Whippetsmum

My boy Whippet is an excellent guard dog. As soon as I say the word "Mouse" he's on high alert, looking under pillows, lounges, in cupboards and pacing, he'll search every room, his ears go up and he does the intermittent "ruff" warning bark . Apparantly, nothing's scarier than a mouse!

Thanks for the suggestions. Mine like playing bitey and snapping games too. I like the sound of the Squeaky Snake toy, except we do have a real snake or two living close by near a creek, so I don't want to encourage them to investigate snakes. I know making tugs out of towels and things from around the house might be cheap, but if they made their own form the washing line, I'd be cranky! I'll go to the K9Pro website have have a look around. I do understand what Hound Lover means, that we would all hope our dogs are rewarded by us, however, mine do spend a lot of time together, and if bored, my girl makes up some games we'd like to discourage, like Kill the watering system , split the lizard , and shred the budgie ( don't know where the budgies come from) , but Blue is her favourite flavour). I am amazed at how much she achieves when she spends so much time sleeping.

Following on from the Christmas pressie thread: What games do your dogs like to play with together? What are their favourite shared toys? My 2 don't share very well, e.g. one loves frisbees, but the other just snatches it. The only "toys" they sort of share are those rabbit fur squeaky rats, which they pull apart like Christmas bon bons. So I'm interested in toys that they can play with together, that won't be destroyed by Boxing Day.

I priced Lino to cover the carpet in my art/craft room. Bunnings does have some cheap lino, but The Warehouse/Sams etc have some cheaper, not sure about the quality.

This Is a window grill, not a door she jumps up on the sills and lays on them like a cat, she's not that big but a great jumper Thanks for the tips guys, I really like the Idea of maybe putting the mesh on the outside rather than In, I'll have to see If that can be done though with what I've already got as I'm renting and on a tight budget. Time to shop around again! Oh the joys of having naughty dogs :D If you installed the window grill, can you modify it? You can put a hard clear plastic similar to perspex sheeting over the lower area, keeping the flyscreen uncovered in the top half. If the grills are yours, you could easily just keep the plastic in place with screws direct into the grill frame. If not, place a timber baton on the outer side of the screen and drill into that through the plastic then grill and mesh. You'll need to replace the screen before you vacate. (we always replaced the flyscreens at the end of lease, our 2 liked to scratch them) The sheeting is at Bunnings, and it's on a roll, usually in the builders section.

I've moved 7 times in 9 years. It always takes a few weeks before the dogs really settle in, and the barking subsides to the normal level. Adrenalin and cortisol are heightened in times of stress, so the dogs bark at thngs they normally wouldn't until they are well and truly settled. During the move, I always have someone stay at the house with the dogs and don't move the dog until everything is set up. I always wait until there are familiar items such as lounges and rugs. Crates help with the whole process, as the dogs have their safe zone to retreat to. This has worked well for 3 diferent dogs over the moves. Usually I stay at the vacating premesis and OH is at the other end directing the boxes (that part of the move never works!). If I have to go to the new house, for any reason, then I make sure the dogs have someone really familiar with them- either my 11yo son plus an adult to supervise him, or my mum or father in law who have stayed with us for extended periods. After we move we spend a lot of time with basic obedience to help the dogs re focus.

Whatever you charge per night, you may want to get her to sign an agreement about unforseen extra expenses. E.g. if you have to take the dog to a vet for any reason, in the event the dog gets loose and you have to bail it out of the pound etc. Make sure the dog's microchip details are up to date and has you as the "holiday" contact too, just in case the dog darts off.

Possibly a bit off topic, but the OP raised it: "During the childrens nap time I come upstairs and spend time with her." OMG........Priorities? (Don't flame me: Remember it's not her own children asleep downstairs, she's being paid as a carer.)

Give the dogs a few weeks to settle in. We're 3 weeks post move, and ours are starting to settle in. They have almost stopped barking at the ducks in the creek, and didn't even look even growl at teh Lorikeets yesterday. Over time, the new noises and sights are becoming less threatening.

Wisdom from my 11 year old son, who was 9 when we had the same decision to make..... Definately tell your son before you do take Shannon to see your vet. Explain that the time has come for Shannon to leave you, and although you will all miss him, you and the vet cannot make him well enough to live the life that you would want for him. The last gift for you and your family to give Shannon, is peace and freedom from pain. P.S. My son made a lovely shrine out of Lego for our girl. He also helped his Dad choose a really lovely photo which was made into a canvas, so our girl is always with us.

I just found this mesh stuff- googled "under turf mesh". There are a couple of brands, turfprotector and grassprotector are mentioned You would need to keep off the grass for a while so it can establish. I wonder how much it is? Bodpave® grass paving grids are an interlocking recycled plastic grid system for reinforcing and stabilising grass that can get damaged by regular pedestrian and vehicle use. Bodpave® grass pavers should be installed on a firm well drained base to provide a high level of reinforcement. Bodpave® grass paving grids can be filled with a mixture of soil / sand and seed or can be turfed for a natural grassed finished, or can be filled with gravel too give a decorative finish which is ideal for gravel driveways and access roads.

You could phone a few turf places and ask for advice. I am sure I've seen a plastic mesh underlay in some high traffic council areas tat seems to protect the roots from a bit of wear, a turf person would know what can be done. Don't forget that this time of year is the worst for grass in most places around Aus, so the grass will look better most of the year than it does now.

You make the point that when he can see the other animal up close i.e. clearly, that he reacts more positively. It might be important to make sure his face is kept trimmed so his fur isn't obscuring his vision. Mum's fluffy cross breed was very aggresive and over reactive when his eyes were covered with fur (little wonder, but strangely, not obvious to my mother). That dog improved once I insisted his face is kept trimmed.

Agree with the email suggestion except....set up a Gmail or other free email account just for the dog. That way you keep your regular email seperate. The other option is setting up a facebook for the dog only.

Had a major scare last night with my 4 year old boy Whippet. The background is that we moved house to a nice block overlooking a bush regeneration area and creek. The dogs have been crated and shut in until the new fence goes up, as the current fence is quite low. It took 2 weeks to get anyone to come over to quote for the fence, and then we had to convince them that we really did want a 6ft fence for the Whippets, and then were told it would take 4-5 weeks to get the fence. Finally got a good contractor in last Friday who is hopefully getting the fence in this Saturday. Last night, the dogs went out for a toilet break, and OH didn't go with them. In the dark, we heard the barking, and then the yelping and howling. The girl was franticaly trying to get over the fence and the boy was nowhere in sight. The drop over the fence is 3m at least, and then once the 1.4 fence is cleared it's a bit more than that. To add to the drama, the bush regeneration people have been putting lovely sharp stakes in to suport the newly planted trees, so you can guess what I expected to find. I scrambled over the fence in the dark, down the stone embankment, screaming for OH to bring a torch. OH rolls down the embankment behind me, said he couldn't wait to find a torch. At the edge of the creek, still wanting to chase the prey was my boy, still standing. On inspection, my boy has a bloody nose (a graze), grass stains on his forehead, neck, shoulder and rump, and a nasty scratch on his belly. It looks from the stains that he rolled down the embankment which is heavily grasssed. He's moving well this morning, and has no obvious sore spots. All toilet breaks are now on leash until the fence is up.... And OH is OK too.

Try Greyhound adoption program GAP NSW: http://www.gapnsw.org.au Their martingales are really reasonable, they have small ones, (my Whippets have them) so suitable sizing for smaller necks of pups etc. They also have coats

This is going to sound like an odd question, but did any of the recent users of the guest bed have a bladder problem (Nanna, great Aunt Betsie etc?) My boy would not pee anywhere inappropriate, unless someone else had left their scent first, e.g. mum's badly behaved dog. Is it otherwise related to a recent guest, maybe the dog felt it's territory threatened and marked the bed?

Better than dropping the "S" though

For real? How crazy! What did you do? Yep, they weren't answering the phone, so left messages, no replies. Eventually saw a selling sign with one of the agents mobile numbers, we were told to hang onto the keys until the inspection a few days later.

We went to hand the keys in to our agent, and they were gone.........

OMG, so sorry to hear about Cindy. Thoughts are with you. Whippets and Whippets Mum

Firstly, document the incident, and document with video if necessary her dog and her kids razzing up your dog. You may need it at some stage. Then......Speed breaks. We used mesh speed breaks for fence running-(my dogs like to chase each other along the fences, they had no dog on the other side). We used sets of 2 posts maybe 50cm apart with cheap plastic mesh between each set (plastic in case of collisions). Each set of posts with mesh was spaced every 3 or 4 metres or so, the idea is to have the mesh perpendicular to the fence, and even attached to teh fence so tehy can't run between teh posts and teh fence. This stops them getting a decent run along the fence- it stopped ours. You could use something like Bunnings compost panels too.

Mine are no longer partners........He dobs her in. As soon as she grabs something, he's right in front of us telling the story- you can hear him say "Mum, she's being bad again, I'm being good, I told her she'd be in trouble, she didn't listen". If I come home, I get the whole story when I open the door, so does OH when he gets home. OH just asks me now, what did she get? Our list is a bit long- cds, books, remotes, toys, shoes, bedding, hoses, speakers, she is so quick, that I can't change shoes when she's awake. She has toys, treat ballls etc, plenty to keep her occupied. She has heaps of her own stuff which she guards like a lion, and she has never harmed the boys favourite stuffed toy. It just seems anything that has our scent on it.

We've bought a house and are moving in soon, but need to re- fence a section along the back yard. (We've budgetted for this to happen immediately) The back yard has a creek just behind, and at the moment, there is a 1.2m high "pool" fence, which doesn't inspire me with confidence. I have images of my Whippets donning superdog capes and having a go at flying over. We want to keep the view open for our own benefit, but are heatedly debating what height fence we need to put up. Both dogs are Whippets, fit, healty and reasonably young. The dogs have had colourbond and timber fences in previous houses, without any problems. Both can jump easily onto tables around 1m high, both can climb onto the kitchen bench when motivated, and can spring up vertically to snap at birds overhead when they're in the yard. Any thoughts on fence heights? I've never had a fence that the dogs can look through, and as they're Sighthounds, I'm a bit apprehensive. Is it more of a problem containing dogs when they can see through the fences? edited for spelling

The article I have doesn't go into movement, so it's probably not the one, sorry!