poodlefan

If the activity is now illegal, I'd not be making any such assumption Erny. Is it?

My guess is that while that tone of email continues to be used, the chance of IPO enthusiasts influencing any of the "consipirators" against them will be negligible. Time to get cooler heads on this one HR and now. Oh, for the record, the bitework aspect of Schutzhund training (when did it start being called Dogsport?) would already be illegal under quite a few state laws.

A fair question but a somewhat short sighted one. The BSL will never be about the deed. In this case however, it will have a profound effect on titled dogs being imported into the country. How so? There's nothing in the import regs about titled dogs? My guess is that relevant council regs deem any "attack trained" dog to be a dangerous dog (that is the case here) and that Schutzhund dog owners have not kept their dogs in accordance with those requirements (eg. fenced runs, muzzles etc) But its just a guess.

Yep, and they would need to be chewed to release it. Generally the seeds pass through whole so it's very unlikely the seeds would every cause a problem, unless of course you just fed seeds as the sole diet! If they seeds pass through a juicer, they don't remain whole. I cut the cores out.

Is she desexed and if so, how old was she when the op was performed? Has she been checked for a urinary tract infection - that can cause leaking too.

I broke my ankle earlier this year and ran the later half of it wearing a support The best support I have found is a German brand one - Futuro. The trick is not to wear it for too long I find or to do it up too tightly. A friend of mine with a dodgy ankle tried out my Futuro one and ordered one on the strength of it.. she is also very happy with hers.

Mine also. I did give it initially but am back to montly tablets now.

Nah, I don't want her. You've clearly trained an unreliable drop stay. Lil has sat up once, had a scratch and dropped again. Ted has commando crawled half way to me, never getting his belly off the ground. Gotta love em.

In NSW, a Bill has been introduced into Parliament (and redrafted) to prevent such sales. The PIAA is actively lobbying to scupper the Bill. PP is a member and PP profits (to which you would be contributing) help fund the effort. In the ACT, the RSPCA has commenced a campaign to ban such sales. No doubt the PIAA will fight that here too. While you may not morally support puppy farms, your continued purchases will contribute to the profits of THE largest retailer supplied by puppy farms in this country. Those profits fund efforts to keep puppy farms in operation.

Blackdog and Lupine make them. You can get Blackdog ones direct from their website and Vetproductsdirect have Lupine.

Boycotting is pretty damn good also. Money talks.

IR: Pure luck - definitely not. PP didn't win the import licence in a lottery. Natura would have to have made a conscious decision to overlook PP's sale of pups and kittens to grant them the licence. My guess is they had the best bid and of course they have a national distribution and marketting set up. The facts are that buying any product from PP puts $$ in their hands. If you have strong views about the sale of pups and kittens in pet shops, you can't finesse that away by suggesting that any product sold by the chain is somehow more ethical than they are. Natura indirectly support the sale of pups in pet shops by allowing the product to be stocked ONLY in places that sell them. Part of those profits goes towards fighting legislation to prevent puppy farming. You support the chain, you support the practice financially I'm afraid.

I'm guessing either you don't know too many or your are making assumptions about purity. Most are Sporting? registered around here via the ISDS. All herding dogs. A whole bunch of them have come onto the ANKC register recently. I don't think its a coincidence that the BC Nationals is here in Canberra next year. Type varies widely. One looks like a white kelpie! I suppose I only know half a dozen??

All the working BC's I know are ANKC registered.

No scientific evidence concluding that dogs need veges. And even less to prove that they need cooked grains.

Spot the conflict between statements: and But if its on the side of a pet food packet, that's not quite as bad, even if it makes you pet obese? Because pet food companies care about your dogs folks. Then there is this pearl: One wonders how these might be explained: :rolleyes: Salmonella.. isn't that what the dreaded raw diets are supposed to infect our pooches with? And this: and this: Never forget that pet food manufacturers are responsible to their shareholders for profits, not dog welfare. The USA would have more dogs on straight pet food diets than anywhere else I reckon. I don't think its coincidence that canine dentistry is the fastest growing area of veterinary practice in the country.

Pretty standard anti-BARF stuff Huski. The diet is not uncontroversial. Done badly its everything its detractors say it is. There are zealots in the BARF world and the yanks feed a lot more supplements than your average Aussie BARFer does. Mind you, at least I know what's in my dog's food. The only dog I know with pancreatitis is not raw fed.

I would still keep feeding the veggies Swain, especially pumpkin and sweet potato.

More fibre and more exercise will help. If the veggies aren't doing it, add some Metamucil or psyllium husks to his food - that should do it.

I'd be taking him and a stool sample to the vet. Chicken and rice has insufficient calcium for a growing pup - he will need a diet change or supplementation and I'd only do the latter under veterinary supervision. If he has constant runs, the amount of nutrition from what he eats he's receiving is questionable anyway.

This is pretty obvious but don't under estimate the importance of conformation to the obedience dog. A dog with inferior hind end construction (eg. sickle or cow hocks or dodgy hips) will have difficulty getting quick straight sits and also will lack power for jumping.

I currently run a friends Belgain Shepherd (Groenendael) in Strategic Pairs agility while her owner runs her Briard as the pair. I have also run a Tervueren in agility a couple of times. If I was to ever get a working breed, a Belgian Shepherd would definitely be my choice, I just love running them. I have run FHRP's Flynn in agility and also a BC and a Kelpie. I also obedience trained another friends Standard Poodle for a while. Going from a handling a mini poodle to a Vizsla in agility is like going from Vespa to a Semi Trailer. They sure corner differently. Flynn's a classic.. when I wasn't fast enough with my cues, he'd make up his own course and tell me how woeful my handling was the whole way round. I'm not handling Polo in agility in anything less than full ice hockey goalie padding.. and a cage.

If you don't put out guy ropes on any gazebo, that's the fast track to turning it into a demented spider in high wind. No guy ropes voids the warranty on mine.

PF - I'll lend you Faxon if you want to trial a bigger dog. As to the original question anything would be easy after getting an Afghan through his CCD. ;) Bear. Oh gee, thanks Bear.. that will test my merits as a trainer! Maybe your new girl might be a better bet - I'll start her nice and young. :D

I understand your beef - I have a friend whose sheltie works a little wide - we think its because she has big breasts and the dog can't see her face. HOWEVER - having trialed in Qld, VIC and SA in the last 12 months I have to say there are a lot of people trialling who use exaggerated signals. I am not sure if they have watched others trialling and have just copied, or really do think that their dogs need a stand signal with the left hand that sweeps across the owners body and as far over to their left hand side that their arm will reach - oh and turning the shoulder will allow for another couple of inches. :D When I first attended dog classes 12 years ago - this was how I was shown to give a stand signal. When people send me clips to watch - its usually one of the first things I comment on.........isn't it.......(names withheld LOL) I agree Ptolomy.. the length of the signal in particular is often an issue. However I think that if a larger dog can have its signals at eye level, why not the smaller.. within reason. Yes, you can train the small dog to look up but its not as natural a performance. The other issue with a smaller dog is that any deviation from the ideal heeling position is far more obvious than with a larger one. 6 inches out on a dog that's 12 inches long stands out far more than on a dog twice that big. Footwork is what can send a small dog wide too.. they do it to avoid being trodden on sometimes. Neater footwork can help.