aussielover

Having nursed at a Sydney clinic in a high income area, and also had my own dog on a ventilator at Sydney Uni from a tick, I find this very difficult to believe. Well perhaps there were other outstanding charges (but this clinic doesn't generally do accounts) but I personally took the payment from the owners.

I have your bee toy which she loves and also a star type toy. She also has kongs, nylabones and rawhide chews etc. How do I stop her from jumping then? just ignore her? I don't want her to get into the habit... there would be nothing worse than a fully grown 30kg lab jumping on you!

oops dbl post sorry

Its around $90 for the proheart injection There were deaths in the US from these injections. This was due to a bad batch, but still, i am surprised your vet hadn't heard?

yes, it's a bit sad when members of a purebred dog forum are ooohing and aaaahing over pics of mongrel puppies when there are so many beautiful, thoughtfully bred pedigree pups being born. We need more pics of the purebreds and less of the mutts! so very very true and thank you again for showing us your beautiful boy. All puppies are cute and it is not their fault they are crossbred/mutts However, Aussie puppies are the cutest ever (just my biased opinion)

How on earth can a vet seriously charge $30k for the dog to be ventiloated for a week? If it honestly costs that much then sure I'll eat my words but that just sounds like a vet taking advantage of distressed people. The drug they used to keep her under was propofol, which is quite expensive, it is also short acting so needs to be administered fairly regularly. They could have used something cheaper and longer acting such as pentobarbitone (euthanasia solution but a lower concentration) but that would have been more risky, although I know country vets sometimes do it for 1080 poisoning. There were also secondary complications such as aspiration pneumonia which required physio regularly and extra drugs nursing, radiographs etc. The dog had to be monitored very closely- every 10 minutes so they basically had to pay the salary of a night nurse and vet for 7 days. This was at a specialist center in a high income area, so I guess that is just the price you pay, although this practice is known to be one of the most expensive in sydney.

K9: You can and should IMO start this day one with your dog, no matter how young and it can be done anywhere you can create the backtie and feed no problems. I would use the verbal markers to start, then later on when it is taught, if you want to use a clicker, just merge it in, will be easy then. Good luck and post back and let me know how you go. I have started this with my puppy. She is doing well and now looks to me automatically. She is doing well with learning new commands. she knows come, sit, drop, shake hands and up. Its amazing how quickly they can learn! she still attempts to do naughty things like chewing on stuff and jumping up if she is super excited. I usually get her to sit or drop and she complies immediayely but I am wondering if she thinks it is a good tactic to be naughty and then get given a command and get a treat? Perhaps I am thinking too deeply and dogs do not think like this?

I am trying to get my puppy to walk on the lead. The position I would like her to be in is on a loose leash, on my left side, slightly ahead of me. The reason for this is that she is a guide dog puppy and this is how they want them to walk. I am only allowed to use a flat collar and lead. My problem is that she she seems to walk a bit behind me and criss-crosses and sniffs at things. I don't want to pull on her neck and make her hate the lead, but obviously I need to correct her when she sniffs or tries to cross over from side to side. Is there another way to get her walking well? She is ok when we practice in the house, but when we go outside, the problems start. She is only 8.5 weeks so we just go on the pavement for only about 5-10 meters. All the advice on leash walking seems to relate to dogs that pull on the lead and that is not my problem (almost the opposite!). she will respond and walk more ahead of me if I call her name in a high pitched voice- I then reward her, but I can't do this forever! I look ridiculous and she would be getting a treat every 5 seconds! Thanks for any advice

What is a "fold back drop from stand" ? I'm teaching my puppy to drop from a stand- she is a labrador so she just flops to the ground with no trouble at all! Her front feet go down first and then her bum, its very cute! I made the mistake of teaching my other dog to drop from sit and she never seemed to get it 100%

We usually keep our dog castrates overnight and they all seem to settle fairly well and most eat some dinner. Castrates are less likely to lick and chew their stiches out than speys. Its a fairly simple procedure usually only taking 10-20 minutes so try not to worry too much. I hope everything goes well :rolleyes:

We had a family that recently spent $30 000 on saving their dog. The dog had a paralysis tick and had to be ventiloated for a week. Thankfully it pulled through and is now doing well. The dog was a 12 year old Border Collie. Obviously money was not an issue for them, but good on them for doing everything for the dog when they easily could have just given up- she must have been a much loved family pet.

A lot of spring flowering plants like daffodils, jonquils, hyacinths, tulips,iris etc and summer lowering plants like Liliums, Callas, Gladies, etc grow from an "onion like" bulb that is planted some months before they flower. Many people dig these bulbs up after flowering and store them in a shed or whatever until time to re plant. This storage time is when dogs would more likely get to them ohh ok thanks

I did not say I'd lie, I said I wouldn't admit to it. Very big difference. And where I work, anything under 35 hours a week is part time. Fulltime work isn't always business hours either. I have worked very long hours in jobs that were not business hours. I have, over the past decade, bought a number of pedigree cats and dogs from registered, ethical breeders. None have ever questioned my work hours, all were realistic in their expectations....the cat breeders requested the cats not be allowed outdoors, one of the dog breeders requested I take the pup to obedience classes and another suggested I might like to show the pup. None have ever requested references, nor would I be obliging them if they did. I'd just move on to source a pet elsewhere. I take it that's a joke. No I'm absolutely serious! I applied to be a foster carer for a certain foster group in sydney and they asked for 2 references, one from mt local vet and one from my emploer. I guess they have to make sure you are not a hoarder or something and that you are capable of givig the animals back, not selling them for profit, breeding etc. To get a pet, I think it is a little over the top but I suppose you can never be too careful and I'm sure some breeders have had terrible experiences.

How big is your doggy door?? :rolleyes:

I'm so sorry to hear about you rottie :rolleyes: We lost our first dog at 2 years to an anaesthetic.

he is adorable. Now I want an aussie puppy also!!! He is black tri right? he looks almost red in those photos

All labradors love other dogs and are really playful and friendly towards them (with no effort on the owners part)

stupid question but what are bulbs?

Thanks for all your suggestions. We had a breakthrough last night, I am so happy! Hopefully it will continue. I left the crate door open so she had access to the whole laundary, I also put one of my jumpers in her crate. We played wih her about 30mins before bed and did some training. She was quite tired so I think this helped. She did not bark at all and slept throught the night until 7am! When I came down to her at 7am, she was playing happily with her toys, in her crate, YAY! and no accidents overnight either. she is now going into her crate frequently (to check for food- at least this is a start!) I think the trick is to tire her before bed! Thanks again for your help though.

You should let a bitch have her first litter and then desex her otherwise she will become fat/aggressive/stupid etc

Thanks, she does everything except drop without the lure. do you know if its ok to teach beg at her age (8.5 weeks?) Nicolatu- how many tricks does oreo know? Borders and Aussies are so smart! But my girl Mindy is quick with learning new tricks too, its helps with labs being so food oriented :rolleyes:

This question is stemming from the screening potential puppy owner thread. I am interested in what people would do if their dog had an accident or became very sick and they couldn't afford the treatment (the treatment will save the pet/give it a better quality of life) I understand that not everyone is made of money and some veterinary procedures/treatments are extremely expensive. Some options i thought of are: 1. try to get an account that you can pay off slowly at your vet 2. get a loan 3. sell something valuable you own eg car, jewelery 4. ask the vet to reduce the price/ do it for free, out of the kindness of their heart 5. surrender the dog to the vet and have them rehome the dog if it recovers 6. Borrow money from family or friends 7. Try to get the breeder to help 8. PTS I'm sure there are other options that I haven't thought of. Of course I realise in this situation you wouldn't know what you would do until it actually happened to you but I'd be interested to hear what others think they would do. I would probably try for no. 1 and no. 6

I guess a character reference from an employer would be a start. When I applied to be a foster carer they wanted references from my vets, employer etc.

There are some photos in the lab thread and also waiting for a puppy thread but I'll post some here anyway! I know I will be dreadful when the time comes for her to go back! I have fostered kittens and I cry when they leave- even if its only been a few days!

You'd be very surprised!! This is not an uncommon scenario - I walk into a shop and the shopkeeper doesn't make eye contact with me and just looks and smiles at my dog... "Hello little puppy wuppy wuppy. Oh yes you're a good girl aren't you.. Oh yes you are!!" I have to wait for the conversation to end before I can get a word in :rolleyes: Are you a Guide Dog puppy walker? :D Yes, I am a guide dog puppy walker. Mindy is my first guide dog puppy, I've only had her for 5 days. It is quite annoying though that when people find out she is a guide dog puppy they go on forever about how hard it would be to give the puppy back and how they couldn't do it etc. It makes me feel like they think that I must have a cold heart or something for being able to give the puppy back I know how hard it will be to give her back, but in the end she will hopefully be able to make someones life so much easier and enjoyable, so it will be worth the pain. One lady said to me she would purposely train the dog to be naughty so it failed everything- how selfish!