sandra s.

Visiting this section never gets any easier...rest in peace Lu

I'm so sorry to hear that she's finally gone. This hits home because this is what it's all about for me, not the whole training malarky that some dogs never see the outside of, but sharing the real world, going places together. Those dogs shouldn't leave, it's too scary...but in the end, when they get tired, of course they need their peace, too. Good to know that she found it.

Happy Gotcha Day, Solo!

I'm so sorry to hear this, I normally don't read the Health section so I didn't know. You two have been through a lot. At the moment, with autumn kicking in, it seems almost reality that this is coming for me too, that they're bound to rip me to shreds one day, but I still can hardly imagine what it's like. Without the boards I might not be able to face these topics at all. (((HUGS))) to you.

Kyla broke her right upper P4 this spring (not sure how, she'd had it for a while when I found it), and it had to come out. I was terrified and sure that something (everything?) would go wrong with the anesthetic (after seeing them fail so completely with everything they'd done with my mum's cancer), but it went very well. They closed the wound with a laser. The vet, who's just taken over from my old one last winter, put something "homeopathic" on instead of antibiotics. No disrespect to believers but I'm not one. However, I do believe strongly in things healing by themselves, so I was willing to give it a try and it healed just fine. We just took it easy on sticks and tug games for a little while. Now I need to scrub the lonely two opposing teeth that get no action anymore. Brushing a dog's teeth, indeed, with a little toothbrush from the Other Side of dog culture . She doesn't like it but I just do it anyway, she'll survive.

Whew, am I glad to hear that!!!! Now off you go and celebrate.

I'd been hoping for some news by the morning . Sending mojo. I only ever lost Kessie for half an hour or so, but it was a horrible place to be in mentally. I can't imagine what it must be like to be there for days.

Recreating the idiotic posture of a show dog being strung up in the typical show ring manner? Yech.

I've seen a few clips on youtube and liked them (there was one of a BC contemplating an unguarded plate of cake that I definitely need to watch again). Some of the voices they've given to the dogs are extremely annoying, though!* *edit: just re-watched them, it's actually not as bad as I remembered...maybe I had it mixed up with something else.

I am so sorry. He has a wonderful smile in the pictures.

Would it help to separate the egg white and yolk, and give them to them in separate slurping sessions? Mine get fish oil, and whatever happens to be around as extras. Plus bits of pretty much everything that I eat. Maybe the weirdest thing they love are peanuts (whole ones, the ones that are still in the pod). They like cracking one open and eating the parts that fall out (small parts due to rough opening method).

Knickers, honestly. It's the only thing that ever tempted Kessie. Never a bra, though. Kyla doesn't do it at all. This thread is hilarious though , almost makes me feel like I've missed out on something important with my non-chewing pair of lazyguts!

It's an exclamation mark, when normal marking isn't enough . Actually, the way Kessie does it, it's a whole bunch of exclamation marks.

Lots of mojo for Cheyenne! My heart aches for you, especially because I know what they mean, those true Companion dogs that have been everywhere with you.

Oh, tons of stuff. One specific thing does come to mind - I regret all periods in which I was influenced by "dominance"-minded people. By now I'm convinced that most of that is utter b*ll*cks, at least in the way humans tend to apply it. Who cares about who eats first, as long as I can eat a piece of cake in the dogs' company without having to fear for it . I think there were times when, influenced by that mentality, I got angry with Kessie in ways that made no sense whatsoever. Kyla already had it much easier there, although she only arrived two years later. By now, we can even have our little hug fest when I come home to them. And yes, they'd calm down if I wanted them to. Thanks for that, Root Beer - I think it was you who pointed out that enthusiastic greetings are just normal dog behaviour. Wonder how I didn't sense that all along - duh. I think that was the last one of those "golden rules" that needed to be kicked out of my window.

Just wanted to say "Hi" - didn't see you for a while and wondered where you'd gone! As for exercise, with us there's no routine, and therefore, no specific expectations. Sometimes they get to play ball, sometimes play in the water, and sometimes just sniff and walk (of course if I walk, it doesn't mean that they can't run their legs off, but as they're never both in a playful mood at the same time, this is difficult ).

Oh well, at least he tried (pretty hard apparently)

This may be embarrassing, but as little things mean a lot to me at the moment, I might take part in the egg hype this year by hiding a few boiled eggs for the dogs . Since I've never seen any dyed eggs that are explicitly free-range, I'll just use normal eggs and boil them (can't use raw ones in the flat for obvious reasons). I don't think they'll be too fussed about the colour . You could just set a few aside for him before you dye them.

I wouldn't dream of going without them. And anyone who suggested otherwise would be dropped out of my holiday plans (with a satisfying plop).

Kessie will do that if she's extremely frustrated, and doesn't know where to put all her energy. There's a point at which I always tease her that she's acting like a border collie (i.e. like the public seems to expect a border collie to behave). If she still doesn't get exercise then, she'll go into humpy mode. Happens very rarely. She has also humped my poor backpack several times to express frustration with mountaintop sitting ("What?! We've come all this way just to SIT somewhere?").

I find it wrong and sick, but not really more wrong than I find breeding pugs, for example. It's always producing more dogs when there are already enough, and playing around with their shapes for fun or money. At least these crosses are a bit less in-bred at this point*, even if they end up with bizarre proportions too...but it's all sick IMO. And that's a really cheery post on a Sunday morning, yikes . ETA: *obviously not even that is true with the "breeding small Aussie to even smaller Aussie" variation. Urgh.

I used raw ground beef from the supermarket when Kessie was terrified of trains and I wanted to get her to tolerate train rides again...it was yucky (and probably stranger than I'm aware of ) but it worked! But I think roasted chicken would be fine. In fact, I think most things are just fine in such small amounts (with some exceptions of course). I certainly don't worry about letting them clean out then pan after frying* some veggies for myself. ETA: *I have no idea at which point "roasting" turns into "frying" in English! I let the dogs clean the pan after ...well, making stuff crisp and tasty, which involves a thin coating of oil on the pan bottom. If I had something swimming in fat, like some people make chips/french fries, then I wouldn't let them have that all at once. It would give them the runs anyway.

I suppose if a dog is interested in what you have to say about a situation, then he respects you in that situation. If he ignores you, or maybe obeys you because you're bigger or to avoid trouble, then he's not respecting you in that situation. The latter happened to me on sheep - I let Kessie down so badly that she didn't want to work with me at all. There was probably a point at which she was still expecting help or input from me, but the fact that I didn't pay her enough attention to even know if there WAS such a point probably says it all. Other than that, there have only been little moments thankfully, usually something to do with me not communicating or listening as well as I should. Or taking something out on them unfairly. In my experience the dogs are usually right. If they treat me like an arse, then I'm probably behaving like one (<- that's something that's MUCH easier to see in hindsight most of the time ). If I don't fully believe in what I'm doing (like half-heartedly trying to teach them tricks, which I'm somehow, stupidly, biased against) they don't believe in it either. It's as if they had a detailed map of my conscience at every point in time, scary little mind-reading critters that they are .

Predictably, I'm strongly against it. For me, it violates something that should be kept "sacred", for want of a better description. Something to do with respect. And I agree with everything Sara (kaos) wrote. Besides, I would not enjoy looking at Kessie half as much as I do, if some part of her had been tailored to match my "preferences". She is what she is, with her two different ears that look funny when she trots and look wild when the wind blows. I think I'm more than lucky enough to be allowed to watch them as part of my every day life . As for chopping bits off (tail or ears) or any type of "cosmetic" surgery, I think that goes way beyond "preferences" and people should be punished for it.

If he was lunging after something I was holding, I'd tell him to get stuffed! ETA: and once he stopped, I'd praise him for not attacking the poor bottle anymore. But I love him even more now, knowing that he's such a brave little spray bottle warrior. Kessie absolutely hates that kind of noise as well, but she just really, really wants to leave when she hears one.