The Spotted Devil

I'm shaping that with both of mine at the moment. Larger box with low sides seems to help understanding.

Nature's gift and 4 Legs are some of the few commercial treats I use. Otherwise it's cheese, chicken, tinned salmon (jackpot for a certain good Dalmatian I know), egg (cooked or raw), raw beef/lamb (for Em only) etc. For munching on I feed whole raw carrots and they get chicken frames as part of their meal. I don't like feeding anything with colours and avoid preservatives where I can. Em also loves Sardine Slice, which a friend of mine makes. We won a heap of dog treats recently that are locally made and I'm very happy with them - from here: Aussie Agility

First trial of 2014 today! Just a mini Jumping trial with 2 rings - 8am start (6am for people like me who helped set up) and all done and dusted by 10.30am in case the weather is awful. Blissfully it was COLD! I only entered Zig as I figured Em would still be attractive to the boys despite finishing her season in good time. As it was Zig was marking and flirting like the sexy lad he is! I have been working on speed over the break so that was today's challenge and to hell with the quallies. Just as well because I got lost on the JDO course lol - but I smoothly made up my own course and he ran really well. JDM was quicker again I thought but he just tipped a bar trying to wrap tightly at speed. I was very pleased and will keep working on shifting him up a gear.

Seeing as my dogs all want to roll in the dirt after being bathed that's what I'd do lol

Best wishes to all still suffering the heat and fires. Absolutely bucketing down here. Very happy house..,

I use cable ties to join the panels (8) and bungee ball ties for the "gate." It's a great set up - for shade or for an escapee I use a tarp type material that reflects the heat for a "roof."

I just soaked one of my cats and she felt so much better she climbed onto my lap. Not helpful but very sweet

We are lucky being at home as well. My snuggly ones have clearly been missing the cuddles and human contact as they've been lying all over me this morning in the relative cool.

I have one of these: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2193&ParentCat=524 Bought it for my Dally who feels the cold but my Springer (feels the heat, loves the cold) has been choosing to sleep on the "cool" side all this week.

I understand. Late last year my young and apparently healthy dear Burmese girl went in for a teeth clean and came out with a serious diagnosis that left us with only a month together despite trying everything possible. It's heartbreaking.

Sorry to hear you and your mate are going through this SaltyDog. One observation from my personal experience: you will never be ready to say goodbye. Hence I try to take that aspect out of the equation and just do what's best for my most beloved and dearest friend.

Ha! I've got a head cold and no one can believe that either!

Try the freezer!

Thanks sweetie - you're a doll. I have you down as my emergency chook carer in my fire plan lol

I'm lucky that none of my lot mind storms. The dogs had frozen chicken frames for dinner - bliss apparently! They've had cool coats on half the day when the air con just wasn't coping and I ended up wetting the cats down several times - Lilly really enjoyed it and Dizzy barely protested - they just flopped in front of the nearest fan.

Yes, I've certainly noticed a big reduction in incidences up here since they caught a few firebugs....we had fires lit just down the road and it was very worrying.

Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd closed at Ferny Creek due to heat damage to the road

Yes we are lucky so far with the wind.

Do you have a wind up or battery radio? We are also likely to lose power in a fire situation and mobile reception goes down the toilet on a windy day. I bought a cheap generator which is a life saver and a not so cheap fire pump which I'm hoping we never get our money's worth out of. Also have a radio scanner which picks up all the CFA chatter. It's permanently on charge at this time of year. It really cooled down here last night (comparatively) although we didn't get much rain. It was cool enough to do some training with Em this morning - she's got a bad case of cabin fever and is so much happier after a couple of drills.

We use fly traps outdoors in all the "hot spots". It really makes a difference. Oh, and we have Dizzy. I've not needed to use insecticide since he arrived....takes out anything and everything creepy crawly even with one eye removed and only half a "good" eye.

Looks like the worst of it will miss us - Rosebud and surrounds are copping it but the storm band is moving south. It's certainly cooler though - first time we've opened up the house for a while!

I'm watching it on my OzWeather app. Glad I put my agility equipment away already. It's certainly a bit cooler tonight thank goodness.

What area are you in Aussie3? I'd be happy with a downpour. Beats dry lightning.

An unusual BOM radar for Vic tonight - a long strip of storm activity moving East and a small rain band moving South. Looks like they're going to hit us at the same time which could be interesting.

Idiots having kids, it never ends well. Ain't that the truth.