Janba

You could try some excersises to make him aware of where he is putting his such as laying a ladder on the ground anf making him walk through it from one end to the other so he has to stup between the rungs, walking along a plank laid on the ground, teaching him to walk backwards. I am sure the agility people will come forward with more. A lot of dogs don't seem to be aware of exactly where they are putting there feet which isn't a problem when they're a lightweight but can be a pain when they're a boofer.

Cole did some very good advanced cross drives in training this weekend so I have bitten the bullet and entered him in advanced in 2 weeks. I must be mad. EtA He actually does the advanced cross drives better than the intermediate ones - probably because I have to stay at the hold pen till the sheep reach 5 so can't flap around like an idiot

I just went through something similar to this with Moss except it lasted about 4 days. First 3 days he just had diahrea but no other symptons and it didn't really smell. Next day he had really smelly diahrea, very rumbly tummy but no temp and acting flat. I locked him in his crate after the first night so he had to wake me up to go out rather than spread it all over the lounge room floor again. Took him to the local vet for the first time when thew rumbly tummy and smelly poo came (I'm new in the area) who proceeded to test him for pancreatitis (fair enough) and did another blood test then recommended a specific antibiotic that they didn't have in stock but would try to get in next day. Next day no antibiotic and it might take a week to come in so I said to forget it and I would just go on treating him as I had been - chicken and rice as he was already just about back to normal.

We have one more double trial this year at the Spring Fair. I have to do the entries in today and I don't know whether to enter Advanced A or wait till next year. There is also a short course and a 3 sheep trial on at EP the same weekend and I am definitely entering both of them. It is about time I got of my butt and tried a few 3 sheep trials.

What a lovely old boy. I love old dogs there is something special about them. One day I will have a dog who can do yard work. Cole has done a bit but he is not good at it - he is good with a mob in the open but no good in yards ETA A good yard dog is wonderful to watch.

I would also question how a very active dog like a working sheep dog would go on a vegetarian diet. Would they thrive and live a long useful life?

My dalmatian has the best "stop" of my 3 dogs - she learnt it by watching me dry train the BCs for sheepwork.

A dog has the short small intestine of a carnivore so can't digest vegetable matter as efficiently as a herbivore or a true omnivore like us. Just have a look at you dogs faeces and see the grass that passes thruough undigetsted - the same with a lot of grains. While dogs naturally eat vegetable matter it is not the main part of their diet. ETA I met a vegan a few weeks ago who while she said she hated handling it fed her dog a barf diet.

I have always managed to find vets I like and trust in my various moves from place to place. I have also met a few that I would never go back to but as PF says they are people and you get the good and the bad. I am busy sussing out the local vets (within walking distance) at my new house and they seem very good despite the fact the vet was horrified that I don't vaccinate for kennel cough and only C3 every 3 years. I did tell him I am very happy to titre test and that I hadn't had kennel cough since I stopped vaccinating for it but regularly had it before that. My youngest boy is the first I have had a say in his vaccination regime. He had a C3 at about 9 weeks and a nasal spray for KC at about 10 weeks for importation (I don't think it was a requirement but a recommendation) and was imported at 12 weeks. He then has another C3 at about 14 weeks and then a C3 at 15 months.

I have a dog that had a massive allergic reaction to the prohearft injection. He and my dally bitch were the last appointment at the vets and both had the injection and were put straight into the car for the drive home. By the time I had got home his throat was swelling as was his face etc. I rang the vet back but it was shut so called the principal vet from the practice on his mobile - he was at a meeting at the AVA so this was discussed there as he later told me. The dog was given oral antihistamines and driven to an emergency vet a few suburbs away were he had emergency treatment. The timing and were the dog was there was NOTHING else that could have caused this reaction but the Proheart injection. My dally who had the injection at the same time had a large swelling at the injection site that took 12 months to resolve. It may have been a bad batch and it was reported. The dogs were also only given the proheart injection at that visit nothing else.

He's a broken dally. I can't imagine a dal that won't try to move mountains to get their dinner

My dally bitch will leap quite happily into the passenger seat of the car but waits to be lifted into the back of the station wagon when being put into the car but will leap into the back bit to sit if I leave her tied up to the car She prefers to travel in the back seat like a lady not in the back with hairy sheep dogs. Dallies can be funny dogs and a reluctance to jump can into a car can mean other things than something physically wrong. That is why I asked if he would jump into the car to get his dinner (dallies are more food motivated than labs). He may just think that being lifted in is the way it should be.

Put his dinner in the car and see if he jumps in. If he doesn't off to the vet for a check up. Have you had him checked by a vet or chirpractor to make sure he is sound?

Did your vet discuss some whether some of the drugs like corticosteroids would help. It reduces the swelling around tumours and can make the dog a lot more comfortable and while probably not good in the long term can make the dogs remaining time a lot more comfortable. I had a dally with cancer who was treated with them and she bounced until the week before her death.

It would probably have to be done a bit later as the pups need to be microchipped for the DNA testing. Doesn't QLD now have a law that pups must be 8 weeks to be microchipped?

He will go to the vets first thing tomorrow if he is still lame. I haven't given the metacam because I don't know why he is lame. I suppose I panic because he has a busy few weeks ahead working and he is my baby so I don't want anything to be wrong with him.

I posted this in general as I amy get more replies. Cole is refusing to out weight on his hind leg. He was fine till he fell asleep on the lounge. He seems a bit tender in the knee and foot but is not reallly reacting to pressure anywhere on his leg nor does he seem to be in pain. He has 1-1 hips so not a HD problem. I have metacam but I am reluctant to give it to him if I don't know the reason for his lameness. Any suggestions as to what it might be would be appreciated. Thanks -------------------- “Pedigree indicates what the animal should be. Conformation indicates what the animal appears to be. But performance indicates what the animal actually is.” Anonymous Coles Profile

Ingrained stock or wildlife chasing. Try being more interesting than a fleeing rabbit. I train herding which is very similar to chasing a fleeing rabbit in that the biggest reward for a keen dog is to be allowed to work regardless of whether what it is doing is correct or incorrect. I have never used physical correction or long whips, plastic bags on whips etc for my dog but I do use a verbal correction of "no" or a gruff "uugh" for a really bad error. I also use a marked reward word for when the dog does something difficult or when teaching something new. At the moment I am training my dog to drive sheep. His instincts tell him to bring the sheep back to me and to stay in a balance position (basically me, sheep, dog) and I am telling him to drive the sheep away from me (me, dog, sheep). When he disobeys a command and tries to bring them to me I tell him no, regive the command and then praise when he does it right. You can really see the dog beginning to un derstand because he is getting both positive and negative feed back on his actions. I don't know that I would call myself a balanced trainer but I do think dogs respond to knowing they are wrong as well as knowing they are right, but I do think they need to know a command properly before negative feedback works.

I get mine done by Karen Hedberg at North Richmond vet clinic. She is good and gived you an idea of the score on the day.

I have been a member on but am not now as I no longer trial obedience. My 2 eldest dogs were both in the 8.30 trialling class as was my old BC. It is a good club and I used to enjoy training there. When I was there there was no pressure do trials if you didn't want to but plenty of help if you did.

Cole was about 8 months when he did his HIC and the did his PT and Started A Title by 15 months but he didn't get his B started till 20 months and his Inter A at 2 1/2. In obedience I have only started 1 dog before 2 (under the old rules so no CCD) and that was a mistake as she wasn't mature enough. I really think it depends on the maturity of the dog as well as how well they work. In obedience now with the CCD it is easier to start them a bit earlier now.

I would ring the company and ask. I have pet insurance with a different company and had a claim that I thought they may not cover but rang and asked and I was peasantly suprised when they said it would be covered.

I have been using a NRM with Cole in herding training lately and I have found it helps. I am currently training for Advanced A and Inter B so the driving is more complicated than the lower levels. Herding is a bit different to obedience and agility in that the reward is being allowed to work the sheep and you do have that 3rd factor of the sheep to contend with. You want a dog that obeys you instantly unless the sheep do something unexpected then you want the dog to react instantly. I do use a conditioned reward word when he has done what I want and a NRM when he is wrong. ETA My dog is usually between 90 and 20m away from me when training so cannot give a physical correction unless I throw my stick at him.

I used an ear thermometer on one of my dogs who screamed when anyone put one in her rectum. I gtook her temperature over various times during the day to bet a baseline, as the ear thermometer isn't that accurate, and it seems to work OK to get an idea about her temperature. This was the vets suggestion and she did need her temperature taken regularly towards the end of her life.

I find feeling the temperature just inside the ear helps. A dogs body temperature is 1 degree higher than ours so should feel slighlty warmer but not hot.