Pretty Miss Emma

I foster both dogs/puppies and kittens. And yes you do fall in love with some of them!! But I think it's also about how you think about what you are doing. I view fostering as me helping the animal move on to the next part of it's journey in life. It also depends why they are in foster, I take those who have behavioural or medical issues or are too young - I don't foster those who just don't have a home yet. That makes it easier for me. When they are old enough they move on, when they are well they move on, when their behaviour has reached a point where they will be safe and able to cope in a different family they move on. But I also do a lot of scouting for homes for my foster furries. But fostering is really rewarding, especially when you hear back from new homes about how well the animal is fitting in and how much they love them!!! I just spend a lot of time telling myself that I am helping them get ready for the next part of their life! And I do think my dogs love it - having new friends in for a while!!

I'm just wondering how relevant breed clubs are to people. I have my own thoughts, and those have sort of developed over the past few years. I see good bits and bad bits. I think they are relevant, but I do wonder if their role is changing and I also wonder with the way society is changing in terms of it's thoughts about pet ownership, purchasing of pets, reasons for breeding, etc, etc if breed clubs are meeting the needs of both "the breed" and also of "the members" and "owners of dogs of the breed". I just don't know. I see so many posts everywhere about membership being down in a variety of clubs (and I see it within the clubs I am a member of) and also entries being down in a range of dog related activities. It just leads me to wonder why and are all these clubs still relevant in the same way they may have been in the past. Just interested to hear others thought!

We often walk in the dark. Not a problem at all. I actually prefer it when it's dark as we run in to less dogs off lead!! Oh and our schedule... 715 I leave, dogs at home get breakfast, a treat and dry food across the yard. Radio left on, access to indoors via dog door. 6-630 I get home. Dogs get dinner, maybe some training or playing ball in the yard. 730-10 fit in a walk, length depends on how tired I am and what the weather is like. We go to formal training once a week. Sometimes I drive the dogs to kcc for an off lead run or swim. Weekends are usually taken up doing dog stuff!!! I am also lucky that one dog comes to work most days (rotates which one), so that adds some variety for them.

You have a terrier and a little kitten which really probably looks a bit like a rat, add to that your Mum screaming and reacting at the first meeting and chances are your dog now potentially thinks the kitten is prey. Or may be scared of it so is behaving in a way to make it go away. That might give you some thoughts on things that need to be undone. An adult cat and a kitten look and behave quite differently, so don't assume because the dogs get along well with an adult cat that they will be fine with a kitten. Anyway, I would be training for calm around the kitten. And also for the dog to ignore the kitten. Create a positive association for the kitten being around. So there might need to be quite a bit of distance between the dog and the kitten at first which you can slowly decrease. Or you may have a dog that doesn't want to live with that kitten. Good luck with it!

Well I don't know if it's the golden paste or something else, but Nana Gem is doing good! She had a blood test yesterday to determine if it is safe to do some dental work (her teeth are shocking!!). A month ago she had elevated liver enzymes and low thyroid function. She's been with me for a month and on the golden paste for that month. Her bloods from yesterday show that liver and thyroid and not too far from perfect!!! So now the manky teeth can be dealt with!

How much cinnamon do you put in, and just the normal ground cinnamon (that's all I have so that's all it can be!)? I have to make up some more this week! And I think that Nana Gem gets the smell - we ran out a couple of days ago and she hasn't been smelling!! Or I was imagining it!

Emma was purple (although purple is sort of extending across everyone a little bit for some things!). Kenzie is red. Hamish is blue (I wanted aqua but it's too hard to get the stuff I want in aqua so settled for blue!). Nana Gem is currently wearing pink, mostly because that's what I had as my spare collar/lead set My new puppy will be pink, most likely a hot pink! I like colour coding as it means I know what belongs to who!!! My dogs don't wear their collars at home so it is easier having colour coding as their collars are fitted to them so I don't have to think about it when I put them on!! And I like my lead to match their collar - plus when I'm holding several it means I know which end belongs to which dog!!

So do you mix the cinnamon in with the turmeric mix when you make it? Or do you add that to their food? Now that I've read about the pee smell that makes sense of a smell I have in my house now!!

Gave her the skinny half of a turkey neck today (Kenz and Hamish got the thick ends, frozen) and yep, she gummed away on it and there were some crunching noises and then there was no turkey neck!! Think we'll stick with this as she seemed to love it!

I'd put your questions either in the training sub forum or the Border Collie thread in the breeds sub forum in general - you'll probably get more response there as it's a bit more relevant and looked at!

My 14 year old foster doesn't have great teeth. She wouldn't be able to eat the bones I give my dogs. But I'm thinking that she might enjoy having a chew on a bone every so often and gumming it about. But what sort of bone can I give her? Could she have a small turkey neck or something? She's a border collie. Of course maybe she doesn't care and I just want her to have the things my dogs get!!

I don't know what the checkmate collar is. I use a front attach harness (eg. easy walker) or I have also seen a Black Dog head halter in use which is specifically designed around pulling. But those tools will just help with making the problem easier to deal with. To actually get nice loose leash walking you need to train it. Lots of different ways to train it and you sort of have to use what works best for you and your dog. Some of the things I have done... - crazy walking (constantly changing direction in the hopes that the dog stays close to you as it doesn't know where it is going next) - red light, green light. When the leash is tight you act like there is a red light (stop), when the leash is loose you act like there is a green light (go). You don't need to pair this up with anything, it is based on the idea that the dog wants to get somewhere so eventually learns that if the lead is tight they will never get there. You need to be patient with this one! - rapid rewarding. When the dog is walking with a loose lead you reward - constantly. I actually found that rapid rewarding for correct position worked best in general. But rewards have to be really good if you are out and about, like roast chicken type good! One of my puppy school teachers taught her dog using the red light, green light method - she spent 2 hours doing one lap of a football field!!! But, it was 2 hours well spent as the dog never pulled on lead!!

Well, she isn't ancient. But she isn't young. She certainly wouldn't be doing agility!!! Going from what I've seen so far, she'll be pretty happy hanging out in the sun and having a walk around the block.

So, tomorrow I am bringing home an old dog who will be here for foster care while she has surgery and recovers from this. It is also highly likely that she will stay here following this until her time comes. She is a 14 year old BC. She currently has a tooth abscess that has erupted through her cheek (thus why she requires surgery), she will also be having a few lumps removed while she is under GA. My last BC only lived to 12.5 years, so we didn't really get to the very old dog age. And she aged quite quickly in the last 6 months of her life. So I'm just wondering what are some of the things I need to be thinking about that may not have crossed my mind in regards to having an old dog in the house. I've got a couple of different bed options for her so she can choose which is easiest and most comfortable for her. She'll get whichever food she gets sent home with (she is happily eating dry mostly at the moment), I'll also add in the turmeric that I'm giving my 2 and omega oils. If she can figure out the dog door she will have indoor/outdoor access, however for the first little bit she might be separate from my dogs just until I'm 100% ok with them all being together (both in terms of getting used to a new dog but also I don't want them knocking her after surgery etc). Is there anything else I need to think about?

One of my dogs has a bit of an injury (trying to prevent it getting any worse), a couple of people have said to put her on turmeric. In fact basically have said tumeric for everyone!! So I've got my ingredients and I will make it up tomorrow hopefully. But I'm just interested in hearing if you have been using turmeric in your dogs diet and what you have noticed as aresult of using it.

An acquaintance had a puppy who had a similar issue - diet related. Part of the treatment she employed was acupuncture and also hydrotherapy.

I don't know if this has been posted previously. I don't remember seeing it and didn't find it when I searched. Anyway if you breed dogs (have actually bred a litter) then this survey is relevant to you possibly. I am in no way attached to this survey, it was sent to me via email and thought I would share it in case anyone is interested in participating in it. Hoping the link works, if it doesn't I'll try to fix it up! Survey

My girl is really scared of my Mum and Dad's neighbour. Same as you, as a baby she used to play and sleep on him. Then at some point she became scared of him, I can't quite pinpoint when that happened. But she hides from him, is scared to walk past his house and has even urinated/defacated out of fear. In saying that she will sometimes approach him for food. She seems to be at odds with herself over this relationship a little. Your story is pretty much the same as mine, but you get barking I get outright avoidance. To be honest I've given up trying to get her over it. It's not really a battle worth fighting. She doesn't have to go near him if she doesn't want to. I know that's not a lot of help for you, but I feel your pain over it!

Oh I love some of that stuff that Dogs By The Bay have!!!!!

Thanks for thoughts. It really is case by case. I know I would struggle to live with it, both due to the impact on me and I would struggle to see my dog feeling that way. But I totally get why people rearrange their lives to deal with it - it's your dog why wouldn't you do anything you could!!! I find it such a tricky thing, and I find it even trickier when I see it from the outside. I think no matter what we always bring a little bit of our own judgement in to most things and also our empathy. I certainly take my hat off to those who really do try to do everything to help their dog. I struggle with those who don't actually commit to trying anything and who either just rely on meds with no other strategies in place (what sort of life is a drugged up life? But if the meds are helping the dog function and have some behavioural therapy I'm all for it) or who just ignore it and really let the dog suffer. I think I just find it one of those curious things, particularly as I see this dog nearly every day and I really struggle when I can see the indicators of stress in it but everyone else thinks it's doing fine. Maybe sometimes it's better not to learn as much as then I wouldn't necessarily worry about such things!!

what breed is your foster that it needs a limited slip? She's gone now. She's a BC, but she was a major flight risk if she got a fright (and the wind blowing in the trees had the potential to frighten her!). Once she gets to be a bit more "normal" and bonded with her new family I"m sure they wil be able to go to a normal collar. I just couldn't risk her pulling out of a collar when she was off the property.

I got to thinking about this today. It's nothing to do with my own dogs - they'd love to spend all their time with me and they sometimes have a sook when they aren't with me but know where I am, but they do not have separation anxiety. A friend, however, has a dog that has severe separation anxiety. If left without a human companion it will bark non-stop, spin in circles, destroy anything it can get its teeth on, jump fences, etc. Even when it has dog companions it does all these behaviours, there may as well be no other dogs there. Today I got to thinking about what sort of quality of life dogs like this must have. Certainly there is a huge impact on the human quality of life if you own a dog like this - to not be able to do anything without having a human babysitter for your dog is somewhat limiting. But what about the dog? Do dogs like this live with a certain level of anxiety at all times and it is just worse (like heaps worse!) when their human isn't there? Or are they genuinely calm /settled/etc when their person is around? The dog I've mentioned I think is constantly in an anxious state, although no where near as bad as when the owner is absent. But I certainly see signs of anxiety in this dog at all times other than when sleeping. I suppose I just parallel it a bit to myself when I have felt mildly anxious - it's not something I'd like to live with, I can cope with it short term, and I can cope when it's worse at certain times. I just imagine that living with even low level but constant anxiety is not great, especially when it's a dog and you can't have a conversation with them to get some level of understanding around it all. Anyway, I just got thinking and really don't have any real experience in this so was just interested to hear what others thought.

Yep, find a really good trainer and get help from them. In the interim, a front attach harness will help to some extent (mainly in that if he pulls it probably won't feel as strong) and will mean you can still give him exercise. I just wouldn't let him on the long line if there is any concern of other dogs in the area - move to that when you have dealt with some of the training.

I've spoken with the vets at Karingal at one point and the main person who runs the puppy school is a Delta certified trainer. I would say they probably do a pretty good job as at least they have training, and generally Delta don't really approve of play in classes so I would imagine that interactions are probably fairly well controlled. Can't speak from first hand experience though, but when I chatted with them they seemed to know what they were talking about. If I had a puppy I would probably take them there, however I don't go to puppy school to learn stuff I just go for the social experience and I'm more than happy to remove my puppy from the situation if I don't think it is a good experience for them to be having.

I know. Blerk. But has the distance in between dogs increased? That would have helped me and Poppy. Yes, Jules ..distance is now at least 2.5 metres, so that's a bit of an improvement. Still a pain that they couldn't get rid of sit stays. Yeah, I just wish the sit stay had gone out of CCD. Happy about the distance between dogs increasing and I think the distance of the handler from the dog has decreased. But - yep - yuck - sit stay!!!!