Her Majesty Dogmad

I've had 3 dogs with dementia, each with different symptoms but with one old girl, I had to take up all the carpets and rugs throughout the house. I've got tiles and it was freezing for 2 years!! I had this old girl for 4 years before she got dementia and she was fully housetrained, we never had any accidents and then suddenly there was a marked difference in her behaviours including urination on anything on the floor, carpets, rugs, my clothes, towels - you had to be very quick or she'd be in and straight onto the item. She also toileted in the car, no matter where she was put. If she'd been a large dog, I probably wouldn't have coped as well and I know there are people who would have just euthanased her rather than take up the carpets but I loved her very much and she was still enjoying life.

Oh my God, that is appalling.

What a great idea! I'm going!

I visited the Battersea Dogs Home at Old Windsor a couple of weeks ago as I'm originally from that area and was taking a holiday, hadn't been back for 8 years. My, how things had changed and not for the better. They had 70 dogs there, 67 of which were staffies or crosses thereof.

I've just returned from the UK. At a branch of the Battersea Dogs Home, they have 70 dogs as per Wed last week (dogs are found wandering and picked up by council rangers and no owner traced). Only 3 of the 70 are not staffy types. Many of their profiles say they are not good with other dogs. Same story at another shelter I went to. Both shelters told me it is also very hard to rehome them. There have been many problems in the UK with attacks by this type of dog, both on other animals and people so I guess people start seeing them as a liability and turf them out or the breed frequently attracts the wrong sort of owner perhaps.

Hope you wrote to them - I can never resist giving them a serve. Don't expect a polite reply but at least you may have made them think although they may be incapable of that.

This donkey is safe, she was rescued by a UK newspaper and the Sidmouth Donkey Sanctuary will take care of her for the future.

My advice would be to take extreme care if you are thinking about running with any breed but particularly one with a great deal of hair. Dogs can easily suffer heat stress. Also, I would not have known it but dealing with the hair on a pomeranian type dog is far worse than other high maintenance coats that I've managed (I foster care). I had a pom for about 3 months and could not keep on top of the coat, it would be too much for most people I think. I am a very busy person it is true but I also pride myself on managing to keep all my dogs in good condition, I simply found the pom hair too demanding and wouldn't have one full time.

Losing them is so hard to bear but none of us would swap what we had, so many loving moments and so much happiness. Hugs to you and RIP Rusky, what a special girl and lucky to have been so loved.

I'm so very sorry for all the hardship and trauma you and your loved ones have had to go through. It's such a long road to getting better but you are on your way and will reach a better place in time. You are in my thoughts.

What a beautiful story, so much love in every line and the photos show how loved and happy he was. Thank you for giving him a wonderful year, full of love. I think what always hurts so much is to know that such a wonderful dog most likely never had that love before, they were not appreciated and treasured as they should be. Love and hugs to you and your family Nic, it hurts so much but I know you wouldn't change a thing, you would do the same again.

Disgusting behaviour, how come noone involved in this stupid stunt could see the cruelty aspect?? Morons. I hope they throw the book at them.

Very disturbing, poor little dog and poor owners. Whichever dogs did this must be found and put to sleep, they are a menace to society as are bloody careless owners.

So sorry to hear about poor Bailey. Hugs to you, you have done the best you could and he knows that.

When rehoming rescue dogs, we organise home checks (fencing, shelter, etc) - during this time I ask if the person knows about housetraining and other training methods. If it is a purebred dog, then I ask what the person knows about the breed. Do they intend to take the dog to formal training, have they looked into that? I also ask for their vet's contact details. Occasionally I rehome interstate and gain assistance from local based rescuers to do the home check then. People that are not appropriate will generally not agree to any of the above. If I was breeding dogs, no matter what, I would not rehome overseas nor would I send a puppy anywhere without doing considerable checks beforehand. I don't allow 'surprises' or 'presents' either and it's amazing just how frequently people intend to pass an animal on in this manner.

I love this idea, truly wonderful!!

I work in rescue. Whenever anyone adopts a dog, they need to virtually ignore it for 2 weeks - this sounds harsh but a dog needs time to adapt and should be left in relative peace for a good result. It is about 2 months before you see the true dog. Many, many people, expect a dog to instantly love them and show them affection - those are the people you need to avoid. Try and find people with experience of rescue dogs, they are normally more understanding. Dogs are very adaptable!

My friend works at a kennels in Brisbane and says they are fantastic - I don't know the name but the owners also breed Salukis which is such a rare dog that you should be able to find them by having a look at the front of Dogzonline.

I was doing some venue research in Sydney recently and came across a gorgeous place in the Hawkesbury area, it is an old chapel and the whole place is converted for non-denominational weddings, it looked glorious. Maybe somewhere in the Blue Mountains might also be OK? Alternatively, down at Clontarf, right by the dog off leash area, there is a restaurant that is in it's own garden space and that does weddings. Maybe they could hire a house up at Palm Beach and get married in the garden / have the reception there? Friends of mine did that (not at Palm Beach).

I always thought I'd have my dog there if I was to get married! The first time it looked likely, I was the owner of a very naughty Lakeland Terrier, he'd have pee'd down the aisle and attacked men's feet most likely ... Luckily we broke up before I tested my theory .... Now I have a few dogs and marriage is most unlikely but I love the idea anyway! My dogs are my family.

For kidneys I wouldn't risk trying to cook something up myself, I'd only use the prescription diet, it's a very tricky disease. I had a dog with kidney disease and she thrived on a combination of the diet plus Chinese herbs - I went to the All Natural Vet in Russell Lea. My vet faxed them through the blood tests and they prescribed the herbs. I wouldn't have believed it unless I'd seen it for myself. She went from a very sick little dog to thriving with glossy hair, running around. My vets had said that even with the special diet, she only had weeks to live. Once she went on the herbs, she lived for nearly 12 months in great health until a stomach virus was too much for her 13 or 14 year old body to cope with. The All Natural Vet is not cheap but they do phone consultations (once they've received the vet results) for people who live too far away and mail out the herbs. Then you can just get repeats. To me, the cost was well worth it for the spectacular results I had with my little girl, she had been sick for a very long time, living for 6 mths or more in a no kill pound with no vet treatment. I don't think anyone knew what was wrong. She was baldy, had bad teeth and constant black diarrhoea - it should have been investigated long before I got her.

Greys are wonderful dogs, thank you for saving this dear boy and for keeping him forever!

Thank you everyone, for all the information and support. Unfortunately my girl deteriorated a little more every day and she had very bad arthritis to cope with as well as the liver issue. Because she had become snappy with my other dogs, I had to keep her separate when I wasn't here. I just couldn't risk leaving her with someone she didn't know that well in a strange house with strange dogs, it just wasn't fair on her or anyone else. I had her put to sleep on Monday afternoon. If I hadn't been going away I would have persisted and tried everything possible but the liver was not her only major problem and she was in pain.

I saw you in Wyong Pound nr Christmas in 2007, most likely a cattle/beagle cross, I loved your smiling face. You were a little chubby with wonky front legs and a lump on the back one but I didn't care, I thought you were spectacular. You sat, stayed, came when called and were a consummate ball player but best of all you returned it and "dropped" on command, right at my feet. I was captivated. Although I'd gone to collect you for another rescue group, when that fell through I decided to rehome you myself. I had nothing but enquiries from people with no fencing and wasn't going to let you go to anything but the most wonderful home. I'd had you about 6 months when you had a total collapse, none of the tests or xrays showed anything except an elevated liver reading which the vet said you could live with. The lump on your back leg had been tested before and again, it turned out to be just a lypoma. Many people said put you to sleep - I had to pick you up (20 kilos or so), about 5 or more times a day and hold you up while you toileted. My vet put you on a radical diet and with chiropractic and acupuncture treatment every week for a few months, you got up and eventually came good. I couldn't rehome you after that because noone knew the cause of the collapse. You've been in great health for the last 2 years until the last few weeks. You were doing some odd things but last week you became very sick. It was diagnosed as liver failure. You lost interest in everything except your ball and you still got a spark when you saw it. You got snappy with my other dogs and so I had to keep you separate when I was out, you didn't understand, you didn't know what you had done and it was cold for your arthritic old legs. And so today we said our last goodbye. I love you Sally and will always miss you, you were the best dog.

I have an old cattle cross that I rescued a 2.5 years ago, she's about 12 yrs old. 6 months after I got her, she had a complete collapse - she fell and couldn't get up. It took a couple of months of 3 times a week chiro/acupuncture treatments coupled with a special diet and painkillers and she returned to normal. At that time she had a blood test as they thought it could be cancer. The only issue was one of her liver - ALP I think it was, should be under 100 and it was 1200. They told me she could never have any surgery therefore as anaesthetic can't be used on dogs with this liver issue. For the last 2 years she has been well but in the last few weeks has had the odd bit of strange behaviour which I thought may be dementia, the vet initially thought a brain tumour. Last week she had a night of vomiting and she has lost weight in the last two weeks and stopped eating her whole dinner. So we did blood tests. The results came back to show her 3 liver elements as all being very elevated from normal levels. When I got the results last night, I honestly thought we were at the end. The timing couldn't be worse as I'm going away in less than 2 weeks, it can't be altered and she was going to a friend's place while I'm away. I had prepared myself to put her to sleep this week. I love her dearly but I did not want her to go through any stress and strain of settling in to a strange home whilst feeling unwell. Tonight my vet has put a spanner in the works, they did another test on the bile and found it was normal levels. She is saying that we need to do an ultrasound to find out what is wrong with the liver and possibly my dog can go on medication and a special diet. Has anyone been through this? My vet can't give me any idea of how long my dog will live of course, I don't know therefore if it is weeks or months? I'm so worried about going away and leaving her - my friend has had a dog with a liver tumour and is not concerned about looking after her but I am still worried.