Crisovar

How much do you want to spend? You can do Star pickets and fence panels for a more solid, more secure fence, the fence panels also would have a much longer life than the chicken wire, so if you move again you have good solid fencing to reinstall.

Yeah, I do remember I also remember parking up in the car park one morning & seeing the quarantine tape that had been put around one of the kennel blocks & just feeling sick....I didn't want to go through the gates that morning That smell is something you recognise in an instant......and then that fear..."dammit....i touched that dog 3 days ago....did I disinfect my hands & shoes properly afterwards??? Where else did I go that day??? who else do I need to check on???"..... I wasnt aware it had a smell.. What does it smell like? or is it just the infected dog that smells? The faeces passed by parvo dogs has a smell you will never forget, it is an overpowering metallic bloody stench.

Yep, had my ass kicked all the way down the street after I got bitten by a neighbours dog I broke a rule, dog bit me. Dog and I both lived, I learnt a valuable lesson.

That's actually funny to me b/c I always found the cat more uncomfortable than the dog. They have a habit of curling up in the most awkward places and I get claustrophobic. Much prefer the dog. When our cats were getting sick (one at a time when getting old) I sometimes relented b/c they wanted so much to be there. Both gone to the bridge now. Cat stays down the bottom :D

I don't think it is choice of Purebred that makes for snobs it is a rotten attitude towards crosses and their owners that makes one a snob.

Before the "super Premium" foods came along there was not a lot of choice of commercial foods, dogs still did well. During the war when food was rationed, those dogs that were lucky enough to be kept alive in Europe still did well on very meagre rations of things we probably wouldn't dream of feeding our dogs now. Many of the large kennels that managed to survive did so with dogs eating very poorly indeed. I don't find it surprising at all that dogs live long lives on what we consider to be cheap and nasty foods. Friends of my family had a Lab that lived till 15 he lived on cooked meaty bones and table scraps, he looked fit and healthy till he died in his sleep, and was still out retrieving ducks at 12.

Rude dogs and rude owners come in all sizes, I have no wish to run the gauntlet of them. Letting a pack of strange dogs loose to play doesn't really appeal to me.

But in an open-slather dog park, this is what happens, day in day out and it will never stop. Dogs run around and play, investigate other dogs etc. That is the nature of the parks. Big dogs, as stated in a previous post, can bounce off each other and take most knocks, a small dog cannot. Therefore why not have big dog parks and small dog parks - that surely would have to be a win win for everyone (expect maybe for the vets!!). Exactly why I don't use dog parks, too many rude dogs and rude owners. Would you use a dog park if they were segregated? Probably not.

Bedroom is a dog free zone here, cat sleeps on the bottom of the bed, I can't stand being crowded so no dogs on the bed is the rule.

Most normal living breathing male dogs will be driven nuts by the scent of bitch in season, you have given them something extra to become rivals over. Good luck trying to remove the odour, maybe something with chlorophyll in it would be of some use. I wouldn't be desexing the old dog, but Suprelorin implants could be useful. Good management is needed now, sometimes you can settle to pack back down but I have also seen males continue to fight after they have got the hang of it.

] Fleas are here all year round, they never really go away.

House full of oldies here, all purebred all pretty well linebred, I'd say genetics has to come into it too. Varied diet, limited vaccinations all would help. Too many variables to simply claim diet, I groom many teenage dogs who have lived on supermarket foods all their lives.

But in an open-slather dog park, this is what happens, day in day out and it will never stop. Dogs run around and play, investigate other dogs etc. That is the nature of the parks. Big dogs, as stated in a previous post, can bounce off each other and take most knocks, a small dog cannot. Therefore why not have big dog parks and small dog parks - that surely would have to be a win win for everyone (expect maybe for the vets!!). Exactly why I don't use dog parks, too many rude dogs and rude owners.

I actually find it rude that dogs of any size are allowed to simply race up to any other dog regardless of it's size. In this case I believe the owner of the Lab needs to teach the dog some manners, and should herself show some consideration to other owners.

3 cats, 2 older moggies, 1 young Ragdoll, no problems inside the house, cats do not go out into the yard with the dogs, they would be chased outside by a couple of the dogs and no doubt everyone would join in. Our Bedroom is a dog free zone, so the cats have that space totally to themselves.

Ticks have fast little legs they can travel well, they also can be introduced in garden mulch etc. Living in suburbia doesn't stop your dogs getting ticks.

I'm thinking that some large dog owners think that it is ok for large dogs to intimidate small ones and that the small ones should simply suck it up. It is no laughing matter allowing a large dog to slam into small dogs and to bounce all over them no matter what their intentions. One of my shih tzu grooming clients is sporting a broken leg, and injuries to her neck after being slammed and rolled by a young lab at the dog park, the shih tzus were the only dogs in the park when the lab arrived and when released ran straight across the park to them and started to "play". Suck it up or leave them home was the comment made to the owner of the injured dog. I wonder how the Labs owner would feel if a 50 kg dog did the same to hers.

It can be very hard to spot fleas on cats, but really you need to treat every animal in the house. How much do the CKCS weigh? You may be able to use same size tabs for both cats and dogs. The small tabs do cats & dogs up to 11kg :D

Grab some Capstar tabs, they will start to kill the fleas in about 20 mins and will continue to do so for about 24 hours, put some advantage on the dogs as well, and grab some spray for the house, vac and spray, wash all bedding etc. In severe infestations, Capstar twice weekly and Advantage every 2 weeks will help, but you really need to do all your environment as well. Most areas of the country are experiencing a big flea plague just now, I'd say the weather patterns have contributed, so you are not alone. But get on to it today!

Dogs pretty well need vegies to be mush before they can utilise them, so freezing is fine.

Your dogs could have killed the rat, mine do in a heartbeat. They haven't eaten the rat, I would not be concerned, apart from trying to find where the filthy buggers are camping at your place.

Not enough is known about Hendra yet to be really sure of the exact way it is transmitted and how many species it can affect. 7 people have contracted Hendra (that we know about) and of those 4 have died. So far all known cases have been in Queensland. 2 people have died from Lyssa Virus, and only this year 3 people were bitten by an infected bat and had to undergo treatment, Lyssa was first discovered in bats in NSW. All in all, lock your dogs in at night whilst the bats are active, and avoid contact with bats.

Considering one of the main reason dogs end up in the pound is because the owners did not choose a breed that suited their needs, lifestyle, and abilities as an owner, I would have to say that going with what you know suits you already is the responsible thing to do.

I expect good behaviour from all sizes, but I am heartily sick of owners of large boofy breeds who allow their "just playing" fool dogs to bowl over small dogs and bound all over them. Works both ways.

Too hard, every persons situation is different. Some people want a dog sticks to them like velcro, to them that is the ideal dog, others like a dog that likes to be near them not on them, others want an more independent dog. How do you define high energy, after living with a very slothful CKCS one of my friends found a pug hard work and regrets her choice, yet her extended family own 5 pugs between them and would have nothing else, she now thinks they are all weird