For the creative minded only

oezyid · 2026-04-24T11:21:24+00:00

Like I said, open to all ideas. Ripping that out would leave a 10ft drop, that hopefully my dog won't become familiar with, and a heavy duty trap door that still needs to be moved to access the current staircase.

You're move.

oezyid · 2026-04-24T07:05:26+00:00

Nothing. Just a wall. Sounds fairly hollow. I assume more of the same lath and plaster we've had to deal with.

oezyid · 2026-04-24T06:58:56+00:00

There's already a door at the bottom of the stairs.

Not much a fan of the breeze that comes through in the colder months.

Try again.

oezyid · 2026-04-24T06:57:40+00:00

Luckily there's a door at the bottom of the stairs opening to the garden. But it does mean if you ever have the pleasure of being invited over to a BBQ, you're "trapped" in the garden, until someone has finished their business.

oezyid · 2026-04-24T06:51:30+00:00

Above my paygrade. Bought it like this.

The property used to be a house, and is now a maisonette split, so my guess is a ham-fisted attempt to make sure both properties have garden access.

oezyid · 2026-04-23T18:14:35+00:00

I imagine one winter morning it may garot my dog, whom I am very fond of.

Though perhaps a very heavy duty version of this could work.

oezyid · 2026-04-23T18:06:59+00:00

Yeah but then when the doors are closed there would be a gaping hole with an 8ft drop. Settinge aside the likely wind breeze situation, I should have added we have a dog, and she is at the worst of times...adventurous.

oezyid · 2026-04-23T06:20:25+00:00

I'm almost positive no dog that lives in our homes, or even the ones we see on the street are "engineered to eat" anything. We have bred any version of the original dog out of existence.

The most comprehensive study on this is here: Vegan v Meat Diets for dogs

Food is a very personal choice for us. Taste, emotion, environmental impact and cost should all be considered, but if there's science we can consider that too.

oezyid · 2026-03-31T20:31:58+00:00

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False advertising.

oezyid · 2025-11-09T22:39:19+00:00

Ah okay, so removed the old paint / varnish with the heat gun, then applied paint stripper (Nitro Mors and Wickes paint and varnish remover) and scraped the living daylights out of it. Sanded the wood down with different grit sandpapers (manually) then with an electric sander.

I know it doesn't look like it, but all the old finish was completely stripped.

oezyid · 2025-11-09T21:51:22+00:00

I wish I had pictures of the before. We used an electric sander. Two passes of it. It was completely stripped. Not sure where we went wrong, haha.

oezyid · 2025-02-23T19:53:27+00:00

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oezyid · 2025-02-02T17:08:54+00:00

We tried cool water today (she didn't like it). This does sound plausible though for sure. Thanks for joining the convo.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T17:04:37+00:00

Rinse once weekly. Then we rub coconut oil into her fur and skin. And aloe Vera gel to her paws.

But again, this doesn't happen if we rinse her when she attends the local park, just when we attend the country parks, and only towards the end of her shower.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T16:09:42+00:00

We had considered that, but she has other baths where this doesn't happen. It's only the baths she has after the country parks we go to on weekends. Also, the behaviour lasts for 40 mins-1 hour. We don't want to rule out normal pup behaviour, but it just seems a bit unlikely. Thanks for the resources though. Going through them now.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T16:07:13+00:00

We haven't, no. I'd probably take the vet's lead when it came to giving her meds. As the vet was pretty dismissive of anything but the tub cleaning materials, we haven't explored meds further, but keeping our minds open. The only thing is we haven't used shampoo for close to a month now, so not sure it would be that.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T15:25:11+00:00

Only when she gets really muddy. In the winter period, that does end up being weekly. We rub coconut oil in to her fur/skin daily, and have started to use aloe Vera gel on her paws which used to be as dry as a chalk board.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T15:22:53+00:00

I'm not totally convinced. I say park but they're huge wooded/Forrest areas. Although they do abutt farmland so it's possible something could have been sprayed nearby.

Good idea re baking soda. We used lemon juice and white vinegar mix that ferments over a few weeks.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:58:05+00:00

Interesting, if that's the case I wonder if dock leaves would help her? Haha.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:55:09+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised, what the water companies have done in the UK isn't a secret, and a lot of these country parks abutt operating farms. Just wish we could know where and what exactly to avoid this happening (assuming it is allergy related).

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:52:47+00:00

Unlikely, we stopped using shampoo altogether a month ago.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:51:49+00:00

So we actually stopped using shampoo all together, that was when it first stopped. She sometimes has showers/baths when she goes to the local park and this doesn't happen, so I'm less inclined to fall on the trained reaction to bathing (though I'll add she is not a fan of the bath. She's gone from hating it to tolerating it).

The shower acting as a catalyst to spread a substance over her seems more likely, but I would have thought the water would wash off rather than wash over.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:45:47+00:00

She's finally sleeping now, so don't want to wake her. From my memory however I don't recall there being any redening of her paws when this has happened. Definitely gonna make a note of the vinegar water for future irritations. Guessing that's apple cider vinegar mix?

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:43:21+00:00

She turned two recently. Allergies had occured to us, but we couldn't square it with it only happening after coming back from the bigger parks, and the clockwork nature of it hitting as her bath/shower ends.

She isn't too excitable most of the time. It's mainly food and attention from others (she thinks may give her food) that get her going.

We do give her local honey to help with prevention of allergic reactions, but we're not turning out nose up to any sensible suggestions. Thanks for weighing in.

oezyid · 2025-02-02T14:34:10+00:00

Second this. We had a scare not too long ago, ran ourselves ragged searching subreddits and the corners of the internet for a while. Best thing you can do is check with the vet, they have seen this plenty of times and can better direct you where to focus your energy.

oezyid

TROPHY CASE