mirawee

Have any States in Australia made it compulsory to offer the Open Neuter class at Championship shows? I can vaguely remember reading something possibly in NSW? I am just wondering if I was imagining it

Personally if it close now and you have the dog's rego number then contact the breeder and get their membership number and enter under their name :) Most dogs I have had are entered in their first few shows under the breeder's name as by the time they get rego papers back and I send them off to be transfered the first couple of baby puppy entries have already had to be in.

If your breed has an official extended standard there will be a link to it from the ANKC breed standard page. The Akita didn't have one though. ETA: I don't know how anyone can not take temperament into account when breeding. First up if you want to show you need a dog who will catch the eye in the ring for the right reasons and temperament is a part of this. Also when assessing which home pups are going to temperament again plays a big part for deciding which puppy is best in which home.

Started and gave up when it asked if I thought the dog looked skinny - from a head shot! In fact the majority of questions asked need more than a head shot to answer. Personally it is one of the worst designed psychology surveys I have seen. Most people with a reasonable amount of dog experience would want to answer "too hard to tell from the information at hand" to most of the questions

I have heard good things about Eden Hill as well and they would be closer to home for you :) Also Northern Suburbs in Carine. Although I have heard it isn't quite as friendly as it used to be

My youngest kelpie was a PITA because her default was to drop with sit as a close second :laugh: She wasn't sore and has never needed a treatment when she has visited the vet chiro/accupunturist. But then if you watch kelpies they often drop when herding sheep :p It took me a while to convince her to stand when she stopped moving and I had to reward very quickly for the smallest moment of bum off the ground She now free stacks well and has a good stand stay so I can walk all the way around her and even step over her without any issues With judges checking mouths on babies I let the pup sit if they go to and just restack after the judge has finished going over the head. I have never had a judge say anything about the pup sitting and my theory is that you are better off not making a big deal of it when they are young. Baby mouths are sore and personally I don't see why judges even bother as half the time they don't have teeth anyway! The judges that I like best are those who quickly put a finger under the lips to get an idea of jaw on pups rather than opening the mouth :) If they bother with anything at all :)

Yay for Brittany babies! I know some Sheltie babies arrived last night too :) So now we just need Whippet babies :D Ptololomy I have thought about asking Richard if he would be willing to come over and do a heart clinic :)

At this stage we are fairly sure it isn't but I guess we won't know for another year. Oh... and CAVALIA IS COMING TO PERTH!!!!!!!!! Was going to fly to Melbourne to see it but now have front row centre VIP tickets to a Perth show instead

Big fat Whippy Zora looks normal next to her I say 3 girls 2 boys for Zora and 6 boys and 1 girl for Rommi :) We had an interesting weekend away in Melbourne... I can safely say next time I go we won't have 6 dogs in 1 small house including 2 entire males who had to be kept separate :laugh: A weekend of ups and downs... The dogs all did well at the Specialty show. The classes were judged by a Finnish judge as per a normal ANKC show plus we got FCI gradings and critiques. All of our dogs were awarded Excellent gradings and Anikka, Liss and Arlo were also awarded their CC worthy ribbons :) Taavi and Arlo won their classes and Liss and Anikka both came 2nd to their litter sisters - all from classes of 4-5 dogs :) Varda was unplaced out of 7 neuter bitches but I agree with his critique with the main negatives concentrating on her tail set and hind end drive which are mainly due to a bad injury to the base of her tail at 7 months old. Then in the property classed judged by a Victorian judge Arlo won Best Headed Male and the Owner/Breeder/Handler class Sunday we went to an All breed show judged by a Vic judge. The day started badly with us being very tired after the dogs wouldn't settle for the night! Then a big disappointment when the judge didn't even put her hands on either Junior Kelpie bitch before awarding the class We didn't even get to stop and stack the dogs before she awarded it to the other bitch (who was then beaten by both Open bitches for CC/rCC) So I guess the judge didn't like either dog! In the Lappies however she awarded Arlo BOB and Liss rBCC and Minor in Group with some nice comments about both dogs :) Our final day involved taking the dogs down to see the canine cardiologist for auscultation and ECG as there have been a couple of heart issues in related lines. Jive, Liss, Anikka and Taavi all got the all clear however Arlo has a grade 2 heart murmur due to a mild mitral valve leak He will need to be retested by ECG in 12 months to see if it is progressive and won't be bred until that time which is a PITA coz he was meant to get bred to a bitch while over there and also Ani in September (would be much easier to be a BYB who didn't care about the long term health of the breed...)! We did have a vet in Perth hear the murmur but got him checked out by 3 other well respected vets after that in WA who couldn't hear anything (and cleared him for breeding) so assumed that she was the one who was wrong Although at least we know that there is one vet in WA who can hear it so we don't have to go back to Vic for the 6 month auscultation check :laugh: Finally home yesterday afternoon and back at work today!

We leave on Friday coz the show is Saturday :) I am tossing up whether to bother even going to bed since the Tour de France won't finish until midnight or there abouts anyway I can always sleep on the plane :p

Will be interesting to hear the results if you release them SAS :)

Good news about Louis :) Long may the improvement continue Hopefully the GSP is found soon Sonya and Bella are certainly getting called on a fair bit. I am currently stressing thinking of everything I need to do to get ready for the Lappy Specialty in Melbourne on Saturday Stupid us booked in for the 6am flight as well (it was more than $100pp cheaper!) so we have to be at the airport by 4.30am

There are definitely some Finnish Lapphund lines which are VERY vocal. And if you attempt to avoid those known lines you can end up with something with an even more annoying bark You do get Lappies who are more laid back and quieter. As apposed to Jumabaar my Kelpies rarely bark but I have 3 out of our 4 Lappies who are very vocal when excited or when strange things happen. The girls in my experience tend to be noisier. Our male Lappy would also not be so keen on apartment living as he loves going to sleep in the "bed" (read hole)he has made for himself outside :laugh: He does come inside to say hello and sleep on the couch at times but he prefers being an outside dog (they have a dog door so can choose for themself). Personally if I had an apartment dog I would be choosing a breed you can get an inside toilet for

Are your dogs Associate registered Kavik or Main/Limited?

You can only be an associate member if your dog is associate registered in WA so it may be different in NSW. Pretty sure if your dog is pedigree you need a full membership to compete. Bit different from the original topic though :laugh: To answer that question it is working fine for me at the moment :)

So Bulla has a fenced area? Sounds good as we can also check out where we need to be the next day We stupidly booked in for the 6am flight since it was cheaper than the 10am one which means we will be there before lunch

Thanks Prag :) Less busy sounds good as the dogs have to try and stay clean since they are showing the next day :)

Doesn't have to be right near the airport :) We are staying at Airport West since the shows are at Bulla. Travelling 30 mins from that area is not a problem at all :) Particularly as we have to find a Bunnings anyway :laugh:

What parks would people recommend taking dogs to for a run near Tullamarine airport? We are flying over from Perth and wouldn't mind giving the dogs a run after they get off the plane. Fully fenced would be a bonus since my dogs are more used to running free on our own property rather than near roads!

Glad to hear Rosie was found safe and sound Maybe she will think twice about running off next time :laugh: CC, hopefully things keep going well for Louis :) For those who aren't FB friends with OzJen I thought I would also let you know that Jenna crossed the Rainbow Bridge on Friday OzJen doesn't come on here much any more but I know Jenna was well known. Naughty little Aussie that she could be, she will be missed

Poor Louis (((hugs))) to you CC. Seems there is a string of bad luck for WA DOL dogs atm Varda is having an operation today on her inguinal hernia. It was previously fixed but only one side held - when she saw the vet a couple of weeks ago the vet was horrified at how big it was and wanted to have her in again ASAP to fix it Slightly annoyed as I have had it checked a few times throughout the years since it was originally done and I have always been told it isn't worth trying again as it is harder to repair after one failed attempt Now I am hoping all goes smoothly and she isn't shaved too badly as she is meant to be competing in Melbourne in a months time :laugh: Obviously her health is the most important thing though and if she doesn't get to Melbourne so be it :) I hate having a dog in at the vets having an operation though

Liss is growing up so fast LOL. She is still a rat though :p Ptolomy, unfortunately the dogs don't get out there as much as I would like... I will have to make more of an effort this summer :) Seld, our property is gorgeous :) Now if only it was less 5 minutes from work (instead of 1.5hrs) and didn't require maintenance Oh and 5 mins from DogsWest would be nice too rather than 50 mins! I am sleepy today after giving a breed lecture last night which started at 8pm

A few photos of Jive and Liss from the weekend... Running through the paddocks... Exploring among the trees... Liss is growing up so fast! Doing laps of the dam... Getting their feet wet...or at least Jive telling Liss to be careful the monster doesn't pull her in :laugh: Climbing up the mountain...

They are having so much fun RS :) My kids probably would have liked it as neither Jive nor Liss went into the water past their belly when they got to go to our dam on Sunday :laugh: I really need to take my camera next time I take them out rather than relying on my mobile :p Hopefully all the convalescent dogs are doing well still Poor Varda will join them next week as she needs to have an operation The inguinal hernia which they previously tried to repair has gotten lots bigger recently so they are now willing to try again Means she might not make it to the Lappy Champ show but her health is much more important!

I hope Louis continues to improve CC! Our furkids certainly like scaring us Varda was shown from 3 months and also started obedience training around the same time (pity I am not so dedicated with my latter dogs :laugh: ) Not only is the collar different but the body language is too :) So most dogs pick it up pretty quickly and you can teach them a command to look ahead when showing :) Also if your dog does decide default sit is a better option you just tell them to stand in the show ring :D