Sonic

Just had a girl from work say that her dog picked up a paralysis tick in the Loch Sport area of Victoria (Gippsland) 2 weeks ago (April). Some friends and I are travelling to Gippsland in a couple of weeks for one week with our dogs. What would you recommend we use on our dogs for a one week stay? Frontline Plus 48 hours prior to the trip has been recommended. Is this sufficient?

I bought the jet air collar and it didn't work for my dog. Once she figured out it was just a spray of air she just barked through it. That's not to say it won't work for your dog but just be aware that it is quite an expensive item and it may not work.

Is this something that is already established in Australia or is it a new thing trying to get off the ground? I have a dog losing his sight who will be blind in the next couple of years and I'm looking for something we can do together. I noticed it was said that you can talk to your dog around the course so am wondering if this would suit a blind dog?

Pardon my ignorance, but what is Rally Obedience, as opposed to normal Obedience?

I have to agree with this statement as I have taken 3 of my Labs to PPS and they have always ended up being the bully of the class. That is until my last one, a bitch (the others were dogs) realised who had the food and then she would run to each person individually and sit very nicely in front of them until they fed her. Just proves that girls are smarter than boys. The boys always ended up in the "sin bin" for most of the class, as did the bitch until she figured out the whole food scenario. So I would say the most important thing when planning PPS is to make sure dogs of equivalent size and activity level are placed together. My dogs didn't get much out of being in the sin bin. It certainly didn't teach them to modify their behaviour as they didn't understand why they'd been put in there.

Thanks Whitka, sorry it's taken me a while to get back to this forum but I appreciate your explanation.

Pardon my ignorance but come someone give me an idea of what these titles stand for. I understand the basic ones like ADX, Agility Dog Excellent, but most of them I have no idea of.

I walk 3 Labs and each has a different colour lead so I can always quickly correct the one who steps out of line.

I have always walked 2 entire males and have had dogs go past one male (the older dog with the submissive body language) to get to the younger dog. The younger dog carries himself very upright - head up, tail up and he has a certain strut that obviously catches the attention of other dogs. I do believe it is his "presence" that causes this unwanted attention.

Hi Annie Can I ask what has caused Carlin to lose his sight? Was it a result of the stroke or something else. I have a dog who has been diagnosed with PRA, although he's not yet showing much sign of it, and would be interested to hear how Carlin (and you) coped with it.

I attended Jean's seminar in Melbourne on Wednesday night. Friends had for some time now been trying to convince me about vaccinating less frequently but I guess because we are brain washed to believe we are doing the wrong thing and "bad parents" if we don't vaccinate them every year, I kept up with the regular vaccinations. After listening to Jean talk I am now a convert. My 11 y.o. will not be vaccinated again, I will get titres on my 5 y.o. in a few years to see how he is progressing and the same with my 18 m.o. The US has moved to a 3 yearly vaccination protocol but that news doesn't seem to have trickled to everyone over here just yet. I called 2 vets yesterday to ask about titre testing. The nurse at the first clinic didn't know what I was talking about and had to keep referring my queries to the vet until eventually the vet came on the line and said "we really do recommend you vaccinate your pet every year". The second vet knew exactly what I was talking about and gave me prices pretty quickly. One problem I have is that I would like to attend obedience classes with my 5 y.o. but am struggling to find a club that accepts titre tests over vaccinations. Hopefully it will become more recognised here over the next few years.

I'm presuming that the Rotti Club require proof of vaccinations when joining. Does anyone know if they accept titre test results in lieu of vaccinations?

I joined Westerport about 4 years ago and lasted only a few months. I kept getting the same instructor who spent most of the class telling us how lucky we were to have him as he was the instructor who taught all the other instructors. When he wasn't big noting himself he focussed on just a couple of people in the class as they had dogs the same breed as his and pretty much just ignored the rest of us. After a few months I was told I was ready to go into the members comp so I spent my money and entered only to find out that I hadn't been taught all the exercises required for my level. I have trained dogs for a lot of years and have been a member of quite a few clubs and this was definitely the worst I've experienced. I will say that it was 4 years ago and the club may have changed but I won't go back - and it's only 10 minutes from home!

Thanks, I'm glad I didn't take the chance and just turn up!

I was hoping someone could let me know if either the Berwick or Scoresby centres were training this weekend - as it is the Queens Birthday weekend I thought they might not be open and I'm a bit too far away from either centre to just "pop in" for a look. Thanks

I have one of the cold spray collars and haven't found it terribly effective. My dog at first was surprised by it but now that she knows what it is she just keeps on barking until it runs out of air. Also, at times she has a high pitched squeal which just doesn't trigger the spray but it is just as (if not more) annoying as her regular bark. She is a clever little thing!!

For anyone interested in attending the Jean Dodd seminar in Melbourne details will be in the May Vic Dog magazine or you can call the VCA directly.

Just saw the details in the General forum. Thanks

Hi Everyone I saw a post that said Jean Dodd was holding a seminar in Victoria but have been unable to find out the details. I believe someone said it had been advertised in the Vic Dog magazine but I couldn't find it there and the website link seemed to only have information on the Brisbane seminar. Can anyone help? Thanks

Thanks for your reply Cosmolo. He is already booked in for a training session so I'll be interested to hear how he goes. Apparently they were highly recommended by the local vet surgery.

I work with someone who has organised for their 5 month old pup to have basic training with a company called Jog the Dog. I haven't heard of them before but have just looked at their website which looks like they are predominantly a dog walker service. Has anyone used them for dog training and, if so, would you recommend them.

Damn Julie, that is a bugger! How is she today?

Just to be different, I give my Home Brand tuna in oil. They love it.

I trained dogs for Obedience trials for many years before moving across to Retrieving Trials. I can only comment on my impression on the degree of difficulty between these two fields but I would say that training a dog for All Age retrieving trials is by far the toughest, most challenging and most rewarding thing I've done with my dogs. I think the biggest difference between the two is that to attain a Retrieving Trial Champion title you have to win 2 All Ages. That may not sound too difficult to some people but here in Victoria we have some of the best All Age competitors and dogs in the country, just to place in an All Age here is an achievement. It's a tough system but I wouldn't have it any other way. At least I know that when I do win I have thoroughly deserved the title.

Rusky I'm still interested in hearing how you would stop a dog from stock chasing. To just say that you would find something the dog liked better doesn't work as there is nothing the dog likes better than chasing stock. How would you handle this? To just ignore the dog when he chases stock is just allowing him to self-reward and thereby increasing his desire to chase. I am very interested to hear genuine answers to this query. Please bear in mind that this problem has been solved but it did take a mix of an aversive and the dogs natural prey drive. He still has the desire to chase stock but he can be controlled. I am genuinely interested to hear how this could have been achieved without the use of an aversive.