Beks

cavNrott - The only reason I'm taking Ziggy to puppy pre-school is for the socialisation aspect - as for everything else, I can learn all I need to know from DOL! And the best thing is that with so many people on here, you get a "true" opinion on things, rather than a Vet Nurse's biased opinion! And yeah - my vet nurse handed out little sample bags of Eukanuba as well

Poodlefan - yeah I don't think the vet sold Sentinel - I should've guessed! It is kind of annoying that they have such a biased opinion.. Tramissa - thanks for the advice - I'll have to look up Interceptor and read up about it more.. I'll make sure when we got back this week to ask the Vet Nurse about ticks and whether they're a problem here or not. Cheers!

Howdy everyone! Took Ziggy to her first puppy pre-school lesson last week. The Vet Nurse there gave us all a comb bound booklet full of information, which she started to go through with us.. Anyhoo, to get to my point, she was going through the different worming/flea treatments available and she really bagged Sentinel Spectrum! She said that the way Sentinel killed fleas was by 'sterilising' them once they'd bitten the dog. So in other words, it didn't stop fleas jumping onto the dog, or even stop fleas biting the dog. It's only once the flea has bitten the dog that some sort of chemical (?) is released into the flea which stops it biting again. Any commments on this? I was actually all prepared to go out and buy Sentinel, after ready some good reviews on DOL, but now I'm a bit confused! The Vet Nurse also never even mentioned ticks whatsoever, which I found a little odd. I forgot to ask her about it - but we're going again this Thursday so I'll make sure to ask her then.. Maybe ticks aren't so much of a problem in Adelaide? Bek

Hi jillybean! We bathed our 8 week old beagle and 8 month old beagle the weekend we bought them (Ziggy - the little one smelt like poo!). Anyhoo - we did it in the bath. We bought one of those cheap $10 plastic shower attachments from Bunnings and she whined her head off and kept trying to get out - UNTIL my OH managed to get the temperature 'just right'.. it felt like body temperature. And then her would pat her and run the shower head down her back etc.. I honestly think she thought she was just getting petted - it's almost like once the temperature was exactly right she couldn't feel it any more. I haven't tried in since though, so it could've just been my lucky day! Bek :D

Hello.. I've recently bought an 8 month old beagle and tried this training with him last week. It didn't go as expected however, and I'm wondering whether anyone else has had this problem, and what they suggest? When I take the food out to him he seems reasonably excited. I start from bringing the food towards him until he seems interested. He watches and watches (not hugely excited, but definitely focused on it). The problem I'm having is that once the food is out of his reach, he loses interest right away - and I mean, even if it's 10cm away from his snout, he seems to realise that he can't reach it, and it just sits back and starts looking around the yard! The only time he's interested is when he can actually touch the food, otherwise he isn't interested! Should I skip a meal and try again, or is there another way I can do it? Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks for everyone's opinion! I guess this sort of technique is a "see if it works on your dog - but no guarantees" training tool. When my friend told me about this he actually mentioned a problem he had with his dog always trying to run out the front when the side gate was open. He said that he spent about 10 minutes shouting at the gate like a maniac and hitting it and unfortunately a few neighbours did see him! Probably thought he was a nutcase. But from that day onwards the dog didn't go anywhere near the gate without the owners say so, so guess it was worth it! I might try it out whenever any of the dogs do an indoor mess - most people here seem to have more luck with that than the outdoor furniture bashing! :rolleyes: Bek

Hi Sidoney, Yeah he said it does! That's why I'm so interested to find out whether anyone else has tried it before! In fact, he actually brags about how well behaved his dog is! (Don't we all hate that )

Hi everyone! Wondering whether I can get your opinions on a training technique a friend told me about last weekend. He's got a little terrier (Jack Russell I think - but I don't think it's important). Anyhoo - He's got a rather odd way of solving the problem of his dog chewing garden furniture / fences / shoes / anything it's not supposed to. If he gets home from work and say, for example, the dog has chewed the leg of an outdoor chair, rather than scolding the dog (who by that stage has completely forgotten he's even done anything wrong), he actually scolds the chair - he shouts at it, hits it, acts like a complete maniac - all aimed at the chair! Apparently this teaches him dog that the chair is "bad", and he shouldn't go near it. Don't know why it works - maybe the dog thinks that he'll be the one who gets told off if he goes near it again? Has anyone else used this technique before? Does it work for you? Bek

Hi WinGus! God how adorable is that little dog! He reminds me of my mum's mini Foxie called Lenny. When he was a puppy and we'd go for walkies, he was okay on a regular collar. When he grew up a bit I found that he had quite a thick neck compared to the size of his head, and he could quite easily "slip" the collar (which gave me a scare the first time it happened!). From then onwards we used a little harness, and it was fine! Good luck! Bek

Sorry to hear about your plants! I've got a few bonsai trees and my beagles are arriving in two weeks! I think I better start planning what I'm going to do with them now! Let me know if you have any luck with making the plants look "less tasty" to the puppy! Beks

Hi everyone. Thanks for the advice. We went back to the shop today and ($100 later) had a couple of Kong toys, two leads, a car harness, collars (including an adjustable one for the puppy - I hope it's the right size! I can't picture how big her neck will be!), and a giantwaterbowl. Plus some Schmackos for the long drive home from the breeder Jillybean - are beagles likely to "slip" their leash? My mums got a mini fox terrier who does it easily, and I once had a scare when he got loose next to a main road! I nearly had a coronary, tried madly chasing after him wearing thongs (not easy!), only to find him 10 minutes later standing on my verandah waiting for me as if to say "well, what took you so long?". Needless to say from that day onwards he wore a harness when we went for walkies! Beks P.S. Jillybean - Your beagle is so cute!! I love that photo!

Hi all! Hoping for some advice from you all... I'm buying an 8 month old and 8 week old beagle in a couple of weeks. My husband and I have spent the last few weekends in and out of different pet supply stores looking at collars, leads, harnesses etc etc. I'm starting to get confused by all the choices! What I want is a "basic essentials" kit for training my dogs to walk on the lead (although the 8 month old is already trained, I'm told). What sort of collar should I get for them? Should I use a "choker" chain when training them to walk on the lead? How long should the lead be? What about those big extendable ones you can buy - are they any good for training dogs? And the harnesses available - I've seen a few different brands which can double up as a "car seatbelt" type thing - are these good? Is there any brand that's better than the rest? I'm also wanting to start using the "Triangle Of Temptation" training technique, so I know I need a regular "flat" collar for that, as well as a lead of some length, but apart from those two, I'm not sure what else I need! Also - what about chew toys for the puppy? I've read somewhere that you should only buy "soft" toys to protect their teeth, but then i've also read that harder toys (like Kongs) are good for them! What the! Any advice would be most welcome! Beks P.S. Here's a picture of the 8 month old for those of you who haven't already seen him (I'm sure there's a few people left in Australia who haven't!) How cute!!

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, so if someone's asked this question already I apologize! I'm buying two beagle puppies in a couple of weeks and have narrowed my food down to three choices - Eagle Pack, Natural Balance and Nutro. The only problem is that I only know where I can buy one of them here in Adelaide - Eagle Pack (at Petstock at Parafield). Are there any other Adelaideians who can tell me where I can get the others from? Or even another supplier who sells Eagle Pack (who may be cheaper / have a better range), than Petstock? Any help is much appreciated! Beks