Leah82

the rental situation with pets these days is pretty crappy, from what I understand landlord insurance doesn't cover pet damage. If any damage costs more to fix than your bond the landlord is pretty much screwed. I have heard though that it's in the process of changing so pet damage will be covered. One thing that we found may have helped when finding our place is to put in a cover letter with information about yourselves and your pets that would otherwise not come up in the application form, e.g the dogs are well trained, go for walks every day etc or whatever else makes you sound like a responsible pet owner, also cute pictures of the dogs may help as well :) When my partner and I were looking I also made sure to call all real estate agents before hand to see if the landlords would look at applications with pets, no point dragging yourself around to places that won't even consider them. Many places will consider applications with pets but won't necessarily say pet friendly on the ad.

thanks guys, fingers crossed it'll be here in a couple of days.

Does anyone know how long Clean Run order generally takes to get delivered? I ordered a couple of things on the 20th June and they left the US last Monday on the 24th which is where the tracking ended. Would have thought 4 days would have been plenty of time to get to metro Melb once the order got to OZ but I might be a little impatient.

Thanks for a tips guys. I tried the behavioural interrupter on the weekend then took her to the park with Collie a few hours later and used the cue (armed with treats of course) she put her head up straight away and came running over, tried it a couple of more times and it didn't work but definitely getting there - possibly distance was a factor. And Wobbly I do find she had a lot more confidence when you crouch down to her level. As far as being a puppy farm dog goes she's actually a very happy and intelligent girl, just looses her nerve every now and then. She really hasn't warmed up to my partner as much as me, I'm not sure if it's because he's a tall intimidating man or possibly our other dog has communicated to her that he's his human not hers :p I haven't managed to take too many photos of her yet but here's a couple. Also while at the park on the weekend she was running circles around Collie and with the long rope that follows behind her it looked like she was trying to hog tie him, would have been a great photo but unfortunately i didn't have my phone. Here's Collie and Sarah curled up on the bean bag Looking like a Meercat... simples! After I took her for a clipping

Take you're dog to work day wasn't particularly well received by certain people within my company despite my best efforts, some feared dogs, others feared smells and noise. We did however have a pet photo competition so hopefully next year people might be keen to meet some of the cute companions. voting closed today but feel free to check out the contenders. http://greatestpetphotocomp.blogspot.com.au/

Hi, I wondering if I could get some tips for training my rescue poodle x that I've had for about 4 weeks, she's a 7 year old puppy farm dog so came to me without knowing any of the basic, sit come etc. We went pretty well with sit, she'll do it nearly everytime (not always straight away) but I'm struggling to move on from that because she gets a bit nervous when it's just me and her and when she's confused she'll just run back to her bed. She's a lot more confident around our cocker but being an eternal puppy it's impossible to do anything without him getting in your face and demanding attention (not to mention he starts whining when you take her into another room which then makes her more anxious). Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm keen to get her up to scratch with the basics fairly quickly. She loves to run at full speed at the park but at the moment she's doing so with a long rope dragging behind her just incase she starts wandering off. She'll come to me but only if I'm crouched down and preferably with treats. At home if she's nice and comfy in her bed the only way to get her to go outside to go to the toilet is to lead her by her collar.

I went here http://www.oodlesofspoodles.com.au/ didn't want to mention the oodle word ;)

I don't understand why they can't restrict the number of dogs that a person is allowed to keep, regardless of the size of the property. You can give a dog plenty of clean water, clean their cages regularly and exercise them for a certain amount of time a day but if the dogs are spending the majority of their time cooped up in a cage with little human contact, that dog is not going to know how to be a dog. I recently adopted Sarah, a poodle x and at the age of 7 she's afraid of men, doesn't know the most basic commands and I need to feed her from behind a wooden child barrier otherwise she runs away from her food. She's often a ball of confusion when I try and teach her commands and anytime she's unsure about something she ends up curled up on her bed. The organisation I got her from said she came from 'one of the better' puppy farms so yes she's in good physical health but the government also needs to consider the mental health of these animals. Simple fact, breeding pets should never be a primary industry.

Hey Emily, you can see above she's already been done. I did get her a jumper but she somehow managed to get out of it on Saturday night, she can just curl up with Collie if she gets cold.

Managed to squeeze Sarah into the groomers around the corner, she's soooooo fluffy :D Glad I did it, and now she'll be all pretty and soft when she meets my mum who's coming to stay this week Before and After

I'm in ringwood, called a few places today but everyone seems booked out for tomorrow. I would have thought given the long weekend that someone would have a free appointment slot. Gonna call one place in mitcham again tomorrow morning as they apparently get the odd cancellation

Thanks for the reply's. I'll see if I can get her clipped this weekend. I'm thinking I'll get a mobile groomer that way I can watch them do it and get some subtle tips for doing it myself. Happy to spend the time learning as I'm getting married next year, it's an amazing motivator for saving anyway you can :p and I'll start with a jumper as it's lighter and more flexible but of course I will be happy to brush her more frequently. A friend posted a pic of her poodle x cavalier on facebook last night with a beautiful fluffy coat so that's the goal :)

does anyone clip their own dogs? I won't try it with Sarah to start with as she probably hasn't been done in awhile but longer term having 2 dogs that will need to be clipped every few months I'm thinking it will be a lot more cost effective to buy a decent set of pet clipper and do it myself. I've looked at a couple of you tube videos and it doesn't look too hard but they all had the table and noose which I'm thinking is easier than the bathroom floor.

When I put the thundershirt on her my partner said 'well clearly you have it too tight' as all her hair was compressed so she looked a lot smaller, although i proved him wrong by putting my hand very easily between the thundershirt and her back :p. It's much too big for her as it was bought for the 16kg Cocker not a 9kg Poodle x But yes I would imagine a woolly jumper in her size would be a much better option. :)

My recently adopted poodle x is a little matted, mostly around the neck where her collar is and on her legs. It's lots of little matts and not too bad. I would like to clip her but I'm not sure if it would be best to leave her until the weather gets a bit warmer (which could be December) and maintain her coat the way it is or get it over and done with early so she can grow out a nice lovely coat. I'm mostly concerned about her being cold during the day as the dogs are outside. In the evenings she's inside where it's nice and warm and sleeps on a bean bag. I haven't got any coats or jumpers for her yet as she's never worn one before, I attempted to put Collie's thunder shirt on her and she suddenly turned into a status of herself. Anyway would love to hear what other people think. To clip or not to clip?

You poor thing, separation anxiety is the worst coz at the end of the day you have no way of helping them when you're not at home. Our Cocker Spaniel used to howl when we weren't home, Thunder Shirts helped for a couple of days but I think he hardly notices it now. That's one of the reasons we recently adopted Sarah and because he's going blind from PRA (another dog will hopefully help him get around when he completely looses his sight). Although now it seems a 500sqm backyard is not enough to keep Sarah entertained so she dug her way out on Tuesday only to end up in another backyard and then of course Collie had to follow her anyway it seems like you have your hands full with your current dog but have you considered getting another one, it's by no means an immediate solution but hopefully another dog will be enough of a distraction to prevent major damage and unwanted toilet breaks, the other option is to sneak her into work. This article may help with some ideas :p http://www.wikihow.com/Sneak-Your-Cat-Into-Work

I'm not a fan of walking the dogs in the rain coz I don't want the house smelling of wet dog :p And in the mornings Collie the Cocker will go straight up onto the lawn and does what he needs to do. Sarah takes a little bit longer, we have a raised lawn with a couple of sets of stairs going up. Sarah will head up one set of stairs then change her mind, then go up the next and eventually make her way along the outside of the lawn by the fence to where Collie has ended up and cocks her leg over the same place he's gone. When my partner takes them out he'll go as well to provide some encouragement :p Still early days with the two dogs though, hopefully Sarah will learn that she can go of her own accord and not wait for Collie so she can mark her scent over the top of his.

Here's my email template if anyone else wants to use it :) Hi All, Friday June 21st is take your dog to work day ( http://www.takeyourdog.com/ ). We are currently investigating the possibility of *insert company name here* taking part in this occasion however we don’t want to alienate anyone in the process. If you have any concerns about dogs being in the workplace, whether they be religious, health issues, fears or otherwise please let me know by COB Friday. All concerns will be kept confidential. If we do go ahead with Take your dog to work day there will be restrictions to the number of dogs and areas that they will be allowed. If you have a canine friend and would like to bring him or her into the office please hold off expressing interest until we are sure that everyone will be happy to join in the spirit of the day.

Well I've had a chat to the CEO and she's given the OK to send out the initial email to see if anyone has any fears / concerns :D apparently the old general manager would bring in her dog from time to time and a few people wouldn't go near her office due to fears but I get the impression most of those people have since left and one happens to be on annual leave that day :) fingers crossed.

Glad to see a few success stories. I'm not sure this is something that would be allowed on permanent basis but maybe the odd Friday. I for one would struggle to take either dog for a walk to the toilet from Monday to Thursday, high heels and steep grassy slopes don't really work, but as Friday is casual dress (or as I like to call it flats day) it would be a lot more manageable. :)

Thanks Emma, that's a really good list. Some I've thought of so far like where to keep the dogs, we all have fairly decent sized cubicles and there's plenty of room for them to be tethered under their owners desk with their bed. And for an outer suburb office of about 50 people I'd say we would have a max of about 5 - 6 dogs and we're lucky we have a nice park area outside for toilet time. I didn't think about off limit areas though, at first guess I would say the kitchen and lunch room would be it.

And with regards to the point of the exercise I would also be looking at getting someone in from a pet rescue organisation to talk about pet adoption and knowing where your new puppy could be coming from.

Thank's for the support Danny's Darling. Hopefully I'll get the green light and can show you nay-sayers that it can work. And with regards to Sarah's breed I'm actually not 100% on her heritage, for all I know she could be 3rd generation Cocker cross Poodle with a little bit of Cavalier in there as well as she's quite small. So without wanting to offend anyone further I shall just call her Sarah. Also I got the idea from this article, so it's not just an American thing... http://www.news.com.au/business/worklife/bringing-your-dog-to-work-is-one-way-to-lower-stress-levels/story-e6frfm9r-1226655449097

wow, you lot are a welcoming bunch, I didn't realise every word I wrote would be hyper-analysed. Big aggressive dog BTW is an example of the type of dog that wouldn't suit an office environment, especially when there are other dogs around. Small aggressive would also not work out very well which is why as previously mentioned I would be asking for the dogs temperament. and for the doubters here are some stats... 55 million Americans believe having pets in the workplace leads to a more creative environment 50 million believe having pets in the workplace helps co-workers get along better 38 million believe having pets in the workplace creates a more productive work environment 37 million believe having pets in the workplace helps improve the relationship between managers and their employees I for one know that having a dog around can reduce stress. Nothing like being on a frustrating call to your internet provider and your dog puts a paw on your leg or tries to climb onto your lap, immediate stress buster.

Hi All, I'm new to DOL, have just adopted a beautiful little Spoodle called Sarah (former puppy farm dog) and my partner has a Cocker Spaniel called Collie. I've just found out about Take your Dog to Work day (on the 21st June for those not in the know) and will be approaching the powers that be about my company taking part. Was wondering if anyone else has been involved in the past, what worked, what didn't work etc? Currently I'm thinking step 1 would be send an initial email out to see if anyone has any serious objections (allergies or fears) before people start getting excited about the idea, then barring any objections get people to register interest by providing detailed information about their dog (breed, height, temperament etc) to make sure we don't get any big aggressive dogs (or too many dogs to handle). Once dogs have been approved, get the owners to agree to bath and groom them the night before and bring in all essential items on the day (lease, toys, bed, water bowl etc) as well as have a backup plan if their dog gets agitated or aggressive. Let me know what you think. Will be bringing this to our CEO tomorrow. http://www.takeyourdog.com