Simply Grand

They have oven ready 15inch pizzas! That's the size of a car wheel! And they're yummy and cheap and full of pretty good quality ingredients. 'Nuff said. :D

And actually, I think I'd read about testes descending at up to 10 months old so I was never planning to do it before then (this is just from memory, it was two years ago now, so don't take it as gospel).

Riley was very little and I wanted to give him every chance to grow to correct size :laugh: From what I read about the risks of a retained testicle it seemed like there were unlikely to be issues with cancer developing until it remained retained for several years so I decided to wait in order to let him grow fully. There were no issues when he was desexed, other than that the teste was right up in his abdomen is it was quite a surgery! But it would have been anyway, whenever it was done.

Wow! That's better than my couch! My Costco membership has expired, perhaps I need to join for another year

Oh, and agree with what PME said!

Haha, this is exactly what happened with Riley! He was cryptorchid as well ( I waited until 13 months to desex) but as soon as he hit 8 months his hormones kicked in and he started attempting to hump both males and females. He had a different approach to both though, his body language with females was quite polite and appeasing and he would follow them around trying to mount now and then whereas with males he was more direct and would approach in a more confident, upright manner and go straight to trying to mount. I think with females he actually had a drive to mate and with males it was more attempting to establish dominance. He was pretty clueless about both though and it was quite hilarious to watch :laugh: Other people probably wouldn't find it quite so amusing with a Husky doing it rather than a small Sheltie. Obviously it wasn't desirable behaviour so I would just watch him closely and call him away when he started showing signs of being about to do it. Then I'd distract him with some other activity and move away. If he kept heading back to the same dog I would put him on the lead for a while, not as a punishment per se, I'd still give him attention and something else to focus on, but just to prevent him focussing in on whoever he wanted to hump. It went on for probably six months or so but was manageable with a good recall and he did grow out of it. I personally don't see humping as a problem behaviour in itself, I think it's a normal part of dog behaviour. My three do it to each other and are able to deal with others doing it to them (as in they can appropriately communicate that it's not cool, have an attempted hump off with another dog until they sort it out between them or occasionally go along with it - hussy Quinn) BUT I understand for a lot of people and some dogs any sign of humping is very unwelcome so it's really important to be able to interrupt the behaviour and call your dog away immediately :)

Stop it! Too gorgeous

Oh

Welcome Adamandabella :) With puppies it's ALL about patience and consistency. They have super short attention spans and really don't understand how the human world works so everyone in the household has to pick your approach to everything (set the rules) and consistently stick to that. Teaching nice walking is really frustrating in the beginning but sooooo worth it when you get over the first few tough months and have a dog that you can take for a pleasant walk, especially when you're going to have a big girl! Oh, and yep, part of the puppy experience is puppy crazies time! They all do it and keeping calm and patient is what will get you through it :) During those times their brains tend to switch off a bit so you may need to just wait her out. Keep training sessions short (5 mins) and frequent rather than one long one.

We're lucky in the ACT that they are treated just like any other dog, legally. I have had the pleasure of knowing many lovely ones. Unfortunately there are still plenty of people who are prejudiced against them without ever having actually met one

Love this, how unlike pit bulls :p

That's Jake, not Hank. Hankdog tricks us with her user name :)

That's another great point, that dog didn't know it was going to be put to sleep, all it ( and all the others ) knew was that people came and walked it and played with it and made sure it was safe and loved it up until the end of its life. And that makes an absolutely huge difference to that dog :)

I drove past yesterday and was like "what are all those people and dogs doing there " then saw the fence and realised it was the new park. It says its the only one of the dog parks without lights but I didn't think any of them had lights?

That's exactly right poochiemama, and the best thing you can do :) None of us can save all of them or prevent all the cruelty but we can do our very best for all of those we have direct contact with.

I work at a shelter and something I always find uplifting is how incredibly resilient animals are. Even those who have been through terrible things are almost always able to move on from it and adjust well to a new, happier situation. They don't dwell on things like we do, they just know that now things are good :)

Sort of OT but 6 cups per day seems like a huge recommended amount! Even 4 cups seems a little on the high side to me for a lab (I'm assuming he's 30 something kgs?) My 21kg Aussie Shepherd is only on 1 - 1.5 cups of kibble plus around 1 cup of "extras" (meat/fish/veggies + treats) and even our biggest shelter dogs generally only get 3 cups per day (although obviously they have very limited exercise). Not aimed at you in particular Aliwake, but is that kind of amount what other premium foods recommend and people find their dogs need?

May well be wrong, but I think cosmolo (Underdog Training) is in Melbourne... They rock!

Because at least one of them was not a safe dog. Whatever led to it, however much it was not the dog's fault and it was let down by humans, a dog that would respond like that to a human in its yard is a highly dangerous dog. Edited to say WAS (not is) not a safe dog I do feel for the dogs and have myself made a call on a dog I loved very much who had not done anything like what this dog did, but who was not a safe dog. I held her as she was put to sleep, so I do not say this lightly.

Oh, you poor thing raineth That makes sense now you say it though, I think a lot of kids think along those lines - "I was told to do something so I have to do it" and they don't yet have the maturity or experience to realise that sometimes it's ok not to do what you've been told in circumstances like yours. I wonder if the little boy had been told to go and get his brother? Of course he might not have been but it is another possibility

Exactly LG. I'd love to add a Rotti to my pack right now but I don't have the space or money to properly and suitably contain one...therefore I can't have one!

God, that's horrible. I really wish there could be some kind of investigation into why this happened, yet another attack where the dogs' owner says they've never attacked before.

Maybe it's a workspace or something where the dog can't run around loose? Saxon, my poodle x malt can stand up and dance around like that on his own, probably not for that long but he gets better and better at it the older he gets and more he practices it, I'll have to film him one day :)

Just thought of something, I can't remember if it was already mentioned earlier in the thread but make sure you keep her nails nice and short, if they get long enough to push on the ground they can push her toes out so her feet get a bit floppy instead of nice and tight.

Like to see that pic re enacted in a year's time! :) Lovely . :laugh: Definitely! Loooove the sleeping with Drazon pics, so adorable.