tdierikx

Trouble, my Lab, used to destroy and ingest (and pass) black kongs! She'd be your stereotypical fat Lab if owned by someone who thought that was the norm for the breed. One of my friends keeps saying she wants to take Trouble home and give her a good feed... no matter that her own 2 Labs ended up having to be euthed at a younger age than they could have reached due to the fact that they were grossly overweight and simply fell apart... *sigh* T.

Lamb puffs are dried lamb lung... and most dogs love them to bits. I always have some on hand when I'm at work for the more timid dogs so we can make friends... As for extra calcium, be careful you don't overdo it... if Zagan is getting a balanced diet, then he doesn't need extra calcium... and dogs are notoriously lactose intolerant. If you must use cheese, definitely go for goat or other low/no lactose products. T.

Time for training some recall methinks... lol! Simple move for when he thinks he has something you will chase him for is to squat down and call him to you in a fun voice, arms wide as if he's going to get the biggest cuddle for coming to you... then swap the "bad toy" for one that's more appropriate and let him play with that for a while. As for training only males for protection work... beats me... I reckon females would be so much better at it... *grin* The place I work, a majority of their patrol/protection dogs are male, but they do have a few equally huge and imposing females working too... and they are definitely scarier than any of the males when they get into "the zone"... T.

You know you have a Labrador when you don't even bother with hand protection to help them pass something... because you do it so often... lol! The worst one I have for pica is actually a mutt... she will eat anything at all... and poo patrol is an adventure here... lol! T.

Just thank your lucky stars you don't have a Labrador puppy... you should see what manages to get swallowed and passed through just fine by a Lab... scary! One of my Rotti boys decided to chew carpet when he was a pup... and ended up with a rather embarrassing dangler that mummy had to help him pass fully... *sigh*... things you do for your furkids... T.

I find that an "uuuhhhh" in a low growly tone works rather efficiently on most dogs and delinquent pups... *grin* "Leave it" is also a fave of mine when I want my own dogs to spit out whatever is in their mouths - be it a toy, ball, bird, my arm, etc... funnily enough it's also worked on a few boarding dogs at work when they've been turds trying to eat the water when I'm hosing their kennels - and the buggers have a whole exercise yard to run about in, but decide that playing with the hose is more fun... grrr! Could be the growly tone I've used too, but they get the idea pretty quickly. I've also found that most dogs are more protective of females and children over the males in the family... male dogs in particular. Most of my females have been pretty protective of everyone in the family equally, but the males more protective of female family members. Personally, ifI was going to get a dog for protection, I'd get a female every time... they don't call them bitches for nothing... hehe! T.

I'm not a fan of that idea. I want my dogs to be friendly under normal circumstances. I want to be able to take them out in public or to the vet without them constantly being on alert and mistrusting everyone. Most dogs will naturally do what's needed to alert or stop an intruder if they are a part of the family unit... T. Deep down I know you're right & I can't disagree. Funny thing is, there was 2 occasions when Ponti didn't like a certain person (friends of friends) Rather than greeting them, he'd 'dog their steps' from a distance of around 12 feet & not take his eyes off them, with no aggression, just vigilance. The first time it occurred the visitor noticed before I did & said "I don't think that your dog likes me." As it turned out, the bloke was apparently a wife basher. Our doggie mates are a lot more intuitive than many people. I've got some thinking to do. I always trust my dogs' reactions to people I invite in... if the dog is leery of someone, there will always be a reason, and if that person was to do anything threatening, the dog will have them - even if I've invited that person in. I've not had to train any of my dogs for that sort of thing either. T.

I'm not a fan of that idea. I want my dogs to be friendly under normal circumstances. I want to be able to take them out in public or to the vet without them constantly being on alert and mistrusting everyone. Most dogs will naturally do what's needed to alert or stop an intruder if they are a part of the family unit... T.

My uncle had a Rotti who let a burglar into the house and watched from the couch as the guy collected all the electronics and put them by the door... but as soon as the guy went to leave, Vandal jumped on him and pinned the poor bugger by the throat until my uncle got home... lol! The burglar was so scared he had messed his pants and was actually taken to hospital in a state of shock when the police came to deal with him. Vandal hadn't left a mark on him... *grin* Good boy Vandal! T.

Most parks have signs stating that your dogs must be under effective control... and that cannot be achieved with your head down playing with your phone. I'm not a fan of constantly being available to others, and unless I'm expecting a call or text, it is in my pocket and on silent. I prefer face to face communication with others thank you! T.

None of my 8 Rotties over the years have needed any training on how to behave when someone tried to enter my proprty without an invitation... *grin* Invited guests were there for cuddles though... and who can say no to a Rotti demanding cuddles? T.

Lucky Tamar to have a mummy and vet who give her such awesome care... and that she's now much better than before. Please give her a kiss and cuddle from me... T.

I think the dog that went "off his head" was his previous Rotti SG... I think he said he'd got it as an adult also. T.

I'm fully aware that not all Rotties are the same... my pets were just fine at alerting if there was any untoward disturbance around the house, but they were also prefectly well behaved and socially acceptable canine citizens when out and about. I'm not of the opinion that a pet needs to be trained as a protection dog to "do their job" at home - mine simply assumed the role if needed, and were friendly when I wanted them to be. In my new job I'm working in close quarters with security trained protection and patrol dogs (Rotties and GSDs)... and most of them are the cuddliest trollopes with those of us who have to look after them when they aren't out working. There are one or two who don't have an off switch, but we work around that issue. T.

Zuri is looking so mature now... wow! Glorious photos as always grizabella... T.

yes. I have several friends who have done/do that Would you believe that an acquaintance who belongs to the GSDRescue group, is actually intending to get her GS pregnant BEFORE she gets her spayed? She's had dozens upon dozens of rescues go through her home & yet she still doesn't get it. Stupid is what stupid does & until we can clean up the human gene pool .......... I would think that your friend is within their rights to breed her dog if she wishes... doing so if the dog is not a registered pedigree, health tested, and is breeding a registered litter - is when you might be able to point the finger... T.

With all of the Rotties I've owned, there has never been any hint of any of them trying to be an "alpha"... brought up with mutual love and respect and some obedience training, and they all turned out to be perfectly acceptable canine citizens. I'm thinking he just wants to instigate more play, and the grabbing gets your attention fastest... *grin* T.

Pudden!!! My handsome boy! Run Pudden run! T.

There are many reasons for humping... and sexual drive is actually quite low down the list. Could be frustration, dominance, etc... I agree with TSD... give him more stuff to do and see if it slows down his humping. T.

Is there an absolute need for him to be desexed at all? Not all males get the urge to wander and find the source of female smells... I'd hold off on desexing as long as is manageable (on the off chance he does want to wander when older). T.

Definitely a visit from IM and Secret... will be good medicine for your healing process, and IM can still take her home afterwards so you can keep your healing happening without interruption. You can then have more frequent visits over a period of time, and IM would have time to adjust to the idea that Secret is going to go home permanently at some point. Do not do anything that will set back your healing... even though it's breaking your heart to not have your baby there. T.

Did you get an idea of where the fox came from? If you aren't fussed on trapping or baiting, the only other way you might be able to keep him or his family from raiding your poultry is to put out diversion food a distance from your animals. One student workplace I was at used to put out offal a fair distance from the farmyard animals - to keep the foxes and birds of prey at that end of the property. Worked pretty well. Note that this fellow will have a family to provide for... so you'd need enough diversion food to feed at least 2 adults and possibly 4-6 growing kits... possibly even 3-4 adults, as sometimes the previous year's female kits can stay with the family and help raise new litters... Do you have a local abbatoir or largish butcher that you could beg some trash offal from... that would be heaven for hungry foxes. Doesn't have to be fresh... T.

Maybe you need to bring the lace monitor home and let him have at the fox... lol! As for pet foxes... the rules for keeping them are pretty stringent, so there's little chance that pet foxes would ever contribute to the wild fox issues farmers face. Unfortunately, the haters have to hate something, yes? Water off a duck's back to me really... most people are really interested in meeting mine when they find out I have them... *grin*... and Ghost is such a tart that he wins hearts immediately (Tom not so much, as he doesn't "do" human interaction if he can help it). Fingers crossed he doesn't come back and actually take any of your duckies... T.

Go Pudden! T.

Jeebus! Beggars belief... the response by the rescue owner is beyond the pale. T.