dee lee

Mmm Asha would LOVE barbies! We now keep all of the bedroom doors closed. She carried my mobile phone out from the lounge room via doggie door and onto the back lawn last week. I got to it before she chewed it thank dog. I have to look around the house with 'Asha eyes' now. Hmm if I was Asha what would taste good.. Yep, Barbies have just the perfect 'give' when chewed, they were a huge hit . One small hope- Evie did stop stealing stuff when she was about one. We used to have to watch her like a hawk- I kept chicken wings on hand and if ever I couldnt supervise her in the house (when we were home) I would pop her outside with a wing. After months of catching her with things and making her gove them back sternly, she eventually gave it up. A toy accidentally left outside when she was home alone though? dead.

I'm afraid I'm with Corvus and Greytmate on this. Is it necessary for dogs to be in the front yard unsupervised? I wouldnt let my dog be, purely for her own safety. If she was aggressive I would feel even more strongly about it.

That's utter rubbish. :D Howard can definitely spot the new shoes.. its all he seemed to munch on when I was stupid enough to leave them out. That dog should be awarded for his contribution to the Australian footwear industry. The really advanced ones can not only detect the new shoes but also the most expensive :D My OH would get SOOO cranky each time Evie ate his thongs, took him THREE pairs of Havaiianas to get that he should put them AWAY. We have a shoe basket now, legacy of Evie. Works a treat. Not only protected our shoes but got them off the ground so I dont have to clean them up. Worked for the kids Barbies too. :D

Becandcharch, Im sorry to break this to you but Charche is the broken one. :D I do think my first ever post on DOL was pleading for help after my previous dog destroyed my fairly new couch :D . Yes she was a Staffy X . She never grew out of being destructive despite getting an enormous amount of exercise and training. It was just in her nature. Our yard resembled a barren bombsite and we learnt to never EVER leave her alone with anything chewable when we went out. After the aforementioned couch incident, she was not left home alone inside again. You get used to it. Oh and we never were able to catch her in the act because, like Asha, when we were home she was an angel.

Was doing some training practice with Honey this morning and noticed this is what I do too. Once we are heeling I expect to have her attention on me so I dont need to say her name.

Perhaps she has been taught it at her dog training? I havent ever used names in training before but I did notice when I went to my first obedience class the instructor did stress getting the dog's attention by using its name. This was a beginners class though and I was one of the few who ever done any training before so maybe this will change as the (non-rainy!!!!! ) weeks pass, but maybe not?

Thanks for the positive input everyone! Its much welcome today- I had a party on the weekend and Honey was inundated with love but I did get a couple of joking comments about how I starve her I began doubting myself again, so gave her an extra half a cup of food per meal for a couple of days. I now know they are all wrong- Even this morning I could see if I was to continue that she will lose her waist pretty quickly. So back to ignoring them all again! :D Thanks Eileen! :D Yes we got Honey early December from Golden Retriever rescue- she has been a wonderful healing addition to our family. She is divine!! Hi Sharon! I was wondering how your Honey was going! I am lucky, once I got our Honey moving, she loved the exercise. It'd be hard if she didnt.

This email came through to me at work and well, I couldn't not share it with Dolers!!! Its completely legitimate- the author is a journalist at the company I work for. I know some of you have some cracking stories- drop her a line! Following the wonderful success of The Infinite Magic of Horses, the publishers at Allen & Unwin and I decided to continue the series…and as soon as we made that decision, we knew it had to be dogs! The Wonderful World of Dogs will be published for Christmas 2010, and what a perfect Christmas present it will be—a beautifully presented gift book, full of dog stories, and photographs, quotes and anecdotes. So if you, or anybody you know has a dog story, do please share them with me. We are taking stories of anything from 50 words to 1,500 words, and although we can’t pay for them, we will give everyone who contributes a free book, and a dollar from every copy sold will go to a dog charity (to be decided). We are looking for stories from around the world, so do send this email on to anyone you may know who could be interested to write a story for this wonderful volume of dog tales, or should that be tails? Our deadline is March 15th, and you can email me your offerings to: [email protected] or post them to: Candida Baker PO Box 500 Bangalow NSW 2479

Aw thanks! I think she's damn gorgeous too! Honey and I would love to play one day! and I'd love to meet your beautiful broken Dally! Hang on- when did you move to Sydney?!! Didnt you used to live in Qld?

39 kilos OMG!!! Poor dog. :D Sounds like Bailey and Honey are cut from the same cloth! I had to laugh when I read about the "long" comments- I get "she's got short legs, doesnt she?". Makes me most indignant!

I think that this thread has just shown what I should have known all along: DOLers are very sensible about keeping their dogs at the right weight! Its Joe Blow who I worry about, who thinks their fat dog is healthy. My friend swears black and blue her doted upon cocker is healthy weight, yet she looks like a small coffee table and has no waist at all! I have tried to tell her that she needs to restrict her dog's food intake as well as exercise her, but she doesnt listen. She thinks that her dog gets enough exercise so therefore is the right weight. She is one of those who has commented that Honey is too skinny. Kiwioz- I believe dogs are like people, throw away the scales and ignore the "ideal weights". Its more how they look and feel. If Finn looks like the posted diagram of a healthy dog and feels like Erny's description, he will be ok.

Thats really interesting- Honey reacts to storms and it manifests by her high pitched whining and being hyper (she simultaneously wants to sit in my lap and play ). She behaves like she is sensitive to the sound, not afraid. I usually ignore her, playing games just excites her more.

Wow, TeamSnag- those images are disturbing!! "Ideal" fits with Honey, especially from the top view- bit harder to tell side on with her long fur. That obese pic from the top looks like a flea!!

Thanks Erny! Using that method- she is just right! She has a lovely waist, I think part of the problem is that you hardly ever see any dogs with waists let alone GRs. She has relatively no fur atm (its all on my floor... ) so that really accentuates it.

Thanks for the support. It just gets tiresome. I always feel like I have to justify myself and be clear that she is a very fit dog. In the past couple of months I have upped her food because of her high activity, so I feel she is just in great condition. The vet is happy with her weight. Golden Rules- I did have to be very careful of how to phrase this post so as not to offend any GR people!! - I am very aware not all goldies run as much as Honey. Macka, she is wet, but she does have a shorter coat on the GR spectrum. Oh actually- that picture was a month ago so all the tummy hair may not have grown back from her desexing. I will have to use that!! ETA: Tapua- she is 3. I cant feel individual ribs/hips and she weighs 25kgs, but she is on the small side.

When we adopted Honey we were told that when she came in she had been overweight. She had been on a diet and looked ok but did have some fat on her. Apparently she had lived most of her life in the yard and was not taken for walks. We are not the family for couch potatoes though!! From day one she has been in bootcamp- I wanted to get back into jogging so took her with me. On jogging days we jog and (less and less) walk for an hour. On my non-jogging days it is an hours walk and offlead ball session. She was reluctant at first but we both got fit together and now she is full of beans and a very fit dog - if only it was that easy for me! At one point I wasnt happy with her food, I felt she was losing weight too quickly, so I changed it (another Artemis convert here! ) and she is thriving. She is small for a golden retriever, has completely dropped coat and she is very lean, BUT ... I am having people comment with a frown on how "skinny" she is. ;) This morning I met another goldie and the owner didnt say anything but I saw her feel for Honey's ribs! ;) I do feel she is in perfect shape, which is backed up by 2 compliments on her condition I got at our dog training club. I figure these people would have a good idea. Its making me feel so cranky- I felt like saying to the woman this morning- "well your dog is fat!" This is a pic of Honey about a month ago (am trying to upload some from this morning but having technical difficulties), what do you think? Too skinny?

I'm putting my hand up too- my goldie's fur tumbleweeds drive me insane! I sweep probably about 4 times a day and still there's more...

Happy Birthday Furia!! Mon, she is such a stunning girl! Love the donut!

About a year ago I had no idea what you lot were all on about! I had a very tormented relationship with my last dog where even walking her was difficult. She truly broke me :p . Well, my circumstances have taken a complete turn around and now I have the beatific Honey in my life. From the day I met her, 2 months ago, my broken heart was healed. For me she is perfect in every way (well, except for the shedding, but thats a small price to pay ) and I have no doubt she is my heart dog.

Dont know about converted, probably, but it will definitely be the reason I will have to get a new kitchen. Thats twice now I have left the sink filling to check on DOL... *sigh* and still I am on here rather than cleaning it up. Maybe I need to post this in the crazy dog lady thread.

I have a furminator for my goldie. It is really great! I started off with a slicker brush and a comb, which do remove some hair, but have found ther furminator is the best at removing the dead hair. Mine is a large which I bought on ebay. I also upgraded to a "deluxe furminator" (also from ebay from the US, you can see what it looks like on the www.furminator.com). It arrived two days ago and is even better than the the usual one. It has a button that automatically removes the hair from the comb section which saves time and effort. For me it means I don't need to remove it from the brush with the hand I am usually holding my puppy with, which means that an escaping puppy chasing and eating the hair thats flying all around him is almost a memory, although it is very funny! Also, I don't need to press very hard on his coat. I find that a gentle brushing action removes HEAPS, and it is better off in the bin than rolling around my house like tumbleweed. Thanks Kat1- thats an excellent recommendation! Getting on ebay asap!

I might have to get a different dog for that- Honey is a bit of a bimbo. Though I have to say I am quite impressed with how quickly she picked up a new command. Neither she nor I had trained "stand" before and she is doing it well now (despite my initial fumbling). She is so eager to please me (quite a novel and pleasant experience!). Hmm, I should never say never...

He he he, i think just by being a DOL regular we all qualify as CDLs (well except for the men! ). I "saved" a little stray dog the other day too and tried several times to chat about it to friends who every time stared blankly at me. Again when I tried to talk about dog training. I gave up. Not everyone understands - heck even my OH's eyes glaze over when I talk about dogs. I recognise my CDL status but I try to remain incognito and only reveal my obsession to other CDLs.

Ok, ebay it is. :D It sounds like its good on short haired dogs with undercoats- what about a Goldie? What size would I need? (sorry for hijacking your thread Boronia!! )

What do you do if you find that this is not the case? ie that the dog does not improve or shows no sign of considering other options?