ZAUBISTAR

I think the bolded bit above is really important. We are hoping to have our first litter later in the year (Irish Terriers) and every step of the way has included the help and support of our bitch's breeder who has numerous years of experience. We also have several other mentors in other breeds who we have discussed things like puppy raising and whelping tips with. You can do all the reading you want but I think a good mentor or multiple mentors is vital. Similar story here. I also have great support from my bitches breeder who also knows the lines of my dog really well although she didn't breed him. Being a member of the breed club is also a great source of information and guidance from others in the breed, as well as showing. I would expect the breeder to be upfront about it and be able to prove the necessary health tests and other breed requirements were well understood and complied with as per their breed. If that's all there and you like the dogs they have on site then I'd say go for it!

Congrats on the sit stay!! :D I find the insights into the drop stay very interesting. The anxiety she's showing, then not wanting to do the drop stay at all.......sounds familiar. What now? I'd keep at it, we went right back to basics for about 6 weeks and practiced stays probably 4-5 times a week. He'll do a good short distance long time stay (5min) or a very long distance(50+m), short time (1min). Not sure how to progress from here as I don't want to ingrain stay=anxiety Have you sorted out some sort of training regime where you work at something till it's full proof say 10 times before progressing? I'm thinking working to some sort of charted regime might give a better indication of where things are becoming un-stitched. Or I'm I just risking getting too rigid now?

Great news everyone! And Smisch, well done, that's very impressive!

Sorry, as above. Not sure if I'd make an exception for a friend to bring their own if they all know each other either.

OK, it's cold down here, but how cute is that

Great video I think stays must be really boring for them. I've still got issues with Acteon and his stays. he'd been 100% solid on them till I started training for open and now he just seems really unsure Just going back to basics but not sure how to make him more confident

Great news guys!! Congrats to you both (and anyone I might have missed ;) ).

The Miks did make me laugh though

Fantastic!! Well done Riv and Rivsky :D

It was a good segment. Great to see someone promoting good work.

I was out training Roxy at the park today when a guy pulled up and let two dogs out. When both of them got out I was extremely saddened to the state of both the dogs. They were tall short coated gundog/utility type x dogs that were grossly overweight. Both reasonably young (<5ish) and in a poorly arthritic state. The bitch was so bad that her elbows extend 90deg from her body and her hips were also very poor, she could only move by swaying her body like a crocodile. Even worse SHE HAD OBVIOUSLY HAD A LITTER RECENTLY!!!!! :D

Yay! I'll be watching :D

Yeah, pretty much the same here. I walk each one separately everyday and that might include beach/bush walk with one in the morning and a walk through town with the other, then swap the next day. Old nanna Echo will get a car trip to visit grandma. Training is just with me, one on one. I also will have just one in the house for a few hours every other day but mostly they're all inside together.

Bad Luck Bully, sounds so close. good effort ;) Zug Zug, Good to hear she had a good first attempt, well done!

Oh, see now.

Whoa, glad he came back OK.

Yeah my first thought was the dogs will climb it. I have a fence aggressive dog next to me and he's a pain in the butt. If your possible new neighbours don't have dogs at the moment what would stop you from socialising yours with then and preventing fence aggression issues? I would be getting a dog run just to keep your dogs safe inside anyway or some of the other suggestions also sounded good.

I think it depends a lot on the individual. All my girls have been very good but I took my boy a little longer, having said that it only took a few days (and a few sleepless nights) . It would matter on how consistent the handler was with the pup I think.

Very cute! I'm with the others, looks like he's there to stay. Congratulations!

Living/working in a small mining town I've become known as The lady with the GSD's. Not sure if it's an advantage or dissadvantage but I regularly get randoms at work come up and quiz me for training advice. I'm going to start charging soon I think :cheer:

Oh I love that! I should do something similar for Tamasin's school fair, can you imagine how excited everyone would be There'll be other trials Zug Zug, no point putting her in if you're worried she might not get it right. Sounds like the seek back is working well, sounds like great fun.

They started looking at dogs in ads from the pound. There was a deaf Dali there but the photos made him look quite nervous. I said it was difficult to judge a dog by photos but I had my concerns if he was deaf and nervous to put in around young kids. I think they were going to send mum over to check him out before taking the kids over. I Suggested that looking into a rescue is a great idea and that there are rescue organizations set up for particular breeds as well. They are going to look into this option but I'm not really sure which ones exist in Tassie apart from the greyhounds. Any suggestions?

I had been taking things really slowly with Acteon right up until we got our CD. Lately he has regressed pretty badly and on things he was always 100% on. I think I've pushed him too far too fast and so I need to retrain myself to set the dog up for success and not 'test' him so much. I hope to get him into one end of June but it will depend on the next few weeks. Good luck with her and don't worry, if she's not ready, she's not ready. You can always keep training and put her in a later trial.

Thanks guys Yes the dog would sleep inside. It must be active. From discussions today I think gundogs are taking a preference over working dogs but it depends on what they think of all th other suggestions. Also being near the water would suit a lot of retrievers I'm guessing. There is an interest in smooth coats for ease of care but they like the look of the double coated breeds. Also the grass gets long around the sand dunes so we had discussions today around short coats vs long/double coats for and grass seeds. Is your friend able to go and check out some dogs at shows? Or, maybe an older purebred that needs rehoming would be OK. Just less boisterous and easier to care for than a juvenile I did think of a rescue, haven't discussed that yet. They went to few shows when the Royals were on last year. I think that's where the original breed ideas came from. Very cute! I love great danes but do they suit a very active family? The dog would need to be able to handle a few Km's jog reasonably often. From what I gather energy level is not an issue where as the grooming aspect might be higher on the list. I don't think they'll rule a breed out if it ticks enough boxes but a definate is that it has to love jogging. :D From what I gather a bit of the GSD without the obsessed personality (I have them so I'm allowed to say that) Also a lot of the breeds that they have mentioned seem to be more of the short coated gundogs so yeah I guess along those lines but on the toned down end. The above are based on conversations so some of it is speculation, but I know them fairly well. if when I clarify they tell me different I'll let you know. Cheers

Thanks, so weim might suit them then? What about GSP? Sadly no. I suggested this a few weeks ago and he was flat out no. Said when they lived in NZ that breed was a gang dog and he just can't brush that idea away You know how sometimes things just stick with you.