ChewieTAG

I saw few articles citing the health as you've mentioned. this would be a male. that would mean a potential ligament problem.. small breeds

I've never heard of that. I personally don't agree with desexing tiny babies. Is there a particular reason you want to? :) it was due to a hernia that needed to be fix at 6 - 8 weeks old and vet has recommended to desexed at the same time to avoid for putting him under few months later

Hi all, just wondering what will you do if during the day when you are out and about? Say sometimes more than 2 hours.. Would you crate / pen the youngest indoor just in case and have the adult out indoor? I assume we will put pee pads in the crate / pen...

I guess I am more concern about the maturing part in terms of mentality. It may be very puppy-like forever?

Hi all, Just wondering what are the cons of having smaller breeds to be desexed at such young age? I saw a lot of articles online mentioning about their "puppy like" mentality and / or taller body structure and so on. Health problems and so on. Hope to get some ideas. Cheers

how I wish my work place allows dogs!

so cute

thanks Mim. Not sure if it's a stye but vet seems to think so. I think I will follow the vet's advice and see how it goes.

what about those dental gel and so on? Maybe you can use it? I heard the Petzlife Dental Gel is good?

My one is the breeder gave him the Registered name and so I pick it.

Vet said it could be a stye and asked me to monitor it. It may stay that way or increase or may also burst and dry up. I asked for antibiotics and medication just incase and I will monitor Snowy for a week to see if it increase or stay. If increase, will use the medication and hopefully will be gone else will need to get 2nd opinion. If stay and not a bother, will just monitor for a life time.

Hi I've just noticed today Snowy has this tiny bubble inside the lower eyelid on his right eye. I wonder if anyone knows or see it before in your doggy? See the photos attached. It looks like yellow bump but in some angle it looks like clear bubble. He has always been tearing more on his right eye maybe because of his pop vein in his white ball. As usual I was cleaning both his eyes and fur around it, then somehow decided to peer inside the right lid to check. Not sure why I did it, owner's instinct? Then I noticed the bubble. I don't know if he always has it or just. I don't see that his right eye is irritating him or extremely teary. He don't have red eye or itchy. I am hopeful it will go away after few days or if it stays maybe won't get worst. I will be monitoring for couple days to see if it get worst (finger crossing it won't get worst) before calling the vet. I might consider calling the vet if it stays that way after a few days. Just want to make sure if we need to 'pop' it out to avoid further complications. Any thoughts?

got the same problem. I am always dropping a lot of hair. I had very long hair previously and decided to cut it short. My hair still drops and Snowy is eating it still but at least the length is shorten, hence helps in his poo. His poo get stuck with my hair dangling and he is not able to get it out. So we have to always pull it out Another expensive option I've get is, I've gotten myself iRobot. Easy. Less hair, less dust, less dirt from Snowy and cleaner place

yes I get some comments from my colleagues all the time when I show them photos of my dogs or tell them some stories about it. They said i have spoil my dog. Well I prefer to use I am pampering my dog but not spoiling my dog.

Google says there is. Paw Village is an "All Breeds" database, some of the info on it is a bit iffy - if I found something there I'd try and confirm another way - but it's one place to start - www.pawvillage.com this thread got me to tracing Snowy's ancestors! I have used one site to enter the detail and do a lot of searching to the other databases. WOW! I couldn't believe what I've found haha.. So happy to learn all about Snowy. I could trace the shih tzu bloodline all the way to US (of course), UK, Norway, Sweden, Canada and finally China at about 1938! WOW!

I wonder if there are any Shih tzu breed database. Would be interesting..

What would you do before engaging the sitter? 1) meet them - abosolutely - don't do what we did and meet them, a couple of days before you leave!! I shall meet in advance. It's hard if they are interstate? 2) ask for police clearance check? - for peace of mind, good idea. 3) ask for references so you can contact them? - who gives bad references, really? come to think of it, yes indeed 4) negotiate the rules? - rules are non-negotiable. It's your house and they are your pets. Good point here..

That is truly awful. Only good thing is she probably won't be in business for long. No one would be going back to her and she wouldn't be getting references. I hope your cat is okay now. that is scary. I hope your cat is ok..

Even if your pets are on medications, it doesn't have to be all that long. I'll PM you the document I made for my last house sitter. Thank you so much

trying using Dusk Active Breeze candles Find it to be quite good in killing odour...

I wonder how long should a list be without overwhelming the sitters?

All of the above LOL. For all the house sitters I have used, I made a list of everything they had to do daily and picking up dog poo was definitely on the list. Even the things you would expect to be a given and/or automatic like ensuring waters bowls cleaned and filled need to be on the list. I typed out a list in diary form of everything that had to be done on each day that I was away because some meds were daily and some every second day. In my opinion, you cannot give too much information. Make a note of everyone you do through the day and add it to the list and then put it in an easy to follow form. thanks! That is a good idea to put down in list and give to them to do. With time scheduled too I suppose?

thanks @dogmad! That help me to add on to what to things to do and what to expect.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I am looking for sitters hence the research. I picked those up from Choice.com.au and it was dated 2008 (refer on the first comment of the thread). I live in Vic. I guess no one has tried the other sites other than the Happy House Sitters? I do like the idea on how there are no money exchange and both party win-win.. @lou_x : we are not ruling out career with dogs ..yet.. Just thinking of what we are after before we made a request . I see that you are from NSW. I am from Vic. Would that be a problem for you? Would probably PM you once we've confirmed on our stuff as we have yet to confirmed the dates, etc. I am waiting for more response from DOLers to see if anyone has any other experiences.. What would you do before engaging the sitter? 1) meet them 2) ask for police clearance check? 3) ask for references so you can contact them? 4) negotiate the rules?

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