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Serket

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Everything posted by Serket

  1. Has she??!! I must have missed that. What was the final choice? she wisely didn't say
  2. Amidst the arguments it seems to have been overlooked that the OP has made her decision. gundoglover - I have to say that saying goldens are "neurotic" is really going a bit far, and another huge generalisation, like saying GSDs are vicious. Yes they like attention (as do many breeds of dog!), but unless you encourage them to constantly chase you for affection, they're perfectly happy to sit by you, or even be in another room sleeping quite happily - mine is quite happy to do her own thing 95% of the time, doesn't need to be with us and certainly doesn't need us to be patting her even when she is around. Again, it comes down to training and manners, and teaching them what is acceptable, and it's not hard work, just consistency from day 1.
  3. This has nothing to do with the breed, and everything to do with the owner - that dog does sound very annoying and out of control, but it's not his fault his owner's are clueless. A GSD living with the same family would be just as bad, I'm sure. To the OP - glad you've made a decision, and best of luck meeting the breeder and finding a suitable puppy
  4. He doesn't look skinny at all. People are always telling me my golden retriever is too skinny, because so many of them are overweight, but she's just right for her size and age. Can feel her ribs easily and she has a defined waist but she's far from being starved. You just need to adjust your perceptions :-) It takes time, but soon you'll be looking back at old photos thinking "how did I not notice that?"
  5. I agree with all you are saying Serket, but I just want to point out that most puppies, not just GRs, are like that. I didnt have Honey as a pup its true, but a close friend did and seeing that pup and having experienced my dog, and having met other GRs, I would have to say that temperament wise Goldies are a lot "softer" than many breeds- even if they may be boisterous at times. I think any breed with no effort put in will be a pain. I had to laugh at your description about Gypsy's bark- this morning I was walking with Honey and OH and we heard a dog bark as we walked past a house. I commented on the scary bark- must be a BIG dog, then Honey barked back and it sounded identical!! She is a great watch dog too. Oh I know, but for some reason a lot of people think that golden retriever puppies WON'T be like that (like they're somehow differently programmed from birth), and they get a really rude awakening to reality, which is too bad for the puppy who is just being a typical puppy I just thought it was worth stressing the point, because it makes me really sad to see some of the dogs in that situation recently. Oh, and I agree totally about the kid training...especially when kids squeal and flap their arms, the puppy goes awesome! let's play! jumps up...kid screams, parents scold dog, dog is banished, child is now potentially scared of dog....
  6. Another golden owner chiming in here, everyone else has said why they're good, and I agree, but...don't jump on the "perfect family pet" bandwagon thinking they just come programmed like that. I've seen a few people with young children get golden retrievers recently, with the idea that they'll be the perfect family pet automatically, no effort required. They can be, but it takes effort, and consistency, they don't come that way. They get big FAST, they run and jump, they like to put things in their mouths (not to bite so much as just to hold on to). I have a 1 year old now who still mouths my hands at times (gently) when we're playing (but that's ok by me, we don't have children, or have family or friends with young children). If our circumstances were different, we wouldn't have encouraged that behaviour at all. The sad thing about the cases like I mention above, is that the dog is now banished outside, and not allowed in the house because it gets too excited, but of course, by limiting house access, the house becomes even more exciting, and a vicious cycle develops, ending up with a dog alone in the backyard and kids who are scared of it - not because it's vicious but because it just wants to play and hasn't been taught how to do it appropriately. For us, the way we've trained our dog suits us perfectly. She might still jump up when she gets too excited or mouth us from time to time, but we're ok with that. More importantly, she doesn't resource guard food, she couldn't care less if I go and take a bone away from her or take any toys off her (she'll drop anything on command), she's friendly to anyone she meets on the street without being over the top, she's been a dream to train at obedience/basic agility, and she's loving and affectionate to us. We sat down at the beginning and thought about what things we'd encourage, tolerate, discourage, what kind of training we wanted her to have, etc, and I think that's really important otherwise what was cute at 8 weeks and 5kg is a nightmare at 8 months and almost 20kg. Oh, and as for guarding - our dog has one hell of a loud, scary alert bark. People are often amazed when I open the door and they see her, because they're expecting something like a Rottie or GSD from the bark She only barks when there is something to bark at, as well. Strange people, strange noises, etc. She also won't stop until you go and look at the "problem" to make sure it's ok, which I think is good. P.S I love GSDs too, I just don't have one to be able to talk about the specifics.
  7. Serket

    Tina

    Such a beautiful tribute I'm so sorry for your loss WP, but I'm glad you were able to say goodbye, and that she had you there with her at the end. RIP Tina
  8. I think Gypsy had all hers by 6 months? Maybe 7 for the last molars. Hard to remember exactly.
  9. That golden retrievers and labradors are the same breed Could probably say the same for bull terrier / SBT / bulldog / APBT etc. since I hear some pretty bad mix-ups of those too.
  10. My almost 1 year old golden retriever bitch still humps when she gets overly excited, lucky for me I'm the target of her affection - whatever you do don't laugh at her when she does it as a small puppy, it's much harder to completely eradicate later on. Correct it /distract her right from the beginning. Gypsy has never, ever tried to hump anyone else, and I've never seen her do it with her toys or anything else. She only does it when she's super hyped up, she's easily distracted and she stops when she's told. She's given us no cause for concern re: dominance, she does what she's told when she's told, so for her, it's just her expressing her excitement. So that's a what not to do story really.
  11. I'd cut down to two proper meals, I only fed 3 meals a day until maybe 12-14 weeks, certainly by 5-6 months she was down to 2 meals (but also with treat ball/kong during the day when we went out as well). Having said that, in a way mine effectively still gets 3 meals if we're going out for the day to work or on a weekend I split her daily food allocation into 3 - breakfast, treat ball/kong food, dinner. As long as the amount of food is suitable for her age/size then it really makes no difference, I think, but she doesn't need 3 meals a day any more. Some people believe in only feeding once a day, others continue to feed twice a day even for adult dogs.
  12. Not to mention it's hardly pretty with the short coated dogs Yep can't hide much there! I dunno, I've got some gorgeous red splotches on a lovely golden tail and all through her 'pants' here right now At least a short coated dog must be easier to clean up? I suppose at least the hair catches it instead of my floor, mostly. Dog is easier to clean than my cream carpet
  13. My bitch has certainly grown between 6 and 11 months! Even now that she has reached what appears to be her final height, she's not finished growing in terms of growth plates, so even at her 2nd season she's not done.
  14. I've got an 11 month old Golden Retriever bitch who just came into season for the 2nd time 2 days ago (sigh). She came in at 6 months on the dot in the first week of January, and now she's back in again already, it's annoying, since I was hoping to get to around 18 months with only one season, maybe two, but she's got other ideas, it seems. Her mum came in at 6 months too, so I shouldn't have been surprised. Ideally I only wanted one, max. 2 seasons before desexing (after extensive research into the health (cancer) argument vs. letting them mature for health (joints) argument), but now I'm not sure whether to keep waiting or get it done once she's done with this one. She's not too messy, so I don't mind so much about that but it's a pain not being able to take her out for a few weeks. I'll be doing agility with her, she's bloody *FAST* and she loves it (we do some tunnels and poles on the ground already, not actual jumps or weaves). She's on the smaller leaner side (under 25kg) and she hasn't grown for months, so I think this is it, but she's probably got some filling out to do still and growth plates still open Her breeder was 100% supportive of not desexing @ 6 months in any case, and recommends waiting until 12 months generally regardless of plans for agility etc, and she's said that she is happy for me to wait as long as I feel necessary. I was quite surprised, actually, and glad I found an understanding breeder who trusted us to do the right thing (she might say different things to different puppy people though, I suppose). If tubal ligation was an option, I'd have done it, no intention to breed but just want her to finish growing up properly, I find it quite disturbing that we remove their hormones so young (while understanding why we do it)
  15. We like variety here (and then she never knows where the next bath will be) either a) outside in the clamshell (hates) b) in the bath with the bath half full + those cheap shower head things (likes and will actually stay in the bath without being held or restrained) c) in the shower (+ a bucket) - shower floor is non-slip but I need a proper adjustable thingy like earlier in the thread She loves being towel dried so no matter when I wash her, she's happy to stay still for me to dry her off mostly before she shakes - and I just hold the towel around her while she does so the mess is actually very minimal.
  16. What a good girl! Gypsy lets us know without fail if something is "wrong" (usually strange people next door, every day since they're building). She only barks until we go out and check and tell her it's ok, but she won't stop until we physically go and look (clearly wants to make sure we know exactly what the 'problem' is)
  17. I feed it, and have done since she was about 10 weeks. I have a sample bag of proplan in the cupboard and decided to use it up in her treat ball/kong this week and the gas is just awful. Artemis on the other hand has been great, she really likes it, and it agrees with her digestive system a lot better Not cheap, but you don't need a huge amount, she's on 1.5 cups a day @ almost 1 year old.
  18. The MDBA have (or will have?) the horses, but need someone to take them as they're not set up for dealing with horses, Steve was looking for someone with space for them in one of the other threads
  19. Oh no What a tragedy - so many lives lost and then on top of that the house too. Hope the surviving animals recover quickly, and of course Jed herself
  20. I'm home 4 days a week, most of another day (gone 4 hours but OH gets home during that time), so she's only left alone completely for 2 days a week -7am-6pm. She has kongs (and kong time), and treat balls, etc. for when we're gone. She's got a pool with water in the yard, an area she can dig in (with rocks...I might just remove all the dirt in that area and replace it, I removed heaps of rocks but not enough it seems), grass, free access to most of the house (lounge room, kitchen, hallway). She does sleep most of the time we're gone - on the lounge, judging by the hair or on her bed. She gets our undivided attention for at least 2 hours a day, whether it's walks, training, playing in the house/yard, going down to the oval or the beach, etc. and she's got plenty of toys (rotated so she doesn't get bored with them). She's chewed rocks since she came home, just about, so it's not an adolescent boredom thing (easier to solve probably if it was). She just really likes rocks, and other hard objects (glass, hard plastic). If you give her a choice between a rock and a stuffed toy, she'll take the rock half the time. We've tried 'safe' chew toys (rubber) but she absolutely hates rubber chew toys (nylabones, teething rings, anything rubber except the kongs and she doesn't really chew those). I don't know, maybe a marrow bone would actually be safer if she wants such hard things to chew on, but I wouldn't want to leave her unsupervised with it She'll bring rocks into the bedroom onto the bed to 'show' us (like she does with her toys. To her, they're just another toy to choose to play with. It's not even that she digs pits in the yard from boredom and then finds rocks - she only digs when it's muddy. She just finds them in the grass, somehow, even when we can't see them. Mrs RB - I'd be out there for hours and hours waiting for her to find a rock, otherwise good idea. It's once a day, once every two days, never seen her actually find one/pick it up, she just appears with them.
  21. Well we have the culprit of Gypsy's sickness- a rock the size of a large peach kernel (oh and the tag off a bra as well....) - just how I love to spend my morning, gloves on searching through poo. I think we're going to have to go around the yard again to get rid of every rock we can find, but I just don't know where she gets them - there ARE no rocks - grass, dirt, concrete. There are some in the fenced off section but she can't get in there...or get her paw or nose in to get them out, in theory, but looks like they're going too (they were supposed to be too big to cause these problems - having said that, a 6cm long one has come out in her poo before (but with no signs of illness, longer but flatter than this one), even with the fence up. Why are they so stupid...
  22. Mrs RB - Yes I know rocks are harder - it's not like we give them to her though. The garden bed with rocks (large ones) is fenced off completely, but she digs up rocks under the grass and in other garden beds - I've dug up one garden bed and removed all the rocks I could get (I even sifted the dirt), there's not much else I can do about them. All we can do is take them off her when we hear "crunch". She gets chicken frames, turkey drumsticks, chicken drumsticks and that's about it, and only once every fortnight or so. She chews her bones properly and takes her time, under supervision, and I 'swap' them for biscuits if they get too dodgy looking towards the end (usually only the turkey), she likes them but doesn't get all the excited about them, and doesn't rush to finish them off. She hasn't had a bone for about a week, so it wasn't that this time. We also give her carrots which she likes, but they don't digest them and so they come out the other end looking much like they went in, so they're a sometimes thing too.
  23. BB - 16 is a very good age! Gypsy is quite slender - not underweight, she's a good weight for her age, but compared to the roly poly kegs on legs you often see, she looks almost anorexic. I saw a female golden that was 46kg at the vets once :D Hip dysplasia, arthritis, the works ... and younger than 6 Very exciting news here - we have poo! Never been so happy to see a poo in my life So looks like everything is ok, touch wood Thanks for all the suggestions and advice
  24. That's good news Serket, she sounds like she is coming good. The marrow bone effecting the pancreas is a condition we had years ago that took 3 different vets to diagnose. He would get sick with similar symptoms as your girl, come good then he'd get another marrow bone and get sick again An older experienced vet diagnosed his condition immediately we mentioned marrow bones, the other 2 vets didn't have a clue. Obviously your girl hasn't had marrow bones, but gastric illness and droopiness is very worrying, I know how you must have been feeling Hope your boy was ok in the end with no lasting effects, I'd be beside myself if this was a regular occurrence - I was on the phone to OH every 2 minutes saying "don't forget to tell the vets this and that" because you never know what pieces of the puzzle they'll put together that you might not have connected (well, ideally, anyway). Lucky you finally found a vet who made the connection. Breakfast hasn't made an appearance out either end, so good and bad, but she's still bright(er) and happy, playing and wagging her tail, very much improved from yesterday, but I'm not sure about giving her dinner until I see results from Breakfast
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