Bluefairy

Thanks again, I have seen some bad mistakes some people make with training their dogs, thinking its oh so cute, and then as the dog becomes an adult, its the one thing the owners no longer see as cute and tend to get rid of the dog instead of untraining a bad behaviour. It breaks my heart to see this, but no amount of trying to talk to people will make them change their ways....and its always the animals that suffer in the end, for the owners silly unthinking mistakes. I never realised (like I said I have never had an adult before) that having an older dog was like having a teenager (you can talk to) compared to a demanding baby (who wants everything now). It sounds more and more appealing. I am looking forward to it now....I was a little hesitant before. I am a stay at home mum of 2 girls, one aged 21 and the other 14. Both are eager to help train and walk the dog. My OH works away from home, so this will make me feel safer (Ok most dogs would lick a burglar to death, but the thoughts there ). Plus as I have a heart condition, we can slowly get into the exercise routine. This is why I have picked breeds that like to walk, but are not really active and like to be couch potatoes too (like me). We can do this together. My Rotti was a pup when I got her, she was terrified of men and was afraid of any noises, soft or loud. It took me nearly a year to get her used to men not beating her (I found out later), and I worked hard to get her used to noises. I even had her sitting at a train station as trains came and went, she never flinched. She was my heart dog. So I know what it means to be gentle and patient with a dog that has issues. So thats fine with me. Edited to ask: Can you change a dogs name without too many hassles? Thanks BF

Thank you for your replies, It strengthens my resolve in getting an older dog. Yes I love the puppies, but the TT is a real dragged out affair sometimes, that seems to go on forever. Only a few puppies I have had, have been really quick to TT. I would prefer to get one from a breeder, that needs a new home, but I know the ones from rescue need a home to. I don't mind putting in the hard work, as the end result is so enjoyable. Thank you again. BF

Hi, I have had dogs all my life, but usually they have been puppies and so we kinda of grow into each others personality. But now that I'm older (49), I'm not sure I can go through the whole peeing and pooing training thing again, so I was thinking of getting a young adult, from 12mths and up, but I have never had an adult dog straight up before. I have no idea what to expect. Like is the training different? Will an adult dog be set in their ways? Can they learn new things? Or be trained out of bad ways? Would you personally take a puppy over an adult or visa versa? With a pup you mold them to how you want them to be, but an adult mostly already has been slightly trained in the previous owners ways (which may be different to mine), I'm just worried that training will be harder and might not work. I am thinking of an older dog from a breeder, or rescue etc. I am looking into Pugs, British or Aussie Bulldogs. I love the Brachy breeds. Can you give me some pro's and con's of taking on an adult dog? Thanks BF

Hi Andisa, When I had Zoe done it only cost me $187, so close to your price. I did have the extra fluids and the take home pain relieve too. This is standard cost for any dog, cats are cheaper by about $20-$30. Oh and it was a while ago so not during the July Desexing Month. Our rural vet clinic has 2 practices, one in a main town 120km away and one near me about 40kms away. They are absolutely brilliant with Pugs. A friend had a Pug she took to another vet clinic (who I will never go to again), and her Pug came home gasping, her breathing sounded funny and she had a croaky voice for several days....it was frightening to hear. When Zoe came home she was fine, just like any of my other dogs. I will always take a Pug to them, they know what they are doing. BF

I have watched it a couple of times, but every time I see it and I hear of the BS about some of these breeds, it totally puts me off. And the crap about designer dogs was I can't believe in this day and age they are still advertising these mutts. I wonder where they get their breed information from???? BF

I was shown the web site by someone I knew to help answer some questions I had with my dog. I have found everything I could ever possibly want to know about dogs and dog breeds. Unfortunately I no longer have a dog, but I still love coming in here to read everything. One day I might get a another dog....I'm just not sure yet. BF

I'd complain too.... I put my Aussie Bulldog in Kennels for 2 nights. We left her there, and she was let into a largish area with a GR who was having fun playing with a ball. The other dogs were in their kennels. I told the owner she isn't used to lots of dogs, so she said she would only have her in with one, maybe two dogs. When we came back to pick her up, her brand new collar was chewed beyond keeping, she was covered in mud, and sopping wet. We had to dry her off so we could get her in the car. She was very lethargic....but I thought she'd had a good run so was tired. We got her home and she went to her bed and stayed there for 2 days, she was limping, and looked so sick. We ended up taking her to the vets where they said she must have caught a chill, and was running a slight fever. She was given ABs for it.....after 6 months of constant limping on the same leg, the vets xrayed her and she had the start of arthritis in one hip. They said it was more than likely from the cold cement floor she was laying on in the kennel (didn't find this out until later). I will never recommend this kennel to anyone. I always felt guilty for putting her in there, I will never again leave my dog with anyone. BF

My advice would be to: Rehome the BM, I'm thinking its from a BYB, at least return it to the last owner. Rehome the dad back to the breeder....or some dark remote corner of the world. Get mum to take the kid to the pound/ Shelter and pick a dog of his choice in the smaller breeds section. BF

Off leash dog - overreaction - yelling - overreaction - smack to the head. Are you for real? So I am walking my extremely dog agressive, oversize, very fit Sibe on lead, who incidently was attacked by an off lead terrier as a puppy and you approach me with your elderly Rotti off lead :D My dog feels threatened and snaps at your dog. Thankfully your dog because of his size only requires 23 stitches, abs and a few drains, thankfully it wasn't a swf. Then you recieve the five hundred buck bill for his treatment, you're the sort of person who doesn't follow rules so god knows you aren't taking ANY responsibility for that bill. You report my dog to the council. What then? Or I am walking my extremely dog agressive, oversize, very fit Sibe on lead, who incidently was attacked by an off lead terrier as a puppy and you approach me with your elderly Rotti off lead I start sceaming at you to keep your dog away from mine because I sure as hell never want my dog laying a tooth on yours or any other. You smack me in the head for sceaming at you, my Sibe who is extremely protective of 'her' family lunges at you. I am still recovering from being hit but luckily she isn't human agressive so only glances your arm with her teeth. What then? But of course what actually happens is I cross over to the other side of the road because I will protect my dogs at all costs but ............. why the hell should I have to, I aren't the one breaking the law, you are. Very well put..... ;) BF

like i said this is a area where heaps of people walk there dogs off lead this is the first dog i have seen on a lead and I did not realise how people were about this but like i said i will conform now but this guy came at me and got in my face no need for that he wasn't scared he was just a fight If you are going to walk your dog anywhere, then you should know the laws pertaining to this.....after all you wouldn't get into a car and drive it if you had no idea about the road rules. I agree the guy was a little bit OTT, but you were breaking the law. The old saying goes that my mother always said, if your friends jumped off a cliff would you follow them too? I HATE people who walk their dogs off lead in a public place (not meaning off lead parks), I dob them in every time. I wish the fines were harsher so it put a hole in their pockets....then maybe they would think twice about doing something so stupid and unlawful. BF

I am in SA and I signed. I think all the Cruelty laws should be the same in every state. BF

With the larger head in proportion to its body I'd say Chi X maybe with a small terrier. Definitely not Rotti, as the paws are way too small. BF

We are waiting to move before we get our next dog. But I too prefer females, I have owned males before, but I have found females are more nurturing towards kids than my males, the training side of it was equal, as is the toilet training. Females I have found have a more gentler nature than the robust males I had....though these are for the larger breeds, Rotties and Dobes. I have over the last 20 years always chosen a female over a male.....but as the next dog we get will be from a particular breeder, it will depend if she has any puppies or maybe an older dog available at the time. As for gender.....no this last time I don't really care what it is, male or female, puppy or adult, black or fawn.....I will be happy to just get another Pug. BF

When my Aussie Bulldog went in to be desexed, I was also offered a list of extras with it. I opted for the fluids, as they said it helps them recover better. But like most of you it only cost me an extra $25..... But when I went to pick up my poor little baby, her face was swollen up like a balloon, she had an allergic reaction to one of the drugs they used and she had already been given antihistamines....she had her head hanging almost to the floor, she slept for 24hrs without moving, 48hrs later she was back to her old self. So the IV fluids didn't help her recovery at all anyway. As I also have a bad time with GA's I knew how she felt. But that was really scary. They had it printed in red they were never to use that drug again....poor pup. BF

Nadine I was thinking the same thing for my dog when we get it. We have a sedan, and I want a basket/box thing to securely anchor it to the middle seat. I have seen them with a seat belt base, so you can clip in your dogs harness while they are sitting in the basket. But I have only seen them for the front section, where it goes between the two front seats on top of the centre console....which I think is silly really as they are only available for large 4WD cars.... If anyone knows of anything like this, can you please give a link? Thanks BF

Zoe after a long play: Annie just before we got her: All puppy pictures melt my heart. BF

Just to go back to the availability issue....before I became a Purebred convert, to look for a pup meant, checking the notice boards at the shops, looking in the paper, going to the pet shops, or word of mouth. I had absolutely no idea how to go about looking for a specific purebred dog for my families needs....a dog was a dog and that meant mutts only. They were very easily available, someone somewhere near by had a female who just had a litter and you got your choice pf puppy to pick. It is only the last 15-20 years that I have been introduced to the Purebred dog and I would now never go back to the mongrel. With the introduction of the internet, finding a breed of dog to suit your families needs has improved heaps. Reading books on the subject helps, and now they have dog magazines, that road test some of these breeds....though you still get the DD in them. So I guess what I'm saying is that it took me years to start to research a breed, to find out everything I could about that breed, to go to shows, to talk to breeders, to search online. Some people are so ignorant (I don't mean that offensively, I mean they know no better) of what to do or where to go to even find out the simplest of facts about any dog. I only found this web site last year by accident, so for others it would be harder to find. I think the only thing to ever help get the message across is educating people....but its NOT getting out there. So why are the DD's being promoted more than the Pure Bred dogs? I think this has more of an impact in people buying DD's than Pure Bred's. There needs to be some form of advertising, obviously better than what they are doing now, to promote the Pure Bred dogs and discourage the DD, with the hard facts on why.....there needs to be information about where people can go to ask questions, information on web sites like this, and anything else to help. I never knew about a lot of things until I came here.....this web site is so enlightening....its just a shame not many people know about it. Though I know of many people now spreading the word to people who want to know anything about dogs. But its still not enough.....there are still people, taking the word of other people that DD are the best ever dogs.... BF

Where these dogs reported? OP I am sorry this had to happen, its just a shame Chewy wasn't there in their superhuman outfit to save the day but we can't have everything can we I would have done the same thing as you, taken the dogs home and come back. BF

I'd say congratulations and welcome the new puppy when it arrives BF

OP I too had to go interstate to get my pups in the breeds I wanted. I chose a short list of names I found on the Breed Clubs from several states. I am in SA, but I have had pups sent to me from QLD and NSW. I was lucky enough the last time to get one from this state, but it involved a lot of traveling. So don't limit yourself to your state only. When I contacted breeders, I told them about where the puppy would live, about my family and childrens ages, and about what I knew about the breed. I knew breeders (those that cared anyway) would want to know where their puppy, they put so much time and effort into, is going. I thought my chances of getting a puppy was better if I knew what I was getting myself into with the breed, and how I was going to raise her. Those that are in it for the money are the ones that don't give a toss about who you are or about the pup after it leaves them....they just want to get the money and get rid of the pup. I would never buy a pedigree dog without papers. I would never put a deposit on a pup either, unless the pup is on the ground and its mine. This really screams BYB to me. I would walk away from this breeder and look elsewhere. I hope you have more luck soon, and you get to have the puppy that is waiting for you. BF

We used to have a woman walk her med. size dog past our house with no lead....I got so jack of it...so one day while coming back from the shops in the car I stopped to tell her its illegal to not have the dog on a lead....she did the usual rant and walked off. Then a week later I saw her again walking her dog off lead and I went outside and shouted at her to put the lead on the dog or I will call the council (I am so non confrontational normally)....again she walked off mumbling not so nice words at me I thought OK last chance. I rang the council, I knew where she lived... :lol: when I mentioned the breed of the dog they knew exactly who she was and I never ever saw her without a lead on her dog...Though OH did see her dog off lead in another part of the town. Now for the last few months we have had a dog roaming the streets. It appears to be some sort of GSD mix, but its as skinny as hell, though looks old by the grey on his muzzle. He wears a leather collar, but you can't get close to him as it is terrified of people. We see him every couple of weeks, for a day or two, always around the same area. I know of no one that owns a dog like this. I ended up calling the council and they were going to send the dog catcher out to find him. It appears like the owner visits the area regularly, or the dog just escapes regularly....but the owner never does anything about it. I feel so sorry for this dog, it looks like it is not looked after very well. I hope they manage to catch it BF

Thats amazing about your son. I have noticed how most animals have a calming quality in special needs kids and adults. My daughter has Aspergers and our new 6mth old rescue kitten has this affect with her. The kitten sits on her lap or just snuggles next to her, especially when she is upset, and my daughter just relaxes while stroking her. The bond is very strong with them. BF

We got charged $150 for an xray of a medium sized dog, Aussie Bulldog. No GA though. BF

Why is it that most dog owners, always say "Don't worry my dog just wants to play" they don't know the other dog, it might attack them....why on earth don't they think of what the other dog will do? Whenever I have taken my dogs out for walks, I don't think "Oh my dog is so gentle and wouldn't hurt a fly" I worry about the leadless dog rushing mine....just like I would worry if my dog was off leash (would never happen), and rushing a dog on a lead....you cannot tell if any dog (including your own) would attack another dog if the circumstances were right.... Some dog owners are clueless BF

I have two of those brown stoneware bowls for my cats (they are large dog ones). I like how stainless steel last for ever, and always comes up clean, but I don't like how plain they are. I am going to get OH to make me a wooden stand for two drop in stainless steel bowls, this way I get the nice bowls with a stand of my choosing. BF