Simply Grand

Heehee Kivi and Erik - "Can we keep him mum, can we, can we??" I know some people don't like to have collars on their dogs all the time but I like knowing that mine have a tag with my phone number on in case they ever did get out. They're microchipped and the Lost/Found list obviously works if you know about it, but the easiest and quickest way for someone to tell me they've found them is if there's a tag. Having them gone overnight while someone waits for the vets to open to scan the microchip would be terrifying!

This thread is interesting!! Mine's not creative, when I joined Saxon was my only dog and he was a puppy Riley's reg name (without the prefix) is "Saddler's Magic" which I think would make a pretty cool user name... I might use that if I get around to changing it.

Chezy, the Lost and Found list is actually on the Domestic Animal Services (Pound) website - I think it's das.act.gov.au. People can post on there if they've lost or found a dog, it's great. They were such sweeties, gentle and polite and didn't make a sound the whole time I had them. They wanted to come inside so I let them have a wander around, they looked HUGE in my little house. A good reminder for me not to be too tempted to get a big dog until I have a bigger house! I wish I had a picture of them on the front seat in the car, they were so squished up but must have wanted to be together

Driving home from the park with dogs a little while ago, a furry face peered out from verge of the nature strip into the road in front of me. I slammed on the brakes then pulled up on the nature strip (it's a wide one dividing a main road) and found 2 dogs, a GSD and a Lab. I called to them and they came over to me, fortunately I had the treat bag on me so managed to get them over to the car with those. We were so close to the road though and I was really worried they would run off or even just step into the lane in front of a car. They didn't have collars on and wouldn't jump into the car at first, and I didn't want to lift one in while the other one was loose... Fortunately I have various leads in the car and managed to loop one onto the Lab and clip him to the door catch on the car. Then I opened the driver's door to get another lead and in jumped the GSD! Then the Lab decided he didn't want to be left out so in he jumped too, phew. They both ended up squished on the front passenger seat together for the drive home (which was only a couple of minutes). They had no tags and it was 7.15pm so I couldn't take them to the vet to scan microchips, so I thought I may have guests for the night. Luckily though the owners had listed them on the ACT Gov lost dogs website so I was able to call the owners, who were VERY relieved to come and take them home. They'd had quite an adventure, travelling across 3 suburbs to get to where I found them. Here are the naughty boys, home safe now and not too worse for wear!

I so hope you find good tenants! In my experience, as a landlord, a pet owning tenant and a property manager, people who are open about having pets and are willing to take responsibility for any damage done can make great tenants. Best of luck

Hang on *falls off chair...* you can get 4 bed + study, pet friendly accomm in Adelaide for $330 per week?? Argh why do I live in Canberra? Good on you OP for making pet friendly rentals available, great move even financially in this day and age, lots of people have pets!

Liz, that's amazing! I quite like the thought of animal ghosts being around keeping and eye on things, especially protecting people like in the first story.

Wow!!

Poor Gussy sounds like he's all over the place, with all he's been through. Anxiety, confusion, being moved around plus whatever he went through with the previous owners. Good on you for taking him and working to give him a good home! With teaching him specific things like sitting and coming and not jumping, in order for him to register that you're asking him to do something and what that thing is his brain needs to be somewhat focussed at least- if he's worked up with anxiety/excitement/worry etc etc all the time he may not be able to register what you want from him just yet. Plus even if he does get it he still needs to find the reward you're offering more rewarding than whatever he's getting from the behavior itself. So for eg with the jumping up he may sort of think "if I jump up I at least get some attention when they tell me to get down. I don't know what will happen if I don't jump up at all but mostly bad things have happened to me before so I'm gonna stick with what I know I can get and not risk it".... Does that make sense?? I think you need to work on him feeling secure in the home and building a bond with you before you teach him specific things. Like Pers (I think) said, you could have him on a lead attached to a belt or another lead looped around your waist basically all the time when you're at home - just for a little while (couple of days??). Then sort of ignore him, go about your business as tho he wasn't there except for obviously taking him out to toilet regularly and quiet praise of he does sit or lie down quietly of his own accord. Then he can't get into too much trouble, he'll hopefully start to bond with you more and be around you enough not to feel like he always needs to be seeking your attention. It will also force him to focus on you if he's attached to your waist and has to follow you around, he'll have to watch what you're doing so he knows where to walk, when you're stopped etc etc.

Oops I just realized how long my post was, sorry! Thanks for the responses guys The instructor is lovely but I don't know how experienced she is so maybe it was that she wasn't sure what to do. I hope she or the owners get some advice about it otherwise I dont know how enjoyable training will be for the pup and owners. The poor owners were quite embarrassed about the barking etc and they couldn't do the controlled greeting at all as the pup was getting to worked up.

I'm interested in some opinions from those with more knowledge than me! This morning we had Riley's second beginner obedience class (he's going well and I think we have a great little class of pups! ). One pup in the class is a border collie girl, around six months. She's a gorgeous dog but in both classes she's been very full on towards the dogs that are near her - straining on the leash towards them, barking loudly and consistently at them (my impression is barking with aggression, there's no play bowing, waving arms around, making different noises or things that puppies wanting to play do) and not paying attention to her owners. I know she's only young and seems high drive but the thing that I was questioning today is that she was was barking and straining with all her might at the lab pup sitting next to her for half the class until the lab's owners moved. The instructor's advice was that the BC's owners should ignore her behaviour. Her reasoning was that paying attention to her barking was rewarding her. My thoughts were that as she was barking at the other dog not at her owners, and was displaying aggression, or at least in appropriate behaviour, she was getting results from her behavior when the other dog reacted to her, and being ignored by the humans was just letting her keep doing what she wanted to do. And I'm thinking if the behaviour isn't nipped in the bud at this age it'll get more ingrained and she'll rapidly be become older, bigger, stronger and still be barking, straining towards other dogs and not paying attention to the owners. I would have thought the advice should be get her physically under control (not straining on the leash) away from the other dogs if necessary, tell her firmly to stop the barking and focus on the owner, reward that and give her lots of quiet praise and positive attention when she's sitting quietly (which she does sometimes). I know it's hard to advise without seeing it, and obviously I'm not planning to interrupt the class and say anything but I'm interested in people's thoughts to further my own knowledge, and maybe mention to them privately if it seems appropriate. Thanks

Bahaha! Thanks for the clarification that the one at the back is a cat! Would never have known ;) Your little Pug is gorgeous. Ears do go all over the place when teething, Riley's (Shetland Sheepdog) were down then one up then down then other up then first one up then both up... I didn't bother taping as he's a pet, not for showing. They seem to have set both up pretty fast so if it does bother you I'd talk to people about taping now... If you can be bothered

I found the breeder of my Sheltie pup by going along to a couple of dog shows to try to talk to breeders in person. To be honest most people didn't seem open to chatting but the breeders I got Riley from were more than happy to chat to me I started off by asking to say hello to their dogs (they had 4 there in pens and they were super friendly and happy to have pats, then I told them I was looking at getting a Sheltie and we went from there, talking about the breed and whether one would fit into my household. Then I asked them if they had litters planned soon, they said yes, gave me their details and we mainly emailed from then. I think face to face is a good way to introduce yourself to breeders, if they're willing to chat and you don't approach them when they're in the middle of something at a show! It was great for me too because I got to meet some of their dogs up front and see that they had temperaments I liked.

I've been wondering about dogs eating lollies! I don't often have them (more chocolate which I knownthe dogs can't have) but had some jelly babies recently and the dogs were desperate for them, they always want the people food no matter what it is. They just didn't seem like something dogs should eat so I didn't give them any but somehow Saxon managed to get hold of the last one in the pack. He was fine but I won't be voluntarily feeding them! Are normal lollies (not sugar free) particularly bad for dogs?

Hahaha I can't believe how many people enjoy a licky foot massage! Maybe because Saxon's tongue is only little it doesn't feel at all massage-like to me... He 'helps' me dry my legs after a shower too I don't mind the feeling of that as much as on my feet, but I try not to think about getting dog slobber all over me fresh out of the shower!

Owwwch, poor dogs . Obviously a matted coat is very different than the knot here and there I snip out of Saxon's coat! Alkhe, wish the guy was here, I'd be happy to work with you and say something about it to try to them clipped!

Hey Alkhe, I know you have a little Poodle! Normally I'd suggest bringing it up in the course of conversation yourself but wouldn't want you to make your interactions with this guy any less pleasant That's why I was thinking someone else could say it... Andisa, couldn't you sort of lift the matts and cut the hair off underneath, right at the skin? That's what I'm picturing based on the knots Saxon gets. Or does the hair sort of matt right onto the skin when it gets bad??

What's he like at the park, does he chat to other people? Do the dogs approach other people? What I'm thinking is, is there someone else at the park with a Poodle or Poodle x that could have a chat with him? I agree he probably won't listen to you and will get defensive. Having Saxon (toy poodle x) I quite often talk about grooming with people with other poodle type dogs (do it yourself? is it difficult? where do you take him? how much does it cost, how often? etc etc) Maybe someone would be willing to bring it up with him and comment on how his dogs are pretty matted, possibly in pain, have fleas etc and would he like to know a good groomer... Or even explain they can be clipped off with decent scissors, might not look perfect but at least gets the matts out. Such a hard situation, hard to tell if he doesn't know any better, doesn't care or just gives in coz the dogs whinge when he or a groomer tries to clip them. Whatever it is, so unfair on the poor dogs

Oh yeah! Saxon is all over toe licking... Mind you he tries to lick pretty much wherever he can reach. Sweaty feet must be extra good tho! I hate it and make him stop tho, sounds like you don't mind it at all, hehehe!!

Oh corrie, I totally agree with you. I'm lucky not to have a seen a dog hit and/or killed but have rescued or tried to rescue a few off roads. A few times ive put a leash on and sort of walked up the street until the dog heads into a house then knocked and asked if the dog/s belong to them. The usual answer "oh yes, thanks hahaha..." or worse "oh he's always getting out". I really hate it when dogs are running around in roads because 1. The dog may well get hurt but also 2. If I hit a dog and hurt or killed it I'd be devastated as would many other people; and 3. A car hitting or avoiding a dog could cause and accident with other cars, hurting or even killing people. So a simple "oh thanks haha" doesn't really do it for me! ETA Or blaming the dog for crying out loud!! How frustrating.

Sandra, that's what I was thinking too and what prompted my first post. That's also what I would try to do regardless of breed. But not everyone would feel comfortable doing that in every situation and no one has to do it. Greyt, huskies did say she tried to report them to council last night but they were closes and that she intended to do it this morning. I assume she did that

Soooo cute! I keep buying those toys with the little ball on a rope and Saxon keeps eating the ball off and leaving just a rope... D'oh! I just want him to fetch it like your little guy

ETA that's a good thing but I don't know how we could explain it or implement in effectively in other places!

Hehe thanks to you for responding to my questions so well! I really wonder what the cause/effect relationship is between the ACT anti-BSL and "no particular issue with pit bulls" culture and seemingly much of the rest of Australia's different views. Of course there are a range of opinions but from what i've seen at dog training and the dog park pit bulls and other bull breeds don't seem to get treated any differently than any other dog. It really seems to be more about behavior than breed.

Fair enough I do understand that you're anti BSL. I am too, because I don't see that there's any evidence that it is effective rather than my personal experience with any particular breed. Again I totally agree with you that people who are aware their dogs roam and let them are idiots endangering both humans and animals including their own. I guess you're right also about the dogs being put down because of their breed not their actions I think we're so lucky in the ACT that that wouldn't happen and maybe that makes me think differently. I personally probably would try to talk to the owners, if not contain the dogs (obviously not if they showed aggression - and if they did I would really question what should happen to them) but if you know they are out regularly and/or are not comfortable talking to the owner to check of he is aware then obviously you're already doing the only thing you can by calling the council.