sadie m

We all know that going to a dog park has it's risks, but this situation happened to me a couple of months ago and I'm just wondering what your take is on it.

I take my dog, a large border collie/greyhound mix (but mostly border collie in looks and demeanor) to the dog park on a regular basis. My dog is very intent on his ball and mostly ignores other dogs. He is not agressive in any way, and usually runs to me when threatened.

It's not a huge park but it is fenced in. There are several ladies in the neighbourhood who do pug rescue and at any given time there can be upwards of 15 pugs in the park at once. Some of whom can't walk or see well.

I was throwing the ball for him when a pug ran at him and started yapping, nipping and got underneath him. In the confusion my dog picked they other dog up by the scruff and threw him. The pug was fine but I felt awful. It looked really bad.

I feel my dog was just defending himself, but the size difference made it look worse.

Due to some bad weather and really bad luck, I have two strikes against me on my policy in one year (I was insured for ten years with this company). They have refused to renew my policy and are referring me to a new company at a 0 star rating. The new rate is rediculously high.

Am I better to suck it up and pay the rate, sell my car and forget about driving for a while or look for a new policy?

My boyfriend will be driving through labrador in July. The idea of 1,200 km of dirt road kind of scares me. Has anyone ever done this?

What should we do to prepare ourselves? What are the road conditions like? How long did it take you? and anything else you'd like to add.

thanks

My guppies had their babies a two weeks ago. How long does it take for them to become full grown? When can you tell what sex they are?

I live on a fairly busy street, which has a lot of traffic; both foot and car. I have an old tree in my front yard that was very healthy before someone started pouring what appears to be motor oil on it. What bothers me is that it poisoning the rest of my garden so that none of my perenials came up last year in the corner where the tree was. I've tried to call the city to find out what my rights are but apparently it's not a big issue. I've noticed another tree on my block with a similar black stain around the bottom. I can only assume that someone in the neighbourhood (which isn't the best) has a dislike for trees. Is there anyway to clean up this environmental disaster before my whole garden is destroyed?