YvonneM

My maltese x boy used to have what I called episodes too - he had an isolated episode and then about 6-9 months later had a couple in quick succession - as in about 4 in 2-3 days. My vet was fabulous and opened his clinic in the middle of the night for me to bring him in and check him out. Vet suspected epilepsy and he was thereafter medicated on Phenobarbitone half tablet twice daily for the rest of his years - I don't remember the details now but he was probably taking it for about 5 years or so. Never had another episode again once medicated and no other side effects or problems.

I used the pee pads when we brought our puppy home because the breeder had used them and he was used to them. I bought the "more expensive" ones but then bought the cheapie ones and a bottle of the scent stuff - it worked out much cheaper and seemed to work quite well. He missed a few times but his aim was on the pee pad. I don't agree that pee pads teach a dog that it's okay to pee indoors. My boy used both the pee pads and went outdoors and this transition really wasn't that hard and he caught on pretty quick. Having said that he has had access to a doggy door 24/7 and has used it from day 1, so he never had to rely on me to provide him with access to outdoors because he helps himself.

I too often read that section of these forums and often would like to comment on a thread, but can't. I have been following SLF's thread too and hoping for safe arrival of babies.

It's a hard decision .... I've invited a couple of friends with their doggies that I know Banjo gets along with, and they are well balanced and placid doggies .... with the exception of his littermate brother who is tagged as "Wild Child" :laugh: I have also asked a couple of friends without doggies but who love Banjo and know how much he means to us. Should be about 14-16 humans and 5 fur-kids!

Hehehe ..... glad to see that I can make you feel better a about having a party StephM and Aliwake - although all my work colleagues think I'm a bit crazy!! I was inspired by Jules who had a party for her girl Miah not too long ago. And I will share this because you will understand :laugh: ..... I made cute invitations on Vistaprint which included a photo of Banjo ....and I have ordered a whole bunch of puppy birthday stuff from a US website called "Birthday in a Box".

Im hoping to visit on the Sunday ...... I'm relatively new here so don't really know anyone ...... will feel kinda weird going up and saying hey, are you a DOL'er?? :laugh: So, what exactly should I expect to find at the Expo? Can I buy stuff? I buy waaaaay too much stuff for my boy, but hey - it's still classified as retail therapy, even if it isn't for me!!

Anyone else??

Okay, so to be truthful, I AM having a bit of a shin dig for Banjo's birthday, it's not just a birthday cake :D Hopefully K9Angel will come by and post ...

So - I want to bake Banjo a birthday cake for his first birthday - my first hurdle is finding a bone shaped cake tin - but I wondered if anyone out there in DOL-land had a dog friendly cake recipe they would be willing to share, or point me in the right direction. I'd like the cake to be yummy for the humans too so we can!! I had thought my regular carrot cake recipe would be suitable (minus the nuts) having really only eggs, flour, brown sugar, grated carrot and vegetable oil. The icing I use on my carrot cake is generally cream cheese and icing sugar - would that be too much sugar for doggies?? Of course, he would only get a very small amount. If I can find some simply yummy home made doggy treat recipes I'll have a go at those too, but most of the ones I can find online are all US based recipes.

What a great article - well done !

My Maltese boy likes to "share" my cup of tea - he will sit and wait and sniff patiently until I have finished and sometimes I will pour the dribble from the bottom of my cup into a dish for him He loves it! My previous boy loved sharing my cup of tea as well .... so much so that if I wasn't careful enough and left my almost empty cup laying around he would drink straight from my cup :laugh:

I bought a doggy coolmat from my local pet supply store at the beginning of summer this year and I keep it near our front door which is the coolest part of the house - he likes to lay on it on warm evenings and during the day if it gets too hot for him.

Our previous dog was a Maltese X Shih Zu (sp??) and he was a rescue - he was desexed at around 9 months, just before we got him as we had to arrange to have his stitches out. Banjo is a Maltese, so only about a kilo lighter (he's 4kg) than our previous boy. Our previous boy's sac was fully removed and he was nice and "neat". I didn't even know there was an option to leave the sac behind ... I would have had it removed if I had have known! Good that they will shrink a bit. Groomer is great - been using them for nearly 12 years with no problems - I'll just point it out at his next visit :)

Funny you should say that Aliwake .... I didn't even think about the sac removal being "optional". When we had our last doggie done about 12 years ago the sac was removed, but Banjo's was retained. I was a bit surprised really. I thought that they automatically remove it. Im going to ask the vet on the weekend when he has his stitches out why they didn't take it off. Looks kinda weird - and he does go to a grooming salon every 4 weeks, so I can see how it could be an issue there!

Interesting to read! I never knew there were tests that could/should be done before desexing, but I've learned an awful lot here. I had Banjo done 8 days ago. He is 10.5 months now. Breeder said to wait until about 12 months for his development etc, but it worked out for me having time off over christmas to be home with him for several days afterwards.

That is lovely. Not the same thing, but when we had to have our first dog PTS many years ago we had him cremated and we have him in a urn at home - the pet cremation place took some lovely photographs of him laid out in front of an altar on his favourite blanket. He looks so peaceful - I cherish those photographs and still look at them from time to time.

How many dogs have you had in your lifetime YvonneM? How many have you raised to adulthood? How many have you raised to adulthood since you worked full time? How much time to you spend on walks with your dog? Why did you think you would make a good dog owner? I haven't read this whole thread through after this but being 5 pages there must be a lot of discussion in a short time!! I've never needed to justify how I have raised my pets and account for how many hours a day I spend away from home, but to answer your questions I will. I have had 4 dogs in my lifetime - my first was a rescue my parents adopted from the RSPCA way back in the 1970s. PTS in old age. My second was a stray puppy vet said about 6-7 weeks when he came to live with us. Perfectly happy and behaved and an integral part of my family for 14 wonderful years - large breed (briard) and therefore geriatric. PTS in old age when his body didn't work as well any more. Then another rescue aged 9 months who lived to almost 12 years and was PTS in February this year after deterioration in a heart condition (I'd never have even able to afford his heart medication if I didn't work!!) and now our Maltese puppy who is 10 months. I have been married for 26 years and have no children - our pets are the centre of our universe. I have raised 2 dogs to adulthood since I have been married. I spend plenty of time walking my dog - we do a little training and then he gets a 10 metre lead and we go for a walk where he has a bit more freedom on that long leash. Why did I think I would make a good pet owner?? Why wouldn't I ??? Just because I work full time doesn't make me a bad one. In fact, the pure nature of my work makes me realise how good an owner I really am!! I give my pets everything they need - love, affection, I fulfill their physical needs and I look after their medical needs, I ensure they have a good diet and are exercised regularly and they have somewhere warm and safe. My dogs have access to indoors/outdoors 24/7 as they please. I subscribe to the idea that you begin as you intend to continue - and sure I am better informed with my current puppy that I might have been previously. My puppy has been alone for about 5-6 hours during the day from about 10 weeks. Perfectly happy. Here's the flip side - my puppy's brother has gone to work with his owners since day 1 every single day. They thought it would be the best thing for him to be able to spend as much time as possible with them as a little puppy. Now he suffers terrible separation anxiety and can't stand to be left alone. How does that make a happy dog??? He might be happy when he is with the. But is thoroughly miserable with he is alone.

What a load of crap!!! I - like all of the other contributors to this thread - work full time and have done since we bought our puppy home at 8 weeks. He is now 10 months and is a happy, well adjusted little boy with no issues that cause me any concern. He gets regular walks either before I go to work or when I get home and we go to training at our local kennel club once a week. We also have doggy friends we catch up with regularly and we take him visiting and on outings where possible. Plenty of my friends work full time and have successfully raised their puppies from 8 weeks!!! What on earth makes you think someone working full time can't raise a puppy successfully??????

Banjo at almost 10 months ...

Sares - when you have finished with puppy preschool and if you are interested in a little more,obedience Blacktown Kennel Club is great - I have been taking Banjo since he was about 6 month and he is doing quite well - he is now nearly 10 months old. I initially took him because I was wary of off leash dog parks but wanted him to socialise a bit more because he was a bit nervous around other dogs. That mission is accomplished but we continue to go each week - I like the semi-controlled environment where it's not a free for all at the dog park - that's not to say that dog parks are full of irresponsible dog owners - I am sure there are many who are very responsible and their dogs are well behaved - I've just read too many scary stories here! Anyway - just a thought if you are interested since you seem to be in the Blacktown area :)

I'm in the Blacktown area (Quakers Hill). May I suggest not going to Quakers Hill Vet (Hambledon Road) puppy preschedule. My experience there earlier this year was it wasn't much more than a free for all puppy playgroup with a little bit of direction. No other suggestions unfortunately although I do believe that Woodstock Animal Hospital has a good one - but I don't have any personal experience there, just what I have heard. Hope you find somewhere good.

Hmmm - restricted website at work .... will have to wait until I get home to have a look - thank you :)

I use a sporn on my freight train pug, but it's the one with mesh on the chest instead of the collar. Love your description of the Pug!!! Sounds like my Maltese at the moment!!

The problem is he isn't fine on the halti now .... it worked really well at obedience training but last training night (Tuesday) he came home with a green face from spending the night dragging his face in the grass - the halti was obviously bothering/distressing him so much that we actually came out of class early that night. He will often rub his face with his paws or on the grass at the halti, but so do many other doggies at training that wear a halti, but never as much as he did this week. After some advice from the trainer - the same one who has suggested the blackdog harness - we are doing the same as you .... stopping as soon as there is any tension on the lead and actually taking a few steps backwards until his focus comes back to me and then we do a "lets go" and go forward again .... I spend 30 minutes in front of the next door neighbours house this morning taking 2 steps forward and 3 steps backwards .... neighbours must have thought I'm loopy :laugh: :laugh: I really want to get this right .... I never used to take our previous dog for a walk because he was constantly lunging on the end of the lead and it was a "tug of lead" the whole time! I'd come back frustrated and poor pooch would come back exhausted. Those were back in the days before I discovered DOL and obedience training ..... and yes, he was a 5.5kg Maltese X ... so only slightly bigger than my Maltese boy now !!!

:rofl: :rofl: I'm sorry for laughing but my MinPin x Chi is 5yo and approx. 5kgs and does the same thing. She eventually stops dragging me along when she is either wearing out or the excitement of going 'walkies' has waned. I haven't used the BlackDog harness but I hope you find what you're seeking. Good luck with your boy! Yep - Banjo stops pulling when he is tiring out too ..... I usually find a hill to walk up :laugh: