PuddleDuck

So sorry huski

My toller Bear (who was recently renamed 'captain Princess fluffybutt' by the girlchild) hates her purina roadie harness. she has some very minor stiffness in her front legs and I think having to fold them up to get them into the harness annoys her, plus she generally prefers to be nekkid :laugh:

I want to get her another good safe car harness. She sits in the backseat and needs to wear some kind of seatbelt or else the girlchild gets argumentative and doesn't want to wear her seatbelt

So DOLers, please commence enabling me!

I've never read this before....I'm struggling at the thought of this being my first Christmas without doof and just came across this quote/story. I thought I would share because I'm sure you guys all wanted something to make you cry tonight :)

Some of you, particularly those who think they have recently lost a dog to “death”, don’t really understand this. I’ve had no desire to explain, but won’t be around forever and must.

Dogs never die. They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say:” No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.” Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk.

It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone ( exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.

However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.

When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging it’s tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: “Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.”

When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)

Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.

But don’t get fooled. They are not “dead.” There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are.

I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. You’ve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.

Awwwww he's lovely!

My toller Bear co parents my daughter, has done since I was pregnant. They're inseparable.

I was telling her breeder about it and she said 'I always knew that dog wanted to be a mum' :laugh:

Tomato and olive oil... Throw in some oregano and voila pasta sauce. They're just trying to make you dinner. Sweet doggies.

Only dog that's ever bitten my daughter was a maltese and one of the few dogs that I've been bitten by mini poodle. From what I've seen both can be nasty, snappy little breeds if not properly raised.

But that can be said of any breed. I've worked with dogs for most of my adult life, as a kennel hand and a vet nurse. The only dog I've ever been seriously in trouble with was a Bassett hound who attacked me when I opened his kennel door. There was no warning. I later found out he was a top sire but a total asshole of a dog. I personally dont like them but I don't expect there are many others with those traits.

Sorry to derail but does anyone use the syntek leashes from k9 pro? I am tempted by their purpleness....

A toller cos life is always better with a toller :D plus mine would catch birds and there is a (very slim) possibility that she might even let me have one of them

I've been taught that all caps is both SHOUTING and hard to read. I personally find it rude or ignorant (if you knew better you wouldn't do it) and hard to read.

Really old computer systems - only had upper case. But I can't see that excuse holding up these days.

It's good in selected spots for emphasis but not for whole blocks of text...

I'd rewrite like this - I'd put the email instruction at the beginning of a line. And the last thing on the bit of blurb - cos sometimes that's all they remember. I have a habit of tuning out headers... they're just labels not relevant info, right? Until someone puts the important stuff in the header and then I'm stuffed.

----------------------------------------------

If you would like to know more about Angus

EMAIL ME, email is good.

please include

* a description of a day at your place

* how long Angus would be on his own each day

* how active you are - how often do you go for walks or runs

* how many in your home including kids - how old the kids are

* other pets you have

* anything else that helps me decide if Angus is a good fit for your family.

* any questions you have about Angus

and repeating - please * email * me.

-------------------------------------------------------

I guess it's exasperating and I am hardly the go to person for creative writing... But I have been writing instructions for morons (computers and their users) for years - and I have a good understanding of what stuff just doesn't get noticed.

The best way is to pay attention to what enquiries you get - and tweak your blurb accordingly. Try different blurbs with different dogs and see what phrasing gets the best results for you.

I have heard of people putting deliberate spelling mistakes into their advertising boards - because people will come into their shop - just to point that out and maybe they will buy something too. And if you say - thank you so much for pointing that out - they feel a bit "special" and even more inclined to return to your shop. Which is good if you don't mind Spelling Fanatics for customers...

Bolded part :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: especially the last sentence

My dad owned a yachting school for many years and on the back of his ute was an ad for his 'yoting' school. He earned several thousand a year off people who called to berate his spelling ability and somehow hung up after buying a sailing course

I don't have any overseas dog breeds on my wish list but if I could own a pet tortoise here I'd die of the happy :laugh:

When all else fails put child locks on the fridge...two...just in case

If you've still got it hold onto the remaining product and packaging, I would expect they would want to test it

Glad they are on the mend, hopefully you can catch up on sleep!

Kerry, my childhood rescue lab x border collie lived to 20 years 11 months. I was about 5 when we got her, she was 1. There was absolutely no reason that you can attribute it to. She ate crap food for a lot of her life, wasn't vaccinated or heart wormed after about 13 years old because we were all certain she wouldn't life much longer (not that she was sick, just that she was old). She had arthritis and was rather blind and deaf and a bit was missing mentally but she was still delightfully happy. She had surgery at about 19 to take out some lumps, we all said goodbye to her and she pulled through with no issues. We used to joke that you couldn't kill her with a steamroller. We made the decision to have her PTS when she became completely incontinent overnight and was really distressed by it. She was an amazing dog :)

Bear is utterly devoted to my daughter and has been since before I knew I was pregnant. Getting a toller was a dream I waited a long time for and she is the most amazing girl, but since I got pregnant she has been devoted, protective and caring on a level that is astounding. She will do anything my daughter does (last week was a moment of intense frustration because she couldn't get up the rock climbing wall at the park!) no matter how much it scares her. She will brave any tantrum to comfort my daughter, any fear to protect and support her and is the first one by her side when she wakes.

I had plans to do agility and obedience and title her so there would be a lasting memory of her amazingness, but life and illness stopped that. Instead she will always have the title of Kayla's best and most devoted friend, which, although it won't be recorded in the history books of canine achievements, has turned out to be a far greater achievement that will be recorded in the history of our family for as long as it lasts

Although there was no danger with this one, my dog certainly perceived there was!

When I was about 8, dad got me a rather feral puppy, pit bull x cairn little bugger of a dog. He barely came up to dads ankle when we got him from the RSPCA. We took him home and from then he slept on my bed. That first night we were home dad had an old family friend staying who was getting home late and hadn't been told we bought a pup. Dad had asked him to check on me before he went to bed. Dad woke to almighty hollering and growling and came running out to find his friend with our teeny little black puppy firmly attached to his leg while he jumped around trying to shake him off with no luck whatsoever. It took a while for dad to stop laughing and get him off, and for the rest of his life that dog didn't let anyone near me

Neocort is awesome, we use it more for people than dogs in this house :laugh: I used to work with a vet that would shove some up her nose when she had hay fever and swore it was the only effective treatment

I'm allergic to pretty well every type of adhesive tape (strapping, band aids etc) so I use vetwrap a fair bit too

Happy gotcha day Stan! Is it a meat pie day or does he have to wait until his birthday?

Every day for Stan, should be meat pie day

Stan is Spesial

I'm pretty sure Stan's response to that would be....

'Everyday WOULD be meat pie day if she would take the bloody lock off the fridge!'

Happy gotcha day Stan! Is it a meat pie day or does he have to wait until his birthday?

Thanks guys

Their old diet was kibble with toddler scraps-bear's was mainly veg and lean meat scraps cos she is prone to tubbyness, doof ate all the carbs :laugh:

Now I think I'll change it a bit, I'll keep the kibble and selected leftovers for dinner cos the girlchild likes to feed her dinner, but mornings I want to feed raw, either frozen into a kong or some type of bone that agrees with her :) my background is with commercial pet foods though, I don't know much about raw except that it seems to make the bear happy

Gila I've heard that too, I wonder how long it takes to change?

Thanks guys, I'll give her a couple of days to recover and get her started on some poultry :)

Another question, the smoked bones at pet shops, are they any good for keeping them occupied? We've got some renovations about to start and she'll be coming to friends/family houses during the day with us but they probably won't want raw bones about the place

Because doof couldn't tolerate bones, we've only fed them to bear a couple of times in her life. Now that it's just bear I would like to start giving her more raw food

My butcher have me some lamb necks yesterday and I gave her one this morning (I was a bit excited to give her one!) and she loved it but at lunchtime after a walk it all came back up and she's vomited once since then with a little bit of bone/meat left

Is it normal for them to spew the first time/s? Should I give her a different bone instead? She has had a chicken wing very occasionally and didn't spew with then, so I don't think she shares doof's intolerance.

Thanks in advance :)

Harley I think it's the same here, mummy spent all day crying, doof is missing, cue meltdown from toddler. She went to get his bowl at dinner and then put it back and said quietly 'doof's not here'

Slightly funny story in all this, I've always said that before my dogs go they can have a block of chocolate because then their life experience would be complete. The only chocolate in the house was a huge block of Cadbury marvelous creations, the one with the popping candy. So we get there and sit on the floor and start giving it to him and he has a few bites then starts spitting it out. Pulled out a different piece, doesn't want to go near it. I don't know if it was that he didn't like chocolate or the pop rocks or something. So my vet comes in and hubby and I are both laughing quietly at the irony of it while I scrabbled through my bag and dug out every toddler snack I could find, which he seemed to prefer over the chocolate :laugh:

Thanks guys, and thanks as well for the advice. He's gone now and I admit to feeling a sense of relief that it's over. My wonderful vet was amazing. Kayla has asked for him a couple of times (we took him down during her arvo sleep while grandma babysat) but so far she's taken it pretty well.

Also if anyone has any tips on how to explain it to my almost 3 year old that would be great. We are trying to build her confidence around doctors so have to be a bit careful saying that the doctor couldn't fix him

Unfortunately we've reached the point where there is nothing else we feel comfortable putting him through. Between the strokes, glaucoma and a tumor on his foot that is growing quite fast, we've decided to give doof his wings today. Thanks all for your help through this