PuddleDuck

What have you got in a chi x great dane. I dont have room for a big dog but I dont want to have to bend over to pat it - can I get a small dog with really long legs???? Teacup chi with long legs would of course be better Oh and it'd be great if you could splice in a bit of working dog intelligence too - and of course, send it up at 5 weeks, thats fine, but fully trained OK?

Poodlefan, I'm looking for something more in a permanent puppy as I prefer the puppy breath/cuteness stage , but obviously expect it will be fully house trained, obedient, and would prefer it to be a titled crossbred with a ridiculous name. Of course, I'll expect to pay big bucks for it, because it will be of a special "designer" nature? What have you got that would suit?? I love this thread!

Where I grew up there is a heap of possums and other local wildlife. Our dogs were experts at chasing possums off the verandah until one night when my old Staffy x Cairn x , Riff Raff saw a possum from inside - he was at the top of the stairs across the other side of the lounge room and went pelting down the stairs after it. Possum sees Riff, flips up his tail and leaps into the convenient palm tree next to the verandah Riff (who never backed down from anything in his life, little bugger!) leapt between the old railings on the 2nd storey verandah (fence around the verandah was replaced the next day), missed the tree and went down snapping at the possum the whole way ;) to land in the garden. I wasn't home but my dad saw it all happening with his heart in his throat - went bolting down the stairs panicking and apparently picked Riff up from in the garden and Riff was completely frozen. Now, the thing is that Dad loves his dogs, but he doesn't cuddle them. We since worked out that Riff was actually frozen because Dad picked him up, not due to injury! Dad bolts back upstairs with Riff in his arms, rings the vet telling him to wait, they're on the way, and tears off to the vet with Riff in his lap - Riff was the whole way there, Dad trying to work out how he can tell his teenage daughter that her dog died after diving off the verandah. Dad gets to the vet, TOTALLY freaked out, tearing through the door with Riff convinced he's about to die because he hasn't moved since Dad picked him up. Yells for the vet to come help, emergency, dog collapsed, dying, hurry up and help Riff looked up, saw where he was, saw the other dogs in the waiting room and leapt out of Dad's arms and promptly started a fight with every other dog in the waiting room, none the worse for wear from his leap off the verandah, totally 100% fine. Dad on the other hand has never recovered from the ordeal

I have 2 fairly active breeds - a Kelpie X (Doofus) and a Toller (Kodiak). We live in an apartment with a small yard and I get the "dog's shouldn't be in apartments" all the time. It seems to be a really Australian viewpoint, overseas there are plenty of dogs in units and no one seems to be bothered by it. The way I usually respond is to say to the person - "OK, you have 2 options. I can either lock you in a HUGE room for the day, heaps of space, but with nothing in it. OR I can lock you in a smaller room, with books, TV, phone, computer and comfy chairs. What would you prefer". Most people will say they would prefer the smaller room (of course!). So then I go on to tell them that is exactly what my dogs have - there are so many people out there with huge backyards and dogs who are bored because there is nothing in the yard except a kennel, whereas my 2 are in a small backyard with heaps of attention, mental stimulation in the form of training, mentally stimulating toys (kongs, leo's, etc) and interesting things to do (we hide bits of cat kibble/cheese/meat in the mulch of the yard and they spend all day snuffling around trying to find it). They essentially have the "small but interesting" room. After that, most people stop telling me off about having the dogs in the unit :D Having been in the unit with Doofus for about 3 years, and adding Kodiak to the family about a year ago, I wouldn't hesitate to keep a dog in a unit in the future. Ours is pretty open plan and we dont have much clutter, so I wouldn't have a problem with a giant breed in there, or an active dog. But, like so many things, you only get out of it what you are willing to put into it. Also - most strata's dont make it easy to get in with a dog - we did have to provide references when we moved in with Doof. Once Kodi came along everyone was OK with it because Doof was such a good dog.

I think for the National Desexing Network you need to be able to prove hardship (i.e. pension card/health card) to get the certificate for discounted desexing

Hi All, I'm having a bit of a struggle with one of my dogs, he heels perfectly off lead but as soon as the lead is clipped on he pulls like a freight train. Its quite bizzare and I want to take him back to square one, with the lead attached differently (ie will use a collar instead of his harness) and try to retrain him. Does anyone have any ideas for good exercises or games I can do with him to make it more fun? My Toller would also benefit from a bit more heel work, I've been really slack and letting them get away with too much on walks!!! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I can't believe you tasted it - the smell is enough to make me feel ill!!! You are braver than I am!!!!! In saying that, both our dogs (and, if given the opportunity, our cat) are happy to eat it sprinkled over their kibble every day - they seem to love it!!!

Am so sorry to hear about your boy. Thinking of you

Hey All, Beef tendons are as hard as bone in my opinion, when our Toller, Kodiak, was younger I was breaking them up a bit for her and the only way I could was to smash them between a couple of rocks, cavewoman style!!! When she was a puppy I could put a 2 inch long piece in her crate at bedtime and she'd still be working on it the next morning!!! My older Shepherd Kelpie X, Doofus, chows them down pretty quickly and now Kodiak is grown up she does too. Interestingly Doofus always vomits with bones, it never fails no matter what sort of bone or if it is raw or smoked, but he has no ill effect from the tendons which is great!!! They are really cheap-much cheaper than the stores and they have awesome customer service. Tracey who runs it is incredibly helpful - she put me onto the wonder that is the cow hooves! We live in a unit and its really important we have something to keep the dogs quiet and occupied when we're at work, particularly for the first few hours because we leave really early. Also the Kangaroo and Salmon bites are exactly the right size to plug the end of a kong (its either a Med or Large size kong, I can't remember!). The other thing I love (can you tell that this site played a factor in puppyhood!!) is the lamb puffs, they are incredibly light and not stinky. They dont take long to eat but they seem really healthy and the dogs love them!!! Good for stuffing kongs :D Hope all the spoilt puppies enjoy their new treats - I just got some more hooves and the dogs are currently formulating a plan to break into the box in a non incriminating way (they'll frame the cat, I know it! :D )

We get the cows feet from an ebay shop called Dog Food 2 U. They are fantastic and last my dogs for AGES, we throw 2 out in the backyard and they finish them over the next 10-14 days and it feels like every time I look out there they are chewing - they are really cheap as well!!!

I have seen the sweet potato dog treats - they are dehydrated and have a chicken strip wrapped around them - but they are from China and I just dont trust any treats from there anymore. We buy treats from an ebay shop called Dog-food-2-U quite a lot, they are really good and the cow hooves in particular last my 2 dogs for about 10+ days each! Bargain! They are really cheap too - and I think they are the people that supply a lot of stuff to the big stores because I have seen their name on prices tags at petbarn

Thanks all, very much appreciated! I've got a few new leads to follow up

Hi All, Just wondering if anyone on or near the Northern Beaches (Sydney) can recommend a vet that performs titre testing in leiu of annual vaccinations Since deciding to have our dogs titre tested I've been doing the ring around - so far the most common response is "what on earth is tiger testing"!!! I've told a lot of them that they would need to send it to VetPath but even then have only found 1 vet that is willing to follow it up and they aren't having much luck so far. All of the other places I've called dont have any idea about it, which is frustrating. Also - what would be considered a reasonable price for having the tests done? Thanks in advance!

Hi All, My gorgeous older boy, Doofus, will be 9 in December this year. I've had him since he was 14 months old and he has always been vaccinated on the "traditional" program of every 12 months. In the last 12 months (particularly since recieving our wonderful Toller and being introduced to the more holistic approach to vaccinating), I have started to question giving both the dogs and the cat their annual boosters. I've decided that as our kitty is an inside kitty who never gets to meet other kitties, she probably doesn't need any further vaccines at this stage! So now I just have to work out what to do for the dogs - this week we got the vacc reminder from the vet, but I would rather get Titre testing done. My vet was somewhat confused but looked into it and they can test for Parvo and Distemper immunity; from the message they left I believe that the test needs to be done overseas and takes about a month to get the results. I'm keen to do it but I dont know when I should? We are on the Nthn Beaches in Sydney if that helps, and it is traditionally a pretty "safe" area. Doofus as I mentioned has been on the "traditional" vaccine schedule for as long as I've had him and quite possibly before as well. Kodi had C3 at 9 weeks, C5 at approx 14 weeks and is due for her first traditional yearly booster in October. Should I titre test them when the booster is due or wait longer? I am not sure when is the best time to titre test them and dont want to do the test/spend the money if it is unneccesary for some time (I dont mind the cost but I dont want to do it if it is not needed!!). The dogs are never boarded but will probably be joining an obedience club later this year. Any thoughts would be appreciated, and if anyone has links to any vaccine studies I would love to see them. PMs are fine. I've searched through the DOL archives but am always keen for additional input - I am something of a nerd ;) (actually studies on all things canine are always welcome!) Thanks in advance!

I bought one for my dogs, because I saw them at a market stall for $10 and I thought I'd try it to see if they tolerated it before splashing out on something more powerful. I found it does work quite well on our Toller's nails - it is easier because she does love a pedicure and doesn't pull away. For our older Kelpie X it doesn't work as well but then he hates anything to do with his nails and wiggles the whole time. I wouldn't buy another one because the do take a while to use being not so powerful, but I thought it was a really good option to try before forking out for a Dremel

We use Sasha's Blend for our older Shepherd X - he's a mad keen ball chaser and we found if he chased a ball he would often jar himself up a bit (unfortunately he chases EVERY ball at the dog park!) and also seemed to get a bit sore chasing the puppy around when she stole the ball!! But since being on the Sasha's (he's had it for about 2 months now I think) he is 200% better! He is utterly delighted to be able to chase the ball again and never seems to pull up sore at the end. I do know some people haven't had the same results, but for my boy it has been a blessing...but I have to say it smells SO bad!

Dysons are the best vacuums I've found for pet hair - it gets all the hair off our couch really easily When we bought our new couch I was trying to work out which colour would show the hair the least - ended up pulling a pile of dog hair off my clothes (my standard accessory) and laying it out onto the fabric samples in the store to see which one it showed up the least on The sales guy thought I was absolutely mental but I have to say - 3 months later and we never see dog hair on the couch!!

I always find an "umbilical" lead - where you put the dog on the lead and attach the lead to your belt when he is inside, is a great way to toilet train - if he is right next to you then you are much more likely to see the signs before he goes to the toilet and can rush him outside. And he wont be able to "sneak away" from you. Also - what are you feeding him? Some diets actually make a dog poop more than others. It might a good idea to look at his diet and see if a change makes a difference?