Alkhe

I also would remove the eye - it may seem more "drastic" but dogs adjust to these things far better than humans do, and it will probably cause more distress and angst for you than him!

I thought this was going to be a "what toxic/stupid thing did your dog eat today" - Im going to answer accordingly :D When I left for work, there was a bag of jellybeans (chemist ones, fk they are good..) on the table. Only about 6 or 7 left, and none of hte good colours. When I got home, said bag was on the floor, empty. At the park, Maggie's poos actually had BRIGHT GREEN segments. It was amazing, I actually had to show the poo to some people, it was that hilarious. I have no idea how she got onto the table, and it's not like I needed poo proof that it was her and not the other two who had eaten them. But still, I got my proof anyway. Before Christmas, she somehow got on to the Christmas pudding (she is 4kg, the pudding was 1kg) which ended up in a trip to the emergency vet. (Her third one for eating something toxic. I swear I am not as negligent as this suggests, she just .. finds toxic things and eats them!)

Dude. My Toy Poodles creates 3 times that much from a mere TRIM!

I know this is not what you want to be thinking about at the moment Cazstaff, but please, don't take legal advice from anybody on DOL or on the internet. It's easy to be swayed by people telling you to do this or that, or that "surely" you should be able to get this or that.. but please don't rely on any advice or posts, no matter how well intentioned they are. If you are inclined, speak to a lawyer. By all means people on DOL could suggest lawyers or organisations that they know of or have had dealings with, but do not rely on anybody's advice here. I mean no disrepect to anybody who has offered well intentioned examples or information about what they believe to be the situation, but it is impossible to provide accurate advice based on some online posts, regardless of how detailed they are. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

Oh wow, I had no idea how LONG they were! Gorgeous videos crickets, he looks like a completely different dog :) (I don't think I've posted in this thread before, but I've read it about 10 times.. :laugh: )

+1.

I think that's the case - I'm not 100% sure, but I asked about cataract removal the last time I went to the vet with my older dog and we talked about various tests etc.. the other thing it depends on is the dog's general health and the balance between getting the surgery when the dog actually NEEDS it, and not waiting til it's too late because of their general health declining. That's for one type of old age cataracts anyway, not sure about other ones :)

I keep seeing this photo everywhere -that's the benefit of pretty much only being friends with dog people and organisations, all of whom share the same pics. :laugh: Sometimes it's annoying seeing the same thing over and over, but Gambit is awesome. I love his lip!

A breed doesn't always display features that it can express genetically when combined with others. That's why picking breeds on colouring is so unreliable. It's just as easy thing to do because it's such an instantly recognisable thing for us. That shaded face is an indicator that the pup is "Sable" coloured. It's a completely different gene to "Clear Red", and linked to "Agouti". Black and tan dogs may be genetically sable, yet the black and tan allele causes the black colouring in the familiar pattern. So when they are bred to a non black and tan dog, the offspring can easily come out sable. In fact, unless the other parent also has black and tan I think they are more likely to come out sable. http://www.doggenetics.co.uk/tan.html Thanks for that link Alyosha - this is so interesting, I really need to learn more about dog genetics. Your recent posts in a few of these threads (eg why that scruffer Misty couldn't be JRT x etc) have really piqued my interest. Thanks :thumbsup:

I am so, so sorry Cazstaff. There are just no words. Please please report them - they should never be able to get away with this.

I think it depends on the breed and coat type. Spitz breeds etc - never shave them, those coats DEFINITELY act as a thermostat. Coats that are likely to mat, or grow and grow like poodle or most oodle coats, however, just add bulk and definitely need to be clipped. ETA - also, there's a difference between shaving and grooming/clipping. Grooming is necessary in many cases, shaving is .. not ever necessary, really.

Yeah, good luck to him..

Not in those exact terms.. they won't understand 'faking pain', but they may well have learned to connect lying on the floor or something with you giving them cuddles! Much training is based on the premise that doing something will get them a reward, so it's quite possible that if your dog likes cuddles, he will have connected some sort of behaviour that we interpret as 'faking pain' as something that will get him a cuddle.

Where abouts do you live clydesdalelover? I am in Melbourne too, and know of a few groomers that I could PM you the name of :) I'm in Brunswick, so can give recommendations for around this area.

I'd just go with Poodle x :)

I would take her now - most poodles will have been groomed from a few weeks of age to get them used to it. I know some people who object to starting them that early, but even those people would definitely start grooming at 3 months or so. Most groomers will make appointments for grooming every 6-8 weeks, but I find that my Toy Poodle gets too shaggy if I leave it 8 weeks between professional grooms. I now groom her myself, but even when I was taking her to the groomer religiously, I would still tidy up around her eyes and bottom etc, and do a bit of a trim between grooms. PARTICULARLY if the weather gets hot. Even now, I give my dogs a trim if they're not quite due for a full on groom yet, but the weather is hot. They're not show dogs or anything, so their looks are 100% secondary to how they feel.

Why on earth not ? Many of my puppies are in happy homes in pairs. They love it having a litter mate with them & new owners are delighted in how quickly they settle together. Most of my pups go to people who have already had poodles so are familiar with the breed & have had some dog experience. I've heard (and seen!) some horror stories though, with owners unable to control either of them, or the dogs bonded so strongly to each other that they don't bond well with their owner. Obviously it depends on the owner, but many people struggle training one puppy - two is more than twice as hard!

I don't think I've ever seen a dog that I didn't want to say hi to. I talk to every dog owner I see and end up patting the dog most of the time :D

See, this is where I get less supportive. In the case of advocacy groups, where exactly is the money going and who is it -really- helping? I actually had a little bitch/whinge about this on FB a while back, let me see if I can find the post.. Now, that rant was specific to greys but you could apply it to rescue/welfare generally. Do we want to funnel money into an advocacy group when that same money could actually help a dog? What is the advocacy group doing with donated funds, besides raising awareness (which is generally free to do) or promoting the group itself? Those would be my questions. Also, if the group claims donated funds will be used to help members, how are funds distributed? Which also brings up the question of why have the middle man at all, why not direct people to donate to the groups they want to support. There was more but just thinking about it melted a bit of my brain and now the whole thing just seems like a massive potential mess of problems :/ I totally agree with all of that. One particular organisation/cause springs to mind as a classic example of this...

What I find most disturbing about PR is what was demonstrated in the response keetamouse got from them. They are making the case for dogs that require training and rehabilitation - fine. In theory, I can support that. The problem is that they are not actually PROVIDING training or rehabilitation, and are facilitating the release of dogs that do require those things into the hands of people who aren't qualified or experienced to give those things. If you want to make the case that dogs that fall through the cracks of the pound-rescue interface are the ones that really deserve 'rescue', fine. If you want to spend your time, effort and money on rehabilitating those dogs - great, more power to you. But they're not. They're just putting them wherever they can. Given that, I doubt anyone with the level of experience required to rehabilitate or address the behavioural issues of a DA or HA dog would actually work with Pound Rounds. ... preaching to the choir, I know.

That is the cutest video in the world - they are such perfect playmates! I love how he actually goes "ruff! rawwwwwwwwwww" haha

It just doesn't seem to have a real point.

I agree, it looks quite relaxed rather than a fearful or aggressive, back off type snarl. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Patricia mcconnell, 'for the love of a dog'.. I'm on my phone and can't quite remember if that's the exact title, but it's something like that. I second 'on talking terms with dogs' too. Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Yup, it's a self reinforcing behaviour. They're bloody annoying! :laugh: