Mim

I've heard the no potatoes thing too and also that potatoes are fine but their skin is bad? Sweet potato on the other hand is good for them, especially if they are on a diet. Sarge will eat everything. He chomps lettuce like a crocodile chomping some meat He LOVES mandarin and even orange and EVEN lemon! Banana, kiwi fruit, beans, sprouts, broccoli etc. he loves. I am unsure of the grapes thing. I think it may be that some breeds are more susceptible to having bad reactions, sort of how collie breeds are susceptible to ivermectin (I think) in medications like heartworm prevention. Elle has had grapes her whole life, she loves them, especially frozen in summer. A friends dog (rottie X lab) lived on a vineyard and one day decided to eat them off the vines. He was at the vet for a few days after that (but he did eat a lot and they weren't ripe).

Just keep in mind that pig ears are very fattening. It's much better to give something with nutritional value like a chicken wing :D

What side effects were they having? Mine are fine taking them.

I don't think there's an injection for fleas and if there was I personally would not use it. We had a flea invasion recently. Have never found a live flea but there was lots of flea dirt and scratching so they were there. We were using frontline plus but it is totally useless. Now we are using comfortis and fidos flea rinse and I think we've seen the last of the fleas. I soak them with the flea rinse (different to flea shampoos) and then every few days after that I dab a bit onto the areas that seemed to attract the most flea dirt. Comfortis is a tablet, beef flavour I think. Lasts a month and my dogs eat them willingly which is nice. It really is effective. ETA When we are flea free (I think they will be gone for good very soon) I won't be dabbing the rinse on, just dipping them when they are bathed. This is the cheapest place I have found to buy comfortis http://www.pricelesspets.com.au/products/comfortis Very good site and delivery is quick. Don't remember where I got the flea rinse from (online) but I think that without it, the dogs wouldn't have been comfortable again so quickly

Storm hit us full bore just before 5am. I was kept up by a shivering Muddy and also Elle pacing up and down the hallway. Don't know how much rain we got but I think it's a lot! The lightening was pretty impressive, I thought. It lit up the whole room and for a second it looked like the middle of the day. BichonCrazy here's the section of DOL with Bichon breeders in WA http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/breede...A&Submit=Go

Muddy is scared of storms because of the hail storm we had earlier in the year. That freaked him right out because he was outside when it hit suddenly. Daina gets a bit scared but nothing too bad. She sleeps with me normally and when it started last night she just crept under the blankets. Muddy then launched onto the bed and burrowed under the pillows and was shivering. I ignored him but the shivering was SO annoying. Elle is scared of storms and fireworks so she sits in a little gap between mums bed and her bedside table until it stops. Sarge sleeps through everything and wonders why we are all tired the next morning :rolleyes:

Could it be blood caused by the teething?

Daina and Elle have never howled. Sarge has howled twice, both times he was still asleep I think. Sound asleep one second and then the next he had shot up and was howling. First time I said "Sarge are you okay?" and he sort of snapped out of it and went back to sleep after a bit. The second time I just watched and he eventually stopped and lay down and slept. Muddy howls if the other dogs get taken somewhere and he gets left behind. He is a massive whinger The neighbourhood dogs all howl together when they hear a siren. I quite like it but none of my dogs join in.

This one is so cute. It's like the older sister is reminiscing her puppyhood.

So cute I love tibbies.

I couldn't even get through the trailer. Too upsetting for me.

I am in Perth but I would use this service if it was available here.

Very often people who are over have said something to the effect of "shouldn't you stop them before they kill each other?" whilst the dogs are playing. I can tell when it's getting out of hand though and the dogs all respect each other and will back off when one has had enough. When you actually see a full on fight you can see that their playing is obviously playing.

This does happen sadly Our plumber was gardening out the front of his house one day with his old dog sitting in the shade nearby, watching on. A random guy walking past saw the dog, leaned over the fence and bashed it on the head with a big piece of metal he was carrying. No provocation, no reason behind it at all. The man hadn't seen the owner there. Poor lovely old dog had serious injuries and had to be euthanased. I think the guy was charged. Hope this pup recovers and his owners make sure they have secure fencing which prevents the dog going walk about and prevents strangers accessing the dog.

HungryPillow is in Singapore. Maybe send a PM.

Just nipping in to say that I've been hearing of a lot of people getting flea infestations on dogs who are regularly treated with frontline plus, mine included. We've since switched to comfortis ($52 from pricelesspets.com.au) which is a tablet and it's much better in my opinion (and the dogs').

If only you were doing this in Perth, my dogs and I would be willing participants. I am sure Sarge understands mirrors. As a pup he was in the shed with me (which we use for storage) while I was cleaning and he saw a big full length mirror for the first time. I saw him watching it and waved at the mirror, he watched my reflection, stepped toward the mirror and then turned around and looked at me. It was incredibly cute but also interesting that he picked it up so quickly. He looked in the mirror a few times after that and each time I waved or wiggled or did something and he would turn around, away from the mirror and look at me. The other dogs use the mirror on our bathroom door to watch what's going on in the room around the corner when I'm brushing my teeth. They lie on the bathroom floor and watch the mirror and if something exciting happens (like another dog picks up a toy or somebody sits on the floor or one of the cats goes in) in the reflection then they will get up and go see it.

I go to Murdoch uni and have a busy day all day there tomorrow but I will be around the vet building at some point so maybe I will see your dogs I don't know specifically but canning vale should have lots of pet places as it's a kennel zone.

Very quick little snips and it's all over. The vet let me cut some of Sarge's stitches :D

Omg yes! Mud came home middle of winter too and I remember freezing my butt off to take him out while he waddled around nice and warm in his puppy fur. Little turd LOVES rain and would run around like a loon if we happened to go out during a shower (which was often) and so I'd have to herd him up but he'd be having so much fun zooming around. Then I'd have to dry off a wet puppy and plonk him in bed, just to do it again in the morning ;)

Good on the owners for returning the puppy to the breeder and not just passing it on or dumping it and good on them for realizing their mistake. But a bit silly of them to tell themselves (and the breeder) they could cope if deep down they really knew they couldn't. I had a moment of panic with Daina. I think we had had her 2 or 3 days and she was just so different to Ziva and my grief mixed with low expectations of myself as an owner and I just thought "She's not right for us, what have we done!". It didn't last long though and as soon as Daina became a little love bug and relaxed into her new home she slotted in perfectly. Now we share a really special bond as she came to me and loved me when I really, really needed her ;)

My lot have all been really good puppies. Especially Muddy. He's been a dream puppy. That said, I definitely don't miss it when they are grown up ;) I am not a morning person so getting up around 7am to take pups out to toilet and feed and then one or two toilet breaks during the night = a super tired me. I do love seeing them explore. That has to be the best thing about having a puppy. Watching them experience all these new things and develop into dogs. They all still act like puppies though and Mud is still a pup for two weeks

Yup it is definitely available at Coles. I found it right near the Sard Wonder Soap (another must have item for owners of dogs with any white fur). The Lectric is just in a clear plastic bag with "Lectric Soda Crystals" written on it and the logo or whatever. ETA I wonder how many people actually use Lectric for it's original purpose - soothing foot baths

I've never heard of cat poo poisoning. My dogs love going on a scavenger hunt to see where the cat has gone to the bathroom. It's disgusting when they find it and eat it, but I never thought it could be doing them harm. What are the signs of them being poisoned from it? It's probably just a term my vet uses and not a proper illness but each of my dogs at some point have been "poisoned" from cat poo. They just get upset tummies and throw up about a million times, no appetite for a day or so until everything settles down. Sarge had it as a pup and it was quite bad. All my dogs will vomit up cat poo approximately 4 hours after eating it and it is the foulest thing i have ever seen or smelt. It takes a lot of strength to clean it up without Our problem is that it's neighbourhood cats pooing in our garden in places we can't block off from the dogs so it drives us batty.

I hope Daphne is okay Elle seems to be totally immune to the ill effects of chocolate. She has a bad track record with it Most recent ones were Xmas when she stole and at 3 entire boxes of Roses chocolates. She was completely fine. The other recent one was when she stole two family sized blocks of DARK lindt chocolate. Ate it all and again was totally fine. She also spent about 10 years of her life eating grapes (frozen) as a regular treat and never suffered from those. Perhaps she is a super dog? ETA I am another fan of Lectric soda crystals. One or two large crystals shoved down the throat is enough to enduce vomitting in just 1-3 minutes for a corgi sized dog. I have used it when Mud has eaten cat poo. It is so much better making him vomit just after he's eaten in than suffering with the aftermath of cat poo poisoning.