poodlefan

Brilliant as an oven cleaner!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch..... I think Australia is becoming less dog friendly for a range of reasons: * increasing urbanisation, smaller blocks and more dual income families see dogs left alone a lot. * not all families compensate for this by spending more time with the dog. * breed choice hasn't always followed changes in demographics so you've got a lot of breeds probably unsuited to their familes * then we have a loss of recreational space. Result: more dogs, in less space, with less time given to their exercise and possibly not ideally suited to their owners. Many of them won't have had a lot of training. So that means more dog poo, less control and some folk who object to being accosted by dogs in range of situations. God knows why but IMO the average Aussie thinks its the job of government to "do something" about anything that inconveniences them. Government oils the squeaky wheels and restricts dogs while the apathy of most Aussies about things political allows it to happen and many simply ignore the restrictions making things worse. Australians IMO are not a particularly tolerant society. While we like to think we are, my observation is most Australians are tolerant only to the point where they are inconvenienced by something. Then they seem to like it banned. Governments like bans. They're cheap, they're seem to be doing something and they can be nice earners. So we ban when we might simply penalise the irresponsible. Its dog owners loss. I could probably ramble on for a while about how increasingly disconnected from nature many folk are and that they see all animal behaviour through the lens of their own but that's a whole nuther issue

Poor kid. How terrifying for both mother and child.

What does too much condition mean? Should be leaner. Polite way of saying "fat".

The third dog is carrying too much condition but IMO is still a nice looking Lab!

Seriously? Boarding at kennels is usually an option. No way would I leave any dog, let alone a pup alone for 4 days.. fed or not. Get a wire crate. A pup on a tether is a sitting duck for other dogs and likely to get tangled. I'd not leave a tethered dog unattended either.

The use of the term "Labrador" in those ads appears to be a key search term. The dogs might all very well be Labrador mixes. If they are, it explains the use of the term. How people have jumped to the conclusion that these are AKC registered pups beats me.

The difficulty with Cesar's techniques as I see them is that people focus on WHAT he does and tend to ignore the following: * He is very experienced dog trainer, particularly with challenging dogs. * He sees the dogs he deals with in the flesh and evaluates their behaviour. * What he does is based on his knowledge, experience and observation. * He's prepared to take a bite to get the job done. Now lets remove all that knowledge, all that experience and all that observation and have Jo Public emulate his methods. If Fido delivers a decent bite to a family member using Cesar's methods, the dog will probably be on a one way trip to the vet. Most of Cesar's critics never doubt the effectiveness of what he does. Its when others try the same methods that they see problems arising. I agree with them. He stresses the importance of exercise and training. Frankly if more of the folk tempted to use his methods followed THAT advice, they'd probably never need to up the ante at all.

Have you considered having the dog ride in the rear passenger footwell? There's no way I'd transport a dog in any kind of box in a box trailer. A second hand 4 berth dog trailer could easily be converted into safe, lockable insulated storage for camping gear AND dog. At least with a dog trailer, you can stop on a hot summer day and know you're not going to fry your dog. A collapsible crate, even with a canvas cover offers no protection from rain. It certainly won't protect the dog from heat or cold either. A collapsible crate would offer zero protection in an accident. If you want to go offroad camping with a dog, IMO there's only one safe place for the dog to travel and that is in the car. If you cannot provide safe, insulated transport for the dog, leave it in kennels.

Nothing subtle about my poodle boys. They become more reactive to sights and sounds outside the house and are more readily triggered to bark.

God Bless you Kiwi! For a dog that's been through such a traumatic experience to stick with its training and do its job is testament both to its character and the excellence of its training. I love my dogs and they are "merely" companions. I would imagine the bond between a guide dog and its owner would be incredible.

I'd be looking more towards separation/isolation anxiety than a neighbour's actions. Clearly separation from the house was traumatic.

Kennel cough mutates.. immunity to one strain doesn't guarantee immunity to others Kennel cough is transmitted directly from one dog to the other by air. I've never heard of it having a residual chance of transmission but a person who's touched a dog with the illness might pose a risk. Parvovirus is a whole different ballgame. It can be transmitted on shoes, clothes etc. There is no way I'd have a partially vaccinated dog in a workplace unless people disinfected their hands before touching her.

I agree with this tho' I think it's pointscore rather than the Gr Ch title producing this effect. We often run into the top winners in my breed and you see some of them at very small shows. Being in show admin, I do see refusals too, perhaps more than your average punter does because most judges are quite discrete about how they do it. Maybe not enough to prevent a dog getting titled, but enough to slow them down enough to rethink. There are always going to be champions that are not worth the title in some people's eyes. Heck, there are going to be Gr Chs that are unworthy in some people's eyes, even if they have scored a BIS. To some extent it's an argument about taste and/or breed knowledge, not quality. The generic show dog is not always the correct dog. Forgot about the pointscore effect. At a Cooma show a few years back, you could have been forgiven for thinking it had been held at Erky Park - lots of big names and big winning dogs. I don't know too many people who discount what wins at Specialties, especially when the same dogs rarely get the nod from Allbreeds judges. I know which awards matter most to most folk I know! 70 Whippets were entered at a country show last year due to the presence of a renowned English Whippet breeder who judged three breeds only in Hound Group. Anyone rocking up expecting a small entry would have gotten a very rude shock.

I honestly think the introduction of the GR CH award has made petrol championships a thing of the past if they ever did exist. People may go hunting challenge points and hit already titled dogs hunting groups. In most of the common breeds I can think of it is a rare show that sees less than half a dozen entered and even then there is no guarantee of points. Dogs get refused more often than some folk might think.

A temporary barrier to that fence may break the habit. I had a barking complaint on my dogs some years back. Changing the offending fence to colourbond (no visual stimulation from neighbours dogs) and jet anti-barking collars for several months deterred the behaviour. Now the neighbours dogs may bark up a storm buy its rare to hear mine join in.

I'd say Raz's attractiveness for theft is low. I'd recommend you add a padlock to the gate. It's not a bad idea for a range of reasons. Stops the gate blowing or being bounced open and strangers (good intentioned or not) entering your yard.

What breed is Raz? Is he desexed? Desexing is the best protection against theft. So are locked gates. My dogs have the run of the house but gates to the back yard are kept locked when I'm out.

Yes you can. And if you're talking about breeds with extremely high maintenance show coats like poodles, I can understand why you're asking! The challenge for the non-showing or non-performance breeder is to find other ways to keep developing an eye for good dogs and for measuring yours against others. One method is to get pups you breed placed in show homes.

I have Miniature and Toy Poodles. And now I have a Whippet. I have seriously kicked the tyres of a lot of breeds in the last five years but I think those days are behind me. I have found the breeds for me. Although I like so many others, you never know. I am blessed to have friends who have some of the breeds I like though so that helps. If I can only talk FHRP into getting a Bracco that would be perfect.

Interesting breed article describes the Pumi as a "sheepdog with terrier characteristics". That sounds like a fair bit of dog! High drive, low threshold to arousal and probably fairly low natural bite inhibtion.

Ignore your mother. The test of whether your dog is getting enough to eat is not in the dish but on the dog itself. Get your mum to feel Shelley's ribs. If she can't feel rib with the flat of hand, Shelley needs to lose weight. An obvious spine means she could use a bit more.

Not all pounds desex before rehoming. I can think of one logical reason the dog was running with an in season bitch .... perpetuating its genes. Oh goody.

Then PF we will see you in Adelong next weekend YES????? Diva, look for us, we are only bringing two Labs and a Clumber... that shouldnt make us too hard to find... and if we dont have to bring the rest of the fur family we might even have a space under our gazebo.... edited to add that we are going up tonight ... we are booked into the caravan park.... I"ll be at Whippet Nationals Mercedes. Enjoy the Adelong apples though. Yum!!

The owner was present Dougie. Your constant assertion that such a dog could NOT be an SBT is the kind of head in the sand ignorance that has seen some pretty unlikely breeds climb into the bite statistics AND that plays right into the hands of the BSL proponents. ANY dog, given the right genetics, envrionment and trigger can represent a threat to people. Acknowledge that and we'll all be a lot safer.