Little Gifts

Happy birthday gorgeous boy! I hope you have a lovely day and are spoiled rotten (because lets face it you are under threat of constant neglect the other 364 days of the year - NOT!)!

My sister has a husky shep cross who is now 12. She has arthritis due to age so has lost strength, particularly in the back legs. Based on vet advice she had monthly injections for a bit then went on Sasha's Blend. She was like a different dog! But then my sister decided to try Joint Guard. It worked fine but her dog was always ravenous and put on a lot of weight. She was always underweight before so it is very odd to see her so broad now. We cut back her food and went back to Sasha's Blend and her appetite has settled and she has lost a little weight. She still needs to drop a bit more. There are great suggestions on here but we are kind of reluctant to keep trialling different supplements now due to the weight thing. I have no idea if increased appetite and weight gain are a problem for other dogs on some of these products?

I had an sbt who lost two playmates at different times and she'd stand for hours looking out the back door waiting for them to come inside. She couldn't be consoled. She was just one of those dogs that needed to be part of a pack and was lost on her own. I know getting another dog is not a solution for everybody but in both instances we ended up with another rescue dog who needed a home not long after both deaths and she took on mothering them and had a job to do again. Perhaps Chloe could use a new job or role in your house to distract her or re-focus her? Even with my pack here now I can't imagine one of our dogs (Tempeh) coping with being an only dog. She relies on the other two for so many things that she lacks.

I know it was a couple of months back but I loved that video! Both dogs were having so much fun together! And I love how Jonah breaks the stereotypes of pei - he loves bush walks and a swim at the beach and is toned as well as wrinkly. Most people wouldn't think they could be such active dogs (if they so choose of course!).

I agree. I don't know many businesses that could get away with simply saying 'I didn't know' about their products origins or quality. That's your freaking job to ensure the customer is getting what you advertise.

I used to sell my handmade pet goodies at a local farmer's market and the variety of purebred dogs that visited was amazing. I've seen breeds there that I have never seen at even a pet event. The markets sell all kinds of food and I've not seen any problems with dogs being there. I would've loved to take one of mine with me each week but I don't have the kind of dogs who would sit still for that many hours.

Only twice with Miss Stussy. Both were my fault. First time it was a hot summer day and we were taking all three to see a doggy psychic (don't ask). I blew a tyre near home and when I got out to look the little rodent jumped out of the car window (which I'd stupidly put all the way down when we stopped so I could 'watch' them) and ran down the laneway to a huge park she knows. There was a bmx meet going on and my poor sister ran after her but couldn't spot her. I had to stay with the car for the RACQ and to sort the other dogs out. Eventually she came back by herself exhausted (as did my sister!). The second time was only last year. We keep a collection of collars, harnesses and leashes inside as well as on the front verandah and I used to drive Stussy to the local 7/11 every Sunday morning to get the paper as a treat. I let her on the verandah and discovered all the collars and leashes had been moved back inside so I went back in to grab one without realising the front verandah gate was not closed properly. So off she went. She actually followed the path my car takes to the 7/11 and instead of just crossing the road to it was running around the big roundabout when a lovely family stopped, opened their car door and she jumped straight in. Meanwhile I'd been given false advice from some kids that she had gone to our local park so I went there looking for her first (as well as the 7/11. Eventually I came back home and started ringing around. As it was a Sunday the lovely family had taken her to the closest open vet about 20 minutes north. They'd done a microchip check but had been too busy to call me. I had her home in about 2 hours. I left Tempeh on the front verandah recently by accident and she was clinging to the front door desperate to get back in. She has no interest in leaving the property. Glad you got Fluff back so quickly Sam.

Is he playing tug with Trouble or just trying to entice some piggy and dog play time? In that first photo he's totally got his photo bombing face on!

My SBT girl Stussy loves having her inner thighs rubbed. She will pretzel herself into very unladylike positions to achieve this, even with strangers. This happens multiple times a day and her eyes start to bulge the minute your hands enter the correct zone. Tempeh our Shar Pei likes me to rub softly all around her eyes and cheeks when she first wakes up every morning. Should my hand fall from the bed while I'm still asleep she will give herself a DIY session. My sister on the other hand is in charge of butt scritches and these are generally requested at night. We are not able to swap roles or time zones, even accidentally. My sister's dog Wolf is not big on being touched by people but she likes to touch her own bits on all our furniture. She rubs her face along all the lounges and down the sides of our bed and she likes to sleep with her butt hole pressed against a wall or piece of furniture. It doesn't look like a very comfortable sleeping position but it seems clacker contact is more important than what you do with your long in the way legs and tail. But should you try and give her a scratch under the ears she moves away giving you a dirty look for disturbing her. So what about your dogs? What makes them don crazy face or go weak at the knees?

You've got to wonder what the hell she was thinking. It doesn't look that easy to get a bra on over your head and your back leg at the same time!

Number 2 for me as well. I love how she has one front paw curled in each pic. Does she use it as a rudder?

She's like "No one just loves me for me anymore! They all just want to look at my belly!"

Oh how could you! Look at that suffering! :laugh:

Happy Birthday Fluff! My naughty girl will turn 8 later this year and I am nowhere near close to bored or sick of her. The time has flown and I've loved every nano second of it. Oh I wish she would live forever!

Apologies if I have a different opinion to others. Having experienced a prolonged dog attack once (also on the premises) I'm probably a little more cautious these days. I understand livestock lives freely in paddocks and that even penned animals can be killed without surprise by predators. But personally, if I had invested in a lovely petting zoo with calm, healthy animals (which takes time and money) I'd be concerned about providing a little extra safety, especially if I didn't live on the premises. This is simply because I would want to negate as many risks as I could. For instance I'd hate to think of some idiot taking a liking to one of my pigs or goats and knowing no one was there overnight, coming back, cutting the wire and taking them. I'd worry that I had a business based around this lovely idea and imagine how horrible it would be to turn up to work and find death and chaos awaiting you. Should the onus be on the victim to ensure protection? No, but it's just a peace of mind thing for me.

Rascal for me the issue is if there is no one living there who can respond immediately if the animals start making a racket then perhaps reinforcing the closure gives some peace of mind. Dogs and foxes could dig under and snakes might also get in if the wire holes are large enough. Plus what's to stop some human idiot cutting the wire and stealing some of the animals if no one is on the premises?

Oh Ruffles of course it was enough - it was all you had. He may have been troubled but he let himself trust you and never lost faith in you because he knew that whatever you gave him was from your heart and always in his best interests. Don't doubt that he knew, even when he was scared, he knew. You gave him peace that he may not have otherwise found. Move on lighter and be free now Loki.

Dave-O I have a couple of issues with ANY pet store selling puppies so while I agree threats by activists are unacceptable (although a DOLer was at the protest and they said there was no threats) I believe it is absolutely the responsibility of a pet store owner to ensure they are sourcing, keeping and selling live animals responsibly. I didn't know is not an acceptable excuse. She should do her research. I personally don't think ANY puppy farm or puppy wholesaler is capable of breeding a sound pet. They do not keep the puppies with the parents for long enough. They do not stimulate, socialise or expose the puppies to a range of people, animals, sounds or activities. They are focussed on volume and not the betterment of the breed. But the worst thing a pet shop knowingly does is sell pets without health and behavioural guarantees for exorbitant prices. There are also many examples of misrepresenting the breed. The staff are not pet experts. They don't provide any support services to ensure that live creature is going to a suitable home either. So I don't care if she didn't know where those puppies were really coming from. Selling companion animals in pet shops is wrong for the animals for many reasons. The fact is she knew they were coming from a farm type environment where mass breeding was occurring and she knew her product was not as sound as it could be and she sold less than perfect products for as much money as she thought she could get. Companion animals should not be sold in commercial pet shops period.

Don't put any animal products (including diary but eggshells are ok) into the compost heap. Add some newspaper. Add some grass clippings but don't add tons of everything at once. Air still needs to circulate. I also add a little bit of soil from the garden to assist composition as it is getting closer to being ready to use. I've never had a problem with odour or flies or wrigglies outside of the bin using this approach. I also haven't needed to buy or add anything extra to get amazing compost. An elderly person told me about making sure no animal products went in and not compacting it all too much and my compost has thanked me for it ever since!

Does someone live onsite? As gorgeous as that setup looks in the photo, if the owners value it they have to make it safer so that people or other animals can't break in while there is no one on the premises. I've also been in a situation where a neighbours three dogs broke into my chicken pen, killed all the chickens and harassed our Nubian goat for hours. We were asleep and kept hearing a wailing noise that we thought was coming from the guinea fowl next door. Eventually we got up to investigate and it had been our poor Nubian goat jumping from structure to structure inside the pen to escape the dogs, screaming for help in a way we had never heard before. It was horrible. Our goat needed a lot of care but survived. Only one dog was caught by council. Imagine being trapped in an enclosure and being attacked and unable to hide or escape from a predator who is doing it for fun. The only way to avoid that is reinforce the enclosure unfortunately but if no one is onsite overnight then even a snake could get in and eat a couple of chickens and no one will hear any ruckus.

Our three have always been fed in separate rooms (but within view of each other) and we used to let them check out each other's bowls after they were finished but we had an unexpected fight last year so have a very strict routine now. They get fed in pack order, still in the same places but the last one to be fed is outside and the door stays closed now until everyone is finished and has walked away from their bowls. Bowls are then picked up in order of being put down and only then can the outside dog come in and join the other two. One of us watches the whole time. Treats are dispensed similarly. Ours were not food aggressive but the youngest one just happened to pee off the middle one while she was still eating that one time and both ended up needing surgery for wounds so we don't want to put them in the position of it happening again.

He's just so freaking funny! Does he trip over centipede when he runs with it too?

I cannot believe puppy farmers have the audacity to have their own lobby group! I'm going to see if they have a facebook page I can get thrown off of.

I'm glad you were able do what needed to be done without too much second guessing. I'm sure your house will be strange for a bit without her there. Run free beautiful old girl. XXX

I've just caught up on the thread (with my heart in my mouth!) and I wonder if these oldies have any idea how much they scare us? So pleased he is mostly back to his old self. There is no point him spending 24 hours a day in an unsafe daze on the off chance he has is going to have another seizure. Let him be Mac for whatever time he has left.