~*Shell*~

Love it! Buddy is lucky to have you (and I'm guessing you're lucky to have him too!) Terranik made a video like this for Zero and I recently - it still makes me cry when I watch it.

Zero just passed his delta therapy dog qualification. We're just waiting on delta to get back to us about our placement.

Lol - for the all of 5 minutes it took me to put it together

What?! It's not my fault - you're a great demo dog...er.... human! People need to be edumacated in how to talk to their dogs! The funniest thing is hearing them try to mimic me! Especially the big macho guys with their big macho dogs!

Lol Terranik laughs at me using my "silly voice" at training all the time. It's not a normal day unless someone is laughing at me for talking to Zero like i'm completely bonkers!

I still just want to smoosh her with cuddles Nik!! She's gorgeous - Zero looks good next to lappie pups

Big healing husky hugs from Zero and I Jed. I hope it's onwards and upwards from here.

Zero is on artemis and he's never looked better. Unfortunately he's only on the healthy weight management variety because he packs on the weight if he's not but I'm more than happy with his diet and he is too!

Zero loves going to your place Nik. Jedi, Soakie, Fable, the occasional overnight guest, it's always exciting at Nik's place!!

I have a sibe - sick of people telling me you can't do anything with them, they're untrainable apparently. If I hear one more person who says "I wanted to do obedience/agility with my dog but my partner wanted a husky so we got one and now I can't" I will scream. I've seen sibes in obedience, agility, flyball and in the show ring - Zero's a qualified therapy dog so there's nothing you can't do with them if you can find what motivates them. ETA: The working line sibes tend to be smaller and leggier too - show line sibes tend to look stockier to me. Oh, and that sibes are related to wolves. Apparently they'll "turn on you without warning"

I agree! If you have the time TLC, have you thought about getting him tested? Zero just got his therapy dog qualification - Cooper looks like a natural! Great shots!

Number One: Early socialisation - I have a dog who wasn't socialised and it's been a fight trying to get him used to everything. Now he's pretty good with most things and will let me do just about anything to him. Number Two: Attention/Focus on handler. Everything else comes with attention. Z is reliable off leash because he watches me constantly. He might not repsond to a drop or a sit when i give the command but I can pretty much guarantee that if I've got his attention, he's under control and he's coming back to me. It has been just about the hardest thing to teach but has been a welcome by-product of having to socialise Zero at 2 years old.

Lol - i bought my mother and step father one each last year. I'm the snuggie instigator in my family

Ashanali, I can't believe you're married to a man who would wear a snuggie!!! Red is just gorgeous! I would love to meet him one day - and Ralph too!

More like, the people in the programming department at channel 10 who deal with forum feedback are out of the office for the weekend and haven't seen it yet. They would have a webmaster to deal with complaints about abusive content over the weekend but not one who will actually take your feedback on board. I don't know how they're set up at 10 (I have never worked for any of the free-to-air networks) but if they're set up anything like us, they may not even see the post. I'm sorry to say but they probably won't inform the 'vet' that people have spoken out against him. If you want a response, email channel 10. What bigheartfordogz says is true, they may have just got him in for a shoot. That being said, we've had plenty of times when our on-air talent has refused to do things for different reasons (mostly when we're asking them to do something silly) and one would assume that a vet would know better.

Zero took to it without a problem at 3 years old - he sleeps in his crate every night now. If she's used to sleeping in a kennel, she may go looking for a nice place to curl up in and a crate would be perfect for that! Plenty of nice blankets and maybe some toys in there and you shouldn't have a problem.

What to expect is for you to realise how little you actually know about 5 minutes into your consult I only saw a behaviourist once - that's all it took. Steve (k9 pro) was on email every week giving me tips and updating the program we were getting maximum results. I saw Steve for Zero's dog aggression (among other things) and he's been great. I can't say enough good things about him! Make sure that you follow through on your program. Plenty of people run into problems or don't get results because they don't commit to it.

I see your list and I raise you: Finnish Lapphund, Chinese Crested (hairless), Samoyed, French Bulldog, greyhound, keeshond and saluki. My grandfather bred Afghans - I don't think I could deal with the coat! His were always getting knotted when he took them out in the paddocks for a run.

Z has banana as a training treat occassionally - he loves it and has never have a problem. Apple is the same, though I never give him the core. The seeds contain toxins and while i've never heard of a dog having a problem with them first hand, i wouldn't take the risk.

I don't feed dog rolls for several reasons - the majority of them are cooked (cooking removes nutrients), they're generally high fat, high salt and made from poor quality ingredients - some contain artificial colouring, flavouring and preservatives. I would rather make my own food to feed and know what goes into it. Zero is on grain free kibble, raw vegies, yoghurt, eggs, oily fish, chicken frames and raw, meaty bones. He looks (and smells) good for it. That being said, if it's the food your dog does best on, then it's fine - Z can't eat anything that's processed like that because he's intolerant to some artificial ingredients and gets sick.

I'm sorry for your loss Rysup. Run free Lexie

I walked into a pound on PTS day. Zero had 4 hours to live. Narrowed down the shortlist pretty quickly I looked for a sibe though - i met a bunch of them, loved that i had to think on my feet around them and loved that they wouldn't do anything without a damn good reason to. I think you just neeed to look at what you want in a dog, what your circumstances are and then go and meet quite a few of them so you can see what you might end up with. A couple of friends have labs, Jude is insane, hyperactive and bouncy, Roxy is quiet, calm and always keeps all 4 paws on the ground. 2 completely opposite dogs from the one breed.

I think I'm about 9 weeks behind. I haven't had time to edit anything I've taken in that whole time! Good thing I'm on holidays - photography here I come.

I wish I was closer! They're all gorgeous dogs!

I used to get that all the time - kids running towards Z yelling "snow dog!" My tactic used to be to tell the kids to stop and approach slowly because he was in training. Still anoyed the heck out of me though. He's a big dog, who knows what would happen if the kids did the same thing to a dog who wasn't zero.