MolassesLass

I'm really surprised there are so few options in such a big city!

I used to instruct with Heather at obedience, small world! Thanks for the recommendations so far.

All too often NILIF is explained without enough detail on when/how affection is allowed so owners are left believing they are being told to never give or allow affection. But at it's simplest, NILIF is just saying you never give affection unless you initiate it. I'm not sure if the tying up will make your dog calmer, perhaps it will if it's not used to sitting in the one spot. But I don't see any harm in tying them up, so I'd give it a go. The food thing is a winner though, definitely a good practice.

I am looking for someone to come in and observe my dogs and discuss some issues I think might be building. I've searched old threads and they all seem to suggest Jane Harper but I like to compare 3 quotes before deciding on a service provider so was hoping for some other names.

Are they normally physical (i.e. the professional does things with the dogs or observes the dogs doing things) or verbal (i.e. the professional asks questions of the owner)? Is one method better than the other in your opinion?

I'm intrigued by this whinging around mealtimes thing - do people mean that their dogs start barking/whimpering? Our two kind of just stand there and look a bit soulful - maybe it's just that they really can't tell the time My dogs are all different: The Bullmastiff will stand right in front of you and nudge you and get excited if you look at him. Eventually he starts to "huff" (not a full bark, we call it his "indoor voice" ). He does this whenever he wants us to do something (like let him outside). Male BC comes and lays his head on my lap and looks up at me. Female BC paws at me.

My dogs know when it's dinner time, they start hassling 30 minutes before the set time but don't get really excited until right on time. But! I don't think it is about "time"; they have been conditioned to the fact that the closing song of the TV show means they get fed. And with dinner, they are hungry so motivated by that to ask for dinner. My dogs also don't know what time I get home from work but they can hear the car before my partners crappy human ears can and so they appear to know.

There is no NSW law that says that though , just that they can't be on your lap. eta: the quote thingo stuffed up, but Im sure you know what I mean! Wow! Qld is the progressive one for once. It's not just being on the lap, if the police officier believe you are not in full control of the vehicle due to the dog, you can also be fined.

How long would it take to groom an unmatted SWF? I've always wondered why groomers seem to charge prices based on breed or size rather than time taken - why is this?

The AVA hip score information is here That data says the current average is 9.4 (the first sheet anyway, I'm not sure what the second sheet is on about).

JPS isn't desexing, it's a surgical, preventative, HD treatment. The vet was suggesting having the dog desexed at the same time the JPS is done (which needs to be at around 4 months old). Jumblyjunior early desexing may make bad joints worse (without hormones, the long bones take a little longer to stop growing than they otherwise would have) so I would not be doing that if you keep this pup. I have nothing against early desexing in many cases (I do it for my pet BC pups) but it's not always the right thing to do.

"We would not have taken/considered one of these puppies with this score " That says it all for me, I think the best thing to do would be to ask the breeder to take the puppy back. If you kept the dog and in the future anything happens to the dog joint-wise you will immediately kick yourself for not having taken the dog back when you knew you didn't want to risk a puppy like that. And I don't think feeling like that will lead to a happy and productive relationship with the breeder (which I think is important). It will probably really hurt (esp. for you kids) to give up the puppy but better now than later.

And there's none here either!

- Story I do not condone violence but a bit of a verbal touch-up is most definitely warranted here - well done Murphy's Creek residents!

The average breed score for Border Collies dropped 2 points between 2005 and 2009, that's improvement isn't it?