Gayle.

They also had the option of phoning the owner before doing what she had specifically requested they not do.

If a customer spends 20 minutes explaining to a groomer how they don't want the dog clipped and that they're nervous of leaving him with a new groomer, doesn't that groomer at least owe the customer the courtesy of a phone call before they clip the dog? And how did some matted hair on one leg from the dog having it bandaged, morph into a completely matted dog that requires a full body clip? This is just another thread that makes me even more determined to never take my dogs to a groomer, they just can't be trusted to do what's asked.

Hahaha, it says it works unless the cat's on Kryptonite. Well, I reckon my dog might be. Looks like he's an indoor dog for the long term. There's no way my husband would agree to putting him in a roofed run (Ripley is his dog), I've already suggested that and the idea got a big thumbs down. Must admits, I'm not keen either, but we're both OK about him being inside with Dusty for company.

The only flaw with a camera is that I'd have to leave him outside, knowing he can get out, although god knows how he's doing it, and relying on luck to make sure he's ok by the time we got home. Even if I could check in and see the footage, I'm 20 minutes away from home and can't just leave at the drop of a hat. And if he's inside, I don't need to check on him. If today is any indication the two of them slept all day. It would be interesting to see how he's getting out though. I have a couple of theories but they all involve a very long drop on the other side of the fence.

I would rather keep him in the house. He's very well behaved, doesn't chew or destroy anything and it would be a lot kinder than a run. It just seems such a shame to keep him in when we have an awesome yard for the dogs to play in.

No one is letting him out, it would be beyond the capabilities of most kids to open our gate and let a dog out. Certainly without letting out one or more of the other three. We live on a 3/4 acre block but we're pretty sure it's just one stretch of fence he's going over. If its the other fence he's not Spiderman, he's Superman and every other super hero all rolled into one. A video camera is a possibility and a very good idea. Might have to look into that one. He can't dig out. It's not physically possible unless he can dIg through concrete and paving. The boundary here is VERY secure, it would contain almost every other dog.

When he first started to escape, he showed up how he climbed the side gate so we fixed that quick smart so he couldn't use that again. He would trot up to it, do a u-turn and trot back, then he'd go up again, u-turn and trot back....and he did this a number of times til he built up a momentum then he ran at the gate, leapt in the air, hooked his paws over the top and used the cross bracing on the inside for footholds. Putting a ping string at the bottom of the gate wouldn't have worked because he would never have got close enough to touch it.

I tried calling him from the front yard on the weekend. He ran around to the gate he can see through and said "Hi mum, what are you doing there, you ning-nong?" But didn't show me how he's getting out of the yard. I can't take him to work....god, I would love to though! I work for Centrelink and animals definitely can't come to work. My husband can't take him either as he's a sub-contractor for a building company and they have very strict rules against dogs on site. We live in a tiny village, there's no "doggy day-care" here (or anywhere else I know of) and he'd probably just get out from there anyway. The overhangs (like rolled up chicken wire attached to the tops of the lattice) is something Ive thought of and might work til he figures out something else. He's a bit of a thinker, and he's more intelligent than I gave him credit for. I thought he wasn't too bright but he was hiding his light under a bushel because what he's doing take brains. And planning.

They rely on the dog wearing a collar, and a collar on this particular dog frightens me more than him escaping. He's not digging, we know that for sure. He's also not jumping, but he is possibly climbing. And a climbing dog wearing a collar is a recipe for disaster. However, I wouldn;t mind at least trying one, but I don't think they offer a try before you buy option. We have looked at a ping string for the top of the fence we think he's probably climbing (only due to the fact that he's twice been found next door and it's unlikely he'd end up there unless he went over the fence) but the bloke at the stock and feed store didn't think it would work because it relies on part of the body touching the earth. If he's climbing that fence, there's no way he can go over the fence and have a foot on the ground.

Our newest resident, Ripley, is the most gorgeous, friendly, obliging and handsome young man you could ever wish to meet. He is extremely well behaved, he's got beautiful manners and he gets along nicely with our other dogs........but he continually gets out of our yard. None of the other dogs do, it's a very secure yard and made more secure since the first time we discovered him missing, but no matter what we do, he still gets out. And right now, we're at a loss to figure out how he's doing it. Last week, he went missing three times.....twice he was next door playing with their old lab, once we searched the village high and low and eventually located him having a "holiday" with some people he's holidayed with before......they see him, they stick him in their backyard til we collect him. This week, he (and the other dogs) have been incarcerated in our courtyard while we're at work.....we thought for sure he couldn't get out from there.....it's got 6 ft walls topped with lattice all around. Two days he was there when we got home, yesterday he was gone again. He's like Houdini. He was located around the corner at his "holiday house" where he was playing with their kids in the backyard. Fortunately the family he visits absolutely love him and have no problems about keeping him there, they take him in the house and look after him and always compliment him on his lovely manners......but it's getting beyond embarrassing to have to keep going to get him. So far we've found him at the local general store, mooching pats off people coming and going; doing a meet and greet at the bus stop; standing on a street corner watching the world go by (fortunately there isn't much traffic out here); and vacationing with the people around the corner....as well as entertaining the neighbours old dog. He's now earned himself a permanent place inside the house, along with Dusty for company. Fortunately we have a big house with an open plan, tiled living area so they aren't confined to a small space. We left our bedroom door open so they could sleep on our bed if they wanted (and they did). He is fine when we're home, we can let him outside ad he doesn't go anywhere, it's just when we're at work, he gets a bad case of the wanders and off he goes. But he must be moonlighting as Spiderman because we have looked high and low and cannot for the life of us figure out how he's escaping. How do others cope with serial escape artists?

Blue merle, but my favourites are the black tris.

They are agility titles.

The trouble is with the "stupids" is that even though they're required to have their dog on lead, they often don't. I used to live alongside a very busy highway and it never ceased to amaze me the amount of stupids who walked their dogs off lead with heavy traffic thundering past only metres away, with just a narrow strip of grass between their dog and certain death.

My two DINOS are friendly dogs.....they are lovely dogs with great temperaments, but they don't like being approached by strange dogs (or people, in Shae's case) when they're on leash. Just because they like their space and prefer to be left alone when we're on a walk, or when they're leashed for whatever reason, doesn't make them bad, aggressive, nasty dogs. Because they aren't. They just don't want to say hello to other dogs ALL the time.

We (my dogs and I) don't view your dog as "very social", we view it as a rude, untrained and extremely annoying interruption to our walk.

None of my dogs are aggressive, all have excellent recall and all get walked ON lead ALL the time, because that is the law where I live. Two of them however, like some space and don't like strange dogs approaching, they feel vulnerable and one of them will bite, and bite hard, if a strange dog insists on pushing in to meet her. She is neither aggressive or dangerous, as far as she and I are concerned, it's self defence. She never asks for the attention and gives out very clear signals that it's not at all welcome.

I am currently showing my young boy, I have retired my 4yo girl (she hated it and she didn't turn out to be show quality anyway) and I'm about to start showing my oldest girl (adopted earlier this year from WA) in the neuter classes.....I titled her in herding this year, and will continue with that next year, and hope to add another show dog to the clan next year. We have moved out of town onto 3/4 acre so we have more space for all the pets. Bruno is a spunk, he is also very naughty. Baddest cat ever, I think. And proud of it. So glad we don't have ticks here, that's one less thing to worry about. Since Benson died, I am absolutely paranoid about something happening to one of the others. He had been hiding a serious illness for months, we think, as he was symptomatic one day and had to be pts the next. But very little indication up til then that there was anything wrong at all.

Wow, you HAVE been busy! Yes, I sure remember Spencer, one particularly naughty cat, as I recall. And Stuart Little. And you have babies......wow, boys? girls? one of each? I now have 4 Australian Shepherds (we lost Benson to kidney failure in July and it's taking me a very long time to stop crying. Damn, I don't think I will ever stop, actually). We have Bruno our Burmese but lost his sister Sophie last year when she got out one night and vanished off the face of the earth. And Kate our very large Maine Coon. I really, really miss Sophie, she was such a pretty and gentle little cat. I'm so sad Harvey is gone, I thought of him every time I saw a Westie, he sounded like such a little character. I remember you posted a photo of him one day and he had the glossiest white coat I'd ever seen on a dog.

It's no different here. I check our local pound website every few days, just to see if I recognise any of the inmates and multiple Staffies feature on every page, every single time.

Are you the Katetk from Cat World? If you are, I remember Harvey. Very sad to hear he's no longer with you.

You can go for the whole life of the dog if you want. Progress through the classes, enter trials etc. Some obedience clubs also offer other activities such as agility, flyball, tracking etc, so you might find something else to interest you and the dog.

I like the sound of that, makes it even ground for those with small and large numbers in the breed, if you are the only one of the breed it takes 17 shows to get 100 points, whereas more popular breeds can do it in 4 shows with 25 point challenges. If a rare breed here gets best in group or best in show though, they can get 25 points too. The NZ points method doesn't seem to reward for anything bigger than a challenge. A dog who is good enough to consistently win bigger awards should definitely be titled faster than a dog who consistently wins against little or no competition but never goes any further.

If you get a trailer, the fuel costs only go up when you're actually using it. If you get a larger car, your fuel costs go up all the time.

I watched about half of it but it was all a bit bogan for me. Not sure why anyone would want to breed staffy crosses, you can go to any pound and pretty much take your pick. Wide range of colours, head sizes, leg lengths and ages regularly available.

We lock the dogs in the courtyard or inside and spray with Roundup or Zero. We do it in the evening so it has plenty of time to dry.