disintegratus

Fairly similar scenario, my sister had a miniature pig who developed a habit of squealing when his food was being prepared, mostly because my sister would feed him in the morning before she left for work, so didn't have the time to try to modify his behaviour. I didn't start work til late morning, so I took over feeding him in the mornings and all I did was every time he started squealing, I would put the knife down (chopping veggies) and walk away. I didn't say a word to him or acknowledge him or his behaviour in any way at all. Once he was quiet for 3 or 4 minutes, I would go back and continue. The first couple of times I fed him that way, it took over an hour and a half for him to get his food. He didn't understand what was going on, so actually escalated the squealing when I first walked away, but after only 3 days or so the penny dropped, and from then on it was a case of him trying to control his excitement. Because you have multiple dogs, if possible, maybe get the others taken out for a walk so you can feed her on her own at first to try to get a handle on her barking? I wouldn't think it would take more than a couple of days for her to at least start to grasp the concept of barking = no food/no barking = tasty dinnertimes.

That pitbull should definitely be put down, he's a blight on polite society! Also, I once listened to one of his songs, and there's nothing I can do to get those 3 minutes of my life back. Nothing. I think he should have to pay for that.

We went to bali recently, I got bed covers custom made. They're pretty purple and black, with removable velcro bolsters across the back and one side, made from comfortable yet thick and sturdy fabric, each piece has an inner liner so that you can easily zip off the outer for a wash. Unfortunately I misjudged the size of both my dogs and my house and got 5 beds which are 120 x 100 cm, so I've had to adjust them slightly because there is not enough room in any part of my house for 5 beds of that size! The dogs COULD share, but that might involve touching each other and we can't have that!! :laugh: I've filled them with old foam mattresses and pillow tops from mattresses, and an excellent score from hard rubbish - a queen sized full latex mattress. I know hard rubbish mattress sounds really gross, but this one was in pristine condition, not a smudge on it except for the fabric on one side being mouldy, it looks like they've stored it directly on a concrete floor or something, the mould hadn't even gone through to the latex. so I sprayed the mattress liberally with f10 and Permoxin, let it air for about a week, then shredded it into chunks to fill the dog beds with. They adore their beds, and they cost me $25 each!!! (And a bit of dignity because I picked up a mattress from the side of the road and was actually happy about it!)

I refreeze for the dogs, and on occasion I have been known to refreeze for the people too, especially if it's not fully defrosted I've never had an issue with it at all, but then I have iron guts anyway, and my dogs eat all sorts of nonsense with no problems. They've eaten dead eggs from the incubator (that have been sitting at 30-odd degrees for 2 weeks or longer ) with no worse effects than a few stinky farts. They once raided the bin and ate cake that had been in there so long that it had become nothing but a cake-shaped chunk of mould. The worst effect from that was their poop had bling from the bits of alfoil they'd eaten in the process. Also, that confirmed for me that we should move the bin.

I was going to suggest either Erny or Nekhbet :) I can't vouch personally for Nekhbet, I've read a lot of her posts and posts from other users about the wonderful things she's done to help various DOLers, but I haven't personally used her services. Erny on the other hand, you will get nothing but glowing praise from me! She is an amazing trainer, she helped me immeasurably with Thundercleese's fear aggression issues. Admittedly I could be a lot further along, but that's not Erny's fault, I took the lazy way out and bought acreage and moved to the country where he has plenty of room and opportunity, but isn't necessarily forced into interacting with terrifying things (like clicky pens!!:p)

Nope, I lied! I found them! They were tucked away.

Sorry thistle, I ended up going to Aldi anyway, but they didn't have any

No worries, just let me know :)

I'm rural, my closest store is traralgon, so there's often stuff left for a while that would've sold out in 5 seconds at a metro store. Did you want me to stop in tomorrow and check if they have them? I'd be happy to post it if you're too far from me. I'll also basically be driving past it tomorrow morning anyway, it's quite literally a 5 minute detour on a 2-hour journey, so it's not a bother :)

One of ours (bull arab x, not sure if it makes a difference but he's mostly white), is partially deaf. He picks up cues from the other dogs, but can be quite unsure of himself if they're not there to guide him (I feel really sorry for him and wish I had smarter dogs, it's mostly a case of the stupid leading the simple, with often infuriating/hilarious consequences!) He also responds well to hand signals, and he can hear some pitches, just not all of them and I haven't entirely worked out which ones he can hear so I sound like an absolute jackass when I'm trying to get his attention when I'm out of his line of sight. He's never been tested, I figure it doesn't make a difference to us, we work around their needs anyway, and he's certainly not going anywhere any time soon!

yes, but if they leave home you'll have more money to spend on fancy dog things.... ;)

I know it's a different situation, but what I've found works for my fear aggressive boy is if I introduce him to a new dog, I put the new dog in a crate then let Thundercleese approach at his own pace. The other dog being in a crate makes him feel safe, so he reacts with curiosity instead of fear. Something like that may work for yours as well, because then the "threatening" aspect of the puppy is neutralized by being in the crate, giving your older dog the opportunity to check out the pup and realise that it's not actually terrifying at all :)

Ours sneak, but don't bolt off. There's only been a handful of times that they've escaped though. The rotty jumped the fence in a panic not long after we got her (that's how we found out she was storm phobic), after scratching her nails bloody on the door. Picked her up a few hours later at the local emergency vet relatively unscathed :) The old man (dobe x kelpie) went through a bout of fence chewing when we first got him. Part of the fence was lattice, and I came home as I saw a man disappear around the corner and half a glimpse of a dog's bum, I thought to myself "that look's like Harley", so drove around the corner, sure enough this lovely gentleman had found my dog :)

My boy Tex is hands down the LAZIEST dog I've ever met :) The others are up and ready to go outside for a wee when I wake up, be it at 6am or 11am, or any time in between. Their cue to get up is when I do, which is super awesome. Not Tex though. You can drag him out of bed early, but by god it's hard. He usually sleeps in a crate in the lounge room, so when I wake up, I open the crate door. He raises his head, and looks at me like "5 more minutes..." before collapsing down again. He will then saunter out of bed sometime between 10.30am and 11.30am to be let out for a wee. Except for the other morning, when I woke up and immediately lit a fire at about 7am. at 10am I went back into the lounge room and Tex had gotten out of his crate and onto the bed closest to the coonara. He then appeared at the door at about 12.45, practically dancing because of how badly he needed to wee!

I bought a couple of ATV folding ramps reduced to clear from Masters for $30 a piece a few of weeks ago because I recently bought a Triton which is a fair bit higher than my rodeo was. It's aluminium, so lightweight, and with a capacity of I think 300 - odd kilos, it should be able to cope with my lot! I've got to attach some marine carpet to them so they're a bit more comfortable. They are fairly narrow, so I bought 2, but haven't tried them out with my dogs yet. My sister's kelpie was fine with one,but I couldn't try it with the collie x lab, he's too precious to use ramps and may be lifted. Plus, he's a super lard-ass thanks to my mum, and they're only rated at 300 ish kilos! :laugh:

Horses get dogged for pet meat down here, it's common and perfectly legal. Personally, I wouldn't feed it to my dogs but I know plenty of people who do. Just curiously, why wouldn't you feed horse to your dogs?

Yes I was at the vet about 3 months ago and a greyhound breeder bought in 8 dogs to be PTS and said they would prefer to do that than go anywhere near rescue.Turns out they also breed GSD and do the same with their ex breeders rather than have any attention on them for not keeping them. It happens all the time. The two biggest rescues in NSW, not GAP, are loathed by a large majority of trainers. They are viewed as the enemy and with suspicion and rightly so by owners and trainers. not so much a lot of the rescues available, but I would personally prefer any one of my healthy (and otherwise perfectly rehomable)pet dogs be euthanased than take them to the RSPCA...

I adore old dogs. My old man dog is getting on (he's at least 11 from what we can figure), and although it breaks my heart to see him gradually becoming worn down and broken, he is very special to me in a way the younger ones aren't. I always make a fuss of old dogs when I'm out and about (if appropriate), usually telling their human what a lovely puppy they have, because all dogs are puppies :)

We occasionally have issues over the animals (in general, including the dogs), but only because Nathan hasn't cared for them to my satisfaction when I'm away over the weekend. I got home one Monday and was thinking to myself that the dogs all looked fatter and were quite gassy, and their poops were not nearly as firm as usual. When I went to make some room in the freezer for the dog food I'd bought, it became apparent that Nathan hadn't fed them any of the food that was still left in there, and it turns out that he'd bought them some kind of god-awful supermarket crap and between the 5 of them had fed them 3kg of dry food over the whole weekend. I got really mad at that, and made him clean up those horrid soft poops. I made it very clear though before we got together that we're a package deal: love me, love my critters. I wouldn't settle for someone who just tolerates them because the're mine. I tolerate that Nathan is not as passionate about them as I am, but he does love them :) Just last night, I invited Thundercleese up on the bed for a cuddle while I waited for Nathan to have a shower. Thundercleese usually isn't allowed to sleep on the bed mostly because he takes up more room than is humanly possible (and also, has horrid pervasive tiny stabby hairs), but Nathan took so long in the shower that I fell asleep, and when I woke up in the morning, Thundercleese was still on the bed :) apparently Nathan tried to tell him to go to his own bed, but when Nathan said his name, Thundercleese looked at him like he was physically tearing his heart out of his chest by not letting him sleep next to me. Nathan's such a softie :p Nathan also brought with him the set of couches we have (my couches were destroyed in several freak dog-related incidents somehow ), and one of the very very few things that he put his foot down on was that the dogs weren't allowed on the furniture. Given that they'd destroyed $2600 worth of couches within the last 12 months, I wasn't arguing the point! I'd get them on the couches occasionally (like if I felt like shit and needed hugs from my puppies I'd be damned if I'm gonna to lie on the floor to get them.) Out of the blue one day Nathan said if I get covers for the couches I can have the dogs on them :D SUCH a softie!!! :p The only thing I'm not 100% happy about is that I would like him to contribute more towards their care. He always refers to them as "our" dogs, but I tell him that until such a time as he cleans up their poo without having to be told, they're "MY" dogs, and that won't change. Until then, they're MINE. (unless one of them does something terrible, smelly and/or embarassing, then they are HIS dogs.)

I'm confused about how a dog displaying any kind of reactivity at all is being released from the rspca. They're not exactly known for their tolerance when it comes to ANY deviation of what they consider acceptable behaviour.

If yours are like mine, i'd feed it out in treat balls etc, ie as an extra rather than as a staple. That said, mine would probably eat rocks if they looked like they'd been within 10km of food at any point! Mine eat a lot worse than nutritionally devoid "food" every time they get the opportunity!

What a beautiful and terrible story! At least the last thing Blackie knew was following his obviously much-loved pack, then instantly nothing.

Me too Stressmagnet, you spend far more time with your dog than I do with my lot. I am away from my house for work from Friday evening til Monday morning, when I get home I check all the other critters quickly while they settle themselves down (pack mentality means that they sometimes have a competition to see who can get the most excited, but they do learn quickly, it takes them less than 5 minutes to calm down these days), then give them a quick pat while I have a smoke, then off to bed to sleep off the weekend night shifts I've just worked. When I wake up in the afternoon, I'm all theirs. Most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, my OH works from 5.30am til about 11.30am, home for lunch, then 2pm til about 7pm. During this entire time the dogs are outside, with little to no interaction, and a fair chance that OH will fall asleep on the couch when he does get home because he's so exhausted, which means that they won't get to come in until he wakes up and drags his butt to bed, which has been known to be well after midnight. They also do not get walked or a run in the paddocks all weekend, because I can't expect that OH will be up for taking 5 dogs on at least 3 walks (1 is 40+kg and FA, and tbh my OH is not that confident handling him on his own, whereas I can read him like a picture book). My dogs are all happy, well-adjusted (except for the FA one, but that's a result of poor breeding, he's been that way since he was a pup), have excellent "off" switches etc. They are for the most part well behaved, generally the issues that arise are as a result of a pack of dogs with "ringleader" who is a 2yo crazily confident bitch. She is usually at the start (and end) of any trouble. Nothing they do however strikes me as being caused by excessive levels of loneliness or boredom. I often get comments from visitors about how well-behaved my dogs are, even though every single one of them is pushing the boundaries because they know that visitors don't know the house rules. I am usually home from Monday til I leave again on Friday, with maybe a couple of hours doing grocery shopping. During this time, some or all of the dogs are sometimes inside with me, or outside on the decking/sun room area, or out in the yard. I am not glued to them, nor are they glued to me. To be honest, I believe that teaching a dog to exist on its own calmly is an important and healthy thing, otherwise you may end up with a dog that develops an obsession with being with you at every possible minute. This is not healthy for you or the dog. I've been very grateful on several occasions that I went to the effort of teaching my dogs not to rely on routine, and to be independent of us. I live about 2 hours away from the rest of my family, and sometimes things happen that mean that they may be left completely alone for extended periods. The best example I can think of happened about a year or so ago when my grandpa passed away. We had only just moved in to our current home, so didn't know any of the neighbours (more importantly, the dogs didn't know any of them, so possibly wouldn't have let them in anyway), when we got the call that my Grandpa was not far off and could we come straight away. We had no choice but to leave the dogs at home outside and rush to Melbourne. We left on a Tuesday, and did not get home til late afternoon Thursday, which was the earliest we could reasonably leave. The dogs, despite having been left unattended and unfed for the better part of two days, were absolutely fine when we got home, and the neighbours all said they hadn't heard a peep the entire time. Now obviously this is not a recurring or ideal situation, but should something like that happen again, I feel much more comfortable in the knowledge that my dogs are capable of handling it with aplomb, so I don’t need to spend every second that I’m away from home stressing out that my dogs are distressed, or injuring themselves, or being destructive. Perhaps some people are different, but personally, one of the things that I need from a pet dog is that it has the mental capacity to deal with any circumstance that may happen with as minimal negative impact as possible. This is because life happens, and I can't guarantee that I will be there every second of every day for the rest of their lives to ensure that they are not being negatively impacted by their current situation. I don't believe that when you get a dog you should go overboard and alter your entire lifestyle to cater to its every whim, which is what I'm getting from BigTroll's post. As far as I'm aware, doing that will only set both you and the dog up for disappointment, and will make those times when you are unable to provide that companionship distressing and stressful for the dog. To be honest, I feel that BigDaz's advice should be reflected back on to him: In my opinion, he is teaching his dog/s to be weak, needy and overly dependent on him for stimulation, paving the way for serious separation anxiety issues. Conversely Stressmagnet, I believe that by teaching your dog how to be alone happily, or even just that it does not need to be involved in every minute aspect of your life, you are giving your dog the confidence that will enable it to handle most situations well. I’m sorry about the long and ranty essay, extremists annoy me. TL; DR: BigDaz, you’re wrong, a well-adjusted dog doesn’t need its owners constant presence. StressMagnet, keep doing what you’re doing, and don’t take any advice from this “trainer” who fed you that drivel.

I use Racumin, at the time the research I did led me to believe that it was the safest in terms of relay poisoning. I'm not overly concerned about the dogs getting to it, mine don't eat dead rodents (I don't know why, they eat MUCH grosser things! ), and I make sure to put it where they can't access it, I was more concerned about the native critters in the area.

Thank you :) It's a bit lae notice, I thought I'd already posted this , but there's an inspection today from 9.30-9.45am