KumaAkita

Generics in vet products work the same as in human medication. Some generics have the same "active ingreedients" as their brand premium counterparts, however have other "fillers" which may or may not react with you. For example, the active ingredients are the same in both products, but (for arguments sake) the generic comes with a coating that contains Lactose. If you're lactose intollerant, you will have an issue with the generic, but not the brand premium - not on the basis of the active ingredients but on an additive that it contains. This is NOT to say NEVER use a generic, quite the opposite really. Just be aware that they may have different ingredients. Just read the packaging - or the information available from the manufacturers website. Kuma is on Interceptor Spectrum - they don't do a tab that treats a dog over 45Kg, so I sent them an email asking for advice. I got a call from a really lovely lady at Novartis who gave me heaps of advice. I also suggested that they do a Giant range anyhoo... My point is, if in doubt ask a professional - whether that's your vet or a manufacturer. The people at Novartis that I spoke with were vets...

We started like that with Kuma. He does spend most of his time just a few paces in front of us with a slack lead. He will always look back for reassurance and when get starts to get tired, the closer he comes He is a cutie (think my colleagues are wondering what the hell I'm doing, had to turn my head to watch the second Vid ) ETA: Just saw wuffles post. We also started out that slow too, but the pace will build - trust me! I think that most of Kuma's pulling is a cue for me to walk faster! He doesn't drop his pace, but I'm sure I do!

Morning All! Trust all's well... Ravenau: that made me :'( .... so did many of the other stories about losing pets. We lost our Lab Daisy when I was in yr12. That was a sad day. She managed to run out on the road and got hit by a car. She died in mum's arms on the way to the vet (45Km away...) Worst part was that we lived in the QUIETEST street known to man. One car a day, tops. She managed to find the only one. Silly sausage. We did call her the dumb blonde coz she would always overshoot her exit through the door and skid into the door frame! I can't bare the thought of losing Kuma so I choose not too think about it (for the time being anyway) I have no fear of spiders, I'm tough What does everyone define as LLW? I define it as no pulling on the lead. Kuma has free reign to the end of the leash and the minute he pulls he gets a correction. I pull him in close if we pass someone, but other than that he is free to range. What about everyone else? Is LLW to you loosely at your immediate side (kinda like an informal heel, I guess) or do you allow for some freedom? Ohh... Kuma has learned Left! We were walking this morning and we went a different way home. As we were approaching our street, I said Left and he turned. For now I count that as a win (till he ignores me next time...) Little turd did more excavating last night. Luckily the OH bought more chicken wire, so now our trees are fenced in. We'll see how that goes today, we let him outside.

*Mutters about living 3 hours away...* Starts at midday on Saturday. You can leave at 8:30 and get here with plenty of time to spare. Stay the night in Canberra (we have a spare room and plenty of room for Roo to run around) and be home by oh, say midday on Sunday. Easy!

Ok, since I can't send a message to more than 3 people at once (if there is a way, let me know...) I decided to set up a thread to plan Kuma and Ava's Joint 1st Birthday Party. Where: Forde BBQ Area. Wuffles did a little reconnaissance this afternoon and decided that the BBQ Area off Zakharov Avenue, opposite the childcare centre would be the best. There is parking on all the nearby streets. It's about 700m from the dog park. She linked me a map, but I can't seem to get it in here... Wuffles, can you please post it? When: Saturday 27th November at 12:00 noon. What to bring: Wuffles and I will supply sausages, onion, bread, salad and soft drink. Please bring along anything you'd especially like to eat. Also bring along a chair, hat, sunscreen, picnic rug... Thanks to those who have RSVP'd, anyone else wanting to come please let me know by Friday so I can cater accordingly. So far we have 11 humans and 10 dogs! Happy to give out my mobile number for those who may need help getting there... just PM me! So, fingers crossed the weather holds out We will go ahead if it's a light drizzle... if it's bucketing down, we may go to Plan B*. *dunno what Plan B is yet, but hey... got a few days yet!

Hello All! Sorry, been AWOL for a little while... things go sooo busy all of a sudden! I haven't had a chance to read everything, so will comment on what I remember and will come back in detail later (slacker, i know!) So... LLW, in our house it is achieved with the use of a black dog infin8 collar. Cheating I know, but when it's 47Kg of dog versus lone woman, dog will win every time. He's mostly good, I'd say loose about 95% of the time. It's the 5% that he's a total nutbag and I have to maintain control and found that this can only be done with a harness. When he starts pulling I say "uh uh" and he slows. If he starts pulling too much, I stop make him sit and give eye contact. Wait until he's calm and move on. This takes a few times to stop him. i found the reversing thing didn't work for me... Kuma likes movement - any kind of movement. Stopping means no movement. He's funny, if he starts looking behind us when walking I say "forward" and he turns around and looks/walks in a straight line. I'm also starting with Left and Right. But slowly slowly. Good luck to those who are working on LLW without Harness. Hmmm... I remember some cute photos... I haven't had a chance to look at any videos... I'll comment more later! My little boy is in solitary confinement. We started planting in our yard on the weekend (Yay!) and Kuma decided that he didn't like where we'd planted a few of our trees and decided to move them himself. We rigged up a temporary fence yesterday, but he managed to sail over the low retaining wall. He hadn't worked it out until this morning, so we hadn't worried. So for the time being he is in the house until such time that we can manage to rig up a better fence. The OH went home at lunch and let him out to pee. I think it was a wee bit hot, coz he was straight back at the front door. As soon as he was let in he went back to the cool floor in the hallway. I had also left the fan on for him, so undoubtably it is way cooler in the house! Anyhoo, trust all are well. Look out for news on Kuma and Ava's party in the near future (sorry Non-Canberrans!)

How heartbreaking... I'm so sorry for your loss. Sending Akita leans Rest easy big boy

1: :D yep! Could u imagine it... It would be full on 2:

Ah yes, wet dog zoomies. I know those only too well! Last time kuma was washed inside there was the wet dog on the bed zoomies... plus he takes sooooooo long to dry. Glad Ava is on the mend, poor poppet. Stay strong Satch! OMG, there is a long haired Akita in the spitz thread... U gotta check out the photos. That is one awesome looking doglet.

Yay... Glad she's feeling a bit better...

we call Kuma's post bone breath "Death Breath" - it's rank. Poor little girl... must be exhausting for both of you. Luckily your boss is understanding

Kuma is on Advance Puppy Growth for Large Breeds - he gets kibble and wet food morning and night. I'll also add a few treats every now and then - left overs like rice, chicken, etc. All this as recommended by his breeder, and I suggest you speak with your dog's breeder as to what they recommend. There's a lot to consider when you've got a big dog, and it shouldn't be left to chance. Good luck!

poor Ava! Hope she is feeling better this morning...

eeeewwwww! :D I feel for Mr Koala - it would be hard to give up a White Christmas and all that it entails. One of the girls at my work is from New York - she's getting a snow machine. It's going to be STINKING hot in Canberra, but she's determined! (maybe I can arrange for Mr Koala to have a White Christmas after all! )

I have no idea on what breed will suit - just wanted to Hope that your Aussie settles in with his foster family. I wouldn't know what I would do if I was in your situation. Best of luck...

Ness & 4Kelpies - they are awesome photos! I was thinking about this the other day... mainly in the context of "how the hell did it become Christmas again..." We have a fake tree, it will probably go up (I do it on the 1st weekend in December) and we'll see how Kuma goes. He's probably going to be interested in it, so we'll just have to make sure that we supervise at all times. @ the idea of dog pee'ing on it. eeeeewwww...

Greetings All! After managing to get on an earlier flight, we were delayed due to weather and then got caught in a long queue of planes trying to leave! oh well, home now for a few days. Off to Sydney on Thursday and Melbourne on Friday. I've calculated that since I started in this job at the end of July, I have been away for 21 days and had 7 nights away from home. So much for minimal travel! Got home to a dog who'd slept ALL day so he was full'o'beans! running in and out of the house... silly idiot... dragging mud onto my nicely cleaned floor! Kuma loves "running with the big boys" but it tires him out sooooo much. He will sleep the rest of the day when we get home from obedience classes ooohhh Ava... had a fun time decorating, didn't you darling. Couldn't be mad at that face! Yay for no infection - Mars decided he needed some 'ink' ;) I was looking at these photos last night, the OH looked over my shoulder and asked "what the hell is that??? that's some mega damage!" I explained it was simply an afternoon's work for Roo ;) Man, she's got some toys! Makes me think I'm depriving my poor boy. EARS! Yay for Hoover... they are fantastic ears... I'm not going to make Obedience again this week. I'm not too devastated... I don't think Kuma will be either. My in-laws arrive on Friday night for the weekend, which will mostly be spent gardening, so he'll get lots of attention and work... I won't be putting him though the assessment for Bronze, but will probably come along on Assessment Night for the frivolity.

Just a fleeting visit before boarding the plane.... Niques- I agree with wuffles, just wait until James has to pee on EVERYTHING! Hope everyone has managed to stay sane in the rain... Apparently Kuma spent the day in his kennel keeping nice and toasty. Smart little munchkin... KTB - hope Papa Koala is ok. Yay for accommodating qantas staff who bumped me to an earlier flight!

Hi all... Sorry for my little moan last night... I am just over all this travel. I get home tonight and head off to Sydney for the day on Monday. Melbourne is lovely, I just wish that I could experience more of it tha just the inside of the convention centre! I'm on a booth and people don't want to talk to us. They either want to abuse us for changing the rules that mean that pharmaceutical sales reps cant give doctors pens anymore (hey, we are drug companies, not stationary suppliers!) or they have no idea who we are and their eyes glaze over... FUN! We have a tradie comong to our house regularly at the moment and he is scared of dogs... And he is petrified of Kuma! So the poor fluffier gets stuck inside when he comes to work in the yard... I'll post more on the dominance thing later, I'm just really popping in to say hi and apologise before heading off to the conference. Enjoy your weekends!

That is some serious bluesteel from such a little guy!!! Awesome shots

They're super expensive so they may as well be more delicate! Have fun in Melbourne... conferences aren't so bad Quote 1: maybe.... Quote 2: conferences are usually fun unless you are on a booth, fielding random questions all day and generally being abused... I must look like a native tho, I got asked for directions out on the street twice today! First time I knew where they were after, the second one I had no hope! I am also the luckiest girl in the world. I managed to leave my wallet in a cab last night. I called a couple of cab companies and they put out a bulletin asking if anyone found it. The cabbie found it and returned it to meths afternoon, intact... I had cancelled my cards, but everything else was still there. Including a $200 myer voucher... I am so lucky Apparently Kuma is still going on the bone I gave him yesterday and doing mad zoomies around the yard... Man I miss my boys when I'm away from home...

Hi all... Look at elbie and Hoover... Elbie is so good to put up with that. ;) at Roos stiches! I wonder if the vets in Canberra are more delicate, we always get asked if Kuma is a show dog, and they try to limit the amount of fur they shave. I'm in Melbourne at a conference. It sucks...

So cute!

Poor Roo! Fingers crossed it heals up miraculously overnight! KTB - poor Hoover! Ditto to the above comment My dad and sister are pharmacists, so handy if you're under the weather. Also means I have enough pain killers in my cupboard to tranquilize a small village! No so good with dogs tho...

Looks like they are enjoying themselves! Hey lilli_star, I see u down there... How's Roo?