Rottigirl

Glad Zoey is getting back to normal and is eating and now doing solid poo I have a parvo survivor. They require alot of tlc when they get home and it will take a while for her system to become strong again (especially because she is such a tiny puppy) but be patient, feeding small bland meals frequently will help make her strong again. We had my little man on Prescription i/d for ages and it was definitely the best food for his digestion. Try and get your hands on some Trigene, F10 or Virkon from your vet it's much more effective than bleach at killing the virus. I sprayed and scrubbed my entire house, deck and concrete in the yard before my pup came home to limit spread via our shoes through the neighbourhood. All of his stuff was chucked or washed in trigene. While he was in quarrantine, I regularly went through the whole scrubbing and disinfecting process especially concentrating on places where there is fecal matter. I had a spray bottle with trigene at my front door and our shoes were sprayed if we went out. If anyone came in to our house they also had to have their shoes sprayed with trigene on the way out. No dogs were allowed on my property for 6 months (even if vaccinated) I refused to take the risk that any dog would catch the awful virus from my place. Good luck and good on you for giving her the best chance to recover.

;)

I second the little bears...

Duly amended to take into account the fact that I have no ability to construct a sentence. Off topic: that is really quite disturbing considering what I do for a living. Nevertheless, I'm glad my maladjusted idiot could give you a laugh, I really do hate those ones that bite faces off...

Puppy school trainers should put more emphasis on teaching owners how to read dog behaviour. It is not acceptable to not read dog warning signs or to surpress natural behaviours. My neighbour's dog had half his face bitten off because of a socially maladjusted idiot that failed to read his dog's behaviour and effectively control it. Dog ownership is about social responsibility. It would be great if only the socially responsible humans could be given the gift of dog ownership, I think then we would see a real change in bite stats.

subtle signs: pacing beteween front door and my office and staring at me, occasionally will lick his chops (like the hunger sign I believe this also represents play), will whimper occasionally if he really really wants to go out. not so subtle signs: if I skip a walk in the afternoon mine will sit down and systematically dismantle one of his toys. OB or hide and seek are necessary at home if we don't want toy distruction and I can't walk for some reason (recently have had a back prob so one walk was about all I could handle).

I hear you...

nyaw what a beautiful story...I love hearing stories like Dave's, rottis really are fantastic dogs. Another great ambassador for the breed (and his owner)

This was me in July 10. Can't believe these tour operators would do something like that! Makes me sick to my stomach that I paid for it! My tour was in Alaska does anyone know if this company was the same one as the one in Canada (presumably Whistler)?

Your superdog = rottweiler I live in the inner west. There are loads of ridgies around here. There are about 5 I see regularly at local dog parks and they are all the most lovely dogs. I've also met some of the most beautiful laid back Dobies out and about around this area too. I haven't owned either breed but I can give you info on my experience in this area as far as it may concern your choice in breed, real dog people around this area aren't judgemental over breed. But you do get ignorant dog owners (like everywhere I guess) and there is definitely another level of etiquette for those of us that own breeds that certain members of the public may be scared of. I was recently at a local off leash dog area where a lady sitting on a bench in the middle of the play area started bawling and told me a rotti had bitten her and she was scared. So I put my little boy on leash and took him away no point getting into arguments . To avoid people getting upset I also drop him off the pathway to let people pass - that is polite and avoids people looking uncomfortable or worse still crying Everyone told my hubby and I we were complete idiots for considering buying a rotti. Do your own research carefully. Listen to the knowledge of professionals and people experienced with the breed, not those who 'think they know about' your breed. Speak to breeders, local dog trainers, vets, dog walkers and day cares and kennels. We did loads of research and chose our boy carefully and ignored the negative 'know it alls' that had no experience with the breed. Honestly, OH and I couldn't be happier we stuck to our guns and got a rotti. He is absolutely perfect for us. We love him and think he is so smart trainable and social, I just couldn't see myself with another breed now. Good luck with your decision

Haven't been to either. But I have been down to the beach near Callan Park in the inner west Rozelle area. It's small but quite nice subject to tide. Better to take them swimming when it's high tide. The beach is between King George's Park and The Point Road if you walk from King Georges Park along the coast towards Point Rd you'll see the little beaches where dogs are frequently swimming. Water is usually pretty clean. Callan Park Map Otherwise Bicentennial Park in Annandale is pretty popular although I find Callan Park cleaner.

my dog gets showered, has since he was a pup. Stands quietly in there on a non-slip mat. I don't have to share a shower with him, he has his own in the shed

I wash with shampoo after beach visits. I would only worry about retaining natural oils in winter (to keep him warm) or if he had some skin problems (although I only base this decision on my experience with showing a different animal and the fact that it had to get washed all the time and survived). Washing weekly in summer has caused no probs with my dog (so far anyway). And he loves showers - he would get in the shower every morning with me if I let him

My boy is 16 months he was a dream until he hit about 9 months and then his attention to distractions increased and with that correct responses with success decreased. We did Steve's Triangle of Temptation (thanks Steve you are a legend) practiced NILF, returned the training to a very basic level, reduced the possibility of incorrect responses and went back to OB school. I still have momentary lapses but consider my training deficient and analyse why and work out how I can fix it and improve the response. We are far from perfect but I do enjoy a challenge and I see the funny side of most training issues (he hasn't *touch wood* had any serious probs). I do love that my dog has his own little personality, zoomies in the middle of a down/stay are still hysterical Have you tried Steve's Triangle of Temptation? Although I believed my boy tied well he improved with this training.

agree about the JRT's...look what this one did to my rotti