~*Shell*~

Oooo - I've been on the lookout for another couple of blankets for Z's crate so he can dig them out and bury himself in them. I'll have to go and grab him a couple tomorrow!

It's very difficult but at that point, there's really nothing you can do but point them in the right direction training and socialisation wise. I know a few people who have come and asked me for puppy-buying advice, only to end up with something really unsuitable that was the opposite of what I said. It's a shame really - i feel like I've wasted my time.

You say that like it hasn't happened before! Strangely enough you weren't the only one today! I left my camera in the car all day so didn't get any shots - Nik, those are great!!!!

Cut what food she gets in half - she's capable of living on it, but she will lose weight. If she is distressed by the lesser amount, pad it out with pumpkin. You can buy it in huge lots and it's a great way to fill up their tummies without the calories. When Z was losing weight, he was on 3/4 of a cup of light kibble. Even now he's only on a cup a day plus sardines or an egg or a chicken frame or something. ETA: He was 43kgs when I got him, he's now down to 28kgs - a lot better for a sibe!

Zero has hip problems and arthritis - he doesn't need to carry around any extra weight. In fact, we're trying to do the opposite. I would definitely recommend it as a backpack/harness though. The packs have skins in them for water so you can make them even on either side and get the dog to carry heaps of water with him

I'll be there at the same time as Nik - get her to give me a call and I'll make my way over to you guys.

Zero has a ruffwear palisades pack. I don't use the backpack side of it anymore but it's wonderfully made and I use the harness part of it (the packs unclip). Packs on: Packs off (harness):

Thanks I have a couple of photos that I've edited in both lightroom and photoshop if people want to see them but they generally take a long time to explain what I did. I'll have to go searching but I'll try and find the before shot that's just a raw conversion.

It's pretty heavily edited - I wanted it to look like it was shot in the jungle. - Increased saturation of just orange - increased saturation of just red - increased saturation overall - increased the blacks - upped the exposure (+1.05) - took down the exposure on the left side of the tiger's head by 0.4 - reduced the saturation of the blues - added a vignette which shows up a lot more than usual because of the high black levels I haven't touched it in photoshop yet but I will be leveling out the colour of the tiger's head (so it isn't lighter than the rest of the photo) and then probably doing some digital painting on it to make it look more like a painting rather than a photo but I don't know if i can be bothered with that!

Most dogs with longer coats have the rear gear built in. They have hair to cover it.

Or train them for that matter. Obviously Zero is not a sibe. Oh, and they're related to wolves. They'll turn on you and your kids.

The bull breed "lock jaw" myth! I hear it all the time - annoys the hell out of me.

I think it becomes a default action for them if they get excited. Their mind has a mini-explosion and it's what they do. You could try and break her out of the habit by redirecting her attention when she does it. Get some food and hold it under her nose so she follows it then ask her todo something like sit. Hopefully she'll make the connection between being excited and doing something other than humping. Zero started humping the on of the cushions the other night. Our house was filled with dogs and i was reving him up. I've only ever seen him hump his bedding once, when i put it back in his crate. He hasn't done it since but then he hasn't been excited when I've been moving his bedding since then. He is easy to redirect wth food - he'll come and do some great obedience work with me!

We did for a long time - we were told that we're not allowed to trap them, they destroyed the box we put up in the tree for them and they caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to our roof when they broke in searching for water (our house is very tall and if we need work done on the roof, we have to have scaffolding up all the way around the house making it very pricey) - it's sad but I've stopped trying. I tried to squash Zero's prey drive for a while - it just made him not want to be around me. If i see him chasing one around the backyard (he will sit under the tree, cry and try and jump at it), I'll call him into the house or put him in the garage until the possum is gone but he mostly nabs them in the middle of the night when we're all in bed. He refuses to settle inside so he sleeps outside (left over from his old owners i think) - it's no win for us!

Even then, if I meet Nik out somewhere and Jedi comes out of his crate when I turn up, he doesn't really say hi. He has the same kind of greeting Zero has where he'll stand back and wait. If you have food, that's another story but he's still very polite about getting it! If i turn up at Nik's place, I generally get a cuddle from Jedi and he will come to me but he usually waits until Soaks has had her turn and he's been sniffed by Zero (Z and Jed are bestest buddies but even then, they don't say huge hellos to eachother - they like to be with one another but don't play or anything)

Unfortunately the pet store in mac centre is one of the bad ones - when I walked in there a couple of years ago they were selling siberian huskies and malamutes at the time. Not only did I hear the girl tell the owner that both breeds "don't shed that much" but she also told them that "there's really no difference between the breeds, they're about the same size, it's just that some people in america didn't want to call them siberian" Needless to say she got an earful - I haven't been in there since.

Zero has grabbed a couple of possums in his time - he has never been sick from them. I always worm him and then fast him the next day (or at least reduce his meal) and give him a good grooming too. Your dog has probably just eaten a whole lot more than it usually would so that could cause the sleepiness but I'd keep an eye out to make sure. Definitely go over her with a comb and make sure she hasn't picked up a tick but other than that, there's not a huge amount you need to do. Any signs of problems, straight off to the vet.

a teddybear x cute? She looks a lot like the dogs we used to see running around on the farms in WA - they were a cross breed of everything you could get your hands on. They used to have that really long body on them, though I don't think they were quite as leggy as her. Whatever she is, she's gorgeous!

Terranik and I will be there in the morning with Zero and Jedi - our obedience club is having a stall.

From that photo, you'd think he was quite placid. You haven't lived till you've had Harry hit you at full pelt! He takes cuddles to the extreme!

When I used to compete we did fun things like egg and spoon races, reverse racing (see who could walk their horse the slowest while still moving) and flag races. If it was me, I would take the 100-400 but it is a lot of lens and you probably could get away with maximum 200 or 250mm.

It's been ages since we were all together! Zero was still fat - jed, soaks, boh, kivi and misty were all still puppies and penny was still with corvus Lestat was still just chillin' but 2 years younger and magnus has filled out a lot since then So many of the dogs weren't even born then! When's the spitz specialty on? Have i just been in the dark and missed it? It was a great day the last time! I must admit that with the lappies vs sammies I've met, the lappies do like to cuddle (Magnus has come over and climbed into my lap for a cuddle without me trying to get him there a few times) but the sammies have been smoochier. When we went away with my friend's old sammy, she was constantly following people around trying to wrangle a cuddle from them. I wouldn't call Terranik's Ahsoka particularly cuddly, but then again, she's an "extreme" lappy - there's always something more exciting for her (like a leaf, a bird, a tree, zoomies, Zero, food etc) than a cuddle when I'm around, though she does check in a lot for a quick pat before she's off again. I would ask Snofyre as well - she'll be a wealth of knowledge. ;)

I vote for one of each I would start emailing some breeders and see if you can go and meet some dogs. There are plenty of people around who would be more than happy to introduce you to their dogs and unless you want it right now, you could go and meet with some breeders who maybe don't have puppies on the ground at the moment. That would definitely take some of that pressure off. I'm sure othe people in the spitz thread would be more than happy to introduce you to come young keesies, lappies and sammies so you could see what you would be getting yourself in for - you know how much we like to talk about our fluffies. You can pretty much guarantee that if you get another spitz, it'll be quite energetic and very cheeky. It's the price you pay for the beautiful looks. Which state are you in?

Damn - wish I was in Melbourne!

I love Ned!! When I was looking to buy Zero a hard crate, they put Ned in it to show me how big it was. Zero was very interested in the crate when I got it home I also love petbarn in castle hill and in northmead/north parramatta - the girls in there are always lovely when I bring Zero into the store. They remember him by name in both stores and usually call the other staff over to show them the tricks he can do. Naturally, Zero knows where the treats are kept!