Little Gifts

I feel your pain. My youngest staffy is now 2.5 and we have given up on the yard - while she doesn't eat the plants she has eaten all the garden lights, decking, display items, outdoor furniture and dug holes deeper than herself. Anything not locked away (like the mower or wheelbarrow) is chewed. Oh and that includes all the specific chew toys we got her! Inside she is worse. Only one week ago she was left inside for 3 hours (with the other dogs) and ate every doona and pillow in the house. The problem has definately improved as she gets older but she just seems to be the kind of dog that needs to taste test everything and gets terribly excited (ie possessed) by fluff! She has two other dogs for company who she adores and actively plays with, as well as tug and stuffed toys I play specifically with her with everynight, as well as exercise by herself and with the other dogs. We had to proof our house from her - nothing on low surfaces and things locked behind doors and doors shut as she will get up on anything. She is normally baby sat when we go out or she wears a light muzzle. She is getting better but I don't think she will ever not taste test. You might have a kindred spirit but that doesn't mean another dog will have the same behaviours. maybe look at getting a slightly older dog that you already know is well behaved to guide your younger boy? Always plenty of fantastic staffies looking for rehoming!

I used to work with an accident inspector and learnt a few important things. A big injury causer in crashes is the projectiles inside cars. ALWAYS secure pets, people and possessions. And don't let passengers sleep with their seats reclined - on impact the seat belt doesn't work the same as when a seat is in the upright position and sleepng passengers can slip out of the seat and seat belt and become projectiles. The worst I saw was a chain saw sitting in the back seat with a young girl, short car trip, car rolled several times - I'll let you can imagine what the chain saw did to her. I always keep that one in mind when I am tempted to put anything untethered in my car. So any of you with crates please also think about making them secure - you can't control what other eejits are doing on our roads but you can control your own safety inside. Having said all that, I just bought a new wagon and pick it up this wednesday and I decided not to get the cargo barrier installed because they are a job to remove if you want to use the whole cargo area, and I would use the whole thing, not just the boot area, more often than I have the dogs in the car. I'm hoping I have made the right decision now? Eek! My dogs have always been secured into the seat belts on the back seat so I was going to continue with what works. I was going to make my own fur cover for the backseats with slit for where the belts click in. I dread to think about the outside duco though - do I wrap the entire car in bubble wrap before and everytime the dogs approach it????

My dogs always slept in the laundry at night without a problem. In my current house we even replaced one laundry door with a sliding half door to allow more fresh air to circulate in summer and so that the dogs could still hear and play guard dog for me during the night as I was living on my own at that time. Then one of the dogs got very sick and I had her sleep on the bed with me a couple of nights so I could watch her. Then the old boy was not well so he was on the bed too. Suddenly no one would sleep in the laundry anymore - they were even jumping the half door during the night and coming onto the bed all by themselves! If I shut my bedroom door they would be sniffing and scratching at it all night! When my old boy passed on I decided it would be back to the laundry for all future dogs. So when my next rescue pup came along she went to the laundry first night while my old girl got on the bed as usual. I didn't count on my old girl crying and carrying on all night till the pup was sleeping with us on the bed (even though the pup was perfectly content with the laundry after being in a kennel)! So much for being alpha! Now even my sister's dog sleeps on my bed with my other two and if I'm lucky they leave me some room. I have been known to sleep across the bottom of the bed out of desperation for some fur free sleeping space! The wierd thing now is I can't get to sleep unless all dogs are on the bed with me and I wake as soon as one jumps off.

G of E I am now almost 47 years old and am not the person I was in my teens and 20s. The people I was with in those countries over those years were all the family I had in those days so I did my best to fit in. I ate what I had available - I didn't have the option to go to Maccas or cook for myself. I was a vegetarian for 15 years after that so it obviously had an impact on my life. I do feel bad about my experiences back then which is what I was trying to share - my mixed feelings. The treatment of animals particularly in poorer asian areas is horrific. I saw many things that made me very distressed but the situation is so widespread and so generationally imbedded. I didn't feel empowered as I do now. The rights of animals are very important to me here in Australia but as for other countries I have travelled or lived in it is so very different that I know they don't see it like we do. Asian countries in particular will cage and eat anything. They like things very fresh and believe things like if you eat a monkey's brains then it is good for your own brain. Have you ever seen traditional chinese food? It all has head and eyes and feet on it. Nothing is wasted and nothing is considered morally wrong to eat (unless for religious reasons). I can still cherish animals and recognise that other parts of the world may never share my feelings and beliefs. I also try to accept when I am travelling to out of the way places that their staple diet is not necessarily my own when I am at home - hence the camel eating when I had to. The camel belt? I'm still uncomfortable about that since I don't even buy leather shoes or handbags. Sometimes when you are surrounded by carved bone trinket boxes being sold by very poor people you buy one without making the connection with the original source. I try to learn from my experiences each time.

Beenleigh Vet Hospital has specials on every Wed or Tues for desexing. Dr Renate Atkins has been my vet there for donkey's years and price wise they are very reasonable as well as mighty fine, animal loving vets (and vet nurses). Their number is 3287 2599.

I have very mixed feelings on all this. For about 15 years I was a vegetarian, mainly because I never looked a raw meat and thought mmmm yummy a nice steak for dinner. All I saw was lumps of raw meat rather than food so I gave up bothering. I eat it again now but only when the mood strikes. From when I was 17 to about 25 I lived in Hong Kong, China and here in Australia in asian communities. I know I ate a lot of non-traditional animals including a lot of dog. Back then I was surrounded by strange food options, people who loved to eat those strange foods and conditions that saw what we might consider a pet treated as a commercial product. I commonly saw 'chow dogs' confined to boats and when they were at the right age the family would slaughter and eat them. I saw snakes and frogs killed in front of me, skinned, gutted and sold for cooking. I saw sharks fins and bears paws for sale in markets, I ate turtle from its huge upturned turtle shell, there were plastic containers on the dirty streets containing fish that had to swim on their sides to keep covered by the shallow water. The two worst was the whole fish dipped in boiling oil and served at our table still kicking (which I ate some of) and the live monkey whose skull was sliced off at the restaurant table so everyone could pick out and eat its brains while they were still 'live' (I did not participate in this but my chinese father in law at the time did). I feel bad about all this being an animal lover but know that my asian experiences were really about me trying to desperatly fit in with everyone else. I was the only caucasian and foreigner amongst a myriad of locals and didn't know what else to do but eat what everone else did and try to ignore the conditions the animals were kept in. This kind of thing is not morally right in Australia but every other country has its own view on what is food and how it is treated. I was in Morocco 3 years back I ate camel several times and bought a camel belt. Some people would be horrified but camel is a regular food over there so I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary in that country. I wouldn't eat any of these things out here - I don't even buy leather shoes. And I do care how my meat is killed here in Australia. Hence my mixed feelings on this issue in regards to other cultures and countries. I'm not sure I can tell them what they should and shouldn't do.

Goosey, K9Angel has very recently had a horrible parvo experience with a foster pup called Luki. You could PM her for some words of comfort/advice or check under the rescue area for the thread about Luki. He is doing so well now despite how desperate things were for him not so long ago.

You know there is something else to come out of this. From what has been shared with us on this thread from people close to Jed the RSPCA were there at a time of need for her and her animals. They did what I hope an organisation like that can do - they helped animals and owners in a crisis and then handed the animals on to the longer term care of others in a position to take over. I just want to thank them for that. It shows to me they do care.

I come from a very dysfunctional family and as a result have had some terrible relationships of my own. My younger sister is the same and independantly we made concious decisions not to have children - for us it just seemed like we wouldn't do a good enough job and we weren't willing to risk it given how precious children are. So I've always had a rescue dog or three and my sister has one. I don't feel we treat them like replacement children, but they have given us the opportunity to be safely responsible for another living thing in a way we could not have done with actual children. And their unconditional love and adoration is something we have learnt from over the years. I am very grateful for that and try not to take their presence in my life for granted. Every day has its own magic.

I tried a different approach with my boy. He was scared of thousands of different things and started the panting and trying to crawl inside my skin long before I could hear the storm approaching. Once it hit he would shake uncontrollably. He was rarely left alone day or night because he had hurt himself chewing through walls and barricades over storms and fire works when left unattended and you can't always predict nature. Anyway after a few years of all this I took a different approach. I decided to try and distract him with normalcy. I would talk to him and play with him and call him to walk with me around the house to do little chores with me, I'd give him massages and we'd change his collar or organise his food, whatever I could think of at the time, even if it meant getting out of a lovely warm bed. It wasn't molly coddling though - basically I'd try and engage and get him more focussed on me rather than how he was feeling. He certainly got more manageable but was never desensitised to it all. It seemed like it almost hurt his head rather than caused him fear/anxiety. Eventually I'd only have to focus my energies on him for about 5 - 15 minutes, talking and massaging and he'd settle next to me with only light panting.

My sister used to work in natural therapies so we have used drops made up by a naturopath for arthritis and epilepsy with great success. I don't have contact with this naturopath now but my vet is now homeopathic so provides things like calendula cream for rashes and nux vomica bole for vomiting. I'm all for trying the natural stuff given that it can hardly be having a placebo affect when our animals don't even know they are getting it. Taking this a step further we have also used crystals on our dogs. Our best achievement has been using magnetised hematite for an old dog with joint problems and some amethyst to calm a dog who acts like a princess. We just choose small crytals we feel a connection with and use fishing line or fine leather to tie the stones on the insides of their collars. We did put a clear quartz crystal on our youngest staffy and she went beserk. She settled down again after the crystal came off. We have been using crystals for a couple of years and have never had a swallowing incident because we don't let them dangle and attract naughty doggy attention.

I bought a dog pram recently for my old staffy girl. She fits but not much room for other crud in there (the snacks and water and toys go in the tray underneath). She is terribly embarrassed about it all but it means she can be with us and the other dogs for longer outings. I was going to buy a second hand baby pram but the dog pram was lighter to manouvre and the sides are enclosed so she can't jump out and hurt herself. My friends think it is hilarious but some times you just have to let the other kids poke fun at you.....

I am quite jealous of this kind of understanding some people have with animals, like they speak the same language. There used to be a local guy in my little town who could turn a wild bird into a pet within a couple of hours. We ended up using him with a galah that had been injured as a chick and couldn't be released back into the wild. It went to a fantastic new home where it adored its human companion. And an ex of mine had a thing with stray cats. He was a chinese guy and would catch all these strays behind the restraurants he worked at. He would catch them with little effort and fuss (certainly no scratches from the cats) and just hold them against his chest till they stopped struggling. Most ended up going home with him or other people he worked with after he had 'tamed' them. I saw him do it dozens of times. I also saw him stop a guard dog from launching an attack on him one day. Animals just acted differently around him like he wasn't a threat. Mind you he was a arsehole as a boyfriend!

I am noticing some change on the vivitonin. My girl has always hated being fussed over (strange for a staffy!). I went to put her jumper on Tues night and she growled at me because she didn't feel like being touched. She has been getting off the bed every night and coming around my side of the bed when she wants to go out for a piddle, although not actually making any noises to wake me. Last night she slept on the floor because she can't get onto the bed by herself and I never woke up. And she has a bit more coordination and has been able to turn around from tight places (no more stuck beside the toilet!). Aside from that I haven't seen much other improvement. Still some huge piddles on the timber floors if I don't guide her straight outside in the mornings or during nightly toilet breaks but still nothing on the bed while we are sleeping. It is probably what I expected but might still get more. Sorry it didn't work for your girl Trish. My girl hates the rain with a passion so if I ever find her standing out in it like yours then I would be really worried!

You know those goats that faint when they get excited? Well I have a dog that gets to that point. She has to take a moment to calm herself down and take a deep breath. It's like she hits adrenaline overload waiting for you to get out of the car, cross the lawn and walk in the door, so that when you are in the door she has lost all functioning. My sister's dog is a talker so whenever one of us walks in the door she is rah, rah rahing away, telling us all about her day. Who could live without the adoration....

I am just addressing this with my almost 16 year old staffy. My vet has diagnosed dementia (there are other indicators besides their forgetting their toilet traning - try the test on www.maturedogs.com to see other signs that are probably evident). After a kidney test she has started on some medication and I will know in a couple of days if it is going to make a difference. One thing I do know is that after day 2 of the tabs she actually got off the bed and peed in a corner of the bedroom rather than just standing up in bed and peeing on my arm, so I'm happy with that! Can't tell you tha name of the medication at present but something like viviton.

I feel like such a hypocrite. I would let science take anything from my own body that they can use because when I'm dead I figure I wont care where or what happens to my bits. But my animals? OMG I don't think I could! I know where they are all buried and even after many years knowing that still gives me comfort. I visit and talk to them still and take the new dogs with me. Likewise I couldn't cremate any of them - I'm a dust to dust girl. Of course none have had a rare diseases - something like that would obviously make a difference. Charles W I think leaving him afte rhe is gone from this life to science would be a very noble and respectful legacy for your boy.

This just reminded me that my old boy (who was desexed) had this happen a few times. I had no idea what the hell was happening and first time used a cloth soaked in very cold water and held it over the whole swollen mess in the hope it would go down of its own accord. I even resorted to using packets of frozen vegetables wrapped in tea towels! I never had advice from the vet about ky or sugar water but those methods just sound even grosser! I just remember he would be all hunched up and unable to stop humping. Frozen loins seemed to fix the problem.....

Removed due to responses about my personal experiences by another DOLER.

Something similar happened to me after new people bought the house next door. I'd gotten a new rescue pup to keep my old dog company. Then within a month I had an accident that kept me bed ridden for three months. My sister moved in with me to care for me and lost her accom so had to move in permanently with me bringing a third dog. All 3 dogs got used to someone being home. First week we both went back to work full time I got a letter in my mailbox saying the pup was barking and I should get a shock collar for it. I was incensed. They had also complained to the council. I heard from my cleaning lady that the new neighbour was scared of dogs and they had been tidying up the garden and leaning over the fence, causing the dogs to bark protectively. I was home myself one day and saw and heard her trimming stuff over our side of the fence (OCD anyone?) and yelling at my sister's dog to shut up. I went out, gave her a look, called all the dogs inside and slammed the door. I decided not to buy into her issues as our dogs really weren't doing anything 'wrong'. The new owner has never even lived there. The house has been rented and I have had no complaints from the renters or any other neighbours (we actually live in a street where nearly every house as a couple of dogs). Our dogs stay inside at night and are fenced back from the street. I have no doubt there was some initial settling in for the new pack after we both went back to full time work, causing some noise and told the council that. They seemed to think that was reasonable and that otherwise we were being responsible pet owners. There have been no other complaints or council checks and we have continued to manage our dogs as we always have, ignoring the owners next door when they turn up. Some people don't like animals. Some people like to complain. I found the council really understanding and I doubt they would consider a few minutes of barking as a real 'nuisance'. Why not get them to come around and check when you are not home if there is an actual problem and get their advice? If your dog is truly being a nuisance then more than one neighbour would be complaining. Don't let your neighbour dictate your life - you and your dog have rights too. And try not to be rude or angry back to them as that feeds some people. You might well find your neighbours complain a lot more than just your dog.

Removed due to responses about my personal experiences by another DOLER.

Labsrule I too thought it was getting a bit heated but then I realised this is a painful area we are touching on. There is no one right way to have your animal sent on its way and I guess there is no one way of remembering or feeling it. I know I did the right thing by my boy and that is all that matters. Like others I have never really shared any details other than on this thread because who wants to know anything more than your beloved buddy is gone and you are sad? And to continue the whole thing about how different vet experiences can be - my vet never charged me a dime. I expected a bill in the mail but instead got a card and flowers delivered to my home from them. (and my continued loyalty to that vet and her surgery)

I was just thinking that one big difference between animals who are distressed/thrashing while being pts could be their level of ill health. My boy was ready to go and I don't think he would've acted differently whether I was there holding and talking to him or not. Other animals may sense something is happening and respond to the emotion from the humans around them because mentally and physically they are not quite ready to leave this world. I don't think my dog was sedated beforehand but if I had to put a younger dog down because of some health issue that was going to affect it quickly or due to some behavioural issue that couldn't be resolved then I would sedate first just to be on the safe side for the dog. I'd hate them to go out panicking because they didn't realise what I was doing was for the best. It is probably no different to people whose spirit or brain isn't ready to let them go even though their bodies are failing them.

Removed due to responses about my personal experiences by another DOLER.

I took my old boy to the vet realising it was time. My vet and fave vet nurse couldn't bear for him to go (they'd both treated him a lot over the years). They gave me all these pain killers saying just wait another couple of days. So I went home and stayed in bed with him for 2 and a half days just talking and cuddling. I took him back just before the vet closed on the Saturday and another vet and vet nurse did it for me. I stayed the whole time with him and it was very peaceful for him and me. It was his time. He just put his head down, closed his eyes and was gone. I took his favourite towel with me and they wrapped him in it and some other bags and carried him out to the car for me. I took him home and buried him in the backyard (don't care what the council says!). The vet delivered flowers to me on the Monday expressing how sad they were that my boy had gone. It's two and a half years later and I am crying typing this but don't have any regrets ending things when it was clearly the right time for him. RIP Budda-Boo.