B-Q

My vets been asking when I'm desexing Quinn from her first vacc. Then at 4 months old I got a letter reminding me she was almost at the age to get her desexed and outlined all the pet overpopulation porblems in australia, pyometra etc etc. I've told them quiet a few times I will be desexing her but not till she's finished maturing which they seem to understand. It does get a little annoying everytime I go inthey ask if she's desexed, am I planning on breeding or desexing? (Um... can neither for now be an answer or does she have to use it or loose it?) but I guess for the average joe pet owner having the vet suggesting desexing is a good thing for most people.

More Border Collies Kelpies Malinois Maybe a Koolie Borzoi Greyhound Bullmastiff Great Dane Maybe a working line GSD

So sorry Jules. You obvisouly adored him. RIP Brock.

Awesome. I'd really like to do it with Quinn next year, she loves going beside the bike (we do the odd 1-2km on grass for training till she's older) and the general fitness would be awesome. And we have like a whole year to get her over her extreme aversion to being touched by strangers. Can't see the vet being cool with us going through if I have to physically hold her to stop her squirming and leaping away from them.

SOrryfor my ignorance but I havn't had much to do with ANKC registration before. What are the associate and sporting registers? Do all these require the dogs parents to be registered in some way?

Hey guys, I've been reading this thread on and off since it started and was thinking about doing the test with Quinn next year. When reading the rules, when I read... Does that mean only ANKC registered dogs can participate?

I also find, having an extremely energetic dog that needs a lot of mental stimulation having her clicker savvy makes wearing her out a bit easier. I often have pockets full of kibble to take advantage of oppurtunities. The other day we were in the loungeroom and she was bored, I was sitting ont he couch and could see her being restless, first she walked over and put her head ont he couch beside me, I figured I'd use it and when she moved her head slightly I marked her "yes" and treated her, within 30 seconds we had decided I wanted her to grab the blanket I was sitting on and she was madly trying to pull it out from underneath me. Or later the same day when I picked up an emtpy glass and within 5 minutes had her putting her nose in it and holding still for 3-5 seconds, something we'd never touched on before. I also like how it helps to build confidence, Buster was very, very shut down as a young dog, he copped a lot of abuse from my stepdad for the first couple of years of life. I started reading about clicker training and when he was about 4 I finally got one, he just blossomed. Its a great way for him to train because he gets to keep getting things right, it did take a while for him to learn to confidently offer behaviours though and not give up right away.

I never could but I know some people do. As long as they relise it isn't the same dog and never will be then I don't have a problem with it. I think my mum named one of her cats after her sisters long dead cat years ago before I was born. But Piewacket is an awesome name so I can see why you'd want it again.

I'm still looking for some 2x2 weaves to start Quinn on. Does anyone have suggestions on where to get them or who I might talk to about making me some up.

Yes, I think we can mess it up. Buster is a social wreck, he had several bad experienxes when he was young and as such he's now very DA. (Much more controlled now then when younger though) Mac also had poor socialistion and was likely taken from the litter WAYY too young (we think she was about 5 weeks when we got her) and she just doesn't understand other dogs body language. She doesn't know how to play and she can be a bit DR. Quinn, although shy in temperament has had a lot of socialisation and I think she reads dogs quiet well AND displays body language quiet well. I feel easiest with her around other dogs because I know she clearly shows submissiveness and gives the dog room to either elicit play or tell her to back off, which so much as a hard look she's just leaves them alone.

I was on a mainly American/Canadian dog forum for a couple of years before DOL. Then I decided I wanted to talk to some Aussies about dogs and have the possibility to meet some people one day. That was about 4 years ago and I'm still on both forums.

Thats one of my favourite things about goign to training and hanging out with dog people. The instructors are dog savvy so you run into nice examples of different breeds. Where I train on Sundays there are 2 beautiful dalmatians, 2 gorgeous rhidges, 2 poodles, 2 cavs and a stunning boxer. None of which are my sort of breeds but they are all gorgeous dogs. I love seeing good examples of any breed but I love even more seeing well behaved examples of any dog.

My clicker is invaluable to me. Well not the actual clicker but the training that goes with it, I LOVE shaping and I use mine to start nearly all new behaviours. I did a lot of work at the start to get my head around the timing and I think that was very helpful and paid off tenfold. I find myself sometimes even clicking my thumb to my hand when I don't have one because its an automatic reaction lol. I think they are a great tool for certain situations (theres plenty of times when its just too much to juggle) and you can't beat their precision. I see a lot of trainers pushing them now and while the training philosophy is good, I see so many people that just don't understand it. I see so many people waiting for a behaviour, then as they take a treat out the dog stops the behaviour and then the person clicks as they hand over the treat.

Bugger, wish I was in Sydney.

I think its sad to see so many nervy GSD's around, they are a spectacular breed and its sad there are so many poor examples out there. A good GSD should be confident, assertive but very well rounded. They are the perfect example of BYB's messing up a breed and people owning them that don't understand them, like labs, cattle dogs, BC's, Staffy's and most of the other breeds mentioned in this thread.

Just watched it online because I had to work last night. Great segment.

I know you said there was no trouble between them - but the stance of that Staffy is exactly when I go and grab Boonie away - maybe I'm overracting but I reckon that Staffy is on high alert. could just be a trick of the photo in this pic. Would I be reading the language of dogs wrong by acting this way? I thought that when looking back at the photos aswell. When watching them in movement though Quinn was doing a lot of bouncing around and staying well out of the way, Daphne was doing a lot of slow bumbling around. If the stance she was pulling in the photo was tense I would have stopped them but in movement it was only a second or two of prancing towards Quinn to send Quinn into another round of zoomies. Daphne did roll her on her back twice in the two days, both times because Quinn wouldn't give her a break, both times for only 2/3 seconds and both times just a bit of noise and then it was over, which was probably good learning for Quinn. It certainly didn't frighten her or hurt her. Also, my auntie and uncle are some of the only people in the world I trust to know their dog well enough to listen to what they said about her temperament with other dogs. That said they were only together when I was supervising, otherwise I would just crate Quinn, call her with me or put her in the car.

Morning. I always work evening and nights so its the only way to do it.

Yep... we say thankyou. But at home we say "excuse me" aswell.

Liver, heart, kidneys, steaks, chicken all sliced/cooked/chopped. Soetimes I'll add kabana or lunch roll or cheese. I also bought a $50 dehydrator off ebay and will sometimes dehydrate a heap of treats.

My original post I mentioned "often DA breeds" On reading it a second time I probably could have worded it better but I was only trying to refer to them as breeds with DA tendencies, not entirely DA breeds.

No recent pics but this was around this time last year. Miss my tiny puppy now that she sleeps in the same position but is 4 times bigger AND shares with Buster.

I thinks its perfectly acceptable and a pretty good idea for dog people to know general breed tendancies and act accordingly with them, its got nothing to do with BSL. I AM careful of staffies and other terriers with my dog because I know terrier's can have that tendancy to get frenzied when hurt or overstimulated... fast way to turn a game into a fight imo. And yes, some breeds have a tendancy to develop DA even if raised "correctly" and socialised well. And this is something ALL dog people should be aware of when looking into breed suitability. I once saw it breed tendancies towards DA described like this. "Its the same thing that can make a dog be slammed into a tree by a bull get up and keep working that can also cause DA" Its worth mentioning that I don't really dislike any breeds because of these things, I'm just aware of them and act accordingly. Heres Quinn playing madly with my aunties 8 year old Staffy a couple of months ago. never a problem between them in the 2 days we were there. 7 by Buster-Quinn, on Flickr

Sure, I'm more careful with my dogs around often DA breeds. I've seen too many owners that are clueless to their dogs body language. I'm wary of labs because I've seen too many people that think that they can't be aggressive. I love them as a breed though.

Although its not the reason I have them, I love having the dogs in my room at night, it makes me feel much safer, even if just to give a warning. Buster I do feel would likely protect me, Quinn would run away as fast as she could which I'm fine with. We have foxes in our paddocks atm and sometimes I think the moonlight catches the horses walking around at night in a weird way, I've woken up several times with Quinn standing over me, looking out my window and growling quietly. Very unsettling way to wake up.