Little Gifts

We have been a three dog house for a very long time because it has felt right. One dog is my sister's heart dog, one is my heart dog and our youngest belongs to all of us - human and dog! She chose all of us and her life seems complete when everyone is home together just hanging out. She even shares herself amongst all of us and has a slightly different (but equal) relationship with everyone. She only wants me to feed her meals but my sister has to give out the treats and fill the water bowls. One dog she sleeps with and the other she prefers to play with. It goes on and on. She is a quirky thing and we all love her!

Oh my dog that is terrifying! I have no idea how calm I'd be in that situation but can imagine myself on my knees trying to do CPR and heart massage or something! A big thank you to the people that helped you and Bunter. Wishing the lad a very speedy recovery. PS Perhaps Tamar might like a nice stiff drink too?

Um, if you read my no fences comment in context you would see that was not a blanket rule but it was a relevant safety measure for that particular dog who would take off if given a chance. I'm personally all for what suits the dog best too. I've also done quite a few home checks now for local and interstate rescue groups and given we don't live in the US, fencing or lack there of is still something all the rescue groups I've dealt with want to know about because that is predominantly how most people safely contain their animals here in Australia. I've never done a home check for a unit dweller but I have done townhouse and acreage checks and I have walked the fences every single time. I've also checked fences even though the dog in question will mostly be indoors only due to age, allergies or mobility issues. No-one wants the heartache of a missing dog.

From one of those RSPCA adoption drives I still remember the lady and her kids who were insistent about wanting a particular dog even though they had no fences and they had chicken and the dog in question was a runner not good around other small animals. That to me is clearly a potential adoptee who is wanting a dog she likes the look of and does not even have the home environment suitable for a pet. She hasn't thought about that particular dog's needs or the realities of being a pet owner. A time waster. I personally think a rescue group should be happy that a potential adopter contacts to ask questions when those questions are practical or informed ones. A quick read through an email would be able to tell you whether that person was a long way off being a suitable adopter. I would respond to those with a standard response that could be a cut and paste job saying "thank you for your enquiry. Please read our (potential adopters guide or whatever else you want them to be aware of) and let us know if you have any questions before completing and submitting an Adoption Application. After this we will be able to consider your interest in (dog's name)." If they make the effort to do all that then give them the benefit of the doubt. If you get an enquiry for a dog with very specific needs (ie not good around young children or only dog household) then I'd email back ensuring they are aware of that specific need and could they respond to it in relation to their current and future household before submitting an Adoption Application. That will weed out people who have not read the ad properly or who don't have a plan for raising that particular dog appropriately. Not everyone knows how the process works and there are also people with English and literacy issues to consider so not all time wasting emails are deliberate. There are a lot of dogs to choose from on PR and it is probable some people will be looking at more than one dog at the same time too.

There is probably a need for such options for people who only take their pets to get these basic things but I don't think money is the be all and end all for everyone. I would go to my vet whatever she charged because she knows all my pets and their histories and she is very thorough and she trusts me to follow treatment plans. Her prices seem reasonable and her trust in me seems to cost me less overall - free phone consult and pick up of medication over a full consult, freebies here and there and I've never had to leave a dog in overnight after surgery, even if they were sedated quite late in the day. That working relationship and trust is really important to me. If I stop going to her for routine stuff then all that could change as she has a practice to maintain and staff to pay. But I guess I'm loyal to skill and good service like that - followed the same hairdresser and GP around for donkey's years too. Nothing like knowing what kind of service you are paying for!

Wankers.

Disintegratus I once had a boy with that same problem. I clearly didn't love him enough because I told my vet the most I was prepared to do is keep a bag on frozen vegies in the freezer with his name on them. :laugh:

Now I know there are a few of us who have assisted our dogs with some of the less savoury personal grooming tasks such as helping get blades of grass out of their bums, picking out eye goobies and scratching off scabs, but I found myself doing something this morning while we were having a lie in and I realised I do it all.the.time. My name is Little Gifts and I help my dog clean between her toes. Poor Stussy( SBT) has not been blessed with flexibility. I don't believe I have ever even seen her lick her pink bits. But she does love to do what I call single leg aerials so she can chew on her toenails and clean between the toes and the pads of her feet while sitting upright. I particularly love it when she has her whole foot in her mouth (although I'm not sure what she achieves by doing this). She usually does her aerials by wedging herself in between me and some pillows on the lounge so she can perform this feat without toppling over. For quite some time now I've taken on the role of assistant, ensuring the leg in question stays upright and that the toes and pads are angled for maximum tongue to toe contact. I can do this while watching tv or reading a book (but not eating or knitting). I've come to realise this morning while we performed this task in bed in a more relaxed spooning position and I listened to the slurping and my own fingers got damper, that this is probably not normal. Probably not very hygienic either. So have a think, what do you do out of nurturing love that might just be crossing some human/dog boundaries?

Stussy has taken to sleeping under the doona with me every night this winter and even though it is warming up here I still wake to her submerged snoz every morning. I was thinking of keeping my phone by the bed and taking a morning snap as soon as I wake up every day to see what contorsion she has happening because it always makes me laugh.

I agree with Florise - feel angry at your loss and grieve and remember your beautiful boy and then, when you are feeling calmer, ask some careful questions and do some specific research. After that, if your evidence points towards fraud seek legal advice. You need to also be clear here what you are expecting of that breeder. Is it about money or dishonesty or wanting another dog? You can't respond rationally to what you might find until your emotions are not so raw. You will be looking for malicious wrong doing. None of this will bring Gus back so there is no urgency to how quickly you gather your facts but please consider doing things in a way that will honour your boy. Our dogs give us so much love they would hate to see us tied in knots after they go. First step will be to wait for the autopsy (necropsy?) results and give yourself time to absorb and accept what they are indicating. You could be dealing with two different situations here - even if the grandfather's info was in some way incorrect there may be no link to what caused the loss of Gus - are you going to be ok with that?

More eejits. Hopefully the person who stole it might know a little more about raising a puppy of this breed and did the dog a favour. Edited to add I put two dogs back in their fenced yard twice today. They live on the busiest road in my town and were having a great time running back and forth. I left a note for the owner and he rang and has said he knows they have worked out how to lift the latch but he promises to add a chain and padlock from now on. I will be checking up. Another owner who loves his dogs but wouldn't spend money to get them out of the pound or have their medical needs met if they got hit.

I still remember a case we had of a highly mobile family and a baby with failure to thrive, back before case work and client files were all electronic. Everytime we'd get a call from the hospital about the baby the parents would remove him and bounce to another town. That baby was dead in the back of a car by 8 weeks of age. It had 7 hospital visits in that time and the autopsy eventually showed why he was failing to thrive - he had a body full of broken bones. Both health and child protection services let that poor baby down. Everyone was focussed on why he wasn't gaining weight, why he couldn't sleep or settle, thinking mum wasn't up to parenting, not realising all his internal injuries. I still remember his name. Can't recall what happened to his parents now but both were to blame for the abuse. I've had to work directly with many parents who were either convicted of child abuse or just suspected of it and it couldn't be proved. I've had parents who have done the most grotesque things to their children crying and wailing and carrying on, declaring they love their child and would never ever do anything to hurt it. I even had a mother who had been charged with fairly violent abuse look me in the face and tell me she hated the one kid she nearly killed (kid deserved it apparently) but that was no reason why she couldn't see her other kid because she liked that one and would never hurt it. Also had a man that looked like a lovely old grandfather (but was a convicted paedophile) dribble and quiver in front of me while he was talking sexually about a girl her wanted to locate to abuse. You get a sense very quickly in these cases of what is true and what is lies. The hard part is then proving it.

If you buy yourself some fleece fabric you can make long tug toys, ones with big knots in the middle, double ones, round ones and one of our faves which is like an octopus (it has an old ball or old stuffing for the head. You will often find fleece remnants in op shops too and it is extremely wide so you get loads of toys from it and it is quite durable. You should try and cut your fabric so that the stretch is sideways though or you will end up with very thin and long tug toys! Another fave in this house are fleece pom pom balls. It took me forever to work out how they were made (I have a secret recipe!) and of course they get destroyed quite quickly but the dogs love them so I still make them. I also now make something I call Kitty Bombs from fleece remnants (another secret recipe) that are very popular with the feline community. Who knew fleece fabric had so many uses! You can also make the same toys from cutting up old t-shirts. And we are another household with a Holee Roller/Molee that contains old stuffing and fleece remnants that works a treat for a destructo dog!

That is truly sickening but I am so, so pleased that Patrick never gave up. What an amazing dog. And what amazing people his vet staff and carers were to bring him back from being so close to death.

Change.org have a petition going given the outcome from an investigation found no wrongdoing by the officer involved because there was no physical harm caused to the dog. Here is a link to the current news story and the video footage that shows the under cover officer finding the dog's response to being sprayed very amusing. If you or I did what he appeared to do on that CCTV footage we would be charged with animal abuse. On ya mate. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-police-officer-who-sprayed-capsicum-spray-towards-chained-dog-breached-standards-20140917-10i8bx.html

That pre-meditation and constant aggressive behaviour floors me. How can any human being listen to the wails of pain of a child and participate or do nothing? The sound is haunting. It is not like a cry from a fall and skinned knee. I've always been a little unsure about where I sit on the death penalty but I honestly don't want people capable of that level of continued abuse of a small and innocent child living in my world. They don't deserve tax payer money to be kept alive. And what saddens me most is that these cases just keep occurring. They don't always make the news but I can guarantee you they are happening across our so called luck county far too frequently.

Whenever there is evidence of bone fractures in a child of this age suspicions immediately arise. It doesn't matter if they can't determine the who or how, the fact they exist at all paints a picture of potential abuse. I've seen plenty of autopsy reports for child death reviews and you would be horrified at what can be identified. They often tell a far more chilling account of a child's life than anything that is gained from interviews with the parents. I was suspicious right from the start on this case simply because children of that age fall all the time without sustaining life threatening injuries. They do not fall the same as adults or older, more mobile and balanced children and there is a shorter distance to fall.

I used to be quite concerned about any growling. But I've been around several pei who do it regularly (including my current girl). I now see it as one of their natural ways of vocalising/communicating how they are feeling and usually it has been them expressing they were a bit unsure and for everyone to give them some space and let them work it all out. There was no aggression behind it and it wasn't going to escalate into anything other than them withdrawing. There was also a submissive kind of behaviour and flitting eye contact with it and no lip snarls - just the noise and a frozen kind of stance. I also know a couple who seem to grumble talk like this and people would often say to me "why is your dog growling at me?". My girl Tempeh growls when she plays with other dogs and me. I don't know why really but to be honest she is always making one noise or another so I read nothing in to that. I hope I am sensible enough to realise it wont be the same with other pei or other breeds of dogs. I would be reading the eyes, lips, tail and body stance as well as assessing the situation to make a quick determination on whether there was a risk to mine or other dogs or humans. I also think older dogs disciplining younger dogs is healthy doggy behaviour. How else is one dog supposed to tell another dog they are being a pain in the butt? Our oldest is a dibber dobber and it is usually Tempeh being growled or snapped at for being in everyone's face. I always let them sort it out for themselves (under my supervision) but if the messages weren't picked up on immediately I would remove the main trouble maker from the equation.

Horrible, horrible human being. Why?

No peace going to the loo with dogs either unless you shut them in a room first. Sometimes I wonder do they think the toilet will swallow us up & make us disappear forever. I think they realise we are trapped in a confined space and at their mercy! I've given up even closing the door properly because it is simply not safe to get up mid pee to try and stop all the scratching. I'm going to take a video camera in with me one day and film all the heads that poke in and the furry bodies all splayed in the hallway when I finally choose to exit. Who knew my toileting habits were so interesting!

I remember reading a book about Giant George who held the title before Zeus and he was also a beautiful boy who was well loved. He died when he was 7 (last year I think). What shocked me most in the story (which would be the same for Zeus) is the size of the beds these gentle giants need to sleep on! RIP Zeus - I'm sure your parents wished you were around for far longer than 5 years.

I'm loving all the stories!

I just came home from choir. Walked in the door, locked it and turned the outside light off. Said hello to a blur of fur then I went and put all my music stuff away then my bag and water bottle and got out of my jeans into my jammies. I was sitting at the computer sending an email and wondered how Tempeh was after her dinner tonight as she'd vomited up her brekkie this morning. Looked. No Tempeh. Called. No Tempeh. Scrambled madly through every room in the house, lighting the place up like a Christmas tree. No Tempeh. Got the torch and went out the back. No Tempeh. Calming myself I turned on the front light and opened the front door and there she was sitting quietly on the front door mat like this kind of thing happened to her all the time! I was so proud of her! No idea how she walked past me while I was coming in as it is not a usual thing for her to do. The front gate on the verandah was closed but not properly latched so if she was so inclined she could've gone for a late night wander. But luckily she is a homebody like her mum! What have your fur kids done lately to make you proud when you have done something stoopid?

I'll have to check the page out again next time I'm on FB.

Yes - you can't help where your heart takes you! Possibly - I am likely to be looking at rescue dogs so this is not always possible. If I was purchasing a pure bred dog from a registered breeder than absolutely yes. I'd want to see their breeding bitch and history (pics of dad and his history if he wasn't with the same breeder) before I even saw any puppies. Yes - if it was a rescue and in a difficult circumstance then this could sway me to act quicker (a dog in a pound with limited options or a surrender living in poor conditions elsewhere). If I was purchasing a pure bred dog from a breeder then living conditions and its socialisation are important in whether I even decide I'd like a puppy from them. I want to know they consider all litters and all dogs in their care equally as important and don't just put on a special show for potential customers.