Malamum

We've had quite a few blue tongue lizards meet an unpleasant demise in our back yard. I really hope we don't have any more come in as they don't stand a chance and I hate seing them get killed.

Glad to hear she is improving.

We had it happen to our girl who is only 7. It was very scary as we had no idea what was wrong with her. She tried to go out the dog door as per usual and then fell of the ledge (that is outside our laundry). She then kept trying to walk and kept falling over. It was like she was drunk. Then we couldn't get her to calm down as she kept trying to walk and would panic when she couldn't keep her balance. The OH basically had to pin her down and then carry her to the car. I don't know how I would have coped if I'd been on my own as she is too heavy for me to carry. Anyway, the vet kept her all day for observation and it had pretty much cleared up by the time we bought her home that night. Our vet said it may reoccur or she may never experience it again. This was at least a year ago and she's had no inkling of it again.

Yep, anyone who decided to come in through our dog door would get a very unpleasant surprise. It does come in very handy for us when we forget our keys though.

That's the one I was looking at to be installed in a wall. Sounds like they hold up well then? We've had it for a bit over 8 years. The rubber flap that came with it detoriated a year or so ago but we just went to bunnings and found something to replace it with.

We have the largest dog door I could find. It's a Staywell XL from memory (but it's been a long time since we bought it). It required cutting a hole in our wooden laundry door to install it. I figure we are always going to have large dogs and if we move I'll replace the door and take the one with the dog door already in it, to our new house.

She is beautiful.

This is not a sensible suggestion at all. This type of thinking creates an us and them mentality between owners of large and small dogs. It's as bad as someone suggesting that eveyone own small dogs as they are unable to cause as much damage. If you are prepared to acknowledge that your little dog can be easily killed in these situations and accept the loss of a pet as a result then my suggestion may not be sensible I agree. However, if you prefer your dog not to be killed and have a fighting chance if faced with a situation like this, a bigger dog makes a lot of sence in risk management, in fact, a bigger dog will often prevent a like situation occurring in the first place as they don't present the prey trigger that a small dog does. The flip side of your argument is that everyone should own little dogs so that the potential to kill another dog is not there. I don't have a little dog, I have two very large dogs (so I'm not taking it as a personal affront), I just think it's a stupid suggestion. If peopole want little dogs they should be able to have them and not feel at risk. The issue at hand is containment, not whether people should or shouldn't have certain types or sizes of dogs.

This is not a sensible suggestion at all. This type of thinking creates an us and them mentality between owners of large and small dogs. It's as bad as someone suggesting that eveyone own small dogs as they are unable to cause as much damage.

I answered no, yes, yes. These are not absolutes but more starting points. I regards to the question on websites it's not that I would never buy from someone because they don't have a website, it's more that I would probably never find them in the first place.

Me neither, not for dogs. Me three.

One of our dogs can get a bit excited about taking treats. We use the command "gentle" but I've found how you hold and give him the treat makes all the difference. If you hold only the edge of the food in the tips off your fingers he tries to just get the food with his teeth and goes a bit too quick. This is when he gets fingers by mistake. If you hold the food totally in your fingers and actually put your fingers in his mouth then he is very very gentle and never ever nips this way. Not really a training tip though. That is just what works for us.

I don't want all the hair in my bathroom. Bathing ours involves putting swimming costumes on and getting out in the backyard with the hose.

I don't think water to swim/lie in is necessary. As long as the dogs have a cool spot and don't get overheated in the first place then their coat acts as insulation and is what helps them maintain their body temp.

I don't have my qualification but have way more knowledge about medical problems than our other nurse who has her qualification. I regularly have clients asking me if I'm a vet because of the information I am able to give them. But I shouldn't do this because I don't have a piece of paper??? eta: I did get part way through my qualification but stopped because it just seemed pointless at the time. We were learning how to mop a floor, for goodness sake. I have done training days with Anaesthetists in Advanced Anaesthesia, gone to many Specialist Seminars on all sorts of topics, studied Vet Text books (simply because I'm a nerd) and spend countless hours learning from my boss. But again, none of this is recongnised as a qualification... I consider myself competent in all aspects of nursing. I take bloods on my own, put IV's in on my own, do all our anaesthetics, wound treatments etc. I have a sound understanding of what I'm doing because I've learnt it. So yes I consider myself a nurse regardless of the fact I don't have a Certificate on the wall. Tell me you're not serious with your rebutal? I consider myself very knowledgable too, and I was also once a a Vet Nurse and I too have worked in various areas including radiology, dentistry and pathology. I have even speyed a bitch. However, I would be VERY remiss to think I am an expert and free to give medical advice in that capacity. Quite simply - I am not qualified. I may be qualified to give simple advice over the phone, and as I clearly stated in my post, there are many nurses who ARE highly qualified. Many ARE not though Stormie, and that includes the Nurses at the Clinic I frequent. They are NOT nurses, they are recptionists and kennel hands and I would not seek advice from them at all. I like my clinic's nurses, they are capable and efficient, but I would never expect and nor do I ask for advice from them unless I was seeking advice about something they were qualified to advise on. I do the same with the receptionist at my own Dr's clinic funnily enough. I would never expect them to provide me with advice in areas they were not qualified to give advice. The standards I expect for me is what I also expect for my dogs. People can gain just as much knowledge from practical experience as they can from a classroom. I personallly think more in most instances. To automatically assume that someone with a piece of paper is right and someone with practical experience is wrong will often get you led astray.

Very cool shots. I love the one of the little dude hopping along. I remember driving parrallel to a huge paddock once, where a whole herd (no idea what a collective of roos is called) were hopping along and there was a very small one going hell for leather and overtaking eveyone he could. It was so cute and really amazing to watch.

I have one dog who has to be in front and will pull until she is, but she walks like a dream on her own. The other one doesn't care so I keep his leash a tiny bit shorter so Miss Pully Bum is ever so slightly in front. As long as she feels she doesn't have to catch up she sets a nice moderate pace.

Pennant Hills Road and a loose dog are not a good mix. She is lucky you spotted her.

I would be seriously pissed off if the OH just bought an animal into our house without it being a mutual decision.

Me too. I can go away for a week or more and it's just business as usual for the dogs. I am the one who tends to look after the worming and flea/tick treatment schedule though. Not because the OH can't or won't, I'm just a bit more anal and am more inclined to mark it all up on the calendar. He'd just try to remember.

I've never had an issue with any of the receptionists at the surgery we visit, but I don't have unrealistic expectations either. I have never once called and just asked to speak to the vet. I always explain who I am and what I want. Sometimes the person who answers the phone can help me, other times they put me on hold while they find out the answer and then come back to relay the message, sometimes it involves leaving a message for the vet to call me back and sometimes the vet is available to speak to me there and then. Vets do not have a desk job where they sit around waiting for and taking calls all day. I would be seriously pissed off if I was in the middle of a consult and the vet kept taking calls during it. A serious emergency is a different story but it's up to the receptionist to determine the nature of the emergency not just take everyone’s word for it. For a vet to be available to come to the phone immediately, every time someone called then I would hazard a guess that they did not have a very successful practice. There are good and bad in every profession and there are always good and bad customers too.

I think it turns out that the dogs were Malamutes.

Yes classic anthropomorphism of animals Dogs don't have morals, ethics, ability to feel any intent etc...... Sadly these dogs are at the mercy of their owners who - having had the council around their place doing work - failed to check to see if their property was still safe for their dogs to run around in without fear of escape. Result = 1 traumatised pet owner and 1 poor JRT who never stood a chance!! I have had siberians for 17 years......anyone who has ever been to any of my properties, as a worker or doing work near by, has had to deal with me being in their face about making sure nothing is done to make it possible for my dogs to escape and if anything is - that they let me know so I can temporarily fix it until they can permanently fix it. It is MY responsibility to check my property to ensure my dogs are securely contained BEFORE I let them out to play! I think there are lots of assumptions being made about how responsible the owners are. What if their normally secure yard was as it has been every day for the past xx years when they left for work that morning. Sometime after they left the council turns up to do some work outside their property and one of the workers accidently backs a piece of heavy machinery through the fence. This enables the normally secure dogs to escape and the owners arrive home from work that afternoon to realise their worst nightmare has happened. We just don't know enough of the facts.

I think some see it as the line between a dominant dog and a submissive one. Their conclusion is that if you can take food from your dog, you must be dominant to it. If you know that resource guarding has no relationship to pack hierarchy, I'm not sure how you conclude that being able to take food from a dog makes you higher up in that pack hierarchy. I agree with you but I think those that are getting into pack hierarchy in regards to resource guarding and being able to remove food are those that have a degree of understanding about dog behaviour. Whether they are right or wrong is something I'll leave to the experts to answer as I don't have enough knowledge to comment. I was referring to Joe Public when I mentioned people seeing it as a defining factor between having a good or bad dog. These people don't understand dog behaviour one iota and truly think that you must be able to take food off a good family dog. They are generally the same numpties who think the dog is humping their leg because it's horny.

That's assuming you actually do these things. Of course, but the poster I was responding to was saying that a puppy from a BYB and puppy from rescue org are the same product so you may as well go with the free one. That is not exactly true as the difference will be the vet work which has already been done with the rescue pup.