Little Gifts

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.

Not sure how it happened but if we are off leash and Stussy gets too far away we tell Wolf to "Go get Stussy!"and just like a working dog she does - drives her straight back in our direction. She's a husky/shep cross so never done any farm work but she has the round up the strays technique pretty much mastered.

Mine arrived in the mail today. I don't own a pug but I think it is important to have Christmas jammies to wear at Christmastime!

Why is it such a rare colour in this particular breed?

Just for you animal.

I saw these pj's on display yesterday so thought I'd add a link for the puggers here on DOL. They are also on special - win! They actually looked much nicer in RL than the image on the Miller's site too. We have bought online from them before and I was going to point out their free click and collect service but I see they have free delivery at the moment anyway. Christmas pyjamas at Christmastime - oh yeah! http://www.millers.com.au/Christmas-Pug-Pyjama-Set.aspx?p6524789&cr=hugo__105918

Do you know anyone who sews? I just made a few XL beds for rescue that were 120cm x 95cm and they cost $12 each in fleece fabric. The stuffing was free as it came from lounge bits left for kerbside clean up but yours could be stuffed with old pillows and cut up doona bits. Plus they will withstand regular machine washings and can be stuffed as fluffy as you like. If you want to spend another $14 on fleece and a zip you've got a spare, washable cover too. Pretty basic sewing project if you know someone. And pretty cheap and comfy bed for a big dog.

Three dogs here who mainly live on the couches and human beds but I'd say we have at least 10 actual dog beds and a double cupboard full of fleece blankets and towels. I make all their beds because Stussy keeps me in a permanent supply of stuffing and Tempeh sometimes gets an upset stomach in the mornings and likes a clean dog bed to go and puke on. The dog towels were all ones that us humans used to use. As we upgrade our towels the old ones go in the dog cupboard. Oh and there are also two of those kids fold out foam beds and a bean obtained solely for the dogs. We also have a few of those rag rugs and two sets of matching place mats for under their bowls (including the water bowl as we have a slurper). Luckily we have a pretty big laundry to contain it all. Edited because I just remembered that I was recently at an op shop and discovered some small and attractive handmade quilts and I bought them to put on the side of my bed the dogs are supposed to lie on. I thought they would be a nice change from them furring up my nice linen.

And he has no idea how many grey hairs he's given you! Good news (about Danny, not the greys).

Well aren't you just scrumptious Penny! Happy Birthday beautiful girl!

Where's the 'like' button! Congratulations Oakway!

How have they both been without him?

I hate throwing up. I think Danny does too. He looks like a comfy bed will be his friend for the rest of the day.

This is the hardest part of loving a dog. I know you will do what you feel is right for him Cynthia.

We have a small, white, fold up plastic seat that I think was originally intended for elderly people to have something to sit on while they weed the garden. I make colour themed floor mats for all my dogs eating areas so the seat has a non slip cover on it. It is for our big girl and she likes to eat on a large flat plastic plate so the seat size suits (say that fast three times!).

I'll be watching the stars come out tonight looking for a new one.

Been thinking about you since I got up, wondering how you are spending the day. Stay strong, live in the moment and know you are doing the right thing for your gorgeous boy. XXX

I'm of the train of thought that they don't need to be there experiencing you being upset so having them off doing something pleasant with someone else is the way to go. I'd probably only let them sniff Mac after he was gone if they wanted to. If they showed no interest I wouldn't be actively pointing him out to them. His scent is going to be around the house still anyway. I think it is hard to anticipate which dogs cope ok after losing a pack mate and which ones don't. I don't really feel sniffing them after they are gone makes that much of a difference and it is not till they are continually missing that some dogs realise something has happened to their pack. I think it is good you are planning ahead but it is still ok to just go with your heart on the day. It is still going to be horrible and hard to say farewell.

Gosh she is pretty! Despite my new found love of shar pei I am still terribly weak when it comes to pied staffords and bull terriers!

I was on holiday in Morocco a couple of years back with my Kodak P&S and one of my fellow travellers had a Panasonic Lumix 10x optical zoom. The photos were just so amazing compared to my camera (and others on the trip as well). The colours and the various shooting options were also much better. So I bought myself the same camera as soon as I got home! I am planning on upgrading mine before my next big trip. At present the most photos I take is usually at concerts and I've played around with the different shooting options and worked out how to take the best pics in that kind of light setting and distance. So even though it has a pretty good optical zoom option and ability to take pics in dark and bright lights it is still a very lightweight and small camera and I can carry it in my little shoulder bag. Make sure she gets at least one spare battery for her trip (I'd get two) and a good sized memory card (or two!) as well.

W got a large Dingo bin from City Farmers and it takes a big bag of Black Hawk plus any packs of unopened treats. It is a thin rectangular shape and in two years there has been no deterioration of the plastic/rubber seals, no ants, cockroaches OR dogs get in it. Plus the food seems to stay fresh as one of mine poo poos anything remotely stale.

Oh honey I am so very sorry. Heartbreaking stuff but you are doing it out of love for your beautiful boy so it is the right thing.

She did it a bit this morning again and didn't sleep with me last night. She'd already been up and had breakfast. My sister was sleeping in and I could hear Stussy panting and noticed her climbing all over her. Since I was up I called Stussy and we went into the lounge room and a one on one play with toys to try and use up some of that nervous energy. She was focussed on what I was doing. I did try chicken first but as she had just eaten her breakfast she wasn't interested. Then we went under the house and sorted stuff. She doesn't get under there much so was quickly distracted by doing something different and all the interesting smells. I kept calling to her and she would come back for a scratch and then run off again. Just me and her. Corvus I will have to ponder the safety behaviour/spot idea more as we have tried something similar before but it was an epic fail. She simply wouldn't stay in her quiet spot when the action was going on elsewhere (she has a tendency to get over excited by a couple of things and we've trained her to come out of the situation and sit but no success getting her to stay put in say another room). I can see we have at least two problems happening - the dove noise is the trigger to her expecting I might have a tantie and her fear that I might have a tantie is causing the over the top appeasement attempts.

Counter condition it. No more pillows at the window. Reward the sound - pats, treats, anything. Just to clarify - I haven't done the pillow at the window thing since the initial incident as I realised by her response that I'd scared her. I've totally ignored any doves that might be partying outside either window. Since we have been using lots of cuddles and praise when she gets upset we will definately need to up the ante and add yum yum food. I think the hardest part is going to be being awake enough to respond appropriately when we hear the doves and she gets scared. Instead of staying half asleep and hoping it all goes away I am going to have to slap myself around and get focussed. Stussy has always been pretty bomb proof so I do want to shift this fear. I once owned an sbt who was terrified of everything and I hated what he went through. That I accidentally caused it in Stussy makes me feel horrible. Rebanne, I will also be trying the hosing idea!!!!! Fecking doves.......

There is a big tree in between my sister and my bedroom windows. Along my other big window is a big vine. Doves love to hang out in both. As it is now warmer weather our windows are open and I am being woken by dove coos at ugly o'clock every morning. I am not a morning person so it drives me a bit crazy. About three weeks ago I got woken by a dove love in. I got out of bed and whacked the fly screen with my little pillow to make the doves fly away and collapsed back in to bed. For some reason Stussy (my sbt) thought she was in trouble and got very worked up. The next day it was the same thing when the doves started (even though I didn't do anything about it). She was panting and shaking and crawling all over me (and the other dogs) trying to appease me like she had done something wrong. This continued for almost two weeks and she stopped even sleeping with me at night. Some mornings we would get up and do breakfast and go back to bed for a sleep in and it would be even worse and she would be moving between my room and my sister's room doing her panting and scrambling routine, upsetting both the other dogs. We both tried to reassure her she wasn't in trouble for anything and tried cuddles and yawning at her (which usually works if she is over excited) without success. She wouldn't even let me do her morning massage and once out of bed was clingy but wouldn't engage for quite some time. I thought in more detail about how to deal with this and thought it was linked to us going back to bed for a sleep in. So I lay in bed (but fully awake) and I massaged her and cuddled her and talked to her in a high pitched voice giving her lots of praise. It took about 20 minutes but she settled. That night she returned to my bed and has stayed there ever since. The mornings since then I did the cuddles and massages and praise routine (even though she wasn't acting stressed) and I thought I had resolved the problem and she was no longer scared of sleeping in my bed, particularly in the mornings. NOPE! This morning she was at it with a vengeance - running between both our rooms shaking and panting and jumping on and off of us and crawling over us, licking our faces and just not being able to stay still. I realised there was a dove carrying on outside my window. I'm now thinking it is the dove sound that is triggering her panic 'in case' I get upset at it. I was able to calm her down quicker than previously but what do I do if she has developed such a response to a bird sound? I can cut back the vine from my window but I'd have to get tree loppers in to remove the other tree and it serves a bit of a light barrier for our bedrooms so we'd prefer to keep it. Can I desensitise Stussy to the sound somehow? I haven't reacted to the sound or even gone near that window for weeks so I'm not sure how I am reinforcing it. And for what it's worth Stussy has been a very naughty dog over the years but rarely gets in actual trouble because I never catch her in the act and some of it is my fault for leaving known temptation in her way. So the number of times she has actually been in 'you'd better kiss my butt because I am furious with you' trouble is miniscule. She is 8 years old. She is usually very fond of a lie in with her mum and good at sharing bed space with me and the other dogs.