Christina

I love children naughty or good & sometimes most of them are both. I can't figure out people not liking them either but it is so & is common. Dogs are nothing like children. They are much easier to train & control, can be shoved out if they are a pest or even re homed. Children are forever under all circumstances even potentially fatal illness & devastating disabilities do not alter this until nature intervenes. Maternal instinct make you love your own children & a huge over dose of suffering from it makes you love everyones children. Its a form of insanity to keep our species going :laugh:

That is the best news & most sensible IMO. Also the kindest. Don't know why there is this big focus on dogs sleeping in or going in crates every day. Mine are penned as pups sometimes & some adults will go in a crate if they have to. Stud boys when the girls go past to go out because they are quick to grab a girl :laugh: or after desexing etc & they do not go nuts. I never crated them overnight as pups but did use a big playpen when very small. Your pup will be so much happier now & he won't turn out to be uncontrollable. I have one dog who gets claustrophobic.

Here is the problem I have with dogs being prescribed these kind of medications When a person is given an anti depressant, drug for schizophrenia or psychosis or anxiety/sedative type medication, there is no actual way of measuring serotonin levels in the brain or any other chemical. There is no test for this that can be done on a living creature, only dead ones so Diagnosis is made by asking questions & observing behaviour. Verbal feedback is given on any side effects. Dogs can't talk. So while the dog may be seen to be behaving in the appropriate/desired manner in its head it may be laughing & suicidal & it has no way of telling. Its behaviour will not reflect always this. Some people on prozac do actually suicide. It can have this weird effect & it may not be obvious. How can a dog let you know ?

Sending a pup there in a week & the people don't know the airport at all. Can anyone give me detailed directions so I can just copy & paste it to them in an email ? They know the way to the airport just not where to go when they get there. Its flying with Virgin. Thanks.

No need to be annoyed at her vet over this. I thought they had done an operation wrong or something similar. The diet that suits your dog may not suit her dog or every other dog. I hate chicken necks now since my cat got one stuck & was in distress at 1am & my cats & dogs who are not usually fussy eaters wouldn't touch Royal Canin. If her dog is fat she is feeding it too much of whatever she is giving it. Not the vets fault, he/she doesn't feed her dog.

I wouldn't leave a 9 week old puppy bashing & howling in a crate in for 30 minutes it may injure itself & is obviously desperate for something. If it wants to go to the toilet & you ignore it has no choice but to do it where it sleeps as I assume the crate is small. Why not set up a pen so it can sleep at one end & toilet at the other if desperate. That way puppy is happy & so are you & family. It will be howling for its mum & litter mates, its only a baby.

Of course we over medicate our dogs & ourselves. Fear of getting or catching things is a big money maker for the manufactures of these products & the profits for sales along the line so I guess its a case of using common sense & the personal circumstances of how your dogs live & what the risks are.

I am not at all fussed how buyers approach or if they follow any etiquette as long as they are polite & honest. I reply to most emails even short ones as long as they don't say something stupid like I want the black pup & what the best offer. Which is stupid. If I have or am expecting pups I ask them to please phone me so we can have a chat & then I can get a better idea. One of my 1st questions is Have you had a poodle before ? About 90% say yes. Then we go from there. I don't mind if they get their pup elsewhere, they obviously didn't specifically want one of mine, just a puppy. Occasionally a buyer will mess you about a bit but its no big deal really & the pup is better off elsewhere anyway when this happens. Sometimes I have had people phone & they did not know much about the breed. Some decided this wasn't the breed for them after a chat, which is ok. Mostly those with toddlers or who didn't understand the grooming properly. Breeders can sometimes be scary. I have met a few who even scare me :laugh:

No hot water bottle please. Pup may chew it even if its wrapped up. They chew everything. Hot water bottle should only be used for anything with no teeth. You can get instant peace by letting the pup sleep on your bed with you. Works every time. Otherwise just accept that it is natural for this to happen. No mummy, no litter mates, sleeping alone & not used to it, strange place, strange people, strange noises & its only a baby. Wouldn't you cry ? I agree choose one place & that is it. Earplugs for both of you.

So many people die of cancer & heart disease. So many get sick every year with colds & flus & viruses but I have never heard of anyone dying or being off work sick because their dog lived inside & slept on their bed. If a house is filthy, dogs or not, its because the person doesn't clean it up & it would be like that without the dog there. People tend to over react about dog germs. People germs are a bigger problem. There are only a handful of diseases you can catch from a dog. Listing those you can catch from a person could be a whole book.

Sure is & it still confounds me. Every family I knew growing sent the kids to bed & the dog with them. They slept on our beds, played with us, guarded us & woke the family if anything was amiss & guess what. We all survived & didn't catch anything from them. We did catch plenty of things from people though.

If the coat grows back funny it was going to be funny anyway. The hair grows from follicles deep in the skin. Clipping takes the hair off at the surface & in no way touches or affects these follicles where hair grows from. To damage the follicles you would have to injure the skin to a deeper level than a clip. Its a personal decision how you have your dog & I would rather see any dog shaved than matted or at risk of getting everything stuck in its coat from the environment. A poodle I knew was kept short all over, head, tail ears too. It did not look pretty but it went swimming in the sea most days, except bad days, with its owner. She loved the personality of the breed & didn't care about its looks. Both happy.

fantastic. Its always so sad to lose one but for future I wouldn't try to revive & start breathing for 30 minutes. Scared that is too long without oxygen & brain damage may occur in that length of time. You will have lots of fun in a few weeks when they are up to mischief & all over the place.

It doesn't sound to me like any of your "issues" are problems. They are all normal dog behaviour. You are worrying so much & trying to get it all so right. There is no exact right. If you want your dog to sleep on the beds or furniture that is fine. As long as they get down when you tell them. If your dog walks ahead of you on lead that is fine. As long as you are not being dragged or pulled. Your dog can walk through the door ahead of you. It does not mean it is boss & uncontrollable. AS long as it will wait if you tell it to. Pups & adult dogs play rough sometimes & its not always the adult dog that is the pest. Sometimes you can tell the adult dog to back off & the pup comes back & pesters it more. They need to be allowed to sort it out, without damage, because they can't both be top dog. The pup challenges & sees what it can get away with so if it looks like its going too far seperate but don't tell the older one off all the time. Either just seperate or tell them both off. Having a multi dog household here & litters of pups too I always supervise young ones with the adults until they are 6 months old & sometimes a bit longer depending. They all get too rough in play at some stage. I clap hands to get their attention & say too rough & seperate the naughty ones if they don't stop instantly. They will be fine in the end. Just use common sense & have confidence.

The best way to put weight on this dog is for you to relax & enjoy being with him. Then he will relax & be happy too. No stressing about his food & the vet is only giving his opinion on ideal weight. Like people some dogs are naturally leaner than others & 2.5 kilos isn't a lot in proportion to his size. If that's him in your avatar he looks so much like one I had 20 years ago. They are fabulous dogs.

Have you tried using a clipper blade. On pants a number 5 is good. You just lightly skim on the surface of the coat as though you are lightly trimming a hedge You can also do this with some dog coats. A number 7 blade works the best but until you practise stick with the 5. Don't angle the blade or you get a cut into the coat. Keep it flat. Hard to describe it by writing it but it can give a nice look quickly if you can do it.

You know why the dog snapped & what to do to stop it happening again. Perfectly normal reaction from the dog given the circumstances. I wouldn't bother with a behaviourist. Its a few hundred $'s & you know what to do. Stop your son being this way with the dog. He sounds a lovely kind,sensible & good little boy so this should be a one off incident. I hate it when people expect a dog to put up with anything without any reaction at all. Once saw a child pull a dogs ears until it squealed & the parent said the dogs so good it puts up with anything from the kids It shouldn't have to. I would have done the mean mum thing called discipline.

I had a similar experience some 30 years ago but the dog was inside & desperate to get out & find me. 6 months old when I got him. Lived in a barn on a farm & had never been out of it until I got him. He ate a hole in my back door & got out. It was huge. Started it near the handle, probably yanking on it & the wood split. Temporary fix nailing a piece of wood over it was useless. One day I put the kitchen table against the door with a piano stool full of sheet music under it, very heavy, & 6 chairs on top of the table. All trashed & he got out again. In the end he was happy if I left him on the bed. Maybe leave the dog inside, he will hurt himself if you continue to leave him out. He may be scared stiff in your yard. I also would not leave a dog I had not had for long with the other one, especially given the size difference, It takes seconds for peace to explode & sometimes you may not know why. Get to know the dog first.

Have a few toilet rolls in handy spots & grab a piece if you see puppy has made a mess. Wipe poo up, grab puppy & take both outside until you can dispose of it.

2 of mine use them but I made my own. Someone gave me a heap of fake grass off cuts. I used the lids off the 32 litre plastic crates that I use for cat litter trays because they don't need the lids. Cut the fake grass to fit & turn the lid upside down & put grass on top. I have 4 trays so some can dry. I put it in the laundry sink daily, hose & pour a diluted jug of washing up liquid or soap powder over it & rinse heaps. Rinse & disinfect the tray. I have a shower attachment on the there not taps. Dries quickly outside. Yes it can get a bit smelly. The trick is to remove poo as you see it & wash it every day. The dogs do like it & used it all on their own.

I don't insist that I watch in surgery but have asked if I may come in for ceasarians. If the vet is confident & doesn't mind it is an honour & absolutely fascinating & wonderful experience. My first time it went wrong, not the surgery but the condition of the pups. I was sad but didn't panic or anything. For me its not lack of trust or confidence in the vet its just so interesting to watch.

It might make you wonder. Talk to enough vets, kennel owners and groomers and you might form a different view. They're there for dogs and they'll do what ever it takes to keep the dogs calm and often that means owner out of the picture ASAP. A no fuss departure where the dogs are taken from you is pretty common for a lot of such businesses. A teary owner saying fond farewells stresses a lot of dogs and acting to prevent such a possiblity would be pretty common I think. I have worked in groomers & have a few friends with kennels & seen the good & the bad. It didn't warrant this kind of behaviour or lack of manners to keep the dog calm in this case. If the owner is a wreck or neurotic it needs tactful handling anyway not rudeness & abruptness, which is basically what you are excusing when there was absolutely no need for it in the first place.

& the next dog on the banned breeds list will be the JRT. That's just how stupid everything has become now.

While it is true that much can go on behind closed doors that people would be shocked about first impressions count & as a business owner this person did not give a good first impression or make the owner feel confident or comfortable about leaving their dog there. The lack of sensitivity or courtesy shown to the owner has to make one wonder how he would be with the dogs in his care. The owner has gone away upset & worried. While I agree that over reaction & people getting ripped to shreds can happen on a forum in this case I can understand why the poster is upset.

A few years ago I went to look at 7 kennels in SA & every single one took me through the kennel areas. I have never heard of any that refused to let people look at the kennels. By appointment only is natural as they have cleaning & chores to be done but I don't know anyone who has had to leave their dog in kennels that they have never seen. Please pm me the kennel name & Lavendergirl too as I have people in Queensland looking for a good kennel to use twice a year on a regular basis & I will tell them to avoid these 2 places.