Xmas is a month away now. So have you made arrangements for your dog to be looked after during your holiday? Dog boarding kennels get very busy this time of the year and they get booked well ahead of time. If you haven't got a family member who can look after your dog during the holiday there's always the option of contracting the services of a pet sitter. If you do decide on a pet sitter make sure: person has public liability insurance, is police checked, do check references, meet person ahead of time so you know what she/ he is like and it gives you enough time to organise all the details. If you are away at New Years eve make sure your dog is safely confined during fireworks night. Many dogs get so scared with fireworks they can even jump fences. Preferably have someone to stay with them that night and keep them indoors. And don't forget: if you dog hasn't been microchipped please do it asap and put an ID on its collar as well. Its wise and if your dog ever gets out whoever finds him/her will have how to contact dog's owner.  Have a safe Xmas.

During February 2009 bushfires I came in close contact with the wonderful job organisations like the Animal Aid and Project Horse Hope did to help the hundreds of distressed, burnt, injured animals that came to their centres. And the immediate on site help they provided to the furry creatures in need.  We all know of the wonderful job the RSPCA and The Lost Dogs Home do for the animal welfare. But I have to say the first 2 organisations above were superb considering they had less resources to manage very difficult circumstances. They were restless. Pet Pals helped with financial donations to Animal Aid, Project Horse Hope and Help for Widlife. We delivered van loads of goods to the Coldstream and Gippsland areas. I went shopping for the animals everywhere - pet shops- leads, bowls, collars, toys , saddleries - halters, fly veils, vet wraps, insect repellant and stockfood suppliers, vets - medicine, bandages, seringes, supermarket- parrot, wild birds seeds, possum and koala baby food- you name it. It was such a  tragic loss of human and animal life. My horse agistment boarded 12 horses from affected bushfire areas. Beautiful animals! They stayed there until their owners could rebuild their fences and to have them back safely in their properties. I just hope this summer is a milder one. But it's getting hot too early in the year already.

Bounty's (my stockhorse) girlfriend - the mare he was besotted with was put down yesterday morning. I came to check on my horses and she was been taken to the stable area. Bounty was distressed and screaming for her. She hurt her eye very badly at the fence and the owner didn't have enough money to treat her. She was a 25 yo standardbred mare, ex- harness racing horse. I still tried to talk to owner, offered to help treat her eye but no... It is so sad. I didn't want to stay to see it happening. I asked my horse vet the other day who earns more money, a small animal vet or a horse vet? I was curious to know because all horse vet bills are pretty high. But he said people will spend a lot more money to save a cat or a dog's life than to save a horse, specially an old horse. They are considered livestock, not pets. And I've heard of people spending up to Aus$ 10,000 to save a dog via expensive surgery.  I am no one to judge people but I think any pet or horse deserves a chance to be treated when injured. Reality can be shocking sometimes...

During summer try to exercise your dog during the coolest part of the day- early morning is the best or at dusk. Sprinkle some water on you dog after the walk so he cools down. Have 2 or 3 water bowls spread around the backyard so if sun rotates at least 1 of them is in a shady spot. You can put few ice cubes or an ice block inside your dog water bowl before you leave to work. They love it if on a hot day you put a filled kong in the freezer and you leave it out for them so they'll be busy licking it away and it'll be very refreshing for them, like an icy pole. In very intense heat - 36 C  check if possible to leave your dog indoors in  a cool area or to have someone to come to check him for you middle of the day and to cool him down.

Beach off leash areas summer regulations are now on. It started from 1 November. Please check you local Council website for permitted times and hours. Fines are expensive and council beach inspectors do patrol the beaches in summer in motorbikes.  Have a happy summer!

Some of the dogs that come to attend this course have done puppy school, others haven't and that's fine by me. Any dogs over 5 months of age can enroll in this course. I have been teaching at the Edithvale Scout Hall for 2 years now. I do enjoy the venue a lot and we use the outside area at the back of the Hall, lovely shade from the trees but at the Chelsea Heights Scout Hall - Bonbeach I started this year - it is located just beside the Bonbeach dog off leash area and it's a great combination of indoor and outdoor space. The last Level 1 group that just concluded the course there were very keen students. Top marks for all of them. And we are about to start another Level 1 Basics at Bonbeach next week on Wednesday eve 18/11 at 7:40pm. It's going to be a 6 week course and it'll go until the Xmas week Wed 23/12. Then we'll have a break and restart mid January 11 at Edithvale and a bit later in January at Bonbeach. All dogs should do a basic dog training course in their lives. It's a good foundation for many aspects that dog and owner will face in their lives, situations they'll encounter. It gives the owner some powerful strategies on how to effectively communicate and manage his dog, teach him some basic manners, how to respect people, how to walk on the lead, recall techniques, commands, attention and some fun games and tricks to enjoy with their dog.

It would be a great idea for the first time puppy owners when they got the new puppy that they used the services of a dog trainer to help settling puppy in the new home and get things right from the start, specially if family has little kids at home. It would make life much easier and it would avoid problems and of puppy getting bad habits while young. Puppies learn very fast and the earlier you start training them the better. A private consultation to the family home would be strongly recommended followed by enrolling puppy in  a puppy pre-school course by a qualified Delta Society dog trainer. So puppy would learn basic commands and he'd have the first contact with other puppies and start nice dog interaction through puppy play.

I am not particularly found of the idea of giving pets to people and kids as Xmas gifts.

Pets are a long term commitment and people should buy them after giving the idea some serious thought and not to buy them on impulse. When someone buys a pet they need to consider not only the purchase cost but:

- DOGS: feeding cost, dogs need to be walked everyday otherwise they may show some nuisance behaviour issues like - excessive barking, digging the backyard, chewing things - cost of occasional visits to a vet, dogs need toys, a kennel,  a bed, dog leads, worming and vaccinations, to be enrolled in a dog training school - so they can get trained before bad habits start, so owner sets them for success in life and an enjoyable lifelong partnership, when people go away on holidays they'll need someone to look after them or a place to be boarded at. Kids may like the idea of having pets but they need to learn to help looking after them as well, pets are not toys that can be put on a shelf at the end of the day, they have ongoing needs. Many people end up dumping Xmas pets at the local animal shelters when the novelty wears off or when reality kicks in - dogs start growing up and if not put early in some form of training few things are likely to start going wrong, or person realizes that she doesn't have time for them, that their life is too busy as it is, costs add. So please choose to have a pet when the time is right for you and your family. You'll get to enjoy it a lot more.  But if you do decide to get a dog this Xmas, put it through dog school as soon as possible. Give it the best chance in life to really be your best friend, a pet you look forward coming back to at the end of each working day. And treat it with the dignity it deserves.

Bounty my 17 yo stockhorse hurt his check ligament recently, front left leg. It was quite a bit of damage but he is not lame. I bandaged him for 10 days and now I just have to wait healing time. No riding for 4 months. I had a very hard year with him. In December 08 he hurt tendon on the other leg, just superficial, trying to get to the Brumby mare next paddock. January he cut himself pretty bad on barbed wire fence. I took months to heal. Then he started to paw at fences really bad habit. I ignored him when he did. I remember the Delta dog training classes- if pawing gets him no attention he's likely to stop doing it. Vet found out he had sand in the bowel and needed to release it. So I used psyllium husk mixed into his feed and sand came out in poo. With dry soil they sometimes can ingest some sand while eating and cannot get rid of it. Then Bounty had a hoof abcess. It's been a lot of work. James, the 25 yo thoroguhbred has been fine. A bit of arthritis but I treat him with Pentosan Equine and he does well with it. They get many supplements. James is on Omega 3 and 6 and on Glycosamine powder. He certainly doesn't look his age. Always adorable and after cuddles. I call him my little old man. Bounty always bossy boots with him. Bounty is besotted with the new mare on front paddock. He paces up and down to check her out. He is a gelding but adores the girls. I had a mare in his paddock for a while but he was so rude with her she jumped the fence and moved to the other paddock. He was a bully with her. Lots of food in the paddock but I still feed them a bit extra for nutrients. I have been washing all their summer rugs. Insects are starting to bite and they need their white cottons all day. I am keen to wash the horses but with water restrictions...

Flop has been sad. He was morning his cage mate so much on Sun 1/11, not eating, looking to the walls and I have to keep him indoors due to heat and to get him to spend time with me as much as possible. I got him a stuffed toy bunny to keep him company. I gave him a bath today. He looked so funny all wet! My husband Ross wants to change his name to Doobie since we called both bunnies Flip & Flop but now Flip is gone. Our last rabbit Ubi lived 12 years so to loose Flip at 5yo was really cruel. I still haven't got over it yet. I thought buying another bunny to keep Flop company but I don't think so, not for now at least. Flop by itself doesn't make sense as a name, we'll probably change it. Any ideas of good names anyone? We are buying a bigger indoor cage for him as this summer will be pretty hot and he'll have to live indoors quite a bit. He's been with me while I cook dinner a lot.  I am mat training him at the moment so he stays on mat for longer periods of time. He's very inquisitive. But he still doesn't like being picked up much. He does enjoy company tough.

Rabbits and guinea pigs are extremely heat sensitive. They should be kept indoors when you know weather is going to be hot. They dehidrate very easily and can die in temperatures of even 33 C and in days of high humidity. Don't take any chances with them. Keep them safe indoors. Don't overfeed them in hot days, change water regularly so they have access to cool water. Feed them a bit of vegies or fruit with some water content like celery tops, little apple dices, bok choy during hot days. You can put an ice block inside the cage on these days and you can sprinkle them with a bit of cold water during the hottest part of the day. Keep them in room well ventilated, with blinds or curtains shut - no direct sunlight when hot.  If you go away from October up to March - hot months - keep them indoors.  They take time to get used to sudden hot weather so the initial Spring heat waves can be quite dangerous.