Little Gifts

I think it was Pig In Mud who do dog doors in sliding doors? I'm not much help - a while since I had a pup either. I prefer harnesses when walking for control reasons (and a martingale style when just going to the vet or groomer). I've used Puppia on my stafford but to be honest I took my pei to a couple of pet stores and tried a few on and chose a brand that had a good fit for her. A bulldog puppy might be in the same boat - not average in measurements. How exciting for your dad!

That pink rabbit has always been Stussy's favourite toy since she was a pup (now heading towards 11). It is the only stuffed toy she hasn't disembowelled upon meeting. And that single photo just says so much about Jeff and Fern!

Very sad event for everyone (including the dogs) but this story has a surreal kind of feel to it. Given the description of the dogs (rather than the fact their mixes might make them larger and more agile) you'd have to wonder how the victim wasn't able to escape to higher ground/furniture. They don't sound like they'd be capable of jumping very far or running very fast. Of course a bite from any size dog in the wrong place can kill but it is not your run of the mill dog attack. If they'd left out the details about length of their legs and weight and just said they were dachshund mixes I'd be picturing something very different. The power of words.

A bit of a feel good story for you. http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/website-match-people-perfect-shelter-pet/?utm_source=Green+Monster+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=991b49f8f9-NEWSLETTER_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbf62ddf34-991b49f8f9-109407533

I had mother and son staffords (mother a foster fail and the son came back to live with me 6 months after he was adopted due to serious medical issues). I lived on a small acreage property alone and had the flu. At that stage my parents were living on the small acreage property next door. I made myself a cup-a-soup and some toast and decided to walk next door so they could see I was getting better. I went to walk down the 4 front stairs and my right leg went through the stair gap. I flipped and hit my head on the brick wall on my way down, knocking me unconcious. My piggy girl stayed by my side while her scaredy son ran next door to mum and dad's. They said he was making noises they had never heard before and kept running back and forth to our shared fence line. So they decided to see why he was being so strange and followed him back to me. I had to go to hospital, was concussed and injured all 4 limbs. I still have a big dint in my right leg. No idea how long I would've laid there without him going for help. The funny part was my piggy girl devoured the toast and slurped up all the soup but not until I was carried inside by my parents! Quite a number of years later I'd moved into the suburbs. I'd only been in this house a month or so. The dogs and I had had a huge day and they were snoring next to me on the lounge. They suddenly heard a noise that concerned them and they went beserk, running upstairs. I had 3 intruders in the upstairs of my house ransacking the place. One guy was chased out of a 2 storey window (broken ankle but was dragged off by his mates) while the other 2 were chased out of the front door and off the property. Instead of chasing the intruders up the street both dogs raced straight back and stayed by my side. I had run into the back yard with the cordless house phone and had no idea how many unwanted people had been in my house. When I rang 000 they had no police to send and with emergency still on the phone and the dogs by my side I had to go back into the house, check room by room and lock the place up till the police could get to me. It was beyond terrifying. I was incredibly thankful both those dogs came into my life and were my saviours at such significant times. You like to think your dogs will be there like that in a crisis but you never really know. The son in particular had health issues and severe anxiety so I was really surprised at what he was capable of under pressure. When my current pei girl was still a pup I had a fall and shattered my wrist. It was in plaster for 3 days while I was hopped up on pain meds until I could have surgery on it. My sister took a pic of me passed out in bed with my arm sticking in the air. My pei and stafford girls were both lying all over me maximising mummy contact while I couldn't complain. But not once did they knock my arm or need to be cautioned. They didn't just lie quietly by my side either. How did they know to be careful of the arm?

Yes Snuggle Safe! If we have a cold winter my sister has one in her bed, and I have 2 in my bed (for the dogs of course!). Yes they are hard but the hours of radiating heat are worth it! I've had mine for about 7 years. They last forever.

I had a heat up one too (no pee issues). Stussy ate it (it was unplugged). We bought several of those heat up disc thingies several years back and they are our go to item for cold winters now. They stay warm overnight and the dogs can move away from them if they feel too warm. Can't remember the brand name now. They are round hot pink hard plastic things that you put in the microwave. They weren't cheap but have lasted for years. Another DOLer will surely know the brand name of them.

I'm so sorry Minxy. There are so many of us old DOLers who also have rather old dogs now too so I feel your pain but you did the right thing for your beautiful boy. Be kind to yourselves. XXX

You are overlooking your own comments - you have a responsibility to keep him safe and by your own admission he has ended up in a neighbours yard 10 times this week and sometimes multiple times a day. That is not good and it is not your neighbours dog's fault - it is yours and given you love your dog you need to accept the way you are contributing to this current situation and not put it all down to natural instincts. Many of us have or have owned entire dogs and been able to keep them safely contained (and not at risk of unwanted impregnation). Many of us have also experienced neighbours dogs who regularly roam and I have to tell you they cause a lot of problems. Shitting all over your yard, causing your own dogs to bark uncontrollably and try to escape, bailing up the postie and people walking (with and without dogs), becoming traffic hazards even in quiet streets. I also had a direct neighbour who let their little dog roam in our fairly quiet street, getting up to all kinds of chaos they seemed ignorant of. They still haven't gotten over the fact he was run over by a car and killed about 6 months ago not far from their house. That is what happens. And it is preventable. Even if you choose to neuter also consider prioritising fixing your fencing and providing stimulation for your boy to replace his wandering. No-one on here wants to hear he got stolen or hurt or that he hurt the other dog in question trying to mate with it. That's what the negative comments boil down to I think - his behaviour and the impact it might have on others and himself is preventable/manageable, but as his owner you need to step up and accept some responsibility and rectify things before it is too late for your boy. Neutering will not magically fix everything if your front gate remains open. And as for your dog being locked up while you are at work - this is the norm for many dogs so don't feel bad - make it up to him with activities and mental stimulation on and off your property. If you have cars coming and going from your property then you may have to consider securely fencing him away from driveways and your exit gate. I've had to do that myself, particularly when living on acreage with rural perimeter fencing. It's cheaper to get secure fencing around a section of yard than it is to pay for a broken hip repair at an after hours emergency vet.

As hard as it is, try not to support a back yard breeder in any way. I have a foster fail here. She was surrendered with her 14 year old mother and 2 siblings. She was only 3 to 5 months old but no longer had any sale value given her age and was probably costing her 'breeder' money in food. 'Breeder' also lied about her age based on her teeth. Her 14 year old mother had dementia. A dog and cat will pretty much breed until they die but you can just imagine the type of doggy skills a mother with dementia will pass on to her pups. Neither the pups nor mum came with any medical info because they probably never saw a vet. They were all surrendered because the 'breeder' had another litter on the ground, but of course the 'breeder' lied about the reason. The people who did the pick up (yes, too lazy to even drop the dogs off herself!) realised she was a back yard breeder and it was not a whoops litter that she couldn't handle after all. So anytime you give these scum money you support the cycle in some way and enable them to continue sitting on their arses and abusing and neglecting animals in their care. It's horrible and it is hard to leave dogs in this situation but if you are up for it contact them and say you want your money back and tell them why. Call them on their BS. Tell them you wont support them being back yard breeders and that if they were honest about who they were you would not have done business with them in the first place. They may not want trouble and might return your money.

I've seen lots of Tapua's work and if they can swing to a Labrador they wont be disappointed!

Floyd was adopted by a younger couple recently. Don't know if they have children but they have another big boofer dog and the pair of them are smitten with each other! He has his forever family! I'm so happy for him! Floyd and bro Diesel.

Oh no! Freaking tree branches in my eyes! Sarah and Frodo! I'm so sorry to you both. Thank you for sharing them with us all these years. So many wonderful memories of their beautiful faces!

The woman had a baby and a small child and apparently there was a lot of turbulence. I read that even though the dog cried and scratched for quite some time and it could easily be heard there was an inability for the owner to get up and check the pup during the flight because of the turbulence and I can imagine caring for 2 young children was also her priority, particularly if the flight was rough. Noone else checked on the dog either (maybe also due to turbulence and having to stay belted in their seats) but apparently another passenger did try to call the airline to double check the policy on having the dog under her seat but phone reception was poor. I have to say though if that was me I'd have gotten off the flight if I was being told something different on the plane than I'd been told when I booked my ticket. It's such a big risk. It actually shits me how passengers dump their stuff all over the floor rather than put them safely under the seats or in the seat back pockets because in bad turbulence or a mid-flight disaster all that stuff can become projectiles. Flight attendants often don't seem to care either but this one was way over the top about it. Safety is really important but so is following their own rules. The dogs can either fly in with passengers meeting certain safety conditions (for them and the passengers) or they have to go in the hold in an airline approved carrier. Noone in their right mind would think a locked, dark box was a great place to store an animal. You don't lock your dog in the boot when you go for a drive or in a small closed cupboard at home for hours. If you can't or don't put a human there then you don't put a pet there because we all need some similar things (like air circulation and controlled temps) to survive.

Yes the rice and mince is a great idea! Just something special for her and because it is natural hopefully it wont invigorate her too much. They live in the moment so she doesn't give a toss what time it is! She just knows she wants to poop and eat!

It's a totally messed up organisation. I had an incident with them. My sister's farm was seized and they had to leave behind a large herd of sheep due to lamb that it wasn't safe to move. They were hoping to have the seizure overturned and were not allowed to return to the property and were unsure what arrangements were made by the org who had seized it to care for the sheep, particularly as the Maremma's had also been removed by the council ranger. So I rang the closest RSPCA for advice on whether they had the ability to ensure the safety of the sheep or do welfare checks. A head officer was aware of the situation via the ranger and told me that if my sister and her husband (who were homeless at this early point) didn't ensure the safety of the sheep they WOULD be charged with animal cruelty on top of everything else they were going through. Why is the word 'prevention' in their name if you can't ask for advice or assistance in unusual and genuine circumstances? Aside from this they don't remove animals for puppy farms until they are deemed only good to be pts. What good is it to a dog being saved if there is no life left to be lived? These situations don't just occur overnight either. Then they claim poor because so many dogs had to be seized at one time and they are overwhelmed and need everyone to donate money! There was a recent case on the Gold Coast of footage of a man punching and kicking a young dog in public. Social media found him and the RSPCA were forced to act (initially they said there wasn't enough evidence of harm). I have a friend who remains traumatised after a man set his leashed dog upon a stray cat outside her house that she was trying to tame and rehab/contain. It was broad daylight, there were 4 witnesses who also video taped it on their phones, including a postman. They also had pics of the car he was in and rego so obtaining an address was possible. He told the RSPCA it wasn't him (the car was registered to someone else). The RSPCA said that was it, he has denied it, there is not enough evidence, we can do nothing, it was only a stray cat. How lazy is that! Eye witnesses say yes and a perp says no and that's good enough? I'm sure it was about forking out money to prosecute it. What they seem to focus on is missing the mark repeatedly. I have said it many times - if they were doing what the general public thinks they are doing with all their donated money there would be no need for so many other independant rescue groups to exist. All creatures, great and small would have the protector they need. The RSPCA throws their hands up in despair at hard work more than any other rescue group across this country and yet they have more money and the capacity to earn more money than all of them collectively (well maybe not Pet Rescue!). So many stories and it is always the animals still suffering. If they were doing a great job we would all be behind them 1000% percent.

Tempeh needs late night snacks some nights or she bile vomits first thing in the morning. We let her guide us on what nights she needs them and how much. Why not try adding a snack before bedtime to see if it sees your girl through the night? As for the middle of the night toileting - I remember those nights! My almost 17 year old used to wear nappies as she was prone to thinking her butt was outside and letting it all go! But as soon as she'd stir or get off the bed I'd wake immediately worried what was going on. Maybe try a fun toilet break outside with her right before bed to see if she can hold out? Maybe you can add on the snack session to encourage her outside at that time of night? Mine wasn't able to do that but she also had dementia (blind and deaf and on a very strict diet due to pancreatitis). I had a lot of broken sleep over that last year!

I like that term!

The physical health of the dog should be more important than aesthetics or the monetary value placed on colour or the features of a breed. Just my opinion. I am not a breeder. But when you breed to improve looks (and in turn monetary value) at the expense of a dog being able to breathe properly or carry its body weight when it is an adult then I personally think that is not an improvement for the breed. Breeding to improve the inherent behaviours or traits of a dog who will have a job are also positive but I wouldn't support that if it was at the expense of a dog's health either. As human beings we aim to build better versions of ourselves when we breed. We don't go around deliberately trying to breed ourselves to be smaller, frailer and with more genetic flaws. It happens by accident of course but often parents make hard choices about not passing on a genetic health issue once it is known. We don't even breed our food to be smaller or less than optimum (not even vegetables!). In nature the weak and unfit can be abandoned by their parents in favour of healthier offspring and most wont survive. So I'm not sure why we seem to have an interest in doing this with dogs? It's like, oh well, but at least it looks cute? Why doesn't their ability to have good health and no pain matter too? The thing is it is possible to breed a physically robust AND aesthetically pleasing version of most breeds. Some people just choose not to worry about the former and it can be at the expense of a dogs health and wellbeing for their entire lives. Just my opinion.....

I see people from overseas referring to miniature shar pei. As if the breed doesn't already have enough flaws in it without adding short to it's genetics! I'm not sure it is a thing out here though as all the pei I have seen are around the same size. Maybe it is like the mini pig phenomenon - if you feed it less you will stunt its growth! It's all about money. None of these people are improving their respective breeds.

That is so sad but in a way it is how it should be. We should be there with them sending them on their way with our love and whatever comfort we can muster. Run free beautiful boy.

I'm so sorry T. Old age sucks. They live life so fully and bravely that it is hard to find something that they can't fight. Big hugs to you Trouble!

Thank you Poochmad. It was very hard not to just kiss him all over that gorgeous snozz. He will make someone a cracker of a dog. I'm a bit emotional about it all today and have flopped around like a limp vegetable all day. It was also the anniversary of when we lost our last dog yesterday (2 years) so it felt like a sign that the meet and greet was moved to then. It's all a learning experience and not the end of the world. We have 2 other dogs we still adore at home with us. They've been doing pretty good in the 'Mummies sad, give me a cuddle' department today!

They haven't rescued a pei before so I told them a couple of things just based on my experience (lots of people are a lot more knowledgeable than me on the breed of course). He is as much a typical young male dog as he is pei. He even walks like he still has a big set of something between his legs! I had to laugh when his foster dad told me he has to be dragged out to toilet when the grass is wet and don't bother if it is actually raining! I mentioned to him and the coordinator that it will be interesting to see how he acts with the other interested family compared to how he acted with us. At least we were honest with them and didn't leave them hanging for days when we'd already made up our minds. I don't think they were surprised as I did all kinds of things with him to try and engage him but he'd just wander off again and do his own thing. I'll be monitoring FB now for that post announcing he has a forever home!

It's a funny thing really. Before fostering I'd have said yes, we all like each other 'enough', let's do it! But I've seen that spark when a good connection is made and I want that for him as much as I want that for us. I think his foster dad was relieved. I don't think he is quite right for their house and the other dog they have but I understand what it is like to have a dog so in need of saving under your roof and to see them prosper. It's hard to let go. The right family will come along for him. It is early days yet. And I lied, I am sad but know it's right. Both my sister and I felt the same immediately.