Poppy's favourite balls are the Chuck-Its. Blue & Orange for daytime (I have to have the next ball lined up in the chucker, ready to throw again, or she won't let go of the first when she brings it back!)
Thats the ones weve got , on 2nd pack because I've the worlds worst retriever ) and weve lost the 1st lot over time.
I think I'm on my 3rd pack, some losses are my own fault due to throwing them into long grass never to be seen again. However several are the dog's fault because she insists on sticking her head down rabbit holes with ball in mouth and then dropping it. They go in way too deep to get out again. They do float which is good but if I throw it too far Hazel just says nope, I ain't swimming out that far. Hazel is not a strong swimmer. The squeaks don't last long when chewed on enough and the squeaky bit falls out inside the ball where it just rattles around. Hazel has the knack for disassembling them - the orange bit peels off. Hazel has one ball in the house which despite being identical to the others lying around is her special ball. We try swapping them around to fool her but no - she knows which is which and that one ball she babies and carries it around - even takes it to bed with her. Despite all this - and the high purchase price - they are still the best balls and definitely Hazel's favourite. Our other two dogs don't care much about balls at all.
Whilst the dog will happily carry his ball to the park and back, one of his games that will probably get at least one of us killed, is to lob the ball into the road going down hills or sometimes waiting to cross the road and then try and drag me after it.I think I'm on my 3rd pack, some losses are my own fault due to throwing them into long grass never to be seen again. However several are the dog's fault because she insists on sticking her head down rabbit holes with ball in mouth and then dropping it. They go in way too deep to get out again. They do float which is good but if I throw it too far Hazel just says nope, I ain't swimming out that far. Hazel is not a strong swimmer. The squeaks don't last long when chewed on enough and the squeaky bit falls out inside the ball where it just rattles around. Hazel has the knack for disassembling them - the orange bit peels off. Hazel has one ball in the house which despite being identical to the others lying around is her special ball. We try swapping them around to fool her but no - she knows which is which and that one ball she babies and carries it around - even takes it to bed with her. Despite all this - and the high purchase price - they are still the best balls and definitely Hazel's favourite. Our other two dogs don't care much about balls at all.
I've managed to get a pack of 3 Kong balls from Pets At Home for £4. But I might consider looking at those Chuk-It balls and seeing if my dog takes to them.
Yes I had to Google it myself. Affects only certain breeds (Dacshunds is one!) and is idiopathic but with possible genetic involvement. Not much is known for sure about causes but I was advised to let the breeder know because no more litters are to be bred from that pairing. Neither is a dog who suffered from it to be bred (but we had no intention of doing that anyway). We took Lyra off one medication and today started the high dose of Prednisolone + NSAID which is itself a source of side effects. She'll be on it for maybe a month and then treatment tailed off and close health monitoring continued. Horses can also get Strangles but the two diseases not are not related.I've not heard of that either!
Poor pup. Sounds awful.
They are so adorable!
Last night up the mountain dog went crazy as saw some sheep. Dread dropping the lead or it snapping or something. No idea how far he'd go!Just had a pretty horrid 10 minutes out walking our dog. She (Lola) was on a retractable lead, I dropped the handle, with it being a retractable lead it started winding itself back in towards her, scraping on the concrete road as it went along making a fairly loud noise, this spooked her (she a quite nervous dog regards sounds etc) and she ran off. I tried to run after and was shouting her but being as I'm fat and totally unfit I fell over gashing my elbow.
Thankfully she ran home which was about 200 meters away, but it was a horrible few minutes not knowing where she'd gone. When I dropped the lead we were 20 meters from a busy main road, had she ran that way
I've patched my elbow up best I can, had no first aid stuff at home so had to go to the chemist. Could have been much worse and I'm looking on it as a wakeup call. I'm not using a retractable lead again in case I drop it again and spook her. Going to use a traditional lead that I can put my hand right through and loop around my hand. Love her to bits, would've been heartbroken had anything happened to her.
