grantwit

Umm.. single dad... the child would have been covered by medicare.. he wouldn't have any medical expenses. Not so. Unless he has top private health cover any ambulance and hospital to hospital transport would be out of pocket. not too sure on the medical bills, i believe that the initial hospital treatment is all covered, but if the child needs ongoing physio,perhaps plastic surgery for scarring etc, this would all be out of pocket.

At what age can you start walking your 'puppy' for longer than the advised 20 or 30 minutes? Ive got a GSD (who unfortunately isnt classed as an adult - maturity wise - till up to 3 yrs of age!) who is now about 8 and a half months old and full of energy. Last time we were at the vets we were advised to stick to the 20mins exercise twice a day, however that was a couple of months ago now. So at what age is a puppy not a puppy in terms of exercise/walking??

Good to know. Ive been thinking about taking my pup down there one weekend and whilst she wouldnt be off lead, with that many dogs around who wont be under proper control, its not worth the risk. Id like to train my dog to the point that i can let her off the leash in dog parks, but from what ive read on the forums, they really arent that great a place!

Well i ended up taking Cullen out to see Peter Schofield, as that was one of the names that the vet had given me. My poor pups back had a number of issues and he has found two spots of calcification on her upper tail. Overall though he reckons he can do a lot for her. Was impressed with him and will be heading back out there next sunday for another session.

Hehe - if Sophie had been a boy she was going to be Jasper - haha. And it's not just that you're biased - she's a stunner! There is a German Shepherd in my area that is a week older than Cullen and he's called Jasper. When i found that out i had a bit of a laugh to myself!

Haha, yes she was named after everyones favourite vegetarian vampires!! And thanks, i think shes gorgeous, but of course i am extremely biased!

that is such a cute photo! Definately one for the wall!!

I finally got some nice new photos of my puppy today! Its hard to get her to sit still for a photo session This is my girl Cullen. She was born on the 10th of August. I cant believe how much she has grown in just 3 months. Looking back at photos from the first day its unbelieveable!

My suburb where i live has a large Asian community. Most are ok with my GSD (also helps shes only 5 months old!) but you do get nervous looks. It doesnt bother me. As she is still young and boisterous i tend to move off the path and give them plenty of room when i pass. Sometimes they will stop me and ask if shes ok to pat, other times they dart by quickly. I dont mind moving to give them space though, if i was confronted with a large dog that made me nervous i would appreciate the owner doing that for me. You can get the opposite reaction though from the community in general. Now we arent talking about a little fluffy thing, but a large dog who, although only 5 months, is bigger than young kids. Ive been in the pet shop with her talking to the owner, i look up and a mother has walked up with her 4 year old, not spoken to me and just told her daughter to hold her hand out and pat Cullen. What if my dog was nervous of kids? What if she had gotten excited and knocked the poor child over. It would have all been my fault then im sure! Its no wonder kids are bitten by dogs all the time with parents like that!

Concord Animal Hospital doesnt take appointments. They are open 9-12 and 4-7 weekdays and i think 10-5 sat and sun. Never have to wait long either.

I was advised not to put another puppy in my old backyard for at least 6 months. I would err on the side of caution. As you would be aware its just not worth risking. And if the pup had been inside thats another complication. Years ago i adopted a pup from the RSPCA. 2 days later they put her down. Few months later went back to the RSPCA to 'look for a kitten' and had some 'casual chats' to volunteers that were there. Turned out the RSPCA were pretty certain my pup and her sister had parvo BEFORE i even set foot in the place. Needless to say i have some major trust issues with the RSPCA. Further story to it, but this isnt the right thread for it. I ended up bringing my childhood dog up to live with me again a few months later (after the parvo incident), but she was about 12 and was fully assessed by a vet first. Obviously these people are aware of the heartbreak that parvo brings the owners and the pain it brings the dog, so it my not be too hard to make them see that a vulnerable pup is not the way to go.

Seems like youre closer in to the city, but the inner west vet that i would recommend (if you dont mind travelling a bit from your location) would be Alice at the Concord Animal Hospital (located at the Concord West train station). Id give them a call first to check when she is in (there are 2 other vets there, Alice is in most days though) but she has taken care of all my animals.

You take gorgeous photos!

Aww poor little thing. Glad to hear he still has his tail though. Whilst the diagnosis for Cullen is a pinched nerve, she thinks it probably happened at birth or soon after. Whilst amputation may still be a possibility, im hoping that with care i can also avoid it. Only thing is she has such a long tail!

Yes well the mites should have been picked up by the vets, not necessarily at the post purchase inspection but at every vet check since . After i had her for a week she had to go on antibiotics for 'puppy pimples'. The idea of mites was first raised then, as she was scratching and biting too much. The idea was also raised at a couple of other appointments (all her vaccs). I kept being told german shepherds dont suffer from mites and thats its normal to scratch etc like that. Eventuallyi went to the vet one day after work for ONLY the itching and insisted that it wasnt right and that if it wasnt mites then it was a skin condition and needed to be treated. A scaping was done and what do you know, mites!! So from that i learnt to be more forceful, after all im the one that knows my dog best! Ive also since found out that it was also mentioned to the vet at many appointments that her tail never wagged, but this was also brushed off. And i do trust my vet implicitly (although there are three vets there and i would try to only see her). When my old dog got sick and died after two weeks last february she was beyond wonderful with treating her and looking after her. Really cared about the dog and my family. I guess the big thing is though that vets only see your dog for a very short time infrequently. So if you are worried about something and are not satisfied with the vets response, insist that they run further tests/investigate it further. Dont take no for an answer.