poochiemama

Funny, the same thing happened to our dogs last week. They have baths before they leave the kennels, so why should they still smell of wee? This is a reputable place, but it's actually making me rethink taking them there...

Thanks corvus....looking back, I think we may have created this situation, on two counts. Firstly, by taking her to dog parks...and secondly, I am so anxious myself when we go, that she may sense it. We try to go to the park when there is few people around, and take measures, such as making sure there are only dogs that she knows. But there are always unknowns...

Thanks Nekhbet, that's reassuring. I don't live near Geelong, but thanks for the offer of help - I think 'overdoes introductions' is exactly what's happening.

Thanks for your input...I guess the problem has been that the behaviour has been so unpredictable. 99% of the time, she loves playing with dogs and can play for hours with no issues. It's just in the initial meeting period, for the first few seconds, where she appears uncomfortable. She will allow them to sniff her for a couple of seconds, and if they move on from sniffing her, then she'll happily play but if they linger, she starts growling. She's particularly this way with puppies. If a dog lingers too long, we will move Hannah on or call her away and usually that's fine, but it's hard to time it because she's more tolerant of some dogs than others. I wonder if this is normal 'telling off' behaviour or something more sinister. But I appreciate it's hard to give advice on the internet without observing the dog, that's why we are getting help from Underdog Training. Just wondered if people had any experience of this with their own dogs. In the interim, I think we'll stick with walks.

I have written to Underdog Training to get some input; they are fantastic and I'm sure they'll help, but just wondered if anyone on the forum has experience with this as I'm so worried... I might copy and paste the email I sent to underdog: I'm just a bit concerned about Hannah and wondered what the best way to deal with this situation is. Hannah was attacked at the park last year, and since then she's been less comfortable around other dogs. Although the majority of the time, she happily plays with all dogs, when a dog sniffs her too much, or gets in her space too much, she growls. We don't correct her for that, as I've been told this is just 'telling off' other dogs for bad behaviour, and if we stop her from growling, she might just go straight to biting. Most of the time, we just take her away from the situation if there are too many dogs or if its overwhelming for her. She's particularly uncomfortable if she's on her back and a dog is sniffing her private bits. but I feel like it's escalating now. It's become more unprovoked. Today was the worst - there was a nine month old golden retriever pup who was just playing with her, completely appropriately, and Hannah gave one growl then pinned her to the ground, growling at her neck. We had to pull her off the other dog. I don't think she bit, but it seemed like a very over-the-top reaction. It was definitely not playful but aggressive in nature. Earlier at the park, she growled at this very placid labrador, who was just sniffing her to say hello. The lab was not one of those boisterous labs, he was quite old and gentle. I don't think there are any health issues as she seems perfectly fine and the behaviour first began around the time she was attacked last year.

My goldie had exactly the same thing, except much bigger. They drained some blood from it with a syringe and needle, sent it for microscopy etc. In the end, it was a haematoma - a collection of blood due to her hitting her head somewhere. It took many months to go down and even now, she still has a slight bump there, because the haematoma becomes fibrous/calcified and forms a small lump, even after the blood drains out of it. It's not painful, it's more of a cosmetic issue .

Thanks very much for the replies....lots of food for thought I think there's definitely merit in the idea of doing separate activities with the dogs as much as possible so that they are confident being without each other. I suppose we just enjoy each day we have with them and cross that bridge when we get there, no pun intended.

This is something I try not to think about but a few topics on dolforums recently have reminded me of this. My two dogs are very close in age - about six months apart and are best friends. They've grown up together almost from day 1, they do everything together, although they are fine being apart for a couple of hours. I just worry sometimes about the future - if something happens to one of them, how the other one will cope. How have people dealt with this in the past? It's a morbid subject, and hopefully something I won't have to worry about for a number of years, but the thought crosses my mind from time to time... The other concern is the heartbreak for us given that they are similar breeds, close in age..if we lose them both at the same age.... Wow, I'm really depressing myself here. Any thoughts?

how would your neighbour feel if you hit his children when they are out of control? ...they're CHILDREN. likewise, this is a puppy-in-training. I just can't believe the cheek of some people. It's very rude, or maybe he's just ignorant. Either way, if he's uncomfortable with your dog's behaviour around his kids, he needs to stop bringing the kids around . They can meet somewhere else. It took us a good year, year-and-a-half, to train our dogs not to jump, so I don't think it's 'your dog is out of control and you should learn to control it better' . These things can take time.

I remember when I first got my puppies, I was completely stunned by how much I loved them. It really comes as a shock when you're not used to having pet dogs. I'm amazed how much time I spend on dog forums, how much I look up dog adoption sites (even though there is definitely no more room for any more dogs), how I love seeing other dogs on the street. They also helped put things in perspective for me when I was doing a difficult job, because my dogs are always happy.

My goldie does this too... I don't think she has hip dysplasia, she walks beautifully. It's usually a combination of being tired and not wanting to go home. For instance, she will be running around happily with other dogs at the park, but when we start to go home, she will drop on the ground at times. It's easy to get her walking again though, we just say in a cheery voice 'Hanna, up!' and she'll jump up , wagging her tail. She doesn't appear to be in discomfort. She is growing out of it a bit now. She also used to do this at the entrance to the house, making me think she just wanted to stay out rather than go back home, as she had been walking along well until then.

thank you for the suggestions - i will email cosmolo to get an idea of the prices for the walks. How are woofer's world for off-leash?

Awesome, thank you.

thanks, but mulgrave is quite a distance from us unfortunately - I am looking nearer to caulfield.

ANYONE???

I am desperately searching for a good dog walker in these areas...unfortunately, there are so many dodgy ones out there and I need personal recommendations. Any ideas?

Golden retriever and labrador.

Just looking for some recommendations for a good groomer in south east melbourne..

Awesome, thanks for the link.

thanks for the replies... I don't want to do any formal gundog training for shows or anything...just a day out where they can use some of the skills they were bred for, i think they'd have a blast. I'll google some of these suggestions...

I always see dogs on TV that go for 'gundog training' - learning to retrieve , tracking scents etc. Always thought this might be nice as a day out for my two retrievers.... Is there such a thing in Australia/Melbourne?

Hi guys... I've have a job in Bendigo for 3 months and have to live there...I'd love to bring my dogs (and husband ) with me to Bendigo but I just can't think of a way to do it. Anyone know of any good short-term rental options? It has to be pet friendly obviously and cheap as we're paying mortgage in Melbourne. Or house sitting? But I don't think many places will let you housesit and bring your dogs. It's a long shot but thought maybe someone may have some ideas as to how we can do this...

I am so thrilled! especially happy for indie, and best of luck. it's funny how we don't personally know these dogs, yet we become so invested in what happens to them!

I just came across this website; I was looking for good, sturdy, funky tags and I love these tags...does anyone have one? I'm not sure if they do postage to australia....have sent them an email to check. The website is www.fetchingtags.net

Any news? Wishing Indie all the best...