Search results

Poppy is getting to that stage in her life when she is becoming picky about her food. She recently decided she doesn't like the taste of salmon anymore, so she has new kibble now and no more salmon oil. Merlin doesn't care, he'll eat anything... Our problem though is giving Poppy her...

I've been away for a week looking after my little granddaughter in Finland. On Saturday OH called me to say Poppy had diarrhea and had refused her afternoon meal. She wouldn't eat anything at all yesterday either - and most worryingly would not drink anything. I told him to try to get her to...

Poppy is not doing so great at the moment. She is definitely deteriorating; in addition to her bad front left elbow she now also seems rather lame on her right front leg (physio says as a result of trying to ease the left leg), and her back legs are losing strength and mobility. She still goes...

On Tuesday night at around 4 am I heard Merlin whimpering quietly downstairs... he desperately needed to go down the garden to do disgusting mounds of sloppy poo. Urgh. :dogpoo:After clearing that lot up I found it hard to get back to sleep, so was tired all day at work. He seems better again...

I know that several of our lovely forum dogs are slowly entering, or are already in, their golden years... Poppy will turn 12 this year (in March), and I know there are several others who will hit this milestone too - Rourke, Harley, Snowie... as well as others who are older. I often think that...

Poor Merls... Woke up this morning obviously in a lot of pain, couldn't walk properly and was holding his back crooked. We are always worried if anything like this happens that it might be his hips, but I suspected a bladder infection as he's also been dripping urine a bit over the weekend while...

Poor little Pops has been limping quite badly on and off for the past few weeks. OH took her to the vet this morning, and although we thought it might be arthritis in her shoulder, it turns out it is in her toes on her front left paw. Treatment is NSAIDs, warmth, gentle walks, no retrieving (!)...

Poor Merly has had diarrhea at night for three days. Since he seemed fine in himself and was eating and drinking normally we didn't worry about it (except that he kept us up at night needing to go into the garden several times). However, this morning we found he had sicked up a clump of grass...

It's a bit hard for me to write this... As you may remember, we first realized that Merlin has really terrible hips when we got him x-rayed when he was about a year old (I was hoping to use him as a stud dog and do competitive dummy work with him, but that was clearly not to be...). The hip...

We had a bit of a day yesterday... First of all I caught Poppy eating dog poo on our walk. This is a truly disgusting habit of hers, and she has become very sneaky and clever about hiding what she is up to. Urgh, I caught her right in flagrante delicto. She got a right royal telling off! Then...

My sweet Billy, died ten years ago today. Always in my heart lovely boy xxx

Very sadly Merlin's litter brother Joe died on Sunday. He was an experienced search-and-rescue dog, and died as a result of a freak accident that happened during training. I am very shocked, and his owners are heartbroken. Only four years old... :'(

My sister has five (!) rescue dogs - one Rhodesian Ridgeback cross, one indeterminate, and three Jura hounds (think long and low, with long ears) - they are all rescues from Greece (except Roxy, the Ridgeback). Sadly she had to have little old Elvis pts last week. I don't know how old he was...

My dear girl - nine years old today. Pictured here with her wonderful Uncle Bones.

Merlin is fine if we go out during the day, but gets upset and barks barks barks if left alone in the evenings. He always has Poppy with him, and she is very chilled and has no issues with being left alone. Of course, we rarely do go out at present, so this hasn't been much of a problem...

Feeling very sad this evening - Poppy had a seizure this afternoon, the first one in getting on for two years. There was no warning, no triggers that I can identify, she just suddenly looked ill, I let her out into the garden as I thought she was going to be sick, and the next thing I know OH is...

I had to go with a friend today to have her dog Tony put to sleep. He was eleven years old, and had developed a large and horrible mast cell tumor. I and another friend went with her, as she has no one else; her husband died six months ago. I've known Tony, who was a Catalan sheepdog, since he...

I thought this an interesting article about pedigree dogs, and specifically Crufts: Crufts and the Human Psyche

I’m 99% sure it’s just normal pigmentation changes... but has anyone else noticed increased freckles on their dog’s testicles? Merlin’s were pink as a puppy, then he got a couple of dark freckles, and these seem to be spreading, but otherwise his balls look completely healthy and normal. Next...

I am feeling very under the weather, and OH has a cold too... luckily our nice neighbour (who often walks and babysits our dogs) was available, and is taking Poppy and Merlin out for a long hike today, with his friend and his young lab Freddie. Poppy and Merlin ADORE Freddie, who is about a year...