Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from us to you..

November..

Happy November!! Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone, today is Missy's 5th Birthday, and now we're counting down to Christmas!! We have lights on the house for the first time this year, 780 of them and we're planning to get more. :) Other than that, I've finished another year of studies, with only 6 months to go until I graduate, and work is the same.

Camp K9..

Blog entry I wrote a few days ago..

Hello from Barrington Tops!! I’m here with Mum and Frankie the dog, and Camp K9 has just ended. What a weekend!! We arrived on Thursday, stopping in Wyong on the way. All up the trip from Sydney took about 4 hours, and it was a fairly easy drive. It started raining shortly after we checked into our cabin but we were lucky, that night was the only rain we had all weekend! It was pouring during the introduction dinner and speeches, Frankie was totally freaking out at the noise of the rain on the tin roof of the hall, plus all the commotion of people, dogs, and the sounds of the microphone. At one point he was shaking so much one of the dog trainers suggested I should take him back to the cabin, so I did. Tip- if you ever come here, bring a torch, and a lot of warm clothing. It’s very cold and dark in the mountains at night!!! (Worse when you’re carrying a shaking dog through the rain with no umbrella and it’s pitch black!) Friday morning we woke up and Frankie was in his happy pants mood, thank God! All of the 40 dogs and 70 people we met were lovely, and he was soon walking around with a wagging tail and smiley face. We attended seminars on Animal Photography, Dog Body Language, and Canine First Aid and Acupuncture. All very informative. By the way, the whole resort is 100% dog friendly- right down to the café, the shop, the bar and the candlelit dinners in the evening. We also did agility- Frankie loved it! He was a little bit concerned by the tunnel but eventually went through, though stopping to lick the floor of the tunnel on the way! He jumped over hurdles but would not jump through hoops (yet!) Saturday morning we went horse riding and left Frankie in the office with the very helpful and lovely staff of Riverwood Downs Mountain Valley Resort. They tell me he actually behaved very well!! My horse’s name was Dorothy and she was lovely too, though my knees and butt have never known such pain as they did after 90 minutes of trail riding up and down hills and across rivers. It was a beautiful experience though. We attended a seminar on multi-dog households (yeah, I’m still thinking about that..) and Frankie did Rally O, which is basically a cross between obedience and agility. He actually did quite well at this, except that I’ve always had him walk on my right and when I needed him to be on my left he kept going behind me! The more popular alternative to this was Treibball, but I picked Rally O for Frankie since he personally has never had any interest in balls! Sunday morning we had a group photo, final words, and another run through of either agility or Rally O. There was a session on tricks, the dogs were given gift bags and certificates when we finished, and then most people packed up and headed home. We decided to stay another night and head back on Monday morning since neither of us have to work Monday and the whole weekend has been so busy, we wouldn’t have even had time to pack the car! We went canoeing this afternoon, which was ridiculous since neither Mum nor I can row to save ourselves. We took Frankie with us and he just layed down on the middle seat, totally unphased by the whole boat thing. Towards the end he decided he wanted to sit in my lap which made it impossible to row, but we were back near the river bank by then anyway. That’s about it.. tonight we pack up and have a dog friendly dinner in the restaurant before we head home in the morning!

When your Animal is not a Party Animal..

“All our dogs are running around. And yours is hiding behind your leg.” Thankyou, lady at the dog park. I had noticed that. And no, I don’t know why. Frankie is a good dog. He’s never aggressive. He’s just shy. He likes to walk around with other dogs. Our trips to the dog park have given him more confidence around humans, seeing how other dogs interact with strangers. But he won’t play. He’s fascinated by trees, fence posts, long blades of grass, and the contents of my bag, but has no interest at all in the Labradors bouncing across the field, or the Foxy chasing his ball. Should that bother me?? It does a little bit, only because I don’t want him to miss out. I have two rabbits, two birds, and two fish. They have each other to experience life with their own species, and for company when I’m not around. I feel bad that Frankie doesn’t, and I’m not in a position to get another dog right now. Not that I think he’d even want it. So should I just give up? My Mum thinks it’s perfect karma- he’s exactly like me. When I was a five year old human, I refused to get involved in any of the extra curricular activities she wanted me to do. I hid behind her leg during play dates. I quit dancing half way through my first lesson- just decided I did not want to do this, let’s go home. Much like Frankie heading for the gate to the carpark. I get it- he is who he is, and he’s probably never going to be a social butterfly pooch. I think that’s ok, as long as he’s kind to everybody. :)

Bunnies in the Backyard.. Ruby and Peter.

Further Thoughts on Felines..

A couple of weeks ago, my boss said one of those things that, as a Vet Nurse, you never really want to hear: “We’re going to be working with more feral cats soon.” A lot of the work we do at this clinic involves desexing, vaccinations and microchipping for rescue organisations to prepare their animals for rehoming, and as it turns out, another organisation wants us to work with their cats. Of course this is a good thing- the slight downside is that in my experience, only about 50% of cats like humans- and that’s among cats who are tame and live in houses with people. I’m sure they love their owners, but Veterinary staff during a procedure, not so much. Compare this to 90% of dogs, who will happily wag their tails when you approach, even if they’ve never met you before in their lives. It’s not that I don’t like cats- I do like them. They’re pretty great versions of what they are; I love to watch them experience the world by batting things with their paws, it’s quite amusing to watch them stalk around as if they think they are a tiger, and it’s very sweet when they come over and cuddle up to you. But I like them the same way I like giraffes- that is, I have never really wanted to live with one in my home. Maybe it’s just that I can’t picture a scratching post in the living room, the way I could always picture a leash in my house, even before I adopted Frankie. Maybe I’m just not a “cat person” and therefore I don’t “get it”, but I am an ‘animal lover’ and extremely frustrated with the recent influx of cats wandering my neighbourhood. I’ve ready studies over the years stating the lifespan of an outdoor cat is on average less than 5 years, while an indoor cat can live anywhere from 12-20 years. I’ve seen the diseases, fight wounds and cat bite abscesses outdoor cats gets. I’ve seen cats that have been hit by cars, and the ones roaming my street have almost been hit by me in my car far too many times. I’ve also seen animals poisoned by angry neighbours because their owners make no effort to keep them quiet at night, and while I would never do a terrible thing like that, I am pretty pissed off when I hear “MRRRROWWWWW!!” at 2am. But what I mostly don’t understand is how people can just let their pets wander out the door, counting on the hope that they’ll be fine and come home safely. I would never put any one of my fur babies in danger like that. I won’t even let Frankie off leash in the front yard because I KNOW he has no road sense. It’s just irresponsible pet ownership, not to mention against the law and inconsiderate. I hear people say “Ohh but they WANT to go outside, they meow all the time..” Yes, well, your 5-year-old child probably WANTS lollies for breakfast, but come on, you know better, don't you?

Winter in Sydney..

Once again, Winter is here. Hard to believe half the year is almost over! In a few weeks another semester of classes starts, only a year to go until I graduate. It may not snow in the suburbs of Sydney, but it has certainly been cold enough in the mornings and at night! Frankie is extra snuggly and spending more time in his (seven) beds, and taking full advantage of his cute face's ability to make me carry him up the stairs! We've had a lot of phone calls at the Vet clinics from owners with dogs suffering from arthritis, which I've had to answer with my left hand because a Fox Terrier bit my right thumb. I guess It had to happen eventually, and it did last Tuesday. It seemed like no big deal until I woke up on Wednesday morning and it had swollen to twice its normal size. After a week of antibiotics and a pretty big bandage, it's much better but may still have some nerve damage. Time will tell. Last Thursday, Frankie did a photoshoot with a dog photographer. The guy was a little, uh, different.. he commented that Frankie is an "old soul", an observer, very serious.. which he is- but then he started talking about how 'unclear it is' what he 'may have been in a past life'.. and that was the end of that conversation for me lol.