Lab_Rat

Oh, if we could just train our dogs to NOT wag their tails, there would be no injuries I have a ridgeback, long whippy tail that is susceptible to injuries. She has had a couple of tail injuries in her four and a half years which have been quite annoying. But luckily none have been so bad as to require vet attention. So Ive got an extremely stupid but serious question...............Could the tail injury incidences in traditionally docked breeds be because that breed has never had to suffer tail injuries and somehow genetically cant deal with them as well?? I cant seem to word the question exactly how I want to, so feel free to enquire more and Ill have a think about it ;) I often threaten my girl I will vetwrap her tail to her hind leg if she doesnt stop wagging it!!! BTW, I am neither for or against docking. I have no preference but I have never owned a docked breed.

In another few months anyway He is a baby still :p ETA: It will be nice not being the first dog in the ring though ;) You have to come on Saturday! If you can't swap shifts just ring up sick Yes he will be a bit bigger in a couple of months - talking WC above (just in case you didnt know )....I wont get a chance to head up to any shows earlier..... Im pretty sure Ive convinced one of the newbies to swap my dayshifts for his nightshifts ;) which will be just dandy!!! 4 nightshifts then 2 MONTHS OF LONG SERVICE LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: WOOHOO, I cant wait! Anyways, will be good to head to the WC, and see some of my favourite dogs and humans :D Whats the go with Agility and Obedience that weekend, anyone know??

Yep Washa - will definitely be there Friday night and Saturday if I can con someone into swapping shifts for me. Otherwise I have to head back early as its day shift for me Sunday. Was gonna email you and see if I/we can get a bed I really, really wanna stay for the Saturday show so I can see the new Kelpie pup (another boy to compete with Banjo!!) Looking forward to seeing Rijbiz's new baby girl too on Friday night!!

I agree! What a wonderful site. Thanks Dju for the link :D That will sort of save me a lot of money as I spend a lot of money Thirded. I've been looking for a cheap copy of a certain book all afternoon and voila, that site found it for me at less than half the price of the cheapest I'd found. Niques - Tony Parsons established his Kelpie stud Karrawarra in 1950, which I believe still exists today! He has written three previous books dedicated to the Kelpie - The Australian Kelpie, The Working Kelpie and Training the Working Kelpie. I guess his interest and understanding of the breed and his background of being a journo and country bloke gave him the opportunity to put all this down for others to read about! I would dearly love to get hold of his three earlier books, especially Training............

Geez you guys have been busy.................talking :D It has taken me about half an hour to catch up!!! Great to see you all so enthusiastic about your dog sports, and trials One day hopefully I will be able to participate too!! Im looking forward to the Western Classic, well the Friday & Saturday anyways....and I hope this time to catch up with some of you I havent met yet!! Nothing terribly exciting happening in the south of the state, just more heat than you can poke a stick at Rock on winter Hows Banjo Mirawee??? Hope hes gotten over his little sad.......

I also paid $150 for my copy of The Kelpie, but have never felt like I was overspending.............It is one of the best books (non-fiction) I have ever bought..I have been trying to track down Tonys previous books for a while, but being out of print is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Who would want to get rid of their Kelpie books????? My OH has spent hundreds of dollars on specialist Eucalypt and Australian Flora books, reference books just cost more When I walked into the bookshop and saw it on the shelf, I just made a beeline straight to it and picked it up! I didnt give it a second thought, I had to t have it I havent read much of it, but will pick it up every now and then and read a chapter or two. The most memorable section so far is of course the history behind the kelpie breed and name. Would be lovely to get to meet Mr Parsons one day and get him to sign his wonderful book.

Oh Bedazzled I am sooooo jealous!! What a gorgeous baby! Is he gunna be a sheepdog trialler?? Or just other stuff trialler?? Cant wait to see more photos of the little darling!

:love: You sound sooooo much like me CC!!!! I definitely dont have any skirts, and my wedding dress is prob'ly the only dress I have!! MMMMmmmmmm jeans & cider!!! Yep - thats me!! Im a pretty pathetic drinker really, always leaving have empty stubbies around Did used to be quite reasonable at it though - we built a wall of Jacks & Beam bottles when I was in my early 20's..........Bloody hell!!! Never got into the Club scene though, lived too far away from any

Poor Trixie!!! why oh, why do people do that????? At least she calmed down enough to have some liver treats - Zola wont have treats just being at the vet, let alone anything else traumatic happening whilst shes there!! Silly girl! Glad all went well the the AG, I think Im gonna have to learn how to empty Zolas, too far to the vet just for that!! I dont know how they (well It really, only the left hand side that doesnt empty) fill so quick!! :D ;) Welcome Josie & Pudding!! Great name, one of many nicknames I use for our Kelpie!! Shes a gorgeous looking Beagle!! Well they all are arent they!!

wow Mirawee if you need lessons with your beautiful boy who won group New Years Eve, we are all in big trouble he went like a dream. A BIG congrats again Pretty sure she means obedience lessons We wanna see Banjo debut in CCD sometime this year, mirawee! I need a small lotto win, I need some private lessons with someone too in both obedience and retrieving (and agility :p). Ruby is gosh darnit the hardest friggin dog to train!!! She makes it so difficult for me because her motivation to do much has disappeared She's a fast learner, but needs to know what's in it for her upfront or I get this avoidance behaviour going on What, has she got a bit of ridgeback in her ....I do believe Zola is the hardest dog to train!!!!!!!!! Stubborn damn animal! Im sure she has a middle finger! She make Wandy-the-Kelpie look like Miss Perfect!

Power went off at work today at about 4.15............Lucky night shift got to go home!! Must be BIG probs!! so why can't the power go off when i am working nights??? :p Dunno Emery!! Has happened to me once, early last year I think! Generally the power comes back on fairly quickly - but there must have been something seriously wrong yesterday!! Hope its all fixed by my nightshift tonight! Mirawee - you are sooooooooooooooo right about Kelpie Kisses!! They are truly magical

Power went off at work today at about 4.15............Lucky night shift got to go home!! Must be BIG probs!!

Kelpie puppies.............WOOHOO!!!!!!!! I tried not to watch the video, but when I saw kelpies, I just couldnt resist!! Beautiful babies! Is that their dad in there as well? Dare I ask where they are from Bedazzled?? And they look like workers, are they?? Sorry Im not much help namewise, Im racking my brains to come up with a list for my boy kelpie, when I get him eventually!!

Glad you were clear of the fires Mirawee!! Weve had one in our area, but not close enough to be of any threat...Just lots of smoke Re the horse thing.......Our old mare who we had put down last year had pretty much the same sort of symptoms. She was down, didnt have the power in her hindquarters to get up, poor old thing. She also had colic too, which made it even worse :D .. Im beginning to think she may have had some sort of stomach or gastro cancer as about a week afterwards I found a termite mound that she had completely eaten . I figure she wasnt in a good way for some time and I just didnt see it because it wasnt that obvious. I feel for you big time fetchindawgs....We'd had our girl since 1986, and figure she mustve been in her thirties. Its very hard when you have a horse that long. There is such a huge connection over that time.....Take care..and big hugs..

We had a strange dog hanging around a year or so ago, we have no idea where it came from. While my sister was babysitting, this dog appeared at the door late at night, which set our two off big time!! My poor sister was understandably worried - she thought there may be a human with the dog!! Our ridgie girl ended up sleeping in the doorway of the bedroom where my sister was sleeping............on the cold hard floor.............in the middle of winter, when usually she is snuggled up under her blankies on her comfy bed!! I have no doubt in my mind that she would protect anyone of her humans in her house!!

Good Dog!!! I am so thankful we live in the bush and are not exposed to such ridiculous crap!!!!!!! Honestly is would cause me to react in a way I would end up regretting! I think the worst comments Ive had wouldve been to ask if my ridgie was born with the ridge and the idiotic woman who swore black and blue her "pure" Labrador (with papers , yeh, right!) had ridgeback put in the line a couple generations back (for what reason i didnt dare ask)......Her Labrador gets a ridge when it gets excited...............Of course I just smiled and nodded, thinking what the f**k ever lady!!! A bit OT, but when I was a kid there was a girl in the class below me that reckoned if a horses veins stuck out after exercising, it was a thoroughbred :D O...k...a...y!

An LM is a Large Munsterlander I hate studying chemistry and live human bio based subjects but only 2 years (and a little bit) and I will be graduated and can do my masters in something non chemistry related Ooh, I havent met a Large Munsterlander!! Would love to though, they are gorgeous! What are your studies working towards?? A degree of some sort Im assuming??

So sorry for your loss fetchingdawgs :D And good on you for doing the right thing with that obese little chihuahua CC. 2011 goals- Continue working on Toby for his anxiety, smart socialization and maybe some obedience/Rally. Plus continue to learn about training dogs and dog body language and behaviour. Title Cider and Strauss (this is a joint goal with Ptolomy I think... only she dosent know it ) Improve my handling. Keep learning about structure and function of gundog breeds. Save as much as I can for Europe/Crufts 2012 (and keep fingers crossed Charlie qualifys!) Meet a LM again! And some personal ones; finish the year with distinctions in all subjects, conquer my arch enemy - Chemistry , improve eating + fitness + keep off the weight/lose more ;), improve my photography, finally learn some more Italian so I can speak with my nonno (late 80's), zia (mid 60's) and zio(early 70's) in thier mother tounge as they age.... so not much. Better get off DOL now and get some stuff done Thats certainly a good list to tackle Valley!!! Umm, whats an LM .............. Good luck with your studies!! Thats another to add to my list - study something!! I want to do something completely different! One of your other goals reminded me of one I need to work on - working with Zola and her anxiety and fear issues!!! Lots of homework there! I would love to take her to the odd neuter show!

Yep ours get the same.......

My ridgie girl has a breeder tattoo in one ear and a desexed tattoo in the other. Ridgebacks are still tattooed here in WA, although I dont know if all breeders do it. Our kelpie also has a desexed tattoo... None of the tattoos are really dark, or obvious, and you really need to search for the desexed tatts.

My, doesnt the time just zip by!!!!! I cant believe my "baby" will be five years old in June!!!

Id like to get fit in 2011 (think this is more reachable than saying Im going to lose weight )..... Id like to do more training with my two dogs in 2011.... Im going to do more fun things on my RDOs in 2011.... We put our shade sails up under our patio this morning, and they are looking very noice, I must say!!! Off visiting rellies this arvo! I should have Sea Monkeys tomorrow!! Their water is "purifying" for 24 hours, then they can be hatched ....I have wanted Sea Monkeys since I was a kid - after seeing them on the backs of comics...LOL

Happy Belated Christmas everyone........After working the last four days I am now on my days off - Yay!!!! We had a quiet but nice Christmas, just the way I like it Sorry fetchingdawgs you had to lose your beautiful Juana, so sad I hope Jimmy does ok with his new living arrangements! The weather certainly has been on the disgusting side! I have been trying to sleep off nightshifts in the heat with no aircon! Not fun!! Our house stays reasonably cool, but the bedroom heats up just a little toooooo much at about midday. I hope everyone has a great new years eve. Mine will be fairly quiet and tame, back to work new years day

Sorry to hear of the move, but im sure it wouldnt be an easy decision... Does this mean Char is going to go for his AM Ch title too? Jersey is in the states right?? If its not - now you all know why I failed Geography And my first thought was the Island of Jersey!!!!

My sister regularly sends care packages to the troops, and makes sure she includes girly stuff and dog stuff!!! She has had a number of responses from the thankful soldiers .............. All guys I thinks - most of them quite young too!! When we go shopping together we are always looking for things to post to the troops - things they would be missing, trivial little things to give them some fun and stuff they are probably missing! As well as being proud of our Aussies overseas, I am also proud of my sister who takes the time and money to do this. She lives on a disability pension but still finds a bit of money to put together care packages for the troops!! What I also think is pretty good is if the packages are under a certain weight (cant remember sorry), Australia Post will pay the postage :p ;)