SpotTheDog

Bumping this thread for massive update: On Sunday morning, Gus got into the car of his own free will. I could barely believe it - he didn't want to walk towards the car, so I didn't make him. We went around somewhat, then up to the back of the car, I opened the rear passenger door... Normally at this point Gus starts to back up furiously - his collar is tight on him because he tries to wriggle and fight the lead. Then he drops his haunches and tries to skip away from me. Usually I have to pick him up and lift him into the car. I was dreading that on Sunday - we had a puppy playdate last Thursday and the dogs ran into me and I twisted my knee. I had it wrapped all day Friday and Saturday and while it was better I wasn't looking forward to trying to pick the dog up in case I hurt it again. He just looked up into my face, and hopped up onto the back seat of the car. I swear I barrelled in there after him and we had a mad praise-athon in the back seat, me wooling him and making high pitched excited noises and he licking me to death. One breakthrough does not a solution make, I know, but still. STILL.

What does the other owner do to stop his dog humping? I own a humper (deep joy) and I'll verbally correct him whenever he starts humping, and take him by the collar to pull him away if he ignores me. If I wasn't close enough I wouldn't mind you doing the same thing (assuming you didn't use unnecessary force to my dog just because you were pissed off.)

Ah, I wouldn't like to bet that they don't feel it. However such procedures on tiny newborns are always faster because everything is small and soft and heals extremely quickly. The body is in absolute overdrive at that point - so bleeding stops in seconds, or hardly starts in some cases, wounds close extremely quickly and complications are very few. I believe they most certainly DO feel it, but their awareness is less at that age - their interaction with the world is all instinctual, so they do not feel stress or anxiety over such a procedure the way a more aware older pup, or dog, would. Their mobility is also restricted at that age, meaning there is less chance of disturbing the healing wound. There is still a chance of infection and all hygiene precautions should be taken. However I'd say the experience for a tiny pup would be sharp pain, squeal, pain dissipates, get on with feeding and being washed by mum, all forgotten very quickly. What is comes back to then is whether or not it's necessary to cause them that sharp pain at all - and it would be my personal opinion that dew claws are worth taking off, and tails are not. My lad has cracked and split one of his dew claws already and he was only six months old when he did it. The claw broke and hung by thread of nail. He wouldn't let me near it and licked it for about a day because obviously the hanging piece was pulling and causing him discomfort. I waited until he was asleep on the floor that evening and whipped it off quick as with a nail scissors - problem solved. However it would be tragic if he didn't have his helicopter tail to tell everybody how happy he is all the time - and he's highly unlikely to ever be in a position where that gets caught or damaged because of being left intact.

Ah, the dog in the car, what joy... My progress with Gus is slow, but it is still progress. When Gus was surrendered to the shelter where I adopted him, they told me he had been left in the boot of a car, with his brother, for long enough that he was covered in his own faeces and urine in said boot. The people surrendering him arrived driving the car, with the pups in the boot, filthy and severely underweight. Unsurprisingly, Gus has detested the car ever since. When we were taking him home, the OH drove while the pup sat in my lap in the back seat and washed my hands and arms for the duration of the drive. It worsened over a short time - over the space of about six weeks, Gus got worse and worse in the car until he couldn't be driven for more than 10 minutes or he'd lose control of either his breakfast or his bowels. Every trip in the car involved cleaning puke and/or crap off the dog, or off the car - and often off both. We've done lots of work on it, and have lots more to do. Getting in and out of the car without going anywhere, treats and food in the car, short trips, bringing the cats into the car (they're curious and relaxed) and seeing if that settles him - but the best thing was definitely driving the car into our yard, shutting the gate, opening the doors and boot hatch of the car, and just leaving it out there on a warm day, all doors and windows open and letting the dog have precisely as much to do with it as he wanted. At the end of that day, after ignoring him for a couple of hours out there, I went out and went straight to the car and sat in the back seat. Miraculously, Gus - who is excited to see me after a couple of hours on his own - voluntarily put one of his paws up on the passenger footwell while saying hello. I can't describe to you just how enormous that is as progress. Normally he won't get any closer than 10 feet from it before he'll sit down and refuse to move. My next step with him will be to try a harness - up to now it's been a seatbelt clip attached to his collar, and occasionally just a short lead looped around the door handle and then clipped onto his collar - enough room for him to sit up or lie down, not enough for him to get into the front seats or throttle himself moving about.

Gus, I love you, but for the love of JESUS would you LEAVE the frigging CATS ALONE...

Oh so happy... /happydance Gus and I have been pounding the pavements around the block for any walks we take so far. He has been phobic of the car - guaranteed to lose either his breakfast or his bowels in the car whenever driven anywhere. The drive to and from puppy class for the last few weeks has been punctuated with either sudden pull-overs to the roadside, or much swearing when I don't quite make it. The number of times I've had to take my dog out of the car and wash his own crap off him - let's put it this way, I travel with bottles of water and rolls of kitchen towel and can clean a dog up in record time. (Thank my stars for his extremely short coat.) I *detest* walking around the block with the dog - other people's dogs charging the fence lines and barking furiously, other people walking their dogs get skittish when they see us - Gus isn't about to win a beauty contest, bless him, but I think he's adorable. Other people may not agree. He's EXTREMELY dog-friendly - but that level of interest intimidates some other walkers. Plus walking along the road, avoiding cars, breathing in traffic fumes etc - not my idea of a 'nice' walk. Just finished a week of car-de-phobing with Gus, including driving the car into the back yard and leaving it there for the day with all the doors and the boot hatch open, so he could investigate it, both accompanied and unaccompanied. The best he's done so far is voluntarily put one paw into the footwell of the back seats, but that's as far as he'll go of his own accord. He still has to be lifted into the car - but him approaching it at all is serious progress. The work we did with the car during the week has paid off today. While he's still not happy about getting into the car, he doesn't stress so much while he's in it. No puking and no crapping last trip or this trip and this trip the incessant nervous drooling and licking were absent!! This meant that on the way back from puppy class I was able to take a detour to investigate a walk I'd been told about - which is up Monument Hill in Kilmore. Quiet dirt road, plenty of bush surrounding, with bush noises, the road is a gentle incline, there's a large 'lake' beside the golf course, and lots of things to sniff - I'm so happy. (So was Gus.) Next stop, the saddlery for a lunge rein so he can have a long lead on his walks. Will keep an eye out for snakes, and I'm not about to head up there on a fire danger day, but basically I'm stoked! And here's hoping a regular short drive to this walking destination will help even more with the car.

+1 for Snooza D1000 - Gus eats his bed recreationally. Hasn't managed to impact the Snooza.

I know where you're coming from, but until Australia seriousy gets its act together in terms of neutering and control of cats, euthanising a feral colony buys you about six months before another feral colony moves into your attractive cat-habitat. If the OP's own barn cats aren't enough to ward off visiting ferals, then euthanising what's on her property just opens the way for more cats to move onto her property. Arguably, having her property support a small colony of non-breeding ferals prevents intact ferals moving in and successfully breeding because the habitat supports them for long enough to have litters - or worse again the habitat has enough food and water to allow them to have larger litters (e.g. four kittens instead of two). So her choices are: Do nothing, and harbour feralpalooza Euthanise the ferals... and euthanise the ferals again in six months (which may be a problem after a while if the OP is a cat-lover) TNR the adults and rehome the kittens, hopefully establishing a small colony of neutered ferals and that's it for her property for two to three years (the average lifespan of a feral cat with someone looking out for it). But yes, in a perfect world, I agree that there would be no roaming cats impacting on Australian wildlife.

Cats & dogs - I wouldn't trust my 6mth bull arab puppy around a feral cat if you offered me a million dollars, and he LIVES with SIX CATS. Even though my dog has been raised since 12 weeks with these cats, he has a REALLY strong insinct to chase when outside. I no longer allow him off-lead access to the yard when the cats are out there, and haven't for a few months. However, even recently I was throwing the ball for the dog in the yard and one of the cats, who was on the inside windowledge of an open window, raced for the thrown ball. The dog took off after the cat, who didn't see him coming, and rolled the cat in the grass. The cat was unhurt (and came up fighting!) but the dog is over 20kgs now so we were all just lucky really. I'm not sure if my dog would try to kill a cat, but if you give him an old towel in the garden he shakes and wools it furiously. It isn't a massive stretch for me to, therefore, put that chasing behaviour, and that wooling behaviour, together if my dog were given the chance at an unfamiliar animal in his yard. ESPECIALLY if it ran, instead of standing its ground. The upshot: what can I do about it? I segregate my animals outdoors and correct the pup every time he chases, but I can't legislate for a feral wandering into my yard. I had my cats first and then brought in this dog, who appears to be growing up, shall we say, 'cat mischevious' (if not quite cat aggressive!) There are plenty of cat-focused people who would say I'm an irresponsible cat owner and SHOULD rehome the dog. However, I believe that all I can do is recognise the ongoing situation, appreciate the potential for it to escalate, and manage it every day as a part of daily life. On that basis, if I were the OP, the first thing I'd address is the feral cat problem. I would do a trap, neuter, release on the property. Don't wait for the cat welfare agencies - sadly they're overwhlemed. Buy a couple of cat traps (you can always sell them on, there are always people looking for cat traps) and set up a temporary cage on your property. Trap them until you have them all. Neuter the adults and re-release onto your property, where they will keep vermin down if you have a vermin problem. They will also occupy the territory and hopefully prevent further ferals coming in. The kittens, surrender to a cat agency - they're still viable as family pets if caught young, they can be tamed and rehomed. Learn the cats on your property, and if you see strange cats, time to get the traps out again. Until you have the feral cat problem under control, I would say there's no point bringing in another dog because you just can't guarantee, even if you select a breed that isn't supposed to chase small animals, that it WON'T chase them.

why not just take him out every few hrs? Mine can be inside for hrs and sound asleep when I suddenly decide it is time for them to go out and perform I do. :D In the morning, Gus goes out first thing, straight out of the house and outside to toilet. He always wees. If I wait a bit longer, he'll poo too. Then back inside the house. After breakfast, same deal, out we go, and there'll be wees and poos. Evening time, if I've been at work Gus has been in his run. I'll take him out of his run and use the 'toilet' command before letting him into the house. Then I usually take him out every hour or so. Hence the problems are intermittent. Say it's a weekend morning and I've had him up, out for wees and poos, he's had breakfast, had another wee, we stand in the yard for 15 minutes and no poos, so inside we come... ...and anywhere from 20 minutes later to three hours later, with little or no warning, and with or without trips outside in between, he'll vanish out of my sight for a minute and then reappear looking pleased, and a minute or two later I'll get this waft... That's what I'm saying, in spite of sucessful toilet breaks over days - even weeks - it appears that if Gus REALLY gets the urge to go while he's indoors, he's going and he isn't going to ask me about it first.

Gus does something similar at a little over six months. He won't soil overnight where he sleeps. If he's outside in the garage at night, with access to his run, he doesn't soil in the garage, he goes out to his run. He does appear to understand 'inside' and 'outside' - and if he's in the bathroom on tiles with the babygate shut, he knows how to kick up a fuss to be allowed out of the area where he sleeps because he needs the toiler. However when he's at large in the house, he doesn't seem to know how to indicate to me that he wants to be allowed out to pee or poo. It's just as frustrating because the soiling is so intermittent, and he does so well for weeks on end at a time - then the other morning he did a runny crap on my study carpet and it took me an HOUR to clean it up, including washing and rewashing the carpet with my Vax. I swear to god the smell of dog crap was in my nose all day. :D I do 'toilet' activities with Gus every day - his command is simply 'toilet', and I treat or praise (he's not hugely food-driven but is strongly praise-driven) or both. We do that every day, but our stumbling block does seem to be how he shows me that he needs to be out.

I sympathise. I'm allergic to my pets and suffer from asthma, and I persist. However be very careful - asthma is a different kettle of fish to just hayfever-type allergies. Yes you can medicate for allergies, but over the longer term your own body should do some adjusting so the reaction becomes less severe. You may still react to a strange dog or cat, but you'll acclimatise ssomewhat to your own. The major 'but' is that you absolutely need to keep your asthma under control - if you need a stronger preventative inhaler talk to your GP. You shouldn't be using your curative inhaler more than two or three times a week. If you need it a couple of times a day just to function your asthma is out of control. Asthma that remains poorly controlled over a long period of time will do permanent damage to your respiratory system in a condition called 'airway remodeling'. I was pretty lax about my asthma, and had accepted the idea that during some months my reactions will be worse than others. When I found out about airway remodeling it scared the bejesus out of me. My allergies are quite well controlled around my pets, through a combination of cleaning, no pets in the bedroom, nasal sprays, acupuncture (worked for me), and a routine of washing face and hands after stroking the pets, wrestling with them and so on. However now I make very sure to take my preventative asthma medication properly and consult my GP if I find myself hanging out of my blue inhaler regularly. I get one HELL of a lecture from my doctor about having the pets mind, but it's better in my mind to wear the lecture and get the right treatment.

Gus, aged around six months, taken this afternoon. This is the first picture of Gus where none of his ringworm scars remain, none of his bones are sticking out through his skin, and he finally looks like a happy, healthy young dog as opposed to a rescue case. :D ETA: we win the 'most ridiculous ears' competition.

Gus is relatively well behaved, which can mean he appears well trained. You know the adage, never chastise a dog for not responding to a command unless you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that he KNOWS the command, and is just not obeying out of wilfulness? Well being only six months old, I can't tell if his occasional refusal to sit or lie down is because he doesn't know the commands, or just doesn't feel like it beause he's in his selective deafness period... >__< Confusing...

On the way home on a walk, Gus starts pulling like a train on his leash in the last 100 metres or so. It's been annoying me - and we live on a VERY quiet cul de sac - so one day I dropped the lead. He immediately picked it up and trotted home with it in his mouth, and he does this real high-stepping gait when he does it, looks hilarious. Plus I can't walk him past a wall or he carries on hysterically until I let him get UP on the wall so he can walk along it while I walk along the ground.

Gus is the first dog I've had since I was a kid, but I never got the chance to be paranoid about him. When I brought him home, he was underweight with chronic ringworm and was crawling with fleas, so he'd had it about as bad as he was going to get it. However saying that, I had him on his mat in my living room on Saturday night and he was gnawing away on his Everlasting Treat Ball (the treat to occupy them while you're out, except my boy has to have his while he's supervised.) Well he must have cut a tooth on the hard rusk in the ball (which is what it's for in a way.) I was on the phone and while he was beside me, I wasn't looking at him. Finish phonecall. Look down. Zombie dog. Blood all over his muzzle and his lips, blood down his chest, blood on his front legs - I shot up out of the seat like a rocket and let out a scream. Because of the amount of slobber he'd worked onto the treat ball, it had diluted the tablespoon or so of blood that had come out of his gums. Couple that with a mostly white dog on a red rug on a cream carpet and I thought I was off to animal A&E at Essendon, prepared for the hour's drive... Then realised there wasn't a bother on him. I washed him off with a wrung out cloth and he was just dandy. Took years off me though.

http://roochoos.com.au/products.html Pet treats Mixed Dog Treats Pack The mixed treat pack contains a selection of our products designed to allow your pet to taste and try the different varieties of our product. Standard pack consists of 2 leg bones, 2 upper leg bones, 2 ribs, 100gr jerky, 2 flaps and 2 whole tails. Variations available – just email or phone and discuss your dogs needs. The mixed pack is an excellent way to give variety to your pets instead of just the same old every day fare. I <3 this forum.

Gus hates peanut butter. Even for puppy training classes, everyone else was hopping around bribing their dogs with a tub of peanut butter and I was sat there with a jar of kraft cheese spread - the stuff I won't even eat myself because I find plastic non-expiring dairy products kind of frightening... About the only thing that keeps his attention for even a few minutes is raw mince - beef or lamb - packed into a large kong. He's even hit and miss with a bone - some days I can give him a meaty lamb bone and he'll look at me like 'wtf do you expect me to do with this?' Might try rawhide bones or shark cartilege. Wish suppliers would make up an 'experimental treat pack' for people like me! I'd happily order a mix-n-match pack with like, one rawhide bone, couple of pigs ears, a roo tail, a pig's trotter, shark cartilege, so on so forth so I could see which one the dog got good mileage out of and then order that item in bulk.

Searching for rawhide bones I've just discovered 'everlocking' treats - basically the same as an everlasting treat but with a mechanism to make them lock into the ball. About $17. Am I kidding? Is this good money after bad?

Um, honestly, and it's just my opinion, but anyone who comes into your house and criticises how it smells needs a kick in the arse. I have my cats and I won't burn oils, or scented candles, or use air fresheners in this house - cats' systems aren't good at eliminating toxins and pollutants, like humans, and even dogs, are. Burning essential oils and using strongly scented air fresheners in small spaces can cause health problems in cats so I just don't do it. If I want the place to smell good, I cook - master stock on the boil for instance, or ground coffee and fresh bread. Otherwise I open the windows to air the place, keep the litter trays clean, and wash the dog's bed (canvas trampoline bed) once a week, and put a fresh towel on his bed every three or four days. Anyone who came into my house and said 'ooo this place smells of [whatever]' wouldn't be getting an invitation back.

Gus likes to chew stuff. He likes to chew stuff a lot. I took delivery of an order today, for a second kong, a bag of 20 pigs ears and an everlasting treat ball plus everlasting treat rusks. These aren't cheap items. The ball, which comes with one rusk, plus a packet of two additional rusks, was near enough to fifty bucks. It started well - Gus took to the everlasting treat ball, with rusk intact, like a dog to a chewy thing. Sat out in the grass very happily gnawing. I watched him on and off for the first half an hour, then left him to it. An hour after I gave him the ball, I went out to see how he was doing and he had turned his attention to chewing somthing else. I retrieved the everlasting ball to see what was up with it, and there was no rusk to be seen. I don't know if he's eaten it or lost it in the grass. I put a second rusk into the ball this evening here in the living room and have been watching him go at it. Yes, it occupies him. Problem is he opens his jaws like a boa constrictor and tries to fit the whole ball in there. He's popped the treat out of it three times and managed to make himself bleed (dribbling blood on my carpet) which is probably (hopefully) just a teething bleed (he's not bothered by it) and I can't see any further problems and there's nothing sharp on this chew toy. The second time he popped the rusk out I realised it's probably a pretty high choking risk for him if he manages to pop it out. He chews at the rusk but I'm worried he'll just give it a few chews and then try to swallow. No more unattending chewing with this toy by the looks of it - that's a sodding expensive TREAT BALL LESSON. I bought the large ball and rusks for dogs over 40lbs - Gus weighed in at 20.1kgs on his six month birthday on 1st November. Any alternative suggestions for me? Gus has been raw fed including lots of RMBs to date, so his jaws are in tip-top gnawing condition.

This is totally fascinating - before this thread I'd never heard of an Azawakh, and to be completely honest (and pardon if this comes across as ignorant), if I'd seen a dog like that in the street or in a yard I would have feared for its care given how pronounced its ribs and hips are!!

I would say acquire both at the same time, but go for different ages. That might be difficult logistically, but to me the best option is an older kitten that is used to dogs and has been raised in a household with dogs. I believe a puppy is far more likely to befriend young animals when young, but when older will be too full-on for a small kitten of 10 weeks. However, a five to six month old, well-socialised kitten, raised with dogs, introduced to a retriever pup of around 10 weeks - that should be an excellent combination, plus they will be more of a size for a few weeks during their introductions than a 10 week retriever pup and a 10 week kitten. Of course it all depends on the individual personalities of the animals involved, but an older cat will often never come to befriend a dog in their household and may simply tolerate him, warning him away with a hiss and a smack when he gets too close. Of my cats, only one has any chance of befriending the dog - and in her case, his origins meant she never got the chance to really befriend him until he was too big and boisterous to conduct himself with the decorum that any cat requires in order to make physical contact with a dog. (He was in the house a month but had to be kept at a distance due to ringworm.) Three months in, she will sit on the couch and let him stick his nose in her fur, but at six months of age he's too rowdy for her. He gets his nose in there, then he nudges her and she gets peed off and takes off away from him. Plus he's a brat and tries to bounce the cats into playing with him. Most of them will let him get right up to them now, mere inches away, but will still slap him if he tries to make contact. Then again they were here first, and haven't lived with cat-friendly dogs in years - ever, in some cases.

I have Trueloc floors which are composite hardwood floors that you can sand back, plus carpet in the lounge. The carpet is in rag order - full of stains and marks, but much of that is from us eating our dinner on the couch like slobs. However have just purchased a carpet washer - bought a vax as oposed to one with rotating brushes, because our carpet isn't great quality and the rotating brush cleaners are tough on carpet pile - good on a good quality carpet, not so good on a cheap-ass carpet like mine. The laminate boards are good with the animals, but they do scratch. However it's not that obvious - it isn't gouges, it's more indentations in the enamel finish on the boards at key 'skidding points' in the house - corners and such like. With the laminate floors - the better ones that can be sanded back like Trueloc floors - the darker colours are harder timbers and will stand up to pets better.

I put a small towel in the bottom of the shower, and put gus on the towel - stops him sliding. Then wet him down with the shower spray. Makes him a bit nervous, but he loves the warm water. Has very, very short hair, so it's not hard. Quick shampoo with a mild dog shampoo, then warm rinse down. Then out of the shower to be dried off with a towel, and that towel and the one from the shower tray go into the washing machine. Only ever wash him if he needs washing after managing to roll in poo or somesuch delightful thing - his coat is so short it's really low maintenance. Edit to add, I have a shower with a detachable hose head, which makes it a lot easier.