Her Majesty Dogmad

I help a rescue group in Sydney with their foster carer/new adopter issues and a very kind lady has fostered an elderly dog, he's most likely a Chi cross. It seems that he's dripping across the house, he was taken to the vet yesterday and they said he was not incontinent however this lady has been watching him very closely and says he leaves drips all across the floor as he's walking around. She is not an inexperienced dog owner and I'm sure she is not mistaken after talking to her. It gets on his bed and all over the carpet as well as the tiles. I cannot get there myself until next Saturday but as I've only experienced male incontinence when I had a dog with a brain tumour, I wanted to come on here and see if anyone else had. I've had an elderly female with incontinence which was fixed by Stilboestrel tablets, once the dosage was correct. This poor old boy is around 12 and has wobbly legs, can arthritis sometimes cause male incontinence perhaps? Anyhow, I said I'd come onto DOL and just ask the question - any experience, what was it and did anything fix it.

Are you on the English Cocker Spaniels of Australia Facebook page? The ECSA page does a great job and is there for people who love their cockers.

One of my friends with the "they will sort themselves out" philosophy went home to a horrific scene one day and her dog didn't survive. I've never agreed with that idea but came across it again last weekend when I took one of my fosters for an appointment. The resident female dog turned out to be extremely dominant and immediately went for my foster's neck and kept behaving in an unacceptable way. I said "this isn't going to work" and the potential owner was very upset with me and said that they would sort it out between them and they would just give it a try for the 2 week trial period ... As my foster dog was half the size of the resident dog and desperately trying to get away from her and even growling which I've never heard her do before, I thought this was highly risky and suggested a male would most likely be a much better fit for a dominant female - person wouldn't hear of it. My foster lives in absolute harmony with all my dogs inc 2 females but was terrified of this person's dog as it kept going for her neck and legs .... it wasn't playing, stiff tail etc. Whilst I didn't obviously go ahead with the adoption, there are many ways of getting yourself a dog and I fear for any female dog going into the situation with someone who is so clueless about dog behaviour and this is what I was referring to earlier, I hear too many horror stories as a rescuer - not many people consider paying for a behaviouralist either. I don't believe PTS is necessary in this situation, it might be management or rehoming but not PTS.

Not friendly I'm afraid. Poor little Bonnie is too terrified to move .... It worries me that there are probably many cases out there where people do nothing and their dogs suffer, Bonnie is living in fear and that's no way to live. Quite a few years ago I did have a Foxie who suddenly start turning on my Westie cross who'd been his best friend for 2 years - it turned out that the Foxie had a brain tumour, it was very difficult at the time as he was definitely switching between being fine and suddenly aggressive.

Beautiful pics! How lovely is your grey??

No fighting there - just one dog attacking. Poor little Bonnie - I wouldn't tolerate that crap for 5 minutes. Offending dog would be locked away and I wouldn't leave them alone together, ever again. I'll be interested to see what the behaviouralist has to say. Last year I had a foster dog behave in this manner with one of my dogs for no reason at all, he went out the door faster than you could say "foster dog" and was rehomed as an only dog.

I program the aircon to come on at lunchtime and go off at 6.30pm on hot days (ie 30+ degs). I did forget yesterday and they survived - I have tiles everywhere but the house was hot when I got home ...

Can anyone do a yard check for Denise please? This dog's a young and active little fellow who has waited a long time for a suitable home. Thanks in advance!

Lovely Maree, a whole lot more comfortable generally but especially for summer!

Wow, what a story - this brought tears of joy to my eyes today ...

Why not try the general forum gillbear? Rescue's very quiet these days.

Someone should have called the police, this is appalling ....

Sounds like some of the things you are doing are right but what are you actively doing to actually housetrain him? Do you have a method that you are using (reward, repetition etc). I find males much easier to train than females generally. I'm currently in the process of housetraining a female Italian Greyhound aged 12 years who has come from kennels and never been in a house before - this will take 2-3 weeks using a method of housetraining which I'm happy to email to you if you would like?

From a rescuer's point of view, I think the request in this thread was for more clarity and transparency so that people don't think they are donating to rescue groups and perhaps an explanation somewhere obvious that Petrescue is the vehicle/showcase/website that is open to different rescuers to present their rescued animals rather than a rescue organisation. When anyone is donating to anything they want to know where there dollar is going and what it will be used for. Petrescue has a great site and I certainly appreciate having access to it = as all rescuers do. Of course it cannot be maintained for free and that is understood. Can this be covered by advertising - i don't know. Perhaps donations also pay for the service, this could be explained clearly somewhere. Yes, people SHOULD read things properly but they don't. Yes, i am very clear in my communications as to which rescue group I'm rehoming dogs through but a few years on, sometimes people lose their paperwork and remember they found their dog on Petrescue - this is certainly true of numerous people that have applied to adopt my rescued dogs.

Why are people so dumb? I went for a walk in the local oval the other morning with my 3 foster dogs (small) on lead. There was a woman at the tap outside the oval and I could just see a small dog which didn't appear to be on lead - I hurried into the park and closed the gate behind me. I started walking and didn't look back - suddenly my dogs were yanking back on the lead and I turned around to see what the issue was - to my amazement, what appeared to be 2 very young Pug crosses were near my dogs. Stupid woman was standing behind the gate just watching. I said " I hurried in to avoid you", she just shrugged. They were dear little dogs and approached mine, one of which isn't great on the lead but I waited and then they got a bit scared and ran off back to their owner. Luckily I didn't have a dog that tried to take their heads off .....

Poor dog ...

I have just watched a video that Petrescue have prepared to increase adoptions. It says "we have rehomed xxxxx cats and dogs", this is also a bit confusing because to me, Petrescue is the website that allows rescue groups to showcase the dogs they have rescued. Isn't it still the rescue groups that actually "rehome" the cats and dogs? They do the homechecks, interviews and place the animals, still taking the responsibility all the way?

Thanks everyone, I've passed on the suggestions to the potential carer.

I've got someone who wants to potentially adopt a dog in Brisbane - they would like a quiet, smooth coated dog and had enquired about an Italian Greyhound - I don't have any at the moment and they don't normally make good only dogs. I suggested something like a Foxy cross - they are in a townhouse so need a quiet dog. Can anyone recommend some QLD rescue groups that are good to foster for and have small dogs that would suit?

We at Iggy Rescue help Cresties in need - we've had 3 in as many months this year. I actually have a lovely home waiting in QLD with another Crestie. Can you please pm me some details? Thanks!

I'll be doing other northern beaches homechecks on Saturday afternoon for SOS and will squeeze this one in as Wheeler Heights is very near where I'm going. If Sat afternoon is OK, please let me know. I rarely go to the beaches so if Sat pm is not ok I can't do another time.

First family dog (in my 20s) was an unwanted Lakeland Terrier - a baptism of fire!! He was given away by his pregnant owner, rescued by a friend of my family's and left with us as a temp foster care option. He was like a teddy bear (black/tan) in looks but def. not like a teddy bear in nature. We called him "Bertie" and he was a fantastic dog, a phenomenal personality but definitely not for first time dog owners. We loved him regardless but we could no longer have visitors to the house as he was a biter and although we locked him away, it caused stress and strain. Sadly no pics as this was more than 20 years ago but he came with papers from a registered breeder. What a dog!!

Start by checking what the owner wants from size and coat. I've come across many people who thought that a short coat wouldn't shed much and many people who didn't want a shedding coat and got a Poodle or Malt and then discovered that they weren't up for the daily/weekly coat maintenance at home plus professional grooming every few weeks. Once I've got the size and coat requirements sorted, then I look at the behaviours an owner wants. This is how I match rescue dogs to people or recommend that they don't get a particular kind of dog that they are thinking of because from what they've told me, I know it would be a disaster for them and the dog. Only this week I saw a very elderly gentleman struggling down the road with what was obviously a very young Border Collie, I'm sure that they weren't going to be taking a very long walk judging by the elderly person's gait etc, he was probably early 80s - I was worried he'd fall and seriously injure himself and/or the dog would get loose (it was a very busy major road). The dog was obviously the wrong size and energy levels and even if he'd been trained to walk well on a lead, there is a real possibility the dog won't have it's needs met from an exercise point of view. This can be true of many homes, not just with very elderly people.

He hasn't been housetrained - that's how to stop him. I can give you my method - a Border Collie should be very easy to train. Also, he should have access to get out when he needs to go and you need to ensure you are cleaning up properly after him - not with Woolwash and disinfectant but something with enzymes that removes the smell, otherwise he will keep on going.

Highly likely I'd say. As Powerlegs said, many people tell me that the rescue group they adopted from was "Petrescue", they just don't get it ...