~*Shell*~

There isn’t a official club in QLD but there is an active group of owners and a couple of breeders up there. You might like to join this Facebook group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/268684699887604 They do regular meet ups so you might be able to get to one and meet the breed

I have 2 Finnish Lapphunds and I don't think they would be appropriate for your needs if you don't want a dog that barks a lot. Lappies can be problem barkers and many people have them in bark collars all the time when they're outside. Barking is like their go-to when they're excited and little things can excite them. They are good with kids for the most part, but may decide that your cat needs chasing. My younger girl is 2.5 and she still loves trying to herd the cat. Grooming is an issue for them too - some lappies have much bigger coats than others, and particularly when desexed. They do look like cute teddy bears but they are a working dog and you have to keep that in mind.

I think it's less about "how many" and more about what you do with them :) I do a lot of sports with my dogs and I know that if I had more than a couple in training at once, I wouldn't have time to do the number of sports I do :) If I just did basic pet obedience and not so many sports, I could have more. I like being able to have a lot of one on one time with my two though :) I would happily get a third dog now that Zero is getting older and is pretty much retired from sports but I waited 2.5 years for Veikko so I think I will wait at least that long for the next puppy to come along :)

Zero: Back to health after his snake bite. If he never competes in anything again, I don't care. I just want him healthy again. Squiggle: I'd just love her to be happy working in the ring. The titles are just icing on the cake. Dumbbell retrieve perfected - we're so close!!! CCD title FD & FDX titles (not massive achievements - but timing wise, this isn't realistic until the end of the year) Compete in agility - hopefully JD title and I'd like to get her up and running in AD. RN title and a leg towards her RA.

With Veikko, I kept her at home for 4 weeks from the first day she was bleeding. While she was out of season 3 weeks later, I left her an extra week just to be on the safe side. On that 4th weekend, I gave her a post-season bath. :)

I had a guy at our club who had the same problem with a neighbour "hearing" their dog bark - he put his dog into boarding for a week, informed the council he was doing so and asked the neighbour to record how many times the dog barked - neighbour still said the dog barked constantly. The council officer then went and told the neighbour that the dog hadn't even been in the suburb when they were supposedly hearing the barking. The complaint stopped right then and there.

I planned Veikko for about 2.5 years. I spent some time researching the breed, learnt which type I preferred and then went looking for lines in Australia that I thought would have the looks and drive I wanted, then I approached a breeder. That was all about 2 years before Veikko was born. I'm already looking at my next addition to the family. I know what I want and I'm prepared to wait for as long as it takes to get it :)

Here is my little rising star, Veikko, aka Armahani Diamond Dansut (AI) at 7 months old: And stacked (excuse the grooming!):

Don't worry so much about the registration papers - ask the breeder if they've been sent off and if they haven't, don't stress too much. A lot of breeders can't send them off until the puppies are 8 weeks old, especially if the families are having input into the registered name. You have to send off microchip numbers with the litter registration now so if the breeder hasn't chosen which puppy is going to which home and those new homes are helping choose registered names then they won't be able to send them off until the homes each puppy is going to have been finalised. Veikko's litter registration wasn't able to be sent off until they were 8 weeks old because Armahani was deciding which puppy would suit which home best and we all had input into registered names. It took weeks for the registration to come through and then more for her to be transferred into Armahani and my joint number with DogsNSW. Very worth it in the end though :D

You might want to take HW's advice and make sure your friend has some "help" - brandy and valium are a start ;) I was sooooooo lucky with Veikko. She's been pretty easy but I've heard many many horror stories of puppies screaming all night on the first night. One of these is brilliant if yo can get it to the breeder beforehand: http://www.k9pro.com.au/products/Snuggle-Puppy.html I sent mine down to the breeder a week before i picked her up and Veikko and the boys slept with it so when i got her home, she had something warm that smelt like her mum and brothers (and uncle louis, who would have happily stolen the toy if he could have!)

Pedigree papers might not have come through yet Luke - Veikko's didn't until she was 13 weeks old. Breeders can't submit them until the puppy has been microchipped and DogsVic had a bit of a backlog when I got V :) Veikko came with a massive folder of stuff - it included everything you mentioned above but her pedigree certificate. Things I would want to know are what the litter was being fed on and what wormer the breeder used.

Mine are both mine :) Zero had a choice of 3 of us, but he's definitely a "me" dog. Veikko didn't really have a choice and I thought she was happy to be everyone's friend but i've realised lately how bonded to me she is.

I have 2 at the moment and for now, that's my limit. When Veikko is a little older, I'll think about a third. When Z retires from sports (probably in the next 18 months or so), then I would be able to deal with a fourth but I don't think it will happen. I'm not really interested in a fourth and I would like their ages to be better spaced than having three dogs under 3 years. I'd love another sibe but again, with Veikko's training. I'd like an even split so if i was to ever have 4 dogs, i think it would be two rescue sibes and two lappies :)

Does he heal completely between flare ups? Or are you still jumping him etc? Would it help to pull him for a while to strengthen the entire area and build up some really solid core strength and then go back to it and see if the injury happens again?

Hi all, As some of you will have heard, the decision was made in december for the ANKC to stop the Australian Flyball Association's affiliation. This means that as of the 1st of july, new flyball titles are no longer recognised by the ANKC, all because of an issue with the insurance the AFA hold (which is the same as the insurance the ANKC hold, supplied by the same company). Quite frankly, the entire thing is ridiculous and the reasons given for the ANKC to stop the affiliation are moot points, as the AFA already has policies and work-arounds in place to deal with it. We'd love your support if you have a moment to sign the petition and tell your state canine control body that you support flyball as a recognised sport. http://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/ankc-ltd-re-affiliate-with-the-the-australian-flyball-association Cheers!

Z had his hips/back xrayed about 18 months ago when he was 6.5 years old. Cost me $660 all up which included the blood panel, xrays, GA and fluids. Sounds expensive but so worth it! My old vet had misdiagnosed him but now he's on the right treatment and fighting fit!

Yes, there are some really good pet shops out there - ones that don't sell live animals. Any pet store that sells live animals is as evil as we make out because they cannot know all they need to know to make an informed decision about the homes those puppies are going to. Inappropriate home choices lead to problem behaviours and dogs ending up in pounds. Any breeder who would put the future home choice of any puppy they bred in the hands of shop assistants is irresponsible, unethical and quite frankly, an idiot. Individual breeds have individual needs. Individual lines within breeds have special needs. I'm yet to meet anyone who works in a pet shop who knows the needs of EVERY breed out there and knows the lines of every dog they sell so that they can choose an appropriate home.

No my siberian husky is not part wolf, yes he's a siberian husky, no he doesn't have blue eyes, no they don't all have blue eyes, no he won't attack your children, no he won't eat your small dog, yes he does shed a lot. Yes he is trainable. Yes my puppy is a finnish lapphund, no she's not a couch potato (she's a 20 week old working breed puppy!), no she doesn't get really hot with the coat, no I won't shave her.

Siberian huskies are not half wolf and they don't all have blue eyes. Yes, Veikko is a lappie, no, she is not a couch potato... she's 20 weeks old and a working breed, of course she has energy to burn.

Who would keep record of the times/points? There is no infrastructure set up for it except through the AFA. The controlling bodies aren't interested in doing it either and now that flyball isn't a recognised sport with the ANKC, they won't set it up because they have to adhere to the ruling. And that's great that you like that there are two kinds of agility.... alas there is only one kind of flyball. AFA sanctioned. And now that it's not recognised by the ANKC, we don't even have the option of 2. Flyball is a whole new territory as far as the way points and titles are awarded. Our last comp was 58 races... each with at least 8 dogs and as I was captaining that day and my team alone had 6 dogs, we're talking hundreds and hundreds of calculations that have to be done. It's not feasible to award certificates at the end of the day as they do in other sports. We don't have quallies, we have cumulative points like the show ring. But since our teams change heat-to-heat it's a massive effort to get points done, and not possible to get them done by the end of a comp. The state bodies benefit from memberships from people who only do flyball, people who are only members in order for their dogs to get titles. Many of these people started with flyball and now do multiple other sports with their dogs too, which the state bodies also benefit from. The ANKC benefits from those memberships as well as through flyball being an exciting spectator sport. Watch it at the royal. Aside from general specials at the royal, there is nothing that attracts a crowd like flyball and we attract that crowd all day, every day we're there. Zero is anything but a small, fast dog or a border collie and yet, we are welcomed to flyball and always have been. We have Poocow's aussie, flynn at our club too who has been welcomed. We train at fairfield. Zero is a 7.5-10 second dog depending on the weather - he's slow but he's reliable and is very well loved at our club. We do have a lot of border collies but no more than my obedience club does. Zero's team last comp was a siberian husky, a tibetan terrier, a small cross breed (apparently a calavier x toy poodle but we have our doubts - looks more like a mini daschund), a cattle dog and 2 older border collies (one who can barely see). Not exactly a team of fast or small dogs and not a team of super fast border collies. We are a division 5 team and we aren't at all competitive but we love our dogs and our sport and that's not what matters to us.

And no, while we probably don't "need" it, we certainly want it. A lot of people won't even consider trying a sport unless it will earn their dog a title. The AFA has seen a lot of growth since it's ANKC affiliation and it hasn't been one sided - many flyballers have become members of their state's controlling body for the sole purpose of having their dog's titles awarded. That's a lot of people who no longer have any reason to give their money to those controlling bodies, who already have dropping membership numbers. Look at the number of people who do AADA agility compared to ANKC. It's the same general idea - most dogs would be able to run at both kinds of agility because a lot of the exercises have already been taught. I've never seen an AADA comp as big as the ANKC ones I've seen. Now make that an entirely new thing you have to teach... without ANKC recognition, the numbers of people who will bother with flyball will drop.

Because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. A lot of the clubs are ANKC state body affiliated (for example, sutherland is affiliated with dogs NSW) but because flyball is no longer recognised, they can't hold an ANKC sanctioned flyball comp. They were never able to in the first place because of the way it was set up - was that a problem? No, because the AFA was there and as I said, it was working. I think a lot of people are forgetting that the ANKC allowed the affiliation of the AFA in the first place. If they wanted to control the organisation of flyball, they didn't have to allow that affiliation. For them to allow it, have nothing change in terms of the insurance and then blame that insurance for ending the affiliation makes no sense. It took 3 years of fighting for the AFA to become affiliated - surely that was enough time for the ANKC to see any potential problems? And if not, then that's a massive problem in itself. The agreement has been in place for years too. The great thing about flyball though is that we're already organised and if it took us 3 years to fight for affiliation, we will happily spend another 3 fighting for our sport to become re-recognised. Our sport is very different in that it requires a lot of post-event organisation. We don't get a certificate at the end of the day with the number of points our dogs received - it takes a lot of organisation to get the points sorted out. At our last comp, we ran 58 races.... 58 races, each with 8 dogs running. It's a lot of work to organise who got what. What other sport requires teams like that? Most dog sports are individual events, with the exception of agility's strategic pairs. But that's what makes our sport so great. Have you ever been to the royal and watched people watching the showring, obedience or agility? They might get into it a little bit. Now go to the flyball ring and watch people get revved up over dogs they don't even know. It doesn't even compare. The sad thing is that it would be a great branding exercise for the state's controlling body to put a logo somewhere on the field while so many people watch but they haven't done it - and now, they can't. They might not have a publicity team, but simple things like that to make people more brand aware might sway someone into looking them up and seeing what they do.

I am a flyballer and I am prepared to assist board members and get involved on the ANKC side of things. Where do I sign up? Wait. Dogs NSW won't even deal with me as a single flyballer. I get a standard, generic response that doesn't answer any of my queries. Dogs NSW has had my membership for two years without me entering a single thing but flyball. Now I enter more than that but up until Rally was introduced, my sole reason for membership with Dogs NSW was flyball. You can't tell me that Dogs NSW hasn't profited off people like me. You are talking about a sport we love and an organisation that up until now we have staunchly defended HW. Personally, I don't care if it's an ANKC or AFA sanctioned flyball comp - I am a member of both organisations and I will happily enter either one, but for that to happen, the ANKC would actually have to hold an event. As they don't seem to be prepared to do that, I will fight for the AFA's events to be recognised by the ANKC.

I am yet to hear ANY argument put forward by the ANKC that cannot be satisfied by using simple logic. And if the insurance hasn't changed since the original agreement and the insurance is the same as held by dogs nsw, how can there be a problem now? Besides, I can't actually approach the ANKC and ask them - they point me to my state body, who has put forward an argument about a scenario that cannot happen in the current circumstances, with no foreseeable change in the future.

Zero's FDCh is pending too It's not so much that I need to see the title - but I think he deserves the recognition for his achievements. I'll be writing to Dogs NSW tomorrow to try and find out the specifics of the inconsistency in their insurance and what criteria they don't believe the AFA is meeting. After reading the AFA minutes from the 2011 general meeting, I believe they have the coverage they need, though neither party is forthcoming with public information. In the mean time, I encourage everyone to hit the dogs NSW facebook page to voice any complaints or concerns. Look at what happened with the Gr Ch. title. Enough public pressure meant they had to change. I won't be going away quietly.