Mudlark

I think that the hip surgery was a good decision, made after all options were carefully considered. It's a separate thing that the person wielding the clippers was not competent to be anywhere near an animal. I hope that each day is better for your boy.

The poor lad. That is so unfair. I would be livid. Have you made contact with the surgeon yet? (Sorry if you did and I missed it...)

Oh, that is absolutely hilarious. I bet he has a new respect for the vacuum now. Or he's plotting its downfall :)

Poor little man I read your other thread - so distressing for him and you

I'm not sure if they operate in Geelong but you could try Don't Fret Pet, which is a service that places dogs in people's homes. We've had two successive dogs use this service and they have stayed in some wonderful homes where the families have gone all out to give our dog a fabulous stay - and they've taken photos to prove it too. At his last stay our dog was allowed to sleep on the humans' bed. Here's their website: Don't Fret Pet

Like a lot of people who have replied to this thread we feed a pretty varied diet. Our dog gets Vets All Natural (a veggie and grain mix with trace nutrients etc) with kangaroo, beef and chicken mince as his main breakfast and a tin of sardines for his main dinner. But this is alternated with chicken frames, lamb necks, chicken wings etc, and quality leftover human food (e.g. beetroot risotto, scallop and spinach pasta, roast lamb and veggies - to name a few recent examples). He'll also get garden produce mixed with scrambled duck eggs (we breed and show ducks so we have lots of eggs....).. He also gets bits of fruit (had a pear today, minus stem and seeds), raw chucks of veg and a bit of anything we are eating (tonight he had some school prawns we couldn't finish). I go by the principles that define a good human diet (i.e. as unprocessed as possible and with a lot of variety) but with a lot more raw food and plenty of raw, easily crushable, meaty bones as well. We fed our previous dog this kind of way and, similar to others, our vet always commented on his great teeth and coat, right up to his passing at age 14. But I also agree with the comment that was made that there are a number of healthy ways to feed a dog :) If you have a happy dog with good skin, coat and teeth and of the correct weight then you are doing something right.

My dog Oberon is named after the king of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He's called that because his kennel name is Jarkk Knight to Dream. We just call him Obi though, which means that everyone goes, 'ah yes, Obi-wan Kenobi'.

Got it now! Lovely pics :)

Fab - thanks for the tip! Will check that out. I couldn't see the YouTube clip though - said it was private.

Lovely enthusiastic recall. And your dog was nice and close to you during the heelwork - lots of people would kill for that position :)

A the age of 12 my old Lab Nicolae (RIP) decided that it was no longer dignified to eat his meals in the kitchen. As soon as his food was put down he'd pick up his ceramic bowl and cart it 10 metres into the middle of the lounge room carpet.

Make sure you take out the insurance cover the second you take ownership of the dog (or before). If you leave it and then discover a problem you are obliged to tell the insurer before taking out your insurance, and then they will exclude anything that might be associated with the problem that was noticed (often just for a period of time, like 12 months). We are with PetPlan, as they provide good coverage of a wide range of problems. There is a Choice article on pet insurance if you look on their website - we bought the article and it confirmed our leaning towards PetPlan. It's about $450 for a year (if my memory is right!).

How brilliant! She looks like an accomplished star in those stills :) And gorgeous to boot.

Congratulations on your new pup!! How exciting :) Initially, continuing to feed what the breeder has been feeding is a good idea. That's the best way to keep a pup's tum settled in the transition to a new home. It sure is the case that the huge number of feeds out there is confusing. Plus there are a lot of different views and philosophies that guide different feeding practices (e.g. raw versus cooked, kibble versus no kibble). Probably the easiest thing to do is to go with your breeders' recommendations - if their dogs look healthy, with good coats, then that is a good guide to the kind of food that will suit your dog best. See how your pup goes on the same regime and take your time learning about different feeding options. One thing to keep in mind is the need to keep teeth in good condition - meaty bones (chicken carcases, lamb necks, lamb flaps etc) are great for that as they have to slice through the meat and bone, cleaning their teeth in the process. For a pup chicken necks and carcases are a good option. I'd advise avoiding marrow/cow leg bones though as they are too hard - a Lab will work and work at a marrow bone and will end up gnawing on the hardest part of the bone which will have the effect, over time, of wearing down their teeth. My first Lab also loved to munch down on whole raw sweet potato, large chunks of raw pumpkin and whole raw fennel bulbs - all great for fibre intake and also teeth cleaning. One of the many great things about a Labrador is that it is really easy to feed them a varied diet if you want to go down the road of preparing your own food or even just branching out a bit from a kibble diet. They are not fussy eaters as I'm sure you are already very aware :)

Hm, shouldn't have read that at work.... How beautiful.

That's amazing that he can already walk a bit on it! If they used bone cement it's the 'glue in' type. Looks pretty darn impressive on the x-ray. He's a high tech doggie now :)

Wow - fabulous pics! Love the tap one. Beautiful Brittany too :)

Yeah, we worry so much about them, don't we :) I'm sure that your girl will be just fine. Just think of how much you can cuddle and spoil her when you get her home later today :) If my dog has to spend a day at the vet's for some reason I go and buy a new toy for him to chew up and something special for his dinner. Planning and shopping for those things helps me feel better.

That's great! Im sure he'll do wonderfully well with his brand new hip. A lifetime of full function and no pain. Sounds like you are in good hands with your vet team. Is the hip replacement they used one of the ones without glue, where the bone grows into the porous surface of the implant? Will Cooper have the other hip done at some stage, or is it 'wait and see' how he goes with just one side done?

Guess it depends on how intoxicated you are when you drop the bag of cookies,and how many you miss ;) Or, how angry you were when throwing your oh/friend's stash to the four winds ? LOL, for sure. No doubt someone is wailing lamentations over it all somewhere :)

In the case of the Mosman dogs, both owners independently reported to the vet that their dogs had picked up the marijuana in exactly the same park/location. So it seems that it might be genuine - it's not likely that both owners would independently invent identical stories. Obviously some people are stupid and cruel enough to deliberately intoxicate their dogs, and some are foolish enough to leave substances where dogs can find them. But, yes, sometimes dogs can just find something in a public place that has been abandoned, accidentally dropped or thrown away in a panic, as my experience illustrates (unlikely as all that seems). I was pretty gobsmacked that someone would leave hash in any form lying around, but there you have it.

When my dog picked up the hash cookie/brownie/whatever it was just lying next to a hedge. How did it get there? Who knows. People leave/drop all sorts of crazy stuff in the street. He most certainly didn't get it from me :) My vet said, though, that it most commonly happens when the dog breaks into the kids' stash.....and then the parents take the dog to the vet.

My first Lab did this when he was young - ate a hash cookie on a walk (though I didn't realise what it was at the time). About 10 minutes after we got home he started to look all wobbly and bleary eyed (and began to lose bladder control). Panic - straight to the vet! Vet checked him over, asked a few questions and told me I had a stoned Lab on my hands. The vet said that they have to eat quite a lot to do any actual damage though. My dog just had to sleep it off.

Thankyou for sharing your thoughts and feelings about your absolutely gorgeous girl. You and your family and Brianna were obviously just made for each other and, equally obviously, you loved each other very, very deeply. I lost my special old boy to a hermangiosarcoma a few months ago (very sudden). My heart truly goes out to you and your family.

About 10 years ago David Clarke did a root canal and filling on my Lab when he cracked off the side of a pre-molar (why I no longer feed marrow bones). We travelled to Melbourne from Canberra to have it done. We were very happy with the care and skill which which our dog was treated and his tooth was saved, rather than being extracted. The tooth lasted the rest of his 14 years, completely trouble free. So, I would highly recommend David Clarke as well :) edited to add: This is the vet surgery where he works: Hallam Vet Clinic