kelpiecuddles

The rental situation is very secure so no worries there, we will be here until we move in to our own house. :)

True of course, hence my little spare bank account. My kelpie is actually quite a bit older than the two bassets. One of our worries has been how stressed Josie would be if something was to happen to Sascha as she is getting older now, she's already on some supps and oestregen for a weak bladder LOL So it would be our kelpie going through all the old age stuff first and then down the track the two bassets at a similiar time as they are both about the same age.

Of course Alkhe :) I'm hoping she will consider letting us trial her for a little while and see how she fits before we make a final decision. Walking three doesn't bother me, I will often grab a neighbours dog and take it with me if I'm in the mood anyway, my girls walk so well that adding another isn't really a problem even with three in one hand, plus my oldest is now of an age that I'm happy for him to hold one of the leads. The going places logistics is the only thing that has me a little iffy since currently we can put bags in the boot with the girls having half the boot, but a third would mean the bags wouldn't fit. It would probably just mean investing in a roof pod for the car or similiar.

I have lived without a spleen for 13 years now, life without a spleen is ok. I get a few more colds than usual since it's involved in fighting bacterial infections but other than that it doesn't really affect me. Fingers crossed it hasn't spread and he's got a long time still ahead of him :)

I work in a pet supply store so luckily I get a good discount on all that stuff :p (Except for the vet bills but that's just part of life sometimes, I have a savings account that is emergency money for vet bills and things. We don't do obedience club and grooming is just done at home ourselves so there's no real extra cost there just a little extra time. So far we've never had to put the dogs in kennels other than when the defence force flew them up here and they were with dogtainers for a couple of days, other than that we either travel places with them in tow or we have a friend come to stay to look after them.

Very true Diva, they are such pack critters, that's why they love kids so much too I reckon, other life forms with short legs! The only time we ever have an issue with our girls is if the kelpie tries to stick her nose in Josie's dinner bowl, then Josie will give her one of those little growly snaps to say "Oi, not yours!" Easily manged by just feeding them a few metres apart and Sascha is a kelpie so I've told her no a few times and now she knows to stay out of it ;)

I'm a pretty firm hand with my dogs and coming from a breeder whos dogs live all together in the house when not in season she's very used to pack dynamics so hopefully with some intelligent introductions we should be OK there. :)

It's actually something I have been actively working on recently Dyzney. I guess my issue in the past has been that with a young family I have only ever had time to walk them both together so there hasn't ever been much opportunity for them to do things seperately. Now my kids are getting older and i am getting more opportunities to go out without the kids a bit easier while they are at school, etc so I've been leaving her home with my husband when he is around and taking the kelpie out so that she has someone to tell her when she needs to pack it in and chill out LOL

I am hoping that Mish13. I have sent her an email this eveing basically saying that we might be interested depending on the timing and how well she gelled with our household.

Can I ask Huski how what it is about having two you have found easier? I'm just trying to work out if your reasons might apply to me if you know what I mean... My girls spend most of their time sleeping or lying in the sun so they a very cruisy little duo right now and it sounds like this breeder keeps her dogs much the same way I keep mine so I suspect the adjustment to a new home and new set of rules would be pretty quick. I must admit the point about being able to take one does really speak to me, out current basset gets quite distressed if I take the kelpie out on her own for a more high energy exercise session so a friend would possibly solve that issue.

I got an offer today that I'm finding a little hard to turn down and my husband, who normally would say a flat out no, has said 'it's not a hard no' LOL A lady came in to my work who turned out to be a basset hound breeder, I mentioned that we had a basset and after a chat it transpired that my girl shares some of the same lines as her dogs! Anyway she asked if I might be interested in taking on a 4 year old girl that she is hunting a basset friendly home for. The timing isn't great which is the only reason my husband didn't say a straight up yes, if our new house was already built and we were on our half an acre then it would be no problem. For the time being we are renting but there is no issue with us having whatever animals we want as long as they don't wreck the place but out block is fairly small. It sounds like it might not be a straight away thing anyway so we might be a bit closer to building by the time this girl is ready to go to her forever home. Anyway, so I'm just wondering how other with three larger dogs find it? My two girls are both quiet well behaved girls, right now they are sleeping in their beds in the corner of the loungeroom. Another thing that had me more curious is that she has been shown in neuter and was intended as a breeding girl but got pyometra before her first breeding, it sounds like she has done quite well at the neuter shows so I thought that if the breeder was amenable to the idea it might be a good entry in to dabbling in a bit of showing myself and seeing how I like it. Thoughts? :laugh:

Was that question asked of me Linda? The majority of the cats are coming in from a single foster home, our AWL person is very active in rescue and works very hard rescueing kitties, in the majority of cases the cats are with her for a period while she assesses their health, gets their vet work, testing, etc done and then they either go to the shop if there is space and she feels they will be settled there or they go to another foster carer. The AWL cats aviary in the shop is towards the back of the store, well away from any other animals that may come in to the store for any other reason(it's a very big store, like a pet superstore type place) so if they do go back in to foster care from there the risks are low. In the shop they are mostly tended to by a visiting AWL person. Because the cats that go in to the store are carefully chosen very few ever need to go back in to foster care, most are adopted direct from the store within a week or two. :)

Rural Pug I read up on the RSPCA program a few years ago, as I understand it the costs are covered by the original owners bequest money.

I don't think there is anything wrong with saying you like the look of a dog and you would actively seek out a dog that had a certain look. I was more than happy to admit in another thread that I would happily adopt a pup of a certain cross breed from the pound because I liked the look of the cross. Doesn't mean i would encourage people to cross those two breeds and I certainly wouldn't ever buy a pup of that X off a BYB but I have no qualms about admitting I liked the look of those pups and that I would seek out a similiar X through a pound or rescue. I already own one of the breeds invilved so in my case I had no concerns about the activity levels, probable temp, etc.

Haha, probably the same way NPWS knows what species reptiles are or how customs people know what species the orchid flasks that people bring in are, they don't... Hence why i own a NPWS siezed animal that was placed as a murray darkling python but definately isn't and why I have more than once been offered to rename orchid seedlings in flasks to bring in species that are restricted(not something i have done, it's just been offered) Customs read the labels on the jars, compared them to their list and passed them through, they could have been anything!

We have AWL cats at the pet shop I work at. In terms of requirements, one of our staff is mainly in charge of the AWL processing and talks to prospective owners extensively before she decides whether they are suitable, she has no qualms in turning someone down if she doesn't think the home is a suitable one, often the adoption process may take up to w week if she isn't available to talk to them that day so there is no impulse sort of buying going on. Cats are still assessed and adopted based on their personal needs in terms of other pets, kids, level of activity in the house. While at the store the cats live in an aviary style cat run. Most of the time they are only at the store for a week or two before being adopted and if they aren't settled in the store they are taken back into a home care situation and another cat comes in instead. Only outgoing, relaxed cats are considered for adoption from the store in order to ensure they aren't stressed out. Of course they are fully vet worked by AWL too. I don't work at a Petsco but thought this might provide a little insight into how this might work in a pet shop environment.

He found a dog! She's a 9 month old german shepherd X (something boofy). She was rescued from the pound by friends of his a while ago but they had come to realise that she was just too much for them with a young family and he offered to take her on. :) He was gleefully telling me how they've been trotting around down the beach, meeting some of the other local dogs and how she's got quite good recall already and very good doggy manners. We have had bad flooding here last week and he was telling me how he has paw prints all over his floorboards because he couldn't bare for her to be outside during that weather LOL. He said her recall needs some work under distraction when there are other dogs around(she doesn't run off to go see them but if they are playing and the other dog leaves with their owner she will trot along and try to follow LOL) so I gave him some advice on that to help him get her a bit more focused on him. Sounds like it's working out very well so far and he's very pleased to be owned by a dog again :D

What an amazing story Lisa, how lucky for you that you decided to just let him have what he liked! Interestingly we have a cat who had less severe IBS and she does best on Optimum from the supermarket despite having previously tried her on a number of super premium foods.

My intrumental teacher always used to tell me, "Practice doesn't make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect." Probably applies here too :D

I wouldn't worry about whether she'll eat it, it smells fabulous, I'd just about eat it! It's one of the most palatable food brands in general I have found. It's a good quality food but ultimately the food that is best for her is the one she does well on. Try it and see how she goes but if it doesn't seem to sit right with her after the first huge bag then consider trying her on something else.

She's sore but not as bad as last night. Managed to get some vet wrap today so on my way home to wrap her foot up

My kelpie had mange as a pup. Weekly sprays soaking with frontline cleared it up very well

Awee... they're lovely. I used to work at a wildlife park and cared for a small pack of dingoes there, they were smochier than you average cocker spaniel i always used to say. :)

No, not recently, I actually just got a lot more days at work and my husband has been away, plus the weather's not great so I've been rather slack on the exercise lately. Could still be the issue regardless so i might have look at her in the morning in a stand and see how her feet are looking, this recent one seems to have happened just walking around the house on tiles so it's a little odd and concerning at the same time. It's not in the same place as her previous split either

We were looking in to it for a 12 months work trip but decided against it due to cost factors. For three years i would have given it a lot more though, 3 years is a big part of a dogs life.