Aztec Gold

It's more the fact that a lot of pet shops have such a small cage with heaps of birds in it, so over-crowded that they can't even stretch their wings. It would be fine if they had size appropriate cages and didn't keep any more than 3 or 4 birds to each cage, and if they actually had fresh food in there too, and some toys or leaves and branches. Not just a small cage, 15 budgies, seed, water and one perch.

I always feel sorry for the birds... The kittens and puppies get bought so quickly, the fish are fine in their lovely tanks, rats and mice all happily kept in their cages, but the poor birds are 9 times out of 10 kept in tiny cages, with no toys and no fruit or vegies, no leaves or natural branches, and its just so horrible to see. Usually they are missing feathers or have their wings cut horribly, or have visible signs of lice, or chew their feathers out of stress. I've also seen a pet shop with rainbow lorikeets in a small cage, with only seed offered for food, when (for those who don't know) they were not designed to eat seed!!! They need nectar, fruits and vegies!! Crazy and so so sad

In Burnie, but was in the Devonport Pets Domain today We also went to the warehouse traders in Spreyton, mainly to see Basil the cockatoo LOL he's so cute!!

Unfortunately there's no pet shops in north west tassie that don't sell animals I might look at getting stuff online. Any good recommendations on cat and dog food online sellers?

Went into a pet shop today to get a lorikeet delight bar for the rainbow, and they had a black lab puppy ($695) and two yellow lab x goldens ($350) and they were soo cute!! There was a little boy who was talking his mum into getting one and a group of teenagers buying one too, so by the time we left there was only the one pup left! We were in the same shop all of 5 days ago and they had 6 maltese x shih tzus (spell?) For $650 each so they must have sold too. It's crazy, especially in a small town in tassie!! I can't wait until we get our puppy! We got our kitten from a pet shop before we knew about the whole byb thing, so we definitely won't make that mistake again (she is a gorgeous cat though!!), but in saying that I can see why people buy on impulse, they were very cute!!

Isn't a Rottweiler the same size roughly as a Golden? LOL these made me laugh: The last one is kinda crazy!!

Aww that's terrible Poor little pups. I hope they find good homes!!

Yaye! I have replies in my email!! Hopefully if all goes well we might be able to get a pup mid August We're so excited! Thank you everyone for all of your help! I really do appreciate it

Leema, I thought about this too, but prefer to e-mail as I tend to forget things very easily, whereas emailing has everything written down and is easily kept. However I don't mind phoning if I need to, we'll see how this email goes first

Thanks everyone sooooo much, I really do appreciate it! I just figured out that it may infact be my fault, as I have been sending the emails from my phone, and I just tested it to my partners email address and the bloomin thing didn't send, so I sent another from the computer, and it worked!! So I have sent another one to the breeder who did respond and then if I still don't hear back I will be looking interstate! Thank you so much, everyone here is so friendly and lovely

Thanks everyone I didn't think about the ash clouds!! I'll give it another week before I look elsewhere I guess. Thank you

Persephone, that's how I found all the tassie ones, but wanted to see if anyone here knew any good friendly ones before I resort to sending out 50 odd emails lol!! Thanks ish, I will check Camuka out

I've emailed all the Tasmanian based golden retriever breeders and only one has replied This is so frustrating! My emails are very friendly and I have no idea.. I'm so tempted to try breeders interstate. I just don't get it, I emailed several Labrador breeders down here too, and each and every one has replied with heaps of information!! But we want a golden Can anyone suggest a good friendly breeder anywhere else in Australia? So we have a back up incase we don't hear back from the other breeder. Thank you heaps

Ok, so as you know, we might be getting a golden retriever pup sometime mid August. We also have a 10 week old kitten who uses her litter tray in the Laundry, which is where our back door is, and the door we will be teaching the pup to use the toilet in the back yard from. The laundry is also off from the kitchen, so is in plain sight all day, and there is no other appropriate place to put the cat litter tray. Questions!! 1. Will the pup be likely to have a thing for digging in the litter and spreading it EVERYWHERE? (I'm guessing YES!! It is breeders choice litter, so not a silica based or clumping litter, so it shouldn't hurt if it's accidentally ingested!) 2. How can we curb the pup from heading there? 3. Any other ideas?? Thank you!!!!!

Also, I forgot one more thing! Is there much difference in temperament, trainabilty and energy levels between a girl or boy dog? Is either sex preferable to have with children? Thank you

Hi everyone We are a small family in North-West Tasmania, myself and my partner are in our early 20's and we have two young daughters, 19 months and 5 months. We also have a lovely moggie kitten. We have been thinking for a few months that we'd like to get a puppy soon, and have researched a lot of breeds, narrowing them down to either a greyhound, labrador or golden retriever. We found a lovely breeder down south of Tassie that breeds golden retrievers and she is expecting puppies anyday soon. So we have decided, after a lot of research and sleepless nights weighing up the pros and cons, that we will go ahead and get one of her pups. We want it to be an only dog, and plan on keeping it inside our house and raising it with the girls (will always be supervised), getting it desexed asap for obvious reasons, and training it with an obedience school close to home, from as soon as we get the pup, until it passes all the classes they offer, up to the super elite. The obedience school encourages us to take our children as they believe getting them involved is crucial to the pup's training which is great. Anyway, I have a few random questions, and would love any replies, advice or comments. 1. The mother's hip scores are 5:7=12, which I understand is lower than average for the breed, and the father's hip scores are 3:3=6, which is fantastic. These would be fine for a pet wouldn't they? Both parent's elbows, heart and eyes are clear also. 2. What size crate would be best to begin crate training the pup? Should we get one suited to an adult size, or do you cease using the crate once they are adults? 3. What types of bones are best for the pup? Are chicken wings ok? We know never to feed cooked bones. Our cat eats raw chicken necks, however these maybe too small for the pup, and it may just swallow them whole, thus not having any advantage to their teeth lol!! 4. I want to eventually have the dog as my walking/jogging companion, and eventually work up to either one long walk (60-90 minutes) or two short walks (30-45 mins) each day, rain, hail or shine. But I have read that pups cannot go for long walks until they are in excess of 12 months old, due to their skeleton not being mature. Is this true? At what age can I start taking the pup on walks? 5. After previous experience (my neighbour owned two golden retrievers whom I used to play with and walk nearly daily, as she was elderly she couldn't walk them as they were not trained to use a lead so they would pull until they began to tire, and they were both obese, which we will be doing everything in our power to avoid) I know that they are a mouthy breed, as are all gundogs, and I have read conflicting advice on whether to let the pup mouth you gently, or to not allow it at all, and to flick the pup's nose gently when it does mouth you as to curb this behaviour. I am starting to think, with such young children, that we will try to curb the pup from mouthing us, so just a flick on the nose when it does it should be adequate? Should we also say a stern NO when doing it, or ignore the pup for a matter of seconds? I will appreciate any advice on my questions, and please, I know it will be hard to raise such a high energetic puppy with two young girls, as it will be very busy and a testing time, however my partner and I have gave it a lot of thought and really have researched everything, and we will continue to do a lot of research on the topic, as we want to raise the pup as best we can to ensure the health and safety of both the pup and our girls. So please don't reply with advice of waiting a few years, as we really do think now is the best time given our situation. Thank you all very much