The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

ShaShaBear

TopTec wrote: »

under my pillow one morning

Kovu

Don't like spiders at all either! But they don't make me run away like maggots do
Had to brave my spider fear last night, Mr Kovu the Lord of boldness brought in a huge mouse that was very much alive and let it loose in my parents bedroom. It was hiding behind the blanket box (remember those things you saved for with tokens from Super Valu :P) and I pulled it out to throw a towel over the wee bugger. He was cowering in a corner beside a HUGE black spider. I swear it must have been on steroids. Ugh....so flung the towel over the two of them and shrieking like a banshee and hopping like I was in hot coals, ran down the hallway and threw all out onto the lawn. Must have looked a right eejit if anyone had seen me!

tk123

I'm fine with spiders most of the time - as long as they're not beside my face lol!! There was a HUGE one on my pillow last year(!)

Anyways in St Annes market this morning and before I could refuse/intervene "Say hello to the doggy" and a toddler is in Lucy's face and giving her a fright! Behaviourist had suggested telling people she's in training/not feeling well if kids wanted to pet her for the time being - she's fine with some kids once they're over a certain age or kids who are used to dogs and know what to do but not when they're up in her face or grabbing at her. I'm thinking of getting her say a julius-k9 harness with 'In training' patches or something for the time being that will make parents think before they let their kids approach her?!

SillyMangoX

Might be worth a try with the julius tk, wouldn't do any harm anyway! I bought one today for kero because she ate her old harness and my uncle normally walks her off lead or just on her collar with kids around but since I was minding her today she came into maxi zoo with me and absolutely adored all the attention she was getting, got her fitted up and we went off on a little adventure in the woods. I love the harness it gives such great control of her. She's not the most awful puller in the world but having the handle on the back is great for keeping her closer coming up to traffic and kids and helping her into the car! Though she went to greet a little collie pup who seemed grand on approach but snapped after having a sniff, and the owner turned around and smacked the dog!! No wonder she's fear aggressive, the second the owner reprimanded her she just dropped to the floor knowing it was coming

tk123

I still have Bailey's old Julius but it's too small for her lol! This is just for show - she doesn't pull and is great on lead. From having Bailey's people would ask if he was being trained so I think it'll work.
Same this happened beside us with a dog getting smacked this morning. Snapped at an off lead dog in her face (why do some phone let their dogs off lead in a market?!) which she was entitled to do but got her face smacked

Cows Go µ

tk123 wrote: »

I'm fine with spiders most of the time - as long as they're not beside my face lol!! There was a HUGE one on my pillow last year(!)

This is actually a recurring nightmare thing I have. I only half wake up and still in my dream I see a massive spider on the pillow beside me. I jump up screaming and turn on the light and there's never anything there. It really scares the crap out of me and it's an awful way to wake up.

I would thoroughly recommend the Julius K9 for the in training label or the nervous one. I've a friend who has the nervous one and it works pretty well (though people never believe it as the dog is very sociable unless you are a man). I'm looking for one for my girl but she does agility and I find the Julius one can restrict movement. It's fine for every day use but we do agility on the beach to get them used to doing with an audience and she would need her full range of movement.

aonb

TopTec wrote: »

I use conkers to keep the spiders at bay in my place but haven't been able to renew them this year. Have already seen one as big as my hand in the bathroom and found a dead one under my pillow one morning! Yuk Yuk.

I won't kill them but the things scare the life out of me.

TT

Does this actually work? The conkers I mean?!?
Where are you located, I can give you any amount of conkers

TopTec

"The fruit of the horse chestnut tree has long been used as a natural spider repellent. House spiders are seen more frequently in September and October as males begin their search for a mate. Conkers contain a naturally occurring chemical compound called Saponin which is believed to repel spiders. Placing conkers around the home, in particular around windows and doors, is thought to keep them out of the home." Taken from Landscape the Woodland magazine in the UK.

My family have used conkers for as long a I can remember and this is the first year I have had a bunch of them inside the cottage. Sadly my only local source is in the garden of someone who is now very ill so it didn't seem right to go picking this year. Last years have now lost their effectiveness. I live east of Ballina, in Mayo, if that is anywhere near you Aonb.

The monster spider in the bathroom made the mistake of emerging whilst I was in the bath reading last night and was pounced on by Holly, my younger Shih Tzu, my little heroine! They both always wait for me on the bath mat so were in prime position for the kill so to speak. This morning I have caught, (in a jug with gloves on!!), 3 more sizable ones. two in sinks and one on the side of the fridge.

TT

tk123

I'm going to fill my pockets with conkers on tuesday morning lol!!

ihatewinter

Sometimes dogs would do your head in. So anyway Poppy has been annoying Misty for the past 3 days as she knows she's unsettled with fireworks. She's been hidden behind doorways growling at her, lying so she can't pass and not allowing her to get her footballs. But she Misty terrified so I have them separated till after Halloween

She's 15 and still causing trouble. Though I can't complain as she is still as fit as any young dog. She still walks/runs about 2.5 miles per day.

TopTec

Not many 105 year old humans walking 2.5 miles a day!!

TT

Dandelion6

Bank holiday Sundays are for staying up late watching movies and falling asleep on the sofa with a cat on your lap. That is all

SillyMangoX

I'm sitting here organizing my files for SS15 and it's making me feel so christmassy and excited

Kovu

I see Pigsback have Pet Expo tickets for €7, think I'll go this year. Is there any difference in the two days?

VonVix

Kovu wrote: »

I see Pigsback have Pet Expo tickets for €7, think I'll go this year. Is there any difference in the two days?

If I remember correctly the second day had more discounts and whatnot, people getting rid of stock a bit cheaper so they don't have to haul it all back.

tk123

Everybody is ok but we had an incident at home this morning and unfortunately our gates were open at the time. The dogs bolted from the house terrified. My mum was able to get Bailey but Lucy was gone I got a call in work from her in a state crying and raced out the door to come home and look for her... My rational side was telling me she was tagged and chipped, would probably go to the park and somebody would recognise her or at least hand her in at the vets...But at the same time I was worried somebody from some not so nice areas up the road could have been driving by and take her or that I was going to see a little body at the side of the road I got a call halfway home from a lady who's seen her running down the avenue by herself and just knew she was on her own. She was just lying in the grass shaking when I got there. I almost burst into tears. I always have either a collar or harness on them with tags and always will after this!

aonb

God what a fright! A pet owners worst nightmare! Hope all are over the shock now. Your poor mother.
My dogs are always chipped, but I think the "man in the street" in Ireland doesnt know yet enough about bringing a found dog to the vet to scan for a chip. The "man in the street" in Ireland would not be willing to make the effort to take a found animal to a vet for scanning. I ALWAYS have a collar with a tag with our phone numbers on our dogs. I think whatever hope I have of someone finding my dog should he get off the property, if someone finds him, and there is a convenient number to call, then that just might happen. Whereas as I say, the inconvenience of putting an unknown dog into a car, driving to a vet to get scanned, is I believe not going to always happen...

Unfortunately our cat doesnt have a collar with id on ... But she does go outdoors in our very rural location, so hopefully she will always be ok and come home...

tk123

She's cuddled up asleep beside Bailey and fine but still thinking what if she was gone! My poor babies!

Zapperzy

Twice Charlie darted out the front door, heart was in my mouth until he was back inside the house, if he had turned left instead of right he'd have been on a main busy road. Instead he was loose in an estate, the first time he only stopped to squat in somebody's back garden so I took the opportunity to jump on him :P

tk123

Bailey has gotten out onto the main road twice in 6 years and I felt sick to my stomach for hours after it!! My poor little baba though - we've no idea where she was before she ended up in the park!! I had realised she was a runner in the last month or so when kids were crowding her - we had a behaviourist out the week before last to work on it/get some ideas as well as Bailey's over enthusiastic greetings to some of our friends.

Both of them asleep now and glued to us. My poor mum though - she cries every time she tries to talk about it! Like anything else you think of a million things you could have done differently after the event!

Ah your poor mum TK! So glad you got Lucy back safe!
Khali ran away a few times when we got her at first and it really is so terrifying. My concern is there's farmers fields nearby and I was convinced she'd end up shot. She was gone a full day each time and my whole family searched now stop and I cried and cried and then cried some more when she wandered home! She hasn't ran away in two years now and seems to be over the desire for the most part but a couple of weeks she was set on by an off lead staffy as I was about to put her in my car. He had her pinned to the ground and she was actually screaming (she sounded like a child being tortured) I managed to drag her out from under him and tried to pull her into the car to safety but she was so terrified she was pulling away from me to escape and with the traction and her panicked wriggling she got out of her collar and ran for all she was worth. She was completely out of sight before I could even react! I went searching (through my tears) as did my partner. Then he went home to get his phone and there she was. Sitting outside our door just patiently waiting for us. She had basically looped around and come back from the opposite direction presumably right after the staffy left! I was so proud of her for coming straight home... Which also made me cry!

TopTec

Situations like these are subjects of recurring nightmares for me. I shudder to think how I would react.

So I am so pleased that there are good endings.

TT

tk123

It's just so scary when it happens! They've both just been sleeping all afternoon. Fireworks going of and normally Bailey would want to hide but it was like he was being brave to mind us and Lucy. Unfortunately a really loud one just went off and he's gone to the crate but just listening and not panicking! 2 more days of it. As annoying as it is 4 houses on the road are going through various stages of renovation so it's been drowning them out during the afternoon.
You forget sometimes how innocent our pets are until something like this happens? They were terrified today and just ran now all they want is to be with us and have pets and cuddles.

SillyMangoX

Tk I'm glad you're all okay!

I spent the evening cooking home made dog treats for a charity event that's going on on Saturday in the shop where I work. Apparently dude didn't get the message they were dog treats, caught him running off with a peanut butter and banana one

Cherry Blossom

Just returned a little brown cross-breed dog to his home. Found him wandering about in the middle of the road. Roaming dogs are not uncommon where I am but didn't see this fella before and he didn't seem to know anything about traffic. There's a house not far from where I found him that has terriers but the gate is always closed so thought I'd try there and sure enough the gate was open and he'd escaped from there. They had visitors and forgot to close the gate and had let the dog out to the toilet just a few minutes before I found him. He was lucky it was me came up the road and not some boy racer because he was in the middle of the road and made no effort to move in out of the way!

Cows Go µ

I woke up this morning to my little puppy Disney having had liquid diarrhoea and thrown up, she was in the vet by lunch and I called in to see her after work. I had been hoping to take her home but they needed her back in at 9 but I leave for work well before 8 and there wouldn't be anyone in the vets to take her back. So I had to leave her in for the night and I was okay with this. She's got a bad tummy but she hasn't puked or pooed since going to the vet and she's had plenty of fluids so there's no reason why she won't be fine. But the last time I left a dog in a vets she died (a different vet).

And now I'm completely freaked and I can't stop thinking about my last dog Kairi. I know that it's a completely different situation, Kairi had been given a lethal dose of a medicine that many of her breed is allergic too. There was no hope for her once we realised something is wrong. But I still can't calm down. I just want to sit with her and make sure she is okay.

aonb

Back from 5 weeks out of the country. I have a cat (rescue) that I couldnt leave with anyone for that length of time, so I had her in a cattery. Its very small (3 cats max) but the nicest little set up you can imagine. The woman who owns it is a cat/dog/horse owner and animal lover. I cant recommend this cattery highly enough - my cat had injured her foot on the morning we were leaving, so she ended bringing the cat 3 times to the vet (being over cautious). And sent me photos and updates of the cat during the 5 weeks. The cat was very happy and relaxed and unstressed there (put on weight!) which was such a relief (me being a new-to-cats-person)

Anyway, if anyone wants the cattery details, if you are looking for somplace for your cat, price is very good too - PM me. Shes near Naas/Newbridge.

All I have to do now is find the perfect kennels!

TopTec

aonb wrote: »

All I have to do now is find the perfect kennels!

Bit like house hunting I wonder if there is such a thing as the perfect kennels. When I was living in the UK we used to drop our two Tibetan Spaniels at kennels that were brilliant but the service, collecting and dropping off, was awful. It was worth the 140 mile detour in the opposite direction to the airport though. Just had to accept that you could be waiting around a while to deal with the paperwork. The woman who ran it was super with the dogs but a complete scatterbrain.

TT

Dubl07

Cows Go µ wrote: »

I woke up this morning to my little puppy Disney having had liquid diarrhoea and thrown up, she was in the vet by lunch and I called in to see her after work. I had been hoping to take her home but they needed her back in at 9 but I leave for work well before 8 and there wouldn't be anyone in the vets to take her back. So I had to leave her in for the night and I was okay with this. She's got a bad tummy but she hasn't puked or pooed since going to the vet and she's had plenty of fluids so there's no reason why she won't be fine. But the last time I left a dog in a vets she died (a different vet).

And now I'm completely freaked and I can't stop thinking about my last dog Kairi. I know that it's a completely different situation, Kairi had been given a lethal dose of a medicine that many of her breed is allergic too. There was no hope for her once we realised something is wrong. But I still can't calm down. I just want to sit with her and make sure she is okay.

I hope Disney's okay, μ. Any update today?

tk123

So the dogs have had upset tummies on and off over the last few weeks (maybe longer) and I think it's the river!! The sick one is always the one who's been in the river. Last week they both jumped in and were both sick later on that day - I haven't let them in since and no problems. As a result of keeping them out of it Lucy is a mucky pup! We've a training workshop this weekend and I had to get a longer hose for the shower so I can give her a bath on Friday evening lol - she's that dirty!! Normally I just hose them out the back but it's too damp/cold where we are in the evening so I'd feel too guilty with her shivering