Trisven13

Today's shot - a cuddle after eye-drops Can someone please point me in the direction of (preferably) a free to download photo software I can fiddle with OR recommend one I can buy that is not too expensive. I would love to know how to do frames and more fiddling with photos. Whilst I dream of getting a digital SLR I'm currently working with a Fuji Finepix S5700.

Thanks Darien - I have absolutely no photo enhancing software so I have to take what I get but it should be a good learning experience anyway. The pup came to us at 3 days of age after his mother had died with neonatal conjunctivitis. It has left him with scarring on his cornea - we're treating with drops to see if the cornea will heal (apparently the corneal cells are replaced every 4-5 weeks :rolleyes: ) and if it will hopefully the bad cells will peel off, at least that is how the vet explained it . His name is Sly.

I have been meaning to start these challenges all year and have decided to bite the bullet and start today. I'm going to do diary and use a rescue pup as the subject. Not only will it be fun to see him grow over a month BUT he has an eye injury which we're hoping will improve so maybe I can document its improvement as well :D .

Yeah hopefully. She was so good - you would have been very proud of her. And here I was thinking I'd taught her nothing - didn't think about how show training has taught her to walk beautifully at my side on a loose lead and stand when I tell her to .

I've not done any kind of formal obedience training with any of my dogs for around 8 years (terrible I know ) other than show training with Marie & Daphne. Tonight, however, I attended obedience with Marie for the first time and we had a ball! Okay she doesn't know how to sit or drop yet BUT she can stand, do a 10 second stay and she heels and walks on a loose lead beautifully so won't take long. I thought it would be a complete disaster but I was very pleasantly surprised. The trainer even said that at this rate we'll be moving up a class in 2 weeks . Woohoo - I'm on a high!!!! I'm working on having the first dual titled Fauve in Australia so wish me luck

Hugs - I know nothing other than that it is bad. Hope she recovers well.

Please don't use superglue on him Edslaine

I've hard the "takes too long" comment before and I wonder if maybe I do something wrong as I truly don't find it takes that long? I can make enough BARF mix to feed 10 dogs in about 15 minutes - that is minced carcasses, pulverised fruit & vegies and whatever additive (kelp powder etc) that I'm adding. They only get it a couple of days a week, otherwise they eat chicken frames or lamb flaps generally.

Ceilidh - my kids will miss Feargal Fartbucket around the ring but I understand why you've needed to make this very difficult decision and I know how horribly hard it must be for you. The perfect home will come and having met the Fartbucket he needs a home like you've described. He is such a great dog . If I hear of any good enquiries for any of my dogs that might suit him I will pass them on to you.

My guys eat chicken frames for 80% of their meals and we've not had an issue

My vet is not a supporter of raw food BUT she and I have agreed to disagree. She acknowledges that the way I do it is fine and perfectly healthy for the dogs but her opinion is that the majority of people won't do what I do and will cause damage in that way. She may be true - who knows? If people ask what I feed my dogs I tell them what I feed, tell them to google BARF and read up on it and if they want to know more after reading that to give me a call. I've had a few adopters who now swear by it - each to their own is my opinion.

I'm sorry Chewie....

Surprisingly Cosmolo - my kids are fine. We have been telling them, as you possibly remember, that Grandma was old and she would die soon so they have just accepted it. They did enjoy looking at her photos last night but otherwise they seem okay. I think I will miss her the most as I was home with her every day.

Thank you Tibbiemax.... They show my lovely old girl at her finest. I will have to print them off and frame them. Fifi - she definitely picked her time and I couldn't have asked for more than for her to die in her sleep. It just, strangely I suppose given her age, came as a real surprise to everyone who knew her. She was no ricketier, no different at all, in fact OH and I used to joke all the time that we didn't think she would ever die - her heart just finally had enough. She came to us with an expectation of 3 months (given her severe heart murmer, her mammary tumours and her perennieal (sp?) tumour). Instead she surprised everyone and became firmly wedged in our lives and our hearts.

Our lovely old kelpie foster failure, Grandma, passed away in her sleep this morning. Unfortunately my work computer has shat itself and it has all my lovely Grandma photos on it and I can't seem to add the links to any of her photos - and somehow on this computer I can't see emoticons, or link & photobucket buttons???? I can't wait to access my computer as I took some lovely photos of her just last week. Sadly we were away for the long weekend and my wonderful friend had the sorry task of taking her body to my vet to wait until we got home to bury her. We will bury her out on my parents 80 acre property tomorrow night with beautiful views of Hume Dam and where cows can walk over her and moo.... She will love it!!! Grandma - we never planned on keeping you but I haven't regretted a moment - I just wish I'd had you longer. Its about a week short of a year since you arrived and you stole everyone's heart - the kids adored you (particularly McKenzie), the puppies adored you, the other dogs looked up to you and even Grover would run scared. You must have been a real bitch in your youth as you initially wanted to chase the cats until you realised they (a) wouldn't run and (b) you couldn't have caught them even if they had. ROFLOL You quickly made one particular crate your home and would happily spend hours in there in the ducted heating and cooling. All it took was a deep "oof" though and up one of us would jump and let you outside until 5 minutes later you "oofed" again to come back inside. Yes we taught you a bad habit but we rarely minded.... LOL - okay sometimes I minded when I had to get up 10 times in an hour or multiple times in the middle of the night but your complete indifference to my exasperation showed me it was pointless to be mad. Your favourite thing in life was dinner-time when you would devour two chicken frames despite having hardly any teeth left LOL. Once it hit 8.30pm you'd be "oofing" again to let us know that you were hungry so we all jumped to your command - if we didn't you wouldn't shut-up until your dinner arrived. Man you had us well trained. The only regret I have is that I will never know how old you really were - I would have loved to celebrate your grand age but we will always guess. I think you were around 15 though you could have been older still - your back legs were so rickety, your teeth almost non-existent and your eyes clouded - but you had no fear and no favour. You were top bitch here and no-one will fill your place. I am so thankful to those idiots who left you to die in a pound after your years of loyalty because without their stupidity I would never have had you. I'm not a big rainbow bridge person but I hope that somewhere, someday you get to run free and easy again. It would sure be a sight to see. RIP Grandma - I wish I had been here for you.

Just what I was after - thanks heaps!

Thanks PF. The family really want this dog but at the same time they want to honour the FIL's beliefs as he has obviously been a very important part of their family since their tragedy a year ago. Initially I was really angry but after talking to them I've realised that they're just between a rock and a hard place trying desperately to do the right thing.

I have a pair of sweet little 6 month old pups in foster care. Their most likely heritage is Staffy X Italian Greyhound by appearance but obviously they could be some other mix. I have a very, very nice family who have been fostering the little girl and decided they wanted to purchase her. They were specifically looking for a small, short-haired, gentle dog and this little girl completely fits the bill. The family suffered a tragedy 12 months ago when the husband/father was killed and as a result their in-laws have quite a big say in their lives. The lady's brought the pup back tonight in tears as her father-in-law has said that they can't have the dog (which he acknowledges is beautiful and well-behaved) because it is a Staffy mix and they are dangerous and will maul the children. So - this is not about people posting about how silly he is and how wrong he is etc etc, or that she shouldn't be listening to him. Please just accept that this is a loving family who have been through a tough time so the words of a 90 year old man are important because he is family. They would really love some information to show that staffy's aren't the dangerous killing machines that he thinks that they are - where can I find some statistics????? Real statistics - not just people's opinions.

I won't.

Its not really that simple though LM. Whilst most rescuers won't take on dogs with aggression there are very good reasons for it. The majority of rescuers on DOL (if not all of them): (a) have a surplus of dogs without aggression dying in the pounds they deal with. (b) lack the skills (or their foster carers lack the skills) to deal with truly aggressive dogs AND dogs with other behavioural problems. Then there are other compounding factors. As an example here in Albury/Wodonga, a rural centre, the pressure is on even more because we're it for the dogs of the area. Taking on any dog that will be in foster care for many months means that other dogs just as deserving or more deserving die. Also - our nearest behaviouralist is 3 hours drive away meaning that the costs of getting that help goes up, not to mention wear and tear on the rescuer's personal vehicle, costs of petrol which is always paid out of the rescuer's personal pocket and time away from other dogs. For ADR I can quite categorically state that we can't afford to add $500.00 plus to the costs of any rescue without raising funds - we're doing well when we have $1,000.00 in the bank. Then there is the question of how do you decide which dog you spend the money on - is it better spent on the dog with a health condition but no behavioural issues? There is great personal satisfaction to be had from assisting a dog with problems to be a regular member of canine society and I would love one day to be able to take on dogs with issues and work through them but I can't justify doing that when dogs without issues are dying and when the money and experience required to assist the dogs isn't available. I'd hazard a guess that most rescuers feel the same. To compound the issue here in Victoria (which is half my area) we have to work within laws making it illegal to rehome dogs with known issues (fence-jumping being one).

I get chicken carcasses and other food from Lenards in Lavington every week - they're brilliant - never had a problem. Each Lenards is a franchise so obviously a problem for that franchisee in that store.

No but I have spoken with two other neighbours who advised that the barking is not an issue at all. They both have stated that they don't mind the dogs being kept in the front yard. I will still try to address Grover's barking as it annoys me (though I am quite sensitive to barking being annoying) and then we should be able to put him in the backyard.

So.... If you don't have behaviouralists in your area how do you work out the right way to use a bark collar? Obviously I have a working relationship with Cosmolo and I can use their knowledge of me, the dog, my environment etc but if I didn't know them how would I work it out? I'm tagging Grover's barking as play barking but I suppose it is as much attention barking because he does it when he wants a dog who is ignoring him to come and play with him. If they actually play with him he stops barking so maybe I've described it incorrectly. He doesn't bark at visitors, he doesn't bark at people walking past our back fence (our rear yard backs onto an off-leash area), he doesn't bark at neighbours - just at his "friends" when they're not playing with him. He also has just started barking when his dinner is on its way - I'm going to tell Steve to not feed him until he shuts up - how long is a reasonable time to wait for him to be quiet? His barking isn't a constant bark either - its really an attention thing, I can almost hear him asking "hello, where is my dinner?" or "Oi - I'm bored over here, come and play" and its repeated as a quick "woof, woof" every 60 seconds or so until I bring him inside (I give a verbal correction at every bark and bring him inside if he does it 2-3 times). I've kept a record today of all barking at my house and I've marked 12 instances of barking - each of those was one to three individual barks (ie "woof" as opposed to "woof, woof, woof, woof, woof") so it would have been less than 4 minutes total since 6.15am. I'm sure from my reading on DOL that is well within acceptable limits. I'm also keeping a record of when my neighbour's dogs bark as they often bark and will bark for a minute or so at a time. ETA - that is total barking at my house by all 7 dogs.

Hmmm - so no longer illegal to import them, just use them in some states.

Cosmolo - can you give me some tips on using it to the best way possible with Groveyducks? He is such a dope and a softy that I don't think it will take long to teach him to stop - I just have to work out a way to do it. I've never had a sighthound who barks as much as he does though, even when it is only play. I don't doubt that it annoys this particular neighbour as it annoys me (and you know I'm not overly tolerant of barking ) I've just not really known how to deal with it.