Luke GSP

Hi all, I am hoping I can come to an arrangement with someone importing from the USA, I want to import some US dog crates for my dogs. I'm wondering if anyone would be interested in using the crate I want and I will cover the cost of the crate so it saves you that cost off your import? im looking at a Gunner kennel or similar, so very good quality and safe for your pup! I want two, one cocker size and one GSP size.

Hi all, my daughter is looking at doing a vet assistant course at a cost of approximately $3,500 which is 300 hours of study with tutor support. The course is with my online learning. just wondering if any here have done the course or have any opinion on validity or worthwhile (ness) all opinions welcome

Hi all, i was on a local (to me) Facebook page and there is a guy trying to rehome a pair of staffs that live together as he is moving and cannot take them (one is 8 and the other 1.5 years) I suggested he try staff rescue but said they only take rescues, not surrenders, is that correct??? are there any other options? they are in sydney, id take them but have 2 GSP's and a crazy cocker already :)

thank all, great feedback and info, much appreciated.

thanks for the replies guys, The traction issue should be ok as my dogs aren't supposed to be zooming round the house, we try and promote calm behaviour (I did say try :laugh: ) Just as an added question, is it worth spending the extra to get the ones with longer "warranties"?

Hi All, As per the description, we are considering laminate flooring as our carpets need replacing, but I'm a little concerned how they go with dogs on them? I know that they are a bit slippery and sometimes dogs cant get traction, but my main concern is if their claws wear them out? we have two pointers and a cocker spaniel. They are in the laundry and garden during the day, then come in at night, they are pretty calm when inside in the evenings and not running about. Does anyone have experience with laminates and dogs that can advise?

Kavik, not sure if this link will work, but maybe have a watch of this as this to me is a great demonstration of a great working cocker. They tend to look like they are wriggling everywhere because their bum never stops wagging. Word of warning, from memory there may be some footage of game being shot in the video, so please do not watch if offended by such content.

Kavik, I used to deal with them a lot when gameshooting in the UK, I never owned one, but I've seen plenty working. They can be quite soft and repond very well to team work. A gamekeeper I met once said that you don't tell a cocker to do anything, you ask them, and if you ask nicely enough, they'll do it. When they do "do it"however, they do it with gusto and focus, and with a heap of happy. I keep torturing myself about getting one and have spoken to a couple of the top trainers in the UK about importing one, there are lots of hurdles, cost, time etc etc, but if it all comes good, what a dog

Hi All, It appears that I might need to buy another car. Up until now, I have had a older (2003) nissan pathfinder 4X4. My dilema is that I would actually prefer a Nissan Navarra kingcab, with a ARB box on the back. This would mean that doggie smells etc are kept in the rear tray and easily pressure washer cleaned, compared to having the rear of the vehicle as an extension of the main cab. So here is my dilemma, up until now my three dogs (2 X GSP's and a Cocker) have ridden in the back of the main cab boot area, which obviously benefits from any heating or cooling that we are using in the main cab. My concern is, would the dogs be ok in the back of a ute with one of the plastic covers over the top? I was going to try and get one with windows at the side so that there could be ventilation etc, but wasn't sure what your thoughts would be, as obviously without having one, I have no idea how hot these utes get if ventilated when driving along (obviously I am not talking about leaving them in the vehicle when it is stationary) In the UK the guys threr did this all the time, but obviously our summers are considerably warmer than theirs. Any advice or experiences would be much appreciated.

Personally I don't even acknowledge my dogs until they are calm, and I mean calm, not just sitting or standing still, at any other time than I want them to be excited such as when retrieving or training as with three of them it can get to crazy town real quick if you want it to. ;-) From day one I walk them in to the house holding their collar and walk them to their bed inside. Any crazy town and they go back out side 5 minute break and then we start again. Once they will walk in without me holding the collar, I introduce the fact that the dog needs to sit in it's bed in the laundry to gain access,(they always have access to the laundry, I just open the internal door and stand in the way so they can't go past) at first just getting in the bed, then sitting in the bed, then sitting in the bed and increasing duration. eventually ending up that they all get in their beds and then wait until they are told they can come in one by one (by name). They are still expected to walk in calmly and then go to their bed area in our main living space.

I taught my GSP to fetch through the traditional steps of "force fetch" training Fetch (place object in mouth) Hold (hold object in mouth) Give (place object in my hand) Once actions were learnt I dropped the hold and now just use fetch (go to object, pick it up and return to me)and give (self explanatory). But rather than force I used reward. It was actually a really great exercise and better than just teaching "fetch" as I can use the steps to help train other things. It also helped with generalisation of the object as in reality it doesn't matter whether i want the dog to place a ball, can, bottle, tug, broom, my arm, my finger or some socks in its mouth, if you point at it and tell her to fetch, she puts it in her mouth and holds it till you tell her to "give" Up until I did this she was the most frustrating dog, as she would often greet you by picking something up in her mouth and bringing it to you, but if you threw something she would either stand looking at you, or run pick it up and then drop it.

Are you sure that there is no underlying medical reason why she won't jump? I would just get that checked out first, if all clear then carry on, but worth a double check. :) My two GSP's didn't want to jump in to the back of my car either, I tried all the usual things of conditioning them to the car being a nice place (tidbits to find in the back of the car, feeding them there etc etc) but they still refused to jump, preferring to be picked up. I then had a break through, I took them to the kennels for a couple of days and when i went to pick them up both of them came straight out the kennel and jumped staright in the back of the car without even being asked. With that in mind, I made sure to go to very "safe" places in my car for the next few outings and if either dog refused to jump in, I would secure them to a fence or fixture, and drive off. I wouldn't drive very far (maybe 20-25 meters) I would then stop, wait for a few seconds before reversing up, untethering the dog and seeing if they were a little more "motivated". I only had to do it once with my male GSP and a couple of times with my female, and they never refuse now, the back of the car opens up, they wait to be asked to "jump" and in they go. The big thing was finding out that they wouldn't, not couldn't do it.

Hi TSD, Do you use a round slim "silent" type whistle? I know a lot of the gundog folk in blighty put a bit of silicone tube on the end so that they have a soft rubber tube in their mouth rather than the metal whistle end, more comfortable for long day use and more likely to have the same number of front teth as what you started the day with :)

I'll still be splitting at first, at least until individual behaviours are relatively solid. Believe me, I don't believe that it is a miracle program, but as I said previously, from what I have seen, it seems to be a very effective way to get concepts to be understood and repeated, I'll let you know how we go.

Hi TSD, Is there a reason that you don't use it? interested to hear if anyone has found any negative pitfalls (so I can avoid them hopefully :) ) It's not something that I had considered before, but I've seen some fairly impressive results with it and working cockers (who have notorious dancing feet and abilities as cheeky monkeys)It also seemed a technique that you could train with for a fairly extended time as for some reason it seemed to keep the dogs very motivated and happy.