Simply Grand

Well yes, but you pay for children you adopt too. So technically they are also for sale. That doesn't make the term adoption invalid. Eta - ah ok, your edit clarifies your point. I do agree, although in reality I think people wanting to "save" a rescue/pound/shelter dog that may not be suitable for them is more concerning than the concept of adopting vs. buying.

Sheridan, I don't understand your concern with this. Adoption doesn't imply free, so why the need to differentiate a dog for sale vs for adoption?

Bahaha that's awesome! :D

Exactly huga, our puppies are significantly more than our adult dogs although they cost us less as medical stuff is cheaper coz they're small and the go quickly BUT the extra money they are able to bring in for us helps pay for the less desirable dogs who need more treatment and are with us for longer. Their sale price nowhere near covers the cost of keeping them so the money from the puppies helps us be able to give them what they need.

Oh skyefool thinking of you and so hoping you are ok too. Like td says, just keep getting through the days and getting the help you need and it will get better. You will find the right doggy friend when you are ready.

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Stan opens the oven!

So what if it's not "considered" a spey? I agree, ridiculous, fine to say it's not something I'm comfortable doing but why not at least consider it?

Funny you say that Brandi because I immediately thought that's my Quinn (for the agility and chair moving) combined with hazywal's Stan Greyhound (for the ingenuity) :laugh:

Scrotal ablation (thanks perse) is a much more complex surgery than routine neutering, with more risks to go along with it - longer surgery so longer under anaestethic, longer healing time, more risk of infection and more painful to recover from. I wouldn't do it. Yvonne, I'd expect Banjo's to completley disappear eventually, both my boys had flappy skin for a while but after a couple of months were completely smooth :)

Kirislin, your post reminded me that we did the same with our childhood pets, they buried like that too, I knew that we buried them in the garden but I just remembered that we would put flowers and leaves in with them too so they would get dirt on their faces I think one of the best things my mum did for my sister and me growing up (and I love her to death but she did some things not well at all) was firstly, always letting us have pets and somehow instilling that they were our pets and our responsibility so we always did do the feeding, cleaning etc and secondly, never hiding that they had died and letting us see them, touch them and be involved with the burial when they died. It has taught me that even though they don't live as long as us they are so amazing and valuable while they are with us and that no matter how sad it is, we can accept that they die and we don't forget them but we go on and focus on the great memories.

At the shelter I work at we definitely only euthanase for serious medical or behavioral issues or because the dog is just not coping mentally with living in a shelter. There is NO time limit - no home, so long as the dog is coping and remains rehomable, does not equal kill for us. I believe we are very fortunate to be able to use our own resources in addition to working with a range of others to maintain this, and I feel for the front line workers in places where this is just not tenable. I will say however, that many of the dogs who do not have what we deem serious (as in warranting euthanasia) issues have a range of issues that make them not suited to the average pet home, we are very upfront about this and it does make it take longer - sometimes a looooong time - to find a suitable home. This is where the risk that the dog deteriorates to the point of no longer being rehomable or being able to cope in the shelter comes in. It's difficult. ETA - it's not that we have a great deal of resources, we definitely don't, it's that we have been fortunate to have "powers that be" who recognise the value in investing in the front end to reduce the impact in the back end.

Ooooh, beautiful. She looks so at peace, resting in the flowers. Sounds like there is a wonderful story between her an her owner.

So nice to hear :) Her family will so love the photo too.

Agree. The thing is when they are young puppies they are mainly interested in being with you and happily follow you around, once they get to about 16 weeks they start to realise there are other interesting in the world and are less likely to stick close to you. That's when they start to do things like dig out of the yard :) And you don't want to find out the hard way that's she's decided it's more fun not to walk straight to the car anymore.

That's so cute, I can just picture a little goldfish mouth on command. It's funny but I don't know what mine would sound like, I talk for them all the time but I keep trying to imagine their voices and I can't...

Oh fantastic news! So glad to hear it :D Well done to the Michelleva family including Georgia! ETA - and on to the next one to get ready to go to their forever home! It really is such a valuable thing in helping dogs find a fantastic home, not just a place to live that they may not thrive in.

I would do just what Cosmolo says, except I personally would add some excitement and forward momentum as soon as the pup gives to the pressure - excited "yay", a few little bouncy jogging steps, whatever makes pup think that going along with you when you walk seems like a really fun thing to do! Take it a few steps at a time, and maybe try changing directions so puppy doesn't just think you're taking on a long walk and starts looking to you for what you're going to do next. And treats as much as possible when he is walking nicely with the lead loose. Agree also that a flat collar should work fine, but if you do want to use a harness I'd recommend a front attach one rather than one that attaches at the back as the back attach ones tend to give them more strength to resist you so you need to use more pressure. Let us know how you go :)

Exactly what perse and megan say :)

I remembered a funny thing Quinn went through a phase of doing, she'd burrow under a blanket on the couch then sit up next to me with the blanket over her head, poke her nose at me then sit really still. I'd say "where's Quinn?" "where's Quinny gone, where is she?" then pull the blanket off her head and exclaim "there's Quinn!" and she'd break into a goofy grin with her tongue hanging out of her mouth :laugh: (obviously I initiated this game the first time she sat up under the blanket but she seemed to like it because she kept doing it, hehehe)

It's such a risky attitude for parents to take 1. I don't generally hit people, never have, but if someone I didn't know put me in a headlock and tried to wrestle something I wanted off me I certainly might; and 2. It's putting a lot of trust for your child's safety in other people by assuming they'll do the right thing and not let their kids interact with dogs they shouldn't, and that's assuming the dog owner even understands the risks, which some obviously don't!

This is a different situation because the child wasn't being malicious, but another case of both parents and owner not doing anything when they really should have... At the dog park this afternoon a family came in with a lab puppy, one of the kids was about 5 or 6. A young kid AND a puppy is a fun challenge for me, Quinn loves to jump all over kids and Riley likes to growl and snap and intimidate puppies, so of course they all came straight over to where I had my three sitting focusing on me and not the kid and the puppy. I didn't mind this, I used it as training and would have told them not to come over if I was worried, but they were pretty oblivious to the risk of their puppy rudely jumping all over three unknown dogs who were being fed treats, I knew I had them under control but they didn't know that Anyway, the thing that made me was a bit later, the 6 year old was trying to wrestle a ball out of the mouth of someone else's Boxer! He was holding the dog by the collar standing trying to pull the ball out while he leaned over with his face right in front of this unknown dog's face, and the dog was holding tight. Both the parents and the Boxer's owners were standing around, probably 20m or so away from the kid and the dog - not close enough to intervene quickly if something went wrong - and were watching what was happening while they chatted but no one said anything. I thought about saying something but I was further away than everyone else and keeping my guys under control, and seeing as there were 10 or so other adults around I decided not to. Thankfully nothing happened, lucky the dog was tolerant and didn't try to reposition his grip on the ball and get a hand instead

"...a reason to start over new, and the Reason is you..." :) - Hoobastank Oh and skyefool, I understand how you feel, my dogs are definitely the reason I'm still here after my last couple of years, and through them I've managed find a good path that is making me happy. Keep fighting

Just perfect :D