minxy

I knew I forgot something! Poor Kuma's leg. Hope the big boofa's alright. I decided to ring our breeder today and had a really lovely half hour chat to him. He seemed really pleased to be hearing from us actually, and was really happy with how well Kyojin's going and how much we love him. I even spoke to him about getting a second one day in the future... Oops, naughty me!!

I must admit, I don't really bother with breeders that don't have websites. I want to see pictures of their dogs and read about them before I make contact with them. I don't want to waste my time or theirs, when I can find out what I need to know by looking at their website first. (It doesn't have to be flashy though). Whether they are a member of their breed club or not never crossed my mind. It really doesn't matter to me I guess. I chose 6-12 months for the last question. I waited 10 months for Kyojin and that felt like such a long time, as we didn't have any other dogs at the time. That was not 10 months of waiting for the one breeder though, that was 10 months of waiting from any breeder in Aus. ETA: That I will use the same breeder in the future. One, because they are absolutely fantastic. And two, because I am still waiting for the rest to get back to me

Sorry guys, I tried to post a couple of days ago but my computer was playing up, so apologies as I know I'll miss a few people's comments now. Betsy - gorgeous photos! What an absolute stunner KumaAkita - Kyojin's pants always shed so much more than anywhere else. He hasn't been shedding too much lately which is great. Although if Summer ever comes, I'm sure he'll start shedding again! My big boofa has hit the 30kg mark now Really starting to feel it when he does the Akita leans Wuffles - great post about your trip. OH and I are going away for 16 days in June for our honeymoon and I am literally terrified of leaving Kyojin. We still have no idea what to do with him. We have friends housesitting for us to look after the 2 cats, but I'm just so worried about Kyojin. If it was possible, I'd ask his breeders to take him. But we don't really speak, and they live in Canberra so I'd have to send him on a plane for that. I don't want to send him to a kennel either. I'm just worried that our friends won't look after him the same way we do, and that something terrible will happen. If we weren't going overseas for this trip, we'd definitely take him with us. OH has decided that from now on, we only go on Kyojin-friendly holidays So your post was really helpful Lilli star that's so awful about the poor dog your brother found. He's a very lucky boy that he has been found by people that will show him love and kindness. Hopefully the infection on his neck is nothing major

I have once with Kyojin, and after trying to wash him in the yard etc at other times, I've come to realise just how awesome washing him in the shower with me is. We have one of those hose shower heads, which makes it really easy. And much easier to contain him. Not to mention, I don't have to worry about washing him and then having grass and dirt get stuck to his feet as we're heading back to the garage to use the force dryer.

A lot of us use either www.photobucket.com or www.flickr.com to host our images.

I'd find a new vet too, if possible. I changed my vets because ALL of the reception staff were horrible. Extremely rude each and every single time, which I just didn't see the need to put up with. I think it's important to find a vet that you trust and get along with. As for the worming medicine, I can't really say much about them for sure. I use the supermarket stuff on my two cats, and they've never once had any issues. I purchase the more expensive vet line stuff for my puppy though. (I buy this online so it's a lot cheaper - buying medicine from your vet is usually about twice the price of what you can find it online for). Another great thing about my vet - when we first bought Kyojin and just took him to get looked over, the vet asked what worming/flea treatment we were going to use. So I told him what we had decided on, and he went and grabbed me a pack of each. I said oh sorry, I've found them really cheaply online so I was going to do that. He said okay yea sure thing, and gave me a free single use of each to last me until my online order would arrive.

If he's not really understanding what the clicker means, then I'd keep practising clicks and treats until he starts to realise that click = a treat is coming. I know you said he doesn't seem that food motivated, but maybe you just haven't found something that he considers to be high value? What I've found really popular is those diced bacon pieces. You could always try warming treats as well, or sprinkling a bit of garlic powder on them to make the food more appealing. Or as someone else suggested, making his dinner the reward for training. If you're training your pup on a full stomach, he's probably not going to be that keen on training.

Poodlefan, thanks so much for the link you posted. I have been trying ages to find a good place to get a big order of pigs ears for Kyojin.

My boy managed to get a hold of some chocolate this morning. I'm not sure how much he actually got, but it was at the very most a quarter of one of those Cadbury chocolate blocks. We knew he hadn't eaten remotely enough to be fatal, but as he did a sloppy poo inside the house right afterward, we knew it was enough to upset his tummy that a trip straight to the vet was in order. Now, I can't remember exactly the specifics of everything as I'm at work, and OH was the one who has taken the day off to look after him, but from memory the vet said that for Kyojin's weight (30kg) he would have to eat about 1.2kg of chocolate for it to be toxic. But to be on the safe side, he gave Kyojin a maxilon injection and something to line his stomach to protect it from the acidity of this stuff we have to give him 10ml of 3 times a day (not sure for how long). I think he also induced vomiting.

Oh no, I am so terribly sorry to hear that. I frequently go and look at Kato's photos on here. How old was Kato? He always looked like such a sweet natured little dear. My thoughts are with you

Helping his dad rake the lawn

A very sad incident for everyone involved. I really do hope that the huskies aren't PTS (assuming of course that since they were accidentally released by council that they have never attacked before).

Squueeee!! Sooo excited for you

I think it is probably better to hold off also. Not saying I could if it were me, but realistically it is probably the more practical option, as dogs do go through a second "challenging" stage as a teenager. When you do get another dog, I would probably get another large breed dog, rather than a small dog.

Yea, absolutely! The more the merrier

:laugh: Fantastic photos guys. Love the one with Ava's legs up in the air on the side

No worries, Dandy

Thanks guys, it was really scary. Hopefully we never have another incident like that again! Niques: They were used for hunting (bears mostly), baby sitting, guarding live stock and police work. Wuffles: I bet the doggies had a great time at the beach! I've actually never been to Nudgee beach before. I've been meaning to take Kyojin to the beach for ages, but with OH and I working such different hours to each other, we haven't really had the chance. KTB: Lovely photos as always. These are the most recent photos I have of my boy:

That's okay. Kyojin and I went and threw the frisbee around for half an hour or so

Seems that way. Not sure if Keira&Phoenix is still keen on coming

Just a reminder that I'll be there about 3.30, just so you don't think I'm a no-show. I have to drive past the park to get to my place, so I'll be able to see who's turned up. I just have to get changed out of my work clothes, and of course get the dog.

I know a few Brisbane DOLers haven't seen the Social thread, or checked into it lately so I thought I'd put a post here as well. We're meeting today at 3pm, Marnham Street, Acacia Ridge Thread here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=207081

Happy New Year everyone!!! We had a few friends over for drinks and nibblies last night, and to play quizzes on the PS3. I can't believe I managed to stay up til 3.30am!!! (And I was the first to go to bed, OH said the sun was up before he went to bed!) Normally I'm an in bed by 10pm at the latest, kinda girl Kyojin absolutely terrified me last night. I came home from work and brought him straight into the house with me. Then I realised I had to pop to IGA (2 streets away) to grab a couple of things before people came over. So I thought I'd just pop him into his crate for 5 minutes. So I called out "bedtime" and he refused to come, so I thought okay, I'll just put him back into the yard while I'm gone. Well, he was not at all happy about being put away again after being alone while we were both at work all day, so he bolted out of our street, and half way down the next road. I throw my handbag, shoes, keys, phone etc onto the grass and start yelling at him to come back, chasing him down the street. The only reason he stopped (he was ignoring me, so it wasn't really like he was running away from me because he thought it was a game etc) was because there was a man walking down the footpath, and of course Kyojin had to stop and say hello to him. This was after he decided to stop in the middle of the road, mind you. There was a ute driving down the street, but luckily they could see all this going on before hand, and had slowed right down until he was off the road. So I get a hold of him. I had no leash on him though, so I had to try and hold onto his collar and lead him home. But of course pulling on his collar was hurting him, so he refused to go and plopped down, pinning his weight down as much as he could so I was really struggling to get him back up. He was thrashing about, really making it difficult for me. I managed to get him to walk with me for about 2-3 metres every 5 minutes, the rest of the time I had to try sitting and patting him to calm him down before he would move. So while all of this is going on, 3 people walk past and ignore me while I'm freaking out and trying my best to get him to move, and there were a group of about 10 people sitting out on their front lawn immediately across the street just staring the whole time. I looked at the clock when we finally got home - we were there for 40 minutes, while they just looked on. I know it's not at all their problem, but it just absolutely amazes me that they didn't offer me any help. Eventually a very elderly couple saw me and came out of their house with a leash for me to borrow. The second I popped it onto him he was happy as larry to trot him. That's all it took to get him to come home happily, it was only because trying to walk him by his collar was choking him. It absolutely scared the crap out of me. I have no idea what I would have done if they had not come out with a leash. I knew that's all I needed, but it wasn't like I could run home and get him one and trust that he would still be sitting there when I came back. I now realise just how truthful it is when people say you NEVER, EVER trust an Akita off leash. Every breeder we spoke to, every website, book etc I have read says that they will just run, and run and run. And that you can never really be sure that their recall will work. I know Kyojin's still a pup, and we're working on recall in class now, but that's exactly what it was like. He was just running for the sake of running, and definitely has no road sense. So that was definitely an ordeal I never want to have again!

Any more of an idea on who's attending this one??

For kibble we give Kyojin ProPlan Puppy Large Breed. We also add a variety of other things to his kibble, such as: raw meat, bones, tuna, natural yoghurt, garlic, chicken stock, frozen veges, grated veges, rice, pasta, egg etc.