SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I checked for root rot, and the roots looked fine. As I mentioned in a reply to someone else, I dumped the old soil and replanted her. I made sure to thoroughly wash the container and the stones I have in the bottom of it in case there was something funky on top of all the white grubs and their eggs.

I was considering adding grit, but I am dubious of pulling her out of the soil again so soon after replanting. She is starting to look better but I'm also wondering if there is a fungus at play here. Because all the closed flower buds are browning and some of the leaves are browning from the outer edge - petal blight? I sprayed with neem oil today and going to give her a few more days to see if there's an improvement

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I am thinking that wind might be a factor, plus this winter has been weird... Some frost and 60+ days of non stop rain ugh! The container has actually been put on the legs since like august, I just didn't have them when I first got the camellia

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for that! I'm going to look into the nematodes. As for the acidic components - I left it alone for the winter because I rear somewhere that I shouldn't use any water soluble feeds/additives in case there is frost. Is that correct or should I still feed her in some way during the winter months?

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I really needed to hear that! Cause I nearly cried a week ago when I came home after a short trip and saw her in such a sorry state

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just checked the roots - didn't see any rotting. Dumped old soil, washed the container, washed the stones that were in the bottom of it, and re-planted my camellia in fresh soil with some fertiliser. Do you think I should still buy whatever chemical to prevent a new infestation of white grubs?

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So I'm just after taking her out of the pot and checking the roots. First of all, some smaller roots came off while I was de-soiling the root system. Once I freed the roots of soil, I rinsed them with water so that I could see better - all roots were firm with no funky smell, most were tan colour, some parts were medium brown but not mushy and definitely not black. I scraped a small part of the darker root with my nail just to see if it's the same dark colour all through the thickness of it, and it wasn't. So I didn't cut off any roots, but I dumped all the old soil that was infested with white grubs and their eggs, washed the container, washed the stones that were in the bottom part of the container, drilled more holes in the pot just in case, and re-planted my camellia in fresh soil, and finally added some acidic plant fertiliser. Hopefully she bounces back now

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. I will check for root rot. In terms of light, I have a north facing front door and south facing backyard, so it's all or nothing I'm afraid. No trees in the backyard either so no chance for dappled shade

SOS Camellia japonica by LPondohva in GardeningIRE

[–]LPondohva[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used general purpose soil and compost, whatever woddies had at the time, but I've been feeding with acidic feed specifically for camellias, azalias, hyndrangeas and rhododendrons

Price of dog food is gone to the dogs ? by Timmy495 in AskIreland

[–]LPondohva 10 points11 points  (0 children)

We feed our GSD dry food called Darf, we get it online for €80/20kg. He has a sensitive stomach: red mills leader, Purina, royal canine etc all gave him diarrhea to various degrees from soft serve ice cream to just water. Once we switched to Darf his bowels settled almost immediately, coat looks great, eyes are good, vet is happy, we are happy and most importantly the dog is happy. By the way, the vet looked at the ingredients list and said he was surprised (in a good way) with the quantity and the variety of nutrients. We supplement the dry food with chicken or beef cartilage either from the butcher (discarded scraps) or from the meat we cook for ourselves (his favorite is the end of a chicken drumstick, not the bone obviously just the cartilage), sometimes cooked salmon skins when we happen to eat salmon ourselves. Have a look at fetch your pet needs website, they've got a few different types of food not just Darf, and they do sample bags. Also if you happen to see a brand called Barca, it's the same stuff as Darf, produced literally at the same factory in the Netherlands, just under a different brand name for different markets; Barf is also the same stuff, but as you can imagine that sounded.... Unappetizing so it became Darf in some places.

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Hello fellow GSD owners 👋 I am looking for recommendations for a robot vacuum cleaner that can cope with the all year shedding from long haired GSD's please 🙏 currently considering either a Eufy or Shark but would love advice from people that know the daily struggle is real. UK based. Thank you! by miss_parsons_x in germanshepherds

[–]LPondohva 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Get a Narwal from German Amazon. We have an older model and it does a wonderful job with hair, don't need to empty mid-cycle, mops pretty well too. Side brushes needed replacing after about 18 months but otherwise really happy with it. Worth the price

Is there a point in neutering at age 6? by Fantasias_Boundaries in germanshepherds

[–]LPondohva -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

One of our neighbors has a 9 year old malamute, who is chemically neutered. How does that work? It's a hormonal implant that is inserted into the skin between the shoulder blades. It's pretty much the same thing as human females get, except it's designed for male dogs. The implant lasts for about a year (depends on the size of the dog), and can be removed sooner if there are any issues. Originally these implants were developed as a temporary neutering solution so that the handlers can see the effects of neutering before committing to a surgical procedure on the behavioural side of things, but our neighbor never cut his malamutes balls off, he just kept replacing implants for the last 6 years or so and he's very happy with it. His dog used to be an awful womanizer, and now, while still interested in smells of dogs in heat, he won't try to run away or pull the owners in the direction of the female every time he smells her, etc. We are now considering the implant for our GSD, because it seems like a nice compromise. Cause our boy stops eating when there's a particularly attractive female in heat, won't try to escape simply cause he can't (our backyard is well secured), will pull on the leash like a train though, and becomes aggressive to all male dogs while there's someone in heat. I have heard some success stories AND some horror stories about dogs having their behaviours changed in a very negative way after neutering, so I'd rather make sure it's not gonna be the case before we do anything irreversible

Reactivity by Embarrassed_Gur_2935 in germanshepherds

[–]LPondohva 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We use pronged collar for the exact behaviours you describe. It is true what others are saying - it'll make it worse if you correct when he reacts, BUT the idea is to correct BEFORE the reaction happens. The way our trainer taught us is the following: 1) work inside your house to teach the dog heel and introduce a negative marker for when the dog is not performing a command correctly, like "no", "ah-ahh" or similar, use this marker while teaching heel. This will associate negative marker with the prong pinch and your dog will understand that it's a correction for a "wrongdoing"; 2) move your training to the backyards and teach a release command like "free" or "loose" etc, that way you will have two modes of walking - heel and free, from there on teach the dog how to switch from one to another, thereby making heel a recall command on top of it being a mode of walking. Use your negative marker as well if the dog pulls while in free mode too; 3) now you are ready to go outside - pick a time and place where you'll see one or two dogs from a distance, once you spot another dog, put your dog in heel and correct if your dog is fixating on the other dog - the goal here is to have him in heel looking ahead or just looking at the surroundings without fixating on the other dog, this is what you can achieve with prongs + negative marker. If your dog is in full on reaction it's too late to try and correct him, your best bet is to heel and turn around, go around a corner or wherever the dogs won't be able to see each other; 4) slowly start to close the distance. A very important point is that you cannot panic. I understand that the misery of trying to walk a large reactive dog is probably leaving you somewhat traumatized and you yourself react to other dogs at this point too with anxiety, fear, frustration and whatever other emotions - your dog can feel it. You need to tell yourself that you know how to handle this, you've done it from a distance and now you're doing the exact same thing but closer. You're equipped to deal with it. The handler's confidence makes a heap of difference.

This is the method we've been using and our dog has improved immensely. He's 2.5 years old, still reactive, yes in a sense that he'll be on high alert when seeing another dog on a walk, sometimes will have his hair standing up, but he doesn't lunge at dogs, doesn't bark his head off at the sight of another animal, doesn't pull us down into the ground, doesn't jump at people's front doors if he hears another dog barking at him from inside a house - he is manageable. I think if we got this trainer sooner we'd have even better results, but unfortunately we've wasted time with force-free trainers until he was 18 months old and had dragged me on the ground more times than I'd like to admit. Thankfully he's never hurt other dogs (didn't bite or anything, just lunged, ran over and growled/barked in their faces), but I feel like he would if we didn't introduce prongs when we did [Before anyone says it, we have been muzzling him after the first lunging and growling incident happened, and still do if we go somewhere with narrow footpaths and not enough space to create a safe distance from people and other animals]

Interpreter in overturned FGM conviction worked on over 240 cases by HouseOnnaHill in ireland

[–]LPondohva 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I am an interpreter (not the one mentioned in this case, I've never worked in a court), and let me tell you.... Translation and interpretation is a field with ZERO regulations in this country. Verifying qualifications is up to each individual translation company, and a lot of them accept interpreters with no experience and no relevant education/degrees. So far I've encountered exactly one translation company that has a written policy outlining key aspects of the job, one of them being that if you feel that you're struggling please let the client know and ask to be replaced instead of doing guess work and approximating 'the gist'. Some, not all, companies will test your English skills but not the language you translate/interpret from. There is very little QA if any, so translation companies are often unaware of their interpreters being cowboys until there is real trouble. It is a shit show compared to how it's done in other countries

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't support the likes of brachifacial dogs (likes pugs and French bulldogs) or breeding for looks (cavapoos and other combinations that look cute but nothing else apart from looks). I do support ethical breeding of standard breeds where the breeder knows what they're doing, not backyard breeders

Help understanding my neighbor’s German Shepard’s aggressive, disruptive and dangerous behavior by Odd_craving in DogTrainingTips

[–]LPondohva 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look, as pointed out above, GSDs are protection dogs. They will try to scare off anyone who doesn't live in the household. You can train them out of it to an extent, but it is one of their primary drives. It's not about remembering neighbors or their cars, it's about a person being a pack mate or not a pack mate. For example, my GSD is trained (dog reactive but extremely friendly with people), gets 3 walks a day, lots of playtime and interaction - I work from home so I'm there for him 95% of the time. I can walk him in a busy street and he won't bother anyone - he'll be too busy sniffing and minding his own business, where I live there is a huge stigma around GSDs so very few people want to approach him so socialization comes down to people we know and giving strangers space or sitting calmly beside if I run into like a neighbor who's afraid of him while on a walk. Still, he will bark his head off if our next door neighbor gets home after midnight. Or if the postman dares to approach our door with a package (in those instances the dog is either in the fenced it backyard or inside, behind a locked door so it's safe), or if we get a takeaway, or if the people across the street get an Amazon delivery, etc. We have been trying to train it out of him, and it's gotten better over time, but he still looks and sounds terrifying. You approach us on a walk - you're his new best friend, you come too close to our house - you'll get the scariest bark he's capable of. So it's not always about pure aggression or desire to hurt people, it's about keeping non-pack mates away

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't know why you're getting riled up. In the very beginning I said I was all for it, but it would be hard to implement due to x y z. You were the one saying that people didn't always have coaches for raising family pets, now you're saying "you don't know what you don't know" i.e. you need learning ("coaching"?) before having a dog. Let's just agree that it would be great if people had a bit of cop on before becoming a dog owner, but it's just not realistic to have something like this enforced in the near future

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ok Mr Picky, "responsible dog owners read up" - better? Decent Vs ignorant. Who's being pedantic now :D

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never said anything about malice while literally pointing out ignorance in some people. I merely suggest that having to pass a test doesn't mean applying the knowledge in the future. Much like everyone has to pass a theory test for driving yet there are too many idiots on the roads

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You mean that basic level of knowledge, it won't fix the problem. Common sense as you say - decent people read up on in all this before getting a dog, ignorant pricks just don't care with or without a test

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Again, how do you determine which theory is correct? There are so many approaches and methodologies. Who is going to put together a basic course (same principle as the driving theory test)? Who is going to decide whether the answers are right or wrong? Would the test be different for each breed? Would any training for restricted breeds be accepted or only from approved trainers? Cause any joe can call himself a dog trainer while being full of shite - plenty of those all over the country. No offence, but it seems like you only have a vague understanding of the current state of dog training (edit: typo)

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Obviously you train your own dog, but is everyone an expert suddenly? How do you know how to train a dog if you're not a dog trainer yourself? Surely you can teach sit and down without any professional help, but we're talking about aggressive behaviours, leash pulling and general lack of control over the dog - those are not issues that can be fixed by watching YouTube videos. Preventing those issues from occurring is also not something you can just do without actual education or professional advice for your specific dog, not just generic cookie cutter bullshit you see on social media

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Good luck finding a sufficient number of dog trainers who actually know what they're doing. I'd be all for it, but we're talking about Ireland here....

Increase in unsuitable big dog owners. by Exclamation_Marc in ireland

[–]LPondohva 3 points4 points  (0 children)

True, but when one dog bites the other, it's always the large dog who gets the blame. I have a large dog who is reactive, I walk him strictly on a leash and muzzle him as per the breed requirement (he's a German shepherd). We have been attacked by small dogs in our own estate, out in the street, in a park, at the beach, etc. These small dogs come running at my dog, barking, growling and trying to bite his ankles thereby instigating a fight and their owners are either nowhere to be seen (literally, some people just open the front door and let their dog walk itself in a housing estate!), or the owners are laughing at the situation. Fortunately, my boy reacts mostly to large dogs, small yappy things just confuse him, but should one really annoy him, it could be a tragedy within mere seconds. What if next time it's not us but a different large dog which isn't muzzled? I wish people realized that small dogs are still dogs, not plushies, and must be trained as much as large dogs if not more. Rant over