Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Aussie and one spoiled pup

So, I've finally gotten around to actually writing something! Have only had one day off work since getting home so there's been not enough waking hours to get things done.

We had a great time away, Ben dropped Pepper off to her holiday destination (with a wonderful lady who takes dogs into her home as daycare and holidays) because I had to work up until when we left, I'm glad I didn't have to drop her off, I hate leaving my animals and I would have been an embarrassing, blubbering mess.

We stayed in Sydney with my brother (also called Ben) and his girlfriend, they’ve just gotten a puppy. I was in a state of shock when I heard this, my brother was never an animal person and his girlfriend is scared of dogs. Charlie is a 15week old staffie.
I’m not a fan of staffies but she had heaps of personality and was very sweet, very trainable too, I got her doing sit, down, stay and paw in two days. (they thought I was a ‘dog whisperer’ it was quite funny). They’re doing all the right things, going to puppy class, have brought books on puppies, booked her in for spaying, vaccination etc. But….. I found it very hard as they feel that she is an “outside dog” at night (allowed inside while they are home) and I really didn’t cope with the fact they shut such a small, short coated baby outside with only a small lean-to for shelter and a wee unimpressive bed that was occasionally wet. There was a big storm one night and I couldn’t sleep for worrying about the poor wee pup. I certainly made my feelings known. Numerous times. But there's only so much you can do when its not your dog.


Anyhow, they live right near centennial park which is HUGE and there’s off leash areas so we took her down there for some socialising, she’s very bold, bouncing up to much bigger dogs and playing, it was nice to be round a puppy again.


We went out for fabulous meals, shopped and also walked around the waterfront of Bondi - saw a bat just hanging out in the trees, so cute.


And of course did all the touristy things - Harbour bridge, Opera house etc.
We then flew over to Perth where we caught up with some friends and went down to the Margaret River area, which is famous for wine, generally spending our time drinking and eating our way through the week, it was great! And I found a Pepper statue!

This is the beach where just two days ago a man died after being bitten by a shark - glad we didn't get in the water.And I spotted a Kookaburra on the side of the road so made Ben turn around so I could take pictures, he was very cheeky.
This is the famous Freemantle prison that we toured around.


There was a not so nice part to the trip - in Freemantle we stayed in an apartment that had an extreme sewerage issue - basically toilet flushings were flowing out from the shower - HIDEOUS! The owners had left no contact details and on getting back we asked for a partial refund (fully justified I think!) and they have just been so rude and unapologetic. Grrrr.

Anyhow, we got back last week, it was so good to see Pepper, I didn't buy anything for myself while away but Pepper got a new collar and lead, a tug toy and a ferret ball (brought from the airport on the way home with left over Aussie coins)

And her sore paw is all healed up now which is a relief.

9 comments:

  1. Neat trip! Sorry to hear your brother makes his puppy stay outside at night - it was not too long ago that all dogs lived outside all the time and ate table scraps - glad those days are over! But the puppy will be ok, try not to worry!

    So glad to hear Pepper's paw is better!!

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  2. woooow nice trip
    hey pep we got the same toy only mine is purple orange and blue
    glad to hear about the paw

    Kissslobbers
    El'bow & Hauwii

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  3. sounds like a fun trip! And what a super cute puppy! I just love staffies!!!

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  4. Looks like you guys had a great time (except for the gross apartment!). Your brother's pup is very cute, good friends of ours have a staffy too, Snoopy loves him :)

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  5. Oh - I love Staffies too! If I were going to get a small dog, they would be on my shortlist - they just always have the most gorgeous "smile" and are a decent, "substantial" dog despite being small. But they do suffer from bad rep and their resemblence to Pit Bulls - I think if I had one, I'd suffer even more discrimination than I do with Honey!

    Yeah - that keeping dogs outside attitude seems to be a really strong Australian thing - a lot of pet owners I meet here keep their dogs out all the time (your Staffie pup is lucky to be allowed in when the humans are home!) and think that's perfectly normal. They think I'm mad to have Honey as an indoor dog, especially coz of her size. Meanwhile, their dogs are the ones with barking/howling problems and escaping and destructiveness coz they're left all day in the gardens and are bored (a lot of them don't even get taken for walks! Again, people think it's "normal" for dogs to just live in the garden, especially if they've got 2). Like you said, it's very hard when it's not your dog and there is only so much you can do...

    Having said all that - I don't think it's wrong for people to put their dogs somewhere safe when they go out or when they can't supervise. To be honest, we did that with Honey when she was little - she always sent into the laundry with access to the garden when we went out or couldn't supervise - and in her first year, she also slept in the laundry, with access to outside - not in the actual main part of the house. But of course, we made sure she was very warm with a raised, soft bed and sheltered from wind & rain (well, in the laundry!) - I think it's OK as long as the dog has safe, comfortable area to sleep "outside" and is allowed to be with the family indoors the rest of the time. I'd prefer that over people who let their dogs sleep in their beds! :-) But it sounds like Charlie could do with some improvements in his sleeping area!

    Sounds like you had a great trip!

    Hsin-Yi

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  6. Oh - forgot to ask - were the dog off-leash areas in Centennial Park fenced or unfenced? I'm desperate to know as we'll probably be living near Centennial Park when we move to Sydney in 2012 (yeah, ANOTHER move!) and so that will probably be one of our local parks...I REALLY hope it's unfenced coz I HATE those fenced dog parks!

    Hsin-Yi

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  7. Looks like you had a great time. What beautiful pictures and glad you got Pepper some new goodies, haha. :)

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  8. Sounds like a (mostly) great trip. It has been 6 years since I was last in Australia and loved it.

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  9. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm lovely warm Australia for a week, sounds grand. Charlie looks very cute, I have a soft spot for Staffies, but then we are terrier people here.

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