dogdayz

Its your dog and his safety is your concern, if your not comfortable then dont let him loose. I refused to do off-lead recall at KCC training on sunday because i was not happy my weim was concentrating enough by that stage of the lesson (he had fallen in love with a dobiebitch who could bounce as high as him, and spin as fast), and i wasnt going to give him opportunity to not recall, then reward himself running loose. Southerns training ground is enclosed i believe. I would of thought if you joined you can use their ground at anytime, not necessary to attend their training sessions? KCC enclosed area is too big for off-lead training but fine on a long line. If you bring a melways on sunday i will show you a good beach you can train at with little chance of distraction and no traffic.

afraid i would have to say naturally good, hard even to get them to leave your side. Certainly the one i have now is very different to the previous in that way. If its any reassurance Skye now has very good recall, e.g. i can recall her while her and weim are running away from me to fetch a toy. These days if i let her loose she walks maybe 8ft at most from me and keeps looking up. i never used a longline on her but did the weim, and still do if somewhere new, they are reassuring even when not necessary. I wouldnt be happy to train recall there. Its bad enough at KCC where its a big space. Though i have noticed most dogs stop to sniff another when they do break. I trained mine in fully fenced areas and only moved to non-fenced when i was sure of their responding. The weim did this for a while. However the important thing to note is that they only allow enough distance for you to grab at them. They never learn to allow for the trailing lead. As i said before when you get hold of him, immediately do some on lead recalls to enforce it. Remember collies are very intelligent easy-learners so they can be trained easily, pick your method and make it work. read to many books, get too many opinions and the dog gets confused when every week you try something new.

Someone with many years experience of collies told me i have the worst recalling, stubborn, independent minded collie they have ever known , you surely cant be challenging my title. It takes work and belief, they know when you dont expect them to respond. worst case scenarios, playing with a small shark, running on top of a tiger snake, eating a poisonous fish, yep done all of those by 6 month old. The main thing is dont let him get away with not coming, dont keep repeating the call. If he doesnt return first time, when you get him back, immediately do 3 or 4 on lead recalls.

i use sausage, fankfurter and cheese mainly. Cut up small though. Have just been told on a another forum of pumpkin ravioli cut up - good for delicate stomachs.

Total agreement. My collie is trained by traditional methods and it works well for her. My weim did not cope with these methods and has made the switch to as close to purely positive as we can be, that has worked wonders with him. The only one inconvenienced is me as i have to try hard to remember who i am training.

My collie had conventional C5 as a pup and reacted badly, so after only doing C3 at 1 year, this year we added the nasal spray due to kenneling requirements. She had no side effects to it at all.

cheese sliced up skinless frankfurters leftover sausages May not be the healthiest but they love them. Also those Chunkers in the supermarket pet food section are good as training rewards.

I also recently posted about Lucy a 11 year old staffy belonginging to my OH. She was her normal self other than what was thought to be KC but did not clear up, later she broke a leg, X-rays showed bone cancer. We chose not to treat as the disease was already in her lungs. Im afraid i cannot offer you anything positive other than to say of what i have read since then there really is no way of knowing the dog has this and nothing as an owner you could have done differently would change it. I dont know about being in specific breeding lines, but the information i found indicated it to be mainly affecting long limbed dogs, e.g. greyhounds but really no info on inheritance or environment. Rozzie may have something to add, I know she recently had a bone cancer diagnosis for her greyhound.

Lablover. It has been a case of finding what they enjoy, much as tollers said. My collie has trained for agility, and clearly hates one compulsory obstacle so she will not compete in ANKC agility. She just slips into large dog height for jumping, which though she can jump it she clearly isnt as enthusiastic as when she does the lower heights. She does however enjoy running the lower heights and loves tunnels and see-saw. So with the alternative agility schemes having arrived in Victoria, she will get a go occasionally. She doesnt like too much obedience, give her a few weeks break and she comes back all enthusiastic but it dies after a couple of weeks. While i hope one day to get her through CD it clearly may take time. Herding she adores so as far as possible we will persist, though its a sport undergoing rapid rule changes which are likely to make it hard on all but the border collies and certainly on those with no regular access to sheep. I do not believe that she could do the herding without doing obedience, they are tested for recal, stay, and down while herding, and sheep are her ultimate distraction. So with obedience and agility largely out of consideration, and herding events being few and far between i thought tracking may be her thing to try next. The weim was meant to be a showdog - that didnt work out. He loved obedience up until about a month ago, to say he doesnt like it was probably unfair he just has a concentrtion problem at present. He has a medical condition which makes him starve without treatment. This had the one benefit that he was mad keen to work for a clicker/food reward. Now that his medication/diet/weight is normal he has become the typical teenage gundog i thought i was lucky enough not to own. Hopefully with maturity he will return to obedience (and manage to keep all 4 feet on the ground). The agility will hopefully be his thing, and tracking should come naturally, but he is young and time will tell. But yes i will be reducing these activities for their sake and that of my social life. They may never acheive greatness but i hope they may be happy and stay fit into old age. At present they have just turned 2 years, and i think the stimulation is good for them. They are both intelligent and active dogs, and they both let me know if they dont like something, and i do my part by listening to them. I do agree that concentrating on only one sport is probably the best way to reach the top of it, but I am more inclined to enjoy a little of everything, and if we never compete at the highest level so be it. Interested to know which sports you consider go together well, and which not?

Both Rough collie and weim do obedience (but they dont like it much). The Rough Collie has been trying agility but she absolutely will not go up the A-frame scramble. Jumping she may try under one of the alternative systems as they ANKC heights are a little unkind to her. She does herding which she adores. This year she will start tracking. The weim due to illness has had a lazy time of it, but now fit and well is starting agility and will like the collie commence tracking this year. The pittie/ridgeback has a laid back lifestyle - the most active he gets is chasing birds. Tried teaching him frisbee, but once he realise he had to give it back and not eat it, he gave up.

Cyndii I cannot imagine how terrible that was or you. This is the moist tragic thing i have read for a long time and an experience i hope never to go through. At least Murphy was able to pass in your arms and not outside alone. Dogdayz

Mine have always seemed to just accept baths with the exception of the current weim. He carries on like he is being tortured, and will maintain the howling/whining for up to 2 hour after. Nearly 2 years old and has barely improved. The first time i bathed him, people from all over the village kept popping in, they thought one of my dogs must be hanging itself on the fence or something, such was the noise. be grateful you have a water baby.

I have been buying the roo mince sold for human consumption in the supermarkets lately, as it is cheaper than the beef mince currently (when possible i like to use human grade meat, whatever type). This may be an alternative if you want to avoid the pet quality, certainly with a smaller breeds. I have noticed the pet quality has a distinctive sweet smell compared to the human stuff, maybe that is the preservatives.

I know my vet told me (as i used to feed kangaroo a lot) that it is fine for adult dogs, but can be wormy so keep the dogs upto date with worming. He also told me not to feed to a pup because it has lower calcium content than other meats. No idea if this is true, but i guess if you are feeding bones that is not such a problem. The reason i fed it in the first place was due to food allergy in one dog (chicken), allergies to Roo are uncommon. I have also seen it said that it is addictive - once a dog is used to it, they will eat no other meat - cannot say mine have had that problem.

Nutripet high calorie vitamin paste on his food - it is high calory but also acts as an appetite stimulant - i find dogs will eat anything with a little of this on it. a little thriveD may also help to make sure he gets the maximum out of what he does eat, as it provides dietary enzymes. Maybe if you feed lots of lamb offcuts etc then also try giving some vets all-natural moist food to provide his grains mixed with a little chopped meat. I find my dogs love it - i think its the garlic smell. The small 1kg size is an affordable trial.

Sorry to hear that Rozzie. It was a week today we had Lucy put to sleep, and it has been a hard weekend without her constantly present at our side. give Sofia a hug from me. Dogdayz

I only went to the head halters because i had reached the stage of literally hating taking my dog for a walk. He is very strong, and his pulling was a misery, even after the walk i had pains across my shoulders for the entire day and my hand bruised from holding onto the lead. I had reached the point where i did not know if i could even walk him safely, as i wasnt sure i could hold on to him. He had been to obedience schools from 12weeks (3 schools in total) all of whom used food reward and check chain. I know K9force will say the check chain was used incorrectly, and he is probably right, but like i say this was 3 different schools/trainers. With the halter i never pulled the dog, he quickly worked out that trying to pull simply turned him around and he did not get where he wanted. At the same time of starting the halter i looked for a new trainer, this time for one-on-one training, and chose one who uses clicker. In a flat collar, with clicker, using left turns, and stopping if he moved ahead, the dog very quickly learned. I never trained with the halter on. He heeled reliably under distraction within 2 weeks in just a flat collar, working him maybe 15 minutes a day. I just want to emphasise the halter is not a cure, but it allows you to keep the dog exercised while you find the cure. I feel that whatever method you have tried up to that point has not worked, try something different.

Had the same problem. Its true the head halters only solve the problem when they are on, but i found using one (blackdog - though we tried them all, but this was the only type he could not back out of) i could walk the dog and enjoy it. However i continued to train him without the halter - just a flat collar and clicker. Now he does not need the head halter we just use it if i take him somewhere new where we may run into loose dogs, just to be sure i have control. NB. i recommend attaching a second collar when you first use the head halters, either you can get a strap that attaches the halter to the normal collar, or i just put on a long check chain and attached both halter an chain to the lead. the check chain being loose enough to not actually tighten at all. Its just insurance if your dog pull out of the halters backwards, (mine used to panic at the sight of another dog and turn somersaults to get away).

Unfortunately i work so 4pm is no good. Shame as Berwick is so close by. Dogdayz

Hi Rozzie You may have seen my thread re Lucy the Staffie, who we lost this week to bone cancer. It was a shock she appeared her normal self bar a long-standing cough and a slight limp which we attributed to arthritis from her old cruciate surgery. She shattered her knee on sunday, and it was the x-rays that revealed the cause was bone cancer. I have read a little on the subject since then to ease my mind that we could not have known sooner. It is a truly aggressive cancer with very poor prognosis. Enjoy the time you have left of her. Dogdayz

How would a non-swimming, non-retreiving weimaraner go?

If the dog cannot learn a command, the trainer has got it wrong not the dog. Dogdayz

Thanks Guys. Tiana, i believe secondaries in the lungs are common with bonecancers, so i suspect this is what it was. No further investigation will be made. She is being brought home to be buried. Dogdayz

Lucy crossed the bridge late this morning. Her knee had shattered as a result of bone cancer. I only knew her the last two years but she personified the true staffy nature. All her life she was ever present at my partners side. He is devestated by this loss. RIP Lucy Dogdayz

Lucy crossed the bridge late this morning. Her knee had shattered as a result of bone cancer. I only knew her the last two years but she personified the true staffy nature. All her life she was ever present at my partners side. He is devestated by this loss. RIP Lucy Dogdayz