minxy

I never expected to need the insurance I took out for Kyojin. But I decided that IF I ever did, it would definitely be worth it. I pay about $250 a YEAR for him and about 5 months after I took out the policy we discovered that he has luxating patellas, and laxity in his hips also. Already in only 4 months we've saved about $2000, and that's just on consults. He hasn't had any surgery yet.

http://www.k9pro.com.au/categories/Leashes/Premium-Leather-Leash-Range/ I have one of these which someone mentioned earlier. I absolutely love it.

Hmm well Kyojin wakes up around 5am every morning. Neither OH or I ever have to get up that early so it's not something he's gotten from us. He also insists on being fed at 5pm every day, which again has never come from us.

You can get Dogs VIC to look into it for you. That's what I'm trying to do with Dogs ACT. I've been waiting 11 months for my papers.

I like these guys: http://www.nose2tail.com.au/ They're located at Oxley and Westlake They're not open til late on Thursdays, but they are open on Saturdays. We have been to the Oxley one a few times with Kyojin and all the girls there are incredibly lovely and are so great with the dogs. While I haven't had him clipped or anything, I have seen their grooming work on plenty of others dogs and I think they do a great job.

We've had two (second one is still with us). Neither of them have been excessively energetic. I think I would say that yes, they'd be raring to go if you need them to, but they have also been able to chill out really well too. Since I was born we've always had a beardie and a rottie combo and they tire each other out nicely. I would probably keep my beardie's hair a little shorter so that it's easier to brush as it can get a bit knotty. It's really not that hard to look after though. Mine have both been great with our cat considering we never tried to create any relationship between them as the dogs were always predominantly outside dogs and the cat was always an inside cat. Both have been super easy to train and have never had any health issues. The second one can be a bit of a barker though it's pretty much only when people come near the house but also my parents never succeeded at training her not to bark.

Their website says they're still available so I'd check about that. I only bought my one from them about two months ago.

Does anyone know if those cooling coats help much for dogs with really thick coats??

So lovely to wake up and see this thread. Just so glad that you got the girls back in time. Rotties are the most incredible dogs ever. Beautiful photos of the pups. I look forward to seeing more as they get bigger.

Hmm I've never met a newfy before. Always wanted to to see whether I'd consider getting one at some point. I just can't get enough of big boofers :D

Hmm trying to decide if I want to go or not. OH will be working though

I think they would require a little more than a half hour walk a day... I use to help walk racing grey hounds and they hated cats... probably not the best idea. What about a Bull Mastiff? from my experience they are pretty laid back dogs (correct me if I am wrong someone ;) ) Not necessarily. My family has had two bearded collies and neither of them were ever walked regularly. There are other ways of tiring them out. Neither of them have seemed to need much tiring out anyway! My friend owns border collies and they are walked only a couple of times a week if that, and they have a small backyard. Mental stimulation can be just as tiring as physical exercise.

Kyojin LOVES his zoomies. Though he prefers to carry something in his mouth while he does it. Which is usually bones, sticks or plastic pot plants. He gets SO excited though that he usually tries to run and grab the pots so quickly that he runs off without realising that he doesn't have it in his mouth, goes back for another go, runs off again, again realises that he failed to pick it up, goes back for another go etc etc for about 5 attempts before he is finally successful and then races around the yard with it in his mouth before he's pooped out and collapses for the rest of the afternoon. It cracks OH and I up so much when we see him do it.

Happy birthday handsome!!!

So relieved to hear they are home! That is such fantastic news. :thumbsup: I wonder what the girls were getting up to on their adventure..

Try and block off the extra space if you can - eskies or something similar are pretty good for this. Hopefully then there won't be enough space for her to go and she'll cry if she needs to be let out rather than just comfortably going in the extra space.

Such a pity if he's not interested in him. He's still young so he'd be easily rehomeable before he develops any issues. So, so many huskies and mals in the pounds because people buy them coz they're such good looking dogs, but they have no intention of caring for them properly.

Thanks so much!

Hey guys I'm on my phone and it's not really made for browsing as such so I can't really look stuff up on it. Does anyone have the phone number for Dogs ACT please? Thank you

No major rules really. We did a training course that was all about LLW once. We only did it because we could only do Wednesday night classes and it was the only one on a Wed night that we hadn't done yet. Figured it would be really useful anyway, but once we started we realised that walking had started to become a little bit unenjoyable for us. There was way too much time spent on doing corrections and trying to get Kyojin to walk in the right position and do certain things. Now that we've relaxed a bit, still gets corrections if he forges ahead too much etc (the fact that we now walk him on a martingale instead of a flat collar is a million times better) we find walking's really great. He's also settled down now that he's older. Walking is quite so exciting anymore. Now our only requirements is that he walks on the left hand side, somewhat in line with us and not charging ahead.

I've met 3 or 4 and they were all very yappy. The ones I saw around other dogs weren't very friendly towards them.

doG it takes forever, but I have spammed it to 64%. I'm home sick today so I'll try and spam some more later.

Great work everyone! :D

Probably a good idea Teebs if you want some sleep tonight!

It was working for me again this morning so I filled it out. It was pretty crap. Not very comprehensive at all. There were so many other really important questions that needed to have been asked for it to get any real insight into dog ownership. Also agreed that the fact that it asks you how many cats and dogs you have and then only lets you answer for one of them was pretty pointless.