PuddleDuck

Good idea rsa, she does eat a few lizards!

No marrow bones. Lately it's just been chicken frames.

None of that Perse. So annoying. She's just been out and seems 200% fine. I'm leaning towards postponing until my long term preferred vet is on duty next week. Poor thing - it's her birthday today and she won't get q cupcake!

I'll start by saying we already have an appointment with the vet, just looking for some ideas of causes....

Over the last couple of months bear (8 year old toller) has had 3 random cases of vomiting and diarrhoea. It invariably seems to happen inside so she's not getting much warning before it happens. Otherwise, she's in perfect health and does normal poos before and after each occurrence within 24 hours. She's still bouncy and mental

Her diet is mixed, raw, Costco grain free kibble, raw meaty bones, occasional left over meat and veg. I'm going to start keeping a diary of what she eats but I can't see any correlation between this and what she's eaten.

Any ideas? Any tests in particular I should run?

She's my heart dog. I'm stressed as all hell every time she gets sick

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good hands free dog walking belt? I would prefer one where I can attach one dog on each hip with around a 2-3 foot leash. I'm finding I walk better when I don't hold leashes...I'm currently trying their leads to the belt of my treat pouch and it works but it's bulky and uncomfortable. So I thought I'd ask the Dol enablers :laugh:

That's not a good news story. It's just a rescue/rescuers self promoting.

Oh OK then. How dare they!

I think this is rad, and 22kg!!! Go Bev!

This! That's awesome well done!

You know the rules...photos!

Got both my Tollers right, so it's smarter than 95% of the people in my local area :laugh:

I don't know if things have changed but I worked for one of the multinational major pet food manufacturers for a long while. The product had a shelf life for dry kibble of 18 months from date of manufacture.

Treats (hard biscuits) were 12 months, cans were 24 months.

Once opened it was recommended that food be stored in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight. It could also be frozen without loss of nutrients. There was no specific guideline on how long you could keep a bag of kibble open for.

The best before date is not a hard date ie 5 days after that date means it can't be eaten. The date is the date that the manufacturer is stating that the nutritional composition of the product will still be as stated on packaging and any vitamins and minerals which are claimed to be providing a benefit, will still provide that benefit.

This is the same rational that applies to the majority of food products for humans.

It's common sense that if you don't store it properly once opened then the quality will degrade more quickly.

Absolutely. I have fed it after the best before date and never had any issues. But the manufacturer would never recommend it as an option of course :)

You'd be surprised how many people don't have the common sense to store it properly. It was quite amazing what some people expect the kibble to survive in optimum condition! :laugh:

I don't know if things have changed but I worked for one of the multinational major pet food manufacturers for a long while. The product had a shelf life for dry kibble of 18 months from date of manufacture.

Treats (hard biscuits) were 12 months, cans were 24 months.

Once opened it was recommended that food be stored in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight. It could also be frozen without loss of nutrients. There was no specific guideline on how long you could keep a bag of kibble open for.

Yeah they smell like rank eggs. The dog seems to think they're worth a try lol

Every time I buy chicken hearts they absolutely stink. Is that normal or are the woolies ones dodgy? Hubby had to leave the room last night :laugh:

I think people think their breed are the best and that is what everyone has to have.

Noooo!

I met a family when I was out walking our Tollers recently, they had lost their toller last year and were so thrilled to see another, there aren't many in our area. The dad said 'oh aren't they the best dogs for families, every family needs a toller' and the mum and I turned in unison going 'don't be ridiculous how crazy.... if everyone had them they would ruin them and they wouldn't be so special anymore!'

I almost never recommend my breed - but lately I've been recommending stuffed dogs more and more often :laugh:

Same here! I think I've only ever suggested them once or twice but no ones ever been keen. More for me! Haha.

Well if I'm being honest, I don't share well :laugh:

I think people think their breed are the best and that is what everyone has to have.

Noooo!

I met a family when I was out walking our Tollers recently, they had lost their toller last year and were so thrilled to see another, there aren't many in our area. The dad said 'oh aren't they the best dogs for families, every family needs a toller' and the mum and I turned in unison going 'don't be ridiculous how crazy.... if everyone had them they would ruin them and they wouldn't be so special anymore!'

I almost never recommend my breed - but lately I've been recommending stuffed dogs more and more often :laugh:

Sad and I know exactly what you mean.

You could try the surrender thing but if kids are involved the usual answer is that he's the kid's pet so no thanks.

RSPCA ... not sure. They would need something other than a scared dog but you could definitely ask if they can make sure his pen has shelter, water and food, tell them he was roaming.

I think they also run the local pound there. Some RSPCA's work with rescue so I'd also call the local rescue people at PMAWS.

If he's been picked up a few times before there could be a nuisance order him - which makes fines steeper and could be why he is kept in a pen.

loveyrdog; I'm afraid you're partly advising illegal theft of property.

Sorry but if you find a dog that is continually roaming the streets

take it in

no one comes forward and wants it

which unfortunately happens

just ask the shelters

then I say good on you for caring about that animal

That's theft, and a really low act. I'm 6,000,000% sure no shelter would condone breaking the law by stealing a dog because you have an opinion that it's better off with you. Proper channels exist for a reason

If you want to do the right thing by the dog, and keep it, take it to a shelter and tell them if it's not claimed you will adopt it. Some dogs are escape artists. My old boy went through a brief period of it and if someone had stolen him because they thought they were 'helping' the 'poor dog' it would have broken his heart and mine.

Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever because someone wanted to use all the words they possibly could to make sure when someone asks me what sort of dog I have I need to take a big breath to say it all at once. Possibly the same someone really enjoyed hearing people say 'norva Scot...what?! Seriously?! that's not a thing! Someone ripped you off lady!'

I get in trouble if I wake up the girlchild from her arvo nap so bear is trained to go open her door and if that doesn't work we tell bear to wake her up and she sticks her nose in the girlchilds ear :laugh: soooo handy

We've had a few awkward moments when we tell bear to open the door when it's been closed and latched properly...I get a very filthy doggie look then after she faceplants into the door

I live on the northern beaches and honestly, you can't avoid them. They're everywhere and the reports about how bad they are is true, they are bloody well everywhere. My vet recommends the oral preventatives this year, and advantix too. The best thing you can do is be vigilant about checking your dog. We do 2-4 tick checks a day. Ticks are the work of the devil but I wouldn't let it stop you from having fun :)

Costco beds are fantastic. All my greys love them, and there's lots of room for stretching out, and very well priced.

(Sorry to hijack) could you possibly post a photo please? I need a new dog bed and a have a friend that belongs to Costco :)

Bear loves a foot massage :)

So sorry T

A whole disposable nappy including poo inside then we took him to the vet to induce vomiting and got a worried call to come have a look an hour later because there were some strange coloured flecks through it and they were worried he'd eaten a bait. Came back and was presented with a bag full of poo and nappy vomit and was able to reassure them that no, it's all ok but it appeared he had eaten a box of crayons as well...

Retrieve to a bucket...

I've got no idea if there's a better way to teach this but it worked for me :)

I sat on ground with my legs crossed, a small bucket at my feet and my dog sitting in front of me, head over bucket. I encouraged her to take a small easy to hold object in her mouth and when she dropped it, it fell in to the bucket. She got a happy yes, treat. Kept this up for a minute or so.

Next session we practiced her dropping the object with her head turned in different directions but I made sure the bucket was under her head each time so when she dropped it she heard the thunk as it fell in the bucket.

I then put the object on my knee close to the lip of the bucket and when she grabbed it and let go it fell in the bucket.

I then started moving it from left to right knee and she started grasping the fact it had to fall in the bucket. If it didn't I put it back on my knee and encouraged her to have another go.

I then placed it on the ground and she (hallelujah) picked it up and put it in the bucket. Jackpot big time!

I was then able to start throwing it further away and she would retrieve it to the bucket. Every now and then it will miss and she'll either pick it up herself and have another go or I point to it and say try again and she'll pick it up and put it in the bucket.

Once she had that working I started throwing random things for her to collect for the bucket so she now gets keys, sticky tape roll, a soft ball, a kids toy etc, whatever is small and fits in the bucket. Its very cute :)

That's awesome, thanks Roova!

High five and low five. Stick your foot out for low five, if you teach it both sides you can get lots of fun walking backwards getting fives.

Scoot in- sitting between your legs and then walking in that position.

A hoop to stand in and a touch pad to stand on, then moving between the two.

How did you teach the head shake?

We blew in her face the first couple of times, that always makes her flap her ears. Then the girlchild followed her around for 4 days yelling 'head' and throwing food every time she did it unrequested/unprompted. Then tonight she said 'bear, do head!' And she did! If bear doesn't do it I just blow into the air (me standing, her sitting about a metre away) and that seems to be an effective cue.

At my in laws yesterday she kept tickling their cat's ears and screaming 'head!' every time the poor beastie tried to shake her fingers off. It was quite funny. She's actually rather good at this training thing :D

Is the low 5 standing between your legs how they start to teach standing on your feet for dancing?

Has anyone ever taught sneezing on command? Apparently that's the funniest thing EVER :laugh: actually that may be how we got onto the head shaking, the kid blowing on her hoping she'd sneeze.

She also really wants to teach bear to hop (after a brief but hysterical 'I want a bunny' argument that ended when I said we'd teach the dog to hop instead) but bear has all the balancing ability of a drunk with hypothermia and a wooden leg, so I'm not sure if that would be possible.

Thanks all for the ideas. Any tips on how to train them would be great. Maybe we should start a dog tricks challenge!

She's never been big on holding stuff in her mouth, my old boy learned it quickly cos he was so ball mad but bear isn't. The only thing she might do it with is a plastic bottle but only really hyped up. So I'm not sure how to teach her that, I'd really like to though! Tips would be great :)

So last week with the storms and everyone in this house going crazy, every night after dinner the girlchild (aged 3) and I would sit down and run bear through her tricks to kill some time. Now the kid is addicted and wants more tricks for bear. We taught her to shake her head (big ear flapping shake) in 4 days. The things she knows

Hi 5

Shake (paw)

Wave

Knuckles (bump fist with nose)

Extreme knuckles (has to leap to reach my fist)

Shake her head

Drop

Roll over

Sit

Backup

Open door (push with nose)

Wake up the girlchild (jump on bed, sit on kid)

Find (treats)

Beg (she has no balance, if she can't support herself on your hand/arm she melts into a uncoordinated toller puddle)

Watch (eye contact)

So I need some ideas on more tricks to teach her, and possibly steps to train the behaviour. Apparently they have to be 'fun'. Hit me with your ideas peeps! :D