Little Gifts

I just saw this. Tempeh's favourite person in the whole wide world is grandma! She reserves all her full body wiggles especially for grandma and is just so excited she tries to eat her arms and crawls all over her. It is very funny given she normally goes for the cool approach. Here she is saying "oh yeah Grandma, that's the spot!"

I did a home check and they had an old dog and lots of stairs so they'd set up a large plastic tray and put paper in it for the dog to toilet on between walks without having to do all the stairs. The lady of the house worked at an auto parts chain store (Super Cheap maybe?) and I think that is where she got the big tray. Something like this maybe? You can probably get different sizes or even two trays if you have the space - they are pretty cheap and don't need to be deep if you are just using paper. http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/SCA-Oil-Drip-Tray-Plastic-950-x-650mm.aspx?pid=356447#Recommendations

Awwww, dusty eyes here too!

If that was someone getting their jollies then I'm very sorry you had to experience that. My immediate thought was that it was bogus because a dogs penis is a lot smaller than a human's and I'm not sure it could get stuck in either hole. (I could of course be wrong.) And how old is the dog and the man if she has been doing it since she was 16 (ie is he a lot older than her? Has it been going on for years?) and he could've just said she was doing sexual things with her dog without giving you those kinds of intricate details. If he is genuine then he will ring the RSPCA. If not then I'd like to pull something stuck out of his anus too. Edited to ask - do you have any idea of dog breed, suburb it might be located in and how recently this happened? Long shot but with this info you could always ring the police and tell them what you know in case the woman's injury was serious enough to require hospital attendance - they could identify her that way and ensure she got the help she needed and the dog went somewhere safe. And if this guy is a sick bastard and has rung other people with the same spiel then your info could lead police to him too. Real life is often stranger than fiction but this one just feels iffy to me.

Oh Ellz I'm so sorry. What a heart breaking loss. Too soon Roger, too soon.

I am not sure either if it is illegal but in a previous career I had to help an investigator for fatal road accidents on major roads here in QLD (before air bags were common). Seat belts are designed for humans so that in the event of an accident, if the human is upright in their seat and the seat belt is being worn correctly they wont become projectiles and go through the windscreen. Dogs are generally clipped into the seat belt connection, not the seat belt itself and in the case of an accident this would not stop them becoming air borne, either smashing into the dash, windscreen, the driver or having their necks snapped once that strap pulls taut at high speed. And if they survive all that then the air bags would probably crush them in to the back of the seat. Yes there is a risk in the passenger seat and also in boot areas of something similar happening but force is likely to send the dog forward first and at least in those other areas the seat backs will slow the dog down and possibly do less damage. I've also seen a dog badly injured from sitting on the front passengers lap and being thrown and trapped under the dash in a side collision.

Since we stopped the excessive night time snacks she has started two new behaviours. The first is she stands in front of the tv like she is watching it. This gets her attention because she is blocking the remote signal. All our dogs are allowed on the lounges and beds with the 'up' command. So her second thing is she only puts her front paws up and wants to have her rear end hoisted up. If you don't she just stays like that giving you pleading looks for 'help'! She has never done either of these things before but they are just more of her attention seeking, grand standing behaviours that we are now addressing! I don't know if she is super smart to think up all this new stuff or just odd. She gets loads of attention so does not need to play princess to get more! I really do feel that sometimes we are only one step ahead of her!

Shar pei! But on the plus side she hasn't had any of the other usual health problems pei can get! She is very quirky though and is continuously developing new and strange behaviours which we struggle to be smarter than! She is a fan of discrete payback for not getting her own way. The joys of owning a stubborn shar pei!

Hey this is not as bad as the recent time I went to bed after nearly 24 hours of activity, pulled the doona over myself, realised it was wet and in my coma like state just put a towel down and dragged the doona in the dark into the laundry to worry about the next day! Big mistake! I wondered why no-one else wanted to share the bed with me that night! I'm not sure what you call Temp's condition but maybe every other month she wakes up early and spews up bile and little bits of what look like chicken neck bones even if it has been days since she actually ate a neck (no carrot!). She has always been like this and two different vets have said it is normal for some dogs. She is fed twice a day and starts carrying on about 45 minutes before each meal like she is dying of hunger. She doesn't eat quickly and she will only eat till full. The late night treats seem to help the vomiting but I can usually guarantee a vomit if I change all the dog beds over. This time she did it on the newly laid people blankets and doonas that were covering my body. Apparently it is comforting to spew on clean linen. Said spewing does not stop her downing food immediately afterwards and she refuses to even have a drink and wash her mouth out either! And this only ever happens when she is sleeping overnight. I've never seen her feel off and have a grass session during the day like Stussy. Dogs are weird.

You know how I told you that we are using the yawn technique to stop Tempeh from demanding excessive amounts of night time treats? Well on the morning of night 4 of the new regime I awoke to a wet foot and some lapping noises. Yep, she vom bommed my foot through the doona and it leaked down onto the sheets and on to the actual bed. My fault really because I just wasn't awake enough at 4.30am to work out not to flail my legs when things felt wet. There were no pre-emptive noises - it was a secret, silent payback.

Tempeh would rather her bladder exploded than go outside when the acid is falling from the sky. I do have a couple of raincoats for her but lets just say they are in fairly pristine condition still!

We have been dealing with a very similar problem with Tempeh and I have a solution for you to try. Tempeh often vomits up bile before breakfast and has been vet checked for this and just happens to be the kind of dog that can get over hungry. So we started giving her a treat around 10 at night to combat this problem and it has worked well. But then she started whining for treats earlier. Then she started wanting multiple treats throughout the night. It got so bad we were giving her treats (tiny ones) only two hours after her dinner time and every hour after that until we went to bed just to shut her up. A while back we met the Dreadlocked Dog Whisperer and he gave us a technique to use on her. We look in her direction, give a huge yawn, stick our chins in the air and look away. This is simply mimicking something mother dogs do to settle naughty puppies. So we started using it again and within only two nights she was no longer even bothering us for treats and we were back to being the ones to instigate late night treat time. And the good thing for you is you can do this while lying in bed - I wouldn't even get up to let him out for a pee first, I'd just do the whole yawn thing and roll over and see what happens. I actually told Martin about this on FB and he wrote the following back which you could also apply - "I'll be doing videos soon so you can really remember how much you can exaggerate that yawn and head tilt. Also act aloof and arrogant until everyone calms down - and sleepily close eyes and let all air out of your lungs like you're getting ready to sleep. Is real hunting weather at moment so all dogs getting restless and finding it hard to settle."

My youngest sister (who lives here) bought it for me. Like I didn't already have enough dogs to look after! From memory the computer doggy barks and rises up and sits on his bum. He comes with a remote control of course! Here is a pic we took that Christmas day of it. You'll notice it can't follow commands as well as our real dogs!

I got one for Christmas a couple of years back and it has lived on a shelf ever since. There is nothing appealing about it. Even the other dogs didn't want it in their pack. It looks like this -

Remember Didga the trained cat by Catmantoo? She is the spokescat for a new strategy by Gold Coast City Council to stop cat's wandering -

I used to have a fart pillow on my bead. My very old SBT girl like to sleep with her butt right next to my head but was prone to letting fluffy off the chain at her leisure so the fart pillow was always wedged between her butt and my head so I wasn't gassed in my sleep.

He's a real cutie!

She was desexed at around 6 months. I know I've had to let her harnesses out here and there over the years but didn't think much about it until I saw the coats on her and could really see the difference (given I was expecting none). When I remeasure her for new coats I'll be able to tell just which part of her body has filled out the most. Hopefully she might be at the tail end of any further growth now!

This will all sound very uninformed. This is Tempeh's (shar pei) third winter with us. Every winter I have made her new coats and I always make them bigger so that when she lies down she gets a cape effect given she doesn't have a lot of hair and struggles with the cold. Last winter she was 2 years old so I figured any coats I made would last. NOPE! Have started putting coats on for this winter and they are too small again! Her bum and thighs are all on display! My Stafford girl can still fit into the same coats she had from when she was around 18 months of age. Both breeds are medium so how come Tempeh is still growing at 3 years of age? Is this normal? It is her torso/frame/legs that are bigger - she is not fatter or even heavier on the scales. Do certain breeds continue to grow past say 2 years or is she abnormal? Should her growth stop around now or will I be making new coats every winter?

I just realised that Smoke has a doggy version of the mullet - all clean and business like at the front end and fluffy and party like from the ears and around the back!

Wow. I didn't know that! Terrible!

This man is no stranger to international travel or even living in other countries (he has been living in Europe for many years previously). He would also have staff paid to organise his travel and accom for his work - he may not even pack his own suitcases! So I find it hard to believe neither he or any of his staff failed to consider what might be required to take the dogs to this country. And since they chartered a private plane and arrangements had to be made for that, someone had to arrange that and advise what was going to be on that plane - how many people, how much luggage, dogs, etc. It would be stupid not to advise of the dogs because otherwise they would not have had suitable food or toileting arrangements for them on the plane. And even if he turned up with them at the last minute someone had responsibility before that plane landed to ensure all relevant paperwork was done. You can't tell me staff serving guests on a private plane who had not expected dogs would not have reported the existence of those dogs higher up the chain of command during that flight. It shits me that us humans constantly put dogs at risk of harm with our negligence.

Imagine if you didn't keep questioning and searching for answers! It goes to show you have to trust your gut sometimes even if experts are telling you something different.

They are who I get my dry and heartworm from. I love the regular order thingy and how they send a reminder email in case you need to delay or bring the order forward so we never run out of food. Edited to add that I agree - they have really extended themselves in this instance. Most places wouldn't accept a return of this nature.

Yes. Wolf is 12 now so she is monitored more closely. Tempeh is still full of quirks and keeps us constantly on our toes. Then we have Stussy who is my heart girl and all love. Never sick or needy, she just fits herself in. What I do is give her quality cuddles every day. She lies on me while I watch tv at night and she likes to sleep touching me at night. I try to always rub her favourite spots while putting up with the inconvenience of 18kg of dog lying on me or poking me with toenails or a cold nose. It is how we stay connected.