xiaorose

I go to Springvale market to buy meat for both my dogs and us. 5kgs of very large with a lot of meat chicken frames is only about $2 plus chicken wings & feet are $3 per kg lamb shank is $1.50 each pork leg (whole) is about $2.5 dollars each beef brisket bone is about $2 each pork mince is $6.5 per kg and $12 for 2 kgs can't temember the exact prices of others, but they're much cheaper then most other places and all are human graded meat.

I feed Tsar frozen meaty bones, chick frames, wings, feets, lamb neck, etc. during summer to cool him down and he doesn't have much problem with his tummy, loves it! I would rinse them with water or soak them for a minuite or two before giving them to him in case his tongue stick to them. I use my electric toothbrush to brush their teeths, it's a lot easier then manual toothbrush, Manman is more use to brushing his teeth as I've been doing it since he's a pup but I have to wrestle with Tsar to get it done. Of course they have their own brush heads!

The pet shop next to Mt Waverley station sells them and the pwner is using a small furminator on her dog and you can request to try. We tried that last year, but didn't end up buying because hubby was a bit shocked with the amount of hair that was pulled out from the lab in the video and the demo the pet shop did on Tsar. He just thought it's cruel to pull dogs hair out from them like that so didn't let me buy. Another concern is to clean up the amount of hair on the floor after use, he certainly is not letting me do it in the house or on the property! :D I'm still thinking of getting one! :D

I use to have a home insurance with GIO and with a little extra every month, it covered pet insurances. I can't remeber much of the policies, but it does have things not covered,eg yearly vacinations, etc, and covers $3000 in accidents a year. However, after a while they had discontinued the product and I didn't made any claim at all. After some calulations, I personally think that it's cheaper to pay vet bills when required than insurance over the dog's lifetime. I recently spent approx $5000 for his cataract surgery & approximately $6000 to remove his cancer lumps & go through radio therapy, yes a lot of money but I thingk it's still cheaper then paying insurance and it most likely doesn't cover them and I certainly don't want to be paying insurance and vet bills and get p**s off when finding out that it's not covered and can't claim much. I'm not against insurance at all, I just think that there're a lot of fine prints and to find a good one and make sure that I do a lot of claims I have to have a very sick dog who have a lot of helath issues to get the insurance worth it, or to be very unlucky with accidents all the time. With accident covers, I also don't think there's much chance for most dogs to survive for claims. Having 2 dogs, the maintaince, vet & worming bill is quite high, but I also prefer to save up some money in case of emergency and with anything unexpected, eg Manman had cancer half a year after the cataracts sugery, I just have to live a bit tighter, dug more into our savings and put some on credit cards and try to save more again in case if there's something else that come up. Just my personal opinions and if I do find something great that covers most of the standards vet bill, vacinations, worming, etc, I'll definetly look into pet insurances again and work my sums out.

Sorry, it's a bit long........ Manman had diagnosed with cateracts when he was 5yr, only a few white dots first and grows slowly over the years. I was advised by his vet to wait as there's no rush to do it and once it's done, his eye sight will be back to normal and so don't have to do it until it starts to get bad and of course because it's very expensive it also gives me time to save up. He's been to the same vet since he's 2 yr old and had regular check ups every year and his eyes were always checked every year after he was disgnosed and I was told the same thing. He was 10 last year and I thought it is time to do something to give his more quality in his life in the last few years and do it before it gets worse and goes blind. So, I was refered to the eye specialist in Malvern East by our vet to do the cateract sugery. I was very concerned with the success rate and due to his age (although he is extremely fit & healty for his age, but I don't want to deteriorate his health by the surgery) so was thinking to have one done first and wait for a few months after for the other one and also just in case the surgery fails and at least he will still have one good eye. At the initial appointment, I was told that cataract surgery is better to be done as early as possible to have higher success rate and also the later may have infected retina and if that's the casem they can't perform surgery. The eye specialist that Manman has very healthy retinas and therefore can perform surgery, and for dogs, with the technology in Australia, they're been doing 2 eyes and there's no need to have one done first and wait for the other as there's no difference and instead of letting him go through surgery twice, it's better to go through it once and it is not a major surgery at all! But the disclaimer is - it's all my decision. The sucess rate for Manman is approx 85% and the 15% is the complication during surgery and all surgeries have some risks. Which I accepted and understood. Surgery for one eye is $2500 and both is $4500 plus initial consultantation fee which is about a hundred something, plus medication and includes 3 consultations after the surgery and after the 3 we still have to come back on a regularly basis and consultation is extra and we have to keep coming back for checkups till the end of the dog's live. He explained how the surgery works and one of it is to remove the retina and sewed it back to prevent it from being detached. I was still very worried but the eye specialist was very confident and can't see much other issues other than nothing is 100% garuanteed in life so he obviously can't promise anything. I agreed to do the 2 eyes at the same time and the surgery was booked just before Christmas last year. I was told that the surgery all went well when I picked him up and we kept him very quite for a month didn't let him play, run, get excited, go for walks, etc, he stayed in the house for one whole month, other than the 3 check ups and quick toilet trips to the backyard about 3 times a day. The surgery was planned just before Christmas as I had 2 weeks off and can stayed home to take care of him and i came home during my lunch breaks everyday after the holiday and come straight home after work at 5pm. (I only work 5 min from home). We came back for the 3 check ups and everytime I was told that the eyes are pefect, the retinas are good too. Although there were quite a bit of cloudiness in the eye, I was told that it was the scaring due to the sugery and he has a bit more and the eye specialist doesn't know why he has more than other dogs and said it doesn't affect his eye sight and told me not to worry and he definetely can see through them but just maybe not a 100% perfect eye sight but it would be much better than before teh surgery. Manman had cataracts for about 5 yrs but his eye sight was never really bad, he never bump into things or fell off stairs, etc. So I can't tell much difference if he has better eye sight, but we can certainly tell that the eyes is a lot clearer than before so I can only assume that he can see much better. Wish only if he can talks!! In mid Feb, he happened to walk and bump into the mirrow sliding doors of the wardrobe! I was shocked but i thought it was an accident as he was turning and intend to leave the room and the door is next to the wardrobe. But a few days later when I was hand feeding him some cheese (his favorite) and when I had the cheese in front of his face (more towards to the left side) and he was staring at me and didn't see the cheese! I move the cheese to the right side of his face and he sees it and globbed it down. I tried a few times by swinging the cheese in front of his left eye and confirmed that he wasn't seeing anything. I took him to the eye specialist first thing the next morning without an appointment and was told that the retina of the left eye has detached and he is confirmed blind to that eye! I beg if there's anything that they can do to to save that eye and I definetly wasn't expecting to have him blind after all was confirmed ok and perfect. He said there isn't and there're no technology in Australia that he know of can save the detached reticna. I asked him why it happened more than one month after the surgery and he answer is that he doesn't know and he cannot tell me why. He than said that there is always risk that the reticna may detached anytime after the surgery, it could be one month, 2 years, etc. That's why he had to remove and sewed the reticna and it is to prevent it from being detached later. I asked if it was due to his mistake during surgery and I need to know and he was very offended by the question and said no. He said Manman's case is due to complication after surgery. (Apprentely I wasn't told this before). His positive note is that Manman doesn't have much vision before the surgery anywat and at least now he have one very good eye! I was charged eighty something dollars for the consultation and some medication and asked to come back for check up in a week time. We were back a few time after that and wasn't charged consultation, only medication as was told that it's due to complication so don't have to pay. I went to another eye specialist and see if there's anything he can do and I was told the same thing, that once reticna is detached, there's no hope. However this eye specialist said that his technic is different and he never agreed to remove the rectina as it highly create the risk of it being detached but doesn't want to comment and siad different surgeon uses different technis that they belived. However, even he doesn't touch the retinas, there is risk of them detached after the surgery and he has some patients even had both detached after sugery! After the sugery till now, Manman is constantly walking into things and once I took him to a friends house, it was broad day light and he couldn't see the steps and flew off them a few times and couldn't find his way back to me. He also couldn'd see much especially at night and I can be standing right in front of him and he will walk pass me and trying to find me and he wouldn't go down the 2 steps in front of our house, he knows there's steps there but alwasy struggles to get down, when playing with him, I have to throw them and right in fornt of him or very close so he can't find them, etc. I went back to the eye specialist and told him that i don't thin Manman have much sight in his right sye, but he said from what he can see, the right eye is normal! After the surgery, he eyes are always very red and have yellowish & greenish sticky staffs and obviously very uncomfortable and maybe sore for a few months and I had to get medication & drops from the clinic. I was also told that he doesn't know why! I was extremely down for a few months and is still very sad and was thinking I was being misinformed and cheated. What's the point of spending about $5000 dollars believing that my baby will have normal eye sights and have better quality life in the next few years but instead blind him. He was due to go back to have the regular checkups in Sept, I booked an appointment for him but didn't end up going as I was feeling really sh*t about going back and not just I have to pay for it but I just don't see the point and why and what they can do even the other retina is detached and especially they can't even prevent it. This is only my very bad experience and I'm sure there're many sucessful sugeries out there and dogs had gained full vision with happy ending. But I would personally not do it again.

I go to Southern Obedience Dog Club in Bangholme (next to Keysborough), they do obedience & agility on Wed nights & Sun mornings. No fly balls, but the club is securely fenced off, so it doesn't matter if they decide to go for a run during recall, like what Tsar always do , dogs are safe in the club and there'll always be helpful dog owners grabbing your dog for you. Members can alo use the club to run their dogs anytime they like. For agility, dog have to be at Green and age of min 2 yrs (I think). Singel member is $70 per yr, renewal is $45. They also have concession discounts. Each class per dog is $3.

I give Tsar large size ice blocks & forzen bones during hot summer days. The bigger the ice block is, the longer it last and when I'm back from work, quite often the ice hasn't fully melted yet or the water is still cold. Tsar loves to lick the ice and drink the ice water throughout the day and it cools him down. I'll also give him frozen chicken frames to act like icecream and he loves it! I did consider buying the cooling matts but have second thoughts about him chewing it up and eat the content in it.

When Tsar first come to me, he was barking a bit due to him not settling down, eg, at the possums, other dog barking and when he is bore. Scenario 1 - inside of house: He sometimes sleeps inside the house at night and I spent almost a week companying him by sleeping on the couch with a spray bottle next to me. When he barked I reach out to the spray bottle and spray into his face and tell him firmly "NO". I had backache and swollen eyes for a week, but it worked very well and he stops barking inside the house ever since. Scenario 2 - outside the house: He will bark if he sees or heard the possums, when he is bore (he barks non-stop) and maybe some other dog starts barking in the area. It's worst when he is doing it in the middle of the night as he is a big dog and is very loud and waked all my neighbours and us up. I got really upset one mid night and woke up and poured a pot of water on his head and he was very shocked and it stopped him for that night. (He was quite happy to see me at first when I turn on the light and was filling the water up (in the kitchen) and he thought he got my attention and is waiting at the door wagging his tail. Of course he didn't expect a cold bucket of water splashed onto his face and had never experience that and is really shock.) He stops barking for a few nights and when he started again and this time he is very suspicious of me but was still happy and is standing away from the door, prepared to hop away. I only managed to pour the water to his backside as he has started to turn and run when he saw my pot (a bigger and different one, smart creature already learned from first experience). I then went outside and grab his bucket of drinking water and started chasing him and yelling at him in the middle of the night and managed to pour on him. He got the message after that. Occasionally he still be barking at the possums but I will yell from inside the house "NO" and he will stop and he haven't been barking for quite a while now. He certainly got my attentions but wasn't anything positive to him.

What is E-collar training and how does it work? I've got a runaway dog that will never pass recall will that work for him?

I've got the same problem when I first got my rescue Anatolian Shepherd Dog a year ago. No where to bath him and it's not worth doing it at home in my own bathroom, imagine when he shake the water & shampoo off him and I'll have to end up cleaning the whole bathroom including the walls and ceiling! I've tried mobile dog wash, but they're really not big enough and the poor dog was squash in the tub and I don't think he is being wash properly due to the lack of space. I've tried a few groomers and now take him to RSPCA (Burwood), the tub is not extremely large but he fit in ok and Pauline, the groomer did excellent job and Tsar doesn't has to be lock in a small cage for the whole day waiting for his turn. Most of the time I can pick him up within a couple of hours and it's a lot cheaper compared to the other groomer.

I went to his 2 days workshop at Geelong Obedience Dog Club in June. It was fantastic, he is really good and is very helpful. He never wrote any book or training manual because he said every dog is different and there is no one way to train all dogs. He said we know our dog/s best and we must choose the best way that suit each dog, eg. toys, praise, food, etc. here's his kennel website http://www.petresortsaustralia.com/