SarahJ88

There's also Gara here in qld for future reference. Just google golden ark rescue australia. I can't imagine how hard that would be, we have had my golden Ava for 2 years end of december and could not imagine giving her up, we rent so that makes it harder but I would rather live in my car with her than given her up. Circumstances are a tough one though

Just today I walked up to the local newsagent which is next to a coffee club, there was a dog tied to a pole except the pole was cut off about 1cm off the ground and just attached to that, the dog had a bone with it so could have easily stood up and walked away, it had no water and to be honest if a child had touched the bone you dont know how the dog will react. I think maybe 10 minutes max is fine but anything over that you should have just left the dog at home.

I wouldnt want to do it less than 5 days later, could you ask the person looking after your dogs to put it on? I use advantix as well and we don't wash my dog for 2 days prior or 2 days after so try to wash her maybe a week later. Unforunately you get the greasy coat which sucks

I hope you get it sorted soon, I know the feeling as my golden retriever had regularly ear infections and then at 9 months developed ocd. Since her surgery she has been good just the occasional ear infection

I remember when I first got Ava, the breeder (who coincidentally is also my boss) was telling me at work one day about one of the puppies they bred and that it had ended up getting rat lung worm and had died. Fast forward maybe a year later and it was on sunday night. I definintely think it's not as widely known about and should be address when you go to the vet, all vet's should ask you questions like do you have a garden, risk of snails etc

*Sigh* Did she even actually have dogs? We used to know people who had 3 dogs and they never gave them bones and then wondered why they where spending a fortune at the vet for one dog whose teeth where shocking and it wasn't even 2 years old! I personally wouldnt give my dog a turkey leg however I used to give her 3 chicken necks frozen together but have now changed to turkey necks as they are larger and she gets a big bone from the butcher on those rare occasions

I got a dog hammock, it's like a nylon/water proof cover that clips onto the front seats and then the back seats. essentially creating a hamock between the front and back seat. Ava and I go to the dog park every afternoon which has red dirt so it accumulates quite alot of dirt however in sayign that stuff does fall down the sides where the mats are but compaired to what is left in the hammock it's nothing to really worry about.

This reminds me of when I went to the shops on tuesday night and saw a sign saying pet pictures taken with santa, never been the kind of person to do that but I am so willing to pay the $25 for a professional pic with santa lol. Will post when I get it done, also will be taking my sisters bc pup and getting the pic taken as a present for her

I get excited when my dog runs out to greet me when I'm coming in the driveway he does the cutest leaps for joy

I feel special.

Have to agree, when I get home and my dog comes running to the front door and can't control her wiggly bum, it's the cutest thing :)

I would suggest urban as well. We used them with Ava when she was about 11 weeks old and also used there free play groups on sundays. On the other hand my sister has a 13 week old border collie and is using another one in the redlands, I went with her on the first night and was kind of shocked at what the trainer was suggested, things like a spray of the mothers pheromones so they are less anxious, also asked if the puppies had been chewing stuff and asked the owners to give them something to chew on (kangaroo rib) and then proceeded to say that she could be paid at the end of the class, also seemed to be spruiking alot of companies - kong, the pheromone spray one (can't remember name) certain pet insurances etc. It just turned me right off but I chose not to say anything to my sister mainly because it's her choice, her dog, when asked I told her that she seemed to spruik her products a bit to much but nothing else was said.

Just read around, each one has there pro's and con's

I've only just started walking with Ava to the dog park (a 10 minute walk and then a 20 minute or so play) and I usually get her to sit when we go in and then make her wait a little and then say ok you can go. Alot of the time she tries to get away because people don't call there dogs when people are walking into the dog park which is a little annoying trying to contain a boisterous 2 year old golden but it works. The one thing I hate that though is people that don't pick up there dog's crap, almost walking into it every 5 metres isn't nice!

To be honest I'm interest to read what people think/ do at dog parks as well. Never crossed my mind that there are unruly/ dangerous dogs at the park but again why would you take your dog if it was like that? Also the recall thing, Ava isn't too bad but she responds more to the shaking of her lead as a gesture that we're leaving.

I use Advanxtix two weekly for fleas and ticks, and Inteceptor Spectrum monthly for heartworm. I wouldn't ever use the annual heartworm injection on my guys just for the sheer amount of chemicals injected at once into them.

If you think two weeks is too close together for flea/tick treatment, why would you consider 12 months worth of heartworming all at the same time?

Never really thought of that minimax but that does make sense about the one huge dose instead of 12 monthly tablets.

My only issue overall is Ava seems to have a slight reaction to getting the advantiq where as as soon as it is put on her she's fine for about 10 minutes and then rubs all over the carpet (somewhat like it is burning her, but have checked and no burns) like she doesn't like it. She has done this since a puppy and have checked her but there are no red marks, burns etc. Wonder if anyone else's dog does this?

I'm interested in what flea and tick product people use as well as the heart worm they use. Currently I use advantiq for flea and ticks every 3 weeks (I think 2 weeks is close together a dose but will be starting 2 week intervals because of coming months) and for heartworm I use sentinel spectrum. I'm tempted to possibly do the yearly injection for heartworm but have heard some disagreements towards the con side for this. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks

I've got prosure and unfortunately tried to claim for a ear infection in the first 30 days so now it is excluded completely (not happy) then when Ava was 9 months she got ocd and had to have $3,500 worth of surgery and xrrays, thankfully we got 80% of that back otherwise I would still be broke. Overall I would chose pet insurance regardless, even though you hopefully won't need it it's always good to have it just incase.

I realise a similar question has only been posted a couple of days ago but would appreciate the feedback. My golden retriever Ava had OCD when she was 9 months old, she had surgery for it and ever since we have had her on human glucosamine and fish oil, now after reading a few comments I realise this is not the best option, she is turning 2 in november and I would like suggestions on what to change her onto. I read that joint guard is a preventative and that glyde is a deterrant? Because of this I am wondering whether to go to glyde as she has already had issues, I know it is inevitable she will get arthritis but I want to postpone that as long as possible and give her the best chance to have a healthy, painfree life.

Also if joint guard is advisable just wondering how much is in a scoop so i can work out prices, whether it be 5g of a scoop etc

Any help would be appreciated. Also pricing does not have to be an issue if I can save for it each month to lower the final cost of buying something that would be expensive. Thanks again

Goldens are the same, people just assume they are fantastic with kids but like any breed they need training, the children need training even the adults need training.

Honey's only a puppy so she's still bouncy so I don't like any toddler near her and even today I noticed she jumped up at my 11 yr old so I got her to do the back turn and arm crossed trick to ignore her.

We're all working on basic manners and look so she now will look at everyone in the eyes without feeling we're threatening her. I've also been taking treats and toys from her and then as she makes no complaints she gets them back with praise. I try to think of what kids will do to a dog as kids don't think.

I think it all comes down to the childrens ages in regards to injuries to a pup or how sensitive certain breeds are and the fact new owners really need to understand it's all about training no matter what the breed is.

I have to agree, we have Ava who is 2 in october and unfortunately we don't relaly know alot of children that to be honest are nice enough that we wanted her to socialise with so unfortunately she didn't socialise with kids much at all, when we do have children over now she is outside with them inside and is extremely interested in who they are (because there her height obviously) but wish we knew children so I could have socialised her more but it might be a bit weird going to a school or something and saying "hey, I have a dog that I want to meet some kids can you help me out?" lol

One thing I get about Ava (golden retriever) is "oh she's a happy labrador" or long haired lab. Uh no.

I always get the "oh but cockers are aggressive they have that rage thing"

"no cocker rage is very very very very rare so rare that is is yet to be proven and studied properly. most cockers that become aggressive are like that because of bad breeding and very bad socialization, they are happy merry dogs that love people more then anything"

Mean while I have been holding back a hyper zorro who would love nothing more than I throw him self at their feet for belly tickles and to lick their hands.

Most people don't say much after that lol most end up say oh well he very freindly isn't he :D

Wow seriously? I have never ever heard of an agressive cocker, they are so sweet and gorgeous!

I thought you where going to say Elmo the dogue debordeaux up in ipswich, qld - The litter was around the 19 mark and that was about 2-3 years ago :)

Ava is scared of her flea treatment, she will hide in her crate when she hears the tearing of the packet (or panadol being popped out even) after she has had the flea treatment put on she will keep rolling on her back trying to get it off (I've checked before and never any rash, just the sensation)

Also she is scared of the lint roller, every morning I give her a cuddle and have to go to work and a golden retriever and black pants don't mix, so i get the lint roller and she looks spooked and runs off.

I would have to say yes, in my case Ava when we first got her as a puppy she would wimper in her sleep and make guinea pig noises. She occasionally does it now as well, very cute to watch

This sounds exactly like the national desexing network My link I was actually going to sign up for it when we got our dog desexed as they had the vet we use and tehn the next day it got removed ugh! So had to pay $350 for her to get desexed, thankfully pet insurance allows me to claim $150 of benefits a year so they reimbursed some of it.

It's actually quite interesting reading this. I purchased our golden retriever from a breeder who is actually my boss. In hinesight I probably shouldn't have done this and sometimes even consider whether she is the right breed for me, however in saying that I couldn't be more happier with her, there are some things I would change though, like the fact that she developed ocd in her right shoulder at 8 months and had to have surgery that cost $3,500. It would have been nice if the breeder had returned my payment for her due to these issues as the breeder did know I was underpaid in my job and had to pay for the surgery on a credit card (thankfully it got reimbursed and has since been paid off).

i would not trade Ava for anything but I know now what I would have done differently when buying from another breeder, I would love a british bulldog or a french bulldog however family members have questioned my choice (they believe you get one dog of a particular breed then you get another dog of the same breed - they don't have to match!) which is fine but I still would like one of those breeds even though the price of them is steep and there seems to be a big demand for them all of a sudden. Thank you to the person taht did post this though, it has helped me out with my options when we are ready to bring another member into the family and I will make sure I write a detailed letter to the breeders enquiring about as much as possible so it's not a one-liner that they just throw in the trash!

I've always been told onion was bad even when I was little but funnily enough we would give our spag bol left overs to our gsd and he would be fine. I wouldn't even consider doing anything like that with the goldie we have now - too many issues already lol. As for chocolate the subject reminded me of my cousin, she had a little block of dark chocolate in the fridge and her 7 year old took it out, had a bite and didn't like it and just chucked it on the floor. The dog ate it - maltese and ended up at the 24 hour emergency vet, put in intensive care and unfortunately didn't make it.

Mine loves carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, mango, nectarine but two things she doesn't like are strawberries and tomatoes. She'll come up all excited that I have it and I give her one, she puts it in her mouth like "what the hell is this" walks away and puts it down, then comes back expecting it to taste different and want more!