gsdog2

If the trainer just wanted to "talk" during the first session it would have been a better idea to ask the owners to leave their pups at home. Although I agree PPS is all about socialising the puppies isn't it .

Me too By the way lea how often do you use yours?

Thanks for the information lea ;) kitakins, I was on ebay last night and for $49.00 AUD (postage & ins. included) I have a new large size furminator . Well, in a couple of weeks I hope!

Back again! Just one more question - are the blades replaceable, and if so do they come with spare blades. Hmmm...... that was TWO questions ;)

I knew I should have put bid on that one ;) *heading off to ebay*

no they dont hurt at all, my sibes love it. we got ours from the US, i know a few ppl sell them her now but i thinkits still cheeper to get them from USA So if I want to buy just one, what size would you suggest. My Goldie is a bit on the small size for a boy.

Love the one of him opening and closing the draw .

"you won" :D How good is that!! Do you mean "your" first trial as well? From what I could see he never missed a command and that's probably because he watched you the whole time. Good on you, especially because the conditions look lousy.

:D I loved the way he never took his eyes off you. What was your score?

If you've trialed in Novice but your dogs don't have any passes you can enter a CCD trial. Having already trialed in Novice you'll find CCD a lot easier. Your heal pattern is normal, fast and slow pace - all on lead - with the usual halt, stand and drop commands and turns (right, left etc). Stand for exam is on lead and you still have the recall, but at a shorter distance. You still have groups - 1 minute sit, 2 minute drop. You don't have to have a pass in Sweepstakes to enter and a qualifying score is 75 points out of 100. Sorry I don't have my book on me to give you specifics but I know Canine Control Council of Qld have it on their web site, so you could try the Canine Control Council in your state. My advice would be to go and watch a trial so you can see for yourself what's involved. CCD seems to be very popular and it's a good way to ease yourself back into the Obedience ring. Good luck with your trialing

Kaywoman68 you have my complete sympathy as I received one of those dreaded letters from our local council a few months ago. My problem was slightly different as the barking was caused by the neighbours cat coming into our yard, and our neighbour also has a "thing" about GSD's. After our neighbour complained to the council they had to keep a diary of when our dogs barked (which is really just their word against ours). The diary was submitted to the council who then visited the surrounding neighbours (they had to have a minimum of three complaints) and not one other neighbour complained! When I received the written complaint from the council I contacted the inspector and explained my side of the story and asked him what I could do. His suggestion was to trap the cat (which I did) and also put some sort of screening on the fence closest to the neighbours to stop the dogs vision into the neighbours yard (not that it was needed as there is a hedge there already). Can your dogs see through your fence? Basically what I am trying to say is contact your council inspector, plead your case to him/her and ask their advice as to what you should do. After all, yours are not the first barking dogs they have had complaints about. If you're seen to be trying to do the right thing by your neighbours and also your dogs, hopefully the council will be more sympathetic towards you. Also, I notice you say your dogs only bark in the morning when you leave, so it's sounds like some sort of separation anxiety. If that's the case I would be asking DOL's for advice on how to handle that first and you may find the barking stops at the same time .

I understand what you're saying and I agree. But, dogs have been breed for specific purposes and therefore have specific traits. During question time if a person mentioned the breed of their dog Jan would shoot them down, saying that breed had nothing to do with it. As you know I have GSD's and a Goldie and yes, mostly they are the same, but there are still differences between the two breeds. I would have thought it was an important piece of information when asked a question, specifically when you have a number of dogs that are of different breeds ie. Boston and Dobe.

Firstly, I would like to thank the ESS Club for organising the seminar. The organisation that went into this seminar was outstanding and your club deserve a big for the effort that went into it. There was a massive turnout and it shows how keen Brisbane (and surrounding area) people are for information. Jan spoke well, and I agreed with about 90% of what she had to say, but I struggled with her attitude to desexing, allowing dogs on beds and not using breed/rescue as a reason for a problem (there is a difference between a Bosten Terrier and a Great Dane ). I don't know if you realised but one of the lady's she shot down during question time was in tears by the time the seminar was finished. She said she was made to feel like a fool, and Jan certainly was unnecessarily harsh. When it came to question time did you notice Jan couldn't answer all questions put to her . She walked around them, "waffled on" but didn't actually answer the question.

Has anyone else heard the rumour there wasn't going to be Pet Expo 2007 for Brisbane

It seem's to be staying home now as I haven't seen any cats around . I heard the lady of the house calling for her daughter to "grab him, he's going through the fence", so I'm guessing they are a little more motivated to keep him in their own yard. They haven't said anything to us so I'm hoping they now realise that their cat really is the cause of the dogs barking . I'd like to thank you lillysmum because you've been very supportive with your suggestions - I really had no idea how I was going to handle this problem as I've never been in this siuation before. I promise you I'll be back for more advice if this comes up again. ;)

Yes, that's the hedge where the cat hides. You can drive a car between the neighbours fence and the rock wall which the hedge (lillypillies) is growing on. It's about 10-12 feet high, but that doesn't help when the cat is actually in it .

Thanks guys for your support. I came on here because I know there are a lot of like-minded people who may have had similar experiences and therefore could offer suggestions as to how to handle a situation that is totally new to me. As it is, apart from the support, there have been some great suggestions, all of which I have taken note of and some I have already used. And to Rusky, last time I tried to discuss this with the neighbour he told me he wanted my male GSD gone (it's actually the female who hates their cat). I'm sorry I can't sit and have a cuppa with someone who won't be happy until my GSD in gone :D . Last year they wanted me to stop feeding the birds because the noise upset their daughter, and that was the last time I fed them. Their daughter yells and screams at me and I walk away, because I understand she has no control. My neighbour is not someone you can reason with and I understand the pressure he must be under, but if it was my daughter and I could see that if I shifted the cat the dogs would stop barking, that's what I would do.

We caught the "stray" yesterday afternoon and took it into the council, although it's probably home by now as it had a tag on it saying it was mico-chipped. I'm glad no harm has come to it, but I am worried as to what our neighbour's reaction will be to their cat being trapped. I feel we have proved to the council that we do have a problem with our neighbours cat, as this wasn't a stray as they were suggesting. But I can't help thinking this isn't finished yet, as in the end our neighbours aim was to get rid of our GSD's . PS Just rang the council inspector to let him know about the "stray". He said he's had another complaint from our neighbours yesterday about the dogs barking, although I suggested to him that would have been when the trap went off - he agreed ;) . He has suggested we set the trap again next week and continue to do so until our neighbours learn to keep their cat in their own yard. PPS to Rusky (next post) I spoke to our neighbours when we first moved here and asked them to let me know any time there was a problem. Nothing was said for TWO years. They now have a cat and everything has started from there. I wasn't even aware there was a problem until they spoke to my son, and on the same day they were off to the council - not much time to offer a cup of coffee hey!!! I am locking my dogs in the house yard, locking them inside at night and all I ask is that our neighbours keep their cat within their TWO acres. I said from the outset I didn't want to trap the cat, but it seems this was the only way to prove the cat was there's. By the way the cat was not hurt, and as soon as I saw it I immediately took it into the council.

Thanks everyone for your advice/support. Your replies have given me a more positive attitude and I now feel I have a number of options as to how I can handle this problem. We have now set the trap and I've spotted the "stray" walking around it 3 times, but so far that's all. I will also keep note on any barking, and also sightings of their cat. The council have supplied the trap at no cost but we have to return it within the week and depending on availability we can loan it again on a week to week basis. I lock the dogs in the house yard when no-one's home for my peace of mind (neighbours have no access to them). My son has a dog-proof yard (fully fenced) where my dogs can visit, but I'm not keen for them to go there as the previous owners had a constant battle with flea's there and my dogs are flea-free. If all this fails I'll be back for more advice/suggestions.

That's the thing, the barking our neighbours complain about is happening when I'm not home, and I do lock them in the house yard when I go out. I can't lock them in the garage during the daytime as it's too hot. To give you an idea of just how much our dogs bark, our back neighbour said he wasn't home when the council came around and he had a note in his letterbox asking him to ring the council regarding a dog-barking problem. Our neighbour said it didn't even occur to him it was about our dogs, he thought it was his dog, or the dog two doors up from us. When he rang the council and was asked about our dogs he said he nearly fell over, because he never hears them. He told the council our dogs were definately not a problem. The problem is that when I go out I lock the dogs in the house yard, the neighbours cat is then free to roam the rest of our yard, but of course it goes home when I let the dogs out when I get home. The barking must be so short that no other neighbours even realise it's happening. All this because our neighbour refuses to keep their cat at home, or better still indoors. And I have to say I'm feeling a little victimised as there are certainly other dogs in the neighbourhood and they bark and yet we're the only ones getting visits from the council .

Had a chat with OH last night and decided to go with the trap (as council suggested), after all our neighbour did say it was a stray. I saw the "stray" this morning and guess who's yard it went running back to? I have also downloaded local council information regarding responsible cat ownership. It states :- "Often cats cause disputes and anxiety between neighbours by causing dogs to bark, by fighting with other cats or by defacating in neighbouring gardens. This is not fair to your neighbours" I thought I might contact the Inspector from the council and ask if they could send a brochure or letter on responsible cat ownership to our neighbours.

Thanks everyone for your advice, you've given me plenty to think about. I'm not sure about debarking as she's 10 years old and I'd never forgive myself (or my neighbour) if anything went wrong. I think it comes down to our neighbour being scared of German Shepherds, because they made a point of telling the council our Golden Retriever wasn't a problem. We might consider the trap - not that I intend any harm, but maybe they'll keep their cat inside or at least out of our yard. The guy from the council told me our neighbour claims the cat coming into our yard is a stray, so I suppose I can "assume" they're right - if that's what they want to tell the council . I worry the trap might make our neighbours even more determined to make our life miserable. I'm going to show OH your suggestions when he gets home and hopefully we'll find a happy medium.

I've never done that before - can someone give this green DOL'er instructions please.

Thanks Joan for the quick repy and I did ask the council what happens from here and he said if our neighbours continue to complain they will have to come out and see me again. I like your idea regarding the brochures and I will do that this week. I am not asking them to get rid of the cat because I would think it's a good thing for their daughter to have but I agree cats should be kept indoors. We have had a cat and we never let him outdoors (the dogs got on well with him and he lived to 22yrs). I find myself jumping on the dogs every time they make a noise and I hate myself for it because any other time I wouldn't even have re-acted.

This is a long story but please stick with me and I'll try and condence as much as possible. We moved to our present address nearly 3 years ago as 1 1/2 acres gave our dogs so much more room to run than our previous small house block did. We met the neighbours on both sides and asked both of them to let us know if the dogs were a problem while we were out - not that we thought they would be as they were never a problem at the last address. Both neighbours assured us there were no problems. One of our neighbours added a kitten to their family about 6 months ago and as soon as we saw it OH and myself knew there would be problems as I had trained my now 10yr GSD to chase the cats out of our yard at the last address as they were attacking the birds in our aviary. In July my neighbour approached my 21yr old son (why him and not OH or me I don't know) and said the dogs were barking and while he acknowledged we did call them when this happened he would like the dogs locked up from now on. My son told him that wasn't going to happen and basically the conversation stopped there. (My son is a man of not many words) Our neighbours immediately went to the council with their complaint and we received a letter. After this we have locked the dogs in the house yard whenever we go out and at night they are inside anyway. While in the house yard there is a driveway and 10 ft high shrub separating the 2 yards, but when my neighbours cat is out (and now coming into our yard as the dogs are locked up) my old girl will still bark - a quick short bark, not constant. I have asked my neighbour if he could move the cat when this happens but he refuses. I have now had a phone call from the council who apparently have been out here when I was out. The inspector was very sympathetic saying he has visited all the other neighbours surrounding us and they have all said they weren't even aware of our dogs barking. Apparently the council went back to our neighbour and said without any other complaints from other neighbours they don't see a problem. This inspector was really nice to me, and said he could see we were making an effort and all he could suggest was for us to trap the cat when it comes into our yard and bring it in to the council. Just to give a background on the type of neighbours we have - they are retired and have an adult daughter with Aspergers Syndrome who screams every *#!!!! you could imagine at me because she hates dogs (I ignore this because she has no control). They complained last year when I was feeding the birds (wild) because the noise upset their daughter so I stopped feeding them because I don't want to upset her either. My neighbour has told me he wants my old girl gone completely. You can imagine how upsetting it is to hear your neighbour (or anyone for that matter) say that about one of the familyl, because that's what she is to us. I have owned dogs for over 20 years and never have I had a complaint of any sort about them and I now find this is just eating me up because my dogs are such a huge part of my life and I'm at my witts end as to how I'm going to handle this. I would be grateful for any help/suggestions.