spikey

Just wanted to check whether many DOLers had used this company and what their experiences have been re delivery times, customer service etc. Their prices seem quite good and am looking at ordering some pet treats, flea products, dog toys etc. Am just a bit concerned as there's no "physical" contact details on the website - i.e. address, phone numbers etc. Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Sorry about that!

I bought several of the Bow Wow Beef Knobs some months back when our local Woolies was clearing them - they've been ideal for our elderly dog, as fresh marrow bones give her an upset stomach (even when I remove as much of the marrow and fat as possible), and they also don't smell or attract flies (a bonus in our summer weather!). They are ideal for keeping her occupied whilst we're at work, and I'd love to get some more, but none of the Coles or Woolies anywhere near us seem to stock the Beef Knobs any more. The Pork Bones are too small, she just crunches straight through them. Has anyone seen them in any of their local supermarkets or pet supply places in Perth (preferably north of river)? Thanks!

I too get the "second coming" treatment every day when I get home from work, same thing if OH and I go out for a walk to the shops and our girl gets left at home, she just about turns herself inside out when we come back, and she's really just a bit of a sook all round with us, follows you around the house, etc. So we were a bit worried when we were going away for 5 weeks last year and had to put her in kennels - OH's parents weren't able to look after her this time, and her previous owner (before my OH bought her) got her from a dog's home, so we were worried that she would think we were abandoning her or something, especially now she's around 10 years old and hadn't been in a kennel-type environment for about 6 years. She was NOT happy when I dropped her off at the kennels, whining, pacing and working herself up into a terrible state, so I left as soon as I could so she didn't distress herself any further. This was a few days before we actually flew out, so I rang them a couple of times to see how she was settling in - took her a couple of days, she was off her food etc but then started eating and seemed to be settling in. So off we went on our trip. After previously having a GSD who would (literally) just about knock you out with the enthusiasm of his greeting after being in kennels, I was fully expecting the same when we went to pick our girl up. She was brought out of the kennel block to the area where we were waiting and ... she was all over the kennel owners like a rash, jumping on them and loving them to death. Er, we're over HERE?? She eventually noticed and it was a pretty casual "oh, hi Mum and Dad" before she went running back to them!! I was a bit offended, I must admit!! I mean, I'm glad she seemed to enjoy herself so much there - she was fit as a fiddle, looked sleek and healthy, and was apparently "Queen of the Kennels" once she'd settled in, but I didn't quite expect the (lack of) greeting we got! Little baggage - and here I was worrying about her all that time Once we got home, she slept like a log for most of the next few days, and then was back to normal. Oh well, at least I don't have to worry about her fretting when we're away LOL

I've just this second ordered a copy of the book from Book Depository

Good question! Our girl is a rescue - she ended up in a dog's home here in Perth (so had obviously had at least one owner prior to that!), was adopted from there by a woman who decided 8 months later to move back to Sydney, so that's when my OH bought her and we have absolutely no idea of her previous medical history. When we insured her, the company asked whether she'd had any previous veterinary treatment, but the only thing since we had her was a couple of grass seed abscesses. They of course ask for the vet's contact details so they can obtain a treatment history for your dog, but they never asked how long we had owned her or anything like that.

I thoroughly sympathise Indigirl, I know exactly how you feel - when my marriage broke up, I moved into a rental house with my GSD. Unfortunately he had to be at home all day alone whilst I worked, but I walked him every morning and every night, spent heaps of time with him on weekends, took him to obedience training and trials, trips out to the dog beach, always left bones, Kongs filled with food, chicken necks/frames hidden in cardboard boxes for him to find, and so on EVERY day when I was at work. He didn't do a lot of digging at the start, but then one day I came home to find he'd dug up almost all the reticulation in the raised garden beds around three sides of the backyard. I buried it all again, covered it in chicken wire weighted down with rocks and bricks, only to come home night after night to find it all dug up again AND most of the reticulation pipe chewed to bits. Logically I knew he wasn't doing it to "get back at me" or anything like that, but I wasn't thinking very logically at the time and burst into tears as soon as I saw it. Like you, I could have killed him. I was still trying to cope with the divorce, I was in a dire financial situation, no family here in Perth (they all live in the Eastern States) so had no one who could help me out with him and I had a terrible time coping because I felt he was doing it deliberately to upset me!!! Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone who could come in and spend time with him or exercise him whilst I was at work, friends and neighbours were either elderly people or were at work themselves. I would ring up Mum and Dad in floods of tears, not knowing what to do - because I was living in a rental house, it was costing me a fortune to keep repairing the damage so the landlords wouldn't find out. Mum and Dad then lent me the money to buy one of those dong containment systems where you run the wire around the area you want the dog to keep off and the dog wears a collar that beeps a warning if they get close to the wire, and then if they keep going there's an electrical "correction" - not the most pleasant experience for him, but I had it on the lowest setting and also held the collar myself to experience what it was actually like. Thankfully it worked to keep him off that area, but like your dog, he seemed to just love digging - luckily the place I was renting had a "play yard" in one corner with a kids cubby house up on stilts and the whole area was sand (quite deep as well as most housing blocks here are nothing but sand!). I would go and sit in there with him and start digging with my hands near his feet, saying "diggy dig" (and other silly things ) and as soon as he started to scrape with a paw, I'd praise him madly. He soon got the idea that digging near the cubby was A-OK with Mum, but I'd go off at him as soon as I saw him anywhere near an area where he wasn't allowed to dig. It saved my sanity - I would come home from work to find he'd dug these HUGE trenches in the area around and under the cubby to find the chews and toys I'd buried, and I'd tell him what a clever dog he was, fill in the trenches and away he'd go again the next day. Saved my sanity and no more sad GSD face from him for being yelled at.

I think really the only way to go with pet insurance is as Kazads did, insure a puppy straight away from 8 weeks of age, as soon as you bring them home. Unless your adult dog has absolutely no "vet history" at all, apart from vaccinations and the like, there are just too many things an insurance company can refuse to cover because of past medical history or health issues. Almost the only way to be sure they're covered for just about everything is to insure them right from the start - before there's a chance for them to get ill or have an accident!!

What a sad time for you, I'm so sorry, and this sort of thing really doesn't help. Megan is right, policies are issued on the basis of a full year's cover even if you're paying it fornightly, monthly or whatever. Because you made a claim after the renewal date, even though it was only a few weeks into the new policy year, unfortunately the insurance company has the right to still charge you the premium for the remainder of the policy year. This is the case with just about every type of insurance. If you HAVEN'T made a claim during the current policy year, most insurance companies will cancel the policy straight away and not charge any further premium.

Unfortunately I don't think there's going to be much you can do about it - here are several sections from the Petplan PDS (and I would assume most insurers would have something similar: These are only examples of some common exclusions. For full details of all relevant Policy exclusions You must refer to the Certificate of Insurance and the general exclusions to all sections and also to the specific exclusions to each section under the heading “What We will not pay” So with the above paragraph, they effectively cover themselves by stating you have to refer to the Certificate of Insurance AND various sections of the PDS regarding things they will not pay for. There's also this bit: Pre-Existing Condition means any Condition(s) or symptoms or signs of that Condition occurring or existing in any form prior to the Policy commencement date, or any Injury or Illness or symptoms or signs of that Injury or Illness occurring or existing in any form during the Waiting Period. When referring to Pre-Existing Conditions, and Conditions affecting a part of Your Pet’s body of which it has two, will be deemed to be a Bilateral Condition and both will be excluded from cover And then this, which would be similar to what your company is telling you regarding ANYTHING that is on your pet's record at the vet: What We will not pay 1. More than the Maximum Benefit. 2. To the extent permitted by law, costs of any Treatment for: i) an Injury that happened or an Illness that first showed Clinical Signs before Your Pet’s cover started; or. ii) an Injury or Illness that is the same as, or has the same diagnosis or Clinical Sign as an Injury, Illness or Clinical Sign Your Pet had before it’s cover started; or, iii) an Injury or Illness that is caused by, relates to or results from an Injury, Illness or Clinical Signs Your Pet had before its cover started, no matter where the Injury, Illness or Clinical Signs are noticed or happened in, or on Your Pet’s body. They spread the net pretty wide to cover just about anything that you've ever even asked your vet about!

So what condition are they trying to exclude? It's OK, you don't need to name the company, your breed of dog etc, just what they're saying the exclusion is for.

This is from the Petplan PDS, so it appears that they always list any exclusions specific to your dog on the Certificate of Insurance. We had insurance with Petplan (not any more after major administrative hassles with them) but there were no exclusions applicable on our policy as neither dog haad any pre-existing conditions. Certificate of Insurance means the current Certificate issued by Us to You containing details of the Cover provided under Your Policy, including any exclusions and other specific Insurance details that We have applied to Your Cover. Some insurers also have breed specific exclusions, and there's always a whole section in every insurers' PDS about all the OTHER exclusions as well, so it always pays to read it very carefully. By the way, just in reference to Marinapoint's post about her dog's pre-existing cruciate ligament surgery on one leg, the following sections are from the Medibank PDS: Bilateral Condition means any Condition affecting body parts of which the Pet has two, one each side of the body (e.g. ears, eyes, knees, cruciate ligaments). When applying a Benefit Limit or exclusion, Bilateral Conditions are deemed to be one Condition. and Condition means any Injury sustained during, or resulting from, a single Accident or any manifestation of an Illness having the same diagnostic classification or resulting from the same disease process regardless of the number of incidents or areas of your Pet’s body affected (also see Bilateral Condition). For example: all types and occurrences of cancer that occur will be classified as one Condition. Might be worth contacting Medibank again and get something in writing to confirm that they wouldn't exclude cruciate ligament in the other leg, as the wording in the PDS seems to be a bit ambiguous - mind you, they also mention in another section about exclusions listed on the Certificate of Insurance, so if there's nothing specific on the Certificate, then I guess they couldn't knock back a claim?

Woops :p There was indeed - it may well have been the one I did ages ago! Like Ruthless, I complained about loose cats in vet surgeries and the hassles they cause when you have a large, cat-hating dog who is already ill/in pain/stressed by being at the vet etc, without the additional problems of a cat parading up and down in full view. Over the years, my Shepherds (GSDs and Belgians) have all loathed cats - out on a walk, not a problem, they growl at the cat, I'd growl at them and we'd continue on our way with me keeping a tight grip of woofer who wants to swallow the cat whole LOL - cat has plenty of room to stay from us and we have plenty of room to give the cat a wide berth. Totally different story in a small vet's surgery with a tiny waiting room, no other access in and out apart from the front door, and a smart-ar*e cat that seemed to love stirring the dogs up. Judging by the replies, people's attitudes seem to have changed a bit since my original thread, as many seem to agree with the OP! When I had my thread going, most of the replies I received pretty much told me it was my problem, I should control my dog, and it wasn't the cat (or the vet's!) fault if the damn thing was roaming loose in the surgery, I just had to deal with it - even though I said that I had no problem with vets HAVING a resident cat, as long as he or she was kept under control and out of the way of four-legged patients who made it quite clear that they didn't appreciate said cat being in their face or provoking them (and yes, I've experienced the staff who seem to think the dog's reaction to be hilarious as well). We never had any problems in the waiting rooms with people bringing cats in boxes or cages - my dogs would always seem puzzled by the cat smell but didn't really seem to be able to "see" the cat - mind you, I wasn't about to let them go up and shove their head up against the cage I didn't want to give the poor cat (or it's owner) a heart attack! We also never had any problems with other dogs that were suitably restrained - but there's always some idiot who wants to bring his/her dog in without a lead ... since being attacked by a pair of roaming dogs 18 months ago whilst we were out for a walk, my girl does NOT appreciate another dog rushing at her, especially in a confined space where there's no room to avoid it or or put space between her and the other dog. Thankfully the surgery we go to now doesn't have a resident cat, which is quite a relief!

Found this in the Pet Plan PDS in the "Definitions" section: Select Breeds means Bandog, Boerboel, Beauceron, Bernese Mountain Dog, All Bulldogs (i.e English, American, Australian, Miniature), Bull Arab, Deerhound, Dogue de Bordeaux, Estrela Mountain Dog, Great Dane, Irish Wolfhound, Leonberger, All Mastiff Breeds, Newfoundland, Old English Sheepdog, Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Rottweiler, Shar Pei, St Bernard or any crosses of these breeds.

Yes, if your vet has made any notes of your discussions regarding your dog's occasional lameness or anything to do with possible hip problems, you would possibly find that anything arising from these conditions/symptoms wouldn't be covered, even if nothing has been specifically diagnosed yet. We had insurance with Pet Plan for a while and their Product Disclosure Statement says: Pre-Existing Condition means any Condition(s) or symptoms or signs of that Condition occurring or existing in any form prior to the Policy commencement date, or any Injury or Illness or symptoms or signs of that Injury or Illness occurring or existing in any form during the Waiting Period. When referring to Pre-Existing Conditions, and Conditions affecting a part of Your Pet’s body of which it has two, will be deemed to be a Bilateral Condition and both will be excluded from cover. We did make a couple of claims through Pet Plan - the first time things went OK, the second time we had a lot of problems with getting the correct amounts paid out (although they did pay up, no problems there!) - they don't seem to be very well organised with admin and accounts. We had the same problem as Labsrule when cancelling one policy, there was no acknowledgment of my written request for cancellation and we received two lots of renewal paperwork in the months following. It took several phone calls and further emails to sort it all out. After a administrative debacle with them last year, we gave up and cancelled our remaining policy altogether - we had to cancel a credit card after finding a fraudulent transaction, and so began the process of notifying everyone we had direct debits with about the cancellation, new credit card number etc. The cancellation happened the day before our regular Pet Plan payment was due to come out, so I contacted them immediately - phone calls weren't returned, emails went unanswered, a fax I sent about the situation was never acknowledged - so we thought if they're that hopeless with their admin and our dog was about to turn 10 as well (dropping down to only the 65% cover, as per their policy), so we decided to cancel the policy, which I did by email, fax AND letter. No response from Pet Plan - then two months later received a nasty "pay up or else we'll cancel your policy" letter. WTF!!!

Show Stacker (large size) for sale if anyone's interested. Main post in Member Marketplace.

I don't know the author of this poem, but my vet sent it to me when I had my old GSD put to sleep, and it brings me to tears every time I read it: ... So, I am glad, not that he's gone But that this earth he roamed and lived upon Was my earth too, That I had closely known and loved him And that my love I'd shown. Tears over his passing? Nay - a smile That I had walked with him a little while.

Yes, Simba was very much loved - every day of those 4 years since he went to his new home, I missed him and he was always in my thoughts. I still can't believe he's gone My heart breaks for his Mum and Dad - I lost my old GSD to bloat about 6 months before I got Simba - my boy survived the initial attack but then had to be put to sleep 4 days later as his whole system started to shut down. At least I had a few days with him to say goodbye. Sim's Mum and Dad didn't get that chance, as they made the courageous decision to not let him wake to any pain and suffering, but to just go peacefully to eternal sleep. So he's now with my old boy at Rainbow Bridge, together with the dogs they have loved and lost in the past, and I know we will all be together again one day.

Two days ago I was watching an tape in my old video camera of Simba when I first brought him home 6 years ago, a tiny black and gold scrap of GSD, galumphing around the backyard, and rolling about with his stuffed panda toy. My marriage broke up when he was 5 months old, so then it was just Simba and I on our own. I was struggling to put my world back together, drowning in financial and emotional difficulties, battling with severe health issues, and eventually had to make the heartbreaking decision to find another home for my beloved boy. He went to live with a couple a few suburbs away - they absolutely doted on him, they had another dog for him to play with, lots of company and attention, visits to the beach and the park practically every day and even a acreage outside Perth where they would go on weekends - it was doggy heaven and I couldn't have found a better home. I will always be thankful that these lovely people came along at the right time and will be forever grateful that they gave him such a wonderful life. They had a little girl 18 months ago, and Simba was her big brother, always looking after her - a gentle giant of a dog and everyone who met him couldn't help but fall in love with him. His new owners kept in touch, sending me photos and news on his "adventures" - I even went to visit him a couple of times, most recently earlier this year, and it was wonderful to see how contented and happy he was. My world came crashing down yesterday when his distraught Mum and Dad contacted me to say he'd suffered an attack of bloat - they rushed him to the vet for emergency surgery, but it was too late, and they made the only decision they could - to not let him wake up from the anaesthetic. They are devastated, and so am I. He was such a good, happy, loving dog and I can't believe he's gone. I owe Simba my sanity and my life - he was the only thing that kept me going after my divorce, there are many times I would have gone under if it had not been for him. He gave his new owners over 4 years of love and loyalty and many, many happy memories - he truly was an "angel on four paws" and a dog in a million who can never be replaced in our hearts. RIP Sim, we will never forget you.

That's terrific Sandgrubber, thanks for the info - I'll give those places a call this week.

Thanks for the suggestions guys - looks like I'll have to do some shopping around!

Just wondering if anyone knows of a source of marrow bones at a reasonable price NOR in Perth? Our local butchers have jacked up the price of marrowbones to $4.50 EACH - which is ridiculous for something that is essentially a "waste product" of the butchering process, and especially as their marrow bones seem to be shrinking in size! I know this may not seem that expensive, but when you're buying them once or twice a week, it adds up to a lot at the end of the year! I can only give our girl the straight shaft part of the marrow bone, if she has the knuckle part (with the softer bone that she can eat almost straight away and attached fatty bits etc - even though I try to cut most of that off), she ends up with an horrendously upset stomach. Smaller bones (i.e. lamb shanks, off-cuts etc) are no good - she demolishes those in very short order, devouring the whole thing, and along comes the upset tummy again. She has her other chewy toys, Kongs etc to help keep her occupied when we're at work, but the marrow bone is the best by far for this, and also at 8 years of age she has beautiful white teeth now she's getting regular marrow bones (not an option when we had two dogs, as they would have killed each other with food around), which is something no amount of dental toys or chews seemed to achieve! Any suggestions would be appreciated. I mean, maybe that's just what we have to pay for them these days, but just thought I'd ask in case someone knows a cheaper source! Thanks

Sounds like everyone had a great time and learned heaps - unfortunately we missed it :p I was supposed to be there on Sunday but ended up being far too sick with the flu to be able to make it I'm SOOOOOO disappointed especially as there probably won't be another workshop for a looooong time. Glad to hear it went well for everyone else though

Peigirl, I fully sympathise with you. I have an "allergy dog" as well, he has had problems with extreme itchiness from the time he was around 14 weeks of age, and to cut a long story short, we also went to Murdoch Uni (Dermatology Dept) and had blood tests sent off to the US which confirmed weed/mould allergies. Our boy is now on desensitising injections. However we always also had problems with him having runny/sloppy poos and oh, the farting!!!! He was originally on Hills Science Diet (Large Breed Puppy), as well as chicken necks/wings, then was on an elimination diet for about 8 weeks to rule out food allergies being a cause of the itching. On the elimination diet he was on Hills z/d, using venison for treats and training (novel protein source) and also having various fruit and vegies as he had never had them before. There seemed to be some improvement with his poos etc, but then we started to reintroduce his original diet to see if he reacted to anything. Did he what!!! As soon as we gave him any chicken at all, be it raw necks/wings or the Hills Puppy kibble (based on chicken), his poos were revolting and so was the smelly wind that came with it. I stopped giving him ANY chicken based food at all and put him on to Pro Plan Turkey & Barley kibble and the improvement was amazing and almost immediate. His poos have been fine ever since and the "windiness" has reduced considerably. The Turkey & Barley mixture also does not have any wheat or ground corn in it so can be helpful for dogs with allergies to those ingredients as well. I was a bit worried as it's not a puppy kibble and our pup was only 6 months old, but when I compared the analysis, there was hardly any difference in the ingredients apart from a slightly higher calcium level in the puppy kibble (by 0.1%!) - our boy is now nearly 8 months old and doing extremely well on the Pro Plan so maybe it might be worth keeping in mind for your dog if you want to give him kibble and find he tolerates turkey well. Pro Plan also have a kibble based on Salmon for dogs with sensitive skins and tummies, although we haven't tried that one! Good luck Julie

Well, Rex has DEFINITELY got some sort of food allergy / intolerance thing happening. I started switching him back over to his "normal" diet of Hills Science Diet Large Breed Puppy kibble but not for long! - he seemed to be a bit more itchy (although that could well also be caused by the initial doses of the vaccine) but his digestive system just didn't cope well at all - sloppy poos again and oh, the farts!!!! This was just from mixing a small amount of the Large Breed biscuits in with the Hills z/d in order to slowly change him back to the other bikkies. I had a small bag of the Proplan Turkey & Barley that a friend with an allergy dog had given me so I thought I would give those a go until I could speak to the dermatologists again this week - what a difference. His tummy is back to normal, no more yucky poos and practically no farting!!! I know they aren't "proper" puppy biscuits but to be honest, when I sat down and compared the nutritional analysis with the puppy mixtures, there wasn't a lot of difference. The levels of most ingredients are almost identical, even the calcium. Rex is stll getting all his EPO, flaxseed, Vitamin E etc. So it appears there is definitely some reaction to one or more ingredients in the Hills Science LB Puppy - whether it's chicken, wheat or a combination of several. If Rex settles down on these biscuits (and they haven't made him any itchier either), then I will try reintroducing chicken etc one ingredient at a time to pinpoint what is causing the problem. It also means he will be getting much better nutrition in the meantime than he was on the Hills z/d ultra! There has certainly been a bit of a debate about food! Dan and others are quite right in that the elimination diet has to run its course before trying anything too different. As Rex reacted so strongly to the Hills biscuits he was having formerly and I had the Proplan Turkey & Barley on hand (which I had used successfully with a GSD who had severe allergies), I decided to try it and it looks like we might be lucky to have found a prepared food he doesn't react to (yet, anyway!). Eagle Pack is not readily available here in WA, from the enquiries I have made (nowhere within an hour's drive where I can buy it and could only get a delivery of the biggest bag available!), and I don't think we can get Nutro at all. Bloss344 - you are so right, oatmeal is not hypoallergenic, Rex has a very adverse reaction to the oatmeal shampoos and probably to it as a food ingredient as well. I'm not too keen on giving these injections (and Rex isn't too keen on having them either, for some strange reason :p ), I just try to be as careful and quiet and calm as I can and try to cause him as little discomfort as possible.