twodoggies2001

This morning in the Herald Sun letters section, there was a letter from Carol St. Kilda regarding her walking her beautiful gentle giant old Ridgeback when she came across a six week old pit bull pup with it's proud track-suited owner. Carol states that the pup was snarling and trying to attack her ridgie. She also says the 'attack' was unprovoked in a pup so young. Could this be possible with a pup so young? I am on the fence regarding pitbulls, but her inference of the 'track-suited' owner shows me her bias. Is she perhaps making a mountain out of a mole hill? If this is possible, then there is another potential killer growing up in the suburbs.

Noticed that the puppies were going to pay for a new floor for their 'breeder'. How could she sell or more like it, how could a father of 2 babies, jobless take on one of the pups, pay it off on a monthly basis then keep it pretty much confined because he couldn't afford the vaccinations. I wish people would get their priorities right. The breeder is not blameless either.

Yes that is us who brought the new chairs and the dogs sit in them not us. But i am happy to report that since getting them there own beds yesterday they have not even looked sideways at my chairs. They seem to be loving there new beds. Sleeping in them right now actually. Our boy even slept in his last night - his decision. We have decided to allow them to sleep in our bed if they chose but have now set boundaries and are inviting them onto the bed on our terms. It only begun yesterday so we have a little way to go, but so far so good. Good to read. Just keep up the good work and good luck

I also have two mini schnauzers and my younger boy sleeps under the doona with me and has done so from basically the start. My older boy used to but now sleeps on the couch in the family room because he is almost blind and that decision was his. When they were both able, they never climbed on the bed unless invited and know when there is a bed cover on they are to stay of. If my bed sleeper gets off during the night he is not allowed to come on unless I tell him to. In the beginning, he wanted to be fed at 7am, until I startd to ignore him and now he doesn't bother me until I am ready to feed him when I am ready to. Sometimes I stretch it out until 8am. I agree, there is no dominance issue just because he shares our bed. He still knows his place in our hierarchy but we are fairly strict with both of them. Dogs are not stupid and are very much like children and if they find they can get away with something once, they will try again. We as owners need to set boundaries which I feel the dogs need and want. They are below us in the family ladder and need to know that. Are you the couple who bought new chairs and now the dogs sit in them instead of you and that they are banned off the couch and you both sit on the floor with them? There is no way this situation would happen in our home, but that doesn't mean we love our dogs any less. They just know their place. You need to set these boundaries and stick with them so most of all, the dogs don't get mixed messages.

I can't, bacteria doesn't magically jump from the dog to someone's plate or mug. The more people learn about what sort of things are a more realistic danger to food safety the better IMO. In reality dogs are no more of a food hygiene risk than anything else that abounds around eateries, but because of the misguided perception that they are dirty or whatever most places would rather get rid of the dog than argue with people who know nothing about microbiology or food safety. I didn't say anything about bacteria. I merely said that some people resent having animals around when they are eating and I can understand why. You probaly didn't read it properly.

Probably they had complaints. Don't forget, not all people are animal lovers and resent having dogs around when they are eating and drinking and personally, I can understand why.

What ever happened to manners?

I am not ignoring advice at all and there is no need for you to get offensive. And I reiterate, how do you or anyone else know that I am not going to or have sought professional help.

No, I am not waiting for contact to be made. I resent that remark. How did you figure out that I wouldn't be asking for this sort of help. As I have said before this incident was out of character for Jasper. You are correct in saying that perhaps I did in fact miss the warning signs and from now on I will definately be more even more vigilent than before.

Thanks to all who have answered. Just to clear up a couple of points. The dogs do get fed before us, but they are fed away from everyone, as they are fed in the garage. I guess it's more for onvenience than anything else because I keep their meat out there. The younger boy in question does sleep on our bed and I find there are no dominance on his part. In fact, he doesn't come up unless he is invited. He gets off when he is told. He could easily bully his older housemate but he doesn't. He stands well back whilst my older boy eats, because he does this very slowly whilst Jasper gulps his down. He will not come near the other food bowl while it is being used for meals. Once it has been left, he will go check it out for any scraps. At the park, he is mostly off lead and will immediately come when called so I don't feel he thinks he is top dog. He is obedient and knows what is expected of him and his position on the hierachy ladder, that's why this incident came as a total shock to me. He wasn't smacked, but just told NO. He plays with the children and really looks forward to our weekly family dinner gatherings. He knows they are coming because the dinner table is set differently to when it's just my husband and myself. I am just hoping that it was a once off incident, but we will all watch over him and my youngest grandchild at all times.

The dog this time hadn't been playing with the children but was just sitting next to me on the floor at the dinner table. He is very food orientated but I make the point of never feeding him from the table. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to convince my husband the same. Maybe he thought he was getting a tidbit from the table. He had a grooming two weeks ago,so it wasn't his eyebrows. I don't think he was trying to bite her, I think he was just telling her to keep away from me. He is actually a very sweet boy in all other respects and I was totally surprised and disappointed to say the least that this happened. He has not done this before.

I have two mini schnauzers 1 almost 14 and the other almost 4. My question is about the 4 yr, old. We have 4 grandchildren ranging from 7 down to 20 months. The grandchildren have always been taught to be gentle and respect the dogs as the dogs have been taught to be gentle with the children. My older mini doesn't interact with the children anymore and they just leave him alone. The younger boy plays with the three older children and is always in the middle of a game, invited or not, and he loves it when they come around. The 20 month old is never left alone with either of the dogs and she is taught to pat him gently and say 'nice doggy'. For the most part, doggy is great with her too, but last night, he was sitting next to me, and she came towards me too. He snapped at her, thankfully did not connect but it has me worried. I don't know if he meant to bite or if it was a warning. It was totally unprovoked. She is never rough with him because we don't allow it, so how do I handle this situation. I put it down to him being possessive of me but he has to learn to share lol.

What about digestive enzymes. I have a senior mini schnauzer and he actually eats more than my 3yr old mini and he was very thin. I also put a coat on him all winter and that certainly helps but I have added digestive enzymes to his feeds and that has helped him tremendously. My vet explained that trying to keep warm burns off calories, even though he is an indoors dog.

Personally, I think there is a lot of attention seeking going on here by a somewhat immature OP simply because she doesn't take any advice offered. If I was in such an unbearable situation I would find myself somewhere else to live which in the long run would be better for all concerned. I assume that living with one's parents at the age of 26 does help with not having to do domestic chores for oneself etc. and cheaper to boot. Wasn't this the poster who said her boyfriend didn't want to move out of the house?

Probably she means she would stop her dog from defecating in the complex.

I think it's a great idea. Take a walk around most areas in Melbourne, especially parks and there will be heaps of dog poo not picked up by lazy irresponsible owners. These sort of people lump themselves and law abiding dog owners into the same basket and then the dog community in general suffer. I offered to give a poo bag to a pug owner and she declined saying that she would come back later to pick it up. Huh? I hate these kind of people!!!!

I wonder what the actual price is :eek: If the breeder is repsonsible and ethical they will give at least most of the desposit back. I think it would be justified keeping a small amount, to cover the costs of having to advertise again or turn away other buyers etc. I don't understand why they would shell out $1500 on a dog that they hadn't even researched? The OP stated the full price for the dog is $2500, and unfortunately, some people are impulsive in things they do.

The house looks ripe for demolition. I don't think you could get the small out of it

I seriously believe dogs have a 6th sense. My mum, who has since passed away with terminal cancer always loved my dogs and they loved her too. When I went to visit with my younger boy, one day, she wanted to pet him he fiercely resisted and wouldn't go anywhere near her. Soon after she passed away. I always felt he knew.

I didn't say they weren't. What is wrong with saying that they were little white fluffy things? They are white, fluffy and as I have no idea what mix they are I said things. I didnt call them nasty or ugly. All of which is beside the point as I dont call them that to the owners face, that was a decription I used here. P.S. I own small red things, I dont get offended if someone called them that. Even though they may be a mix, they are still dogs, not things and it's good to see that you don't call them by that description to their owner's faces.

Honestly, I could never leave my dogs tied up outside a premises. I would be terrified that someone would just walk them away never to be seen again. I can't understand how these owners do it.

I would not be surprised if those with little fluffy dogs take offence to your comment about 'little white fluffy things.' They are just as precious to the owner as larger smooth coated dogs are to their owners.

You'd expect the manufacturer to say that! My vet said you can split them, which makes sense when you consider the weight range of the dog specified on the box in relation to each size of tablet/chew. For example, Interceptor blue can be given to 22KG dogs and 45KG dogs. So the manufacturer is saying it's OK to give dogs the same dosage even if one is twice the weight of the other. Clearly precision in dosage/weight ratio is not extremely important when it comes to worming. I have two mini schnauzers and I get the 11-22kg. dose chews and halve them. My vet also mentioned to me that I could do so. It also seems that they can be given 6 weekly rather than weekly.

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Miniature schnauzers fall into this catergory. They as a rule love children, do not shed and are sociable with other dogs.