Henrietta

It's been 7 years since I had a puppy! How time flies. I remember puppyhood and adolescence being a bit of an emotional rollercoaster with Abby, with her reactivity. It was a stressful time, and I have to admit that there has been many tears and feelings of guilt and helplessness. And lots and lots of time. Looking back, there were also moments of pride/achievement. I've learned a hell of a lot. All good (mostly) now. I loved my puppy, but I adore my adult dogs. I'm not sure if Abby has skewered my view on puppyhood, but it was bloody hard work. As adults, my girls are just so easy. Part of me would love to try and raise a puppy again, the other part of me says, 'no way, give me an adult'

Just love this! Hopefully a cattle dog is in my near future, love em to bits. Yes - I have always felt that they have quite a serious nature. To be honest, I wouldn't be a suitable owner for one in general - they are too sharp for me. But this boy is a delight and perhaps an individual that would be fine living with me. Fingers crossed Superminty! That's very exciting. Appreciate your thoughts guys. I certainly think they are an interesting breed. Very strong characters. I've always felt vaguely guilty about feeling a way about a certain breed. But at the same time, I also appreciate that breed traits are real. And really, I'd hate to see a watered down version of any breed just to become suitable pets for an 'average' family. There's got to be a balance. In an ideal world, we'd be choosing dogs that thrive in the environment we have to offer I suppose.

Could those that know them please share their experience of the breed? I will admit to being a little wary of cattle dogs I don't know and I've had a few experiences that have made me a little bit nervous. For example, stopping for a holiday snap and getting my car bailed up by the resident cattle dog - no harm done, I moved down the road. For work sometimes I have to go onto peoples' properties and their have been a couple of occasions I remember wishing that the owners would put their dogs away. I've known them to be tenacious and perhaps a little territorial. The ones I have gotten to know are nice, very owner focused and quite active (not surprising). I have met one boy that is very sweet, fun-loving yet sensible. Seems very switched on, but has a lovely off switch at the same time. Quite affectionate without being over the top. He's not a big barker either.

Little Gifts, that does sound like a very positive experience. I know what you mean by dogs influencing each other in ways we cannot - I've seen it with Abby and Grace. It's funny because I think Grace would actually really enjoy having foster dogs around. She is quite gregarious, very confident and self-assured. She isn't a very serious dog, she is gentle with little dogs, but playful and possibly a little too tolerant. She has her moments of activity, but is overall quite a chilled out girl. My other consideration would be her age and health, but at this stage she is still the same happy Grace, she just sleeps a little more these days. If circumstances were different, I'd love to get a puppy (rescue or otherwise) because Grace adores them and would be a very positive influence. She would be great with guiding fosters, I believe, because I know how she is with Abby. Abby without the influence of Grace in her life may have been a very different dog. They really compliment each other so well. Grace has a calming influence and Abby keeps Grace on her toes with her antics and play. Ideally, it would be great if I could foster while she was around, because she would also influence Abby in ways that I can't. Unfortunately, Abby spent the first part of her life being wrapped in cotton wool because of her reactivity and it wasn't until I moved town and met some new friends that I started being a bit more laid back (without being irresponsible) and she has responded so well and her confidence level has soared. She has a couple of doggy friends that suit her personality, so I know it's possible. I may look into fostering a bit further, renting complicates things a little bit and I'm not sure how I'd go with council approval, but I'll never know until I do some research. It will be very important to find the right rescue, like you say and ensure that they are willing to work with our situation. I'd like for fostering to be a positive experience for all involved.

I currently have my 13 yr old stafford Grace and my 7 yr old Chi x Abby. I'd like to rescue an adult dog in the future, after my older girl passes on. The issue is that Abby is quite reactive toward strange dogs, but does warm up to certain dogs given time. Grace is a very confident and easy going dog. They have lived together since Abby arrived as an eight week old pup. I wonder if it is out of the question to rescue a dog whilst I have Abby, given her issues with strange dogs. I have no doubt that she would warm up to a dog that is confident and easy going and not too bouncy. Abby plays brilliantly with Grace (they still play and it is wonderful) but she would have trouble with a dog that was too 'in your face' to begin with. I've decided I don't want a puppy with Abby because I don't want a puppy learning bad habits from her or being adversely effected in their development. Is it possible to find an adult rescue to fit our situation and would a rescue be willing to work with us? I'm at the stage where I'm very much aware that Grace will not be with us forever and Abby has never been a single dog. I'm a bit worried for the future, although she may very well adjust better than I expect. I like having two dogs anyway, especially since I work full time. My dogs are a big part of my life - they come exploring with me, usually join me on two walks a day and have play and training sessions. They are indoor dogs mostly, with access to outside as well.

I have had some minor scraps between Grace and Abby and it has only ever been over two different resources - food or me. I feed separately now, but I have had a few incidents with dropped food on the floor and the one occasion I had thought I'd shut the door and I hadn't. It's pretty predictable. Grace (13 yr old) will opportunistically try and claim the food, Abby (7 yr old) will see red and become a raging ball of fury, Grace will get her back up and sound furious. By this time, I have intervened and I've never seen it escalate into more than a scrap, but given the size difference I do my darndest to prevent them or break them up. I have had Abby resource guard me on a couple of occasions as well. I know this sounds stupid, but what I have noticed is that my girls tend to only really scrap if they are already tired. I don't know if this is a coincidence and as I said, I try to prevent mishaps but it is something I've noticed over a few years of living with them.

Money would likely be the reason ,imho. Who would pay expenses and damage control would be in the minds of officials. I would be so shocked if my dogs did that that the very first thing I would do, as soon as I could, would be to have them PTS. Yeah, maybe I'm being selfish now, but I would want to have them pts straight away. I wouldn't want them lingering at the pound for their inevitable fate either. I hope I could shed some light on the investigation just through what I know about them.

And to continue on with my silly musings... Come to think of it, they haven't always lived in complete harmony. One of the girls, Philippa, is completely insane when she is clucky. Scary. I'll admit that I am petrified of her. One day she decided to nest on the back patio. I gently moved her off with the broom. Yes, the broom. As I said, I'm petrified of her when she is in that mood. Poor Grace (old stafford) was just standing there minding her own business. Instead of coming after me, which is what I deserved, she attacked Grace. Not once, but twice. The first time, Grace just wagged her tail gently and looked confused. It happened so quickly, yet I'll never forget that look. The second time, she had started to back away and thankfully her mother (me) had grown a brain by this time and intervened quickly enough to stop any further attacks. But Philippa was really angry. Poor Grace. Since then, I've just made sure that the dogs are not anywhere near her when she has a reason to wreak retribution.

Agreed. One both counts - the photos are great Krislin! And, as unexpected as it was, it was a relief that I could have dogs and chooks roaming together!

When I got my first 3 bantam girls, I had fenced off the back garden which has lots of trees, dirt, weeds etc from the rest of the yard and had intended to never let my dogs mingle with them. At all. I figured that they were not bought up with chooks (and even if they had, they still had the potential to kill, chase, injure, play with them and otherwise scare the crap out of them.) Once the girls were settled in, I let the dogs see them - I was curious as to what their reaction would be. It was mild curiosity. They could quite peacefully co-exist with a fence between them. Excellent. But I still had no intention of letting them free range together. I'd have the dogs inside when I let the chooks out on the lawn. One day, I accidentally left the door open when the chooks had free range of the whole yard. The dogs were outside with them! I ran out there, fully expecting a blood bath (or at the very least some frightened chooks!) but to my surprise, they were just all out on the lawn together. Eating grass. It was so bizarre and unexpected. After that, I had the dogs on-lead for a few more outings together, just to see what their reaction was to chooks running and sqwarking and doing whatever else chooks do. And eventually I just let them roam together - with the understanding that if anything ever did happen, I'd only have myself to blame. I would never blame my dogs and I would feel devastated if I was wrong and a chook was killed. But it has worked out fine. I added three more chooks down the track and after allowing them to settle in without the dogs and then with the dogs behind the fence etc, things were back to normal. I would never have thought that my stafford and chi x would not at least chase the chooks. Especially the stafford, seeing as she is quite keen to chase lizards (I distract when I can), possums and stray cats. They surprise you sometimes, that's for sure. Now, my nan's whippet is another story entirely and they do not mingle when he visits. Sorry it's OT, just my own musings about my experience with my dogs and chooks. Best of luck with it Sandgrubber, I hope they can all live peacefully and happily together.

I am of no help really, but I just remember being completely amazed that my grandmother's GSD x Kelpie (the GSD seemed the more prominent breed) would effortlessly kill mice if they ever ventured into the house. She would wait in the hallway and with one bite would break their necks. It was so swift, absolutely no mucking around at all. For a bigger dog, I thought that was quite impressive.

Both of mine have changed over the years. The older girl used to not have a problem at all with storms and now she huffs and puffs and gets really quite anxious around thunder. She's ok to just hang around with me inside - but there is definitely a reaction. My younger girl, who didn't experience any storms for at least the first 18 months of her life, was petrified of them at first. She has gradually gotten better and now she is better than the older dog who was practically bomb proof in her younger days. I was worried that the younger one would be influenced by the older dog's worsening response toward storm, but it hasn't happened. I find it a bit strange to be honest.

We bought home Grace, my now 13 year old girl, home at 13 weeks of age - it may have even been closer to 14 weeks. She was raised inside with mum and one remaining litter mate who the owners were keeping. She was a very confident and stable puppy and grew into a confident and stable adult. I didn't know a great deal about dog behaviour or socialisation back then to be honest, but I don't even remember there being a fear period or a marked change in Grace. I've been reading Steven Lindsay's Handbook of Applied Dog Behaviour and Training and it mentions the timing of adopting out puppies from a litter. It recommends no earlier than 7 weeks and suggests against leaving it longer than 12 weeks as there is a chance of the emergence of increasing social avoidance. Now, I know my experience with Grace is anecdotal and I firmly believe that we won out on the genetic lottery with her. Having had that experience though, I had always thought that I would consider bringing home a puppy a later than 8 weeks and I am under the impression that some breeders, especially of smaller breeds, do sometimes leave puppies as a litter a bit longer than the standard 8 weeks. The issues that can come about by taking a puppy away too early seem to be fairly common knowledge, but has anyone had any experience with leaving a puppy on too long? I'd be very interested to hear of breeder's experiences as well.

I did have a discussion with friends whilst camping (with the dogs) about a hypothetical situation where we were lost and starving. I feel very strongly that if I were in that situation and there were other people that needed food, yes - I would allow them to be killed and eaten. I'm not sure if I'd have the courage to kill them myself. Perhaps I would, and perhaps if I were starving I would eat them. I've not been in the situation and very much hope I never am. Also, my dogs are practically useless for hunting, at least the old girl would be. She would have to be fed with the food we had or could gather. If there was not enough food for the humans, I feel strongly that it would be the right thing to do to would be to kill her. My little one could possibly scavenge for herself, but if the going was really tough and they were themselves starving to death, would I really want them to linger on? I don't think so. I'm not saying it would be easy, or something that I would do until I felt absolutely necessary. But I think I would do it. I don't think I could let my human friends not have access to a viable food source if they were suffering/starving. And I'm sure that being close to starvation would have me eat them as well. Anyway, it's a different situation to the news article and perhaps just a silly hypothetical... Edit - before people jump on me, I feel strongly that it would be the right thing for me to do, I'm not trying to tell people what they should do in this situation.

Cheers Rozzie. So many great artists to look into. So far, I am really liking Joe's work. http://www.etsy.com/au/listing/129464380/let-me-draw-portrait-of-your-pet-custom?ref=shop_home_active

Hi, I'm after some recommendations for pet portraits - I'd really love to get one of my older girl, Grace. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, Are there any DOLers from Townsville that can recommend a great vet? Any suggestions appreciated. :)

As a small dog owner whose own dog is fear aggressive, yes it is frustrating to see other owners downplaying their dog's anti-social and, at times dangerous behaviour. I manage Abby so that she is not put into a position where she will display aggression and I have managed to run into very little trouble. I certainly don't find the behaviour that she is capable of funny and I truly don't understand how anyone can. I know you are aware that these dogs' owners are not all the same, but just from someone who has a dog with behavioural issues please know that I am quite confused and bewildered as to how it's funny. I've spent a lot of time, money, effort and tears trying to get my dog to where I'd like her to be in terms of behaviour and really it comes down to good management for us. For example, Abby is simply not allowed around children. Ever. She isn't allowed to socialise with other dogs unless they are friend's dogs that are suitable in temperament and demeanour for her. I don't even subject my adult visitors to her unless they are good friends who want to get to know her and then it's a process. Well worth it for the end result, but sometimes it's so bloody tiring. I have a 12 year old staffy x who is the complete opposite - confident, friendly, great with children and all people and very tolerant of other dogs (she is always well supervised and I also chose her playmates wisely). But all in all, a very easy dog who I am almost proud to take out in public. It sounds silly, but I think I took her good nature for granted until Abby came along. The experience of having Miss Abby is not something that I'd like to go through again, as much as I love her and as much as it's made me a better owner (I think!)

Thank you, Kismet. I'll look them up.

Hello, I am just after some boarding kennel recommendations for this area. I need a kennel that definitely does not mix dogs if it is requested that they do not and somewhere that they do not mind inspections (at a suitable time). Thanks.

Oh yes! My childhood dog used to 'flea' me. She was such a sweet heart. We had so many backyard adventures together. I used to pretend I was Penny from Inspector Gadget and she was Brain. I'd carry a book around and pretend I was typing in it. And of course, she'd just follow me around with all the enthusiasm in the world. Best playmate ever. But anyway, I've gone OT. In our quieter moments she'd flea me. :laugh: She was a GSP. Abby's quirk is that there is a particular circuit around my yard that both girls like to tear around (Grace chases Abby) and although neither are huge hole diggers, there is this one hole where the grass is long dead. Abby stops in the middle of tearing around the yard flat out and frantically digs for between 2 and 10 seconds. Grace stops chasing and watches intently. Abby then starts up running again flat out and Grace follows. Rinse and repeat. I've long ago decided to leave that as 'Abby's hole' - she digs no others and I don't even bother trying to stop her. Because it's such a routine for them and kind of out of the way of the running circuit (they never run flat strap through that area because Abby stops and digs or they go a different way) it a minimal safety risk, but I do fill it back in after every play session. I wonder what Abby thinks? :laugh:

Lol! Mine think it's great that mum is cooped up in bed or on the couch. If I find myself not improving after a couple of days I find Abby tends to have a lot of pent up energy that throwing stuff from the couch/trick training etc cannot take the edge off of. She isn't an overly active dog, but she is no couch potato either and needs that mental stimulation. Also, she is a naturally highly strung dog and prone to reactivity. I always find that her barking and level of anxiety increases with lack of exercise or mental stimulation, but neither is she a dog that will climb up walls after a day of inactivity. She is quite happy to snuggle. Grace is a natural couch potato, loves the car more than walks and really just enjoys going out and about for the social aspect more than anything else. Luckily I have some friends/family that could either take them for a walk or even have them over for a few hours to get them out of the house. I hope you are feeling better soon! Edit - did not read last post... glad you are feeling better!

Thanks for your reply. What did you like about them?

Hello, Have any of you ever met a Schipperke? What was your impression of them? Those with experience with the breed, what would an ideal owner be for a Schipperke? Thanks. :)

I personally prefer to have my dogs securely fenced off from the front. That way people can have clear access to my front door and the electricity people can read the meter without being harassed by my crew. I have one dog that is reactive to strangers and dogs and who would drive my neighbourhood to the brink of madness if she were left out in the front yard with a full view. Yes, I can and do minimise the barking by ensuring she is well-exercised and well-stimulated (tired) and as far as I know I haven't had any issues. My neighbours are awesome and I've always told them to let me know if there was a problem. But I honestly can't imagine how she'd go with left in the front yard with lots of pedestrian traffic. The other dog would let anyone onto the property and happily show them around. For their own safety though, I prefer them securely out the back and away from front boundary fences. I'm lucky that were I have lived, this has been simply arranged.