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Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!


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Poor Satchmo, must be a bit over all this playing! Normally he does not look quite so, well, animated in photos :D

wuffles - I find it interesting that your dogs have been ok playing with so many new doggies. Did you do anything special to help with the meeting?

Oh don't feel sorry for Satchy :) He loves his outings and walkies and he always gets lots of pats from everyone.

My two are fine meeting new dogs in any situation really. I can generally just let them go for it with any new pack of dogs with no issues. Sometimes they gang up or meet a dog that doesn't like them but that's not too common. Satch came to us well socialised so I can't claim any of that. But Ava has been around other dogs a lot since we got her as a puppy... as well as puppy school and obedience training she's been to numerous dog parks, run around with our neighbourhood dogs, had playdates with different sized dogs... she's naturally submissive but is happy to play rough games. She's been told off by other dogs numerous times, she has met unfriendly dogs, she has met crazy hyperactive dogs and old grumpy dogs... she's a good little girl.

Another problem with the long coat is all the buzzies that seem to be attracted to it. I took him to the off lead park (prior to the bath), which he loves, but there is obviously a lot of debris that can attach to a dog coat. I spent the night brushing and trying to pick out the buzzies, check paws for grass seeds etc.....

Ava's coat doesn't actually seem to collect debris at all :laugh: Unless she walks through cobblers pegs or something. I'm guessing Ziggy's coat would be thicker than hers though seeing as he's a strapping young lad...

Anyway, tomorrow is our last day in Brisbane before trekking home. We've booked accommodation at two places on the way back, both of which had no problem with dogs, but I don't know if they'll be allowed inside. The first is a motel and the second a hotel/pub/B&B.

Satchmo has been over the top with his barking while we've been away so I hope he settles down when we get back :D He just barks at everything... not for no reason, just people walking down the street, the neighbours, the neighbours mowing, etc. I don't know how to stop him :eek:

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Hope you have a safe trip home, wuffles :D

KTB- Roo loves ice cubes. On Christmas Day we were sitting outside under the pepper tree (which was dropping its flowers everywhere and those things taste dreadful! It was also when I got really sunburnt) before lunch and Roo had flopped under the table where I fed her ice cubes every now and then from the esky :eek:

I feel sorry for you all of you with dogs shedding at the moment. I took Ruby to my brother's this afternoon for her little holiday, and their Tenterfield Terrier kept leaving white hair all over me! :laugh: And he's only a little dog.

Ruby's mama dog wasn't around when we got to my brother's, and there was no one home, but Roo went around everywhere looking- including all the rooms in the house! When her mama dog and the TT (or 'half-dog' as my dad calls him lol) eventually turned up, Ruby got so excited she jumped over her mama dog! :D I doubt Roo even realised I had gone when I eventually left. I know she'll have a great time, but I'm not looking forward to the sulks she'll have when she's back home again! :)

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lilli_star: I was silly and put ice cubes in the indoor drink bowl. Hoover went over, dunked for icecubes and tipped the bowl of water everywhere. OH was not impressed :)

Lucky you don't have a James in the house, then! After long walks he likes to lie down with his whole head in the water bowl - because drinking whilst standing is just so hard :rofl: Most of the water is immediately displaced onto the floor.

Niques: Those photos are gold - I LOVE how flyaway James' ears are. It's like he uses his ears for propulsion or something!!!

Oh yes, that's how he achieves lift-off! He looks most un-labradorish with his propeller ears :rofl:

Wuffles, have a safe and easy journey home!

I feel sorry for you all of you with dogs shedding at the moment. I took Ruby to my brother's this afternoon for her little holiday, and their Tenterfield Terrier kept leaving white hair all over me! :rofl: And he's only a little dog.

James' cousin Lulu seems to be affected by this late Summer shedding as well - he kept walking away from her with yellow/white hairs all over him. I'm pretty sure James isn't shedding any more (nor any less, unfortunately!!) than usual, though ;)

Ruby's mama dog wasn't around when we got to my brother's, and there was no one home, but Roo went around everywhere looking- including all the rooms in the house! When her mama dog and the TT (or 'half-dog' as my dad calls him lol) eventually turned up, Ruby got so excited she jumped over her mama dog! :eek: I doubt Roo even realised I had gone when I eventually left. I know she'll have a great time, but I'm not looking forward to the sulks she'll have when she's back home again! :eek:

:o That is extremely cute. I think I missed reading it - how long is Ruby staying with them for?

So we experienced our first dog attack today. An Aussie terrier came rushing out of an open garage just around the corner from us on our way home, growled at James and promptly lunged at his flank :rofl: I distinctly saw his teeth land but it would seem that the little weasel's mouth was too small to make it through Pup's fur as there's not a mark on James. It then had the gall to start stalking him. I almost felt like laughing at that point - James could simply sit on the other dog and it would be squished.

It's the first time I've ever seen James slightly taken aback by another dog's behaviour. He was quite confused for a while there ("why would anyone bite lovable me??" :o ;) ) but I don't think there's any lasting psychological damage, thankfully. Me, on the other hand, I am extremely pissed off :rofl:

And to end on a positive, I didn't get around to posting a pic of James' play with his cousin the other day. I love this shot:

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ugh... back at work for a new year... :( oh woe is me... :(

Today a certain puppy turns one!! :thumbsup:

Happy Belated Birfday James!! Hope you had a great day :)

KTB, Cleo and KA- sounds like a whole lot of Star Wars nerds, uhhh I mean fans all had a great yum cha together ;) :(

Hey Now! I was a mere Spectator in the Star Wars Shenanigans. One of my cousins had joined us - he's a true nerd. Complete with light sabre in lucite box and a variety of character masks in his collection. :laugh:

Hope your teeth, sunburn and headcold are all on the mend :)

lilli_star: I was silly and put ice cubes in the indoor drink bowl. Hoover went over, dunked for icecubes and tipped the bowl of water everywhere. OH was not impressed :laugh: The dogs are loving them though - Hoover grabs a cube and runs off to his crate to crunch noisily. Elbie pushes his around with nose and tongue until Hoover comes back and steals that one, too...

Kuma is an ice cube fan too... I'm used to water everywhere - Akita's have this habit of lying down to drink. Kuma blows bubbles in the water and then tries to catch them. It's hillarious to watch.

Satchmo looks soooo long-suffering in so many of those photos. What a hoot. In other news, my two are shedding so much! I'm thinking of shaving them bald or something.

You should see how much mine are shedding here in Brissy because it's soooooo hot. Ava's undercoat is coming out in huge clumps (and interestingly, her undercoat is white, even when her topcoat is black) :eek: Thankfully Satch lost most of his back home but if you pat him you still end up with a handful of fur!

Kuma is nearly done with his summer blow. I'm still working on his pants - they are tough to get out and he's not too keen on letting me get to them. They are quite matted so I think it must hurt a lot. I'm working very slowly with a comb and getting garbage bags of hair out of his legs. It's a real bugger. Lesson learned, never let them get so bad. I had to distract him the other day with the WHOLE bucket of treats - he happily munched his fill until he'd decided that he could stand it no longer. He is a darling though, he will walk away from me when he's had enough, but comes straight back and leans on me.

The only place I can get him to stay still is inside the house. He lies flat on the tiles under the a/c vent... therefore I groom him there - and therefore my house is full of hair. I have vacuumed and mopped, but hell... Dog Hair is a Condiment, right? :laugh:

Lucky you don't have a James in the house, then! After long walks he likes to lie down with his whole head in the water bowl - because drinking whilst standing is just so hard :laugh: Most of the water is immediately displaced onto the floor.

Sounds like my boy :rofl:

Ruby's mama dog wasn't around when we got to my brother's, and there was no one home, but Roo went around everywhere looking- including all the rooms in the house! When her mama dog and the TT (or 'half-dog' as my dad calls him lol) eventually turned up, Ruby got so excited she jumped over her mama dog! :laugh: I doubt Roo even realised I had gone when I eventually left. I know she'll have a great time, but I'm not looking forward to the sulks she'll have when she's back home again! :laugh:

CUTE! I'm so unsure about leaving Kuma when we go on holiday.

So we experienced our first dog attack today. An Aussie terrier came rushing out of an open garage just around the corner from us on our way home, growled at James and promptly lunged at his flank :mad I distinctly saw his teeth land but it would seem that the little weasel's mouth was too small to make it through Pup's fur as there's not a mark on James. It then had the gall to start stalking him. I almost felt like laughing at that point - James could simply sit on the other dog and it would be squished.

It's the first time I've ever seen James slightly taken aback by another dog's behaviour. He was quite confused for a while there ("why would anyone bite lovable me??" :D :laugh: ) but I don't think there's any lasting psychological damage, thankfully. Me, on the other hand, I am extremely pissed off :mad

nasty... Why is it that it's generally the little dogs who have a score to settle?? I await the day when we get into trouble for Kuma doing the "Swipe" on a dog that's annoying him...

And to end on a positive, I didn't get around to posting a pic of James' play with his cousin the other day. I love this shot:

JamesLulu.jpg

great shot! You can almost hear their conversation...

*

So, we took Kuma for a long walk the other day... and he ended up limping again. Poor little thing... He's fine in short busts, so we must have over done it. We're going to crate him for the rest of the week and then see how he is before going back to the vet.

We also bought a water feature for our back yard, it's really nice! The OH set it up before xmas just to make sure it all works well, but we haven't put it in place yet. It's just on the back patio. Kuma thinks it's his personal water bowl and dunks his head in it. I'm going to put fish in it when it's properly set up... wonder how they'll go with a big black Akita face bobbing in on a regular basis! :rofl:

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Hello everyone! :thumbsup:

Just a flying visit! Mr Raven went back to work today so I may have some more time online once the house no longer looks like a bomb has hit it :laugh:

We had our first big 'scare' with Astrid on New Years Eve. OH woke me up in a panic in the middle of the night because he had been woken by the sound of Astrid vomiting. She also had explosive diarrhea (nice... ~blech~). Of course, the first thought is Parvo :D as it's rife over here at the moment. But thankfully it wasn't, it was "just" an upset stomach. Poor little thing was miserable for a few days though. She's back to her normal bouncy self now though, which is good.

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Ravenau - hope Astrid is on the mend!

wuffles - congrats on Ava becoming a half -sister (I think?)

I have been swapping dog stories with people at work (nice to know I'm not the only dog crazy one there!) One of my work colleagues has a gorgeous choc lab, and her OH made her a photo book of the dog for Xmas which she bought in for me to look at!

Just some quick shots of my boy. He is hard to capture in full action mode!

he isn't enjoying the heat today though!

Notice the "den" he has under the trees :laugh:

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Warning: Huuuuge post coming up ;)

betsy: Awww, isn't Zig handsome. He has such fluffy ears :D Such a big young lad too, do you know how tall he is? When we met Lottie in Brisbane, she made Ava look like a midget. Ava is just over 50cm at the shoulder, in the middle of the breed standard, but she is quite finely built and I keep her lean so when she got wet she looked like a rat.

ravenau: Oh I have been there and done that, it's so horrible :D I'm glad Astrid is feeling better. They seem to bounce back much faster than we do!

KA: UGH doggy pants. I am even considering trimming Ava's pants :D She hates having them brushed, and they are SO long, they get knotty. I do love the pants deep down though :D

...

We arrived back in Canberra yesterday afternoon, woop! Unfortunately yesterday morning, Ava managed to cut her paw on a piece of glass so now I have to play the fun game of 'keeping her quiet' :o There is a little flap of paw pad that I think needs to come off before it will heal, but it's too sore for me to just pull it off. Silly girl. She is dying to go for walkies and I really want to take her but can't :D Satchmo is just happy that his bed is back in its usual place and he can sleep. He IS feeling very itchy at the moment though and has licked some fur off his legs and chest. My poor doggies.

Thought I'd do up a bit of a list of things to think about when travelling with the dogs as I know at least KTB might be planning a trip!

Make sure your dogs are happy to be tethered out of sight of you at least for short periods. Unless all your accommodation allow dogs inside with you, and you do not plan on eating at any restaurants, they will need this skill :( Crating is good (we crated Ava in the hallway of our last stop) but it's not always practical due to time and space but they will still need to be out of sight of you at times.

Bring more towels than you would ever imagine you could need! Ones for drying wet dogs, ones for wiping mud off dogs, ones for protecting the car, ones for wiping paws, ones for wiping mud off your legs, ones for drying yourself after falling in a puddle, etc :)

Most fast food joints and restaurants DON'T have an outside area where you can sit with your pets. Our preferred way of managing this was to tether the dogs in the back of the wagon so they can't jump out, leave a little bowl of water with them and leave the boot open. If possible, we'd reverse the wagon into a carpark that was close to the eating area so we could easily keep an eye on them. We generally went into the restaurant one at a time as people WILL come and pat your dogs :( We left them in the closed car a few times for short periods only (10-15 minutes) when the weather was cool enough to do so.

Bring first aid stuff and other handy items with you. A bandage, antiseptic (like Betadine), tweezers, antihistamines in case of insect bite, paper towels, torch for late night toilet stops in motels with no lighting :D Ava managed to cut herself twice on the trip, first on her face then her paw. Also bring carpet and floor cleaners JUST IN CASE. Obviously a certain little girl who hasn't had an accident since 14 weeks old had never been on laminate flooring before as she did a big wee in one of the cabins while I was watching her :) She was fine everywhere else, even spending 2 weeks in my parents' house with polished floorboards and having free reign at night time!

Be prepared to talk to lots of random people and have your dogs patted by lots of random people. Ours were harrassed by a drunk guy, squealed at by scared children, cuddled roughly by friendly children and talked at by old ladies. Most of these people will not ask before they do so! We also received a lot of comments and answered lots of questions. We were told how well behaved they were three times. We were asked if they were good travellers about 50 times. We were asked about their breed lots of times (surely she's a border collie? surely?). One guy asked how old they were, where we got them, how we trained them, what breed they were, where we were travelling... you get the idea.

A toilet command is a godsend when travelling. When you stop at servos there is usually a little grassy patch somewhere and it makes it a lot easier if they can just 'go'. Ava knows the toilet command but Satch doesn't, so OH spent lots of time wandering around with Satch trying to find trees and poles and other things he'd actually pee on. I could just go to the grass with Ava, tell her to go to the toilet, and it was all done :confused: Also handy when pouring with rain...

Expect them to be a little stressed moving from new environment to new environment. A bit of pacing, panting and general uneasiness is normal. We found that having their own beds and toys helped.

Have a strategy for managing barking or whining. There were lots of sounds and people at the places we stayed so ours did bark a bit at times. Thankfully they were good when inside, even with noisy people in rooms next door. They sometimes barked if they were tethered and people approached (but only at our accommodation, we never had a problem at restaurants or such). Just something to think about.

Oh, just thought of another one... if it matters to you, ask lots of questions when it comes to accommodation and how dog friendly it is. Some will say fenced yard, but the fence might only be 1m high, or it might have gaps. Many don't have fenced yards. They may be allowed outside only. They may not allow certain breeds (we did get asked by most places, how big are they? but I emphasised that Satch is very placid and laidback, and Ava can be crated if need be). Baby gates are useful, we wished we had one a few times.

Overall ours were so well behaved, I was very impressed with them. We barely heard a peep from them in the car and they adapted well to each situation they were thrown into :D It was an inconvenience at times, but they loved all the new sights, sounds and smells, and we didn't have to kennel them!! :eek:

Edited by wuffles
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Hi everyone :hug: Seems it's been pretty quiet in here this week. I've been away at my dad's- he'll be moving down this way at the end of the month/early Feb, so we now have the not so fun task of clearing out/boxing up/sorting out a farm full of stuff that has been sitting around there since we moved there in 1989. Quite overwhelming really, especially for Dad. While I don't feel we did much more than just scratch the surface, at least we made a start, and I managed to cook and freeze him enough meals to last him pretty much until he moves, so at least I know he will eat (which I'm sad to say I don't think he was doing much of lately). I'll go up again in a week and try to get through another section.

While I was away, Ruby stayed with her mama dog and had a great time by all accounts. Except maybe when my niece accidentally fed her the wrong dog biscuits (the working dog biscuits instead of hers) and I shudder to think how big the portion may have been as well :eek: . It resulted in a very upset stomach :laugh: She seemed fine when I went over there yesterday- playing and having a great time, but it made a terrible mess of her bedding apparently. Just as well they were just old sheets :laugh:

We went to dog school today- got there a bit late because I was coming from my brother's place and miscalculated how long it would take to get there (Roo slept the whole way). Not that it mattered, since there was only one other person there! ;) No idea what happened to the other 5 or 6 people that are usually there, and no phonecall apparently either. Next week is graduation, so I hope they come then. These 2 classes were held over from last year as it was getting so busy with Xmas parties etc. I guess they forgot :laugh:

Ruby was very calm during the class (I wasn't sure if she was tired or sulking), and is now fast asleep on the grass outside. On the way home from dog school, I stopped to chat to one of my work colleagues for about 15 minutes, and Ruby met her dog through the fence and then flopped down on the footpath to sleep! :eek:

The cat yowled loudly during the drive home from where he was boarding- thank goodness it was only a 5 minute drive! He was not happy, and has reminded me of that pretty much since we got home a couple of hours ago :laugh: I feel bad because it's been a pattern of a week home, almost a week boarding, then home again since school finished for him, but unfortunately there's not much I can do about that right now, and it will continue at least for the next few weeks :laugh: Maybe even for the first few weekends when school goes back while we're tidying up the loose ends at my dad's. Cats are resilient though, right? :laugh:

Now for a bit of sad news with a happy ending though.

Yesterday afternoon my brother came home with a new dog. He found her curled up asleep near the gate of their other property- terribly skinny, dreadfully fly bitten ears and an infection around her neck from being tied up???? To be honest we're really not sure, but it is definitely a case of abandonment and mistreatment. We assume she's been dumped, and/or maybe escaped from being tied up for a long time. She's only young- maybe 4 or 5 months old, and looks to be a blue Cattledog cross (maybe with Kelpie as she has a long tail), and all things considered, is really a sweet little doglet. We gave her a wash yesterday afternoon in an antiseptic wash and gave her an antibiotic. Poor thing just stood there while she was washed- it's probably been the only kindness she's seen. Starving hungry too obviously :clap: My brother has named her Lucky. When she's recovered a bit, they'll train her and see if she'll make it as a work dog. She was a bit smelly poor thing from the infection around her neck- they're going to clip the hair later so that it will dry out hopefully and bathe it in salty water. It's amazing that after being so mistreated, she was still so trusting of us, and so sweet natured :rofl: I'll post a pic later.

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Sorry guys, I tried to post a couple of days ago but my computer was playing up, so apologies as I know I'll miss a few people's comments now.

Betsy - gorgeous photos! What an absolute stunner :rofl:

KumaAkita - Kyojin's pants always shed so much more than anywhere else. He hasn't been shedding too much lately which is great. Although if Summer ever comes, I'm sure he'll start shedding again! My big boofa has hit the 30kg mark now :rofl: Really starting to feel it when he does the Akita leans :crossfingers:

Wuffles - great post about your trip. OH and I are going away for 16 days in June for our honeymoon and I am literally terrified of leaving Kyojin. We still have no idea what to do with him. We have friends housesitting for us to look after the 2 cats, but I'm just so worried about Kyojin. If it was possible, I'd ask his breeders to take him. But we don't really speak, and they live in Canberra so I'd have to send him on a plane for that. I don't want to send him to a kennel either. I'm just worried that our friends won't look after him the same way we do, and that something terrible will happen. If we weren't going overseas for this trip, we'd definitely take him with us. OH has decided that from now on, we only go on Kyojin-friendly holidays :laugh: So your post was really helpful

Lilli star that's so awful about the poor dog your brother found. He's a very lucky boy that he has been found by people that will show him love and kindness. Hopefully the infection on his neck is nothing major

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Niques: love that shot of James and his cousin. James is really growing up! He has come a long way from his Little Wombat days.

KA: As to dog hair being a condiment .... Sigh... OH was using tupperware containers to house his LEGO as he was assembling the Falcon. When I got them back, they were full of dog hair!! :laugh: Lots of rinsing and scrubbing ensued.

Hope Kuma's not limping anymore! It's stressful when our dogs aren't 100%. Elbie was sneezing like crazy the other day and we were debating whether to take him to the vet. He'd probably have to be sedated because there's no way he'd let a vet stick stuff up his nose and look up his nose ... the sneezing has settled down a lot but he's still a little more sneezy than usual. ;)

ravenau1: Oh dear - how stressful for you, too! I am so glad Astrid is better. Hoover for a while had a habit of throwing up at night - we'd hear horrible retching sounds like he was trying to cough up a furball the size of a Kelpie and then we'd look in the crate and he'd sitting there doe-eyed with a little pile of vomit in front of him :rofl: Fortunately his tummy seems to have settled a lot so I hope Astrid settles, too. She certainly looks very lovely and pensive in that photo.

betsy: ziggy is such a happy and smiley dog - especially hiding away in his den ;)

wuffles: thanks for all those travel tips. I suspect we won't set out for our trip until perhaps autumn so that the doggies don't melt in the car. It's a lot of planning and organising and given that we have a sedan, it could be very challenging so we're thinking of hiring a car for the trip although if dogs are prohibited in hired cars then we'll have to rethink our plan!

lilli_star: So glad that poor dog ended up with your brother. I really don't think that I can ever understand how people can treat their dogs so shamefully. There's something very trusting and innocent about the way our dogs look to us and to betray that trust is just awful. :D Good luck with sorting through all the stuff ..I know it's very taxing work ... ;)

We have been busy getting things sorted out. Lots of admin. On the plus side, our new phones arrived and OH and I have had lots of fun playing around with our apps :whee:

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Yes KTB it will be much easier if the weather is good on your trip so you can leave the monsters in the car! The only thing is that I always felt a little bad leaving them there when we'd already been driving for 2-3 hours ;) We always took them for a little pee break before leaving them in the car but I still felt guilty. And while I was feeling guilty, OH was worried someone would break into our car with the windows down slightly, because of course we had suitcases/presents/boxes/allkindsofstuff sitting in the back seat!

I have spent the whole day getting my wedding invites done. I am about to start the scary part - printing them all out ;) I'm double checking them about a million times because I'm paranoid I've made a mistake somewhere :laugh:

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I knew I forgot something! Poor Kuma's leg. Hope the big boofa's alright.

I decided to ring our breeder today and had a really lovely half hour chat to him. He seemed really pleased to be hearing from us actually, and was really happy with how well Kyojin's going and how much we love him. I even spoke to him about getting a second one day in the future... Oops, naughty me!! :heart:

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Thanks for the concern, Kuma seems to be OK now... took him for a long walk yesterday and he pulled up ok, and took him out again this morning and he was fine.

Wuffles - Hope Ava is doing ok with her sore paw... poor poppet.

KTB - Hope Elbie's sneezing is under control. Kuma sneezes frequently, I'm assuming its because we have a dirt backyard, so he's probably inhaling significant amounts of dirt.

Minxy - oh, it's a slippery slope with those Akitas... I have to stay away from Tabatha's website, because I reckon I'd want all her puppies!

We are looking at in-home pet-sitting for Kuma when we're on holidays, just because I don't want to mess up his routine and have not had any good reviews about the kennels in the Canberra region. On the plus-side, they send you daily messages with updates and keep your house in order while you're away!

I love the photos of Ziggy, he looks like an adorable boofer. Oh and Astrid is just stunning - so pretty.

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Aww, poor Kuma. I hope he hasn't done himself a serious injury.

Raven, I do believe that the midnight retch/vomit is one of the scariest sounds to wake up to. I tend to over-react and panic when it happens :) Good to hear that Little Astrid is right back to her usual self though. She is so cute!

Ziggy is such a handsome devil! I love the first photo - it's so hopeful. "Please play?" :love:

Lilli_star, that's such a sad (and all too common) story about Lucky :party: She is indeed lucky that your brother has found and will take such good care of her :laugh: Poor little pup.

I don't know how people can abandon their dogs or surrender them at the pound. I've just dropped my rascal off at just the boarding kennel and have been depressed all morning :eek: Of course, all feelings of guilt vanished when we actually got there and I didn't even get a backwards glance - he saw a wolfhound or deerhound as soon as we pulled into the carpark and was oblivious to everything except the dogs after that point :(:( Am a little worried about picking him up next week if this rain continues - the kennel's driveway is already under a lot of a water. A little more and I don't think we could've made it through.

It's very quiet without him...

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Ahhh yes, the guilt of leaving one's pet while one goes away :) Tell me about it. The cat has not shut up since I brought him home on Saturday, and Ruby is still sulking I think :p She has played with next doors dog each afternoon, but I still feel guilty. She still has an upset tummy too, so that hasn't helped wipe away the guilt. I even went to the supermarket and bought 1/2 a BBQ chicken especially for her yesterday too! :heart: I hope she's back to normal soon.

Glad to hear Kuma is doing better. Yet another cause of guilt is going back to work after holidays, isn't it? :laugh: Hope he's staying out of the rain.

No rain here yet (although it's forecasted), but it's really windy.

Niques, are you staying dry? Poor Queenslanders just can't get a break :(

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Hi All

Niques & Lilli_star- know how you feel. Poor Ziggy was in the kennels over the weekend. He was initially excited upon hearing the doggies, but not so excited to be confined. Apparently he was 'too boisterous' to play with the other doggies there so only had play time by himself :heart: . I have spoilt him with cuddles and raw bones since he has been home. I felt so bad about leaving him...I feel like I should get him a playmate, just so he isn't by himself in the kennels....(Minxy!)

KA and wuffles - poor doglets hurting their paws! Hope they are better soon.

Traveling with doggies sounds like a bit of hard work. Are they allowed in rental caravans/campervans I wonder?

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wuffles: I'm sure your wedding invites will be wonderful - you are always so conscientious!!

As to the dog patting thing you mentioned in an earlier post, I've noticed that Elbie and Hoover get lots of pats when out but people never ask first. So many kids will pat without asking permission, too. It's fine with our two because they're not aggressive at all - but if excited, they can jump up which might be scary for some people. I find it interesting that people don't ask permission. I always do because just because not every dog wants to be patted by strangers. Our two are total tarts though and pretty much love everybody :(

Niques: :thumbsup: I sympathise! I really am not quite sure what to do about the whole vacation thing if we decide to go somewhere that isn't dog-friendly. People could come and feed and walk the dogs but I'd feel bad asking friends and family to do poo picks and with two Poo Machines, we pretty much have to poo-pick twice a day!! I'd also feel a bit weird having people staying here when we weren't here and I'm not sure how the dogs would cope in a kennel. :thumbsup: Ah well, I'll cross that bridge later I think.

lilli_star: Hee! Half a BBQ chicken for Queen Roo. I'm sure she loved it.

betsy: poor Ziggy! He always looks so happy in his photos, I'd hate to have seen how dejected his face was when he couldn't play with the other doggies. What is meant by two boisterous? Does he jump on the dogs? Or is he a bit humpy sometimes like my two :(

Here is a video of

. He made up the rules himself and will play it for ages and ages so long as someone will kick the ball to him. It involves holding one toy in his mouth and then using his feet to stop and kick a tennis ball. He sort of played it before but his aim is getting pretty good!=.

doing biteyface - it's a bit long but I wasn't sure where to cut it :( Elbie sounds like a cross between a wounded tauntaun and a distressed wookie and Hoover lets out ultrasonic squeaks. It's pretty funny. I also love the tug with the squeaky steak because not only is Elbie not resource-guarding, he keeps running back and shoving the steak in Hoover's face in the hope that he tugs. Also, the 'vicious crinkle face' that Hoover shows Elbie when playing bitey-face is something he only ever shows to Elbie - thankfully we've never seen it. But I love the bit at the end when I call his name and his face changes from Crinkle Face to Puppy Hoover in a heartbeat.

Also, I was having a chat with Hoover's breeder today. She's expecting another litter soon if anyone feels like getting a naughty little Kelpie puppy :eek:

ETA: also, two small successes today:

1. Elbie and Hoover were left in the car today when we went to pick up dinner and Elbie didn't make a sound - he was very quiet till we got back.

2. He was also much calmer in the car than he usually is - he still goes a bit hyperactive and excited at the turns but today he was very good. Maybe he will become a good car traveller after all ...

Edited by koalathebear
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LS, half a BBQ chicken surely makes all a puppy's problems disappear :thumbsup:

Niques, are you staying dry? Poor Queenslanders just can't get a break :eek:

Yeah, we're thankfully in a generally good area re: floods. Our local creek (http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/gallery-e6frer9f-1225983022068?page=8 - photos 19+20 also claim to be our creek but I'm fairly sure they're mistaken as it hasn't been that high) has only just gone over which is peculiar - it normally floods at the mere sight of rain so we've been waiting for it to happen for some days now. My biggest (irrational) concern is for James at the kennel - I'm sure they know exactly what they're doing but they are out further west from us and given the state of the road this morning, they're in for quite a bit more flooding this week. Really not happy to be away from my boy :(

The photos and footage of elsewhere in Queensland are unbelievable though :thumbsup: Very scary.

We head off in the morning to NSW for my brother's wedding and navigating some of the flooded roads at the border is going to prove potentially problematic.

Poor Ziggy! I'm quite certain the same thing will happen to James - although knowing him, playing with new people will be nearly as fun as playing with new dogs, so hopefully he'll bear it tolerably well.

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Watched your vids KTB - your furkids are cute! I laugh especially at your OH kneeling at the alter of the LEGO Falcon in the background :D

Yay for Elbie's new-found car calmness!

Minxy and Niques - hope the renewed weather activities aren't impacting you guys too much. Stay safe (and as dry as possible)

Kuma was being a turd last night, wouldn't settle and was being a general poop. Turns out he just wanted us to go outside and play with him! He was happy when we played fetch with him and then was all tuckered out... He's a funny bugger! Probably bored after his first full day on his own in a while.

Inspired by KTB I bought a bubble wand, they were on special for $1 at BigW. I spent ages blowing bubbles for him to chase, it was so funny! He was chasing them and jumping trying to get the ones floating away! I tried to blow bubbles with one hand and take photos with the other - the result was lots of blurred images with just the dog's butt in the frame!

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