JulesP

I got a puppy straight away when my first BC died. His friend didn't take his death well and I was worried I was going to lose her too. She was 11yo. She was fine with the puppy and perked up again. She 'raised' another 2 puppies after that. It is hard to get a handle on what you like as your suggested breeds are quite different. What sort of things do you like in a dog?

Rainy weather is great for walking reactive dogs :)

A friend that bakes a lot just sent me this link for homemade treats. http://pamperedpoochpartiesandbarkerytreats.com.au/

Supercoat do a small dog biscuit.

My border collie gets a third of a tin of Nature's Gift so I find it pretty economical. It is quite fattening which is why I feed that amount. Pet chicken mince is one of the cheapest meats I've found.

A puppy....

I think if the human is away from the dog for large chunks of time that 2 dogs are better then 1. A cat might work with a Pom though?

I don't so much agree, I think you can have the healthiest, most well bred pet but in the end, things happen. . . . I was speaking about probability. Of course, some individuals with dogs from healthy stock whose owners did everything right will have serious health problems. But odds are, that their pet health bills will come out to be less than their insurance fees in the long run. If it were otherwise, the insurance companies would go broke! In a year I have managed to have 2 pets get 'rare' unusual conditions. Sometimes shit just happens. Prior to this I had 20 years of only going to the vet for yearly injections.

The Puppy Bars go at the back of the car, near the door, not were the cargo barrier is. You can have puppy bars and no cargo barrier if you want. From Puppy Bars :) http://www.puppybars.com/

Sorry I thought that you meant agility was contributing to the injury. I have stopped doing agility and herding with Poppy though as I felt that she was struggling physically.

Personally I wouldn't continue to do an activity that was causing a recurring injury in my dog.

I feel better after I do whatever it is that I am going to do with the ashes. Have a little ceremony whatever. But actually being handed the ashes makes me hysterical.

Picking up the urn might be a bad moment. That bit has always undone me. So maybe send your OH in to get it.

These are my favorites. Great service too.

Wait for a couple of days and restrict exercise to see if it resolves by itself would be my suggestion.

It cost me $2500 just to get a diagnoses for Amber. So you can spend a heap before the dog has even had any procedures. It was going to be another $5000 if she needed the operation. Her medication is around $2500 a year. The thing that bugs me is when the vets just do a heap of procedures to find out what is wrong. The vet I took my cat to first seemed rather happy that I was going to have to spend a heap of money finding out what was wrong. I don't mind a test to confirm something but have a basic idea first. Just from googling I had an idea what was wrong with both the cat and Amber. I never like to suggest stuff to the vet but will be in future. They don't tell you what things are going to cost either. A poo test cost $150 which surprised even the vet nurse.

You are the one that said you sent a very abrupt/rude email.

Sending rude, drunken emails is not the way to educate anyone about anything.

The ad is gone now, teehee. I'm thinking they probably read your email! Yeah instead of trying to find their dog a home they are probably going to take it to the pound instead. Good job.

How about volunteering to walk the dogs at the RSPCA?

Yeah I agree too. I wouldn't sell you a dog either. I wouldn't sell any student a dog though. OK I said no to my brother once so I am pretty picky about who I would sell a dog to. So picky I don't breed anymore! My family did bring our dog with us when we moved here from the UK too. So it is more the student thing that bothers me. The lady at the shelter could probably been politer about it but she might have had a shitty day as I imagine would happen working there.

There is nothing really that can be said to make you feel better. It is going to hurt like hell but I promise it will fade.

I think I'm not coping because I know no matter what I do, I will lose him in the end. He has always come running to me when he's sick/scared - but this time I can't fix it. Past 4 weeks I've tried to make it better for him. No you can't make him better but you can stop him from hurting. That is an amazing last gift you can give.

You haven't failed him yet :) You are asking questions that most of us have asked. I spent hours trying to decide if it was the right time for my cat. Did heaps of googling etc. It isn't an easy decision to make. If you google you will find volumes of stuff with people feeling the same way that you are now.