PossumCorner

Sweet teekay. Some people would kill for an off-lead space like that.

Good that you were right onto it. I'm at the other end of the spectrum. Rheneas is 'about' 14, give or take a couple of months. And going through all the old-doggie syndromes - aside from diminished sight and hearing, the sense of taste flies out the window. Constantly need to stop him from wolfing down something he shouldn't that normally wouldn't even be sniffed at. Have to keep sheds closed and make the house kid-safe for him. Funny thing, he has always hated apples, was even offended if Piper and Frodo enjoyed a windfall apple. Now he is competing with the possums that come onto the deck for an apple handout, apple comes ahead of liver treats. "Been a tiring afternoon" - yes an 80k wasted round trip for something I'll have to do a 150k round trip in the other direction to pick up tomorrow. Full moon means the geese down the paddock are screaming at birds flying overhead on migration to warmer places - geese it is almost midnight, go to sleep.

Persevere Marnev, the benefit is worth it. Is your dog small enough to restrain by wrapping up well in towels maybe? We have just been through this with an alpaca with an eye infection from a grass-seed - and definitely a two person job to get the ointment in there. Good luck, let us know how you are going.

Alpacas will be useful against foxes, but would be at least at the same risk as the goats with dingo and feral dogs. One of my oldest alpacas died very recently, she had survived an incredibly bad mauling from dogs a couple of years before I took her on. You could actually see daylight under her backbone, she made an extraordinary recovery with extreme care. However her paddock mates were less lucky and torn apart by the dogs. My alpacas are wonderful at keeping foxes away from the poultry and pet sheep/lambs - neither alpacas nor Maremmas are guaranteed 24/7, I mean everybody needs to sleep sometimes whether day or night. Today I looked at two Maremma pups around 12 weeks that have been raised with poultry and already guarding and trustworthy, also housetrained and very social for Maremmas, used to warning of visitors but also happily greeting without aggression once they know it's okay. Stunning pups for the purpose, but in Central Vic, bit far from you Pandi-Girl. Neighbouring farmer has lost some sheep to dogs this year, three occasions, and I wouldn't mind a livestock guardian dog as a support for the alpacas. But decided against again, as Rheneas is an old doggie and he would not cope well with a new dog, let alone an exuberant pup.

Nice Canisbellum - is this shot using anything you gained from the astrophotography workshop - was it useful for normal gear or only for advanced equipment?

I'm peed off myself - looked at so many coats in the last week or so, I'm convinced they are all designed by people who have never seen a real live dog. And not having a shot at imported origins - this also applies to some Australian-made so no excuse. And I am sick of Velcro as a short cut to strapping them in neatly for people-convenience - I know it is a cheaper quick fix for design, but it now creeps me.

All great, and especially the Diamantina Roova.

Know what you mean, much as I love the breed unreservedly, I'm not blind to the fact they are among the many breeds that are "not the dog for everybody". Early socialising etc is super important, and if anything does go pear-shaped when they are youngsters it takes more to get back on track than many can manage.

He really is a gorgeous boy. I sound like an unsolicited telemarketer: but have battled all his life with clipping nails for Rheneas. Have the scars to prove it. This time I discussed a sedation job at the vets, and bought these from the vet for one last try at home. Unbelievable good, he hardly fidgeted and no sign of a panic attack. So don't know if he is just mellowing with age (no other signs of it) or I have owned a succession of less than excellent clippers that were top prices. These don't look "different", but I am so stoked that he tolerated them and they did such a good job. http://www.petdirect.com.au/nail-trimmers/2841-gripsoft-medium-nail-clipper.html

Oh yes, the best. I am so prejudiced. When Marianne Christiansen imported Pluto Plutona from the Spanish Riding School to Canberra (Marianne's father invented Lego: irrelevant) she gave me a service from Pluto for my Anglo Arab mare, so I had a first-cross filly. Then another stallion came out, not sure of eventual ownership, and my mare had a service by him but I didn't get papers so maybe ownership was in discussion: I think that was Pluto Nima but not sure. And the foal this time was a colt. This was in about the early 1980s. The stallions get a mention here: http://www.annwnpark.com.au/lipizzaner-aus.html Bonita, probably the longest surviving of Pluto's foals, just passed this year: http://annwnpark.com.au/bonita.html Marianne was so ahead of her time in horse breeding in Australia - she was taken too young by Leukaemia, and I think the family all returned to Denmark when the property sold.

Great outcome - and it is so good to read some happy news in a week that has been so full of sad.

Pluto the Planet also has a mild crisis of identity or "differences" history: it's a planet, then no no - struck off the list, it's just a small aberrant moon. Who knew planets had fan-clubs defending them? So now it's officially a planet again, popular support pressure. I think Pluto suits him better than Pudden now. (And it has a great history with white Lipizzaner horses).

He's lovely - any photos of the donkeys next time you're there would be good. (As in super good).

Alpaca individuals vary, but mostly they are quite standoffish and don't touch me, and especially don't touch my head, ever. Bottle-raised from a few days old they will bond or imprint, but these two I've just bought were out (in the herd of hundreds) for weeks, so different story. The older (2.5 months) lost his mum at 3/4 weeks, so he's not so nervous: the younger one is only 6 wks old, the mum only passed 10 days ago, he's improving but struggling to cope with the big changes. The one born here, Autumn, has been handled fairly minimum but is all over you like moss for pats. The males have a reputation for becoming dangerous and aggressive if they've been made pets of when young - but then so can big billy goats. Lots of exceptions to prove the rule, show animals are stabled, lead-trained etc. It's interesting, they must have been domesticated in South America as long as sheep have in Asia/Europe, but a different nature. Definitely camelids.

Same question from me. I've mentioned them to some poultry people looking at a new dog for house-pet plus just backyard chook protection. I know Koolies have done well at this, same as Border Collies, (and same as my own dogs) not herding chooks but keeping a protective eye - and without being full on livestock guardians like Maremmas, just a happy medium. But can't promote too much until a little more of what is available is known. It's good to know about them at this early stage so can make more widely known when the time is right, I'm still a bit stunned at the numbers.

Beautiful shots. Are they drinking from their mums or bottle-raised? Just curious as I'm bottle-raising two alpaca babies. I wish they had the confidence of kids, often they need to be cornered and caught before feeding them, stress all round. Four-five bottles each a day at present so it's pretty full-time. Wish the foster-mum plan had worked out, most definitely a foster failure the wrong way around.

There hasn't been a lot of Basenji literature. Veronica Tudor Williams wrote "the book" on Basenjis, (Basenjis, the Barkless Dogs) about the first ones she imported to the UK from the Congo where they were tribal (Pygmy) hunting dogs, and she achieved their recognition as a breed and set up the first kennels ("of the Congo") and showed them. The old movie "Goodbye, My Lady" put the breed on the map in the USA - they had to import them from Tudor-Williams to make the film - which has some interesting background connect to early westerns - Shane and . https://trueclassics.net/2011/01/19/good-bye-my-lady/ And I love this old news magazine article which talks about the making of the movie, including taking advice from an American breeder who ended up with the star at her kennels, all good stuff for a little-known breed. http://www.apubasenjis.com/Good-Bye My Lady_a.pdf I love Basenjis, had one of the very early ones in Australia - from Lillian Barker who founded the Basenji Club of Victoria (Wandra Kennels). Hope the gorgeous ones PetRescue have listed find the very best of homes.

Ummmm - right.

7/52 - Shetland Arnold and BamBam (the trotter) have lost their shiny summer coats, now starting to fluff up for winter.

6/52 - Alpaca baby boy - Autumn Blaze (his mum is Flame).

5/52 - one of my new chickens, only half-grown, fairly large breed. A new (to me) breed of chooky. Transylvanian Naked Neck (alternate name of Turken, also correct). They are said to withstand hot drought conditions better than most breeds, as they can disperse heat from the head and neck, so less likely to collapse with heat stroke as happens with some breeds more than others.

A mile behind but still here seeing everyone's good work, so will start catching up. 4/52 - the crested doves sit on a frosted gate, freezing their feet off to catch the morning sun's very first touch.

Fifty-plus, hells teeth that's a lot to place, - we can't take another dog yet as Rheneas is going into the frail/aged stage and wouldn't cope. (Koolie is on the list for future reference though).

Quite weird is how I see it. Some non-doggy Uni people doing an ill conceived survey and somehow winning GRV funding. To what purpose? And only twelve follow-up interviews to base outcomes/recommendations etc on. Ummm, no.

Sheesh Juice just put a sock in it instead of carping on. To say you owe Phyl an apology is putting it mildly - there was no call for the infantile name-calling nor for the judgemental criticism of other dolers who have also been here a long time. Particularly when just a few days ago you said of your own new pup "right now i'm just wondering if it was a good call to take him" for various reasons.