ludwig09

Hi,

Have you found anyone to help yet?

I live in the Coffs area and may be able to help with Coffs to Port Macquarie. Just not sure how to fit 2 Great Danes in my car.

For those of you who walk in the dark, how do you go with dogs rushing at you? Just thinking you cant really see that far ahead in the dark to be able to avoid the situation.

Hi everyone,

I am very sad that day light savings is over and the daylight hours are going to get shorter as winter arrives. We love our after work walks with the dogs each evening. My question is how do you excercice your dogs during winter when it is dark in the morning and evening? I suggested to my husband a Miners torch to wear on our heads but he thinks i am completely nuts for suggesting that

Would love to hear what others do?

I have no answers for that

We have to put our dogs outside when the family come as they have a fit

the kids freak the parents freak more and the dogs have to go outside and

wonder why they arent allowed in to see the visitors. Frustrates me no end

If the kids are scared of dogs they are gonna freak out anyway I would imagine

which could stress the dogs out

Is there any way for the time they are there to section of parts of the house that the dogs have access to

that the human kids dont have access to?

The scenario you have mentioned above is what i envision happening. I do like the suggestion of trying to section the house off as i wouldnt feel right to locthem outside for 4 days. Im trying to work it all out now so that when it unfolds im not stressed, which as we know will stress the dogs, which will stress the kids, which will stress the parents...........lol

In fairness to all I'd be asking the guests to stay somewhere else. Kids that are afraid of dogs and a dog that is not fond of children is pretty much a recipe for disaster just waiting to be cooked.

Yes that was my thoughts too. It would be a whole lot easier on everyone if they stayed somewhere else.

Hi all,

We have visitors coming to stay for easter and they are bringing their two kids 6 and 8 yrs old. My two dogs who live inside with us do not get much exposure to children apart from seeing them in the street etc when we go for walks. One of them used to growl at kids a lot but that has pretty much stopped and i only find they react to kids if they are running or screaming. The relatives coming to stay are all scared of dogs so im worried that my two will pick up on this and react. How do we get everyone to stay in the one house in harmony? Is there a certain way to introduce the dogs to people who are scared of them? Any suggestions?

We do have adult friends stay regulary and everyone gets along fine and its no dramas. This is just the first time we have had the kiddies stay.

Thanks for reading.

Yes im a crazy dog owner and proud :laugh:

We call them the skids (short for schnauzer kids).

Im mum, my hubby is daddy and they have nanny and poppy too.

When people ask if we have kids i say yes - they are 2 and 2.5 (this gets a strange look) then explain they are furry with four legs and love a good walk on the beach too.

Yes - ours are:

Ludwig = lud bum, FOTS (finest of the species), little man, Alby, fots domino, Mr Wick.

Inga = binky banks, moo bum, moochy rama, moobey sue, inka dinka.

They respond to all of them, especially if i have a treat in my hand

They usually come home exhausted as well as hoarse. Most dogs have the time of their lives in a boarding kennel. Also a lot of them get far more exercise than they do at home.

laneka he normally comes home buggered but this is the first time he has been hoarse. But come to think of it, its the longest he has been in the kennel. They normally go to my mum and dads for long stays. Yes i think it may be a sleepy day in our house tommorow

Definitely could have barked himself hoarse. I used to work in kennels and some of the dogs just never ever stopped barking the whole time they were there.

Could also be canine cough. Is he coughing or you're just noticing it when he barks?

Melzawelza he is not coughing or anything different otherwise. Its just when he barks. He normally has a very ear piercing high pitch bark so its quiet nice that its toned done lol...... i was worried though but fingers crossed he just barked himself silly.

We just picked up our two schnauzers from the boarding kennels and i have since noticed my boys bark is very hoarse. My husband and i have both checked him thoroughly for ticks but havent found anything. He seems otherwise normal. Is it possible he has just barked himself hoarse? Anyone elses dog done this? He was there for 5 days.

I know a couple (friends of friends) who had 3 healthy young dogs PTS at different times because they wanted to go on extended overseas holidays. Broke my heart when I was told about it and find it very hard to to even look at them after that.

Thinking of you and Zedley at this difficult time. May your memories of each other live on forever

I have two mini schnauzers who are not good with children at all even though we socialised them with kids as puppies. Fantastic with adults but its something about kids that drives them crazy.

General opinion from trainers/obedience teachers that we have seen is that minis are very hard to train - too smart for their own good, always one step ahead. I have seen the toughest of trainers be ruffled by my two.

All that said. We love our two and wouldnt trade them for the world. Minis are fantastic dogs.

I have another side to an enthusiastic greeting. Occasionally I have my cousin's miniature schnauzer fro a few days when they go away. All in all he is a great little dog and my young boy gets on so well with him. BUT, whenever we have been out and come home, or when he is finally picked up by his family he lets out an almighty scream, which continues for several minutes. We tell him 'No' to no avail and try hard to ignore him. I'm told that's how his family is greeted the same way. The neighbours must think there is a murder in progress. Any suggestions?

twodoggies2001 - I have two miniauture schnauzers who do exactly the same thing. Must be a schnauzer thing?? I have spoken to our neighbours about it and they said its the only time they hear them all day so its fine. But if you werent used to it you would wonder what on earth was happening.

I went to walk my dog on our usual beach this morning and i noticed that literally over night signs have been replaced and it is now an off lead. I am not a fan of off leads after witnessing too many attacks and unruley dogs not under control. We have given up walking our dogs around the streets because of dogs bolting out at us from houses but now that the on leash beach has gone it seems options are getting slim. I do have a treadmill for my dogs which they use a couple of times a week but there is nothing like getting out there for a walk. What to do. Does anyone else feel that it is getting harder to safely walk your dog?

Love it! The love we share with our dogs really is priceless.

My Dally ate plastic bags at the beach (fish flavoured perhaps?) on 2 separate occasions. Vet was wonderful - poured the gunk down his throat, we took Zig outside so he could vomit, I helped clean it up and we were sent on our way no charge.

Wow what a generous vet. Our guy swallowed something so we took him to the vet. We waited out in the carpark as it was busy inside. The vet came out to the carpark and game him the gunk we sat there while he vomited it up and the vet brought us out a bill for $180 - i nearly had a heart attack!

My condolences to you sway at such a sad time

I wonder how much seafood is too much though. I feed a fish based kibble to my 5kg dog and also add a teaspoon of salmon or tuna on most days. Would this have any bad effects?

From about 6months of age (they are now 2.5) mine have entirely eaten a fish diet due to allergies and every vet/groomer that has ever seen them comments on how healthy they are and tell me continue whatever i am doing so no problems here.

Hi everyone,

I walk past the same house everyday on my morning walks and am quite sure they have had their dog debarked (or voice softened). He was a crazy barker, still is but it is nowhere near as loud or piercing. My first reaction was i felt it was very cruel so i did a little research on it and now I dont know how I feel as sometimes it is peoples last resort it seems. Would just like to hear what others think or hear peoples experiences if you have done it to your dog and why you chose to do it.

Thanks in advance

It depends on what breed it is, and what you want them to do if you do come across another dog.

I noticed a huge difference between a bitch who wasn't overly socialised outside her pack as a youngster, and her daughter who attended puppy classes and has done a lot more meeting of other dogs. The difference is astounding.

I do not think that it is essential for dogs to go to dog parks where people just allow a free-for-all play with little to no attention on their dogs, because this can cause more bad than good.

I believe that socialisation on lead, with other friendly, social dogs and occasional free run, but controlled, play, is essential for any dog if you don't want problems down the track.

Hi SparkyTansy, they are miniature schnauzers.

Hi everyone,

Just wondering whether people think letting your dogs socialise with other dogs is essential??? If so how do you go about it? I find it very difficult and to be honest have lately been avoiding it. I just hope its not harmful to my dogs.

I used to take mine to offleads but after seeing dog fights and owners who turn up and dont pay attention to there dogs i now tend to avoid them. Plus i found nobody would pick up there dog poop and it just grossed me out all round.

Mine get an hour on lead walk a day but I do not introduce them to dogs we pass unless of course other dog is not on a lead and barges up to us and then i have no choice really. They also do 30 min each on their treadmill. Is this enough to satisfy the dog in them do you think or should they be playing with other dogs outside our pack?

Hi everyone,

My 2 year old dog has started reacting quiet badly to other dogs when we are out walking. He is barking like crazy and occasionally lunging when we see another dog. I did try to just continue walking ignoring him but it just seemed to escalate. Now i am taking him away from the situation and trying to get him to focus on me, then clicking and treating but sometimes he is so worked up he cant even focus. Its really stressing me out which i know wont help the situation. Has anyone had this with there dogs and been able to correct it? If so i would like to now what method you found effective?

Thanks in advance.

I have tried it and it was amazing. Prior to that I had the behaviourist come to mine to teach us how to handle him (friend's dog) but we just couldn't control him and did not know what we were doing wrong. It got to the point where it wasn't pretty so we opted to send him to the boarding training program and he came back a completely changed dog.

jr_inoz, how would the training be for the humans if the humans aren't there to see the training of the dog? Sure there has to be a follow up session but the dog is the one being trained in this case...

Hi minyvlz, good to hear you had success with the training. What method of training did they use?