Alkhe

I love reading these stories! Mine wasn't exactly love at first sight - I was fostering a greyhound when I went to meet my Maggie at the breeder's house. I had started fostering to check whether I was ready for the committment of a dog, as I had left my old dog behind with my mum when I moved out of home, and hadn't had one ever since. I knew that my fostering time was coming to and end, so had started looking seriously at DOL listings and rescues, still not 100% sure I was doing the right thing. I purposefully didn't take any money with me to the breeder that day, knowing that if I did, there was no chance I'd leave without having put a deposit down. Unbeknownst to me, my boyfriend did take money. Thankfully, in hindsight - because 3 other people/families were going to look at her that weekend, and I'm sure they would all have fallen completely in love and put deposits down too Maggie had had a litter 10 weeks before (We met one of her puppies ) so had to be spayed etc, and I picked her up 2 weeks after having met her. I still wasn't sure whether I'd made the right decision - I was so so excited about bringing her home, but just.. wasn't 100%. When we went back to pick her up though, all of that changed. As soon as I got her into the car, I was hit with this enormous wave of responsibility and love. I am so, so SO glad my boyfriend had money that day, because I wouldn't have my little girl otherwise. :D

Most pet owners, yep, but the other 44% of the population, maybe not. I have to add also that it's probably more common than one would think that chips are missed in pounds. A ranger actually scanned my dog in the park the other day - he was out checking that peoples' dogs were registered with the council - and it took AGES to find hte chip. She's a toy poodle, too, so it's not like there was much ground to cover in searching for it. That did make me a bit paranoid.. he clearly didn't believe my dog actually was microchipped, and after a while I started questioning it myself! (Completely ridiculous, I know).

Government employees are people too! It's easy to forget that council workers are just people doing a job, and it's up to them to enforce the law and cop the brunt of it for not enforcing it correctly. Which amounts to not doing their job properly. I agree with you though - good news stories are always nice! So often the only things that seem worth talking about are negative, it's important to recognise good things where they happen

[ignore me - posted about being worried about my dog getting killed on the road before hanging herself. Then realised the logic gap between .. yeah, never mind. Ignore me!]

I know! I remember so many of my friends growing up had labs as family pets, and none of them were real dog people who did formal training or anything. Actually, thinking back, I have no idea how any of my family's dogs ever ended up being such pleasant dogs, because none of us ever had any idea about training, none of the dogs ever attended obedience or anything else - it's just strange, looking back. I'm always so concerned about this, and I wonder how we all got to where we did just by fluke.

I would urge you to consider an older dog - I got my dog at 3 years from a breeder. She had had puppies and they didn't want to breed from her anymore, so were looking for a pet home for her. It worked out perfectly for me, as she came already toilet trained, was out of her nippy/mouthing stage, and was a calm and settled girl. She had been brought up with kids too, and is totally bombproof around them. She didn't have much (if any) obedience, so I took her to obedience school and had no trouble at all. I know that training an older dog is supposedly harder than training a puppy, but for us it wasn't hard at all. I've never had problems training older dogs. I've had her since March and it's really been a dream- I keep in contact with her breeder too, so it's almost like I got her as a puppy, except I skipped all the hard parts! NB: She's not a lab, but the same principles apply to all breeds, IMO. Older puppies or dogs, not necessarily OLD as such, are often much much easier.

I wouldn't have thought so - you tend to insure for an ongoing period, so while you may only pay the first year up front, I'm sure they operate on the basis that you will renew. As long as you don't attempt to insure a dog that you know has been diagnosed as having HD, and claim that it doesn't have a pre-exising condition, you should be fine. That's just what I have always thought, but worth giving a call just to make sure, and make a record of whatever they say, who you speak to and their manager etc. Just to create a non-paper based "paper trail". A verbal.. trail?

Oh my good lord, what a beautiful puppy!! I'm so sorry to hear of the loss of Gypsy, but so happy for you that you've found a perfect new little pup!

Audrey fits her name so perfectly! Or the other way round. Gorgeous gorgeous pointers

I'm not quite sure how to approach this either. These seem like the kind of questions that everyone will respond in the same way to - who is going to admit to agreeing with the practices of people who clearly don't have the best interests of their breed at heart? I think to really dissect the question and get to the nitty gritty here, the real questions are along the lines of what does putting the best interest of the breed first actually mean? Where is the line between putting the whole breed first, and an individual dog first? What if putting the best interest of the breed first means churning through dogs? Those are the kinds of questions that really draw people out, in terms of their ethics and attitudes around breeding. The same goes for compliance or not with codes of ethics and practice. I personally think that they're the bare bones, and that compliance with them doesn't an ethical breeder make.

I've only got one too. I'm planning on fostering when I move out with my boyfriend early next year as I'm currently in a sharehouse and it's not ideal for that kind of thing. So soon we'll be a solo+ household, with a little bit of temporary dog at some times.

There's something kinda wrong about schoolgirl outfits for dogs..

When working on the weekend, my mum takes the dogs to hang out. Gretel, Mimi, Rudy, and Maggie down the front. Maggie is mine, and Mimi is my heart dog, who lives with mum.

I think the toilet accompanying thing is probably far more common than any of us think, but people don't tend to mention it in real life conversation.

Oh god, yes Maggie does this too! But she's so small that she always gets tangled up in the straps and trips herself up. It's hilarious!!

Maggie stores things in my washing basket. I always give her something when I leave for work in the morning (eg greenie, dentabone, pig's ear) and sometimes when I get home, she'll RUSH into my room and dig it out. As if NOOOOOOOO I HAVEN'T FINISHED YET YOU CAN'T TAKE IT YET. I've also found things in there that she's fished out of the bin. Last week it was an old piece of toast. :D She's also a notorious sock stealer; my housemates have to keep their doors closed at all times because she'll fish them out from wherever they are.

I'd also consider getting an older dog - breeders often have young but not puppy dogs for sale (see the 'mature' listing on www.dogzonline.com.au). I got my girl at 3.5 years old which was great as she was toilet trained and I didn't have to worry about puppy training, adolescence and various other aspects of puppyhood that I kind of.. wasn't up for at this stage in my life :D I'd also second the retired greyhound advice. They're beautiful dogs, don't need lots of exercise (despite what many people think), don't shed excessively or require grooming other than the odd brush here and there. They're really gentle, clean and loving creatures.

Ah sorry, I think I phrased that wrong. I mean, for those people who have a "purebred shih tzu/bichon", how do they differentiate their purebred one from a crossbred shih tzu/bichon? I've heard about 'second generation' labradoodles etc, and am just wondering whether it's something like that. People will consider their cross to be a "purebred" if its mother was (for example) a purebred bichon frise, and father a purebred shih tzu. But if the parents were also crosses, then it would be a crossbred. Or, vice versa. I dunno - just trying to work out people's rationale for thinking like that (beyond just not knowing).

I'm just curious as to what a crossbred "purebred" whatever x whatever is.

Great tag! My Maggie has one from etsy also, and I love it so much I ordered some for my mum's 3 dogs too. It's from DawgTown .

Sounds kinda like my boyfriend (minus the work boots), walking my little poodle. He's swayed all his friends to the virtues of the might toy poodle now I've had all sorts of assumptions around this my whole life, mainly from the music I started listening to as a teen. Everyone assumed my boyfriend or mysterious, non-existent older brother, got me into it. Not so! I find people are usually surprised when I tell them I have a toy poodle, since it doesn't seem to fit with.. the rest of me..

Maybe she learnt from the dogs on Send in the Dogs last night, and was trying out her extended stays for you! I watched too - very impressed with those dogs ignoring the bacon in front of their noses!

etsy is a goldmine of amazing collars and paraphernalia. That's a warning as much as a suggestion .

I have never used a boarding kennel myself (unless mum's house counts ;)) so can't give you any suggestions from personal experience. I just found this place, though: Dogs Bed and Breakfast which is an 'alternative' to boarding kennels. They match your pet with a family and your pet goes to stay with them. I haven't looked in great detail, but that might be something worth considering? There's also a woman at my work who does housesitting, whose ads I often see on our internal noticeboard. I'm 99% sure she's currently housesitting my friend's house and looking after her cats and chickens, and this woman does highlight that she loves dogs and other pets. This is her website if you're interested - Erin K Housesitting. I know these aren't exactly what you are looking for, but you never know, they might be helpful. Good luck!

Totally agree. I love going to the park near my house, it's often the highlight of my day. I'm actually excited to get up and see our little friends, and rush home from work to take my girl there again. She has come such a long way in terms of socialisation and confidence thanks to this place.