minimax

For those that do this, please consider that persons with assistance dogs might be forced to either wait until you come out or run the gauntlet and hope that dog right outside the door is well tethered and not DA. It could be frightening for a vision impaired person with their guide dog to suddenly find themselves within reach of another dog while exiting the building. Exactly, it affects more than just the owner and the dog. There could be small children who are scared of dogs (or adults who are scared of dogs!), toddlers who don't need a dog to jump on them or rush at them, or anything. It's just irresponsible and selfish.

Then you should possibly reconsider your own plans to buy an amstaff and think about buying a breed that is more suited to running around a park and playing with all the other dogs. Why would i not allow an amstaff to play with other dogs? My current family small dog has no issues playing with staffys, and a fair few friends of mine own english staffys and i really enjoy that breed. Going to the park is something i enjoy doing. But just to clarify something if i had a dog for whatever reason couldn't be taken to the park then i will deal with that, its not all just about the park. Anyhow i started this thread not to create issues or problems but just to get other dog owners/lovers perspective on this issue that happened, not to "troll". Since i know the guy and like his dogs my view could be a tad biased and also there is a lot more people (like on this site) who know a lot more about dogs then me, and i value your opinion. Anyhow im trying to help this person without being to obvious. I got him Ceaser Milans show and he watched the first season. He already has told me he learned a few things that he is doing wrong. The first was that his dogs walk him, they pull him. He now realizes he is not the alpha of his 3 dogs, they control him. Second thing was about him riding past his dogs on a skateboard could help them overcome there issues with skateboards. Also he knows now that getting the dogs in order is an ongoing commitment, especially the big one would be life commitment. WIth the comments on him paying $1500 for training and not being able to afford $200 to save his dog (which was before the training) i have no idea why. Im not him. Im not here to speculate what he does with his money. Am i allowed to post a photo of his dog/s in this thread? Just a brief FYI - there is no such thing as an english staffy. Or riding past on skateboards could help cement their fear of skateboards. What a bizzare thing to do to a dog that's scared of something - bombard them with the fear And I wouldn't post photos of someone else's dog without their permission. I wouldn't like this much detail about myself posted on a public forum without my knowledge, full stop!

Do you live near a bridge? :laugh: Not sure the point of that comment?

Careful with the swapping ... I taught my puppy to swap and she used it to her advantage. She would steal something and bring it to me to swap, ready for her treat :laugh:

Turning the slipper stealing into a game is probably what keeps him going back - my pup used to be a foot chaser and luckily she grew out of it, but she has a major fetish for sheepskin slippers. To the point where we can't wear them. That was the only thing that stopped her eating them off our feet! The only thing that stopped one of my pugs chewing his favourite things was vicks vapour rub, not really easy to rub on a carpet or shoe, but a menthol scent might work. Other than that, a really good "leave it" command was my saving grace, but it took a loooooong time for her to leave really high value items, and even now sometimes she won't leave a cockroach or some other really high value item if I tell her to.

You're taking this whole situation a bit personally. It's not your dog, nor is it affecting you being able to take your dogs to the park

Are there no rangers or council people that you can contact to try and encourage them to start enforcing the on-leash restrictions? I know it might seem harsh, but off-leash dogs are annoying and dangerous, but they are also in danger themselves of being harmed so it's also for their own benefit.

A good reason not to tie your dog up outside the supermarket...

I think my boss actually would - the thing is, I'm a public servant in a large office with several thousand employees - it would be prohibited far above his head. You'd be surprised ... I work for the state government and looked through alllllllll the rules before bringing mine to work and there is nothing about no dogs in the office ;) I did have the Workplace Safety guy have a word to my boss about safety (purely to cover his own ass, I suspect), but he did not say I could not bring them in. I think it's one of those rules no one ever thought they would have to implement, so they didn't write a process or guideline for it lol

1. Do you have to feed tons of food or hardly anything in order to keep your dog at a decent weight? I don't think my dogs get fed that much and they are a good weight - but then I realised my OH gives them scraps when she cooks dinner so I needed to adjust their meal sizes accordingly :laugh: They get around 80grams of a homemade raw mix in the morning (plus one pug gets two chicken necks for brekky) plus some natural yoghurt. Dinner is half a chicken carcass each. As the carcasses are hardly ever exactly the same size, the pug that doesn't get the chicken necks in the morning gets the bigger half. (it's more to do with timing in the morning as he takes forever to eat and I don't have the time for him to take a half hour to eat necks in the morning!) 2. Is your dog at the vets a fair bit for minor skin irritations, ear or other infections or hot spots? No, not at all. At the vets fairly regularly because they are accident prone, but not related to allergies or skin issues or food 3. What's going on at the back end? Does your dog produce firm stools? Or are they large mounds of mousse like poo (see this quite a bit) and are they foul smelling? I'd say a diet that sees your dog produce masses of soft smelly stools on a regular basis isn't ideal. Both my guys are very regular, one pug goes three times a day without fail, the other goes twice. They aren't soft or hard, so firm is probably a good description. Boston's has a very distinct smell, regardless of what he eats so I think that's just *him*, other than that they don't really smell. 4. Does your dog smell? Teeth, anal glands, general odour? Diet can be frequent cause of these issues and making sure that your dog gets a decent amount of tooth cleaning via its diet and a decent amount of fibre can help with some of these issues. My dogs smell like dogs, but they are pugs and I think pugs tend to have more of a doggy smell than some breeds. It's not overpowering or unpleasant, it's just them. Their breath usually smells a bit meaty, as they get a lot of bones their teeth are good and one pug had her anal glands done recently which caused us to up her edible bone a bit, but it didn't smell it was the bum rubbing that alerted us. 5. Does your dog LIKE its food? Some dogs are just picky but what you feed should be enjoyed by the dog. If you're constantly having to spice up the main part of your dog's diet with additives, I'd say its time to try something else. This is kind of a redundant question, I have pugs Adding in a last point - Max my female pug gets cranberry powder as when she was little she had a spree of UTI's so I've kept her on it as a precaution. It gets added to the homemade raw mix, so Boston gets it too by default. That's the only supplement they get, unless they need ad-hoc things (ie: Boston is currently on eye-bright for an eye issue he had).

It's really irritating when you're walking down the street, minding your own business (or, in my case, not watching where I'm going because I'm not paying attention) and you almost break your neck tripping over a dog and/or leash because the the dog is tied up to a pole and it's not on a short leash, so it's wandering all over the path getting in peoples way. It's dangerous. If someone trips over an unattended dog or the leash, who is responsible? The dog owner, or the council (because it's on council property/attached to council property?). I'm pretty sure the council aren't going to take responsibility, just as they don't take responsibility if you tie your bike to their poles and it gets stolen or damaged.

Your boss doesn't sound very accommodating, but is it possible to sometimes take her to work? Even in her crate, under your desk with a bone or something to keep her occupied? She looks like she'd just happily chill out and sleep and not make an annoyance of herself, would your boss even consider a trial for a day or a few hours? Plus, dogs are great morale boosters for the office! I bring mine in sometimes, everyone loves it.

Read your first post ... it answers your question.

So if they can digest it, can they get any nutritional benefit from it? Ie: energy from the carbs? (article was kinda tl;dr - attention span gone byebye today :laugh:

Oh minimax, don't even get me started on Glasshouse candles. Absolute favourite candle of all times being the TAHAA - Vanilla caramel. YUM! but since they are expensive I only have them lit on special occasions. Vanilla caramel is my favourite! Whenever I walk into Peter Alexander stores I nearly die from yumminess and commented to my OH that I'd love if our house smelled like that. She went in and asked what it was, and bought me one :D Now our house smells like that! I've never lit it though, just taking the lid off is enough to overwhelm the room with scent. I get them from http://www.ambientliving.com.au/store/glasshouse-fragrances/glasshouse-candles.html because they are a bit cheaper than anywhere else. They re-stock pretty often. The coconut & lime is my second fave, for a fresh "pretend I'm on a tropical island" sort of scent.

Lucky it was your bum and not the other side I would definitely draw the line at bottoms (back and front)! A couple more annoying things... Poppy burps like a human after eating her dinner... It's really loud and gross, and she is usually sitting next to me at face height on the couch when it happens. She sounds like Homer Simpson. Mosley burps like that too. :laugh: The first time he did I almost wet myself. It's sooo loud. Boston burps too! Max doesn't, so when I got Boston and he burped I was like wtf, I had no idea dogs could burp He does it all the time, typical boy!

I vacuum and clean regularly, that tends to keep the doggy smell down. Including putting lounge cushions in the sun, washing dog bedding regularly, brushing dogs regularly, mopping regularly, windows are open a lot to air the house. We use vinegar to clean puppy accidents, not cleaning products. I also love candles, even pre-dogs, so have lots of Glasshouse candles around the house because they smell awesome without lighting them - you just take the lid off and they fill the room. My mum sometimes comments that my place smells doggy, but she also comments that my dogs smell doggy, so I don't take her too seriously.

My pug does this too! If you don't chase her she gets bored and drops them, or if she REALLY wants to play she will keep coming back and parading her stolen goods in front of you :laugh:

Lucky it was your bum and not the other side

Well sadly in some dogs I think this is the case. Whether it hinders them or not I'd imagine it would, and how are you really going to know unless you own an X ray machine. Pretty sure a dog would show signs of discomfort and blockages. I'm sure the intestine is capable of dialting enough to pass fresh matter pass old. When was the last time you went on a turkey neck diet? The upside of feeding necks is that if your lucky they may stay intact enough not to cause any problems. But I wouldn't take the risk especially on a day to day basis, and would certainly advise agaist feeding any bones that have a tendency to shard or splinter. Humans digestive systems are quite different to that of the dog, so thats not a valid argument. Feed what you want, but don't spread inaccurate and incorrect information.

Well sadly in some dogs I think this is the case. Whether it hinders them or not I'd imagine it would, and how are you really going to know unless you own an X ray machine. Pretty sure a dog would show signs of discomfort and blockages.

Dogs guts are perfectly capable of breaking down and digesting raw bone, it does not just sit there. I suggest you update your sources.

All I'm saying is there's safer ways to get your pet the adequate amount of calcium and clean their teeth. Bone marrow is most likey highly nutritious but very fatty, bone it's self meh. Would you feed your dogs raw turkey drumstick or thigh bones? My dogs get turkey legs. Would you stop feeding them to them if they got a shard lodged in their throat or ruptured their GI tract? Probably, they don't get them often coz it makes one of them do horrid stinky farts :laugh: . The bulk of their diet is chicken frames. If Turkey legs are too big for your dog to crunch, feed something smaller, like chicken.

All I'm saying is there's safer ways to get your pet the adequate amount of calcium and clean their teeth. Bone marrow is most likey highly nutritious but very fatty, bone it's self meh. Would you feed your dogs raw turkey drumstick or thigh bones? My dogs get turkey legs.

So now it was the cars fault?