Justchillin

My girl still loves her tyre and rope - only thing that has latest since she was a pup. Don't buy cheap dog toys, they won't last and the plastic in some can be very toxic My theory whenever buying anything is; you get what you pay for ben

No onion

I have found a few interesting things on youtube about training, I like visuals over text. I would go to your local vet and find out about puppy preschool where a big bonus is dog socialisation. Umm what did I do... that's right took a week off work and kept an eye on her lol. As she got bigger I was lucky in my job at the time I would call in and have lunch and check on her, I was really paranoid about someone steeling her but that's just me I get very over protective. I rushed in and brought a heap of things and wish I had of waited a bit and looked into things a bit more but yeah I got caught up in the excitement of a new addition and at the time I thought I was doing/ buying the right things. I guess one thing was buying cheap plastic dog toys, I found out later some types of cheap plastic are bad for dogs. I brought a harness for her and she didn't really like it, we brought ya basic dog collar and lead which she found much better and didn't really pull like I thought she would. I spent like $30 on the original lead to pair with the harness but after a while I realised it was too short, so I brought a longer one. Just keep it simple I guess, large bowls of fresh water (one inside and out), some decent dog biscuts to chew on through the day and dinner at night including things like: chicken wings, necks, minced carcus, eggs, raw meat, bones etc. Somewhere warm to sleep, a few decent chewing toys ( tires with rope are good for tug of war), teaching some basics for now and being consistant, love and attention I bet you can't wait, I can feel your excitment through your email :D Look forward to seeing some photos Ben

I have a friend Kristy Merryvale who works at Raine and Horne in Residential, lovely girl, she's always been a great help, I told her exactly what I wanted (house i can have a dog) and she was great discussing my love of animals with the owners and convinced my owners to change their mind about no animals Ben

Welcome to DOL black magic I'm sure you'll learn heaps on here.We'd love to meet up with you when you pup once she's ready,love the name Leila Looking forward to meeting you soon.Why don't you come down and have a look at the training this saturday as they'll be having the flyball and agility demo as well julie I'll hopefully be there to Welcome, good to see fellow Wollongongsiders on here !!! Cheers Ben

Hi Well you shouldn't have too many troubles with 2 smaller dogs. Unfortunatley it is getting harder for people with larger breeds hence why i am holding back a little about another dog. Wollongong is expensive and backyards are smaller, you need to look for suburbs just out of it like figtree, unanderram cordex heights, even dapto (very cheap), or north a bit to say corrimal, woonona, fairy meadow. For a 3 bedroom house in these areas your looking around $300- $360 average. there is dog training at JJ kelly park or even better dapto showground. We have off the leash dog areas in figtree, bulli and coniston/ port beach. I enjoy nothing better than a walk along north gong bike track with my girl then a quick swin in the harbour, she loves it !! I reckon a dog meet would be great, we have the paws walking coming up to don't forget. It would be good I reckon to meet at say the bistro at city beach function centre at south beach then we could walk along the beach to cono and let the dogs run free. Cheers Ben

I will be there, I went last week for the meet and greet and found it pretty good. They are friendly people Cya there I'll be there with my girl Lucy and gf Katrina so come say hi. Ben

ditto !!! raw foods are the way to go... chicken necks/wings/carcus/mince and bone with a bit of slightly cooked veg and pasta/ rice (small portion) is what i give at night, biscuts in the morning to ensure they are getting all the nurtrients/ vitamins they need. Ben

not bad, I'm a bit curious about the hairstyle though lol. Ben

hahahaha

i am feeling for you. Sending a warm hug and wish you a quick grieving process. :D RIP Ben

Nulax from the chemist Ben

I think it's great to have a forum like this where people contribute their knowledge, ideas and experience as well as their time to help others contribute to making their animals lives better. It's great to get different ideas to try out, I definately need to work on training her more, she's as fit as a fiddle and looking great and I wish I had done more work training her to do things earlier but I guess it's better late than never. Thanks again :D Ben

Thanks some great advice there !!! :D

yeah i'll see how I can go training her first though, I don't really have much room to put one in the house. What size is the create, where did you get it and how much? Cheers Ben cheapest online like ebay.Here's one similar to mine http://cgi.ebay.com.au/LARGE-36-COLLAPSIBL...1QQcmdZViewItem You may like to go the next size up depending on her size.Once she's crate trained though you can change to one of these which i use as well.I also use this one in the car http://cgi.ebay.com.au/LARGE-SOFT-DOG-CRAT...1QQcmdZViewItem Easy to move around.Just need to make sure she's fully crate trained otherwise they can shred the door pretty easily best thing i ever did was crate train my lot I like the idea, that one look a bit small but maybe the large one might be an option. Appreciate your help Ben

yeah i'll see how I can go training her first though, I don't really have much room to put one in the house. What size is the create, where did you get it and how much? Cheers Ben

hey Ben, went and had a look at the one at JJ Kelly Park and than went to the South Coast Dog Training one at Dapto showground one.Much preferred the Dapto one and joined about 6 weeks ago.Am loving it although it's getting harder to get out of bed on a Sat and get there by 8.30am It's cheaper to join the Dapto one as you don't get a collar and lead like you do at JJ Kelly but everyone usually already has them and lessons are cheaper each week as well Let me know if you are going to try them out and I'll look out for you.1st 2 classes are free Hi, yeah I think a lot of they check out both end up choosing Dapto. I don't have my car on the road at the moment, I usually get to borrow my girlfriends so as soon as I can I'll let you know and say gday. Oh and also do I just turn up at 8.30 and sign up then or do I need to call up first? Cheers Ben and Lucy (the dog) just turn up with dogs immunisation record and some treats.I'm pretty sure they hold the meet and greet (introduction class)every week but here's there website in case you'd like to email them to confirm http://www.scdtc.org/ many thanks !!

Thanks for your feeback I appreciate it greatly. Here is some more info that might help: 1. She is 1 1/2 years old border collie x lab 2. She is walked 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day with me now that I am in training for the police academy. She gets to swim in the beach, chase the ball, play with other dogs at off leash park and beach. 3. The house situation is like this until Decemeber when I move to Gouburn with her and they love her just find her a bit full on a times. Yeah the dog hair thing isn't a major problem with the floor boards, I have a special mop for it. 4. I got thinking as a wrote the post and I have 2 lounges, one small one that doesn't really get used to I am going to make it her lounge and have thrown a big blanket over it. If she tries to get on the other lounge I will do like you suggested and see how that works. I have done like yourself and only let her in when she is calm and tried (it's very hard !!) to get her out if she becomes too much and it's slowly getting there I think. 5. training needs improvement, I have been slack, it's been hard not having a car lately and working so much at various times has made it hard but I definately want to improve in this area. She has been to puppy preschool but obviously she needs a lot more training than just that. Cheers Ben

aww thanks

Good evening fellow dog lovers, My girl Lucy is not really an indoor dog because of a few reasons; I am renting a house with floor boards throughout the house and she will scratch them, secondly she is just so active and will either bump things breaking stuff, leave dog hair all over the lounges and floors and because I live with 2 other people she licks them to death and it's not nice to leave dog hair everywhere for them. I am more often though letting her in for a few hours of a night especially now that it's cold and when it's been really wet I have let her sleep in my room. The problem is now that I am letting her in more she is expecting it more and because I am a shift worker I can't always let her in because I'm not home some nights and she has been starting to stand at the door and bark to come in so my house mates have told me and I am noticing she is being more demanding when I am home also. I mean it's a normal thing for a dog to act in this way, of course she would rather be inside but I don't know what to do to stop her barking etc when I am not here, will I just have to stop being so soft and have her sleep outside (kennel and shelter) all the time or is there something I can do? Also when I am letting her in the loungeroom for a few hours she goes straight for the lounges and won't go near the expensive bed that I brought her even when I try with treats etc, where do your dogs stay inside and how have you got them to sit there? Thanks in advance Ben

hey Ben, went and had a look at the one at JJ Kelly Park and than went to the South Coast Dog Training one at Dapto showground one.Much preferred the Dapto one and joined about 6 weeks ago.Am loving it although it's getting harder to get out of bed on a Sat and get there by 8.30am It's cheaper to join the Dapto one as you don't get a collar and lead like you do at JJ Kelly but everyone usually already has them and lessons are cheaper each week as well Let me know if you are going to try them out and I'll look out for you.1st 2 classes are free Hi, yeah I think a lot of they check out both end up choosing Dapto. I don't have my car on the road at the moment, I usually get to borrow my girlfriends so as soon as I can I'll let you know and say gday. Oh and also do I just turn up at 8.30 and sign up then or do I need to call up first? Cheers Ben and Lucy (the dog)

i am from the gong. howdy There is one at stuart park in wollongong on a sat at 3pm I think it starts but it's very over crowded. I have yet to get there as I work during this time and I have heard about the one at Dapto showgrounds being better - did you get to try it out, would like to hear if you did. Cheers Ben

What's wrong with it, stuff prepared in tins and rolls have loads of bad food in it. I cook the veg the rest is added raw, I find it's going to be cheaper and healthier for my dog and that's my opinion shared with a lot others I feel. You have your own opinion and I respect that to. Cheers Ben

update: I went to my local butcher and brought some minced up chicken carcus etc for $2.50 (bit steep), chicken necks for the same price, beef mince for $6kg, bones for $4kg and chicken wings for $4kg. A little pricey so I will try leonards next time for the chicken. I mixed it portioned with half cooked veges and only a little rice and pasta and she loved it !!! Still unsure on the garlic so I will leave it for now, some say yes some say no so I'm not convinced but I can't see why it would be harmful when it's fantastic for humans. Thanks for all your help Ben

What is BARF sorry? So no rice and pasta ok then. So lot's of veges (do i need to cook or give raw) and raw meats and chicken I take it. Cheers Ben