ravenau1

betsy: Your Princess is beautiful! I so want a cuddle lol. minxy: Kyojin is gorgeous! He looks super soft! Max#1: Relieved to hear the lunging is improving, perhaps he was just extra hyped up due to his confinement. KumaAkita: I do not have fond memories of coat blowing, I remember fur everywhere, even hanging off all the trees in the backyard. I'm pretty sure I was coughing up furballs by the end of it! MavericksMission: Hector (LOVE the name ) and Maverick are very handsome fellows koalathebear: I love the pics of your two boys in the same bed. I think Hoover is a snugglepot Elbie still looks long-suffering though! How are you finding having the two dogs compared to having just the one? Is it easier or twice as hard? How is Hoover's housetraining coming along? 7 weeks to go for me! We are STILL hashing out names. eta: There is an i in Akita. No idea what kind of dog an Akta is.

Who can pick which one is Shimi The Whippets look like they're thinking "oh sh*t, a WAVE of Staffords, we're gonna get drowned in puppy slobber!" Such a great shot! Shimi... is on the far left?

Ohh... Pet Chef sells free range chicken frames ~does happy dance~ Can you guys please explain these cool coats to me? Would a Dobe benefit from one? Tiggy, I bet your dogs had LOTS of fun doing that! Going back a bit to the dogs on furniture discussion, there is so much cat hair here that I don't think a little dog hair will make any difference! ;)

I think there are two extra dogs in that pic I think it's in the UK?

I did some clicker training with my cats today (getting in some practice) and it was hilarious! One got it pretty much straight away, and the other one was clueless but she sure enjoyed the free cheese! Might do some more tomorrow. Ava is beautiful!

Florinef- states for human use only by the tga Any thoughts - comments on this drug anybody? would appreciate some help. I take 200 MCG of this a day and have since November last year. Didn't know you could use it for dogs. For me it basically helps my body to retain some fluid and therefore increase my blood volume, helping blood get to my brain and helping to stop me fainting all the time. It can be used for people as a treatment for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome and other Autonomic Dysfunction.

You will be whacked with a rolled up newspaper

I can't see that anyone should use so many training treats that their dog doesn't get a solid meal at night (or in the moring - or whenever you feed the main meal). and at that main meal time I do not believe one should be training or trick teaching! Each to their own I just believe that the dog should get their meal and be able to eat that meal in peace. I am just curious as to why? What would be the benefit in feeding that way? Just curious! It's something I've never really thought about before

It's an interesting subject, and one I hadn't thought of before. Hopefully will get some interesting feedback!

If you're using their regular kibble for training purposes then I can't see the difference personally. All that has to come out of their daily allowance. Is there a certain portion of their food that should be fed in a bowl as a 'meal'?

For me with food, it really is a case of what your pet does the best on. My cats for example, always ate a 'premium' dry cat food, sometimes it cost more to feed them than me but one day after buying a large new bag of the food, Tosca refused to eat it. She had never been fussy before! I ended up contacting the company that made the food and they had slightly changed the recipe, and boy, could Tosca tell! I have to say they were really good and sent me a cheque for the cost of the food I'd just bought. So after trying a few different foods, I now feed them Supercoat. They are healthy, their coats are shiny, they love the food. Jinx had a blocked tear duct recently and someone (probably Jinx) whomped Tiger in the eye and he needed drops but that's the only time any of them have been to the vet outside of checkups and vaccinations. I really have to say that they are in better condition than they have ever been in. They do get chicken wings and such for chewing but they always got those. I will be feeding the dog on dry food and some raw and see how she goes.

KTB, my Malamutes ears stood up, then fell down, then one stood up again for a while, then it fell down and stayed there! Sometimes it happens and I didn't care ;) I think you can see floppy ears in this shot.

Max#1 I hope you have some luck with the tips for Max lunging, I imagine it's pretty scary for you! And yes, definitely excited. Got some new pics today

That's weird, I was looking at a bag of Royal Canin Junior Maxi just the other day and it definitely had corn (maize) listed as the first ingredient, and dehydrated poultry meat second. I wonder if it's changed, or I was looking at an old bag or something. ETA: My mistake, just looked on the website and there are different ingredients for Junior Medium than Junior Maxi Medium: Maxi:

Thanks Niques and KTB I know you guys are right, and I can't be perfect and won't raise the perfect dog and that's ok ! I think part of the problem is that at the moment it's all just 'theory' when the puppy is actually here I think it will be better, you know when I can actually see that a tiny mistake won't end up with me having cujo/hellhound. And also to remember that no matter what I do, someone, somewhere will disapprove It's not like I haven't raised a dog before, it's just before I didn't really read about dogs on the internet so wasn't aware of all the horrid mistakes I was making I don't know how people with kids do it, seriously. It's 100x as bad as with dogs! This was a bit of an issue with us too. All my other pets have been desexed as soon as possible but after I'd done some research and talking to people I wasn't sure this was the way to go so I spoke to the breeder about it. I figure she has has had this breed for 20 odd years, she knows her dogs and would be able to give me some pros and cons based on her own experiences with the breed, rather than trying to decide on my own. It was great, and while she told me that it's my dog and my decision she certainly gave me some really good insight. They can hear/sense/smell so much more than we can, could have been anything! Hope he's more settled now. I bought a Black Dog treat bag with an extra insert able pouch for easier cleaning, it arrived this week and is really nice http://www.blackdog.net.au/index.php?page=...rt&Itemid=5 We now have mostly everything we need - a couple of crates (metal and soft), collar and lead, tucker ball, bowls, treat stuff, clicker, things for chewing, pet gates etc. The only things we really need now are stuff for washing, an outside bed and some toys. Here's a pic of my OH's dog back home, Copper, who used to be able to hear his car about 1km away coming down the road, patiently waiting for OH to come up the driveway. My OH misses Copper a lot, but it seemed really unfair to take him away from 10 acres of woodland with squirrels, chipmunks and deer to chase, with streams and a swamp to play in and whack him in a suburban backyard (not to mention all the quarantine stuff) so he still lives on the property, now with OH's brother, some other family and a heap of dogs

Yes, definitely , I should have mentioned that. We will be taking the crate with us. ETA: I should say that we also take the cats with us, and they do fine.

We will be picking up our new Puppy in December (Dobermann ). When she is 13 weeks old we want to go and stay with my parents for 4 nights and take the puppy with us, we would have had her for about a month by then. We usually go and stay with my folks a few times a year and it's something we'd like to be able to continue to do but it's something we can only do over summer as they're off travelling from about April to October/November. My folks are fine with her being there, and there will be lots of interesting things for us to do with her while we are there. My question is will this be too disruptive for her? Any tips? I realise that we will have to be extra vigilant on the housetraining aspect while we are there, but we can manage that. Thanks

Dobermann It's been a long time since I had a puppy (10+ years for me) so I am excited and nervous OH has more recent puppy experience though. Ohhh, pool! You'll be glad of that when it starts heating up!

Port Hedland! 40-45 would be a cooler summer day wouldn't it? I spent Christmas there a few years ago, and still remember the way the heat sucks the breath right out of you! ETA: Was actually South Hedland but close enough :p

So cute!

Hello WA people! Mason doesn't look fat to me at all. It's funny but I never really thought Lab's were attractive dogs, until I saw one that wasn't fat And that was only a few years ago! They are actually lovely looking dogs, when they don't look like barrels. Tiggy, Yoshimi is so cute she's almost edible :D Our puppy will be coming home in December

Lol love that video KTB, and one of my fav songs and my OH is known to break out singing it at random times. This was my favourite ad back in the US Reality has hit me today re:puppy I am now freaking out hoping I do everything right. I am lucky that my OH has a real 'thing' with dogs, I've never known a dog that didn't listen to him. Back home all his dogs were great, and even on short acquaintance dogs seem to listen to him. A few of years ago we house sat for a friend who went away, and looked after her two spoiled rotten, horribly behaved but terribly gorgeous Westies, within days he had them house trained, walking nicely on a leash, showing manners etc. And the rest of the time they would spend just gazing adoringly at him :D He has a laid back approach and thinks it's all just 'common sense'. Me on the other hand, I have to 'be prepared'. I MUST read all the books I can get my hands on, write notes and put them in a file, research, research, research The problem with dogs is that there are just as many people who say do it one way, as there are people who say if you do it that way you are going to doggie owner hell and the only way to do it is this way. It sure gets confusing! I am going to spend the next 8 weeks trying to chill out ;)

Loving all the pics

Done The blinds! We were due to have timber venetian blinds installed last month I could just imagine the havock a puppy could wreak with them so they're gone into storage and we're putting up some roman blinds until this time next year or there abouts.

Ava is very pretty, but Satchmo is SO striking! I love the contrast between his coat and his eyes, he has a real 'presence' in those pics. I don't know how to describe it, but even though he doesn't look like a wolf he seems to have a kind of regal wolfy presence, though I'm sure that sounds silly :D Hahaha! Yeah, in one form or another. The Fetts for my OH, and Republic/Imperial Commandos for me, which are Jango Fett clones like Boba Awwww! I hope she finds a home soon, I love brindle dogs! I really think they have the prettiest markings. Just like I love tabby cats eta: removing photos