Leah82

So I'm helping out a local rescue with their pet rescue listings as they are few and far between despite the many dogs in care at the moment. One of the reasons they haven't persisted much with pet rescue is the amount of 'bull shit' inquiries they get. I'm just wanting to get some more ideas on... What type of bullshit inquiries do you see? Is it just people that haven't really read the description properly in which case you might be able to divert them to a more suitable pet or is it really just people wasting your time? and secondly do you have any processes to minimise these inquiries? At the moment I'm wondering if I could put a link to their adoption application form in the pet rescue ad but then reading through the applications might take even more time.

great photos guys, you can definitely tell spring is in the air I spent Sunday helping out a local cocker spaniel rescue with their grooming load. Collie was a gracious host :) Week 38 - Cocker Spaniel Rainbow

Thanks guys, it's amazing how much Sarah is still improving. I'm even proud of her when she has the confidence to jump up on the couch or bed without being asked, makes it hard to tell her off though :p

Who are you referring to Stitch?

Great response Spoony. I think in Australia we really are lucky considering the lack of top predators. In America the gray wolf was protected under the Endangered species Act from 1975 to 2011. This is an animal that is quite capable of taking down prey like moose and bison (I don't think my parents Angus cattle would have a hope in hell) and farmers simply weren't allowed to kill them. In 2011 they were removed from the endangered species list and once again their survival is at risk. It's a tough line to balance and I don't think any one person has the answer to keep everyone happy. It's a problem that, whilst can be managed to a certain degree I don't think will even be solved. I was watching a documentary on the gray wolf in America years ago while staying on my parents farm, farmers were struggling to keep their livestock alive because they couldn't kill the wolves. My Mum jumps up and down and announces that the wolves were there first and therefore should be protected, I had to remind her that Dad was on the phone to the local roo shooter only a few hours before giving him permission to come on the property that night

I figured I would put this here where people will understand the absolute joy I felt watching Sarah engaging Collie in play :D She's been out of the puppy farm for nearly 18 months now. You'll have the excuse the crappy quality (taken from inside on my iphone) and the clothes on the line :p

Sarah is great at growling when she's not impressed, if it persists it's usually because Collie is not listening to her so we intervene. If Sarah has a treat or toy that Collie wants, he'll heed the growl but if it's because his playing is getting too much it just seems to ramp him up even more so we need to put a stop to it. I am aware of this in public as well so if another dog feels the need to growl at Collie I'll make sure I intervene before it needs to go further, I don't want to encourage other people's dogs to have to display undesirable behaviour. Collie on the other hand rarely growls, unless we're talking raw meat another dog can pretty much take anything off him and as far as he's concerned it's a game so he'll start playing. His only bugbear is when bigger dogs are standing over him which is fair enough.

awesome photos spoony I would definitely buy a calendar, and you can release a new one each year which means future revenue :D

beautiful teekay. what time of day did you take the photo? wanting a long exposure without over exposing the photo is always a tough line to balance - for me anyway :p

ok we're back from the vet. It'll be around $575 to remove the epulis and the incisor. Vet thinks we'll be fine to leave the canine. There is the option to send the epulis to pathology once it's removed but I think we'll stick with the wait and see option poor collie, blind and soon to be toothless, he's booked in for Friday week.

Places where we have gone... Carrum Beach (on lead during peak times) Warrandyte Gardiners Creek Reserve in Burwood - nice off lead park surrounding the creek Ruffey Lake Park Doncaster If you want to go bush check out Kurth Kiln Regional Park And if you're after an enclosed off lead park a couple of options in the eastern burbs are the Knox Obedience club on Ferntree Gully Rd and Aranga Reserve Dog Activity Center in Donvale - Aranga reserve also have a separate fenced off area for training where only one dog is allowed at a time

Puppy Pics! I recently got a hold of some puppy pics of Collie from his breeder, quality is not the best as they were copied from a hard copy but you can still see the cuteness :p 10 days old 8 weeks old with his brother (there were only 2 in the litter) Practicing his stack at 8 weeks First show 12 weeks (I can't get over how much difference there is in 4 weeks) and one of his dad Como (Citation Sumthin Burning) he looks blue roan in the pic but you can tell from the nose he's actually liver

gorgeous pics of gruf :D how big is his tongue :p here's some pics of my mutt Sarah being all Sarah like Some of her favourite activities include: crawling across the lawn commando style, going for bush walks and barking at people when they take too long to throw the ball

Oooo good thread, I was looking at these guys awhile back, picardy spaniel in france http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_Spaniel

I voted last week and now shared on FB :)

this seems to have turned into 'what's your dog's fav toy' so I figured I'll add mine Collie's fav toys are the balls from kmart with a bell in them :p perfect ball for any dogs with vision problems as they can hear it move, he can still play fetch it just takes him a bit longer to find the ball using his ears and nose

I'm officially going off topic this week, meet my inlaws new baby cocker Harry :D ... Week 37/52

You should have said no to the tradie. So yes you were irresponsible. By doing that you let the dog down. Sorry if you don't like me saying that but you need to accept your own part in all this. You need to think carefully about the situations that you put your dog in. I agree with this, it's your responsibility to make sure your dog is not put in positions she is uncomfortable with and is likely to react. Only you know what this is, it wasn't up to the tradie to decide for you. The bite could have been worse and he could have complained to the council, you were lucky that didn't happen but now Tippy has learned what she needs to do to get rid of people she's uncomfortable with which is to bite them.

Sarah slipped out the side gate when OH was mowing the lawns a few weeks ago, we had no idea until we heard this weird little bark. Went investigating and realised Sarah wasn't in the house, opened the front door and there she was wanting to be let back inside. I was sooo incredibly proud of her, when we first got Sarah she bolted out the front door a couple of times and earlier in the year they both went walk-about when a strong gust of wild blew the gate open when we weren't home. Not to mention she NEVER barks at the back door to be let in but had the initiative to know she needed to bark out the front :D

If you need to ask an internet forum how to go about breeding your dog you probably shouldn't be breeding her Not dog should be bred without the express permission and guidance (if you're a newbie) of your dogs breeder. If you are interested in becoming a breeder this should probably have been discussed before you purchased a puppy

Yes Yes Yes

Thanks. and yes I did my research last night and I assume he's probably going to have to get the surrounding teeth removed, I'd rather it get nipped in the bud so to speak rather than having to deal with it growing back all the time. I've made an appointment with our normal vet for next Tuesday, they have delayed the appointment because of his mild bout of KC last week I managed to get one quote from another vet of $510 to $550 and I have another 2 vets calling me back

really? no-one has come across this before? I guess Collie's a bit more special that we thought

I was cuddling the dogs before and noticed something red in Collie's mouth, upon closer inspection I found what's in the attached image. Dr Google tells me it's most likely an Epulis and the best option is to have it removed asap, does anyone have an idea of how much this is going to hurt my hip pocket. I'll do a ring around tomorrow but we're not having the best run at the moment financially He's only 6 and he's almost blind and will now most likely be losing some teeth, hating the world a bit right now

awesome motorbike shots Spoony where were they taken?