ruffpup

I had a little dog that gulped his food down. What got to me was his "butt burps" later on in the lounge room at night, pee-yew! I had no idea about special bowls but read something about feeding in smaller amounts, dividing a meal up, so he'd have to wait a couple of minutes between each amount. That worked for us and it only took about a week or so for him to get the message. He didn't go back to that ghastly behaviour. edited to fix a typo

I haven't kept up with things over the years but I was under the impression that uni grounds are nothing like schools and TAFEs etc - that is, they are definitely not owned by State govt. As I saw it, they used to seem to be able to make up a lot of their own rules, don't know if they still do. Without having any idea what UTS or any other uni's rules are, maybe the security guard was thinking along the lines of ..... if someone objects, gets bitten .... whatever. I'd imagine the Uni could get sued if a dog bit someone, so that could be his objection to any dog around. imo you're best off checking the policies at the source or from whoever does know. eta just read mita's post. That's pretty much what I was thinking, and if one dog is allowed then how could they prevent others?

Ah, I can relate to those supposed Telstra calls. I had quite a few of them last year, always from people with foreign accents and none-too-good English skills. Some of them told me straight up they were calling from overseas. When I would ask when Telstra would tell me in writing or any other question about the hows and whys, they'd hang up. Before I went on the Do Not Call register, I took to blowing a whistle HARD down the phone. That worked. Calls have dropped off since I registered. Lately it's been the "calling about the problem with your computer" - to which I say I don't have one, they hang up. Even my OLD mother who's never used a computer in her life is getting these calls recently. I guess I could give these people a couple of marks for creative thinking but minus marks for intelligence.

I've got a small fluffy/hairy cross breed - she weighs just over 5kg. She's just turned 3 and had the annual vacc twice with no side effects whatsoever. I went that way as it's really hard to put anything in her mouth - except a yummy treat I also am getting forgetful nowadays, forget my own medicine sometimes, so didn't want to do wrong by my dog. so far, so good. that's just my experience, I know not everyone likes the idea of an annual vacc replacing a monthly pill. I had a lhasa apso - close to 8kg - also, he had it as well and no problems. In general he didn't seem to be the healthiest dog around but none of his needles caused problems. eta the last para.

only 6? you're lucky, the co-worker I mentioned before lives northside ACT and caught 5 over the weekend. I live not too far away and caught 13 from March to mid April. nasty little critters.

I had a related conversation with a co-worker last week. I'd heard a while back a lot of places were having mice plagues. Co-worker said she hadn't been able to get mousetraps anywhere, all sold out. She has a big dog and didn't want to take a chance. She did get traps and caught 5 over the weekend, including 2 in 1 trap. yuk. I used traps in about March and caught heaps in one kitchen cupboard, then stuffed up the gaps around the kitchen pipes with scrunched up scourers (the little curly wurly type - cheap, in Woolies). Touch wood, haven't seen a mouse since, nor has the dog continued sniffing behind furniture etc.

How small do you call small? My brother's got a Cav, he's just over a year old and imo quite chunky - I think he weighs 8kgs, and the family try to be strict with his diet as it's supposed to be easy for Cavs to put on weight. I've found an 8kg dog is heavy on my lap (I'm small and no spring chicken ). Some little dogs are a bit chunky like that. A while back I saw a lovely little dog being walked, it was a Papillon. Smaller than the Cav and gorgeous. Don't know about the shedding though. They're supposed to be nice natured - and so are Cavs. I've found Maltese to be very cuddly, really people focussed. So are Cavs. I've seen some really tiny Maltese around, too. The one I know best is clipped every 3 months or so, otherwise her coat requires a lot more attention.

You have misunderstood me(as I think you have the rest of the world) the way you hate is unhealthy, it is quite sad really, as I'm sure at some stage in your life you were a child. What happened dear, what makes you hate the child within? If you don't talk to kids, how are they supposed to learn the right way to approach a dog. Huh? Why and how is it other people's responsibility to teach another person's child how to behave? It seems to be a modern thing, as is letting children demand what they want and giving it to them. Not wanting to talk to children doesn't mean anyone hates the world. I haven't met many dogs over the years, including my own, who'd appreciate a stranger wanting to invade their doggy space.

I saw that on the front page of the paper when I was in the newsagent's this morning. Poor sad little swan, sitting on the nest. Gee, we people can be a nasty species.

It's not just breeders who get asked. Some time back I met a woman who said she'd bought a pure-bred Lhasa Apso puppy for $300 - and said she was lucky as so many breeders just wanted ridiculous amounts for a dog. I had pics of dogs in my phone and the woman got quite excited - said her girl (now 1) was the spitting image of my cross-breed dog. I told her it was a cross and that the boy was pure Lhasa. Even more excited then, she presumed he was entire and wanted to breed with her girl. bad luck, says I, he's been eunuched. :p Woman then asked if I knew anyone who had an entire boy to breed with her little girl, and seemed disappointed but not beaten when I didn't. I couldn't work out what her reason for breeding was, money maybe, but she's also convinced her girl is special enough to want to share with others. There was no offer of anything from her either, she just wanted the use of my boy so it could have been the money. eta - the last sentence.

hahahahaha! stop it, please. no, hang on, it's put some humour in the thread. There was one earlier one that made me laugh so hard I sputtered my coffee, can't remember which. gaawd! It does strike me as a bit odd though, every time there's a thread similar to this it seems to be a whole moan about nothing being the fault of whoever broke the law (and starts the thread) but all the fault of whoever they encountered. Is that human nature or what?

Agreed. Someone at work the other day told me she'd had a conversation with the staff at another of the PP shops and was told they know where all their dogs come from and they were all respected breeders. Huh? That particular shop usually has various sad looking little cross breeds barking and whining in their glass cages. I've also worked with people who have bought dogs from there and plan on breeding. Maybe they sell back to the shop, who knows? They know less than I do and I don't claim to be any sort of expert on animals.

Are you talking about Katy Gallagher? If so, I think your opinion is a bit harsh - I consider her very articulate and certainly more so than many of the boofheads that masquerade as politicians in the upper house of most state parliaments! Some of those blokes (and they are always blokes) can barely string two words together. The Senate has seen a few of them too. Yes, I was talking about her. I work in the ACT and haven't met anyone who thinks she's worth 5 cents, I agree the blokes are bad too but Katy always seems to be on tv. back on topic, someone at work gave me one of those so-called humane traps, and I was told to just take it to the park and release it. no thanks. I didn't like the idea of it either running around in the wild or into someone else's house. So exactly what does one do with a caught LIVE mouse? I'm sticking with the regular mouse traps, they've progressed from a piece of wire to trap the creature. One hard flick and it dies rather quickly, then just empty it into the rubbish. Humane or not? Where do we draw the line? Rats, spiders, snakes, cane toads, blow flies, cockroaches .... I do what I can feel comfortable and live with. Killing mice in my house is something I will do if I have to. With a trap for dog's safety. edited to add about the dog

Here is some info Spider Bite Me too. I have found though that my dogs somehow haven't gotten too close to them, and there have been a fair few RBs around the last few summers. This last summer I've used Baygon Outdoor & Spider, including on a couple of what looked like big blobs of RB webs (with a small spider outside) ready with offspring. The blobs shrivelled up. This stuff is supposed to control webs and it certainly has in my shed and around the outside walls. One thing I've noticed with RBs, a zap quickly kills them, they don't go running off elsewhere out of sight.

Well, that's awesome for you - but don't kid yourself into thinking that home-schooling is as good as primary/high school. Your parents might have been clever and educated enough, but sadly in most cases, this is not the case. That sounds very definite. How do you know? Were you a home school failure? The 2IC in the ACT was supposedly home-schooled, that's enough for me. After seeing her untold times on tv, I find the woman a badly spoken ignoramus. Then about half of one of my sibling's children were home schooled for a while, when they went into school they could barely pass any exams. Someone in the ACT Dept Education told me a while back there was a lot of unauthorised home schooling around Canberra - being taught by people who weren't qualified. I think that's the argument against it, if the teacher is no good the children can't learn much, just the same as in school.

I've had interesting experiences but no proof, either way. When I got a little dog then moved into a new house weeks later, my mother stayed with the dog. I was catching buses to work which didn't pass anywhere near my house or the surrounding streets. My mother noticed about 10-20 minutes before I arrived home on foot the dog would disappear, finally found under the curtain at the front window, apparently waiting for me, every day. Dog would not be tempted with a treat or anything until I came home. Now driving to work, the same thing, I drive up and there's a little face at the window. On the rare occasions I come home early, it's a circus. Whatever the routine is, I disrupt it No face at the window if I come straight to the door, if I mess around at the letterbox etc the face appears at the window, and great excitement. Most other dogs I've known well have had the excuse of hearing the owner's car, but mine didn't at first. She hassles me to go to bed too, if I'm staying here on the 'net too long late at night.

ooh, essentially, as I see it, you've worked and not been paid. In the old days of NSW I would have called up what I still think of as the Labour Board (or whoever they are now). Things have changed so much though regarding work. One good suggestion was Legal Aid, I know they have a legal helpline in NSW, check out if they do also in QLD and give them a ring. In NSW the helpline is to give advice, whether it's their domain or not. I'd also be wondering how effective a non-poaching thing (or any other deal) would be. Haven't they broken the contract by not paying you?

I don't have a problem with mummy or daddy, though mummy has always been my own mother, whether it's her dogs or mine (so the dogs don't get confused). I can't see that they'd attach any meaning to the words, certainly not what we use those words for. I am definitely guilty of attributing human actions and behaviour to dogs. One dog I had especially (others did it to a much lesser extent) - when I got sick, to the extent of "being sick in the loo" - would sit outside the loo and wait. When I was ok, she'd come up and put one paw on me and pat me, and not move away until I told her a few times I was all right. If I took too long being sick she'd do the same thing, come in and pat me with one paw gently. She always did it. I likened that to human behaviour. Maybe it's not, it might just be concern common to many animal species. But as others say, we're human. We don't really know what goes in in people's brains much less other species. We compare what we know.

My thoughts were the same about what's she going to do with 130 dogs in - how long? 4 weeks? I can't imagine. Thinking back to her previous claim to infamy - I think her daughter was in that episode too. It was business for the 2 of them, as the show portrayed it. So looks like nothing has changed. She must be on a good old wicket with that many dogs having puppies. She should be retired now, or a few years ago, really. Nasty old creep.

I saw the RSPCA episode that included her before. Absolutely gross. I thought heaps of dogs were removed then - amid her claims of admitting it all got out of control - but I read in the paper today she's currently got around 140 and didn't know about a 10 dog limit. imo there's something seriously wrong with the woman. Maybe she needs heavy therapy or similar. I and plenty of others have ailing health too, but we don't treat animals like this. I also thought that she'd changed the name of the place. Wasn't there something on this site and she was removed? Ah, I'm blaming the heat today for my brain not working

oooh, post 13, what a little darling. I've got nothing of use to add apart from that, I just did trial and error with house dogs as all previous dogs were outside. Read all I could, tried what suited me and if it didn't work tried something else. My first girl never cried, just woke up in the night and stared at me. Lots of little accidents though. I also didn't take dogs out in the middle of the night - we went out before my (our) bedtime and first thing in the morning - lots of paper spread around in case. That worked for her, didn't work for later dog. He took a long time to get the hang of "toilet outside" (and he'd had pad training before I got him, both dogs chewed 'em up in my house). Oh, the girl especially used to do an excitement wee at first when I came home (I was temping at work, so that was on and off).

I don't know your age, Ernie, but even humans didn't get much chicken back in the 50s and 60s - it was too dear. Special times only for all I knew off in Sydney and other places around Australia, like Christmas and Easter. From my memory, only after KFC started up - late 60s at King's Cross - did chicken start to become affordable. And like you, our dogs got all sorts of stuff, especially the leftovers we kids wouldn't eat. Plus bones from the Sunday baked dinner. They used to get garlic and onions in the leftovers too as our own meals changed. None ever choked on a bone or other problems like that. BUT ..... as you suggest, we all knew a lot less (and worried less too). Maybe ignorance was bliss!

That's what I though too, until a few years ago when I heard that thing that bats carry - http://www.csiro.au/science/Australian-bat-lyssavirus.html Starts off with - In 1996, a new virus was discovered in Australian bats - identified as a lyssavirus, the new virus is a close relative to the common rabies virus found overseas. yuck. The moral of the story is, don't handle bats!

What an awful comment, I would never describe any child as a "feral". Really? I guess you've never spent time in Canberra (where even people I know who love the place think a lot of children are feral); or even around Nimbin - where this incident apparently happened? Oh well. So how's life changed? Going back to the 50s when I was a kid, it was always the parents who fed the dogs, never ever the children. Everyone I knew was the same.

Everything I can think of might be hard for an elderly person to manage to do, whilst holding a dog at the same time - sticks, spray etc. Not just their physical capability, I know from my mother and her peers, a lot of them can panic and freeze. imo, a companion is the best answer. As Diva suggested, what about getting in touch with those community centres, some at least seem to have stuff for "senior citizens" and maybe they could locate someone else who'd like to walk with a dog. Those I've been into have all sorts of services and seem helpful.