Simply Grand

Absolutely agree bianca, I'd love to keep following Roo's story, she's become one of those DOL "family" dogs. And Jelly, at the thought of thread being deleted I was going to post "pleeeease don't, I wanna keep seeing the gorgeous Roo photos". I love the one with the pig in her mouth, I imagine her presenting you with it and saying "look I have a pig" then you say "oh thank you" and go to take it from her, the she looks annoyed and says "no, it's my pig, hmph"

Quinn is the queen of fridge opening! I'm sure I've posted it before but she figured out how to open the fridge when she was still a puppy (8/9 months maybe??). She does it by hooking her paw under the bottom edge of the door and pulling it open. I tried masking tape, then packing tape then electrical tape. She figured out how to get the end loose then peel the tape off. Then tried a flexible plastic baby proof latch that clipped in a bit like a seatbelt, she managed to pull two of those off the sticker bit on the side of the fridge. Now have a Safety 1st one that is small, made of hard clear plastic with a grey bit that goes on the door side. She hasn't managed to pull that off or open it BUT I have to push quite firmly to make it click into place and occasionally I don't do it quite hard enough so she still gets in now and then She has gotten hold of sooooo much stuff that should be bad for her but it doesn't seem to have had any ill effects, such a garbage guts!! She hasn't figured out the oven door yet, Stan can do that one can't he? :laugh:

Gawd, I'd have to do an extensive study to understand the complexities of my three humping each other, humping inanimate objects, humping the cat, humping other dogs, being humped, reacting to being humped... So many different situations but none of the three have ever done it to a person or done it to the "wrong dog". The worst that has happened is one of mine has been told off or told off another dog, the offender has backed off and all has been fine. I do watch the behaviour very closely, especially with other dogs, but have never needed to step in. ETA - actually that's not true, I have restrained my dogs from humping another dog if there is any indication that the other owner doesn't like it, if the other dog is being totally submissive, or if it goes on for any length of time. I do it out of courtesy to others tho, not because I think it's a serious behavioural issue.

Well said Corvus.

She's just so gorgeous it's obvious from the photos that she does spend many hours as a very happy and content girl, with her beloved mum

So cute! IBooks has it for $6.99, I think I will get it tomorrow after I top up my online shopping card (and yes, for me, I don't have kids )

My Sheltie had an undescended teste that was way up in his abdomen so the vet had to make quite a large incision in his belly and go searching for it. It cost $500. But that's Canberra vet prices for you

Maybe Sammy could have a quiet word to Quinn, she's 15 1/2 months, fully grown and more than capable of jumping into the car yet she still insists on standing on her back legs, putting her paws on the seat and waiting for me to hoick her in *rolly eyes* You'll appreciate him jumping himself in soon!

I can't believe Skeeter is 10 months old already! He sounds so adorable Saxon does the face wiping too, the first time my mum saw him do it when he was little she was very alarmed at looked at me in distress saying "what's wrong with him, what's he doing?" My step brother and I assured her its just a weird dog thing :laugh:

Lucy and Fergus together so adorable!

I don't think there are any circumstances in which I am not responsible for my dog's actions. I control their environment, I am in charge of training and socializing them, I decide what situations they are put in. I don't think anyone is saying it's ok or acceptable for any off leash dog to rush or attack an onlead dog, or that the onlead dog is should stand still and take it. The point is reasonable responses and management. Unfortunately size does come into it, it's just a fact that two dogs of similar size and strength are more equipped to fight each other than two very different sized dogs, no matter who 'starts it'. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a stable dog to understand that another dog is smaller and modify their behaviour accordingly, my larger dog definitely does this and she can't be the only one.

Poor boy I'm wondering whether you could use a baby's nappy rash cream like Bepanthan? It's great for humans, I first came across it when I was told to use it for tattoo after care years ago and have since used it for all sorts of grazes, dry cracked skin, cuts etc. It's soothing and also antiseptic, but much thicker than other antiseptic creams like Savlon. Hopefully someone can advise whether it's safe for use on dogs.

I don't like the tone of that article, it reads to me like it's making fun of the whole thing

Riley, who's a bit odd at the best of times, has the weirdest habit of my guys. His height means he is pretty much nose height with toilet seats and whenever he's in my room he seems to feel the need to walk to the toilet in the ensuite at regular intervals and "tap" the toilet seat - as in he sticks his little pointy snout under the lip of the toilet seat and flips it up then drops it just enough for it to go "tap tap tap". He only does it three or four times on each occasion then wanders off and continues about his business

As everyone has said, thank you for sharing this last Charlie story with us, it has me in tears but smiling at his tough little attitude right to the end :) What an amazing little dog.

Oh Charlie I'm so sorry to hear this, but what an impact he has had on so many during his short time with us. He was so lucky to be with your family so that he was given the best life he possibly could have had. Run free beautiful boy.

Sorry if I missed it but what's a 'social kennel' compared to a 'normal kennel'?

You can still smell wet Hammy, maybe he hasn't actually gone very far away at all...

Poor Sally and her owner, what a shock for her. My thought as I read the story was also that this probably resulted from the two women not knowing and/or not paying attention to the dogs' body language as they were all standing there.

I would love a Ferret or two! Maybe one day... I can imagine Ferrets outsmarting dogs any day :laugh:

So glad Sally is ok! I too thought of the issue of "dying from drinking too much water after taking ecstasy" Anna Wood My closest experience was a severe flu last year, I couldn't take in anything, let alone keep it down, for a week. After a couple of days water alone made me vomit, Hydralyte slowly sipped was the only thing that my body could handle.

Oh my god, how scary! Thank goodness you got her there and they figured it out. Thank you for the warning!

I don't think the collie and spitz breeds mentioned would actually need a whole lot of fussing & preening over, I believe a quick brush a couple of times a week would be fine except when they are dropping coat once or twice a year, when yes lots of brushing and lots of fur would be involved! From the sounds of it an appropriately selected BC could actually be quite a good match for your family.

I agree with trying to meet both breeds (and others that you might consider). Most people who know both Aussies and BCs see differences in their temperaments, IMO Aussies are just as smart and active (except my lazy one ) as BCs but sem to have a slightly different focus. BCs are often quite task focussed and all about "their" person where as Aussies are more interested in what everyone else is doing, dog and human. I definitely wouldn't go for an Aussie as a 'quieter' option than a BC. I'd say they would need just as much time training and exercising to tire out their bodies and brains. They should be good with kids all though there are differences between them, some, like mine and her sister, are very boisterous and probably too rough for little kids but others are much more calm and reserved.

You totally jinxed yourself saying she was going to be perfect :laugh: Hopefully Joey and Renae are old enough and sensible enough not to be influenced by her naughtiness!