minxy

Kyojin used to sleep in his crate in our bedroom every night (since the night we brought him home), but the last couple of weeks he's just been sleeping on the floor at the foot of our bed, with a babygate in the doorway so that he won't try and play with the cats in the middle of the night. The only reason we've taken his crate out is because we're fixing our house up to list it for sale in the next couple of weeks and need to hide as much evidence as possible of animals living in the house.

I love Kyojin because he makes us smile and laugh constantly, and because wherever we go, he makes others happy too. We've seen him make grown men giggle plenty of times! I love that people always go "WOW!!!!" when they first see him I love him because he's ALWAYS up for a snuggle and gives the best kisses ever. I love watching him doing zoomies with plastic pots in his mouth for about 3 minutes until he's so exhausted he passes out for the rest of the day I love how he trots back over to me, always looking happy to come back to me I love how soft and fluffy he is I love how big he is, and that there is absolutely no strain on my part if we want to cuddle I love him for being super easy to train, but also love it when he decides to show his stubborn side I love how the second we come home he grabs a toy and races over to us to show us what he's got. I love that even if we just duck out to the shops across the road, when we come home it's as though we've been gone for weeks and he's so happy to see us again I love his big swishy tail and reindeer legs :D I love his quirkyness and personality in general and how easy he is to live with. Cannot imagine an easier dog to own. And I love that I can be completely certain that he loves us

Yup, that sounds good to me.

Exactly the same reasons why I do it as others have mentioned. With previous dogs, I had never heard of crate training either, but I absolutely swear by it now. I find it very handy on a daily basis, but particularly atm as my dog has just had surgery on one of his knees, and will have surgery on the other one in a couple of months time. Conveniently I am at home full time atm, but if I need to go anywhere or have anyone come to the house, I can crate him so that he doesn't injure himself while I'm not around. My answers to your questions:

Good post, Lappiemum

Try this one: http://australianpettreatcompany.com.au/

It cost me $258 for Kyojin - same thing, one missing testicle. I didn't go to a vet that charged by weight though, otherwise it would have cost me at least double. It might sound expensive, but as others have said, it is a lot more invasive than a normal castration. The follow up appointment was included in this price.

Kyojin always gets bathed at the hydrobath at World For Pets. I love it. Eventually we'll get our own hydrobath/bath set up, but until then I really like taking him there. If the tub obviously hasn't been washed from the last person I'll disinfect it first, otherwise I don't bother. Can't say I've ever thought of it as being unhygienic.

One of our neighbours owns an Akita, he is probably around 5 or 6 now & is a complete sloth! Yup, that sounds about right!! Definitely my kind of breed

I'm still waiting for mine to speed up

As well as doing the closed fist thing, we would also hold treats out for Kyojin and say "Gently". If he lunged at the treat, we'd pull away and make sure he didn't get it. Wait a few seconds, then we'd hold it out to him again and do the same thing. He was only allowed the treat if he came in to get it slowly, no teeth touching us etc.

I put equally as there I things I like better about each of them. Though my opinion is usually swayed more to dogs when I discover one of my cats lying in our clean clothes baskets or breaking vases or clawing at our furniture or vomiting in our bed......

Very cute :D

http://www.topbuy.com.au/tbcart/pc/Carries-and-Houses-c161.htm

Sorry that you're mostly receiving a lot of negativity and rudeness from people. I can understand why you'd be upset. Yes, the groomers on here know that sometimes a full clip is necessary for matted areas, but that doesn't mean that they can expect all of their customers to understand this too if no one ever tells them. As some others have suggested, it might be easier/better if you learn how to groom her yourself because it will need doing regularly.

There are a couple of popular colours in Akitas, but the least popular for sure would have to be any of the brindle colours.

Wow, clever girl!

There are heaps of people here who could say the same about their own chosen breed, everybody thinks their own breed is the best and that anybody who doesn't like them mustn't know them. Sorry but not so. People just like what they like Yeah I agree - for example I like dogs on the lean tall pointy short coated side and my lists reflect that, with a few fluffy exceptions. I don't like braccy breeds (the noises freak me out among other things, just not suitable for what I do with my dogs) but I understand that other people can't get enough of them. There are lots of people who can't even name one terrier that they like but it doesn't bother me, I understand they are not for everyone. It would be boring if everybody liked the same thing, particularly with dog breeds where there are so many different types. I'm one of the people who really struggled to put terriers on my list Come to think of it, every group was hard but group 3! But I think I only counted like 2 others apart from me who like Labs and it's no big deal Me too I really did try and find three breeds in each group that I particularly like, but realistically I'd probably only be interested in about 5 or 6 breeds that I listed

Oooh, fun thread. My list isn't necessarily based on breeds I'd want to own, I'm just trying to pick the breeds I like most out of each group. Toys Cavs Papillon Terrier Staffords Gundogs GSP Cockers Labs Hounds Finnish Spitz Beagles Norwegian Elkhounds Working Dogs Lappies GSDs Pembroke Corgis Utility This one's the hardest for me to do. Only putting my top three in here, though I love the majority of Utility breeds. Akita Rotties Can't decide between Samoyeds and Huskies Non-Sporting Frenchies Jap Spitzs Keeshonds

I'll take the fawn one please :D

Wow, I didn't realise they could test for luxating patellas like that! That gives me something to think about now... My boy has them, and we are waiting for him to be able to have surgery. We have another appointment at the specialist on Tuesday morning to see whether he's ready or not yet.

Yea, Kyojin has just suddenly decided he doesn't like his kibble anymore in the last week or two. Which sucks coz I have about 20kg of it left! So I'm trying to add some tasty things to it so that he can finish up this lot before I think about trying him on something else.

Another vote for dogfood.com.au We get free delivery (all orders over $130 are free) and you get a free gift with every order. They've always given us really great service and have really prompt delivery.

wishful thinking on DOL!!!! Yea, you'll find you'll get corrected on everything anyway. I know some people on here would be horrified that you've called her a Staffy!