minxy

I have Medibank Pet Insurance. We've had it since January this year and have just last week claimed back $1000. We had absolutely no issues with them. Cheque came in the mail two weeks later. We will most likely have a few grand more to claim and they've already said there won't be any issues with it.

Thanks everyone. Kyojin had a wonderful day! Stans mum - his name is Japanese and means colossal/giant

Well today my little man turns one. I cannot believe that he is already a year old! We've loved every minute of having him with us and couldn't have asked for a better dog. Some photos taken on the day we brought him home: And some recent ones: Oscar decided he needed to be in the photo too Edit: Dammit. I spent all that time on photobucket resizing them all into tiny photos and rotating etc and it hasn't worked Sorry!

Other than another Rotty which I'd love to have one day, I'll probably only ever have Spitzs. We'll definitely always have at least one Akita.

Thanks for that Greyt, I never found that info when I looked!

so, it isn't really the fact of the legalities concerning you - rather the worry that someone may be bitten? Yea, I'm not just trying to be a party pooper. The dog's behaviour really is quite vicious (scared the bajeezus out of me when he first came lunging towards me as I didn't even see the chain at first and thought he was free) and I don't believe there is anything really stopping him from seriously hurting someone. My concern with it being legal is whether something can be done about it, or at least looked into why an aggressive dog is being chained across the front of its property reasonably close to the footpath when there seems to be no reason for it to not be secured in the backyard.

No, the dog is not fenced in at all. That's the problem I have with it. He is free to lunge and snap at anyone who walks past. I don't believe he had food, shelter or water either so I'll be checking that out tomorrow.

I think steam cleaning would probably be the way to go

No, only the back yard is fenced. He's tethered out in the open and can get relatively close to the nature strip.

Isn't it illegal though to block access to your front door?? I wouldn't have thought that counts as being contained

I think I already know the answer to this, but wanted to see what people knew about it before I go ringing council etc. So OH and I have started a new walking route with Kyojin near our house. We have noticed that there is a large dog tethered on a chain out the front of his house, blocking access to the front door. We haven't walked past just the two of us, so I can't be certain whether it is Kyojin that bothers him in particular, or whether anyone coming near his house is upsetting him, but his behaviour when we walk down the street is extremely aggressive. I can't see any reason for him to be there other than to prevent anyone from going near the house as his owners quite clearly have a well fenced backyard that they choose not to leave him in. I'm worried about the safety of anyone walking past his house. He is on a fairly long chain and if he somehow breaks free (I don't remember what kind of collar was around his neck) I'd be concerned that he would attack someone/something. I'm assuming this isn't legal, but does anyone know? I would need to walk past again to get address details before I make any calls etc.

I am so incredibly sorry to hear this Jules. RIP Brock. I hope you have managed to get some sleep and that you have someone to keep you company.

I'd love to put Kyojin in some jammies. Too bad he doesn't feel remotely cold ever

Kyojin has grade 1 luxating in both his knees, and there has also been some laxity found in his hips as well. Currently we are scheduled to go back to the specialist every 2-3 weeks for another 3 visits or so. At the end of it the specialist will decide whether to go through with surgery. The reason for the wait was to see whether it would be something that might get better with time as Kyojin is only just about to turn 1, and will continue to grow for another 6-12 months. OH and I decided to keep a chart of every time we saw him limping so that we'd be able to show the specialist exactly how often we see it occurring (luckily we've been home the last two weeks so we've been with him everyday) so that he'd have a better idea of whether it's bad enough to warrant surgery now or not, or whether to hold off. He said there are both pros and cons for doing it now, or for waiting. We had Kyojin put under anesthetic so he could have x-rays in order for the specialist to really see what's going on. I'd be dubious about your vet's opinion if you haven't seen an actual specialist or had x-rays done.

A definite no from me too.

Okay, I will admit that Lab is super cute

I don't think I have ever seen another pure bred dog around my area before

I can't remember if I posted in here, or just voted. We took Kyojin to a show once. We've been to watch a few shows, but when we finally knew that there were definitely going to be other Akitas at one particular show, we brought Kyojin along as like an ice breaker, so we'd have something to talk to breeders about. It was easy to see what was going on, but still stand miles away from everyone so that we couldn't upset anyone or their dogs. It was great, because one breeder saw us as he was walking out of the ring and came straight over. He spent over an hour chatting to us and giving us lots of wonderful advice for Kyojin and then brought one of his dogs over to show us a few things. I don't think we would have upset anyone by it as we made sure to never walk Kyojin anywhere near another person, and where we were standing to watch was pretty much on the road so that we were out of the way. It was a wonderful opportunity for us though to meet some breeders so I'm really glad we did it.

Just find the link for the storage bin I use: http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/40187755#/20187756/

Where abouts are you working Dogsrawesome? (PM if you want). You can wash Kyojin for me next time he smells like manky pond water :D

We bought a 20kg plastic storage container from Ikea. It has like a plastic hinge top lid. No smells here either.

Feels like only yesterday that I was waiting anxiously in this thread for my pup to arrive - he turns one in a few weeks!!

A few of my friends have coats for their dogs here too. It does get pretty bloody cold! I'd love to get Kyojin a coat, but he really doesn't need one and he'd look ridiculous with one on and all his hair sticking out I haven't taken any photos of my boy in a long time. Might try and get some today while he's still clean from his bath

We can't make it on the 5th as we're on our honeymoon, but I'd be keen for Kyojin to have some more playdates.

I love the last drawing as well. Really well done!