Little Gifts

Fantastic news Pipsal! I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but Dr Chris Brown (Bondi Vet) was going into remote communities doing vet care (and I assume desexing). Why not get in contact with his clinic or the show as well and see if anything comes of it? Big hugs to you for what you achieved.

That boy came to the right street! Hope you find some info out about him and he has a good owner to go back to.

So who watched Bondi Vet more cynically last night? ME! Everything he did was all for the cameras - here let me carry the pelican, here let me bring a puppy back to life, here let me help the mum bond with her babies. It was making me sick! I love animal shows but don't think I can watch him anymore - he's gone too tv and not enough vet for me.

The best thing about the behaviourist was that the changes were simple to make and keep up with. It all just clicked into place for us and things worked immediately, ie same day our attitude changed so did the dogs behaviours. Specific techniques can also be reintroduced at any time if you find things slipping backwards. Our behaviouralist did the amichien bonding thing with us and some others on DOL have pooh-pooh'd it but it was perfect for us and our dogs, particularly the gesture eating and giving each dog a clear role in the pack and encouraging this role over others. These 2 things alone changed the dynamics.

I live in a u shaped street that is full of dogs - most houses with more than 1 (we have three). There are also a couple of cockatoos and some roosters and we live near an ambulance station so at times there can be quite a racket going on. Our dogs are fenced off from the street and we've only had one noise complaint a couple of years back which the council investigated and said wasn't an ongoing problem. Anyway our household is planned so that someone is always home before dark to let the dogs in. There would only be a handful of times every year that this doesn't occur and last night was one of them. I ran into the house and went straight out the back to let them in when I got home last night and some ahole was yelling at them to "shut the f*** up!" So I went out there ready for a fight but couldn't work out where the yelling came from. The dogs were of course barking desperately as soon as they heard the car pull up but only for a whole 5 mins until I got into the house and let them in. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, someone will always be upset by it! I too love my sleep and since one of my dogs is a terrible snorer I sleep with ear plugs in. So even if the roosters are crowing or the cockatoos are going off their nut I can sleep on through. Having volunteered at a shelter for a bit I'm not being bothered by dogs barking for a reason (even at the ambulance sirens!) but we do have some yappers across the road that just like the sounds of their own barking and I sometimes fantasise about putting muzzles on them! I wonder how their owners don't notice????

I have been in EXACTLY the same situation. Older desexed staffy female and young undesexed staffy female coming into sexual maturity. Our problem was exacerbated by a third dog (husky cross undesexed female of an in between age). The two staffy's kept going each other over empty bowls and a couple of other resources. The old girl wouldn't give in and relinquish her spot in the pack so the fights were to the death! The young girl was desexed (had been planned anyway) but it made no difference to the fights. We had to get a behaviouralist in to help us manage and things changed immediately. We have probably only had one fight that got out of hand in the 2 years since the behaviouralist helped us and it was our fault. As has been said before it is all about how we manage the dogs behaviours and environments. The person we used is based on southside of Brisbane and her price was very reasonable (cheaper than all the vet fees!) and I'm happy to pm you her details if you want to look into it further. It was the best thing we have ever done for us and our dogs.

I love reading these! One of mine likes to clean teeth and she circles her dinner bowl round and round and round while eating, mostly dropping it on the floor to eat it from there. She is also guilty of picking up a couple of biscuits, jumping on the closest lounge to eat them, then jumping down and running back to her bowl to repeat the process. She only does this at breakfast though. One of my other dogs used to do something a bit embarrassing. She used to have a thing about sidling under a plant in the garden or a towel hanging in the bathroom, then she would rock herself back and forwards with the leaves or towel rubbing lightly over her back. This was accompanied by pleasurable groans, her eyes rolling back in her head and the tongue flicking in and out licking the air.

I emailed the journo as well asking for a link to the source material but haven't heard anything back. He is a senior editorial journo with The Age so I hope he checked his facts like a good journo should before using them!

I'm very jealous! I wish I had thought of training my dogs to do this. One of mine often runs around 'wearing' her fleecy pj's with only one leg in as she refuses to let me do the others. It's like trying to put shoes on a toddlers foot!

My young staffy girl has to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. She doesn't necessarily chew or swallow the items but it seems to be the only way she knows how to work out what something is. I'm very texture orientated and have to touch and feel stuff a lot so I reckon if she had human hands she'd be the same.

About 95 per cent of all puppies sold in pet shops have been bred in puppy factories or farms - large-scale, intensive dog-breeding facilities - and almost half all pet dogs in Australia started their lives in such conditions, the RSPCA claims. But Roger Perkins, CEO of the Pet Industry Association of Australia, disputed the RSPCA figures. There were about 3.7 million dogs in Australia, but only 10 per cent of dogs were sold through pet shops, he said. I would love to see where the RSPCA and Roger Perkins info has come from because those are very important stats. I am terrible with maths but to me this still equates to 370,000 dogs being sold through a pet shop and of those 351,500 came from puppy farms if you mesh the figures provided by both. I wonder how this compares to registered breeder numbers? Are they supposedly responsible for the other 90% (3,330,000)? Doesn't seem likely to me but I could be wrong.

double post

Mine also is mostly blind and deaf so every instruction we give her has to be right in front of her knowing she is actually focussed on us first. I also tend to stamp my feet a bit so she knows where I am if I am too far away. The dementia medication has really made a difference too. It's like it connects the information in her brain again so we don't have the vague wandering and standing or getting stuck in places anymore. She's surprisingly active and playful still and I ensure we have a play together every morning as part of her routine because she likes to chase my hands as a game and I figure that is good for her brain and coordination. At night she play fights with the younger girl in the loungeroom too. This is the oldest dog I've ever owned and in a lot of ways it requires the same amount of effort as owning a puppy again! The cycle of life I guess.

When I first took on my girl I made the terrible mistake of encouraging her to sleep on my chest while we watched tv at night. She was small then and now at 18kg of muscle she still thinks lying down involves lying on me in some way. Oh the bruises.....

Thank you Nekhbet - I do believe in the whole pack position and role thing, which is why we had a behaviouralist in before to explain it and help us treat them more appropriately. We figured the husky x's attitude to the older dog was due to her not being seen as a useful member of the pack anymore. But I wasn't sure how to manage it if the older dog has dementia. You have of course given me a lot more valuable information about pack behaviour to consider and apply. Closing doors - something so simple and not something I even thought of. Seems stupid I know but we've never done it before - we tend to run around putting things out of doggy reach instead. As for crating - our younger rescue was traumatised in a crate as a pup and injured herself as a result so I have been reluctant to force it upon her but I'm guessing that unless they were all crated it might not have the desired affect on the pack as a whole?

Thank you for that information Deerhound Owner. It makes a lot of sense and I knew someone on DOL would have some good advice. Before the dementia was diagnosed a couple of months ago we did buy some nappy items so perhaps it is necessary to use a two part approach to the problem now - nappies on when inside the house and a continuation of the supervised toiletting outside. Plus I will restict her access to the furniture she is marking and see what happens from there - she may start trying in other spots I guess. I will also talk to the vet about her medication to see if the dose remains right as it does keep her more alert. Though clothes on the floor is my sister's problem!

I am after some genuine advice here on what I should do.... My sister and I have 3 female rescue dogs - almost 16 yo staffy, almost 3 yo staffy and an 8 yo husky/shepherd cross. The old girl has been with me almost 15 years. The younger girl arrived when she was 3 months and the husky x has belonged to my sister for about 5 years but they both only came to live at my house about 2 years ago. The old girl is social but doesn't like to be fussed over. She has cancer and dementia but is still quite active, playing with me and the young girl every day. She doesn't get too close to the husky x. The young girl is very smoochy and naughty but lots of fun. She does struggle with her position in the pack (fighting with the old girl) and we have had a behvaviouralist in for that reason. The husky x has always been kind of aloof but protective of the humans and the house. She is also protective about her personal space. She does like to play with the young dog but then abruptly stops and goes to be by herself. We call her the fun police because she always seems to tell the other 2 off for playing too rough or are having too much fun. In particular she is a little sharp with the old girl, almost like she is trying to tell her she is useless to the pack now. All our dogs are very routine orientated and my sister and I both feed, exercise and discipline all three the same way. I discovered my old girl has dementia mainly because she was toileting in the house like she'd just forgotten to take her butt outside. The medication has definately helped in that area. But over the last week I now realise she has been deliberately peeing on the furniture. This morning clinched it for me. For months now I was confident that she was no longer able to get onto the furniture without our help. But this morning I saw her get on the spare lounge in my room all by herself without any problems. I ran over in excitement to notice the little toad squatting down and peeing! Then it dawned on me that the only furniture she pees on is the furniture the husky x likes to sit on. She also pees on my sister's clothes if they are on the floor of her room, but never my clothes on my floor. Houston I think I see a problem. So, if she is scenting to tell the husky x to back off then how do I handle it given her age and dementia? I actually smacked her in shock this morning and scolded her and she looked at me like "Whatever!". Usually if she does something wrong and I speak to her harshly she gets very upset until I forgive her so this is all very different. And I don't think increasing her toilet breaks is needed since I already have a fairly excessive toileting routine with her now so we can avoid the mishaps indoors. We do monitor the husky x's behaviour with her because it is our job to discipline - not hers, and if she wants to be in their space then she also has to be willing to let them in hers. Do we have to change things so that 'my dogs' stay in their space and 'my sisters dog' stays in hers? That doesn't feel so comfortable to me. The old girl has been around the longest, including in this house and has always been very accomodating of other dogs. This is her first territorial stuff. Am I reading the situation correctly? Any ideas on how to address it and with which dog/s? Thank you!

I'm not sure which is the winner ;) Naturally, I don't have any stories to tell . DOL's hard drive space would run out........... I have 3 words for you MM - Dirty Miss Myrtie......

Ahh, I haven't laughed so hard in ages! It feels better to know I am not alone! (still cracking up about the mobile clothes rack!)

Hey you weren't supposed to all laugh at my stoopidness! You were supposed to share your own embarrassing stories so I could feel better!

I was always told that when you build a chicken coop you drape the wire down in front and cover it in dirt as foxes will stop digging once their toenails hit the wire. One of my dogs got very destructive on the house if he ever got into a panic (which was often). He has peeled back the corners of metal screen doors and manged to bust open a key locked metal garage door. So using the fox and wire idea (outside only) we put some heavy duty hooks into the walls across some of our 'danger' areas and hung sheets of wire (cheap cut offs) and draped them slightly over the ground and put some concrete blocks on top. He tried numerous times but never managed to break through any of the wired off areas - just shifted the wire and blocks around generally. Slighty irritating for the humans to move the wire when we needed to get into those areas but we came to terms with it. Also what about trying a muzzle? My current young girl has to wear one if we have to go out and can't get her babysat as she eats whatever she can get her hands on (pillows, doonas, etc) if left inside without human supervision (she's almost 3 and is not suitable to crate). We have never left her more than 3 hours muzzled though.

On the weekend my sister kindly reminded me of something very stupid I did with my dogs a while back. I decided to get pizza late one night and the dogs managed to squeeze out the door as I was leaving so I decided to take them with me. I hadn't planned on taking them so had no leashes and no seat belt clips in the car. The trip there was uneventful but when we got home I had to get out and open the garage door and shut the car door behind me to keep the dogs in. My car at the time was an old thing with buttons that pull up and push down and unfortunately both dogs lunged onto my side as soon as I got out and pushed the button down. So I had to knock on 3 doors before I could get a neighbour to answer my plea to call RACQ for an 'urgent' call out to unlock my car containing 2 dogs, a pizza, my purse, with the headlights on and engine running! And yes they ate the pizza and the box and managed to turn the wipers on as well. One also did a piddle on the passenger seat. All very embarrassing and I have never made the same mistake again!

So sorry Kirty - I know this must be a straw that broke the camels back type thing, Which 'stupid bastard' in your pic did this so I can give them 'the death stare'? I don't know if this helps but kids (partic teenagers) can often do the most shitty, irritating and potentially dangerous things that they know they are going to get in trouble for. Thing is sometimes they are just craving one on one attention and don't see the difference between whether it is positive or negative attention - even if you are screaming at them and telling them you are sending them to live elsewhere they still have your full and undivided attention! I know dogs aren't human but could your boy be suffering from this? Does he get regular one on one just with you, no other dogs present? I have a girl almost 3 years old and while she loves our other 2 dogs she needs me time. If I spend what she feels is an inappropriate amount of time with one of the others doing fun stuff she will pee on things - anything really. She can't talk so I see that as her way of telling me she's pissed off.

Wow! He has really grown so much in such a short period of time! Just amazing to see the difference! Feelin' good......

I felt it was time to pts my boy and went in a wednesday only to be seen by my long term vet and her vet nurse who decided they weren't ready to do it! So I was sent home with some pain killers and spent 2 and a half days with my boy just lying around, talking to him and hugging him and taking photos. I took him back in for the last appoint on the saturday. I got one of the other vets and vet nurses but it didn't matter. He was ready and I was ready. I stayed with him while it happened just talking and hugging him. They left me alone with him as long as I wanted and I took his collar off (seemed important for him to not still be wearing it 'forver') and gave them a bright beach towel I wanted him wrapped in. They also put his name tag in with him (stupid but if in a hundred years someone digs into the spot I want them to know who is there). They sewed him into a canvas bag and sealed him into a plastic bag and carried him to the car for me. I took him home and buried him. I expected a bill later but they said there was no charge for either the wed or sat visit. Monday when I got home from work there was a flower display with a hand written card on my front verandah from the vet hospital. All the staff there that I knew (and who knew my boy) had written messages in it. It makes me emotional almost 3 years later thinking about it. And I don't think it is because I was a regular customer. The staff there knew I loved my boy and had done a lot of work to keep him well over a lot of years. Same for his mother - both came to live with me seperately after not being adequately cared for by their original owners. The staff care about me because I care about my pets. I've seen other people in their getting their pets pts and the same care and respect is shown to them. Makes a difference because yes to some people it is just a dog but to me they are family members.