spottychick

ROFLMAO!!

you could invest in a zapper - I love those things hee hee :D It's so satisfying when you hear that zzzzzzttttt!!! sound. But I don't know how expensive they are. Or a simpler thing a friend of mine has - those fly strips. Revolting tho. They sort of hang from the ceiling and catch them. I try really hard not to spray near my dogs - I got very anti-flyspray when my dog had cancer. I used a fly swatter a lot but that wont help if there's too many LOL You'd be there all day

maybe she is.... flies? Skeeters????

well they don't need them anymore (dewclaws are a throwback) and they can get caught on things easily and torn off!! I had no idea ANY dogs had them on their back legs. I've never seen that. Well whaddayaknow - still learning sommat new every day!!!

Citronella is a natural mosquito repellant. You can find sprays with it in. Look for sprays that don't have lots of other junk in them like alcohol or chemical additives. Rufus and Coco do one with pyrethrin - I've not tried it but it looks good. Also sandalwood repels mosquitos - you can burn some on windowsills etc There's a few options at petsonthepark.com.au I'd be looking for something as natural as possible and non-allergenic to your dogs.

OMG She wasn't even fined. That $9,000 was just to repay the RSPCA for court costs. She only got a good behaviour bond FFS!!! Less than a slap on the wrist. How disgusting. And what a pathetic defence she had. Tho clearly the idiot magistrate thought it was acceptable. What chance do dogs have really??????

Brilliant Aiden. Thankyou so much for taking the time to write that. Will start him with ASAP

OMG! Does get any more gorgeous than that???

True re Tango! He's just so thrilled to go for walks - he'll even randomly go over to the lead and "sit" with his front paws "dancing" to ask me to take him out walking! But I am interested in your suggestion for a similar reason. Tango is quite terrified of water and wont go near the river when we go down there on hot days. Despite both me and Pepper happily frolicking in the water, he digs in and gets all "wild eyed" if you try to lead him in. So I'm interested in this "touch" technique of which you speak!! Is there somewhere I can go to get step by step instructions on how to teach it to him??? I'm thinking of buying a clicker to train him with. (sorry, don't mean to hijack this thread!!!)

Yes! Tango is doing the same thing. Not in any particular spot but usually when I want to turn around and head back home. He just sits, no real body language, but just pits all his weight against me and will NOT move. I don't really want to engage him in a power struggle LOL so I have started using treats to get him to come toward me voluntarily. Stubborn little monster - it really is a clash of wills in his case. Why do you want to do it without treats??? Just asking because I want to make sure I'm handling it right and if you know of a reason I shouldn't do it!!

Good point. I noticed when they were clipping the poor fella he was screaming and crying (it made Tango go barking off into the lounge room to rescue the distressed doggie!!! ) but he made NO ATTEMPT to bite and was not muzzled. They said he was in pain due to how bad the coat is. Which also made me wonder why they didn't sedate him. A distressed dog in pain - surely it would have been kinder to knock him out instead of putting him through all that. NO wonder he was making high pitched barking noises later - he was probably still telling them off!!!! But MY GOSH didnt he look beautiful at the end - hard to believe it was the same dog.

We had it on tv here over an hour ago

140 + taken in all (ie ALL of their dogs - they went back for the remaining 24). About 100 were rehomed. The jerks were fined $9,000 - not nearly enough in my opinion - and banned from owning more than 3 dogs in NSW. What the??? They shouldn't have ANY dogs ANYWHERE. When are they going to jail these creeps????? Meanwhile the standard poodles story (pepe/Pippin) was totally inspiring.

I stopped watching "current affairs" shows a long time ago but lately even the news broadcasts seem to have sunk to the same pathetic level. So I never bother to watch the news anymore either. I sometimes switch on around 25 past the hour so I can catch the weather report, but that's it. So this kind of rubbish reporting doesn't surprise me. I honestly think since the advent of the internet and everyone getting their news and info from the net blogs, various alternative websites etc etc, journalists have become worse and worse and the profession can barely claim the title "journalism" any more.

Just be aware that overcast doesn't mean safe from the sun. People get burnt on overcast days so my assumption is that dogs can feel the suns rays through it too. So if the sun was intense and then it got a bit overcast I don't trust it to be safe enough to walk the dogs in. I used to be less aware and have had one of my dogs drop from heat stroke in a park. I had to carry/drag him to a toilet block and hurl water on his feet, tongue and ears to cool him down. They will play and carry on until they drop basically, so don't use them as a guage!!! Personally I try to leave walks till late in the afternoon/early evening - except occassionally for a very short walk to the shop (a couple of blocks away) - and that is clearly enough for them when it's warm. On very hot days I throw them in the air con car and drive 2 minutes to the river. They are more than happy with that LOL

OMG Spottychick. I sincerely hope that your heart can fit into your "not very big" bod. It (your heart) seems awfully huge to me :D BTW I've also found this in your posts "this is of course not including the mad beast we've just adopted!!!". Surely you do not mean Mr Spotty Tango! He is the "darlink" of this household, so many similiar experiences here. He is the beloved one ;) hehe awwww what a lovely thing to say! :D Yeah dear Mr Tango is getting less "mad" every day *chuckle* @ "the beloved one" Jigsaw - I hope it does spill over - but I reckon it's bound to. It's all about respect to me :p

If you mean the easy walker harness I'm getting mine from The Vet Shed Easywalker These guys seem to be in Sydney but dont have a shopfront apparently (and they are more expensive) http://www.muttspace.com.au

Yes! Exactly what I thought too.

Funny you should both say that - I was just talking with her about getting some pics of Buddy Will try to get something today!

LOL Yep - although from what I understand Buddy would have thought he SHOULD pull on a harness clipping at the back LMAO so she did well to manage him with it like that!! And I reckon well done to "Sam". I'm really proud of her attitude - it may seem like she's neglectful and a "bad mother" but there's this core of her that really wants to do the right thing for him. I told her off later in the day because she let Buddy inside for the first time and he, not surprisingly, pretty much peed inside straight away - only a little to mark his territory. Anyway - she screamed at him, hit him and went to kick him - but I stopped her. I went over to Buddy who was trying to escape and patted him and calmed him down. Then I spent about 30 minutes going back over what I'd taught her previously about how to treat Buddy - no yelling, hitting etc because he panics and all he gets is fear not understanding of what she wants. I explained what I would have done (ideally anyway LOL I'm not always brilliant myself )- and pointed out that she didn't take him outside to show him that's what she wanted him to do and that he can't just "get it" if she doesn't calmly "explain" what he did wrong and what the right thing to do would be. Anyway - After a while I said "sorry if I seem to be constantly nagging you" and she THANKED me and said "No no!! I do really want to learn so it's great that you do this and I'm sorry I'm so thick - I just keep forgetting". She was brought up in a rough environment and what she sometimes does might horrify some, but what I admire is that I feel a genuine desire from her to change and learn. Like Buddy, she won't get it overnight, but to me the fantastic thing is she is TRYING very hard to overcome all her upbringing/learned behaviour and do the right thing - just for Buddy. So ;) "Sam" I reckon

Coooo! He's a lovely looking fella

I found this thread - it might be what you're looking for http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=108351

Here's the latest on Buddy for those who have taken an interest I gave my Easywalk harness to his owner about a week ago and since then I've been pretty busy so I couldn't do anything with Buddy. Anyway, today "Sam" dropped by my house and while we were having a coffee and goss she asked me what I was doing later - I asked why and she said "I really want to walk Buddy but I wondered if you could come with me". If you knew - or have got the gist - of how this woman usually behaves this is a MAJOR step forward for her and for Buddy. So of course I said yes!!! But when I got to her place she told me she'd already taken him for a walk all the way to the school!!! OMG!! That stunned me. She was happily prattling on about how he pulled a bit but he was sort of okay and how he stopped to say hello to some kids and half licked them to death over the fence and whatnot. But wait there's more!!! LOL THEN I ask her how she went with putting the harness on and it turned out she'd put it on wrong so the attachment was on Buddy's back instead of at his front!!!! I was flabbergasted!! I told her if she could walk him with the harness like that she will have NO PROBLEMS walking him with it the right way round. And no wonder he "pulled a bit" LMAO So I told her to go get him again and we'd walk him with it the right way round. I swear he was still so excited and hyper it took nearly half an hour just to get the thing on him and properly fitted. He really is a HUGE silly puppy. He looks just like a bear - but on speed!! He's huge (not tall but chunky as) but a completely silly gorgeous friendly goofball. Unfortunately he leaps up at people and that is very dangerous with a dog that big (as I can attest to!!) - I kept my face well away from his head. Once we had it on him properly we took him out onto the recreation ground and he was so unbelievable EASY to walk. It was magic to watch, it really was. Then she got her brother to walk him and there she was telling him all the stuff I'd explained to her about how to walk and train him with the harness. I nearly felt like crying it was so brilliant to see - they are BOTH going to take him for walks now that they feel they can control him. Next step - teaching him NOT to jump up (no more letting kids pat him when he's jumped up at the fence) and to sit when he's asked. He will do it - this big fella really wants to please and be loved. I'm so happy for him ;)

For bigger untrained dogs who pull like crazy I highly recommend it. Used as a training aid to get them used to walking without stress and strain on either of you - with a long term view to transition to a collar if possible, it is a brilliant tool. Because it's stress free it leaves you and your dog free to concentrate on proper positive training while you walk. I've been lending mine to several locals and it's made a huge difference to them walking their dogs. They are all buying one!!! But if you're talking about something like that cute little dog in your siggie LOL I'm not sure you'd really need it Seriously tho, if you have a problem with a dog pulling on his/her collar this harness will make it easy and gentle to correct them without you having to tell them off or pull them around or do anything at all really!! It's also good because it saves their neck and trachea from damage and better than halter style leaders because there's no risk of whipping their head around and injuring them. I found the dogs loved having their heads free of restraint and a happy dog is a trainable dog I reckon ;) That's my 2 cents worth anyway!

Look! A Dane in the CCD ring! (about to recall) It was so great to see one in there! Daaaaw look at that goofy squishy face!