Little Gifts

Thank you Nekhbet - I do believe in the whole pack position and role thing, which is why we had a behaviouralist in before to explain it and help us treat them more appropriately. We figured the husky x's attitude to the older dog was due to her not being seen as a useful member of the pack anymore. But I wasn't sure how to manage it if the older dog has dementia. You have of course given me a lot more valuable information about pack behaviour to consider and apply. Closing doors - something so simple and not something I even thought of. Seems stupid I know but we've never done it before - we tend to run around putting things out of doggy reach instead. As for crating - our younger rescue was traumatised in a crate as a pup and injured herself as a result so I have been reluctant to force it upon her but I'm guessing that unless they were all crated it might not have the desired affect on the pack as a whole?

Thank you for that information Deerhound Owner. It makes a lot of sense and I knew someone on DOL would have some good advice. Before the dementia was diagnosed a couple of months ago we did buy some nappy items so perhaps it is necessary to use a two part approach to the problem now - nappies on when inside the house and a continuation of the supervised toiletting outside. Plus I will restict her access to the furniture she is marking and see what happens from there - she may start trying in other spots I guess. I will also talk to the vet about her medication to see if the dose remains right as it does keep her more alert. Though clothes on the floor is my sister's problem!

I am after some genuine advice here on what I should do.... My sister and I have 3 female rescue dogs - almost 16 yo staffy, almost 3 yo staffy and an 8 yo husky/shepherd cross. The old girl has been with me almost 15 years. The younger girl arrived when she was 3 months and the husky x has belonged to my sister for about 5 years but they both only came to live at my house about 2 years ago. The old girl is social but doesn't like to be fussed over. She has cancer and dementia but is still quite active, playing with me and the young girl every day. She doesn't get too close to the husky x. The young girl is very smoochy and naughty but lots of fun. She does struggle with her position in the pack (fighting with the old girl) and we have had a behvaviouralist in for that reason. The husky x has always been kind of aloof but protective of the humans and the house. She is also protective about her personal space. She does like to play with the young dog but then abruptly stops and goes to be by herself. We call her the fun police because she always seems to tell the other 2 off for playing too rough or are having too much fun. In particular she is a little sharp with the old girl, almost like she is trying to tell her she is useless to the pack now. All our dogs are very routine orientated and my sister and I both feed, exercise and discipline all three the same way. I discovered my old girl has dementia mainly because she was toileting in the house like she'd just forgotten to take her butt outside. The medication has definately helped in that area. But over the last week I now realise she has been deliberately peeing on the furniture. This morning clinched it for me. For months now I was confident that she was no longer able to get onto the furniture without our help. But this morning I saw her get on the spare lounge in my room all by herself without any problems. I ran over in excitement to notice the little toad squatting down and peeing! Then it dawned on me that the only furniture she pees on is the furniture the husky x likes to sit on. She also pees on my sister's clothes if they are on the floor of her room, but never my clothes on my floor. Houston I think I see a problem. So, if she is scenting to tell the husky x to back off then how do I handle it given her age and dementia? I actually smacked her in shock this morning and scolded her and she looked at me like "Whatever!". Usually if she does something wrong and I speak to her harshly she gets very upset until I forgive her so this is all very different. And I don't think increasing her toilet breaks is needed since I already have a fairly excessive toileting routine with her now so we can avoid the mishaps indoors. We do monitor the husky x's behaviour with her because it is our job to discipline - not hers, and if she wants to be in their space then she also has to be willing to let them in hers. Do we have to change things so that 'my dogs' stay in their space and 'my sisters dog' stays in hers? That doesn't feel so comfortable to me. The old girl has been around the longest, including in this house and has always been very accomodating of other dogs. This is her first territorial stuff. Am I reading the situation correctly? Any ideas on how to address it and with which dog/s? Thank you!

I'm not sure which is the winner ;) Naturally, I don't have any stories to tell . DOL's hard drive space would run out........... I have 3 words for you MM - Dirty Miss Myrtie......

Ahh, I haven't laughed so hard in ages! It feels better to know I am not alone! (still cracking up about the mobile clothes rack!)

Hey you weren't supposed to all laugh at my stoopidness! You were supposed to share your own embarrassing stories so I could feel better!

I was always told that when you build a chicken coop you drape the wire down in front and cover it in dirt as foxes will stop digging once their toenails hit the wire. One of my dogs got very destructive on the house if he ever got into a panic (which was often). He has peeled back the corners of metal screen doors and manged to bust open a key locked metal garage door. So using the fox and wire idea (outside only) we put some heavy duty hooks into the walls across some of our 'danger' areas and hung sheets of wire (cheap cut offs) and draped them slightly over the ground and put some concrete blocks on top. He tried numerous times but never managed to break through any of the wired off areas - just shifted the wire and blocks around generally. Slighty irritating for the humans to move the wire when we needed to get into those areas but we came to terms with it. Also what about trying a muzzle? My current young girl has to wear one if we have to go out and can't get her babysat as she eats whatever she can get her hands on (pillows, doonas, etc) if left inside without human supervision (she's almost 3 and is not suitable to crate). We have never left her more than 3 hours muzzled though.

On the weekend my sister kindly reminded me of something very stupid I did with my dogs a while back. I decided to get pizza late one night and the dogs managed to squeeze out the door as I was leaving so I decided to take them with me. I hadn't planned on taking them so had no leashes and no seat belt clips in the car. The trip there was uneventful but when we got home I had to get out and open the garage door and shut the car door behind me to keep the dogs in. My car at the time was an old thing with buttons that pull up and push down and unfortunately both dogs lunged onto my side as soon as I got out and pushed the button down. So I had to knock on 3 doors before I could get a neighbour to answer my plea to call RACQ for an 'urgent' call out to unlock my car containing 2 dogs, a pizza, my purse, with the headlights on and engine running! And yes they ate the pizza and the box and managed to turn the wipers on as well. One also did a piddle on the passenger seat. All very embarrassing and I have never made the same mistake again!

So sorry Kirty - I know this must be a straw that broke the camels back type thing, Which 'stupid bastard' in your pic did this so I can give them 'the death stare'? I don't know if this helps but kids (partic teenagers) can often do the most shitty, irritating and potentially dangerous things that they know they are going to get in trouble for. Thing is sometimes they are just craving one on one attention and don't see the difference between whether it is positive or negative attention - even if you are screaming at them and telling them you are sending them to live elsewhere they still have your full and undivided attention! I know dogs aren't human but could your boy be suffering from this? Does he get regular one on one just with you, no other dogs present? I have a girl almost 3 years old and while she loves our other 2 dogs she needs me time. If I spend what she feels is an inappropriate amount of time with one of the others doing fun stuff she will pee on things - anything really. She can't talk so I see that as her way of telling me she's pissed off.

Wow! He has really grown so much in such a short period of time! Just amazing to see the difference! Feelin' good......

I felt it was time to pts my boy and went in a wednesday only to be seen by my long term vet and her vet nurse who decided they weren't ready to do it! So I was sent home with some pain killers and spent 2 and a half days with my boy just lying around, talking to him and hugging him and taking photos. I took him back in for the last appoint on the saturday. I got one of the other vets and vet nurses but it didn't matter. He was ready and I was ready. I stayed with him while it happened just talking and hugging him. They left me alone with him as long as I wanted and I took his collar off (seemed important for him to not still be wearing it 'forver') and gave them a bright beach towel I wanted him wrapped in. They also put his name tag in with him (stupid but if in a hundred years someone digs into the spot I want them to know who is there). They sewed him into a canvas bag and sealed him into a plastic bag and carried him to the car for me. I took him home and buried him. I expected a bill later but they said there was no charge for either the wed or sat visit. Monday when I got home from work there was a flower display with a hand written card on my front verandah from the vet hospital. All the staff there that I knew (and who knew my boy) had written messages in it. It makes me emotional almost 3 years later thinking about it. And I don't think it is because I was a regular customer. The staff there knew I loved my boy and had done a lot of work to keep him well over a lot of years. Same for his mother - both came to live with me seperately after not being adequately cared for by their original owners. The staff care about me because I care about my pets. I've seen other people in their getting their pets pts and the same care and respect is shown to them. Makes a difference because yes to some people it is just a dog but to me they are family members.

First time I took my girl to the beach she drank so much salt water that she had the runs big time and we had to stay longer at the beach than planned until the runny bum stopped! I had to encourage her into the water and we went in where there were sand ruts so the water was still and she could get used to it. I would never make any of my dogs go into the water unless they were comfortable with it as there is loads to do at the beach besides swimming. We also have this half tent thing we take now so if anyone gets too hot running around they can lie in the shade for a bit. And lots of fresh water and towels. I tend to keep my leashes with me when we are walking and call my dogs back and attach them if things seem unsafe because there are some stupid people who take their dogs into off leash areas who are not so social. I remember a couple of dogs attack chasing my pup that first time and their owners telling me off for it. I was shocked but not suprised.

We have a dog that just seems to know who to trust and who not to. Don't want to be a worry wart but if she doesn't like this person then I wouldn't push to make her like him. Maybe he yelled at her or kicked her some time that you don't know about so she has developed a 'concern' in his presence? I always think the dog we have here is a much better judge of character than me so I take her warnings seriously.

He is just such a happy boy! great work tigerlily!

This actually makes me sad. His needs are obviously so freaking simple - to just be part of a family. He is obviously a responsive dog but they wanted a puppy instead? For an older dog he still makes the effort so why couldn't they? I hope he wants for nothing in his retirement years.

Oh it gets worse! I bought a bigger booted car because we have one young dog, one mature dog and one very old dog and they all need different stuff now! Drives me crazy! I've got to shove all my wordly goods into a little shoulder bag because of how much stuff I need to cart around for the dogs - we now have seperate snack bags (they have different diets), a dog pram for the old girl in case she gets too tired to walk, extra water because they each want to drink at the same time but don't like the same kind of drink bowls, and a half tent thing if we are going to the beach so the old girl can sit out of the wind (or hot sun). Oh the joys of pet ownership!

If he looks like that after 24 hours in your care tigerlily then he will be in ectasy in his ne forever home! He already looks like he's won lotto! Thanks for being part of this great save!

I just wanted to add that even without receipts from these people a clear business transaction has occured with them - they had the dog, they took part in the transportation of the dog, you will hopefully have some evidence of payment and since the dog ended up in your possession it is clear the business transaction was finalised. Sorry to put it like that but for Consumer Affairs or for a court case it is evidence, even if the 'breeders' pretend they can't find any paperwork. And as Jed said all goods have an implied warranty meaning that you bought the item in good faith that it would perform its basic function for a reasonable period of time (regardless of the warranty being provided). I don't know of many goods that we would spend $2000 on knowing we were only getting 8 days of the item operating. So you have established 2 things fairly easily - a business transaction did occur and your implied warranty was breached. Very, very sorry you had to go through this experience with your much wanted puppy.

I've seen pics of Wolf with his foster carer, who picked him up Friday night. He is smiling with happiness! He goes to his new forever home tomorrow - I think with tigerlily73 so hopefully she will send some pics our way. But from the ones I saw on Facebook he is over the moon to be back in a family environment. Great save for a boy who didn't deserve to be discarded like this!

I am sitting at my desk at work feeling your pain like it all just happened today. Some dogs just have the affect on us don't they. I have a boy gone for almost 3 years now and I still call for him when I call all the other dogs. I still see collars and coats that would look good on him and if a storm is coming I have to remind myself not to worry - he no longer needs human help to get through it. He was a needy boy that the whole family took under their wing so we've all ahd to make adjustments to him not being around, but that doesn't mean we have to forget. I had my boy for a long time though and can't imagine what it would be like to lose one when they still seem so young. It's good that you still remember him and how special he was to you. Hopefully how he left you will not always be such a strong memory. It was obviously his time. Big hugs to you Rachel xxx

Twice the article made comment of the thieves leaving a male puppy of 'lesser value' behind. Before I even saw all your comments I was thinking so does she care about the money lost or the poor 4 week old pups who should still be with their mothers? Maybe the theft was payback for a shady deal they did with some other poor puppy buyer? What goes around comes around. I just hope the missing puppies are all being suitably cared for, that the 'valueless' pup left behind does not get treated poorly by the 'breeders' and that the 'breeders' get appropriate medical care for the bitches who will still have milk.

Can I ask you guys why you like Susan? I have a great vet at Beenleigh who does homeopathic work with my dogs as well as traditional vet treatment and medicine. She also goes out of her way to look for other options and is very minimal with charging for her long term clients like me who ae also into prevention and close management of long term illnesses. As it is a hospital they also do their own testing, which I like. I suspect she will be looking at retiring in the coming years though and as she is the only vet I choose to use there that means I'll be looking around. She owns the hospital and has been my vet for probably 20+ years and for most of that time the same head vet nurse was there as well (she left a year ago - boo hoo). She's kind of gruff to the humans if she thinks they haven't been doing the right thing (I've personally been in trouble a couple of times) but calls all the animals "dahlink" (she's German) and has a genuine love of animals you can see on her face. She also has her own very large collection of dogs that have needed homes over the years. So it is good to know of other options, just in case....

Can I ask this then - do breeders make their income (as opposed to profit) wholey and soley from breeding puppies? That's how I see puppy farmers - the farm and 'making' puppies is their income. With breeders I had the impression (could be wrong) that selling puppies they have bred is only part of their overall income, which might also include stud fees, show wins, behavioural work or kenneling of dogs they have previously bred and selling older dogs no longer suitable for their breeding program.

Thank you for the info about crossing breeds for allergy reasons I didn't know they weren't actually successful And in all honesty I don't know much about low allergy breeds either but thought it might be a 'community' issue so was just raising it as a matter I was unsure about. I don't have a breeding background - mainly focussed on rescue but find DOL such an amazing source of information and knowledge. That's why I am more focussed on reduction of the numbers overall from the less desirable sources but am definately supportive of registered breeders and healthy, family suited animals.

Can you provide an example? I was thinking of the whole crossing with poodles thing to make a dog for people with allergies. Practical crosses - not just to make them look cuter. And that is the only example I was thinking of but there could be more?