Tali

Hi All, we've recently adopted a third rescue dog, and suddenly found that most places allow 2 dogs, but not 3. Does anyone have any suggestions for places to stay that would allow a family of 5 humans and 3 dogs? Looking for a week away somewhere within 4 hours from Brisbane preferably - northern NSW through to Bundaberg and hinterland throughout that area would be great... thanks for any suggestions!

Thanks for all the feedback here - I'm still using up the Advantix, but having 3 cats, I'm keen to look for an alternative (as Advantix is be deadly for cats), and one of my dogs reacts with mild itching after Advantix. Used Comfortis when safe to do so, and it was better for fleas than the Advantix, but doesn't cover the ticks, which is important in Brisbane from about now through till the end of summer. Might try the Nexguard when I've used the current lot of Advantix, based on (most of) your feedback!

Hi Michelleva! Jess is a Delta Therapy Dog - just started this year and is going really well. We visit a nursing home and it really gives me great feeling each week - many don't want involvement in other activities, but just love having the dog nearby - even if they don't pat her. REally special. With Delta, the dog has to be over 12 months old, which is good as they get a bit more calm as they get older. I will try to have STig accredited when he is older, but he is a bit shy at the moment - Jess grew through that as she got older. Glad to see there are lots of places where you can do that - Terranik, as a former Keeshond owner - I'm sure Jedi is PERFECT for that work - they are such social and friendly dogs, but not over the top - wish I'd know about it when I had Tali and Jarrah still!

Shelties! Very bright, happy to run and eager to be trained. Not as much grooming as they look if they are allowed inside. A big sheltie will jump 400, or you can get smaller lines. Temperament wise, you need to look for an outgoing one and socialise lots from when they are little... jess is just starting agility and LOVES it! Stig's been through the tunnel a few times too, and his learning is limited only by his owner's time and ability! have fun choosing, whatever you get.

Interesting thread - I did obedience years ago with a desexed Keeshond boy, and he was the most devoted and clever dog - we didn't get far with the obedience but that was me not him. My girl (desexed) Jess is very smart, but maybe not as focussed on me as he was... not sure if it's a dog/bitch thing, or a breed thing, or just different dogs. I now have Stig, thinking the owner-focus MAY be a male female difference ... but will let you know in about 12 months!

Thanks all - I appreciate the advice (and the beautiful piccie!). Think I will try to make some/practice with socks before I lash out the money - as suggested, Jess may not want them on her feet... but if she will wear them, it would make walking a lot easier. The ruff wear boots are very very cute!! Of course, hubby may very well draw the line at doggy boots... he copes with dogs in house, dog toys everywhere, puppy puddles and sharing his bed with one Sheltie (Stig is being crate trained!), but the boots might just push him over!

I am wondering if anyone has tried shoes for their dogs, and if so, were they successful? I live in Brisbubble, and it is very hot here for a lot of the year. Jess and I walk all year around, but I've noticed she doesn't like walking on grass around the neighborhood (parks are ok) - she got a prickle or two early on and has seeminly decided that the road/footpath is a much better option. I am worried that the pavements etc are too hot for her paws though, and am thinking about doggy-boots or similar. I try to walk in cooler times of day, but even by 7.30 am the pavement here is too hot to walk on for me. OK, Other Half says I have gone completely nuts, but I just wondered if others have tried these and how successful they were?

Shelties with Shelties -absolutely. Same language, same size, same speed... anything big is a bit daunting... Have noticed though that Jess likes Border Collies - they both do the same play stuff - the bow, the drop of the shoulders to herd etc. Other small dogs she loves to say hello to, but there's nothing like seeing 2 shelties playing zoomies... of course, i could be a bit biased!

Hi Deelee I have always used Advantix on my Kees and Shelties. It works against ticks for 2 weeks according to the packet (4 weeks for fleas). Have a great trip - it's fun taking the puppies with you on holidays, although does take a bit more careful planning and a crate is fantastic for the just in case situations.

For new owners of Collies, Shelties and Old English Sheepdogs- these breeds can have a genetic sensitivity to Ivermectin, which is in some varieties of heartworm products. Best to avoid anything with this in it if you have a collie breed, or there is a genetic test to determine if the dog has the genetic sensitivity.

Hi Shet You may well have moved past this now, but if not, I'd recommend the bigger doggy door - a little sheltie will fit through the little door, but a big sheltie will not fit comfortably (based on my Jess!) Lots of pet shelties are oversize - if they grow too big for showing or are likely to then this can mean they are suitable for pet homes. Have fun with your pup when you get it!

Hope all goes well Loyal K9. Generally, I have found my sheltie and the others I have met to be slightly shy of other dogs (unless they are on their own "turf" of course). Not aggressive at all, so while I don't doubt what you have experience, I don't think it is representative of the breed generally. I have owned my sheltie for 2 1/2 years, and am planning on getting another soon. She is smart, fun, playful, but also has her place on the couch or near my feet on the floor when we are being lazy at home. She has won over a number of dog shy children at my kids school, and withstands being mobbed by little people on a daily basis very well. I've become an absolute convert to the breed, and hope that you manage to retrain your boy so you can enjoy him. As you say, the missing 8 months of his history may explain a lot, but it is great you are taking a forward looking approach. Good luck!

I'm a first time sheltie owner of 2 years, and a Keeshond ower before that. My sheltie fitted in beautifully with my Keeshond, and just blended in with whatever the old girl was up to. The Kees was bigger, but her style of play was much slower than Jess, so Jess just ran around like a flash and it worked out well. There is a tiny sheltie at my obedience club that lives with a Goldie too, and no troubles there - again speed and agility compensate for lack of size! Now we've lost the Kees, and I was worried Jess would bark, but apparently no trouble there except if there are strangers around the house. (I have neighbors who would let me know too!). Having said that, I was told they can be barkers by our breeder, so I came down very firmly from the jump and barred ALL barking from the little dog until she was well over 12 months old. The gentle personality means that a firm vocal reprimand is usually adequate to discourage undesirable behaviour. I will certainly be staying with this breed for a long time now i've found them!

Don't know that it is relevant to this situation but... my old Keeshond Tali apparently cried a lot while we were out after her 'brother' died a few years back. We ended up letting her into the hall way of the house (ie a 'safe' area) while we were out, and that seemed to make her feel like she was still safe and 'with' her pack (even though we weren't home). Of course, she knew the 'house' as her pack's territory already, so it may not help in this case. We had (after a council complaint) tried a citronella collar some years prior to that on our boy Kees, and that did work wonders, and seemed to break the 'habit' to some extent. You can sometimes hire one from a vet or council, which might be enough to stop the problem until the dog settles in. I know some people don't like the barking collars, but I also have neighbors that HATE dogs, so sometimes it's a compromise to keep your pet. GRRR - why are all people not dog lovers, who are understanding that a dog in a new home will be a bit stressed and confused???! Good luck though - hope it works for them.

Sorry for double post, but I did like this!! I've noticed when I tell Jess to 'go free' at the end, she runs around me and tries to get me to run so she can chase me and herd me.... oh dear!! I'm a very lazy sheep it seems! I recently met a dog trainer here who was very keen for me to bring her over and try her at herding - said he'd love to see a working Sheltie (I know a few who do this) and Jess does seem to have at least an interest in it. Would be interesting to see if interest = talent!

I got up bright and early this am and went for our customary walk/training session. Was heaps better - mainly because of my new attitude thanks to you all! Rather than thinking "why is she lagging when the lead comes off", I was now thinking of this as a whole new skill, and so actually thinking about how to train her to do this - what a difference. Find the heel was fun!! although i did go through too many treats rewarding every time she was in the right spot, but that will lessen with time! She was actually very good at it in the slow and normal pace stuff, but dropped off markedly in the fast pace. BUT - i did notice that I tend to look back for her in fast pace, and was wondering "is she with me". I've now thought about it more and decided exactly where I want her to heel (for me with her shoulder to my leg so I can see her little nose sticking out) and then just kept going and only clicked/rewarded when she was there. Yay!!! She was better than ever - not great - but better! 10% per day makes 100% in 10 days - so I'm very happy with that progress! I have already struck the stepping off too big problem myself - the difference in size between my Kees dog and my Sheltie bitch doesn't seem much to me, but actually is significant in terms of how much I can stride out - hard to remember though! I'm hoping I might get even better results with yummier treats - and that these might help her keep focus on me too. (blood from raw meat dripping off my cold, vegetarian hands in the pre-dawn light doesn't really appeal, but I'll do that for my little doggy!). The less structured work too seemed to help - I started with a couple of steps, but realised that my dog is better than I actually felt she was - she doesn't lag ALL the time like I felt she did. She really only lags in a big way on the fast pace work - so I was able to practice some doodling and some big wandering lines in the normal pace. Doodling is fun - but little dog didn't quite get it - kept treating it as a 'finish' when I'd step back from her, so I figure i need to do more work before I do that. So thanks to all of you for your very helplful advice!! Little dog liked it to - there was more enthusiasm about everything this morning - and her recall nearly set fire to the field, with her arriving right up against my ankles like a little lightening bolt! Very happy!!!

Embarrassed look... didn't think of using YouTube to look up doggy stuff... in my defence I am old! Will have a look and stalk the UD and UDX rings at trials - good idea! Relieved to hear dogs will learn new signals pretty easily - and if there is nothing prescribed (I've read the rule book and hadn't seen anything, but there did seem to be some standards from the few trials I've been to) so thought it safer to ask. Exaggerated signals hey? Hmm... might need to focus on that a bit I think....

Doodling!! I love it!! (patience patience... get through the small-steps pencil grip before starting the doodling!) Bullet proof focus?? No - can you teach that? I thought they either have it or they dont! I know I could get it with Jess if I tie either the cat or a bird to my head.... Not all that practical though and I suspect the judges in the trial ring may question my lovely 'hats'... sorry if i'm sounding really stupid - I admit I'm exploiting having all of your opinions as my obedience club is a great club that is friendly and encouraging, but we don't have that many people/time to deal with specific problems like this one...

Thanks Underdog - will have a go tonight and see if I can make some progress. Thanks to all on here too - some new ideas really have me enthusastic again - and hopefully that will help Jess too!!

Nekhbet - not ignoring your advice re lead on again, but can't seem to get her to go out of position on lead, so find it hard to know how to adjust behaviour. But I have pounced on your idea of the clicker. So to try to pull it all together from all your various posts: I walk in big arcs etc (not the sharp obedience lines); call Jess to heel. She comes into the right position, so I click, and occasionally follow that with a significant treat (probably involving messy fingers rather than neat little schmackos). If she is near to me but not in the correct position I use the NRM - eg. say "Volvo" so she learns when she hears that she is not in the right place. Hope I've got that all straight in my head; then I just need to get the timing right in the real world...

Ahhh - I like the ideas of the circles, ovals etc - will try to combine that with clicker and just focus on getting her in the right place before re-introducing the obedience turns etc.. I am aware of the need to use small steps and go backwards when need be, but just couldn't work out what 'backwards step' came between lead on and lead off. The suggestion that I think of off lead heeling as an entirely different skill to on lead heeling is quite a new and useful one - at least gives me something else to try so thank you all! I think the problem may stem from me not clearly marking the EXACT behaviour I am after. We have got through CCD (scores of 98, 99 and 85 from 100), and I'm about to enter a novice sweepstakes here in QLD, but my girl is not heeling as well as Id like and I want to sort it now rather than have the problem persist into higher levels. I'm not after a robot - just want to work out how to keep the fun in it for Jess as well as me. I trained my old Kees 10 years ago and he heeled beautifully off lead (never really trialled him - just did it for fun). I was lucky last time though, as my old dog hung at my side like a shadow cos he was VERY food motivated and also scared to be far from me. When he went from on lead to off lead I just took the lead off and away we went... so I'm finding now I don't really know what to do when that doesn't happen! I feel I haven't got my girl's motivation sorted... but she is very smart so it may be that I'm not accurately letting her know what I want, If I call her to heel across the room, she will trot over and fall in with me, but in her 'lag' position.... she knows what to do, but that suggests to me that she understands 'heel' to be 'walk about 1/2 metre behind me'. sorry if I'm sounding a bit muddled; I'm a) thinking out loud here in the presence of people who have more experience and knowledge than me and b) at work (shhh - dont' tell!) Dummies question here - what is NRM???

Thanks for replies so far - I do have a clicker but haven't really used it as yet. Am I right in understanding that I 'load' the clicker with rewards (eg. food). Then when she IS in position, I click (but don't reward EVERY time)? I have been having trouble with timing the reward as when she does get into correct position (through luring) i then tend to stop and reward her (so she is probably not associating the reward with the behaviour I want...). I guess the clicker would help with this? I should add that I don't really "punish" with the check chain correction - she is a very submissive dog and I only need a light hand to correct her... I sometimes wonder if she is running behind out of submission?

Hi all Can anyone suggest ideas to try with a dog that walks beautifully at heel on lead (never a pull, right where I want her) and then lags when she is off lead (but about 1/2 to 1 metre... sometimes gets distracted and I lose her in the about turns). I've tried food, but when the food is not in my hand, she lags again (not great for trialling!) I've tried running faster to pick up her pack instinct, but she is happy about 2 metres behind me and doesn't seem to need to catch up. Put her back on lead to use the check to correct the bad behaviour and she doesn't do it... argh! I talk and call her up but again she is happy back there behind me... Sorry -just feeling frustrated and running out of ideas...

Hi Folks I'm wondering if anyone knows of a site that lists the signals 'usually' used in obedience work at higher levels? Things like stepping off with the left foot to tell the dog to heel, and right foot to stay etc. I know these are conventions not rules, but thought they may be listed somewhere. I only ask as we are down at CCD level now, and I don't want to develop habits that might mess us up later on in obedience if we get that far! For example, I've been concerned about my 'go free' signal (throwing both arms away from my body in an arc) and whether this might be used later for something like "go find the glove" etc.. (pardon my ignorance in this - my club is great, but we don't have many people that far through to ask questions to).