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?

Boo! Though if they pay the fine it might mean something to them.

Having to have an "active SIM" I assume means paying for a phone contract for the collar. That adds up to a very expensive toy. I don't think I could justify it for the 1 in a million event where my dogs would get out of our yard.

Yes I do constantly worry but that's because I have anxiety and constantly worry about EVERYTHING. It's exhausting and a quite dysfunctional thought pattern. ETA: Oh yes, the house burning down with them inside is one of my big ones. The other is that my big dog will be playing with the smaller ones and break one of their backs and they'll be laying in horrific pain for hours until I get home. And lastly that a burglar had killed them all so they can steal our stuff.

I won't use the HWI (same reasons as SecretKei has said) and I don't like combining drugs so I use the separate products. I give Paratak for intestinal worms, HeartGard (not the "Plus" version) for heartworm and Advantage for fleas when necessary.

Great thanks! Chasing the cat would be far more fun than chasing the geckos!

It's the blood and gutz gruesomeness of the severely injured but still moving ones that I find traumatising. I find it very distressing to be faced with the grossness of putting them out of their misery (how does one do this humanely to a lizard?!) versus letting them suffer to death. If there was a pest control spray for them they would just drop off the walls and be whole bodies that they could easily be transferred to the bin. If there was some ultrasonic sound that kept them away that would be even better. But there doesn't appear to be anything like this, so I have to make do with what is available. Mine are broken then, we have spiders in the corners of a few rooms. Spiders are fine though, I like watching them and their webs. Trust us to get the stupid AND useless variety! Are they a clear/pinkish colour? They are most likely Asian House Geckos - Hemidactylus frenatus. Yes clear/pinkish, basically albinos except they have dark eyes. Definitely no brown spots though, which is what corvus said made them AHGs.

And I bet if your dogs aren't happy about being taken from their yard by a stranger, they will be slapped with a dangerous dog order. I don't think council officers can enter your house while you're out - time to keep all dogs locked in the house when the owner isn't home!

Thanks for the constructive post this time. They don't look like the Asian ones, they have no colour at all - not that it matters. I've already said why - the dogs are trying to chase them up the walls and ceilings in the middle of the night. Plus they are extremely gross-looking and they sit in the rails for our sliding doors and get squished. This means that I regularly have to deal with dead ones or live zombie ones dragging around squished back-ends or half-mangled heads and once I've had one drop on me, snapped in half and bleeding. It's quite traumatising. I'd rather kill the geckos since the dogs chasing them is only half the issue (and it's not the noise, they see them).

Are you having a go? I cannot see how it would be possible to stop new insects coming into my yard -- even if I could kill every insect inside and out. Pest control companies have said they are not allowed to treat geckos, so that sucks.