

I can't stand them but I think it's definitely due to the users. Round here it isn't uncommon to see a dog on a retractable leash wander onto the road while the owner walking 15m behind is talking on their phone People tend to walk with them on full extension which basically gives the dog a 10-20 metre circle around the owner to play in. It's ridiculous and asking for problems, especially when they walk through the crowded (outdoor) shopping centre Personally I prefer a lead with a handle I can loop over my wrist, I feel it gives me far more control.

My old dog used to do it whenever she came near my horse while he was eating grass. She would stare at him for a while, then very slowly put her head down and start ripping into the grass too. I can only assume that she did it cos he was bigger and she wanted to go unnoticed like some form of halfwit ninja

Thanks guys! I really want to get an understanding of the science behind it-I've worked in the commercial pet food industry for a long time but never really learnt about raw. That link is great perse, I'll have to work my way thru it!!!

Gremlins

I'll never forget years ago when I was walking doof down one side of the road and saw a lady with an off lead flat coated retriever walking up the opposite side. Doof was on lead and ignored it but the retriever saw us and came tearing over for a play....right into the path of a car, and got slammed pretty hard and hurt his lag badly. The woman driving the car was hysterical and I tied doof up and went running over to help the dog when his owner turned around and started screaming at me for walking my dog 'near' hers and it was our fault he got hit. Then dragged him off on 3 legs It taught me a valuable lesson, I had used to walk doof off leash occasionally and he has an incredibly reliable heel off lead, but I realised all it took was for him to see something more interesting on the other side of the road and take off and be killed. He has never been walked around the streets offleash since and I always freak out seeing other dogs off lead. I do love walking offleash, but it's not worth the risk

If someone comes toward me with a dog intent on playing and says 'its ok, he's friendly' I generally yell back that mine are not and will bite. Generally that gets them to back off :laugh: mine are both insanely friendly but I'd rather not take the risk Honestly is it any wonder so many people don't walk their dogs? It ends up being a terrifying experience!

I agree ^^ Agree, in my case though it wasn't a judgement on how others see their dogs, just on the way I saw mine pre-kidlet. I guess you could say they were filling that hole, especially cos back then we were told we medically couldn't have kids. My relationship with my dogs is different now, as I said, and they're happier and so are we. Not that we love them less, just differently. Although doof may as well be a kid, he shows more interest in the girlchild's toys than she does at times :laugh:

Yep. And I honestly thought that would be obvious. Apparently not to some. I agree, I love my dog, we had him way before we even thought of having kids, but my son/ unborn child definately come first and I could never put an animal before my kids (or hubby, for that matter) Human family first, animals fits into that. My dog is loved and cared for but he is not treated like a partner or a child, he is treated like a dog. Agree with stari. And I honestly believe that since I had the girlchild and we started treating the dogs more as dogs than little furry humans, they have been far far happier.

Sorry SM but that's gold! I'm not showing this thread to the toller!!! Reminds me of when we were kids we went away at Easter, and mum left eggs on all our beds as a surprise for when we got home. Patch, our PITA cattle x beagle, broke in at some point over the weekend and ate all the eggs. Then, as there was torrential rain at the time she decided to move in (they were outside dogs) and spent the whole weekend soaking mud into every soft furnishing in the house I think we all ended up getting new mattresses for Easter that year :laugh:

Just wondering if someone could point me in the direction of some good resources to learn about raw feeding? I'm interested in learning about it, particularly for our Toller. Unfortunately no matter what we tried Doof still can't stomach bones so he has to stay on kibble but have been giving Bear turkey wings (cut into 3, they're huge!) a few times a week and she's doing well with them! She has a weight problem too, she's a piglet, so I would be interested in feeding raw for weight loss too. Also is it ok to feed the wings frozen? Seems to take her longer that way!! Thanks!

Oh wow, they are gorgeous!

No we have mulch where the lawn would be if we were normal non-doggy people and a garden bed running along the side just to purty it up. We tried lawn and it died too quickly. Also the smell doesn't build up if we rake over the mulch regularly, basically so the mulch at the bottom winds up on top. We do that every time we've had heavy rain and it helps a lot. If I get a chance tomorrow I'll get some pics for you so my ramblings make sense :)

iPhone gremlins!

We live in a unit so it's a small yard and found once we mulched the dog bit with a garden bed along the side we got lots of comments on how awesome it looks. Most people don't believe we have dogs (until they see the hair inside ). We had to dig out the first lot of mulch after about 4 years cos it got smelly but I think that was the type of mulch we had, it was prone to going mouldy. I'd highly recommend it as a dog yard substrate.

They are very pretty, but are pretty full on and are just as active and intelligent as Borders. Sounds like the OP wants a quieter more relaxed dog. Couldn't think of anything worse than 4 kids so young and a Toller puppy, they generally aren't an easy pup/young adult. :) Except my toller! I think she's broken-she's smart but impossible to get off the couch! She is amazing with our 18 month old though! Bear taught herself to use the girlchild's slide in the backyard so they can take turns :laugh:

Damn you enablers! Now I want one for bear!!!! :laugh: