Little Gifts

Just keep checking his physical symptoms. My stafford girl got stung by something one night and came up all lumpy over her head. She was ok (I rang vet) and we didn't need to take her in or give her anything. But the goober got herself stung by the same thing the following night and had a terrible response to it. She ended up with vasculitis which is very uncomfortable and sort of scary as it can be a sign of other more serious issues. Her skin went a dark red/maroon colour and got hot and thick. Her ears were like three times their normal thickness. My vet picked it up quickly and treated it and we went around the yard removing any insect nests we could see. So as long as your boy is recovering from the sting - the swelling and discomfort is reducing, then things should be ok. If he develops other symptoms or the existing ones flare up I'd suggest you need to see the vet to get it under control.

Yay Roova! Tempeh loves hers now. We have turned a corner and she finds it terribly boring if she has to eat out of only her bowl. I'm glad I didn't make my snuffle mat any bigger (or use a heavier base). What did you use for your base?

I'm feeling a little guilty because poor Stussy has to have another op tomorrow (unexpected) and will be swapping reindeer ears for a cone of shame over the festive season! I will at least try and disguise her antibiotics in some leg ham and turkey.

I just made some special tug toys for Stussy (one stuffed with squeakers and one a crackle bottle style). I thought I'd show her before wrapping them. Within a minute she had holes in both. She was in heaven! Gotta love a destructo dog!

If you read my post you will notice she was clipped into the seat belt, not loose in the car. The issue was she is usually in her harness (which clips on her back) when she leaves the house but due to her healing wounds she was in a martingale collar and this one thing allowed her more range to move and she was standing on the arm rest with her head out of the window after I had stopped the car. Normally with her harness this is not possible. Lesson learnt for me. I finally spoke to the dealer and the back windows do have sensors and are supposed to reverse the window going up if they encounter enough pressure. So I'm hoping that is what really happened and that whilst her head was out and the window was tight it was stopped at that point and not increasing in pressure. Still, it wont ever be happening again with my dogs!

Our streak of stressful situations continues! Stussy was in a bad dog fight a couple of weeks back and has developed some complications post the patch up surgery (and has to have more surgery). So we arrived at the vet this morning to discuss options and as she loves the smells when we go for a drive I was putting up all the windows. Because of where she was clipped I started putting the two windows on my side straight up then happened to see by some miracle that her head was actually sideways out of the back window I was putting up. I don't think it had been more than a second. She made no noise and exhibited no signs of trauma after release. I got my vet to check her over anyway. On the way home she wanted all the windows part down again and I realised the issue was she is usually wearing a harness when clipped in but due to healing wounds she is in a martingale and was able to actually reach further in the back seat. It is a mistake I will never make again but I can't believe how easily it happened. I usually put the windows up then give the switch an extra flick to make sure it is inside the seal. I did a test on my front window with my hands to see if my car had some kind of auto sensor and couldn't believe the pressure exerted as the window went up. I've called my dealer asking whether my back windows have an auto sensor (my front driver's one doesn't seem to) and am waiting for a call back. I can't believe her wind pipe wasn't instantly crushed. Has anything like this happened to anyone else? In all my years of having power windows it is my first incident. It has really eaten into my confidence. I think they will all be air cond trips from now on.

I'm still iffy simply because it is the RSPCA. I trust their matching process as much as I trust their behavioural assessment process. I agree that a lower price will enable some pet friendly people to purchase a pet, although it does still cost money to own a pet long term and meet medical needs so that does concern me a little. And I agree in principal that getting a pet while on holidays is a good idea, allowing them to settle in but christmas in some households is quite chaotic and could be stressful to a new pet. It also may not be indicative of the families normal routine.

So funny Grumpette!

I had an old stafford girl who was incontinent from both ends. I bought baby nappies from the supermarket (I went by her weight and the weight on the pack). I'd fold the nappies in half long ways and cut a cross in them for her tail to go through (much quicker than trying to cut a hole). Then I'd put the nappy on her while she was standing up, tail first, back to front - the sticky tabs being on her back. We would notice her go to toilet so would take it off straight away. The nappy kind of sags once peed or pood in so none of the contents ever touched her body. She never smelt or got any rashes. I'm thinking you might need to trim some hair from your boy so the poo didn't kind of get trapped while it was coming out.

Oh gosh I hope so Angelsun!

I was just listening to the radio (97.3 here in Brisbane) and an ad came on advising people that they still had time to get a new pet for Christmas and that since their shelters were overflowing dogs were now only $99. I think they also said the price of puppies, cats and kittens but I was seeing red by then. It was accompanied by happy, jingly, festive music like they were selling home entertainment systems. What the hell is wrong with this organisation? Yes this is a bad time of year with incoming animals but to encourage impulse or emotional purchasing and lower the price as an incentive makes me want to go and kick their PR team where it hurts. How many of these pets will be returned in the New Year as unsuitable after going straight into a chaotic Christmas home environment? Yep, nothing like planning to add a pet to your household and taking your time to find the right fit. Come on down to our overflowing shelters and take your pick! We're getting rid of them cheap! PS I tried to find it online for you to listen to but no luck.

You've had other good advice already so my comments are just additions to those. Do you have other calm dogs of your own that will be with him? I've had several very anxious fosters here over time. To give you an idea of how anxious I had to leave a light leash on one of them for the first few days and if I wanted to catch him I'd have to stand on the end of the leash to have a chance as chasing just made it worse. I was lucky that one of my dogs would take the scared ones under her wing and teach them how things worked around our house while they got used to things. Another thing I did was when they had settled for the night I would sit beside them facing forward, ignoring them and not talking while gently massaging whatever part of their body I could get access to. As the days went on they would give me more and more of their body and came to understand my hands wouldn't hurt. At that stage I would start with soft talk. I also taught them a touch my knuckle command with high value treats to get them used to my hands being around their faces (so I could do ears and give meds). Aside from this, if they are presenting as actually anxious you can look away, raise your chin and do a big yawn. That is a destress signal (you will notice dogs often yawn to calm themselves down). Don't do it too many times though as it can also appear as you trying to reduce your own anxiousness if done repeatedly. You can also let out loud deep breaths.

She is starving and she loves her kibble and will eat it like it is a treat. It is usually topped with a dried chicken neck or two or some broken up dried chicken breast. It is more her little mind than the value of the food. We had a breakthrough today. Another DOLer offered me a couple of Nina Ottosson toy thingies and today we tried the Tornado. At first she kept looking up at her empty bowl but her hunger got the better of her and she ate pretty much a full breakfast from the Tornado! YAY! I couldn't see her brain ticking over - it was more of a case of oh dear this is all so inconvenient! But she had to keep walking around and she ate far slower and was a lot calmer by the time she came back into the house and joined the other dogs. And no paw action - just nosing. I also got her to do a focus command at dinner last night holding wet stuff in my hands until she looked into my eyes (albeit briefly). That has taken me a whole week to achieve with her! And her sits are now solid, butt remains on the ground types rather than half hearted efforts so we are getting somewhere! Maybe she is not a snuffle mat girl. That's ok. Part of the problem is all the dogs were taught to only eat from their bowls and they each have different types so she knows if it isn't in her bowl she is not allowed to touch it. We have to change that to where she is fed rather than what she is fed from.

Tempeh is still giving me WTF looks and I have to shake all the kibble out and stick it back in her bowl so she can eat her breakfast before she dies of starvation. Oh to have a normal dog!

Today on FB I saw two pei dressed in these elf outfits and if the exchange rate wasn't so hideous (and I had any money) I'd be buying two! I even thought of getting my English bestie to get them delivered to her but I am honestly moths in the wallet broke after last week's dog bills. I might ponder making them for next Christmas. We are putting Christmas stickers on their cones this year! http://www.tkmaxx.com/new-in-home-accessories/large-green-elf-dog-costume/invt/87039776

You sprinkle kibble or treats in the snuffle mat and they have to search for it. It didn't take long to knot but it took hours to cut all the strips.

The back.

I made my snuffle mat this morning. Made the strips 3cm wide x 30cm long. Gosh it takes a lot of strips - about 150! I cheated a bit and used leftover striped fabric so I didn't have to mark it all for cutting. The only thing about the camp mats is I think the holes are bigger or more spaced apart so besides knotting horizontally and vertically I also did it diagonally because it seemed a bit too sparse. The real test is seeing if Tempeh will use it. She still can't understand why I would want to put perfectly good kibble anywhere other than her bowl!

I make Stussy a new outfit most Christmases (Christmas Fairy, Tinsel and Holly bling dress, Christmas Tree dress, Christmas Pudding dress, Christmas Elf) and there is also a semi-famous boy on FB who gets me to make him something to order every year. This year it is a kind of Christmas themed jester collar with pom poms on the points. Last year it was some tartan Dr Suess style antlers. I sometimes buy kids outfits for Stussy at the post Christmas sales and just alter it (add a Velcro opening). Unfortunately she always looks like a trucker in drag regardless.

I was going to Mitre 10 to get a rubber mat tomorrow but today, realised I have several partly chewed rubber camping mats (the ones with the big holes that interlock). So I grabbed the best looking one and cut all the chewed bits off, curved the corners and gave it a wash so I can start adding the fleece tomorrow once it's dry (got loads of scraps for that task!). I figured the camp mats would be a lot lighter than the heavy rubber ones and of course I already have it on hand so the entire project will be free for me to make. They look pretty simple to make but apparently can take a while to do.

I'm just thinking about this from a practical/common sense perspective. If you went over to a cage or crate and it was really hot to touch wouldn't you think "Oh dear, that blow dryer is too hot, too close or on too high a speed."? If the dog was panting and trying to hide away from the dryer, if it was shaking or making sounds of distress or if he was very hot or painful to touch/pick up in the salon wouldn't that also indicate the dryer had not been used in a way that wasn't safe for that dog? Do you use a dryer the same way on say a teensy yorkie as you would a standard poodle? Of course you shouldn't - size does sometimes matter. So even without formal training couldn't staff use some common sense? So even if the industry doesn't standardise or bring in licensing it is appalling that people convicted of causing harm (particularly in a commercial profit making environment) don't end up paying compensation or being banned from being able to do it again. It shouldn't matter that this guy has moved state. What actual impact has this conviction had on him so far? His jail time was suspended, he's out of the state so can't do community service, has conveniently bankrupted so wont be paying any fines or reimbursing the vet fees as he promised. What actual punishment is there? What redress is there for the victims?

I'm going to make Tempeh a snuffle mat too and I'm going to make a special squeaky tug toy that I can use (separately) with her and Stussy. I'm thinking stuffed at one end with a couple of squeakers (attention grabbing!) and then a few chunky tugs off the bottom. Maybe a hybrid octopus type thing. Not very exciting but they don't really need anything and they've just cost me a fortune anyway so no-one is getting anything much this Christmas.

This is quite funny and features my favourite manic guinea pig voice!

Thanks for the feedback everybody! I've been working my way throught it all. A lovely DOLer has a couple of items she would like to get rid of so I will be taking those off her hands. I also went on Pinterest looking at some DIY ideas and we will be making a plastic plumbing pipe with holes in it and one of those stands with empty soft drink bottles that they have to flip to get the kibble out. She loves toilet rolls too so I'll be putting those in a tub with kibble hiding underneath. I already have most of the stuff for the snuffle mat too as I was going to make some of those for rescue recently. This morning we tried kibble in a closed egg carton and she just looked at me like I was mad. She has an injured nose at the moment though (and she is a noser) so I have to be careful not to keep deskinning it with any games. I think I was overwhelmed when I first started looking online at all the toys - so many to choose from and no idea which ones she will even like!

I need to urgently get some interactive toys/puzzles that release or dispense food for Tempeh and I have no idea where to look. I've seen a dog use the Nina Ottosson Tornado dog bone shaped toy and a behaviourist recommended Kyjen products but my head is spinning and I am yet to find a site that seems to have a good collection that I can look at to make some comparisons. I need something that can be used for food (eg kibble, fresh chicken) and not treats so that Tempeh works for her meals. So if any of you have done something similar I'd love any advice you can give me on what is worth buying and what isn't. A Kong is of no interest to her but she loves to use her nose and paws. I'd also like to buy one of those drink bottle thingies where if she tips the bottle up the kibble will fall out but have no idea what you call them to even look them up Thanks in advance.