all that glitters

Yep thats my issue too, the worst part about dog ownership for me so far *had my girl for 8 months* is leaving her alone when we go to work. Even then she is lucky because she's only alone 2 days @ 9hrs each a week, I'm home 2 days, hubby takes her to work 2 days and is home 1 day, so that leaves 2 days on her own. But it still worries me every time I close her door and leave her. When I first brought her home the first 3 weeks were HORRENDOUS.. she would scream and cry on and off all day and it made me cry a lot at work, thinking about her crying. It was such a stressful period for me, but finally she stopped and it was SUCH a relief! Even now she would prefer not to be alone but she has stopped crying when we leave and I think it's because i don't make a fuss when I come or go, and I leave her with tasty treats and a kong so she is "busy" as I shut the door. I definitely suffer from separation anxiety and I'm the human

Beautiful!! I'm starting to think long coats are all laid back and lovely, everyone with a long coat says they are so calm and laid back! Mine sure is

Nope right in suburbia, but she only lets out 4 or 5 single barks max so the barking isn't the issue, its more her INTENSE patrolling persona she puts on lol. Ya know I never really thought about it, we go to bed that late so I take her out last thing, I wonder if taking her at 9.30pm *she goes then too minus the nuts behavior* would be adequate?? I'm going to try tonight, skipping the midnight one :D How weird!!!!! It's definitely something cos I watched her closely last night and she full on RUNS around the perimeter like 5 times looking up at the fencelines and trees and rearing up to look up there... definitely critters that have irked her

So do I with my big RCanin Bags Is it bad not to seal it?

I have a Flickr newbie question When I go to our Flickr 52 weeks of dogs group and see all our photos, mine is there, but if I go to the "pool" (whatever that is?) so if there is /pool/ on the end of the original url, my photo and 2 other peoples photos arent there! What does that mean? Thanks!

Shyla has this new habit she has established in the last few weeks where on her final toilet stop for the night (around midnight) when she realizes we are taking her out, she starts to bark and whine (like she has heard something) in anticipation, then she will BOLT out the door dangerously fast and run soo fast up and down the length of the yard for ages, looking at the fence tops and letting out watchdog barks, as well as not coming in for ages. It has now gotten to the stage where because she realizes we are going out and starts to watchdog bark in the lounge before even being OUTSIDE, it has me worried! Is this unusual behavior? I'm worried she has a glitch in her brain or something! We have tried taking her out on leash for the final toilet stop but she becomes even more riled up cos she is on leash and will get her hackles up and bark more than a few barks trying to scare god knows what away. We pop the leash and correct her and she goes to the toilet but is very antsy, until we bring her back in. I don't like her doing this and figure the only way to stop it is to just take her out on leash, correct the behavior, once she pees praise and bring her straight back in. Is this better than just letting her do this weird barky patrol thing every midnight? She NEVER acts like this during the day or morning, or even when it has just gotten dark, only on the final toilet stop (which is after she has been sleeping for a few hours like 9-11pm). After we bring her back in she's fine and even takes herself to bed (under our bed). Just wondering if anyone elses dog does this, or if the trainers out there think that just keeping calm and taking her out on leash and straight back in is the best, or whether its good to let her 'patrol' (which is what she seems to do) or she's just expecting cats and possums out there cos they run along the fenceline a lot at night. During daylight she doesn't patrol AT ALL (unless she hears something unusual) and doesn't exhibit any of these behaviors at all, and her barking is not excessive, neighbors say in the day she'll bark maybe twice total and otherwise she's quiet as a mouse. Thanks!

LOL @ the horse sliding underneath haha!

Week 1 ~ Shyla turns 10 months old with a very fluffy tail!

Ooo I would love to join also! Is that ok if I post my photos here too?

holy crap thats bad! If my dog was destroying the house I would be figuring out why!

I've never heard of that before?? I thought e-collars were pretty much always effective if used correctly

Noooo! Whoever told you that lie? *goes off to delete thread about her dogs escaping...* LOL!!!

Yeah what else would you expect from a puppy, especially a lab puppy! And they are just being that.. puppies. Shyla didn't cope well with being alone but you teach them in small intervals and they stop crying and screaming.. I guess some people don't jump on google and look up every little problem they have like I do! Poor pup, I hope he gets a forever home next. At least they realized that buying from a breeder is the better option, but it took the purchase and return of a puppy to realize that

Yeah thats the first thing I thought! Rip doggy, not your fault at all, we can only do what we can and it's impossible to miss a dog that runs straight out in front of you!

If I didn't have cats I would consider the breed, I also can't be bothered putting chicken wire or cement along my fencelines (I have heard they like escaping) so I'll just admire them from afar for now!

I think mine had a love of life after her major surgery at 3 weeks maybe and found (and STILL finds) every little thing exciting and tailwaggable

GSDS not overly affectionate?? They are companion dogs who bond very strongly to their owners, they are very affectionate. If this isn't the case my GSD is very faulty

WOAH those adult lappies are SO SO true lappie style-looking lappies! I don't know what I'm trying to say but they are just so beautiful and look like they come straight from their homeland (or something!)

AHHH my fear! My dog getting loose! Cheeky little buggers hey, you can outsmart them (this time!)

Is it true tiger snakes chase you if you make them angry? At a family BBQ yesterday this guy was saying they are the one snake that will go out of it's way to get you and will chase an animal, human or whatever for ages

I get a dog face peering through the gate hand hole, and if I say nothing she remains silent. If I say something, anything at all, she starts yelping and doing her crying noise and runs inside to the kitchen sliding door jumping up on it and yelping eagerly. I open the door and walk in and ignore her til she calms down, then I give her cuddles Then she leads me to the back door picking up ANY toy or object she can near her and zooms outside to bring me a ball or frisbee

I'm sooo glad Shyla doesn't react at all to thunder or fireworks, it must be stressful when owners have dogs that do! My mums min pin reacts to them and was panting and restless last night, but I am sure it's because mum coddles her and 'there there its ok' making her feel that the situation is once to get anxious about. Shyla went out for a toilet stop as the lightening and thunder started all of a sudden with high winds, and I could see her out there with her tail up chasing flying bugs

Jed that's so lovely thankyou for sharing that!

My shepherd is vocal when we leave, she was terrible as a pup but the neighbors said she got to the stage where she made no noise on some mornings when we left. She never destroys or wrecks the house in any way at all. OH has a month off work which started a week before Christmas and he has been leaving her for little 2 or 3 hour intervals so she doesn't forget how to be alone, but this morning when we both went to leave together, she left her food bowl and ran up to the sliding door as I was shutting it (shes NEVER done this before!!) then ran outside and was yelping and barking at the gate as we drove off. Very VERY VERY distressing for me!! She usually doesnt cry for more than 5 mins though so I hope she 'got over it' fast. When we got home 3hrs later I got OH to drop me off around the corner and I snuck into the driveway and peeked through the gate and there was no sound at all and she wasn't in the backyard, she was asleep in her bed inside. And even when I came inside noisily and opened her door (she usually bashes on the door and cries loudly when she hears me) she didn't make a peep and didn't seem excited that I WAS home. WTF!!! So she didn't seem that anxious.... maybe her little drama queen display was just a little protest cos OH HAS been home more lately I hope she goes back to normal when he goes back to work!

Oh gosh I'm so sorry for your loss, I am yet to experience the loss of a beloved dog and I hope I don't have to for a long long time, just reading yours and other peoples stories of loss makes my chest hurt so badly, RIP Callie beautiful girl