Dog_Horse_Girl

Don't be embarrassed, I'm absolutely sure many others do as you do. Just think though about what would happen if you/someone else driving had to slam on the brakes, or god forbid, got in an accident.. There is massive force involved and however good your intentions, you probably couldn't restrain Hugo. I'd suggest a seatbelt harness, I just got mine from the supermarket - KraMar car harness, size small, which I've had on Sax from when he was a 1.8kg puppy to a 5kg adult, adjusting the size - we've used it with the booster seat, just on the backseat with the seatbelt, and now in the footwell. I know pups want to be with you, and can freak out in the car, but seriously, I feel like it has to be worth the effort to teach them to deal with being strapped in. Look at the research about humans, especially babies, without seatbelts - surely animals need the same protection!! I wanted to get him a booster seat but with mom in the driver's seat and me in the passenger side seat, I didn't know how to attach the booster seat! I will get him a harness when he's a bit older though--right now the only time we take him with us in the car is when we're going to puppy preschool. And how does your only taking him to puppy preschool protect him while he's in the car in your care? Have you not got a crate? A travel crate (airline approved) is recommended for smaller dogs and you can even put the seatbelt around it for additional protection in the event of emergency braking. How do you think you'd manage in a crash with an unrestrained and probaby terrified pup? The minute a door opens or a window is smashed, what do you think a frightened pup would do, wait calmly for someone to pick it up? Of course not. This is one of my pet hates...I mean it's not as if the dog can harness itself into a seatbelt, nor can it put its crate in the car and then put itself in the secured crate. It's up to us to make sure our dogs and cats are SAFE while we are transporting them - would it be okay with you if an airline allowed your dog into the cargo hold without it being crated?

I often wonder at why people say their dog can't possibly get out if they're left at home and someone comes in daily to feed them. One of the busiest times for shelters and pounds/rangers is holiday season and that's because many dogs escape because they've been left home alone with someone visiting to feed them. Personally, if my dogs can't come with me, I won't travel. They're getting older and as they all have special health needs and as I won't vaccinate them again unless a major pandemic of parvo or distemper hits, boarding is not suitable. I had no problems in boarding them previously, it's just that my situation has changed and I've made some changes to how I care for my dogs. I'd suggest changing your plans to include your dog if at all possible. You may find the current arrangement allowing a dog to stay after all. Or you may have to find a boarding kennel further away but one that has a good reputation is likely to be fully or over booked. You can always put your name on waiting lists and cross your fingers. Or use a kennel at your destination if one is available.

Very clever...you see, all this time you thought he was spethial and he's just been observing, biding his time...to reveal that he is in fact, pure canine genius. I suspect Lilly of the same thing. She's normally all butterflies and rainbows, but every so often she will reveal an actual thought process which is truly astonishing.

I use the frontline top-spot rather than the spray. I will not use an all-in-one for fear of being unable to separate the chemicals/dosage and therefore potentially increase the load on the dog's immune system. I use Interceptor for heartworm/intestinals and frontline spot-on for fleas and ticks. I use one large dog frontline vial split between my three dogs and it works well in combination with checking for ticks and using a flea comb when needed. I have also just moved and this yard is full of fleas - likely to be courtesy of the next door neighbours' apparently newly acquired pups and kitten.

Feed her separately. I feed Ruby separately to the other two for this very reason: food possession. A crate is fine, a baby gate with the dog isolated behind it is also fine. This should be relatively easy to manage given the circumstances. It's always the little ones which are the most fiesty!

Gosh my three dogs all sleep on my bed: greyhound, mixed breed and chi x all share with me. I have a king sized bed, bought so we would all have enough room to sleep comfortably. My chi x sleeps right beside me under the covers every night. She's at my side or my feet for the whole night. The other two swap places a few times, and the mixed breed also likes to sleep partially on the pillow beside mine and sometimes she will share my pillow. That gets interesting! As for vaccinating your dog, I would have waited til he was better.

I've used DAP diffusers and spray for years. It's not addictive and it can help calm common anxiety-producing situations such as new home, travel in the car, etc. Works to a degree for noise phobias too. If you have tools available and it doesn't do harm, why not use them?

Unfortunately retail jobs don't always pay well so it's hard to attract good staff. I'm very lucky in that the Pet Barns I've shopped at regularly have awesome managers which means they have awesome staff too. Both Pet Barns in Darwin have had their issues with staff being turned over quite highly. That's probably down to the management at least as much as the individual staff...I've heard some ridiculous "advice" from the staff at Palmerston Pet Barn which included agreeing with a young bloke that his 8 wk old GSD pup could live outside and 'kill whatever comes into the yard' because of the breed of dog in question being 'good at catching things'. The same staff member also said this pup could go straight onto a really crappy brand of adult food and that the pup could be exercised off-lead at the local fenced dog park because 'they need to run'. Oh, and that a chain check collar would be fine to use immediately even though 'some of the fur might rub off' from around the pup's neck.

You're in Darwin...they aren't always that clever up there. Every Pet Barn I've been to apart from the ones in Darwin have been great, knoweldgeable staff. It's just that Darwin isn't drawing from the same population base as elsewhere and I guess they have to find someone to staff the shops. I'm moving to somewhere which doesn't have a Pet Barn and I have to say I'm going to miss it.

Sadly for me, I have to work some extra Saturdays in the lead-up to Christmas. So I can only do Sundays as a definite. Nundah is literally down the road from me. I *love* coffee. I'm more interested in a bring-your-dog meet though...as my poor dogs don't get out very much any more. Partly due to their ages and medical conditions but they do deserve a walk now and again. Nudgee Beach is also not far from me...but I haven't been there yet so I'm looking for a reason to visit. A DOL meet would be a good reason.

$110 sounds more reasonable than $180 for a sunday arvo. Agreed. How's Cody doing now? I have been a little worried about him to be honest...

All they did was stitch a small flap - seven stitches in total. Plus AB's for a week and an injection for tetanus. The consult fee was $110 which I thought reasonable though for a Sunday night.

Thanks everyone. I did a dressing change last night. The wound looks fine, stitches are holding for the moment. Then this morning, I can see she's started to work the vet wrap off so I've laid a new section of bandage over the top (in a different colour to the original). Let's hope she stays away from it otherwise we'll have to look at a bucket...which I'm sure she will love!

Well, I took the dogs out for their last toilet stop last night, muzzled Lilly in case of cane toads but let her out off-lead. The "resident" possum happened to choose the moment Lilly hit the grass to run across the top of the side fence, meaning Lilly gave chase and of course started leaping about in attempts to catch stoopid possum. Unfortunately she cut her front leg open, very badly, so we rushed her to the pet emergency vet...to fix a gaping wound. We had to wait, then the vet gave us a quote, but the staples didn't work so she said to try stitching or we could remove the flap and leave an open wound. We said to do whatever would be best for Lilly...so she stitched it. The whole thing cost over $300 but it was Sunday night. Still, I'm broke and Lilly is a little worse for wear. Why didn't I put her on lead like I usually do?? I hope when I do a wound check and dress it tonight that it's healing. :D Please send healing vibes her way...the silly thing is all pouty and princess-ey about it today.

I said monthly in the first week on Sunday afternoons. I work one Saturday in four so Saturdays are less of a definite for me. I've never been to Nudgee Beach even though it's not far from home. Maybe the next meet could be there?

Wow, I just assumed that motorhomes for rent would be dog-friendly... One day I'm going to buy a camper trailer...nothing too flash just basic but enough comforts to go around Australia with dog(s) in tow. Yes I've seen a lot of this country but not everything...so I'm going to go places I've never been. That's a long way into the future though.

So is she quite content to contribute to this misery (parent animals) in that case? I think anything you do or say if that's true will be wasted. But keep trying. Take her to a local kill shelter if you can - ask her whether she is happy to see an end to all the lovely dogs and pups there just because she likes the sound of some idiotic BYB or front for a puppy mill. Remind her that the idiot she's spoken to (once?) is highly skilled in sales and has her spiel down-pat because that's how she makes her filthy, despicable living. Remind her that suffering is avoidable but only if people just like her stop buying these so-called Designer Mutts. Ask her when the suffering will end if people like her keep doing what they do. Tell her how socially unacceptable buying a pup from a puppy mill is becoming and that there is a WHOLE MOVEMENT of people opposed to this horrific way of farming dogs. This will only grow larger as more people start to realise how bad the situation has become for these parent animals and the litters they're forced into producing, usually without a break, and that the bitches are discarded as if they're rubbish the moment they are no longer useful. :D :D

Why don't we have a northside meet AND a southside meet at the same time? Not for this time but for future... Worth a thought. :D And yes, when is this miserable weather going to end??? I thought the weather in Brissy was supposed to be awesome...as in, warm, sunny. We've been here almost a year and I can almost count on one hand the number of clear, sunny weekends we've had. :D

Ask her why she's so intent on furthering the misery which is life for the parent animals. Ask her how she will take care of the behavioural issues which these pups often display due to the parent animals' health and temperament, never mind the living conditions into which the pups are born. Ask her whether animal welfare is important to her or whether suffering is acceptable in her quest for a mutt which may have the worst of both parents' characteristics instead of the best. Ask her how much time and/or money she's willing to part with on grooming. Ask her where this pup will be sleeping and living because all dogs need to be indoors with their family. Ask her to visit the local pounds, shelters and rescue groups and then make her case for buying yet another mutt which just adds to the pile of unwanted dogs being killed due to the lack of a suitable home when she could have done something positive and rescued a crossbred dog or pup instead. Ask her to donate the pup's purchase price to her favourite shelter/rescue when she does the right thing and adopts a rescue instead of buying this "DD" pup. Show her Leo's Story. Show her anything else you can find about puppy mills. No matter what the "front" is for these pups, they all come from either a puppy mill or a Backyard Breeder and neither is the best start for a family dog. People whose motivation is profit, profit and profit do not generally make responsible breeders, nor do they breed sound family pets. Oh, tell her that it's usually people like that who denigrate the purebred dog, and the hard-working registered breeders who breed to better their chosen animals. Who actually know what they're doing. Who actually care about the litters they bring into the world. Who also actually care about each pup's new owners and who will support those owners for the dog's entire life. And who will take back one of their dogs for any reason at any time.

One of my dogs (can't honestly remember which one now, might have been the greyhound) used to eat snails and they made her sick - as in throwing up sick. I then started using snail traps and end of problem. Snail traps are a much safer alternative to baits. You should be able to find them in garden supply shops.

OMG she is gorgeous. If only I could have another dog...but I can't. I'm sure she'll find the perfect home in no time...how could she not? ;)

I wish I could help with rec's but we've kennelled our girls only once since moving here nearly a year ago. It was for two days/one night while we moved house. Never again. Too expensive, dogs were fine but our wallets were much lighter than they should have been. We were charged $14 to administer medication - two dogs were on tablets - that's $3.50 per dose. :p The boarding itself was ridiculously over priced because we chose an indoor suite as the dogs are used to being indoors. Had we chosen a standard outdoor kennel it would have been much less expensive but the dogs would have been miserable and cold.

I can do Nudgee...can't usually do Saturdays because the house we're renting is for sale and the agent usually wants to bring people through on Saturdays. Next Sunday is out for me (prior commitment). I'd only bring one of the girls...so that would depend on the group of people and dogs as to which dog I'd bring.

"Heart dog" is in popular use by many dog-lovers! Molly is my first true heart dog...she chooses me over anybody else all the time. She has a connection to me which is uncanny - she knows how I'm feeling and she knows just how to behave to give me a laugh when I'm down. My other two dogs are fantastic but the relationship I have with Ruby and Lilly is not the same as with Molly and I wonder if I'll ever have another dog with this deep connection. If not, I know I've had the most amazing relationship with Molly, who is on my lap as we speak...

Firstly, relax! A lot of the time, changing a dog's environment will cause them stress. A change in diet may not help when that happens which is probably why the shelter asked you to continue with Hill's. Why not stop his food for 24 hours to give him time to settle? A dog won't starve in 24 hours. I'm surprised if your vet didn't suggest that. Next, introduce bland food - usually boiled chicken and boiled rice. This should not irritate the gut. Once his stools are normal, then introduce additional foods. I'd suggest raw foods - keep it simple. Chicken wings are fine. Use some raw veg and fruits too. Perhaps introduce some offal (organs) after a week or two. Keep his fluids up - you can mix up some gastrolyte or similar and offer it to him in place of plain water. As for the itch, it could be seasonal allergies as it's that time of year. Good luck, let us know how the little guy does.