DogPaddle

[quote]and he's peed outside once so far.[/quote] :smilecolros: :bigok: Celebrate every success! Good for Duke!

I think Daisysmom has a good idea. You could try feigning enthusiasm for the project of finding the puppies good homes: help come up with set of questions for potential [i]adopters[/i], advise your freind that it will be easier to place the pups if they appear clean healthy and well socialized so they may need to be cleaned up and [i]kept indoors for until they are placed[/i], offer to assist with some extra training and socializing to make them [i]more placable [/i]if you have the time etc. Otherwise I would strongly encourage her to give the pups to the BSPCA. No sense her keeping them if she won't care for them.

[quote]I KNOW my dogs shortcomings - most people with Labs dont. They arenht all angels, and they can be very dominant[/quote] I will agree with you there Courtnek. Zaphod (mostly lab) is sweet and loves adult people but he the second he meets new dogs he wants to . . . "get things straight" . . . very dominent especially amongst dogs not of his pack. I made the mistake of finding this out the hardway. Tyr and Kavik have always played off lead in the common green with the other neighbour dogs. Zaphod was just 4 months and I though he would be ok trailing his lead (first time out after shots.) The second Zaphod layed eyes on Bear (large male rottiex) his hackles went up and he charged him. Heaven knows how but I was able to catch the lead before he reached Bear - barely. Now I know better - Zaphod is always leashed (which does tend to make him more nervouse around strange dogs but - no option) while we work on his socialization. [color=red]The neighbours just see a cute Lab and despite his behaviour think I'm mean for letting Kavik play offlead but not Zaphod but I guess they miss the point.[/color] I don't take Zaphod to the offlead park here, he gets too agitated and barks and tries to menace other dogs (he is leashed) and there are too many off lead who would attack him for it. :x We have to socialize elsewhere. :roll:

[size=6][color=blue]WELCOME BACK![/color][/size]

Couldn't wait for my mom and Abby so we started RAW today - have read Volhard and some other book and internet sources and freind of mine who feeds RAW and have decided not to do Volhard but to do a diet more like my freinds (he is helping me for now.) Very little carbs, plenty of raw meat (chicken, turkey and beef mostly, some fish) and bones, soupified veggies, some fruit, some yogurt and occaisional cottage cheese, Andrew uses no supplements really but adds some herbs (he has some univ thing in herbal medacine) but I may be adding this raw diet supplement from my mom's vet as soon as they give me an ingredients list. So far so good. No runs. No problem with them liking it - they love it. I was worried they would not eat nicely beside each other but they seem ok (we have a wire stand for their food so they don't have to bend down to eat and the two bowls are very close.) Will keep you all posted and probably have many more questions.

From the age of 6 months too 18 months Kavik was fond of this activity amongst the other dogs. He has only stopped for about two months and now Zaphod has become enamoured of the behaviour. :roll: Oh well only a year to go and I don't have to be embarrassed in front of company. :lol:

Courtnek's advise about the stairs is great. As for not playing with the toys - just give it time - he may not be familiar with playing with toys, plus he's feeling poorly - once he's more comfortable I'm sure he will be delighted to learn about toys. [size=6][color=red]CONGRATS![/color][/size]

I would use it if my townhome yard was not fenced, many of those in our complex are not and a few have dogs. I would use it for letting pups out to do their business in between walks or putting them out when I vaccume so they do not attack the big scary vacume monster. :lol:

[quote]No dog laws here in Canada.[/quote] In London ON CA, you can only have 4 dogs or cats or combination thereof. After that you need a special permit. It's rarely enforced - just when there are problems. We are at max capacity. :D

[quote]Well mad as I am ...I use "STOP"(insert name) and "STAY" and then "HERE"....How vierd is daaaaat?[/quote] Man that is CRAAAAAZY! Me I shout "Kavik, Kong, Come" works everytime, of course we spent a while working on this. Zaphod does not have perfect recall yet (maybe never) so . . . get this . . . I DON'T LET HIM PLAY OFFLEASH outside, that way I don't have to worry, and we continue to slowly and patiently work on his recall.

You'll find a great difference once you switch from Ol Roy but Ol Roy is another thread.

[quote]and dont pretend that you are asleep, I saw your eye twitch [/quote] Oh . . . :lol: :lol: :lol: . . . I can so visualize this, sneaky little devils aren't they?

Baking Soda is from the Gods - use it, love it, it is your freind. We have to change the filter on our vacume 2-3x as much as my mom but we have to vacume at least 2x as much and use baking soda or a pet ordour baking soda product evertime, we use it on the carpet AND on the furniture etc the dogs are allowed on. The other tips all sound great by the way, will have to start using some of them. Personally I would be careful on the perfumes though - most scented products have chemicals in them that are designed to help the scent linger and these chemicals have a number of unpleasent side effects (not on skin contact but when inhaled) including some neuralogical and behaviour effects as well as allergy related symptoms of course.

I myself would want 5 min once every 1/4 year at the very least but I guess 2 min would do if that's all I had.

I love that. My Dad often said that he wanted just 2 min, just once in his dogs life where the dog could understand english to explain some very important things, so both of them could be oh so much happier, that letter covers a lot of it.

Tyr our GSD/Malamute foster has 4rth degree (as bad as it gets) HD and the beginnings of osteoarthritis - diagnosed at 8 months. It is not uncommon for this to start early as it is a malformation of the hip socket so its not "an old dogs illness." Our vet has done his own work with HD and from personal observation has concluded that - most dogs see an [b]improvement[/b] in [b]symptoms[/b] after 18 months and do not see [b]symptoms [/b]flaring up as bad again until they reach old age, most [b]symptoms [/b]can be [b]prevented[/b] with Glucosamine and Chondroitine (although the additional supplements Cassie suggested sound great as well) and those symptoms that cannot be prevented can be [b]treated[/b] with uncoated ASA (aspirin) only - not to much though, your vet would know how much for your doggy's weight. I think even if Zebra has HD there will be no problem with an active (but moderate perhaps) level of activity and a very happy, comforatable life. Tyr was very comfortable and playful much of the time after we put him on Glucos/Chondroit (not expensive), occaisionally after too much roughhousing with Zaphod (our fault) he would be stiff getting up and have a slight limp, less then 20 min after giving him ASA he was fine. Good luck!

Way to go Abker - let us know what happens!

Ugg . . . giardia. I have had that once - it's a somewhat common concern for canoeists generally related to canoeing in lakes frequented by beavers and such - it has an affectionate nickname of Beaver Fever amongst canoeists. :lol: We genrally filter or boil or chemically treat our water on smaller still lakes but risk it on larger lakes, only got sick once and didn't get a bad case. We have never worried about the dogs water though as there is just no stopping them from drinking whenever they feel like it with all that water around. With people it just seems to run its course in 8-72 hours or so after symptoms start, never heard of a dog getting it though, poor little thing.

Just out of curiosity will is your goal to have him doggy litter box trained or to have him trained to go outside only?

If you are going to doggy litter box train him put the puppy pades in the doggy litter box. As was said the puppy pads draw them to go there sometimes. If you will be training him to go outside on walks then it is a great deal more difficult but certainly possible. Take him out after feeding, after drinking, after sleeping after playing and anytime you have in between too. Praise him when he goes outside. You can also make use of a shedule with very freqent trips outside. Never let him out of your site, watch his body language and the second he looks like he might need to go take him out. You can employ a schedule, a crate and a great deal of time and effort for dogs with problems with house training, if you'd like to know more let me know but with a 7 week old pup, accidents will happen, just be patient and keep with it, oh and get a good pet ordour remover for the accidents.

That is one very lucky chow, having you there, great job.

How old is Zebra? What is Zebras ideal weight?

If the allergies you are dealing with are mild you can try the following: Allerpet D (or similar product): Can be applied to cloth and wiped over pet once a day to once a week to reduce allergic reactions due to dander etc. Having the allergy suffer wash hands when done playing with pet and especially before eating or sleeping. Also don't rub eyes while playing with pet. Put the cat on a raw food diet or a good high quality cat food - reduces dander/oil or something that causes allergic reactions. Launder cat bedding (when I say bedding I mean whatever the cat adopts as its bed as no cat I have ever known slept in those cat beds his/her owner provided :-? ) regularly - try not to get the allergy sufferer to do this paticular load of laundry if possible. Avoid other sources of allergy irratation. (Takes the pressure of the allergic persons system allowing them to deal with the dander/oil more easily.)

I think tuna also depletes viatmin E in cats. A little now and then is no big deal but as a staple in the diet it can be a problem. There are many options for controlling clawing: sprays, pie tins attatched (temproarily) to furniture, same with balloons, plenty of alternative scratch approved cat toys (liberally doused with catnip), the two way tape is new to me but sounds like it would work excellently, and never forget the old favourite - a water pistol. I have two cats and with the use of a scratchpost, catnip and water pistols my cats almost never claw at things they are not supposed to and we no longer even use the water pistols. Some cats take a bit more work to train than others but it is worth the effort, give it a try before you begin to debate on declawing or not. Enjoy your new family member(s).

Hey Abker that makes a nice point, someone should do an add campaign for responsible breeding/adoption/nueter/spay/dog ownership or something out of that.