Lablover

When our beloved labrador who had chronic skin problems, could no longer be sustained on all the treatments, our vets and skin specialist advised us that we had to let her go. It took 2 months of daily discussion between my husband and I. She loved going camping with my husband. They went away, just the two of them for two weeks before the day was set. Her grave was dug. A beautiful flowering gum tree selected to mark her resting place. My husband sent me away to a girl friends house on the morning, as he felt he could not cope with my grief as well as his own. Our vet travelled an hour to our home. They sat on the tail gate of the ute. The dead was done. She is buried in one of our paddocks, a paddock I could not walk into for over a year. My husband took 2 years to get over her death before deciding he was ready for another labrador. Little wonder I am phobic about health issues. Our vet did not charge us and he had to drive 2 hours out of his way.

I teach my dogs to walk backwards in the hall. I keep them on a leash and have them pretty close to a wall then progress to a fence etc. I heel them forwards, and then walking backwards with my voice cue "back up" with ever so slight corrections making sure that my leading leg is correctly placed. The second a backwards step is achieved they are rewarded. The most important thing is to keep movement (fowards). Do not start at a sit initially.