[deathwalkr]

Always welcome

Just remember not to go by the LFS guy's words of "wisdom" unless you know the guy personally. Most of them are just out to make a quick buck.

Enough and more forums on the net to get you started up on. And heck, am always jobless ready to help in what little way i can

[archat68]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Hi and welcome to the fishy side of this thread

First up those two look like a good pair of gold fishes. But would suggest you to get a conventional rectangular tank instead of that bowl.

More info here:
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information/fish_bowls.htm

Unlike conventional wisdom, goldfishes are best kept in large tanks or ponds where they really thrive and grow up to become such beautiful treasures.

They eat and crap a lot so that water is going to get messed up in no time. Get a betta

I agree. Fish bowls are the most cruel things to fish especially goldfish. Goldfishes eat lot and produces lots of waste. They will also grow big if proper care is taken. In a 2 feet aquarium even two large goldfish produces enough waste to completely choke an external canister filter in two months (my personal experience).

If you must keep fishes in bowl try small fishes like Guppy, Swordfish and Molly.

Pls return the Goldfish ASAP to the aquarium shop immediately if you love them. Believe me they will not survive there. :( .

[khoj]

Thank you dexter78, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by dexter78

Sorry for the delayed reply, the contact details are as follows, Dr Anju Singhal, Give her a call and check the details. Will also ask her for the photos over the weekend. (in case she asks for a reference tell her you heard it from ‘Bingos’ Owner

[swiftnfurious]

We have 3 pets in the family for long now. 1 cat & 2 dogs. One of them is a 3 month labrador who we bought a month back. Its a girl & named Sandy as she came home during that time & was storming around the home biting everything in her sight.

The problem is that no one at home is good in rearing pets. All they do (well, am not home most of the time. Though I am neither good in grooming pets, my exposure is slightly better since my friends have pets.) is feed them & give bath once in a while.

Now my parents want a dog for guarding the house & they bought a lab - I knew it after buying, so could not help. I will need tips to make sure how can we keep her healthy & what all precations do we need to take.

The other dog is a dashhound & is 8 years old male. My dad doesn't spend much time taking care of dogs either & usually these are taken to hospitals only once anything serious happens & after a fair amount of shouting. We had a female dashhound too & it died 3 months before, was diagnosed with hernia & underwent surgery. That shattered me quite a bit as I still believe proper diagnosing, treatment & care would have ensured a longer life for it. I really didn't want them to buy a dog after the incident, but they don't seem to bother. I don't want such an instance to repeat though, so trying to understand more about the breed & tips for it.

[hooloovoo]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

We have 3 pets in the family for long now. 1 cat & 2 dogs. One of them is a 3 month labrador who we bought a month back. Its a girl & named Sandy as she came home during that time & was storming around the home biting everything in her sight.

The problem is that no one at home is good in rearing pets. All they do (well, am not home most of the time. Though I am neither good in grooming pets, my exposure is slightly better since my friends have pets.) is feed them & give bath once in a while.

Now my parents want a dog for guarding the house & they bought a lab - I knew it after buying, so could not help. I will need tips to make sure how can we keep her healthy & what all precations do we need to take.

A few tips that will help.
1. The puppy is biting things because she's teething. Feed her ice, it numbs the gums and will give her some relief. Frozen carrots/ bananas are also good treats. You can keep her from chewing on furniture by spraying them with vinegar or bitter apple spray.
2. The puppy needs to be vaccinated against rabies, at the very least. Since she's pure-bred, it would be good for her to get vaccinated against diseases like parvo as well. It is important that you don't fall behind the vaccination schedule.
3. Labradors are intelligent, high energy dogs. Tire your puppy out with play sessions. This is a good time to teach her basic commands like sit, come and heel. Puppies learn really quickly and the training will definitely help when she grows up. Groom her once a week with a good brush and that will help reduce the shedding also.
4. Labradors are good family pets, but very poor guard dogs. They love the company of people and they love to romp and play. Please, try not to chain her or put her in a cage. It makes them bored and destructive. If your parents want a dog to guard the house, a puppy off the street would have been a better choice. Indian dogs need bare-minimum maintenance, are very hardy, intelligent, shed less and love you no less than a pure-bred dog.
5. Regular check-ups can prevent a lot of issues. Please try to take your dogs and cat to the vet once in three months, or six months.
6. Put a flea collar on your dogs, or dot some Advantix on them. Tick fever is a very serious disease and is often fatal.
7. Last but not the least, food. It is not necessary to feed your dogs packaged food. In fact, it would be better to feed them a nutritious home-cooked meal than low-quality junk like Pedigree. A mixture of brown rice, dal, veggies and meat is good for dogs.

I have a lot more to say, but will stop for now I wish you happy times with your new puppy!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Now my parents want a dog for guarding the house & they bought a lab

Ah.

Well, I guess there is a certain deterrent value value in a dog of any kind, and even a labrador will protect its own if it feels they are threatened, but a labrador is a friendly dog. They might find it hosting midnight parties with the intruders!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

The problem is that no one at home is good in rearing pets. All they do (well, am not home most of the time. Though I am neither good in grooming pets, my exposure is slightly better since my friends have pets.) is feed them & give bath once in a while.

Now my parents want a dog for guarding the house & they bought a lab - I knew it after buying, so could not help. I will need tips to make sure how can we keep her healthy & what all precations do we need to take.

The other dog is a dashhound & is 8 years old male. My dad doesn't spend much time taking care of dogs either & usually these are taken to hospitals only once anything serious happens & after a fair amount of shouting. We had a female dashhound too & it died 3 months before, was diagnosed with hernia & underwent surgery. That shattered me quite a bit as I still believe proper diagnosing, treatment & care would have ensured a longer life for it. I really didn't want them to buy a dog after the incident, but they don't seem to bother. I don't want such an instance to repeat though, so trying to understand more about the breed & tips for it.

What people who want the protection of a guard dog but with diminished responsibility, should do, is to adopt an Indian Stray rather than a highly pedigreed dog.
Feed the stray and let him or her sleep within the house compound and no burglar will even dare come close.
I do not and will never support anyone who just gets a dog and then cant be bothered to take care of the poor thing. That is unfair on the animal.
it may seem that I am always on the side of the animals, never on the side of human beings but my experiences in this world make me feel very strongly about this.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Ah.

Well, I guess there is a certain deterrent value value in a dog of any kind, and even a labrador will protect its own if it feels they are threatened, but a labrador is a friendly dog. They might find it hosting midnight parties with the intruders!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

....I do not and will never support anyone who just gets a dog and then cant be bothered to take care of the poor thing. That is unfair on the animal.
it may seem that I am always on the side of the animals, never on the side of human beings but my experiences in this world make me feel very strongly about this.

I am equally frustrated about this. But as I said, I came to know about the dog only after they brought it home. So the only thing I can try & do is to minimize the damage. Had a big argument that day & seems like my brother might take it to his house.

Edit:

Originally Posted by hooloovoo

A few tips that will help...

I have a lot more to say, but will stop for now I wish you happy times with your new puppy!

Thanx a lot.

[Jeroen]

At present we don't have any pets. For the last 27 years my wife and I have always owned cats. My wife grew up with a lot of dogs as well. Her mother used to breed boxers. But I'm not that big on dogs. But I do like cats.

Of course, when our kids where small we had a whole host of different animals at one point or the other; hamsters, guinea pigs, gold fish etc.

Our cats have always moved with us across the world. However, when we learned we were moving from Kansas City, USA to Delhi, India we felt that it might be a bit too much for our 12 year old Daisy. We thought she might not cope well with the very long flight. So we dropped her off with our daughter in the Netherlands.

http://jeroendorrestein.com/Frances%...nsas_City.html

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

At present we don't have any pets. For the last 27 years my wife and I have always owned cats. My wife grew up with a lot of dogs as well. Her mother used to breed boxers. But I'm not that big on dogs. But I do like cats.

Of course, when our kids where small we had a whole host of different animals at one point or the other; hamsters, guinea pigs, gold fish etc.

Our cats have always moved with us across the world. However, when we learned we were moving from Kansas City, USA to Delhi, India we felt that it might be a bit too much for our 12 year old Daisy. We thought she might not cope well with the very long flight. So we dropped her off with our daughter in the Netherlands.

http://jeroendorrestein.com/Frances%...nsas_City.html

Man, I want that robot! Still, the princess at my place is a little too used to having people around all the time (she's a housecat for obvious reasons). Don't think a robot can replace a cuddle or a scratch to the neck.

[hooloovoo]

This is Honey. She's a four month old Labrador puppy who was abandoned by her family because one of her hind legs is missing a joint and is stiff. She is now at our shelter, awaiting surgery to fix her leg. She's a happy, friendly girl and needs to go to a loving home in Hyderabad/ Secunderabad soon. Please help spread the word and help Honey find a family!

.

[akshay4587]

Dog lovers are going to love this.
http://gizmodo.com/5967132/watch-the...n-your-grandma

How about training our pets

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by hooloovoo

This is Honey..

hooloovoo, if you can you provide the details of the shelter you mentioned, I'm sure it would be easier to spread the word. We all will surely do our best to help.

Our very best wishes to Honey for her surgery, and we hope she finds the loving home and family she deserves!

Cheers,
Rahul

[hooloovoo]

Originally Posted by voodoochild

hooloovoo, if you can you provide the details of the shelter you mentioned, I'm sure it would be easier to spread the word. We all will surely do our best to help.

Our very best wishes to Honey for her surgery, and we hope she finds the loving home and family she deserves!

Cheers,
Rahul

Thank you, Rahul! The shelter is called Caring Hands For Animals(CHFA) and we work in and around Hyderabad. You can find us on Facebook. The kind ladies who run the NGO are not very internet-savvy, so we do not have a proper website yet.

[Abhi_abarth]

Originally Posted by hooloovoo

The shelter is called Caring Hands For Animals(CHFA) and we work in and around Hyderabad..

Thanks for the details. Have added them in my FB a/c. Hope I can help them.