tiff-689

I thought exactly the same thing when I saw that segment tonight. My dog would instantly fail! I hope they do more testing before they decide if a dog is capable of being rehomed.

Every situation is completely different and one dog is different from the next but I have owned both a staffy and English pointer and probably wouldn't own them in combination again... My situation was a little different as I got my pointer when she was 6 months old and she had been really poorly socialised with both people and other dogs. My ex partner had a staffy so when we moved in together the dogs started living together. The staffy had a very dominant and aggressive play style and my pointer, completely submissive and timid. It was hard work keeping them together! My pointer now lives alone and has completely come out of her shell. They are beautiful dogs, very receptive, must be by your side during every waking second and as others have mentioned, very sooky! As much as ide love another dog I actually think my pointer is happier alone and as the centre of attention. Never the less, with the right training and socialisation most breeds and capable and happy living together :)

Very true! I just wondered if keeping her papers under the breeders name would mean they would still have some kind of legal ownership over her?

Just out of curiosity, how important is it to change the papers into the new owners name?? I got my girl at 6 months of age (she is now 12 months). I never even gave a second thought to change the details on her papers over to my name. The breeder never said anything! (but now that i'm looking at the papers, she has pre-signed the back ready for me to send off it would seem) I have no interest in showing and she can't be anyway because she has a severe underbite. I see it says late fees apply 60 days after transfer....so my question is, is there any need to change her over to my name? Is she was to ever become lost, her microchip and council rego are under my name..

Abbie loves to lick! I generally try to discourage her (she'll go for toes, feet, legs, arms, and especially the face), not because i think it's dirty or unhygienic...I just don't really appreciate getting wet, especially when i'm still in bed or have just dried myself after a shower!! haha. Cat licks i like though, their tongues are scaly and more dry so it feels nicer haha

Growing up, my dad hated cats and my best friend owned a very unfriendly feral stray that would hiss and carry on if you got to close..so i never really gave cats much of a thought and was a self confessed dog lover. In the past year my opinion of cats seemed to change a lot. My OH is a cat lover and recently got a kitten which i have been spending a lot of time with. And i some how found myself working part time at a cattery!! 90% of the cats we get in at work are just absolutely adorable, crave affection and are constantly under your feet. I do find cats a lot harder to read though, they can be unpredictable! I think both cats and dogs have such different personalities. I love dogs because they aim to please, love cuddles 24/7 and are easily excitable. I love cats because they know how to entertain and looks after themselves. They don't need walking and are happy to leave you alone when you're not in the mood. I would loooooooove to one day own a Birman, and definitely will be having both a dog and a cat when i get my own place. This is my OH's kitten called Sheldon, and our dog buckley

I own an english pointer and grew up with two GSP's. Gundogs are my absolute favourite and all three have been quite similar personality wise. They are one of a kind. Endless energy, very goofy and silly, hard to train at times as they like to make up their own rules, big sooks and absolutely crazy about human affection (i find they are more taken to humans then other dogs). I live on a 5 acre property so i definitely see the pointer in her. Once she spots a bird or rabbit, she is 100% focused and it's practically impossible to get her attention. She isn't quite quick enough to catch them yet but my old GSP loved catching and killing rabbits and then bringing them to the back door to show off.

We had a temporary doggy door at one stage. One of the expensive types and it was awful to be honest. Great idea but it didn't seem to fit into the frame properly so when the glass door went to meet up with the insert, there was a little gap meaning the lock didn't work. That and it took up too much space meaning when we opened the door, the gap to walk through was tiny. We ended up having the dead bolt the whole door shut meaning we couldn't use it for ourselves. They are a great idea, i think maybe our frame was the problem..they dogs really relied on having one so we ended up getting a real one cut into the security door instead.

Definitely nothing wrong with not wanting people to pat your puppy all the time. Your dog, you're rules. On the other hand, i'm also a firm believer on pups getting as much socialisation as possible. Abbie came into my life when she was 6 months old and due to a complete lack of socialisation when young, is now petrified of every stranger we meet. She has snapped at people on various occasions because they have backed her into a corner or tried to reach for her head, so i'm forever having to tell people not to approach or pat her. I often get "ohhh she'll be right, she looks happy" or "oh i'm really good with dogs" but I'de rather deal with a pissed off look from a stranger then a lawsuit because she has nipped someone.

Check this site out. There's 25 breeders listed on DOL.

6 months and over is generally what any Vet will recommend. I got both my dogs done at pretty much 6 months on the dot, and both have developed fine so it's a personal choice really. Females are generally more expensive than males, and weight also factors into price. I think i payed around $250 for a male dog under 20kg, but that also included microchipping.

My girls first chrissy this year. She was very unimpressed with the reindeer headband! hehe

OR This If only it were as easy as it sounds hey! Very out of the blue, but last night i got an email from a girl i went to uni with years ago. I saw that she was now working as a HR advisor so i got talking with her and asked some questions about what she does all day, if she likes it etc. Anyway the idea kind of stuck with me so i might even see if i can get my foot in the door by applying for some HR admin or assistant jobs. I could even go study a cert IV in at tafe..The only downside is that it is apparently quite a competitive field. I always seem drawn to those jobs! I still of course would love to be a vet nurse but i am now starting to doubt just how long i would love it for.

Hmm, it's just the task of finding a job that i don't absolutely despise turning up to everyday. I wish i had some kind of idea of what it is i actually want to do with my life! I was venting to my dad last night and said "is it too much to ask to be in a job that i love, where i do something different every day, am busy, and where i earn a decent wage" ...of course he said no (but then again he's an engineer who makes more money than he knows what to do with it would seem) but i'm beginning to think it might be! Just very stressed at the moment because i quit work thinking i was definitely studying next year. But now that i'm having doubts...i obviously need to get another full time job asap!

I have thought of human nursing, but i can't say i am as patient with humans as i am animals, and i'm still hesitant to go back and study something for a long period of time. 3 years i think it is. My mum used to be a nurse. Hated it and gave it up to look after the kids all day. I guess i've only ever heard mums hate of the job. Never spoken to anyone that loves nursing..

$140,000 is the figure i got on those online loan calculators as well. And yes, that amount of money would barely even buy half a home in perth I was having a look on seek and vetlink today and i saw one vet nurse job going for $50,00 a year at a referral clinic (4 days a week and a saturday every 5 weeks) and another at $42,000. How can there possibly be such a huge difference in vet nurse wages!? :S I've decided in the mean time to apply for a few admin jobs but there doesn't seem to be a lot out there this time of year

Wow, thank you all for the very helpful advice. Very much appreciated. I have considered becoming a vet, but at this stage of my life i really can't see myself doing another 6 years of university. I did 30 hours of vet nurse work experience just a few months back. It was a prerequisite to get into the course. Did i absolutely love it? Not the entire time but i did enjoy it for the most part. Then again, i didn't get to answer the phone or do anything that required the skill of a qualified vet nurse. The place i was at was so welcoming and all the vet nurses genuinely loved their job. I spoke to some of them about the pay, but all were either married or had partners earning big bucks up in the mines...so money wasn't too much of an issue. I'de be lying if i said i didn't think to myself a few times whilst scrubbing the surgical equipment or hanging out the washing, "hmm would i get over this pretty quickly??" but then exciting stuff would happen like a big surgery or a parvo puppy going home. I had a sit down tonight and weighed the pro's and con's. I have until the end of january to make a final decision so i have decided to explore my options over the next few months. Apply for a whole stack of admin and marketing jobs and see where that takes me. If i get to the point where it is crunch time and i'm still looking for a job..well, then i'm not so sure. I'm really not to sure there are many pet rep jobs going in perth? I've never seen any advertised anyway :S Maybe vet nursing is something i need to explore when i'm older and am more financially stable? I'm not sure. I even thought i could study it part time whilst working a higher paying job...but then what's the point of having the qualification if i don't intend on using it for years :S Sadly, i'm at that stage in my life where i've lost a lot of high school friends and struggle to meet new ones with the same interests in me. I'm very much a homebody and i was hoping the course would be a great way to meet and make new friends. But in saying that, so could a new job somewhere else. My head is just all over the place right now.

$32,000 is what i was told by the course coordinators, as 'average'. I am very happy to be proven wrong though? RubyStar, Abbie is an English Pointer. About the same height as a Lab. She is a little shy with other dogs but gets better with time. Typical pointer really, takes a while to warm up to people. What suburb are you in?

I have recently taken up a casual job (which pays $20 an hour) at a cattery which was my plan for a little bit of income whilst studying next yr. I don't have any credit cards or loans and do have a bit of money saved up. I am lucky in that my parents are happy to have me living with them as long as i need to be, but at the same time, i like my independence and i imagine if i needed to rent it could be difficult as i have my dog Abbie. In regards to getting a business qualification, i do currently have a bachelor degree in marketing..which could maybe prove handy in future. I really don't know what to do though go with the heart or the head? :S

The thing is, i have never known what i want to do in life. I have always loved animals and even in my current office job, i bore everyone to death talking about my pets all day long. I don't lead an extravagant lifestyle and am certainly not the materialistic sort. I have always been very cautious with my spending and very rarely splash out and buy myself anything new. But $32,000 is a very low amount of money! I currently earn $42 and all i do all day is sit at a computer. I got so caught up in the excitement of going back to studying next year that i have all ready quit my job (this is my last week), so if i don't do the course next year i will still need to find a new job. Do i need to buy my own house? I guess not but i suppose i've just always believed that renting is dead money.

So here's the deal..after years of being unhappy in an office job i decided to look into vet nursing. Many people told me to go for it, others advised me not to based on the long hours and very little pay factor. A few months ago this didn't matter much to me, so i bit the bullet and have enrolled to study it next year. However, my circumstances have now changed and i've been sitting here all morning having a panic attack about what i should do. I was previously living with my partner in his house but we were having problems and i have now moved back in to my parents with one of the two dogs. I don't really have any expenses other than fuel, dogs food etc. right now. I've been told to expect an annual salary of around $32,000 working as a vet nurse. But my questions is, now that i am on my own (i would love to look at buying my own house in a few years)..can i survive on a vet nursing wage??? Considering all the bills, food expenses, insurance costs etc. Sure, things with my partner could work out or i could meet someone else (who knows what will happen in the future) but i need to think independently. As much as i want to do this course next year..i just don't know if i should be anymore? :S:S

Must admit i knew nothing about dog crates before i started to actually seek out the information. I was at my wits end with the puppy peeing and pooing during the night. Got a soft crate for him and his toilet training become perfect over night. He no longer uses it but Abbie has taken ownership of it now and actually prefers to sleep in that rather than her mattress..so i just leave the zip open. There have been so many times where having a crate has come in handy! e.g - bed rest after operations, keeping the dogs separated. I love mine

I bought them last time they were advertised on scoopon. My two only need an occasional brush so they usually sit in my cupboard as well, but they seem to work quite well better quality then i thought they would be.

The RSPCA online store, World for pets have quite a lot of hamish macbeth collars to choose from. Never ordered from them before but i'de imagine postage should only take a few days.

Haha yes i don't actually have any lawn either thanks to owning a female dog. When i say lawn i'm actually referring to my dead, patchy sandpit