Pheebs

Second this. My Maggie (2.5 at the time) and Tess (11) never really liked each other but were happy enough to co-exist. Maggie started ganging up on Tess in a big way - we got Tess' brain tumour diagnosis about 2 months later and lost her the following month

Thanks guys :D

Whilst not purebred, my Maggie is still a nuggety-ball-of-love

I credit DOL with introducing me to my husband-to-be :laugh: Mantis posted a thread on a forum she frequents that was bagging pitbulls. I joined that forum so that I could post, met a few people on there, ended up house-sharing with one of them, who introduced me to a friend, who introduced me to the ex-girlfriend of my now fiancee (I never said it wasn't a six-degrees-kinda-thing :D ) I've had some incredibly kind DOLers care for my beautiful Tess when I went through a sh*t of a family time... I've also had the lovely lilypily look after our hairy beasties whilst I've been undergoing tests at hospital AND the incredibly talented and lovely huga is doing the photography for our wedding!

I've been pretty happy with Fiona Anderson and Aaron Luttrell (?) at Ballarat Vet Practice (Sturt Street Practice) but as above, have only needed to go for the routine things :) *touch wood*

Oh, I'm so very sorry. He was such a sweet, lovely boy and I know how much you adored him.

My two cats are named Lord Hugo Paploux von Cuddlepants and Lady Jemima Pikelet de la Snugglebug

I'm not great with the sizing but I'll give it a try! :) Toy: Chinese Crested (Hairless) or Griffon bruxellois (Are these even toy? If not - I've always wanted a chihuahua named Miguel :D ) Small: Pug Medium: British Bulldog Large: Weimaraner Giant: Great Dane One day I'll tick all boxes (have only done two thus far!)

Disgusting.

Nevermind :)

Lots of things! Obviously most importantly is the level of 'care' (broadly speaking) but a big one for us is someone who's familiar with giant breeds and the risk of things like bloat.

Am on a train at the moment so shall keep this brief... I am on a few Facebook groups for lost/found pets in VIC (predominantly staffies).... It astounds me the number of people who hang onto other peoples dogs (with the best of intentions) claiming every effort is being made to find the owners. I've made my thoughts known on the matter and have been met with rather hostile responses. I would be furious if someone were hanging onto one of my guys in the event they went missing - how the hell am I supposed to find them in your backyard?! For the record the group is "Stolen/Missing and Found Staffords Victoria" if anyone's interested..

(Rude... isn't it?)

It's pretty sick isn't it? If you don't mind me asking what region of Melbourne are you in? I'm not sure whether we just hear about these things happening more and more or whether they're increasing in frequency what with the stolen dogs for alleged ringfighting, accusations of a dog slaughter house and baitings of companion animals - doesn't do a great deal to instill any faith in the human race.

Peace_of_mind - at the risk of coming across as a sh*t stirrer - I notice in the general dog forum you mentioned that someone did a letterbox drop in your area alerting you of intentional baiting of dogs in the area... does this not concern you that your cat too may be at risk? ETA: My mistake.. just re-read that you had your cat PTS Apologies... Still... it goes to show that there are some truly nasty people out there

She was chipped as a Boxer X but everyone who has met her (including the LDH where we adopted her) says BM. Reading up on breed profiles she certainly identifies as being very similar to bullmastiffs. And I suppose she looks bully enough to have me concerned about ignorant twits... that said I've always just thought of her as "Maggie" :D

I'm really eager to hear how the OP got along and any advice he may have been given - it's surely bound to help some newcomers seeking similar suggestions :)

It's crazy isn't it. I used to frequently find the neighbours kids in my backyard after they'd lost a ball over the fence. Fortunately my Weimaraner thought it was a great game to run around with said ball in her mouth singing her typical "woo woo!" song (the game of chasing her to get it back always seemed to give her great delight) but it never ceased to amaze me how easily this scenario could turn very nasty and how little the parents actually cared.

How interesting! Maggie doesn't seem to serve any particular purpose other than to be a cuddly slug. Oh and fierce defencer of the fence perimeter :laugh: She's never particularly had any great drive to work either...

I've been told Boxer X but I don't buy it :laugh:

Thanks guys - feel better now :)

This is very much Lucy's MO :laugh: I know it sounds silly to say "my dog's not active enough!" - I just want to make sure that she's entertained and challenged - if she's flat-out not interested I can't make her... as I guess in the two years we've had her I'm sure she would have figured it out by now watching Lucy...

Hi Guys Bit of background info... we adopted Maggie in January of 2010. She was surrendered just very recently having had a litter, about 8kg underweight and had been pulled around by her ears and they were semi-detached and infected with maggots ... Whilst it is a minor victory - today marked the first occasion I have ever seen Maggie respond to play... she half-heartedly pawed at a rope-frisbee and waved it under Lucy's nose I suppose I should clarify... she loves a rough-and-tumble with Lucy - in true Boxer style she 'plays' very rough... (basically they play chicken with each other and mouth each other like crazy), but she has no interest in toys, ropes, frisbees, kongs, nothing. She looks at you somewhat puzzled with the expression "And what is it that you'd like me to do with this?" She also has no idea how to engage in play with people. I guess I'm just worried that she's not challenged enough during the day and when in her crate. As I mentioned she showed promise this morning when investigating a rope frisbee with Lucy - any way I can encourage this? I guess I'm just used to my crazy Lucy where anything is fair game - gumboots, the doormat, etc. Could this be a result of the neglectful past?

Not really sure why you quoted that part of my post but anyway.... I just don't understand why ensuring our dogs are safely contained falls under the umbrella of "responsible pet ownership" but we don't extend this to our cats. As someone mentioned previously, part of keeping our pets safe and contained is not strictly for the safety of our pets but for the general public. IMO there's nothing that the "outdoors" can provide that a sheltered outdoor catrun can't in the way of sunshine, fresh air, etc.. I guess we can scream until we're black and blue but until something horrible happens to your pets - people just won't learn (or never will as other threads in the cat subforum have shown ) It took witnessing my beautiful burmese bleeding from the nose and bum from being poisoned to send a pretty strong message that perhaps letting him roam freely wasn't a good idea - and we too thought he just stayed around the backyard perimeters...

:laugh: :eek: