Malamum

I would always have to leave early and get our dogs out just us and in our own car. I could never get our male out on a chopper. He is crate trained but there is no way in hell the OH and I could carry him in crate. He is just too heavy and he would freak if it was strange men trying to do it.

If I had to leave my dogs behind and they didn't survive then I think it would haunt me for the rest of my life. I've actually had nightmares about this very thing before and woken up feeling physically sick. It will never flood where we live but bushfires are a possibility. I would always be prepared to leave very early if there was any inkling of evacuation being necessary. I really feel for those with horses in situations like this as they are so much harder to mobilise. A girl I used to work with lives in Kinglake and she has three horses with only 1 double float. She apparantley had a fairly new boyfriend at the house with her who had never driven with a float before. Her plan was for him to take two horses on the float and for her to ride the third out. I believe they had two ways out but only one was an option with the float. The boyfriend convinced her to leave the horses behind and they went the way they could go without the float. If they had gone the other way with the float they very likely would have died. The horses survived. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about her being put in that position.

I also second the recommendation of a dryer. Our dogs are prone to them when we have lots of rain but it's still hot and the dryer is our saviour.

WTF! Surely there can't be people that stupid? I've had people think my male Malamute is a wolf (which is bad enough), but seriously Polarbears???

Hey Raz, can you PM me which vet you use. I am curious as I think you live not that far from me.

Now that is really nice to hear. It almost cancels out all the numbskull muppets we all have to listen to. When it's people I actully know who start with this type of crap my eyes glaze over and my brain just keeps repeating please stop talking, please stop talking.

We get charged per dog.

I really try not to talk to anyone about dogs as most people annoy me way too much.

The would be robbers were dumb on two fronts. Firstly because of the risk of the dog attacking them but secondly who carries anything valuable when out walking the dog anyway.

From what I've heard/read you can't force a dog to pull. They will only do it if they want to.

sigh..... they seem to be everywhere don't they. Like the guy I saw the other day attach his dog to the back of his truck by a choke chain.

Completely agreed. We keep everything off the counters now and any cooling baking etc is kept either in or on top of the microwave, or on top of the fridge. We do exactly the same thing - either on top of or in the microwave. I can't even leave dirty pans in the sink otherwise they get licked clean. Filling them up with water isn't enough either as the water just gets drunk. I always have to remember to fill them up with soapy water before leaving them unattended. We just run a clean bench policy in our house. No food item is ever left out unattended.

I am loving looking at everyones pictures. So many fantastic shots

Wow! I am in love! She is gorgeous.

I'm really sorry for your loss :D

Thanks everyone. My main worry is giving to many chemicals with both the Comfortis and the Fontline. What are the risks in using too many products, as in the Comfortis and Frontline in the pipette (not the spray as he is just to big for the spray, I reckon I'd use a whole bottle every time). I don't want to have him underprotected for ticks but I don't want to stop the comfortis in case his skin issues are a flea allergy and it helps. Are the proban tables just for ticks or is a combination flea/tick treatment?

Is the Permoxin a spray that you just spritz all over them or is it something they need to be bathed in. The spray sounds like a good idea but there is no way I could bath my dogs on weekly basis.

This is exactly what our vet said. I'm prepared to give the Comfortis a try and use it for a few months before deciding it doesn't make a difference. I live in Sydney, near the bush so really want to make sure we cover him for paralysis ticks. Do the collars work for these types of ticks?

In the past we've had both dogs on Frontline Plus which covers for both fleas and ticks. However Indy has been getting areas where he pulls his fur out and ends up with big bald patches. The vet suggested it may be a flea allergy (even though we have never seen a flea on him) and to try using Comfortis instead of Frontline. My issue is that Comfortis only covers fleas -not ticks. What can I give him to protect against ticks? I don't really want to apply the Frontline Plus as well as I don't want to double up on the flea treatment.

We also have a dog door so they can come in and out as they choose, however they do not get free run of the house. They only have access to the kitchen area of our house, which we keep closed off from the rest of it. This is whether we are home or not. In regards to walks, I voted every few days. We aim to walk them every day but we often get busy or just slack. We don't walk them in bad weather. I don't like them getting too wet as they are prone to hot spots.

No. I actually try and encourage them to spend more time outside in the fresh air. Mine tend to spend a lot of time inside though and they've got so much fur that the only bit of skin that's going to get sun exposure is their noses.

We have a dog who also developed a fear of thunder about 18 months ago. He is 8 so I'm not sure why he was ok with it for so long and now goes crazy. The only thing that seems to calm him down is either the OH or I being near him. I don't baby him or even acknowledge that he's carrying on like a pork chop. I find that if I sit in the room with him and just do my own thing he tends to calm down as long I'm close by. We came home yesterday and there had been a storm while we were away. By the amount of leaves and mud that were spread from one end of the kitchen to other, I could tell he'd been tearing around the backyard like an absolute lunatic. We have this issue too. Our dogs area is the kitchen and backy of the house and we also only let them into the front of the house as treat. When there is thunder Indy bangs on the doors (so hard, I swear he is going to go through it). I don't want to reward this behavour, so rather than letting him through I go and sit in there with him instead until he is calm.

I have Give your Dog a bone too. I read it once cover to cover and then just kept going back to read specific bits.

My first thought was also that they look extremely happy. Great pictures.

The last photo of the two of them together is just beautiful.