Tilly

With my older boy his adult teeth pushed his baby teeth out but with the youngest, his baby teeth fell out and then his adult came through - so all dogs are different. Maybe give him some softish bones (such as chicken wings, chicken frames, brisket bones) to chew on as this might help ...

I thoughts I had seem similar collars in my local petshop but I will need to have another look ... These are cute but not the same

I agree with the Drivers Licence Suspension if the fines relate to driving a vehicle, parking etc but not for this particular matter. I do agree she should be made to pay-up (don't get me wrong) but I just don't agree with the suspension of the drivers licence - any of the others, yep ... no problems.

Thankfully my boys have never had the urge to chase cars but with my older boy did get over excited when he saw other dogs. I found loosening off the leash (remove the tension) and jog away from the distraction and use an excited voice and bouncy excited body language to get his attention and focus ... and treat like crazy with lots of attention and praise when he turned his attention back to me. The real trick is to get their attention before the distraction gets their attention...

I don't agree with removing her drivers licence for not paying the fine. If they want to recover the money then there is a process for debt recovery such as getting money directly from her wages/income ... plus interest. Her drivers licence should have nothing to do with the local council.

Such instructors should be names and shamed as it is completely unacceptable. I took my older GSD to an obedience club when he was about 4 or 5 months old (we had him for about 2 weeks). He was so excited about seeing all the other dogs he gave a little excited bark. I corrected him (verbally) and put him in a sit. He had just sat and was sitting nicely at my side when a woman came charging at him, grabbed the leash and lifted him half off the ground as she slapped him on the muzzle and screamed NO in his face. I was absolutely horrified and so taken back that I just stood there with my mouth open. I was told I had to "correct him" and show him who was boss ... and this was the president of that club. I should have left immediately but as this was my first experience with formal obedience clubs and I had just paid my membership etc that I let it go. We joined the beginner class and it was basically walking around in a ring with the dogs sitting, heeling and dropping ... for almost an hour. My pup was getting tired and was laying down when he should have been sitting and was completely loosing focus so I stepped out of the ring to give him a break. I was yelled at and told to drag him if he wouldn't walk. I picked him up and I left ... and never returned. Something I should have done from the first incident. I was also talking to a friend recently about another club she had attended (was looking at attending for more socialisation) and was told she couldn't recommend the club only one of the instructors. She had witnessed an instructor dealing with an "problem dog" by taking it behind the club shed and heard the yelping from the dog. The dogs crime was being a little too excited to focus.

KitKat - I can just imagine coming home to an extremely muddy yard because he spent the whole day infront of the fountain waiting for it to turn on. We actually turn the back tap off at the point it comes out of the wall at the side of the house as he watched me turn the back tap on once ... so now he can turn the tap on. I have had to take the handle off the side tap (at the side of the house) because he realised that was where I also turned it off - silly me forgot to turn it off when he wasn't watching. Maxiewolf - bugger, I just came through Dalby yesterday on my way back from Charleville. I could have called in and checked them out. They look like they would be very difficult to turn over...

I know I asked a while ago about ideas for a water bowl for my now 11 month old GSD ... and I ended up getting a twin tub concrete laundry tub ... but now the brat had broken the twin tubs!!!!! So back to the drawing board to come up with a fail proof way of keeping water in his side of the yard. I initially used a large plastic laundry tub which he took to dragging around the back yard before tipping it out and playing with the tub. I have tried burying 20 litre buckets in the ground and placing rocks in the bottom (for extra weight) and filling - every time he manages to get the bucket out. Don't ask me how he does it because I can't get them out when I tried. He had chewed up and demolished 2 kiddie pools - he may take a day or two but he manages to destroy them. I have used a rather heavy concrete barrel look bowl but he has managed to tip it out or dig the water out - leaving him no water. I have screwed a horse feed thing to the fence ... he has broken the screws or broken the part of the fence ripping it off - either way the horse feed thing is empty and off the fence by the end of the day. I brought a large old heavy concrete twin laundry tub to act as his water bowl but was having difficulty keeping the water in it as he would dig out the plugs even when under large heavy full size pavers (he removed about 20+ small pavers when I initially brought it). I went away for 5 days (they were looked after by my brother) and return to find he has smashed 2 sides of the concrete laundry tub ... probably using the concrete pavers that were in the bottom as some of them are also broken. This dog is also known to turn on a garden tap so we need to turn off the water supply to his side of the yard when he is not supervised ... just so he can play in the water. He is walked for about an hour a day, given free run as the local off leash area (either alone with me or with our other dog) and has some obedience training (short 5 or 10 minute sessions twice in the morning) and the same again in the evening. We leave him interactive toys to play with during the day ... which he plays with. I know he is a working dog (working lines) and meant to be a complete pain in the butt ... but I just want to go to work each day and know he is not going to be without water for the day. I can't seem to find any large concrete troughs in Brisbane (I found some that are 500+kg but these are just far too heavy for us to get home) ... most are plastic or poly and I just know they won't last for very long. Please help!!!!

I didn't make it to the last 2 runs at Kuraby ... I was really hoping to go on Sunday but ended up heading to Charleville for a couple of days. Definately was hoping to get to the next one but it clashes with the one being run in Warwick ... so I might head to Warwick for that one and then Kuraby for the next one.

I use "Go Toilet" ... and then he get's "will you stop stuffing around and go toilet" ... then followed by "is that all - is there any more"

Blackie is happy now with his much loved owner by his side ... unfortunately much sooner then both had planned thanks to RSPCA.

I probably spend more time with the dogs when I have 2 then when I have one. I find that I am giving them individual time and group time ... eg 1 hour for one dog, another hour for the other dog and then another hour together ... so basically gone from 1 hour to 3 hours!!!! :D And we will not even mention the mischief they get up together ... much worse then what they get up to individually .... and that is bad enough. ;) Some days I wonder why I have 2 dogs ... particularly when I go outside and find they have broken their concrete laundry tub that I use as a water bowl (WTF!!!!) just before I have to go away for 5 days ... but they love you so unconditionally that they can be forgiven ... eventually!!!

The only good thing about her being "abandoned" is at least now she has a good chance of having a better life ... the poor girl still looks like she is friendly and trusting.

I agree with chicken and rice but some dogs don't like rice (mine didn't) so an alternative is chicken and pumpkin. I was feeding my pup diced pumpkin and chicken breast cooked in water and a very little salt reduced chicken stock. I just mashed them up together and left the liquid in with it - as he wasn't drinking much water at the time. He loved it.

I don't think it will stop dog attacks but it might promote more responsible dog ownership ... will be interesting to see how they think they will police it because they don't seem to police any other policy they have implemented.

Yes ... and so should parents!!!!

Just was checking the measurements ... his XL wire crate is 121 x 78 x 84cm. The 4XL NFS softcrate is 122cm x 82cm x 98cm.

I have a 3 door Dahiatsu Charade ... I have the back seat folded down and the dog has the back half of the car. I used to put the large crate behind the seats but the xxlarge just won't fit as the car just isn't wide enough - which is why I had to roof racks installed (so I could visit my parents for Christmas) Where did you put your NFS crate - did it fit behind the seats?

Are you offering Everytime I save some money towards a new car ... something always comes along to wipe out the funds Or doesn't anyone want to swap 2 slightly used dogs (1 more used then the other) for a smaller model :D

SecretKei - they were the ones I was looking at but they aren't any good if I can't get them to fold smaller. Why do I have to own big dogs .... smaller ones seem so much easier!!!

No matter how I try - I can only fit a Large crate in the car ... and the little one doesn't fit in that size anymore. Ness - is it the Umbra one you have? What is the quality like? This was him in a large crate at 29 weeks and he is now 47 weeks and bigger...

I have a tiny car and an XXLarge Crate for my youngest ... I ended up putting roof racks on for when I absolutely must have a wire crate and I have put a grill/barrier at the rear so I can leave the hatch up for more ventilation when I leave him in the car. But there are times when I just can't be bothered securing the crate on the roof racks, so I thought about getting a soft crate ... only the XXLarge soft crates I have looked at are still too big to fit in the car (collapsed) and will still need to be secured on the roof racks - which defeats the purpose of getting the soft crate. I did a bit of a google and found a couple of pop up tent type things ... http://www.mightymitedoggear.com/dogtent.html http://www.petstrends.com/2009/05/17/dog-house-tent-umbra/ Has anyone got soft crates or doggy tents that fold up to a smaller size ... but still decent quality. Any suggestions?

I heard somewhere about using a metal lid as a clicker ... you know the ones that pop when you open them the first time. I had a smallish one so I used that as his clicker this afternoon for his training session - it actually worked really well. Not long after I was doing a bit of a clean out of the car and found another clicker ... I was sure I had brought one ages ago but I could never find it. Tomorrow I will continue to work on the recharge and touch ... depending how he goes I might give him a day or two and then start to work on his sit.

The last 2 dogs we have brought - 1 came with a printout giving diet and training suggestion, a copy of the parents papers and their test results and the pup. We collected him directly from his breeder. He had a collar on. His papers turned up in the mail a week or two later. The second one came in a crate after his plane ride ... rather smelly and a dehydrated (thankfully not too badly). He was microchipped but it wasn't actually registered anywhere - I had to chase the breeder for his microchipping details but ended up confirming the number with our vet. I had to chase the breeder to find out what he was being fed and his vaccination details. His papers turned up a month or two later after chasing and chasing the breeder.

We tried again later in the front yard while he was on leash ... and he got it no problem. I am wondering if the fly's in the backyard are a bit distracting (he loves to chase them). But I will now need to get a new clicker as he decided to try out out clicker training for himself ... and broke it. I was in the bedroom when I heard the clicker ... thankfully I have the pieces.