Paulp

My two labs are like yours, over enthusiastic! I am very concious of how they approach other dogs and will put them on lead whenever someone else comes within range with another dog until I can communicate with the owners. They are never looking for a fight but especially having two of them they will easily intimidate other dogs big and small. Just re read your post, if you are in a signed off lead area, especially if there are already several dogs off lead, then I would say it is up to the people entering with thier dog if they want to interact with the dogs already there, if they don't then they shouldn't enter.

If the light is coming from behind you towards your dog then you should see the reflection, especially if they are in a dim area. eg, if they are in the house and your are looking at them from outside The tapetum sits right behind the layer of cells that contain the visual pigments. There are gaps between these cells so not all photons that pass into the eye hit one, the tapetum reflects these missed photons back so there is a second chance that they will hit a pigment cell. During the day there are so many photons hitting the eye that it doesn't matter if some miss the pigment cells so there is no selective pressure to develop one which is why we humans don't have one and our eyes reflect red (cause the photons are bouncing off the blood vessels at the back of the eye). There was a thread a while back about the colour variations in eye reflection in dogs but I can't remember the reason (one of my dogs has a yellow reflection and the other green).

You could try rubbing some bepanthin (nappy rash cream that you can get from the supermarket) into them, it is moisturising and anti-septic.

He is doing so well Paul, you must be proud . Thanks Clover, I am thrilled, I really thought that he might just crack 5 seconds and that would be it but he has blown away everyone in the club with his new speed. Even better my other dog, after nearly a year and a half in beginners, today completed her first full run without dropping the ball, running around, not even bothering to get the ball or even taking off to chase some dog doing obedience! We may have another speedy lab ready for the nationals. :D

I think someone has stolen my dog and replaced him with a collie wrapped in labrador clothing. A few weeks ago I was bragging that he had cracked 5 seconds in a flyball run for the first time, well now he has run 4.7 seconds two comps in a row and was still running under 5 seconds at the end of the day.

Personally I use the same sort of techniques as Masons Mum with my labs but maybe another idea is try to intercept the behaviour. If he is predictable enough feed him just before he starts to bark for a while (maybe a week) then start moving the feed forward 5 minutes a day. If you can get it to a reasonable time of morning without him barking then start varying the feed times. I've never tried it and I can see it might backfire if he figures out the new time and just barks earlier but it might work and it will keep him quiet while you work on it, anyone else have an opinion on this idea?

Sentinel spectrum for fleas and worms?

You will find the dates here, looks like the next and last before winter is 16th May.

When my boy had to have an elizabethan collar on I had 2 so every day they were rotated and the one that came off taped back together.

Here is an interesting power point presentation about body fat and health in our pets, note: this link will download a powerpoint file to your computer Presentation

hmmm. We have picked our colours - Red and Black. so hopefully not too confusing . Probably wont cross paths much anyway , us being up here in sunny qld ! Are you coming down to the nationals this year? We are hosting them at the Dandenong show.

Beginners classes start at 1:30 so usually sign up is done earlier. You won't be turned away but if you could get there even 5-10 minutes earlier it would help.

Forgot to mention that the first Saturday of the month is our sign up day so that will be this Saturday.

I don't do agility myself but I believe it is more a social agility, if you want to compete you will probably need to go somewhere such as action dogs for higher level training. I think the instructors can set you on the right course for competition if that is where you want to go, they just can't take you all the way there.

Your dogs are in great condition! Nice long legs too . Where did you get them from? Truth is that Ebons father is a golden retriever so he has inherited two breeds worth of overwieght issues! I figure the same points are valid for him as for a purebred lab. Very few people pick him as anything other than a lab at first meeting. His long straight thick legs come from his father as does his soft glossy coat. So does his obstinate streak... Princess is a rescue, I sometimes think there is something else in her as she is so small but my vet thinks she is probably purebred.

Hi Snowball BODC focus on making your dog a better pet in the lower classes, stuff like loose lead walking, sitting, self control (the dogs) etc. In the higher classes the focus moves towards preparation for trialling such as tightening up heeling, stands for examinations. off lead work etc. The training methods are positive, we don't condone anything past a verbal correction. You can use pretty much any collar you want so long as they are not used to give harsh corrections. We promote using a flat collar to start with and if you are having problems try a gentle leader head collar or harness depending on the problem. Personally I encourage handlers to only view the use of these as a temporary measure to get them past a difficult phase. After achieving a certain level of obedience you can start agility or flyball. We can't train you to trialling level for agility as we don't have instructors at that level but several members are at that level who can help you. Our flyball team is very competitive and it is great fun! You pay a one off joining fee and then a yearly renewal, no other fees are payable. You will find lots of other goldies there.

When my boy started flyball and I saw the rigours that the sport would place on him I decided to get some weight off him. I didn't consider him fat but thought he "could lose a couple of kilos". He dropped from 37 kg down to 31-32kg over about 6 months. The interesting thing is that he lost several kgs before there was any appreciable effect on his physique. I assume this was from losing visceral fat. In humans it is visceral fat that is the worst for your health so I think that any lab that is carrying appreciable fat on its frame has plenty of internal fat as well that is detrimental to it's health. So even if your lab is not participating in sport being fat is going to be detrimental to its health. There are several labs in flyball that are carting around way too much weight, I shudder to think how they will be moving in ten years time, luckily they aren't particularly fast so don't hit the box too hard. This is Ebon now My other lab Princess who is a flyball beginner and weighs about 24kgs

Puppy Power They are based in, and you can pick up from, Dandenong.

My boy is not purebred, he is a first gen lab X golden retriever so he is from two breeds that love thier food and gain weight easily. I have not done agility with him but he competed in his first flyball comp in Jan last year. At the time he was solid and weighed about 37kgs, most people thought he was in good condition. When I saw the rigours of flyball first hand I decided to get some weight off him to protect his joints in the long term. By cutting back his food by 10-20% for several months before stabilising it again he is down to 32kg. Interestingly he dropped about half that weight before I started seeing any difference in his physique, I think labs are quite good at hiding weight. They aren't great photos for comparison but here he is in his first flyball comp and at his current weight. If I took went down the agility route I think I would do the same thing, get any excess weight off him.

When we were trying to concieve a year ago Ebon, my lab X golden retriever, suddenly started pestering my OH following her around and trying to sniff her in unsociable places. A few days later we had a positive test. The behaviour settled down but several weeks later he started doing it again and a few days later we discovered the bad news that the pregnancy had succumbed. We are sure he knew before we did both times.

My lab is very keen on his motivator. I use a frisbee as a motivator in flyball so my hands regularly suffer bruises from misjudged grabs at the motivator at the ends of runs. He has a very gentle mouth so the skin is rarely broken. A few comps ago he hit my hand so hard I was pretty sure he had broken a bone in the middle of my hand but with some icing and a couple of days it settled down. A couple of head butts hard enough to stun me but luckily not on the nose. My sister in laws dog head butted me when wearing a muzzle when I was a kid resulting in a chipped tooth.

I get Chuck bones from my butcher for my fat dogs, they have no fat at all & take quite a while to chew! +2 for chuck bones for labs

I have to give it a miss, the first comp I've missed since Hastings last year, I hope the weather is kind to you.

The "30 day money back guarantee" appears to be only for faulty workmanship, not if the product doesn't work. The rest of the FAQ reads like a lot of hocus pocus to me with lots of disclaimers in case it doesn't work.

I believe the Casey council ran a trial last year where they supplied poo bags and bins at a couple of parks but decided that it was not economically viable and withdrew them. I think this decision was made because there was still dog poo around and they decided they weren't being used. It is hard to believe but it is a law in Casey, with an on the spot fine for breaking it, that you must carry poo bags if you are walking a dog. Even at our dog club in the off leash areas with signs all over saying to pick up after your dogs and bags and bins always available right there in the areas there is still poo left on the ground. Hopefully it is left there outside if training hours by non-club members..... Unfortunately no matter how hard you try there will always be ignorant and lazy dog owners who just could not be bothered. Good on you though for making the effort, our club seems to be making some headway with the council so maybe there is some hope for it yet