Loving my Oldies

What can we say. Katie is in heaven on earth. Thank you and your family for giving this glorious girl life and love.

And THAT is what we, as dog owners, should all aspire to.

As you found, @giraffez, catching a dog on the run can be impossible. So the answer to your question is that it really depends on the circumstances. The worst situation is when (as in your case) the dog is on a busy road. Also the responses from vets differ. Some flatly refuse to take in found dogs and rangers in some councils refuse to come and get them. Difficult at so many levels and a matter of assessing the situation at the time. Slip leads, check chains, treats in car at all times.

I really do feel for you with the guilt and loss you are burdening yourself with. You have taken absolutely the right action for the dog. You say she is happy and loved with someone who is with her all the time. There is your answer. As hard as it is, you have said it, “… just let her be.”

Happy happy this morning. Sooty eating on her own

My precious Sooty is going steadily downhill, but we have regular vet visits to ensure we are doing everything that needs and should be done to give her quality of life. Her back legs are deteriorating and she now has dementia quite badly. She is still a good weight, eats and drinks well, albeit she needs to be hand fed. We still have good times and she still enjoys bopping around the front garden, but she needs a lot of comforting as her dementia presents itself in anxiety and seeming inability to move from the spot she is in. We have lots of cuddles and I regularly bring her into bed with me these nights as once she gets distressed in her bed at night, that is all that can comfort her. She generally sleeps through the night. Here are some selfie videos (no idea how I managed it LOL) that I took giving her a midnight snack. I am so happy to have these videos to remind me of our loving moments.

This is happening on my iMac: When I open Photos, I can see all my photographs. When I open Flickr, then click on download photos/videos, the photos I want to transfer aren’t there. Does not happen on my iPad. I used iPad to transfer the pix to Flickr and worked easily.

No one here would ever lightly tell you to euthanise your loved dog. We know the pain and heartache you are going through. We know the sick horrible feeling in the stomach and the heart of having to make this sort of decision. Most of us have all had to do it at some stage. What @tdierikxhas said below is 99.9999% guaranteed to happen. The rescue group is totally at fault in this case and have been derelict in their duty to the dog, the foster carers and, in particular, to you and Sam. My deepest sympathies are with you, but for the sake of Sam, yourselves, delivery drivers, tradies, you don’t really have a choice. Chose a day and time, load Rebel up with painkillers, give him a great time and the true love of releasing him from his devils.

No words - just sorrow.

So why pander to them and tell others who anthropomorphise with an understanding of what they are doing but still know that an animal is animal? AND, as @moosmumsays, they are beings with pretty well much the same feelings and needs as humans. The other day on FB someone called me a snowflake. I responded along the lines that if caring for animals and caring about how they are treated makes me a snowflake, then I wear the name with pride. Ditto Anthropomorphic. I’ve been called worse and it worries me not a jot.

Beautiful

Going to a park, kept on a tight leash on a blanket isn’t much fun for a lively puppy. What about taking a puppy pen so they can at least play with each other. I am not advocating letting them run around the park, on the contrary. But you want them to have a good experience. They don’t know you are trying to keep them safe. All they know is that their owners are tense and keeping them from behaving naturally. Have fun.

That attitude is certainly a change from so many attacks. I don’t have any advice, just wanted to express my sorrow that this has happened. It must have been terrifying for you and Ace and hope that it isn’t a long recovery for Ace. The daughter of a friend of mine went to a park with her three young children and little dog. The boys had run off to the playground, she was getting all their things out of the car. To cut a horrible story short, she ended up in hospital having micro surgery on her thumb and plastic surgery on her face. The owners took off, but someone got the number plate of the car. Needless to say, she is traumatised and can’t stop thinking about what might have happened if her boys had stayed with her.

Deepest sympathies, @Sashas Mum. Such a huge loss and a sad, difficult time.

Oh, poor baby. I always have a supply of Royal Canin gastrointestinal cans (from my vet) on hand for if/when any of my dogs get a bit of an upset tummy. Works a treat.

The “poor lady” was abusive in her opening post. She was the one calling people “disgusting & greedy.” I doubt she is even on the forum now as she didn’t get the sympathy and responses she wanted.

The last thing you should be doing is apologising. I was going to go on about COVID and market forces, too, but Troy’s servers might have run out of space.

@The Spotted Devil, 100% right. The girl we rescued and the girl we rehomed were chalk and cheese physically. Emotionally? Well she suffers severe separation anxiety, must know where her humans are all the time, but is the best snuggler in the entire world . @moosmum, it isn’t entirely the legislators’ fault, although they could wipe out puppy farms immediately if they weren’t so weak and, in some cases, involved.

TSD, earlier this year, I helped rescue a little dog running around the next suburb. She did her time in the pound and then came to me. After a week or so, I took her to the vet to be desexed only for him to discover she was already pregnant - we all thought at first she was swollen from a pregnancy. The vet thought she had a couple of weeks to go, but we were off by a day and she gave birth to four gorgeous puppies in my lounge room. She and the pups were taken over to the rescuer’s house where she’d set up the maternity suite and over the next 9-10 weeks those pups and mum were given the best care and introduction to the world you could wish for. AND the rescuer lives in a two storied house, the mum wouldn’t stay with her pups but wanted to be downstairs with her humans. So she would be up and down the stairs all day. I used to go over to give the rescuer a break and after a few hours I would go home exhausted from looking after the pups, ensuring the mum stayed with them, making sure they were properly “latched on “, etc etc. And this was an uncomplicated birth with only four healthy robust puppies. I can’t begin to imagine looking those litters of 10 and more and then coping with puppies with health issues or mum having difficulties. How would you measure that time, love, physical exertion in terms of dollars? Impossible. It seems to me that the OP probably posted in frustration and might, after careful consideration, tone down her assessment of “disgusting & greedy” …… I would hope so.

She is looking terrific

You have a name for all seasons, @Kirislin

And sometimes, So So.

Cupid

In another lifetime, I used to be a morning runner. I was miles from home and houses along a secondary road and stopped to look at some lovely birds about 50-60 metres away, two adults and a juvenile. Suddenly, a Stealth Bomber launched itself on an unwavering course straight for me. I probably could have won the marathon that day. I used to live in Brisbane and my run was mostly along Gympie Road. When I neared a school, I used to move onto the median strip hoping to avoid the Magpies. By god, they were terrifying. I used to carry a handkerchief and when I neared the areas where they were nesting, I’d run along waving the hanky over my head. I used to almost crack up laughing at how ridiculous I must have looked.

When are we going to get over this stupid nature/nurture debate? It is a combination. We all have our own examples and experiences. My eldest sister and I are four and a half years apart. Because we lived in small country towns in Queensland, when it came to secondary school education we all went to boarding school when we turned 14. My eldest sister was at boarding school for four years and then I went away. Therefore we didn’t live with each other except on holidays for six years. When I look in the mirror combing my hair, brushing my teeth, having a deep and meaningful conversation with myself, I see my sister looking back at me. We sound the same (if in the same house but people can’t see us, they don’t know who is speaking). Our mannerisms are the same, our facial expressions are the same. But we are very very different in personality. The ways we look at the world are like chalk and cheese. Nature/nurture? It is a combination and can be more or less of one or the other at any given time.