FHRP

I've always called them O rings. I can find them online, but not sure about in Australia http://cdwplus.com/singleOrings.html

Geez rubyroo, glad you've had your rant and glad I never have to trial secretary again.

Petplan have lost the plot, and a lot of customers. You might be interested in reading this thread courtanyshayne and share the pain many Petplan members have had Petplan Premium Increase I have recently cancelled my 3rd dog's renewal with them, pleased I don't have to deal with them anymore but a shame they no longer offer the best product at an affordable price :)

My entire males get a prostate exam at their annual health check by the vet. I 'check' their testicles regularly, as I do my entire bitches mammary glands. I get annual bloods done from about 10 years old, but I'd do that on a desexed dog too.

By all means breeders should do what they think right in determining good puppy homes, but I don't really get the point of asking for photos. If they think people are lying about their living space, then what is going to stop them sending false photos? I had a puppy buyer ask if I wanted him to send photos of their yard and although I said they could if they wanted to, I didn't need them as I have no way of knowing it's their yard and at some stage I just have to trust them. If my conversations with puppy buyers are making me concerned, they don't get a pup. Like Kirty said, facebook can be very useful ;)

You can get more robust dog ones, Petstock have these https://www.petstock.com.au/products/121111000042 which also have a three step version that reach beds that are high. They are of course more expensive :) Luckily my dogs have no issues with the more flimsy kind :)

I use these, they cope with up to 30kg so even my Vizslas and GSP can (just) use them and are a fraction of the price :) http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/plush-pet-steps-30-5cm-35-5cm-46cm/

I had a barker in agility, never at the start but around course. Difference with barking during agility and retrieving is you aren't penalised for barking in agility so there's less need to extinguish it, although it can be 'self penalising' in wasted time, which did happen with my boy. My boy was vocal with just about everything and we did lose points in obedience for barking. He was not a particularly high drive dog and I found when he was quiet he was also flat and less likely to do well so I didn't work a great deal on stopping the barking although I also never encouraged it. I now have a high drive GSP who is vocal. He has started to yip or scream when sent for a retrieve, especially for the first bird/dummy. His steadiness at the pegs and in hides is also deteriorating, they might be linked. I have not worked much on curbing the noise as I'm not currently trialing him, but the no reward/retrieve approach has worked best with the little I've done. He might be dusted off for trials next year so we have some work to do! He also vocalised when we did agility - yipping, warbling, screaming etc. and his brains also leaked out his ears as the vocalisation increased. It was all too exciting for him. I know drive seems to be the be all and end all in retrieving these days, but there's a lot to say for my nice quiet steady Vizsla ;) He got the birds without a peep :)

I love my vizslas and GSP but would never own a Weimaraner. I'm sure you'd get plenty of owners of any of these three breeds saying the same about one or both of the others :) i also have no interest in wirehaired vizslas but do like German wirehaires! I consider the Pointer (English) quite different to me own breeds, probably because their purpose as a gundog is different, so their nature is quite different.

I have three entire males that live inside. Two have been used at stud, and all have been around when my bitch has been in season. They do not pee inside and were no harder to house train than the bitches I have.

Oh dear. Added my review :)

Financial Ombudsman

Sounds like you're going through the same as I did PME. Accounts department were no more competant at rectifying the issue, until after a week and severl exchanges of emails I sent a terse email mentioning 'financial ombudsman'. Got my correct refund the next day :)

I lost a dog to Haemangiosarcoma which first presented as a subcutaneous tumour on his ribs. Much more commonly haemangiosarcoma is visceral, usually on the spleen or heart. Has the dog had an ultrasound to check spleen etc.? An ultrasound is only a couple of hundred dollars and was the first step for my dog after the tumour in his ribs was diagnosed. After the ultrasound was all clear then more expensive scans - CT or/and MRI were recommended if radical surgery at the initial tumour site was going to be considered. The feeling being that if there was any sign on spread to spleen etc. on either results then it was not worth doing surgery. In the later stages my dog did present with a cough and an xray showed tumours in his lungs. A horrible and very often fast acting disease

In regards to the size of a Sunday Pets and fast eaters, I actually find I have to break it down to the smallest individual blocks for my scoffer as he just swallows without chewing properly!! The larger the blocks the more he struggles to swallow and it does not look pleasant. Yes he's a complete guts.

The ACT Gundog Society is not as active in retrieving this year as usual. They did run a RATG in April, but the July RATG held with the Queanbeyan obedience trial isn't going ahead this year. The only retrieving trial they'll be conducting is the State Championship in October. Hopefully next year the ACTGS will be offering more trials and the training group can 'reform', several of the regulars have moved interstate.

Unfortunately 3 weeks in and my old boy has pretty much stopped eating Sunday Pets Bugger, it looked like a great kibble for him! My younger GSP won't knock it back though, so it's senior food for him for a while :)

I don't find it smelly at all, well not beyond normal kibble smell?? I don't think my old boy is completely thrilled with it, has left some at one meal, he's not a food hound like my other boys though.

It was true! Limited sizes and colours, but Crazysales has some Hurtta coats. Thanks for the heads up silentchild, I kept checking :) http://www.crazysales.com.au/search/hurtta

Oh really? I've got some waiting collection at the post office, bought it for my pug and SBT. I'm guessing it will be a no go for the pug then? I would be very surprised if your pug couldn't eat it. You could break them in half if needed but I doubt you will need to. Yeah, I think a pug will cope. The biscuits are pretty easy to break anyway. I was more thinking of a senior like Haredown's 16 year old miniature poodle coping. My old boy happily ate his last night and the youngens happily scoffed the crumbs he dropped :)

I got my bag this morning and I must admit when seeing the size of the pieces I did wonder how a senior small dog would cope :laugh: It's great for my size dogs that range from 21 - 30kg :) If the food suits all but the giants then maybe it needs to be relabelled to just 'adult', 'senior' etc. ??

Any idea if there will be a Large dog formula come out in the Adult & Senior Grain Free range? All I can find on the websites are small/medium in this range?? I bought a bag of senior for my old boy, but my dogs are medium-large so hoping I can get something more size approriate Natural Pet Store currently have 20% off this food as an 'opening sale' eta. Oops, snap korbin13!

Until recently I had three dogs insured with Petplan. Their policies are good, they cover as much as any including chronic conditions for the life of the dog which many other companies don't. I never had major dramas with making claims, they always paid but were slow and very slack with communication. With just about every claim, I had to make a phone call weeks after submitting it to find out what was going on. However their premiums have recently skyrocketed and IMO are no longer worth it. I can only imagine that insuring three GSDs will cost a small fortune. I've been looking at a few other companies, specifically Bow Wow Meow and Medibank that have been recommended by friends. Unfortunately they won't list exclusions for what they consider 'pre existing conditions' for my 7 year old dog, they will only tell me when I make a claim and submit vet history if it's covered. Knowing what stupid exclusions these companies make under the banner of 'pre existing conditions' I'm hesitant to take out further cover. Good luck with your search!

So, as I feared, today PetPlan has withdrawn payment from my bank account for my second dogs renewal at an an even more increased price than my first, without notification This is despite me calling them last Tuesday when my first dogs renewal notice finally arrived (a month late) and specifically asking them to inform me of my second dogs premiums at renewal, before deducting anything. I then followed this up on the weekend with an email. I have received no email back, and I have received no paper renewal notice. Before I was disappointed and angry, now I'm fuming. I will never recommend Petplan ever again. I was considering keeping my second dog with them due to his age, but with this stuff up and premiums going from $49 to $86 a month, no way.

Was your renewal due? The increase comes at renewal, although they give you no notice.