raineth

I love the goofiness of number one

Oh yay! More photos of Bella! :)

oh Woosie She looks like she has a heart pure gold! And yes, Zeddy was tiny! How lovely that she has reached the age of 15 :)

Remember, you're not being a mean mummy, you are providing clear boundaries :) I did recallers this year, and one of the most beneficial things I got out of it was how to apply consequences. Not yelling or anything physical, just consequences that involved missing out on the fun for a minute. Having said that, I think some dogs are even too soft for that. Digby was too soft for consequences, for example.

I think that's a good idea, and hopefully he's learnt that acting out means no peanut butter, even if he calms down afterward :) Del was being a bit naughty a couple of weeks a go on the start of our walks (just being very unfocused and silly) so I took her back home. I only had to do it twice and she got the idea. I find Del is very much a dog that needs those sorts of boundaries.

Yep! Show us the photos, T!

I hardly know what to say Pheebs, that is so heartbreaking, and it all went so quickly you have had no time to come to terms with it at all. These things are so cruel. Farewell Lucy, you were much loved

God love him! among his many talents he also speaks cat!

That's adorable! You absolutely must take a video of it next time! :)

I do really like Karen Overall's relaxation protocol. Although I am ashamed to say I haven't got to the end of it (need to put it back on the to do list).

Your cuddling whippets are adorable Kirislin :) You would never think to look at that they'd grow up to be anything other than best mates!

I like Danois' advice of one last lovely day. I'm sorry Pheebs, really sorry

Awww Harry, Lola, Sid and their boys :)

I would just say that feeding that food is a bit of a red flag for me too. I would take the opportunity to look closely at the breeder's practices and make sure you are happy with them before you pup gets to 8 weeks and it's time for you to pick him up. So I would be checking on the health testing that the dam and sire should have undergone (hips, elbows, heart, thyroid) and asking the breeder whether there are any related dogs with allergies or wobblers. Have a look at how well the parent dogs have done in the show ring. And lastly how well the puppies are being raised by the breeder. Because you haven't got your puppy yet, you have time to change your mind about getting him or her if there are things you are not comfortable about :)

Just in a mood to think of my lovely old(young) boy. And then I thought it could be nice to have a thread for people to post their old favourites. He was my first dog, my introduction to dogdom, and he was such a character always doing the funniest things. He taught he me a lot, without him I would never have got my Beautiful Digby dog or my fun-loving Del dog :)

Yeah I think it's more about matching the breed to the owners' wants and lifestyle. Having said that, probably Malinois, and many of the livestock guardians would be unlikely to be a great choice for first timers.

I found that with my guys that once they got the hang of it they were very enthusiastic and would scratch very hard, and if you hold the board up it can file down the dew claws a bit- not as much as the other claws, but a bit. It might be enough to get you by. I have also heard that playing fetch on concrete can wear down dew claws. But i don't have any personal experience with that. Does she use her dew claws much? My dog in the video above used them quite a bit when chewing bones or climbing up on tree stumps, that sort of thing may help keep them from growing too long and give you enough time to do the desensitisation.

You are one dedicated lady :) He does sound like a real handful for you, and you are still working very hard to keep things in order. Does the trainer you go to teach you how to build you relationship oth him and motivate him so he loves doing what he's told? Maybe ask her about it?

I thought that might have been the case, I knew I wasn't describing it very well :)

that's exactly right, because she is so scared, every time you have to resort to clipping her nails, all your good patient work is undone. It's like rehabilitating a reactive dog, really hard because every couple of months a damn offlead dog will come and ruin your work by terrifying your dog all over again. That's why you need to find a different way to keep her nails short in the mean time, or you'll never get anywhere :) here's a vid of Digby learning to file his own nails which I am just putting up so you can see what I mean by emery board and how easy it is to make one and train them to use it :)

if you tach her to use the emery board then you could easily not have to clip her front nails ever again anyway. It's also possible to teach them to use it with their back feet as well, I just never did because their back nails never needed much clipping anyway :) Eta: emery, not Emory :p

That's where you need to start then, with touching her feet :) Here's what I did for my two dogs (acquired as adults and not comfortable with nail grooming). Firstly I made an emory board with sandpaper glued to it and taught them to scratch it; this keeps their nails short. It's Really only useful for front nails, but usually it's the nails on the front feet that mainly need clipping anyway. By doing this you have a way of keeping their nails short so you can take as long as you need to counter condition nail clipping. Then seriously you need to break it all done into tiny steps and take it painfully slowly. I would start with conditioning them to just enjoy having you handle her feet. Then introduce the clippers just sitting on the floor and condition that to be positive. I would encourage you to get a new pair of clippers that is not tainted with negative associations. Clearly she has a very negative association so it's going to take a while. The key really is in being systematic and going super slow, not being tempted to go faster. When you finally get to the point where you clip a nail, just clip that one nail and jackpot her and stop right there, don't do anymore. The other thing is, it's important to try to exude a relaxed attitude while you do it, not a cautious attitude. She will read any cautiousness as a reason for her to be cautious. :) good luck it's a tricky one, once they have become certain it is a terrifying experience.

I agree. I think analysing ingredients is useful, and actually I think it's probably more useful than subjective reports from pet owners. If you try a food with your dog, and your dog doesn't do well on it, all it means is that your dog doesn't do well on it, it doesn't tell us anything about how other dogs might do on it. That's why nutritional analysis is useful :) This is gold!

Oh Pheebs I am so sorry I have no experience with Osteosarcoma. But I just wanted to say, how about you really spoil her until her appointment on Tuesday. Then even if it is bad news, and you choose to pts while she is under, you will know that the last few days for her has been filled with happiness and good things. Give your gorgeous girl some ear-rubs from me, and I will be thinking of you guys

nawww! He is pretty damn adorable! You must be smitten :)