Her Majesty Dogmad

My favourites would be Italian Greyhounds (I rescue and own) and some terriers - Borders, Airedales, Bedlingtons. You'd be hard pressed to ever come across a nasty example of an Italian Greyhound, they have beautiful natures with other dogs especially. My least favourite would be staffies and Pit Bulls, I won't tolerate dog on dog aggression or unpredictable temperaments so they are definitely not the dog for me.

I have a dog who had 15 teeth out recently, the incisors are a major thing on their own. Most dogs recover pretty quickly but with older dogs it takes longer. With this boy, he was sore around the mouth and couldn't eat anything hard for 2 weeks - he just refused to eat biscuits - he couldn't eat them when he arrived but now he's eating them happily. I'd say he took longer than any other dog with his mouth being sore and I regularly take on older dogs with lots of teeth being taken out. I'd recommend getting a second opinion if you are worried about his eye. The anaesthetic really knocks them around and he's sore in several places, it could explain some of it but his eye isn't getting better and it should be. Best of luck, please keep us posted.

Kidney disease is awful. I've only had one dog with that - a little tiny dog I rescued, she was elderly and had spent a long time in the pound before I took her on. She was immediately unwell and required an urgent dental and I had blood tests done. SHe'd had very dark coloured diarrhea and it turned out she had kidney failure. My vet said she'd only be with me for a few weeks. She went on meds and the special diet and then I contacted the All Natural Vet at Russell Lea who prescribed Chinese herbs. My own vets couldn't believe the improvement in her, she put weight on, grew a glossy coat and had a settled tum - she lived with me for a year and then there was nothing that could help the kidneys any more. I would recommend the Chinese herbs to anyone in that position so I'm sorry to hear they aren't working so well for you. The Chinese herbs vet I used is in Sydney. they didn't prescribe the herbs for the nausea from what I remember. My own vet faxed Pippa's blood tests to them and they prescribed the herbs. They are experts and you could ring them for some assistance - tell them the herbs she has been given already and see what they say. They aren't cheap but I've had incredible results in several cases, Pippa being one of them. In case it helps, their nos are Tel. 02 9712 5844. fax: 02 9712 5855 I wish you and your baby all the best and hope somethign can be foudn that will help asap.

Hvae you put posters up in the area - do letterbox drops and door knocking. Is he on any medication? We lost two dogs last year from foster care, 1 was gone for 3 days and the other for 4. In the second case, someone had picked the dog up from outside the carer's house and decided to keep him - thought that he was too thin (Italian Greyhounds are slim) and thought he was unwanted. Our poster indicated he was on meds at the time (antibiotics, it was true) - and we only got him back because the person was concerned he might be unwell so he gave us a call thank God. Dogs are often found not that far away from where they live.

Oh yes, but I'm sure it won't be enough to convince Padraic.

I have some concerns about this post. I'm not sure that it is appropriate for a rescue group to refuse someone because of their parents. Perhaps this potential foster carer did not appreciate the pool danger, and may have been prepared to put up a fence. Interestingly he/she had a doggy door so presumably they already had or had had a dog. On a more general note I did not think there was such an oversupply of foster carers for rescue groups to be so choosy. Healthy dogs die because they cannot find rescue. And I have some concerns about your ability to understand what is and isn't a suitable foster carer. I'm not printing every sentence exchanged between my home checker and the parents. Yes, the applicant was an adult. They told me they lived with their sister. No mention of anyone else in the house and i asked the question. No, no fence could be put up and yes, they had two dogs that were used to it all. Just as a side note, I didn't start my latest rescue venture with zero experience. I've been foster caring continuously myself since 2002. I don't consider myself acceptable for many different dogs and certainly not dogs with certain issues. I can't have large dogs here, nor barkers, diggers or climbers. I also ran the foster program for Sydney's largest private rescue group and that had 50 or so foster carers at the same time. Once I'd set it up, run it for a couple of years and handed the program to another volunteer, I then continued to run with up to 20 foster carers for the next few years. I also worked at rehomings all weekend for 5 years ... I think I'm qualified to make good matches from both a foster and adoption point of view. Have had very few returns or bad matches.

Try Petsearch - they do awesome work.

Stan's Mum, I love greyhounds and have rescued them but Iggies are pretty fragile and greys can be playful, so are iggies. There is too much of a size disparity for them to play without supervision and that's why we recommend they are not left alone together. If we have someone with a greyhound contact us, we refer them to whippets as they are less fragile. I've just been through the Iggy broken leg scenario - it's not one I'd care to repeat, typically it is $5000 specialist surgery (plates and screws) and 4 months confinement ...

Done!

I doubt that anyone would reject a foster carer out of hand without a very good reason. You might like to hear about the last one I rejected, in the nicest possible way - even though they'd wasted my time and that of the home checker's time. I had a good length phone call about them upon receipt of a beautifully worded email and not once - even though I asked some pertinent questions - did they mention: - they lived with their parents who weren't keen on having a foster dog at all and - they had easy/constant acccess through a doggie door to an unfenced pool. Call me awful but the answer was no - would have caused stress within the family unit and possibly the death of a dog by drowning. Everything has to be assessed individually but I was very excited to have found such a caring foster carer only to be extremely disappointed. Who was in the wrong here as some of you think it is very black and white - was it me or the potential foster carer?

but that would have been an interesting breeding... :p You can actually abort an unwanted litter. Why have dogs like this, undesexed and on heat, running round together. It sounds extremely irresponsible to me, from the dogs' point of view. Why would you be breeding this sort of crossbreed deliberately in the first place? Why is my biggest question, why breed these crossbreeds, why not be more careful and obviously if the parents have attacked another dog(s) this is not an owner that is responsible in any way.

I don't agree with it, it is very limiting if enforced. What I'd worry about more is fostering for more than one group. We have Italian Greyhounds generally at Iggy Rescue and one of our lovely carers occasionally takes on Greyhounds - we ask that they are constatnly monitored when together and not left alone unsupervised. We make that work but I'd be very concerned if we were left in the dark and our Iggies were being exposed to different types of dogs from rescue groups that don't undertake proper temperament testing or quarantine etc first.

Has someone done this for you Janey? If not, I can help this week

I could tell you plenty of stories about people I've met that have bought dogs from bybs that were ill. BYBs also sell dogs as "purebred" that are not. More than once i've met people who tell me their dog is a purebred xxxx and I can assure you it definitely wasn't that particular purebred nor any other, it was a mutt but in their ignorance they've paid a huge amount of money for the puppy. It is their fault for not knowing about the breed in question but it is also downright dishonest of the byb to pass off the puppy as a purebred when it isn't. 2 weeks ago I saw a large labrador type dog in the dog park walking badly. I asked the owner and yes, they had already taken their 1 yr old dog to the vets for a diagnosis of hip dysplasia. The dog was a Labrador/Golden Retriever cross and they'd paid a huge price for the dog - a dog that is going to suffer immensely before it dies. BYBs don't care to conduct the necessary tests before breeding. I would hate to think that a bitch with hip dysplasia was going through the agony of having puppies ... Another lady I met struggled through the first few months of life with her Maltese cross' health issues. It turned out that the spine wasn't growing as quickly as the rest of its body - there was a name for the condition and my vet suggested she put the puppy to sleep. It was a condition that was preventable as it was hereditary. She rang the BYB to tell them about it - she'd paid $900 for the puppy - and they didn't give a stuff, they told her she'd sighted the "goods" and bought them and that was that. Please don't anyone try and tell me that BYBs are OK and breeding sound dogs. The stories above are the tip of the mountain. It is a travesty that you can't get these vile people legally. I report anyone I come across not chipping dogs because it's the only thing you can do.

Oh she's gorgeous!!

I loved Pierre, always made a big fuss of him when I went in. Lovely, decent people who own and work in the business and it was well run. Very sad when I heard the news, I hope they can start over again.

Will do! Thanks so much. I'm glad we could help your whippet - it was a great home and we are so pleased to help these two boys who have a lovely foster home to go to as a good start.

OMG Scallywags - thank you so much! We are pretty short of funds after a recent rescue has sadly been diagnosed with terminal cancer, it was most unexpected and distressing. We will be giving him palliative care in a wonderful foster home but it has left us short. I will pm you. Thank you is really not enough but thank you so much, we will acknowledge your help on our website when the boys arrive.

They are at Nambucca Heads and need to get to Sydney at the weekend or just after. There is road and air transport as two options but expensive and I'm expecting they will need dentals as well as all the standard stuff such as desexing etc. I'm hoping we can get a lift either all or part of the way.

Thanks Trifecta, cheapest travel quote I've received is $250 and they are very small whippets.

Gorgeous - my first thought was Bernese Mountain Dog cross!

Also, has he always been like this since he was born? Have you moved house? Have you contacted the original breeder just to see if they have heard of any of their other puppies having a similar problem?

Can you mix the fish with brown rice and veggies? I cook up turkey mince with rice and veggies regularly and my dogs can't get enough of it. You could also use or add potatoes and some oats? I know he's young but is there any chance he has a sore mouth?

Oooooooh, you can't beat a GWP, he's gorgeous! Please keep us posted, he'll soon be looking so much better and happier, he's on the path to a whole new life where someone will truly appreciate him.

So sorry that you have lost two special dogs in a short space of time, so hard on your heart. Hugs to you.