haven

PP, Erny, I'm flat out until Monday running errands in preparation for Chimaera's birthday, but after that I can pick up and drop off the toys for you if needed

I have tried one and I don't support the ban. I also wanted to add that, prior to becoming a trainer myself, when I first heard about and saw a prong collar, pictured in an article written with heavy prejudice by a positive only trainer, I was horrified and was vehemently against them.

Yes. Found this old topic about the DOLer whose dog was being trained by her and the methods that were in contention. Unfortunately a number of other threads on the subject were deleted, you will no doubt see why if you read this one.

Dont remember that But I haven't been around for that long... She seems more like a purely positivie trainer to me... She was very against prongs even then, referring to them as torture collars and such. There were a number of threads about the DOLers dog, and the trainer was misrepresented somewhat by them, but the techniques I mentioned above were not denied as I recall. She had a business called Clever Paws and was quite young, as she looks in the picture, would not respond when queried on her qualifications IIRC. ETA it is her, I just googled Clever Paws and the dog, Storm, pictured with her in the magazine article is on the website.

Apologies for not reading the entire thread, but I wonder if this is the same Melissa Bruce that once caused a stir as the trainer of a DOLers dog as a result of her ridiculous and harsh methods that resulted in her and the owners getting bitten repeatedly, such as pushing the dog down the stairs, hitting it with the door if it tried to rush through the doorway and using forced submission techniques? Anyone else remember?

That is so freaky, I've just moved to the Cranbourne area and looked up Racecourse rd clinic to see if Bob was still there but it looked like he was not. That was only on Friday and now you post this today! Thanks for the info, I shall be happy to see my favourite Vet again ETA oh and I just looked at the link. I seriously drove passed this place on the weekend and thought about looking it up with a view to taking my animals there since it is close to my new house but there weren't any signs other than Vet so I didn't know how to find it online!

If you decide not to go ahead with the Shih tzu pup, a Brittany might be a good option for you to consider. I'm considering breeds at the moment too and have a young child and they were suggested to me because they are a smaller dog (than a Rottweiler) with a low grooming requirement that is good with kids.

I was googling and came across some posts made by someone I knew, so I started as a lurker. I think I eventually joined when my new bitch had a singleton pup (I didn't know she was pregnant when I got her) and I was trying to find another litter to foster him so he wouldn't be raised alone.

The TBs don't even allow AI (officially) so they would never allow cloning, they DNA horses for registration too so a clone would really be no use to the TBs as it can't be registered or raced and neither will it's foals. It's just an example. Surely you can see the potential repercussions of cloning across breeding of all animals that are used for competition? Who will decide who has access to cloning, or will it jut be available to all and sundry if they have the money? Not being able to control your own lines, not being able to keep numbers down to prevent sires (hell, even dams in this case) being overused and flooding the gene pool. And What happens if, in the future, the puppy farmers start cloning instead of breeding? Churning out the same animals again and again that are not restricted from breeding, what happens to the gene pool? I imagine it's a long way off before cloning is widely available and a viable alternative to breeding, but it worries me to think of what will come of it if/when it does.

I wonder how this is going to effect ownership in the future. Think of thoroughbred racing for example, where stud fees run into the hundreds of thousands for a single service....what is to stop someone stealing your horses DNA, cloning it and then doing whatever they like with 'your' horse? The mind boggles at the many ways this could turn breeding of all animals on it's head!

When I was younger I had a small budgie and our family dog, a GSDxRotti. One day my bird escaped it's cage and I didn't realise until I heard him chirping from outside....our dog had grabbed him, sat down in the backyard and proceeded to flea him Poor little Einstein didn't have many feathers left, and I thought for sure he would die just from the shock alone, but he didn't have so much as a speck of blood on him and half an hour later he was hopping around as right as rain!

I'm in VIC so haven't needed to use their services, however I do know a lot of the key staff members from my time in the dog training industry and they are people I wouldn't hesitate to leave my dogs in the care of. I've seen the facilities in pictures and heard about them from people I know with first hand knowledge and they are apparently second to none!

Thanks Kirty, I have Rozate on my list now A RR is on the larger side of what I would prefer and although I do like them there are other breeds I would probably choose first. Any more recommendations for breeders of the Boxer, Brittany or Aussie?

Good to hear he is ok to be home for now. Fingers crossed that when you get to the Vet on Monday it's just a grass seed or something much less sinister than Cancer, which would have to be much less likely!

I'd at least call your nearest emergency clinic to see what they say and decide from there. My dog does get sudden facial swelling sometimes, as a result of some allergy. It comes on very rapidly and is accompanied by drooling, head shaking, sneezing etc. The first time it happened I rushed her to the Vet and they gave her an injection, but since then I just keep anti histamines on hand and watch her closely to ensure she improves once medicated. I'm not sure in your case though, that hearing other people's stories of similar sounding things that turned out to be not life threatening would be beneficial to you because the fact is you don't know what it is and it may be something that needs to be treated ASAP. I wouldn't panic at this stage either, but because I'm not a Vet I'd at least be making a call to one, just in case. I wouldn't think that lymphoma would be an issue in such a fast onset, but you need to consider the fact that something like an allergic reaction, or a spider bite for example, could be more life threatening at this stage if it is not treated promptly.

They don't need much at all. I have 4 here and I'd spend maybe an hour a fortnight grooming them, in between they get a quick two minute brush if we're going somewhere. It's only if I'm showing that I put in a huge effort but on the whole they look good with minimal grooming. They don't "need" stripping but if they are dropping coat which they do from time to time, it's a quick way to be rid of it and they only need trimming occasionally......feet and ears. My 'pet' Aussie gets brushed probably once a fortnight Thanks for the info! Do they drop a fair amount of coat between brushings?

Do Aussies really not need much grooming? I'm considering them myself but I've read some info that says they need brushing a few times a week, stripping, trimming etc.

OT, but Lucious, what is that in your avatar? Its a cane corso i think I thought so, but it looks a bit bigger than I thought they were! Perhaps it's just the angle of the picture, or my misconception! It's gorgeous anyway

OT, but Lucious, what is that in your avatar?

I would absolutely report them to the council, this is so ridiculously not on If you've not started already, sit down and begin a diary of everything that has happened and update it whenever you have an incident with dates, times (where possible), damage done, etc and include pictures if you can.

Sorry, I had replied to this in Off Topic, but for those of you that cannot enter there yet: The person who directed me to the site has completed an online will without issue, S&G have not tried to up sell them or charge them additional fees. As I said, I would suggest actually getting legal advice if your will is more complicated because will issues can be nasty and expensive for your family to sort out after you die, but if you're like me and you only have one dependent and currently not a whole lot of assets then at least you can get your wishes down on paper for now, which is better than nothing!

Gosh! I can't help you with suggestions on how to talk then out of it because IME you can talk until you're blue in the face and it just doesn't work If someone that lived with me and owed me a significant amount of money for rent and bond went out and bought a $700 dog though, I'd be giving them notice to move out

You know what's funny about phantom pregnancies? When you take your rescue bitch to the Vet just to make sure and he tells you to go straight home as puppies are imminent

My dog is crate trained and will seek it out of her own accord, but I chose other in answer to the first question because I'd probably consider any of the first three answers to be acceptably crate trained. She possibly would prefer to sleep on my bed or on the couch, but since she never has and doesn't know any better she chooses to sleep in her crate :D

For those of you whom, like me, have been talking for years about how they ought to complete a will, Slater and Gordon are currently offering their online will for free (normally costs $150) until the 22nd of May. I don't work for them or anything, in fact I've never had anything to do with them so I don't know if they are good or not, but I figured that it's better than nothing! My will is pretty straight forward though, it's basically that anything I have should go to my Daughter and my body can go for freaky science experiments, if yours is likely to be very complicated then it may be best to get actual legal advice first. Anyway, just thought I would link it for anyone who is interested