poodlefan

Few pups will want to wee anywhere near where they sleep. You'll need to move the toilet area. Why can't he be outside Nic?

;) Off topic but do you have a pic of her when you first adopted her?

An old workmate spent years as a police officer on the ACT rural patrol. He said over the years there would be few common breeds of dogs he hadn't seen shot for worrying stock.. including a miniature poodle. They're all dogs.

I hope Mr Roper gets a bill for those losses. Seems Mr Roper hasn't considered the cruelty involved in letting your dogs maul stock and kill a pup.

I love puppies! [Provided they're someone elses] I'd happily take dogs on at around the 12 months stage if I could get someone to raise them the way I'd like. That said, there's no better time waster than watching a couple of pups playing.. could watch for hours. A new pup for me means organising some day care for a few weeks, and driving to work, not busing so I can drop pup off and pick him up. I'm happy when they move from 3 meals a day to two and the toilet training kicks in.

I'd never assess any dog as "too fat" unless I could put my hands on it.

Walk the dog on concrete paths and avoid nail clippers altogether. Depending on foot shape and weight, this doesn't always work.

Lovely boy.. and a lucky one too! He's a GSP!

Don't let him do this Nic.. its a fast track to joint problems. Working his mind will be just as effective in tiring him out and far less wear and tear.

I thought the jury had been out on dominance theory ever since the "D word" studies on zoo wolves were shown to be unrepresentative of pack behaviour in the wild.

I'm no expert on the lingo.. I think it's all "field work" then you have the separate types of trials and titles. We need FHRP to give us the definitive explanation.

Lablover and FHRP are the experts but the dog either watches the fall of shot or is directed towards where the bird (or its imitation) has fallen and is expected to find it or be directed close to it by the handler. They are expected to use their nose to find downed game. Retrieving dogs do "retrieving trials". "Field trials" are for pointers, setters etc I think and focus on finding, rather than retrieving game. Your utility gundogs were bred to do and can compete in both.

So I suppose the next question is whether field trialling (which is not the same as the job a working retriever does) is shaping the Labrador in one direction while the show ring shapes it in another. And what sort of cover was the Labrador originally bred to work in? I know the Clumber Spaniel was developed as a heavy cover specialist but a working Clumber is as different to the bench dog as a working Lab is to the bench one. I like the working Clumbers.. quite a moderate dog.

How senior are you talking? I think diet, keeping weight off, regular exercise and regular chiropractic treatment can contribue to an active senior life but genes also have their part to play.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "stomach upset" Erny? Do you mean mild cases. Darcy has had two bouts of HGE.. without antibiotics, he may not have made it.

Customs sourced their foundation stock from one of Australia's top field line kennels. Would you be able to tell me which kennel that was? Kadnook. There were probably others too. I seem to recall they may have imported some American dogs.

No need to pilot. The Calgary (Canada) example exists for all to learn from. Yeah but wasn't that twisted by someone recently to show it didn't work. How do we get that to the forefront of the argument? News to me. How do you do it? By establishing a dialogue with those with the capacity to overturn the laws.. the RSPCA and politicians. Bear in mind that these are the very same folk who've been demonised by a sector of the anti BSL lobby.

No need to pilot. The Calgary (Canada) example exists for all to learn from. Edited to add link for those interested. Calgary example And more on Calgary

BSL has to be fought on the one irrefutable fact that BSL breed discussions tend to ignore. It doesn't work. It has never worked. Targetting "dangerous breeds" fails to protect community from all dangerous dogs. End of story.

I'll go against the trend and say its unwise to condemn a puppy buyer who contacts a breeder when they've realised they've made a mistake. Isn't that what responsible breeders encourage? The consequences of doing otherwise aren't great for the pup. Better this result than any other I can think of. I know I've had a couple of those "OMG what have I done" moments with mine when they were youngsters

No I wasn't offended but all the accusations and anger really don't help the dogs. You really don't want to be alienating fence sitters because they have the capacity to jump either way. Have a good think about what people expect of the ANKC with regard to this issue although if the AST is going to be drawn into BSL, my very strong hope is that the organisation will enter the fray. No one wants dogs to die (or at least that is my very sincere hope). But its hard when people break the law or buy unpapered dogs when the ramifications of doing that are dire for the dog and are totally predictable. The biggest hope for overturning BSL in Qld lies with the RSPCA. People need to learn to be civil and argue facts and to lobby the organisation with the power and influence to get changes made.

I'd say his jaw finished developing.. but some additional muscle probably didn't hurt.

And yet, you expect the ANKC, despite your attitude, to defend dogs outside its register when their owners are not members? Nice one Chris. Join up, pay your money and maybe then you might be taken seriously. Right now you want all the benefits of membership with none of the responsiblities. I'll continue to do what I can to oppose BSL. It will despite the attitudes of those personally affected, not because of them.

There are other options - you could feed a reduced fat "seniors" food instead of simply cutting back.

I certainly hope that other ANKC breeders are NOT of the same opinion as you SBT123 . So if you had your way all dogs that are not ANKC registered would be thrown to the wolves so to speak. I think this is a very selfish attitude, shame on you. I hope you don't classify yourself as a dog lover All dogs bred without ANKC papers have been under the gun for years. Why should the ANKC put the dogs of its own members in jeopardy to save dogs illegally bred by others? We've just seen what attempting to lump all bull breeds in together can produce - disaster for EVERYONE.