Louise

I'm confused as to the relative value of vaccinations. Having read around the subject I feel that 3 year vaccination is adequate for most canine diseases apart from kennel cough. The thing I couldn't work out is the danger of yearly vaccination. I need to make a decision shortly as my dogs are due for their vaccinations in June. I'm so used to the yearly regimen, and if their are no side effects from yearly then I will continue with this. But I don't want to expose my dogs to unnecessary dangers.DDoes anybody know the answer? My vet says yearly is better.

My dog has taken to barking to get me out of bed in the morning. I have 3 dogs who sleep in the lounge at night (they have a doggy door so they can get into the garden). Anyway my shitzu maltese cross has worked out that if he barks, once every 3 seconds, in the morning I get out of bed. I'm not getting up late, at worst I'd LOVE to sleep in until 8am. If I tell him shh, which he responds to if I'm near him he completely ignores me. He'll go outside and do the same thing if his first option from the lounge doesn't work, this always results in me getting up as I have nieghbours and I don't want him to annoy them. I used awater pistol to stop his barking at me in the past. Now I just have to show him it and he stops barking. Anyway, I would love to wake up on my own terms or at least not to the sound of a barking dog. Any suggestions? Help...

He's walked 2 to 3 times a day. I train them all 2- 3 times a day. He's a smart little dog.. I need to outwit him.

Hi my 6 year old fit healthy shitzu maltese cross has kennel cough. He's fully vaccinated and hes never been to kennels, I look after him really well. What can I do to help him through. He's on Augmentin, I took him to the vet yesterday. He's only been sick for 24 hours now with a nasty hacking cough. What else can I do to make him feel better? The vet suggested cough medicine if he can't sleep but he slept well last night and I think its better for him to cough up his secretions. Any help for him would be much appreciated. I have 2 other dogs who are also fully vaccinated, the vet said it was to late to quarentine him, how likely are they to get sick aswell?

I have a 16 week old dachshund who was doing great on the house training, I thought. Now I've realised that he only goes outside when I take him out. If I don't he'll just poo and pee where he fancies. Last night he peed next to his bed. I have two other dogs who go outside. There's a dog door and when I'm not at home I leave it propped open so he can easily get out. I clean up with Biozet biological cleaner so no smell is left. That's what I've been cleaning the whole floor with. He'll pee infront of me in the house which I ignore and just clean up. When I'm at home home I take him out every 2 hours which seems to be about right. I say GO PEE when he does the right thing. Anyway at the puppy class the vet said they should be trained by now. He can understand sit, stay, lay down. What am I doing wrong or is it just to early to expect him to have learnt yet.

Hi, I am moving to a house with cream carpets that have been steam cleaned but still have a really bad dust line around the edge. Is there anyway or any company I can get that can clean it off for me?

\Thanks

I cleaned up but it smells.How can I get rid of the smell? It's carpet.

HI,

I want to grow some lawn in a planter box in a back yard. How do I do it? How deep does the planter box need to be? Thanks

My 15 week old 3.6kg pup has a piece of chicken neck stuck in his small bowel. It's moved about 2 cm in 24 hrs. He's at the Bondi Junction vet hospital in Sydney on a drip. They are suggesting an operation. They said they can do it or I can take him to the Small Animal hospital in Ryde (In Sydney). I'm not sure of the risks. He's small but a well pup. Should I take him to a specialised centre. It would be less traumatic for him at Bondi... that's where we've done out puppy classes. But how big is the risk? Is it better to take him to Ryde?

I have 2 unneutered male dogs and one that I got already neutered. The thing is I get conflicting advice on castrating. Both the unneutered dogs are well behaved, not aggressive (mini long haired daschunds). I never take them anywhere they may meet large unneutered dogs. they don't mark or go chasing bitches and I generally don't have any reason to have them done. So my concern is their long term health. I spoke to my vet yesterday and he said that prostatic hypertrophy and prostate cancer were extremely rare in unneutered males. The thing is that I have read and heard alternative opinions. Once from a vet . My vet has always been extremely good. i just wanted to open this up and see if anyone else had any advice before I finalise my decision. My older dog is 5 and fit and healthy and I guess it's a good age to recover from an operation should I decide to go that way.

Thanks

I have a 5 year old shitzu maltese cross who is a pain in the neck sometimes. He is quite a hyperactive dog so I walk him at least twice a day, train him etc. He's pretty obedient and when I have him out walking I always have him walking behind me with my other dog a daschund. Anyway I have run out of ideas for getting him to stop having a go at other dogs when were out walking on the lead. He's fine off lead, although he always rushes up to other dogs very forcibly but then sniffs and settles down and usuially plays with them. When he's on the lead I can never tell what he's going to do with other dogs. About 30% of the time he'll start to bark aggressively and carry on. I wonder if he's protecting my daschund who has been attacked twice by a neighbours dog ( I had him on the lead, the other dog was off lead) and tends to be a bit scared of big dogs. The thing is I'm supposed to be in charge and he should be expecting me to protect him. MMaybe I'm not projecting a strong enough energy.

The other thing is when he does this I don't know the best way to handle him. At present I pull him back behind me and tell him off, but this iws not changing anything.

any help wouyld be appreciated.

Hithere,

I have 2 dogs and recently bought a new pup. He's been here for 2.5 weeks and the problem is one of my old dogs, a shitzu-maltese cross who is 6 years old, won't accept him at all at the house. He's very protective of him outside the house, but at home he growls at him constantly and if he's playing he'll actually have a go at him, his teeth bared and quite aggressively. He never actually bites him, just pushes him down. My other dog a 5 year old mini long haired daschund (same breed as the pup) took about a week but he plays with him, lets him crawl all over him and is generally quite wellcoming. I'm taking them for 3 walks a day, feeding plenty of treats, giving everyone plenty of cuddles so they are occupied all the time. I just don't know hoiw to make things better. I thought he may be a bit of a problem as he's quite a grumpy dog, but the attacks are a bit much. I intervene and tell the old dog off and he looks at me as though I've betrayed him. I don't know whether to just let him "discipline" the pup and they'll work it out for themselves or whether to continue intervening. Any help would be greatly valued. Thanks

I tried to find out whether this was human grade food or not. I tried the company, No response, does anyone know. Also I bought a test pack and neither of my dogs would touch it. It was the lamb version. Even my piggy dog turned his nose up at it and he eats anything. Is there any suggestions on how to start them off. I want them to be on the best diet I can find, but I need something that's available commercially in Australia

I can't work out from the product info whether it is ok for my 2.5kg pup to have exelpet all-wormer for small dogs and puppies. The product has a picture of a pup on the front saying suitable for pups>5.1kg, but the dosing schedule suggests to use one chew piece up to 5kg body weight. i don't want to poison my pup. Can anyone help?

Hi,

He's 10 weeks old and normally chews them up and then eats them. This time he just stuffed the whole thing in. It was about half a chicken neck. This was about 4 hours ago and he seems fine at the moment. Can he digest it? I'm watching him closely, but im a bit worried...

I have a new pup and would like to go. Is it next sunday? and what time?

I have just bought a new pup who arrives in a week and wanted some advice on introducing him to my other dogs. I have a 5 year old very social dacshund and a less social 6 year old Maltese/shitzu cross. They are both boys and so is the new pup who will be 10 weeks old when he arrives. My dogs have their own area in the back garden and sleep in the back of the house together. I have bought the pup a crate and plan to put him in their area in this. I just don't know the best way to introduce them all. At home or in a park? Any advice would be great.

Hi there, I want to grow some lawn in my backyard, but it is completely concreted over. I want to raise an area by 2 brick heights then put soil then roll out lawn on top of this. Will this work? I'm worried about drainage and wondered if anyone had any suggestions. I don't want to end up with a swimming pool. I live in an area where we have drought then terrential downpours.

Hi there,

I have a 5 year old dog a nd I want to show him. I have been to dog shows and he easily matches the breed standard. The problem is I don't have papers for him so I dont know whether I can enter or not?

Cheers