Little Gifts

I never even leave my dogs unsupervised in my own home around other adults let alone children. And I would certainly never give dog who might be excited to see visitors/children any food that took time to eat (a quick swallow treat only) or toys. Anyone who has been to my house knows I have three very different dogs - one flings herself at everyone in desperate need of attention and cuddles to the point of it being annoying. She loves everyone but I would never assume she was always going to be safe - what if she gets a fright or gets accidentally stood on and has a little snap in her excited state? I don't know what goes on in her head all the time and I'd hate her to pay the price of just being herself with her life. Having dogs means I am also more vigilant with people who visit my house who don't know my dogs or who aren't used to dogs in general. Yes it is a parent's responsibility to know and protect their child but while they are in my house I think it is up to me establish the rules that will keep humans and dogs safe. My house, my dogs, my visitors, my rules.

I think there is a lot of info we don't know in this case. The injuries sound like one snap rather than an 'attack'. I consider an attack repeated biting where as this sounds like it could've happened with just one responsive, 'stay back' bite. The dog may have already been eating his bone when the other family just popped in for a quick visit. All adults may have lost track of the child for just a minute. The owners did not have their dog pts till later in the year so obviously they did not consider their dog as a danger to others under normal circumstances. The dog was still the big loser again even if it was the human's who stuffed up. I'd hate to ever be in this position.

My oldest made it three months shy of 17. For the last six months of her life we were at the vet every single month to monitor any changes because honestly, I couldn't work out when it was her time. Prior to that, the year before we probably had check ups every three months. She was such a tough cookie and already had so many serious ailments yet remained a very active and involved dog so she was no help to me whatsoever! I think she would've kicked on for another few months but it got to the stage that my main fear was her having an accident when no-one was home. I was worried that perhaps she would get stuck in a corner for hours (dementia) or get one of her legs caught in one of the dog bed frames (arthritis) and be like that for an extended period of time, or that she might be incontinent and be lying in it because no-one was home to clean it up. I still question did I let her go a smidge too quick but I'd rather have done that than subjected her to an accident and left her helpless for a couple of hours. She would've hated that and become very distressed. All I can say is don't leave it until it is too late. Old age and death is a fact of life. Let her go out with some dignity, still knowing your loving arms around her.

I love the pic of that low wheel based Goldie X flying off his board towards the beach! I saw a small story in the Sunday Mail about the event and thought they should've picked Sid for their supporting pic!

If I want to wash my dog's feet only, I brew the tea and put it in a used but empty (washed out) butter container (my dog is a large breed, so a smaller container for the smaller dogs would be better - less tea needed) and have him stand in it for a few moments or so, one foot at a time. A quick pat to take the excess wet (especially between the toes) away and voila!! Glad everything else went well. And I like the "neutral" smell. Something fresh and unmasked about it. :) Excellent idea about the feet - will try that next time. And we had no licking and scratching last night from Tempeh. They all feel lovely and soft too! I posted about my experience on my FB page and a couple of friends are keen to try it too. I think lots of people are keen to use more natural products on their animals as well as themselves. Thank you for a fantastic thread!

Love it! Love that they all got cool rashies to wear too!

Without a rescue group/shelter for domestic rabbits owners would probably just release them into the wild where they will do more habitat damage and be at risk of hideous deaths. If this rescue group ticks all the boxes then I have no problem with them getting money because even incorporated rescue groups have so few funding options for big ticket items. On the other hand we have the RSPCA who gets federal and state funding for their core business, has public fundraising down to a tee AND regularly gets monies through things like the Gambling Fund here in QLD. They are dipping into every pot of money they can nationally and still don't seem to be meeting public expectation in regards to cruelty matters. As I've said before, if the RSPCA were fulfilling their all creatures great and small mandate then we would not even need an independent rabbit rescue group. So I'm not going to begrudge a rescue group, who is probably running on the smell of an oily rag, receiving money they desperately need to care for their charges. There will be an accountability process for it. How else would they raise it? Just edited to add that grants need to be applied for so different orgs will ask for different amounts of money. What you want to spend money on has to meet funding guidelines. For example it might be for infrastructure only. You also have to prove you spent the money on what you applied for (or seek a change of purpose) at the end of the relevant financial year. You can't just ask for $50,000 and spend it on what you want. And you would be stupid to guesstimate how much money to apply for if you were undertaking a big project. They would need to get quotes. Some orgs might also need to use some of their own savings to complete a larger project. For example you get funding to build a building but none to buy equipment or furniture to use in it. That would need to come from another funding source, perhaps your own savings.

I finally got around to washing all three dogs today! I did the handful in a stocking thing, let it steep in a litre of boiling water in a plastic tub then added 4 litres of cold water that had previously been boiled and stored for camping. I also chucked a sponge in. I did the washing on the lawn so we watered the dry patches at the same time. I sponged the cleanest one first, then baldy and then the long haired and poured the remainders of the tub water on the long haired too. We then played out in the sun for half an hour until they were all dry enough to come back in the house. So right there I saved about 5 towels worth of dog drying and didn't have to clean down the bath, pull hair from the drain or even wipe down the walls from where everyone shook. I was also moderately dry for a change! Plus our bald girl is not a fan of water so there was no running water for her to worry about and we just held them all gently with our hands and legs - no tying up even. It took about 3 minutes to do the medium dogs and about 5 to do the bigger one. Now they are dry our baldy girl's skin looks very clean and she hasn't been scratching or nibbling at it and there are no red areas. The pied one is a very crisp white colour and the long haired girls dark coat is very glossy. They all smell neutral. The only negative to the set up I used is that their paws didn't get washed and if I had've sponged those they would've got muddy. Next time I might wash on the concrete so I can sponge them too. All in all, very happy and tonight will tell if it has been good for Tempeh's itchies. She seems to heat up while she sleeps and get all itchy so I wont be able to tell until overnight whether this has had a positive effect on that issue. If it does I will be able to use it as a yardstick for when she needs her next rinse!

Love it! We watched the videos as well and she has been doing this every year for 13 years for her Christmas cards!

Who knew the humble canine toenail was such a hot topic! I've always had rescue dogs so they've always had dew claws. Only one was a problem child. He was an anxious boy prone to ripping metal to shreds and digging his way through walls if he got scared so he had a couple of incidents, although none required surgery. Our only other partial problem child is my sbt who has nails that grow at the speed of sound. She was manhandled by a groomer a couple of years back and retains a fairly strong fear of anyone even lightly touching near her nails now so it is a constant battle to keep them all short. None of her nails seem to be maintained by exercise. Typical isn't it!

Obviously she took her 'imperfect' ears to the show judging by that second photo and her win? Judges are so fussy!

Thanks for the advice everyone. Full blood test results come back tomorrow but the xray did not show evidence of pyo yet so I think that is a good sign, early stages and all that. I think my sister will do the antibiotics and talk to the vet in more detail about future treatment needed. I know it is the anaesthetic side of things that worries her most but her dog came out of the surgeries last year really well and overall she is a healthy and active dog with good appetite and healing abilities. This vet is pretty good too and he keeps himself very current on treatment options. He just rang back before as he had consulted my vet about homeopathic options and has now given my sister three different options to treat/manage the arthritis, as well as a list of supplements that should assist and where she can buy them. I think he knew she was overwhelmed during the consult. I've had to remind her that this is what life can be like when your dog gets into those later years and it doesn't help your dog to put on your worry wart hat and throw your hands up in despair. She is good with people and health crises but when it comes to her dog she wants to crawl into a ball and make it go away. I'm going to see if she will let me come to future appointments so at least one of us asks the right questions. I've spent all morning googling and bookmarking info for her to read and if she wasn't home I would've just rung the vet and asked him for the skinny behind her back! She wouldn't mind. Plus I do most of the feeding and walking and will need to know what medication or supplements she is on and what exercise restrictions are in place. :D

Rebanne would that remove the risk of pyometra? I know there is a link to seasons so I'm assuming no season, less chance of pyometra? Just saw a study that said it is not recommended for use in older dogs but it is still something we can talk to the vets about further in case there is another option.

I just discovered pyometron which I'm pretty sure is what the vet was talking about. So I'll now be googling that some more! I'm still interested in any personal experiences around this topic though. Thank you!

I wasn't sure what to put in the title to be honest but hopefully I can explain more here. My sister has a husky/shep cross who will be 11 next month. She was never desexed for reasons clear to my sister (not so clear to me who has to mop the floors and wash the bedding when she is in season). This dog has been in great health till last year when she had a series of non-cancerous growths on one eye that required four rounds of surgery to cut out. About six months ago we had some dementia indicating behavioural changes and she went on Vivitonin. Last night she had difficulty getting up and walking so my sister took her to the vet first thing this morning. She saw what I consider to be the second vet option at the surgery. He is good but I prefer my holistic vet who I have been using for decades. He did xrays, blood tests and a full exam on the dog. She has age related arthritis but he discovered her white blood cells were up and that she had a pussy (sp?) discharge from her vagina. The xrays didn't show up anything to worry about organ or growths wise and he has given her antibiotics for the discharge/infection. She has a very hairy bottom and has not long finished her last season so I am really surprised we didn't notice anything. She has always drunk a lot and her toileting habits have not changed so we didn't pick anything up that way either. The vet has advised my sister that it might be better to desex her even at this age. He said that she could now become prone to age related UTIs and serious infections requiring surgery that could be far more difficult to treat because she has not been desexed. I have always desexed my dogs so have never heard of the dangers of not desexing in old age. I did a google and it mentions the possibility of mammary tumours but from what my sister took from the vet he was referring to infections in the sex organs. She is a bit distressed about all this and has asked me to post on here for her for advice/experiences from others. Neither of us want to be desexing an 11 year old large breed bitch but I also wouldn't want her susceptible to something that could be worse. What do others think? I've already said we will get a second opinion before doing anything more than treating the current infection (have another excellent vet in mind). And what happens with second consults? I've never needed one before. Can the second vet ask for and obtain all the lab and test results and case notes done by the first vet or should we ask for that and take it with us? The vet my sister has seen today will not be upset about us getting other advice. Thoughts? Experiences? I was only joking during her last season that surely it was time for menopause but I guess dogs are like cats and they can technically breed until the day they die?

I really love the under the stairs idea as it is such an odd space and if I was a dog I would love it! But up here in QLD my issue with built ins is always air flow. I've used wire and a soft crate but even the soft one has had mesh on all sides (including the top but not the bottom) and I always had them pulled away from walls to ensure good air circulation. With the built in ideas most would only have air flow coming through the doorway part. I'm not sure it's enough for hotter climes. They look great though! Well to us doggy people!

I love his sleepy face!

Those pics haven't lost any of their magic! You must've had some cool experiences there!

I look at anything over 10 as a bonus. Apparently only a small percentage of dogs make it to 10 or older for various reasons. And sorry for thinking Kirby was a boy.

Oh Brian that was so honest and heartfelt. I'm sure Kirby knew how you felt about him even if you weren't always able to show it. Even if we had them for 20 years it is never long enough. They give so much of themselves. Run free over the bridge now beautiful boy and may all the much loved dogs who have gone before you be there to show you the ropes. Take care of yourself Brian. Non-doggy people don't quite understand what you are going through but we do. Many of us have been exactly where you are right now, grieving and questioning. XXX

WARNING! Do not be eating your breakfast when you look at that picture. Anyone for some recycled cheese on toast????

When I was a teenager walking my OESD I always thought I'd find a dead body. We lived on the outskirts of the suburbs and there were always lots of screams and scary noises in the dead of night on this big, half dug up area near our property.. By day I would go on the hunt but never found anything exciting.

Two people and three dogs feels nice in this house. It is manageable for us. Only you can decide what is manageable for you.

Fantastic news for Miss Ruby!

Signed. Good luck tonight.