RuralPug

Plastic freezer bags can be washed after use and re-used, just as you would wash and re-use Tupperware containers. Ice cream containers make excellent freezer ware for larger portions of raw food. Buying meat in large quantities in the first place, if you have the freezer space, minimises the plastic that they come in. Unfortunately, the food hygiene laws in some states mean that most butchers are wrapping even individual bones in plastic wrap before offering them for sale - rather than the old paper wrappings.

Check your shire bylaws - in many council areas dogs are simply not permitted in children's play areas and/or schools, on or off leash. For the rest of it, don't let your dogs be nuisances to others - you surely don't want other people's pets or children being nuisances to you. Common sense says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Only irresponsible pet owners allow their pets to be nuisances and then abuse any poor victims who object! Very poor form indeed.

LOL the breed ID tests tend only to be accurate for the top 20 or so most popular breeds in the US. For a lesser known breed like the soft coated wheaten ridiculous results like this are not surprising. DNA by parentage or DNA markers for particular conditions are one thing, but the breed identification DNA tests are just a joke!

The bottom line here is it all depends upon the council, and whether or not the cat's owner reported the incident to council. If the council orders that the dogs be registered as dangerous dogs then there will be all the restrictions that go with that. These are large strong dogs obviously with a strong prey drive, even if there is no action from council, at the very least I would suggest that your ex put basket muzzles on these dogs when walking them in future to prevent them seizing prey. His parents are not strong enough to walk the dogs, so he should not let that happen again. I suggest that your ex be extremely sympathetic to the cat owner and explain the actions that he is taking to prevent this from happening to someone else's pet.

Firstly read this great in depth explanation by US terrier handler Scott Wasserman - Begin Hand Stripping Then, now that you know the theory, watch these videos Here is a professional groomer hand stripping a pet Jack Russell - Mr & Mrs Groomer (you probably don't want your boy quite this naked LOL) And here is US groomer Michell Evans hand stripping an Australian Terrier: - Part I and Part II Very few professional groomers do hand strip, it's not too hard to learn to do it on your own dog!

Is it the right time for another dog? Ask yourself, if it was another dog , not Floyd in particular, would I be interested? If the answer is yes, then you are ready and it is time to start looking for another dog - probably under a foster care with intent to adopt at the end of 3 months, if you can. If the answer is no, then it is self explanatory.

Ask your breeder, or attend a dog show near you and speak to some of the BullMastiff exhibitors, then you may be able to take him to be assessed. He looks fairly young in the pic, bear in mind that adolescent dogs can go gangly etc and come good later. You can also look at the Bullmastiff profiles om Dogzonline, have a look at all of the champion titled ones and compare them to your boy.

I would support the man striking the dog with the bat only until the dog released the small dog it was mauling. The story says that he continued to strike the attacking dog after it let go of the victim, I could not condone that unless the dog had begun to attack him or someone else. The media saying that the mother was upset for her child whose dog died makes it sound like that mother didn't care that someone could easily have been grieving for the small dog that her dogs attacked. When will people learn that just because their dogs are smoochy and friendly with them it does NOT mean that their dogs are smoochy and friendly with other dogs!

Could they ask the breeder to advertise on their behalf and screen the buyers for them? To advertise here they would have to be breeders. It's not so much where they advertise as how well they screen the responses...perhaps they could contact the breed club (state or national) for advice on screening potential buyers if the breeder cannot help with that.

Did the groomer say what sort of barking? Excited? Bored? Demanding? Anxious? It really makes a difference why before you try curb barking as the best way to stop barking is to remove the trigger mechanism. Since the groomer said that it was while she was waiting to be picked up - I'm thinking that it is more than likely crate barking - all you need to do to stop that is get her used to being in a crate, so that she feels relaxed and safe and can watch the goings on. Google "positive crate training" or "crate training games". This will also help her at the vets, during long trips, if workmen need the street door open etc.etc.etc. The other possibility is a bit of separation anxiety. If that is the case, you need to work through it with her. If she is allowed to have a favourite blanket or toy with her while crated, that may help, but do check with the groomer first and make sure that her toy or blanket is firmly labelled as hers - groomers are busy enough without having to keep track of extra objects!

Was Pandi a cat in a former life? One of my cats is exactly the same - refuses to drink from a communal water bowl, has to have his own personal bowl and heaven help the foster cat who dares to contaminate his bowl with their tongue! My other cats will happily share the dogs indoor bowl, even though every cat food station has it's own water bowl. Maybe they are like small boys afraid of catching girl-germs or vice versa!

If you are willing to pay board and any medical expenses for the dog but don't believe that the dog will thrive in kennels, perhaps contact one of the SA rescue groups and see if they can find foster care space to take on this dog as a fundraiser for the group. Edited to add: of course if the dog doesn't get along with other dogs, kenneling may be your only choice. Your chance of finding someone with no dogs who has the knowledge and experience to house a dog aggressive dog is very slim, in fact is a train wreck in the making.

I have never considered, and will never consider, pet dogs to be a consumer item and do not have much patience with those that do. I have had in my care dogs completely deaf from birth as well as those who have lost some or all hearing due to age and they are equally as good as sharing love and giving companionship as their counterparts with full hearing. Ditto for blind dogs. I did not personally consider any of those deaf or blind (one was both) dogs to be of a lesser worth than any other dog I have had.

I saw this today. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater LOL. I can see what the TradeMe adminstration is trying to do, but banning all sales of the listed breeds, is either overkill or laziness. Why not instead have a rule that both parents of any advertised puppies or for adult dogs being offered for sale in these breeds or crosses have to pass a basic activity test under vet supervision showing that they can be active without breathing difficulties. Name of the vet that supervised the test to be included in the ad. Instead of slamming the entire breed, this should prevent puppies and dogs with severe BOAS from being sold on that site. NZKC brachy breeders generally don't use Trademe (similar to Gumtree), so this won't affect 99% of responsibly bred brachys anyway. and the irresponsible ones will just popularise some other online site. But the general public is going to assume that every dog in these breeds has severe BOAS, which is NOT the case with responsibly bred ones.

Except for the several kilometres cycling each day, a greyhound rescue would probably suit just fine. greyhounds are sprinters and walking several km daily is fine, but I'm not sure about cycling. As long as they cannot SEE the chooks, most greys won't be bothered about them (different story if they can see them). Check with your local greyhound rescue re the cycling. I hope that your neighbour realises that she will have to slowly accustom the dog to the long cycle rides - in fact they will have to be short cycle rides to start with and gradually build up to long ones. Very few dogs will be adopted out with the level of fitness needed. This document might help your neighbour will building the dog's fitness and has other hints for cycling with dogs. There are a number of excellent rescues in the Brisbane area - as your neighbour needs a specific temperament I would advise her to avoid shelters and pounds but to confine herself to adopting from rescues that foster care in each dog in family homes. Petrescue is a good place to start finding such rescues reasonably close to you.

It sounds like they are allergic to the saliva in tick bites. Or possibly, although less likely, as well as the ticks they have gambolled in some unfamiliar vegetation at the gardens to which they are allergic. How long have you been using the Advantix? It is supposed to repel ticks. If you have just started it, check with the vet to see how long it will take to be fully active. If you have been using it for a while, maybe next month switch to a brand with a different active ingredient in case the local ticks have built up an immunity? Meanwhile to soothe the remaining itch, since a short course of cortisone has already been applied, I would try a symptom reliever such as a Calendula Tea rinse or spray rather than more steroids or anti-histamines at this point.

Agree with everyone else. So many red flags here. On the very very slim chance that this might be a genuine responsible breeder that is paranoid about puppy theft you can contact the local shire or council that they are in and ask their ranger if they have visited the property to check out the welfare of their animals. Explain that you were thinking of purchasing an advertised puppy, but are quite worried about not being permitted to visit the property and being expected to pick up the pup at a roadside meeting. Unless the ranger gives you their guarantee that the puppies are being raised properly, do not buy the pup. If everyone did this when considering buying from someone who refuses to let them see the pups rearing conditions, there would be a lot fewer illegal puppy farms.

This breed is one of the breeds that is prone to deafness in one or both ears and you should have researched before choosing your breed so that you were aware of this. Well done in choosing a breeder who does the BAER testing, otherwise you may never have known! As for asking for a discount, did you think that he breeder should pay twice over for BAER testing? That is what a discount would amount to and asking for a discount would be a good way to discourage breeders from testing. Deaf in one ear won't affect the life of a pet puppy or your interaction with it, but by testing every puppy the breeder is doing their best to improve the breed as a whole and reducing the chances for future deaf puppies. Most pet buyers don't understand the costs that go into a well bred and well reared litter and think that $2k for each puppy means that the breeder is rolling in lucre - sorry, but that is only the case for BYBs who don't put the proper vet care etc.etc. into their litters.Well done for not getting cheated by purchasing from an irresponsible BYB! You choose a breed that is prone to deafness. Unless you specified the breeder to supply you with a pup that had breeding potential, I for one, don't see the need to ask for a discount for something that won't affect the life of a pet puppy.

LOL I thought of that. Bull terriers are usually the biggest softies out with people, but the look of any bull breed frightens some, and yes, seeing a bully with a muzzle will make them jump to conclusions. You can't help that, maybe you will be better off if people cross the road when walking their annoying little fluffies that want to prove themselves to bigger dogs!

You might be on to something with the rubbish eaten on walks. You can give the best diet in the world and they will poison themselves with rubbish if they can get it. Why not try muzzling her for walks for a few weeks and see if that makes any difference. Also look at treats that you may not be consciously counting as food - a lot of commercial dog treats are pretty shoddy fare, raw hides and stuff like that.

You just missed out on Tosca, a glorious ACD cross with Found Hearts in QLD who has just been adopted. Your situation sounds perfect for a cattle dog, they are really loyal dogs that can become a bit of a nuisance if left to their own devices too much, so some one willing to let them be at their side most of the day is perfect. As said above, mental exercise is more important that a lot of space to run in. And don't forget they come in red as well as blue! If you look in the Dogzonline Australian Cattle Dog breed index you will be able to navigate to find breeders in your state, those advertising puppies ready to go or due soon (a couple in QLD) and also, older dogs for sale - don't overlook these either! Lots of luck finding your new companion!

The car side sack? They would also be illegal in most of the country these days!

I can tell you right now that most inflatable collars do not stop long headed or long muzzled dogs from reaching abdominal etc injuries, so if your collie is a rough collie you need to use something different. If she is a bearded collie or a border collie I'm not sure if the inflatables suit or not, ask your breeder!

I'm not sure that the groomer coming to the house is a good idea at at this stage. You want her to feel super comfortable in the house and strangers handling her in the home might petrify her all over again. If the other dogs at the groomers, waiting for their turns are all laid back and content then I would happily send her off to be done, but of course you can't guarantee that. Chances are good that if you have chosen a good groomer, they will understand her anxiety and just be gentle but matter of fact, just talk it over with them first. On the other hand, she probably does need to get out and about a bit more, even if it is just down the street and back, so the house becomes a haven to come "home" to. I understand that your mother is quite elderly and long walks are out of the question but I wonder if your brother has the patience to accompany both on short walks and take the leash for the return home, so she becomes used to him walking her and then he might be able to do the odd longer walk with her and without your Mum? It would help her bond to him as well.

You can still get those dog umbrellas today - google images is full of different styles LOL. You don't find that style of Pug today though, except as a crossbreed.