Jake-K9

Hmm. The exhaust on my vacuum - which is the sort you drag around, I'm not up on household appliances - comes out of the top of the back half from kind of a grille thing, there's nowhere to plug the hose. Everyone already gets big juicy bones in their crates but they still go a little stir crazy after a day or so being stuck indoors and want to run around... My 4mo is the worst! He is also the hardest to wear out lol. And sadly I have very little useable dry outdoor area, probably about 1m x 2m by the front door - the rest of the house has a whole foot and a half of eaves and the rain still comes in the windows. >_< It's a rental so I can't get permission to attach a canvas sail (I've already asked, wanted shade for my vehicle).

Thanks Kavik. :) No reverse cycle on the vacuum. I'll have to keep that in mind when I need to replace this one! Thanks for the suggestion of the chilly dog coats, they look great. :) As far as covered areas go I don't know of any nearby... I run my dogs in the supermarket carpark up the road of a night time now as the nearest dog park is in complete darkness after sundown. The only nearby shops I know of just have shade sails which block sun but not much rain - and the local schools aren't really an option as the majority of them have fortress fences that are locked outside school hours. Those that don't have huge fences tend to have cameras. :/ I'll have to do some investigating to see what I can find though, cheers for the ideas!

Cheers for the ideas. :) For those of you who use a dog raincoat, which brand/s do you use and how dry do they keep the dogs? I know legs are still going to get wet but they dry fairly quick at least. Kavik, with the tricks, how do you go about starting "walk backwards" and "back feet on (object)"? Lure with food and mark? Also what sort of command would you pair with two on / two off? I don't own a treadmill... I've got nowhere to put one anyway. We ended up going out to the dog park today - what was light drizzle turned into a downpour as soon as we walked in the gate. :< Still let them have their run around but had to go to the coin operated dog wash up the road to blow dry the work dog - the bloody things are minimum $10 to start the machine so it can't be a regular occurrence...

I did try a quick search before posting but didn't come up with much, I'm likely using bad terms but oh well. What do you folks all do to amuse your dogs when it's too wet to go out? Google seems to suggest hide and seek and indoor agility - neither are an option for me as the dogs are not allowed on the carpet (all of the house except a tiled lounge), I have no furniture to hide stuff in/around anyway... and indoor agility with a malinois is just asking for holes in your walls! >_< "Just get wet" is also not an option for my work dog, unless he has hours and hours to get completely dry again before we start work. Any and all suggestions appreciated. :)

Thanks all for the suggestions, those Happy Paws Treats look pretty awesome - I will have to order some :) Mainly wanting to use it as something to keep the puppy amused on the nights that I can't take him to work with me - bones are working for the time being but I'd like to give him some variety!

I notice in Erny's Toys thread, a lot of you mention the Bob-a-Lot - I've bought one but I'm having a hard time working out what to use in it Kibble falls through it really well but is boring and all the stuff that smells really good is usually moist and doesn't fall out fast enough to build more than about a minute's engagement, even with the dispenser holes both opened to full So, what do you all stick in your Bob-a-Lots??

yeah I am waiting for a day off so I can go price stuff.... though I think tomorrow I'm just going to take a crate and my swag into a room... I'm sure a few days without the carpet covered won't hurt - starting to get rediculous, bad sleep all week :/ I have a 2yo malinois, he is my security patrol dog... had him since 10mths old, got him long before I moved into fatso's place... edit as I didnt see Lakies post... am thinking some painters drop sheets down on the carpet, and then the covering laid over them? should help protect the carpet from the covering?

K&P, "doggo" is sort of a generic term I use when referring to a dog, or sometimes "muttley"... and no, I got the hell out of there as fast as I could when I was offered a place through someone at work... I was honestly ready to kill the lazy fat f*** :/ I'd found myself thinking of ways to trip him down the steps or something to make it look accidental, cause once he was down I wasn't going to be able to move him... and drove 1600k's to get away from him when I found myself with 3 days in a row off work... he's been blocked from seeing my Facebook posts for some time, and when I moved, I blocked all his from showing in my feed, because every time I saw one I would just end up seething and infuriated, and I moved to get away from having to feel like that... so no, his doggo stayed with him, and as far as I know his situation hasn't changed one iota, so I seriously doubt he has taken doggo to a vet... and I try hard not to think about it because as much as it sucks there really isn't anything I can do about it

thanks for all the ideas folks and sorry for the delayed response, got called in to work early last night so left the house in a tearing hurry in the afternoon and didn't go anywhere near the PC... not quite ready to buy myself a new vacuum - already have a decently expensive Miele that's less than 12mo... but liking the idea of marine carpet or lino thanks!

I am in a rental place, and my landlord is totally cool with my dog, and with him being inside, but doesn't want him on the carpet. I don't want him on the carpet either... it's just me and him living there, and there is only carpet in the bedrooms, the rest of the house is tiles, so I've just made the lounge room my bedroom and leave all the rooms empty and shut... all good. except now it's coming into summer and starting to get too hot to sleep comfortably during the day, even with the fan on flat out... doggo is warm too, he is allowed on the bed with me but lately has been sleeping on the tiles straight under the fan... there is no aircon in the lounge, only the bedrooms so, what's the best way to cover the carpet up so we can go into a room to sleep in the aircon? the only idea I've had so far is to go to salvos or vinnies or similar and buy a heap of old sheets to lay on the floor, but I can see them being too thin, maybe blankets would be better? any and all suggestions welcomed.... thanks in advance!

Ugh. I keep trying to find a time when the housemate seems to be in a decent mood to bring the topic of doggo up... I've been completely flat out with work and I've only seen him happy lately when he has a mate around, not the ideal time for the "your dog has a lump" talk :/ He also had a health scare the other night and has now found out a close family member has fairly advanced cancer This is really doing my head in - I want to help him take proper care of doggo one because I can see how much he loves him and two because it's not doggo's fault his owner is depressed and broke >_< I am just so worried about what it will do to his mental state right now... As it is I am currently trying to stay away from home as much as I can :/ I almost wish they'd hospitalized him the other night, I'd have a few days to get doggo to a vet without him knowing and then at least I would know if his lump is cancer or not >_< How's it go? The more people I meet, the more I love my dog..........

(Can't find an edit button on this mobile skin) Forgot to say, if I knew I could sneak doggo out of the house without the housemate noticing I would. Even though it'd likely be a mission to have him at the vet as he'd want to eat them, I'd do it. Thing is I never know for sure when the guy is going to be out of the house, so I can't book an appointment. I don't want to try to take him when the guy is sleeping because if he wakes up and his dog is missing it's not gunna end well :/

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I can't afford to allow myself to be used as a crutch until I know this guy is ready to sort his shit out. He is currently on a sickness certificate so he doesn't have to look for work. I am careful how I word things when I talk to him and I haven't said anything about his sitting on facebook all night. I am willing to help out where I can, but I don't want it to turn into one of those give an inch, take a mile situations either. I have given him lifts to pay the rent and do the groceries, etc, and offered help to get him to the doctors and/or centrelink but he usually declines, says nah it's right such-and-such is taking me on <day>. He then fails to get out bed, or such-and-such fails to show... His car is completely stuffed now and won't even start. He seems to be allergic to the idea of public transport and reckons the bus stop is too far to walk. He also reckons the service station thats directly across the road is too far to walk, but I digress. He can't afford a taxi. I *know* he hasn't taken doggo to the vet since I've moved in, and the lump has only come up since I've been here. Doggo is a retired security dog and is quite cranky with most strangers. And as I said, he manages to keep him fed, but that's about it. I spent about $200 on anti-flea products when I moved in, doggo was so bad he'd chewed all the hair off his flanks and butt, housemate just let it go... you could see he felt bad but either didn't know what to do about the problem or just felt he couldn't spare the cash, I don't know. I've pretty much knocked the fleas over now, I helped give doggo a thorough bathing (during which I pretty much felt all over him, and the lump wasn't there then), his hair has all grown back, but they are still lingering, the house and yard really needs a professional pest spray and he needs to throw out the dogs' couch :/ I don't know for sure that the lump is cancer, but given doggo's age and breed, there is a good chance that it is. I have watched enough 'my dog has a lump' threads on various forums for years, and probably 98/100, a week later, damn my dog has cancer, a few weeks or a few months or so later, rainbow bridge thread I work nights and am at home sleeping (or trying to sleep) during the day, the guy is up until stupid o'clock in the morning sitting on his computer and whining that he can't sleep. I keep suggesting he go easy on the coffee - he has gone through about a third of a 1kg jar in a few days - but he just laughs it off, or goes nah I've only had two today. The problem is he makes his coffee using a desert spoon and a milkshake glass thing, throws about 6 sugars in and 2 heaped spoons of coffee, so 'one' of his coffees is like 6 standard ones... I've let him use my phone when he's he's been out of credit and needed to ring centrelink, when he's had to call his doctor, when he had to ring origin after they stuffed his payment plan up and sent him a letter saying he was in arrears, but I'm not just going to hand him money for phone credit because he'll probably spend it on smokes and shit. Throwing money at him isn't the answer. As far as housemates go, he's definitely not the worst I've had, and he has generally been pretty good about not asking me for shit, but it's still hard to be around someone like that. I am going to want to find my own place eventually but then I only found out about his suicide attempt after I'd moved in, and that it was because his last housemates had said they were leaving, he panicked because he thought he was going to lose his house and his dog, and if I hadn't moved in he probably would have :/ So now I don't want to shift until I know he can afford the rent on his own, but I can't stay indefinitely to keep his lazy arse afloat >_<

Housemate has been in and out of the Mental Health system for a while it would seem. He has been taken off his mood stabilisers because he can't get to his doctors for weekly blood tests for something else, forget what med he mentioned now. I'm not going to be his taxi either, he needs to get off his arse and sort his own problems out instead of sitting and bleating on facebook about how bad he has it >_< Don't get me wrong he doesn't deserve the shit he always seems to attract, but it's not my job to be his gopher and do all his shit for him. I contribute half the rent, half the bills, give him extra money for food as he does most of the shopping and cooking, and I do most of the cleaning. I also usually work 50-60 hours a week, and can't afford to let my sleep suffer in order to ferry him about. Doggo is still bright and happy and shows no signs of pain or discomfort. If he was struggling I'd likely act, but for now I'm reluctant to bring it up as I don't need the guy going into a tailspin on me :/

Bit of background information: I moved towns to take up a new job. I seem to do this fairly frequently, but anyway. Moved in with a guy who I'd worked with the last time I was here, but back then he had a girlfriend living with him, and I'd found my own place. He is a really nice guy with a heart of gold and we always got along well. This time around he's had a bad break-up with his girlfriend, found himself out of work and on the dole. His car has shat itself, his license has expired, and he's too broke to do anything about it. Me moving in got us both out of a bind, it means I have a base and facilities, and he doesn't get kicked out because he can't afford the rent on his own. Guy has an old dog, Rotty cross, probably with dobe, around 9-10. The "rainbow bridge" is mentioned (but not in those words as such) and the guy just about bursts into tears, he is going to be devastated when doggo passes. He is managing to keep him fed despite the money issues, but can't really afford anything else. I paid for a heap of anti-flea stuff when I moved in as the little buggers were rife, and MY poor dog was overrun with them the second day he was here. Lately, I've noticed a fair-sized hard lump on doggo's rib cage. It's definitely not just a fatty 'old dog' lump. It's very hard and boney and doesn't move when gently prodded. I'm thinking there's a good chance it's osteosarcoma. Housemate doesn't seem to have noticed it, and if he has I am guessing he's just thinking it's an 'old dog' lump, as doggo has a few small fatty ones that the vet (some time ago) told him not to bother about. The guy's mental state isn't that great, as I've discovered since I moved in. :/ I think he'd take the idea that his best mate has cancer pretty badly. I don't want him to try to off himself again. Only found that out after I moved in too, sigh. Given the location of the lump, treatment would likely be futile, and there's no way my housemate could afford it. I don't want to see the dog suffer but I'm not willing to start forking out for treatment either, as I don't know how long I will end up staying here, the guy is doing my head in. I'm really not sure how to approach this. I don't need the shit I'm going to have to put up with if I tell him doggo probably has cancer, it's going to be bad enough when doggo goes, let alone with weeks or months of manic depression preceeding it. He also can't transport doggo to the vet, and me trying to sneak him out for at least a diagnosis would be very hard, as the guy hardly leaves the house. :/ I've asked advice elsewhere and the only suggestion so far has been to take a sob story to a vet and hope for a discount. I really can't see that happening. And even with a discount it's going to be too much for the housemate to afford. ( My best course of action for now seems to be to keep an eye on doggo and just let it go until he starts going downhill, then bring it up, get doggo some pain meds, and hope things are over fairly quickly. Sorry this is long. Any advice on alternate ways to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. I feel that doggo deserves more, but I know my housemate can't manage it right now, and I have my own issues without taking on another burden.