trinabean

Josie, I can't answer any of your questions, sorry. I'm sure others on DOL will have useful advice. I just wanted to tell you Frank is stunning! What a gorgeous face He looks like a lovely boy sitting calmly with the cat.

No argument here, but I have small kids and hubby is defence so at least I reserve the 3 days the youngest is in preschool to walk her. They can't keep up with the dog and myself otherwise I would drage them along. If hubby is home I walk her at night. Taking to providing entertainment for herself is the guts of the issue. I will not disagree. Best4Koda I am in a similar situation (young kids +husband who works away). I can understand the difficulty you are having with an energetic/bored dog. If my husband is not away I can walk the dog at the crack of dawn. I can do longer walks on the days that my youngest is in kindy. When he is away the walks only happen on the days that both my kids are at school and kindy. My dog is much easier to live with when he gets a daily walk. Life just doesn't always work that way though. I gather your dog is ok with chicken if you are able to give her chicken carcasses? One product that I find useful to keep my dog occupied is chicken jerky (dried chicken breast) wedged firmly into a Kong. You can shove it in so firmly that it takes ages for the dog to get it. I like it because my dog can stomach it (unlike lots of treats that contain loads of different ingredients that cause the runs in my dog!) The brand is Wanpy and it's ingredients are: chicken breast, potato starch, glycerol and salt. The deer antlers sound good and I'm going to try my dog with them. Also on a sunny day I sometimes sprinkle my dogs kibble on the lawn in the backyard. It takes him way longer than eating from a bowl, and he seems to love the 'hunt'. I agree too with others who have suggested doing some short training sessions to stimulate her mentally. Maybe part of her food for the day could be 'earned' in training? Even just 5 mins here and there, when you can? Good luck with her.

Agree. Just as children don't get to choose their parents, dogs don't get to choose their owners..

Thank you Nekhbet. I think you've just hit the nail on the head for my dog there. My dog usually gets the worst diahorrea while excited and out in public! And to the OP, one of the other things that causes the runs for my pup is rawhide. I had been giving him those compressed 'bones' made of rawhide to gnaw on but am now going to look into deer antlers.

I would have thought that the greyhound, safely contained in his yard was not at fault and that risk was entirely the cats'? Doesn't the cats' owner have any responsibility? The roaming cat could just have easily been hit by a car or be causing untold damage to wildlife.

Lol! I believe that's an instinctive trait that's not breed-specific. It's a particular trait you'll find in some humans too. A built-in tendency to be a S#!tstirrer.

:rofl: Yep, my wrinkly dog has a black pigmented mouth. He loves raw meat. I'm in serious danger too.

Maybe I'm missing something here. Perhaps Mr Mead could have leashed his dog or shut the gate if he was so concerned about a canine" stand-off" ? He apparently knew what his dog's likely reaction was going to be but didn't make the effort to control/ contain his dog? Something doesn't sit right about this story for me. Him warning police not to get their dog out of the car sounds more likely to have been a threat to me. Maybe I'm just a cynic with a suspicious mind though...

I agree with Persephone. Different breeds were bred to do different things. Many things can be taught but there are instinctive breed traits. Some breeds have more of an in-built inclination to 'retrieve' eg. Labradors. Others have a strong prey drive and probably enjoy the 'chase' of a moving object more (but won't necessarily bring it back to you unless trained!) This is the case with my dog. ;) It would be good to know the breeds of your dogs. It could give some clues as to their play styles?

I hope the vet visit goes well and that it's nothing major.

My boxer hates it too.

+1 And love the pic of Mindy in a red beret!

Well put Pudel.

Agree.

I read a quote once which I quite like. Can't find it anywhere via Google so can't name its' author. Something along the lines of "Dogs and kids do best under a benevolent dictatorship." ;)

I own a dog with ongoing runny poo problems. It would be good to work out what is causing it. In the meantime take extra poo bags and a few sheets of paper towel when you walk him. You can double bag your hand like a glove and use the paper towel to scrape up the poo as much as possible. I always clean up after my dog. It's a pet hate of mine when people don't (though I understand your predicament with runny ones!) I really don't understand when I see a perfectly "normal" poo (that I WISH my dog would do) that would have been so easy to clean up!

ACD x BC? Love his smile.

Mason 2009 I'd love to know which vet you use? I'm in Perth. Apologies Tollersowned, not wanting to hijack your thread!

Ooh, an interesting thought. However, some of the most controlling people I know don't like dogs/animals at all! I love most animals but have a soft spot for dogs.

Agree. I have two active boys and a 6 month old boxer puppy. It is like having a third child! I need to get up at the crack of dawn to walk and do a little training with my dog. Some days I fit in some more short training sessions and some days I just don't manage it. I can dedicate more time to walks etc. on weekends but I'm still juggling everyone's needs. Attending puppy school and an obedience course was really important to me too. I did, and it was worthwhile but the logistics weren't always easy ( I needed my OH to look after the kids and he was working interstate some of the time). I love my dog but I think I would have been better off waiting one more year. That said, CKCS are lovely dogs. Their exercise requirements may not be as high as a boxer either...;)

What a stunning boy.

Oh what a horrible situation for you to be in. I really feel for you. We had some awful/ scary neighbours a few years ago. I was afraid to go in my backyard with my toddler at times because of one drug-affected abusive person who lived there. One thing that helped us was creating a higher fence-line. We didn't touch the actual fence as we would have needed their consent. We concreted posts into the ground and attached timber privacy screens to the top just inside our side of the fence. Our fence went from being 1.7m high to being 2.3m high. As you have already created an inner fence maybe you could add some height to help deter your neighbours from being able to lean/see over? They sound like the sort of idiots who enjoy seeing the effect they are having. That doesn't stop them banging on the fence though.... I was lucky, our awful neighbours moved. The privacy fence stayed (nice plants growing against it). Good luck...

Agree. It would be great if this situation could be prevented from happening in the first place. My Googling didn't turn up any more info about the RSPCA removing dogs from this woman. Not saying that it didn't happen but I can't find anything to support that it did. It's possible that it's part of legal proceedings and not released to the media I guess? Only relevant info involving RSPCA was a few news articles where they were warning people to be aware that unscrupulous "breeders" (read BYB's) were selling sick pups. One dated back to 2009. No mention of Fay Armstrong's name until now though.

This may have already happened. According to a thread titled "Puppy parvo" a couple of months ago (will try to post links later when I get enough time). The OP was told that the RSPCA had removed up to 30 dogs from her, in poor health and kept in terrible conditions (ie. crated in their own filth). I'm off to Google some newspapers to see if I can find out a bit more....

Basic consumer law says they cant sell sick animals - if they do they can be fined and consequences can apply via consumer law . What good does a precedent do us which says if you muck it up you will have to sign an agree with the court ? So everyone gets to muck it up and because there is now a precedent you get out of jail free and have to sign a piece of paper ! A better precedent is to do what they can do make em pay money. I agree Alkhe that it's a step in the right direction. I also get what you're saying Steve, however basic consumer law has done nothing to stop this woman previously. She has been knowingly selling sick pups from her parvo-infested property for years. People have been assured that their vaccination paperwork is in the mail (strangely it never arrives). I agree with you that more needs to be done to stop people like this woman and yes, hitting their hip pocket is a good idea. Heaven knows, she has made a good profit from her poor dogs over the years (without the pesky expenses of vet fees or good food that real breeders spend so many $$ on!) A friend of a friend bought a puppy through the newspaper from this woman. Within days it was at deaths door, struck down with Parvo. A lot of money and veterinary treatment helped save their puppy but it's probably more heartache than they expected. Yes Joe K, they weren't well informed of the risks of buying from someone who wasn't a registered breeder. Unfortunately a lot of people still think that buying a pedigree dog is more for people who want to show their dog. Rightly or wrongly, they think a 'pet' quality dog is fine bought from an ad in the paper, from someone whose 'pet has had puppies.' I guess it's up to well-informed people like DOL members to share our knowledge.