RiverStar-Aura

I really hope he catches on because I have huge hopes and expectations for Zeus as an agility dog. I'd totally train him, however, I'm stuck with my cling-on Kirah who is worse than a shadow. It will depend on how she goes through this training too because I have a feeling she might be more suited to Flyball. This is only an introductory class to agility that runs for 6 weeks -- will re-assess Kirah at the end of it to see if I want to continue her training or not. She has the potential, she's just far more stubborn and scared of different things unlike Zeus, who nothing fazes. For those who do trial in agility, do you have your own equipment at home? We've been told to practise, practise, practise, but it's a bit hard to practise tunnel work when you don't have one. I also need to practise circle work and getting Kirah to stay -- I'm having a huge amount of trouble teaching her a reliable stay because every movement I make, she shuffles to be close to me. She also dances on the spot in a sit which I don't want her doing -- it's like watching doggie ballet the way she picks up her front feet.

At 15 weeks I'd say she'll be teething so of course she's going to be chewing everything. My Kirah still chews rocks and sticks and she's nearly 2 -- but it's more of a tormenting game with her big brother now! Try giving her things she can chew instead of the rocks -- chicken flavoured Nylabones worked well for me and even a chicken wing or frozen Kong. It's more a matter of distracting her, rather than teaching her to stop chewing the rocks. If her teeth hurt, she's going to seek out hard things to chew on to help with the pain. Tough rubber toys are also good like a Cuz or Kong, but if you get a Kong, you can put peanut butter inside them, freeze it and make much more appealing. Think of your pup like a child teething -- they'll chew anything they can put their teeth into because it eases the pain. Best of luck -- and we need photos of your little one!! :D Edited to add: regarding her excitement at dinner time, perhaps you could feed her dinner out of your hand rather than a bowl. Use her dinner time as a training session -- make her work for dinner. You need to teach her that the food is yours and that you control when she eats. My two sit and won't touch their food until I give them their release word "okay". I think I worked on their sit mostly and left waiting for food until they were a bit older. By that stage, when they were sitting, if they sneaked closer to their bowls I'd growl "no"; they eventually learnt not to touch the food until I said it was "okay". Start with an empty bowl if she gets so riled up at dinner time that she won't listen. Keep her dinner in your hand and only give her the food when she's sitting. The dog training I went to has a game called "It's Your Choice" in which the dog chooses how long it takes to get the treat. Start with a treat in a closed fist and show your dog. She'll be interested sniffing and trying to get to the food. The minute she pulls back (even if for only a second) say "good" and reward with the food. This way, it teaches the dog that they'll get the food by not wanting or showing interest in it. Hope this makes sense and is somewhat helpful!

I've personally never understood the "oh I'm going grocery shopping. Better take the dog too" mentality. Most of my local grocery stores are in shopping centres with clearly marked "no dogs" signs anyway. I'd be worried about someone stealing the dog.

My friend owns an ageing, overweight kelpie x and she's just texted me saying the poor thing has now collapsed twice when she gets over-excited when guests arrive at her house. I've advised a vet visit ASAP but I thought I'd post here too looking for possible causes. I've read about exercise induced collapse, however this seems to affect younger dogs such as labs, but my instant reaction was a heart problem -- especially because of her weight and age. Could something like diabetes also cause collapsing?

Why was the dog left in the car in the first place? If Colette was a guide dog in training, surely he could've taken her inside with him? This was such a horrible, but easily prevent tragedy.

Zeus climbs the apple tree to get all the apples for himself and Kirah to share. Kirah whines at the back door if we leave it open -- notice me, notice me, NOTICE ME MOMMA!!! Both jump off the retaining wall -- Zeus also jumps up it too. Zeus barks to tell me it's time to put him to bed. This is more cute than annoying but sometimes I wish he'd go to bed quietly, especially when I'm all nice and comfy myself. Kirah eats bugs then burps in my face -- very nasty Kirah does nervous smelly farts. The last time was over a new brush I'd got to try on her coat. Kirah boings more than a pogo stick. My cheek is still sore and bruised from her boinging into my face and this happened on Saturday morning. Zeus barking at the front gate then hooning around to the other side to continue barking at the dogs walking by. He's also taught Kirah this so now they bark in stereo.

The problem comes with labelling the SBT as an English Staffy because there's no need to add in English. Staffordshire is a county in the middle of England, so it's a misnomer calling the breed an English Staffordshire Bull Terrier. But as others have said, you can't educate stupid!

I'm so proud of my two dogs. Both Zeus and Kirah were stars in their first class of an introduction to agility course. The dogs were introduced to the weave poles, table and tunnel. Kirah was terrified of the tunnel at first, but after a little food encouragement and tug games, she bounded through it like a champ!! Zeus was pretty unfazed by the equipment but I need to work on teaching my brother how to handle him and get Zeus into his high prey drive setting. As Zeus is my dog, I can get the best out of him, but as I'm handling Kirah during the training courses, I'm not allowed to handle two dogs. They'll get there -- my brother just has to learn how to act like an excited moron in order to hype Zeus up! :laugh:

Zeus loves his frozen turkey wings!! Never had a problem here with them. Except the last batch I bought looked suspiciously like turkey legs rather than wings

Oh wow! I had no idea. Thanks for posting that link Skruffy n Flea. I'm definitely going to go back to the recommended dosages for their weights.

My Zeus is a horrible shedder too but I've found that since using the BSB, there is a lot less fur floating around my car. I think because it has a removable fleece cover, the fur sticks to that rather than going everywhere else. The BSB doesn't have any access for the seatbelt though so you'll need to find another way to secure your dog. I use a zip line running across the back of the seat and have it connected to his harness. See my previous post for a link. My car doesn't have rear air bags so can't comment on this one. As far as I know, I thought it was only car seat covers on the front seats that could interfere with the airbags.

I'm not sure rules regarding escalators would have changed Pers. Again it comes down to common sense; this is no different to prams, trolleys, wheelchairs, walking frames, motorised scooters etc being used on escalators. And I've seen all of the above happen on CCTV footage in a compulsory safety video at work. The poor dog. I hope it recovers well from this trauma.

I truly admire all you're doing for your gorgeous Roo!! With such a dedicated owner she has all the chances to succeed and I really, really hope that these students work out for you two!! So far it looks promising.

As this stuff is only seaweed, I'm wondering if it's even possible to overdose on. Zeus is only 13 to 15 kilos and he's been getting 3 heaped spoons of Proden PlaqueOff and Kirah is under 10 kilos has been getting 2 heaped spoonfuls. Both having been going fine and have had no adverse effects to the extra seaweed. I had to up Kirah's dosage anyway as her back molars weren't getting better -- now both have shiny white teeth. :D

Interesting response to a child's question ... Kids ask to learn .. and if they know nothing about how dogs operate , then asking and getting honest answers will help a lot! Completely agree. And agree with the sad face. Unfortunately not the first time I've read on here comments that are advocating violence towards kids. It's pretty sad!! The child in question is 8 or so years old. If he doesn't know how he should be treating other living creatures at that age, dog help us. It's more a point of asking the child if he would treat a human the same way. He wouldn't throw a ball like that at a human, so what makes a puppy any different? And if he would throw a ball like that at another human, enough said. He's a ratbag. I don't have any tolerance for the "but he/she is just a child" mentality. It's not an excuse to let them get away with being feral.

The kid asked why he couldn't hit the puppy?! Maybe you should've thrown the ball in his face and asked if he liked it.

I'm looking into new treat bags too -- my Black Dog one has lasted about a year but the hinges shot through a while ago and I've just been toughing it out. So far, I'm really liking the look of the Doggone Good Trek and Train bait bag. The only thing I dislike is that it doesn't come with a waist band attached like my Black Dog one. Edit: this one might work for you Snook as you can either clip it to an existing belt or it has belt loops stitched into it. That way it'll easily connect to your DOOG belt.

PME I'm pretty sure that a sable BC would be limited registered as a sable. I'm only going from what I've read in the other thread though so I'm not certain.

That's what I find confusing too Sheridan. Why can't they be registered just because of colour? If parti poodles are allowable overseas to be registered, I don't think it should be any different for Australia. Why the different breed standards per country? Wouldn't that suggest a decline in the breed if each country can have a completely different set of standards for the same breed? If that's the case, they should be registered as either Australian Poodles or UK Poodles.

Omgosh she's so tiny!! And such the cutest little face!!! I loved seeing her bounce around the grass -- such a trooper!!

A question to those who do groom: Is there a reason for drying the dog with a dryer rather than towelling and leaving to air dry? I'm just curious because when I bath my guys at home they only get towelled off.

1 tablespoon? Is she a guinea pig in disguise :laugh: Mine would leave home if I offered them a tablespoon breakfast/dinner and they weigh 2kgs Not a guinea pig -- she actually weighs between 6.4 and 6.7 kilos. I find with all the extra food (treats from training, chicken wings etc) she gets during the day, I've got her diet balanced nicely. If she hasn't had anything extra during the day I'll give her and Zeus tuna, mackerel or kangaroo mince mixed in too. I've tried giving her more than a tablespoon twice daily and she starts getting fat, so I don't really question the amount she's getting because it seems to work for her just fine. She's just weird like that :laugh:

For me, it'll be interesting to see how my current two dogs fair compared to my gorgeous Poochie. She got to over 16 being fed table scraps, left over roast lamb legs and never vaccinated or treated for heartworm. On the other hand, Zeus and Kirah are flea and all-wormed on a regular basis, are fed premium kibble, RMBs, tuna and mackerel and are taken to the vet for annual check-ups. I'll be very interested to see if what I'm currently doing for them is overkill.

It seems that most places in Australia source the ascophyllum nodosum (seaweed) powder for cosmetic purposes. I've just found a store in WA that sells 500g for $8: Aromatherapy Supplies -- they're all listed alphabetically so you need to scroll down to 'S' for Seaweed Powder. Here's a link to their PDF info about the powder stocked: Ascophyllum Nodosum PDF

Zeus has been on RC sensitive medium for coming up 4 years now and Kirah is on the equivalent for small dogs for nearly 2 years now. Both are fed it as their main diet and I've had no problems at all. Both are highly active, perfect weight, have nice firm poos and shiny coats. It's also very economical for me as Kirah only requires 1 tablespoon for breakfast and dinner. Zeus is on 1/4 cup twice daily so a 15 kilo bag will last over 6 months.