Leelaa17

ETA: Hi Staff n Toller - Max gets 1 cup twice a day of dry food and about a third of wet food twice a day. He is lean and the vet always comments on his good weight. He is small for a male gsd and weighs in at 36kg. But I honestly don't think I need to feed him more, but I guess I could give it a go and try it out :) Edit: the amount of food he gets

Thank you for your replies guys! I'm sure he did get something very tasty. We don't usually leave things on the bench but the another dog we have is very sick and her food was just popped on the bench because we were going to give it to her later. We were usually vigilant with rat poison, it's no where near where the dogs go, but one day dad was moving the bird cage (with rat poison underneath it) and he kicked the rat poison out of the way and forgot about it, and then max ate it, We throw a ball around and play tug a war and run around the house and play etc, as well as exercise. They get bones once a week as my vet said it's not very good for them if they have it more than that. The bones they get are those really big bones (I don't actually know what animal they are from) Max has absolutely no interest in treat balls etc, although the treats in ice thing I think would work nicely because he looooves ice. I might do that tonight so he has something for tomorrow! Would you suggest anything to put in the ice? I cant remember what the first thing he got from the bin was unfortunately. And Rebanne - that is a good idea. I might give that a go. Thank you again for your comments!

Hello all, On here for a bit of friendly advice about my male 3yo GSD. About say 3 months ago, Max started raiding bins in the house (even in the rooms he knows he's not allowed to go into). He has never, ever done it when I am around. He only does it when I go upstairs (he is not allowed upstairs) to have a shower or to get something out of my room. He has also on occasion (the last time being about an hour ago) put his front paws on the bench and gotten food down and eaten it. We have another GSD, a female aged 2, but I'm certain its Max doing the bin raiding. The reason being is because Jenna isn't exploratory. You give her a normal dog treat and she can't work out how to eat it. Also, Max recently ate rat poison. He will eat anything. I'm concerned because we give him regular exercise, I walk him every night - although I will admit I have been slack the last two weeks because I have been busy and its been hot and I really don't handle the heat well at all. We feed him twice a day, a cup of dry food and a tiny bit of nature's own dog food (or nature's gift? Not entirely sure!!) I get different flavours and they never have the same flavors two days in a row. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on why he suddenly started doing this when he never used to do it before?? Thanks in advance!!

Thank you all so much for your comments! I have heard of those connecter things skitch! They sound like a good idea. And SecretKei I was considering buying prong collars for both of them. I have used a prong collar on Jenna before and it worked wonders. thank you all again!!

That's ok :)

Sorry, I was dragged 30cm not metres. So collars are more effective than harnesses you think? (honest question), when I used to use them I felt like I had less control when they were on collars than now that they're in harnesses. And also, I didn't allow my dog offleash - he slipped out of his harness. Obviously because it wasn't tight enough. But I understand what you are saying and will try the pop technique next time. Thank you :)

The guy was lovely. That's why I'm not as mad as I would've been. And that is true Dogmad. Although Jenna is a very VERY small GSD (not tht that makes much of a difference, she's still got some strength behind her) but she's 2yo and only 26kg so she's quite small. I used to walk them one at a time but then decided to start walking them both together. They've become much better at walking with me as well. Maybe I should start walking them separately again. Thank you for being kind.

Hello all, It's been a while since I've been on here so I hope this is still the right place to post this question. I'll start from the beginning. I have been walking my two GSD (on leash of course) for about an hour every night around my suburb. When a dogwould be coming our way I would cross the road because Max and Jenna would go crazy and bark and lunge. Anyway, the past few weeks I have been training them not to focus on any dogs around us and focus on me. I have stopped (still across the road - we're not at that stage yet!) and talked to them and just tried to keep them calm, while i stay calm. Anyway, it has been a HUGE success. they are pretty calm when dogs walk past and neither of them bark anymore - I still talk to them though beause they still get excited somewhat... Anyway, we were walking to our local park tonight (not an off-leash park), because we walk through it... and I saw oan offleash dog just as we got to the entrance of the park. I stopped and held max and jenna firmly (I wrap the leads around my hands to get better control of them). They were fine. A bit excited but they weren't barking - just watching the dog. The dog was making eye contact (it was some sort of bordie collie looking breed, although it wasn't a bordie collie - I don't think!) and it was low down and started sneaking towards us. I spent the whole time keeping max and jenna calm - assuming the owner would put the dog on lead - he didn't - the dog came up to max and jenna, max and jenna went for the dog, the owner quickly came over and grabbed the dog and took him away. Think it can't get worse? Well max went between my legs and pulled himself out of his harness andwent over to the dog.Now I wasn't worried about max because I knew he would just sniff him. Which he did. However, I was holding Jenna and could NOT get max back in the harness so I asked the guy to hold Jenna for me (his gf was holding the other dog) while I fixed max up. I should note that when max and jenna went for the dog, i lost my balance and was dragged about 30cm across the concrete - for which i have a bloodied back and leg. My question, after all of that, is - did I do something wrong in this situation? Should I have done anything? Should I have turned around and walked away? I thought Max's harness was fine, wasn't too tight or too loose, but I guess I was wrong. I am just concerned because there were a lot of people in the park and I'm scared someone is going to report Max and Jenna for being "dangerous" when I don't think it was their fault...

What happens with hypothyroidism? Are there any other symptoms?

Thanks lilli! Thats good to hear! Thank you again and i will continue to keep an eye on it

About two weeks ago i was scratching maxs head and a little lump of scab and fur came off - it didnt hurt him, he didnt even notice. I kept scratching and a circle of hair came off with the scabby-like skin. I didnt think much of it and have been keeping an eye on it to see if the hair grows back. The skin was pink but now it has gone black. Im worried. He gets wormed regularly, but he has had mites before. Im more worried about the fact that his skin has turned black. His behaviour hasnt changed in the slightest and he is eating and drinking normally. Any thoughts/advice?

How would I get into that? Would I need to study something - I'm about to leave work so I will research a little on the way home. It would be awesome working with assistance dogs.

Thanks rusty&biscuit. I didn't think of all the massage and animal healing stuff! And I would still like to breed dogs - even just for a hobby. but I don't think I'll do that till I'm older so I can have more time to spend with the dogs. I hear breeding can be a full-time job. Thanks again for your suggestions - I wouldn't mind doing the lawyer thing but I'm just not smart enough! haha

I know what you mean. I volunteered for the RSPCA and that really opened my eyes up to a lot of things and so I left. This is just so difficult because all I want to do is be around dogs for my job but it seems that no matter what I do its going to end up badly. I'd love to breed dogs but I don't know the first thing about becoming vertified or actually doing it - and do you even make a profit off breeding? I don't know. I wouldn't want to do anything to do with breeding unless I'd spent time with an actual proper breeder and gotten experience and training in what I should do. I'm so stuck.

thanks for your advice guys. Still really don't know what to do. I'd be taking a pay cut as well and I am struggling to live now as it is so I really just don't know what to do. good luck spyke. hope you have better luck than me!

I am thinking of changing career paths and I want to do something with animals - in particular, dogs. I was looking at getting into vet nursing and the only thing stopping me from getting into it was the possibility of someone coming in and wanting to euthanise their animal for no reason. I don't think I could handle that so I stopped looking into it. I just wanted some advice on something that I could do as a career that would at least pay the bills and would be rewarding. Any ideas?

Thanks so much for replying guys. I am glad to know that some have used the citronella collars and they haven't caused harm to their dogs. I honestly think it will work on Max because he really really hates the smell. And if it doesn't then I will spend the extra money on getting a muscle stimulant one. Money really doesn't bother me at the moment as I am so paranoid one of the neighbours is going to snap and hurt my baby/babies. they are just very territorial. When I am home, they know I am boss and I am looking after the house. But the minute I leave I think Max feels like HE is now in charge of looking after the house. jenna couldn't care less - she just barks because Max does. lol I think I will try the cirtonella collar and see how it goes and I will let you guys know. Should I be looking for a particular one that sprays a specific amount of citronella? Like is there some millilitre to spray ratio or something I need to know or are they all roughly the same? And is there a brand I should be looking at? Thank you all again. I really appreciate your time.

I've had to use an electronic bark collar on our GSD. He rarely needs it now at age 6 but it was a godsend at 2 years of age. I heard him bark but when I was away from home (worked nightshift) he barked incessently according to our neighbour who wrote me a note. So I felt I needed to do something quickly, as my OH and kids slept through it but it kept my poor neigbour awake. You could do a search as there are a few threads on this subject on file. :) I did do a search and found some topics on the forum but a lot of them were for puppies and max is 2. Another difference was that the dogs seemed to be barking while people were home. Max does bark sometimes when I'm at home but it is extremely easy for me to get him quiet and very quickly as well. I have been hearing mixed responses about citronella spray - that it IS tocix, that the amount that is sprayed ISN'T toxic so I'm not sure and I think that would work the best because I know he hates citronella spray. I spray them with citronella on hot days to keep the flies away and he hates it so I think a collar with citronella would work but I am hesitant because I don't know whether it is actually toxic or not and I don't want to come home one day and find him poisoned.

Max barks at neighbours when they're too close to our side fence. They're building a pool right now and always there. When I am home i have no problem with max barking and can easily get him to stop, but when im not home... my dad can also get them to stop but when he goes away no one is home during the day and i think my neighbours are starting to get sick of it. I was looking at barking collars. Please, i really need help. It's only when no one is home that the barking is a problem. Any suggestions on anti barling collars?

Thanks guys. took him to the vet this morning and he thinks its an infection so max got a shot and is on antibiotics and if it doesn't go away in a few weeks then I need to take him back. Thanks again.

Hi guys, I just noticed a good-sized lump on max's nose. I noticed it earlier on but thought it was a bit of dirt. It's looks like what a mozzie bite would look like on a human. its not too red - pinkish and about third of it is black, i pressed it slightly and it doesn't seem to hurt him and he doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all. I know it's only very recent as i kiss him on the nose every night before bed and he didn't have it yesterday. I have a hens night I am going to tonight and I am wondering whether it will be ok to leave it till tomorrow so I can take him to the vet then? Would anyone have any idea on what it might be? my OH thinks it may be just a bite from an ant or something but he hasn't seen it. Any advice?

I cant believe i came on dol to find this. I have been thinking about a change of career to vet nursing for quite some time and have been doing research. Colliehound - thank you. I would not be able to handle people coming in and asking us to put down their healthy animal. I think id be able to handle putting down a dog if they were in pain and there was nothing we could do, but pther than that. I just couldnt do it. This makes ne sad because i do really want to get into something to do with animals as a career. Im a journalist at the moment and i do absolutely love it. But anything to do with animals will always win.

There is a story on the punch - I put this in general because I want everyone's opinions on the comments, not the actual article. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dog-ownership-laws-a-load-of-total-bullpit/ There is one idiot on there - JB - who seems to think it is a child's right to be able to go up to a strange dog and pat it without fear of getting bitten... is it just me that thinks it is not anyone's right to go up to a strange dog and pat it without asking the owners first????

I call max: moo, monkey, moo moo, boo, maxie Dad calls max: big dog. He answers to all of them I call jenna: jin, jin jin, jen, moo, moo moo, monkey, boo Dad calls jenna: little big dog She answers to all of them Love this thread!!

Brilliant!