~*Shell*~

I know this is a sad topic but that made me laugh out loud! In a strange twist, my cat does that nearly every night and I haven't rehomed her...... yet. :D Ditto - I'm showing this to Mow. Little s*** has a habit of crawling under my doona and attacking my feet! Some of these responses are just so sad. I'm trying to help a friend rehome a dog at the moment (her reasons are heartbreaking and unavoidable) and she says she feel disgusted with herself about it. I can't imagine going to a rescue group or pound and saying "my dog doesn't match my new decor" or "my puppy is digging"

This is what came off Zero in a couple of minutes of grooming: He wasn't even in full coat blow. The backseat of my new car looks like something died in it thanks to Zero's hair and he's actually not losing much coat at all at the moment!

They don't bark huh? A friend has a cocker spaniel x miniature poodle which they rehomed because it wasn't getting the care it needed with them (my friend's mother has mental health problems and my friend is a first year out of uni special needs teacher who doesn't have the time to look after her mother's dog and run a household which includes her younger siblings) - it was returned to them because he barks constantly. I have given them all the advice I can but without some serious retraining (which my friend doesn't have time to do) I don't know if anything I can say will help.

I'm pretty sure it's a Maltese x toy or miniature poodle. That really sucks Bec! I hate it - I spent hours talking to one of the girls at work about not getting a "puggle", then she goes and has one conversation with some idiot who tells her that pugs eyes pop out of their sockets when you turn them upside down and suddenly she's back on the "puggle" wagon and can't be told that it just doesn't happen.

Stunning pic!! I love sibes too. He's pretty cute - that photo shows everything about him. He's calm but cheeky, very trainable when you know how to work with him (he was off leash and in a down stay in that photo) and conpletely gorgeous. Much better than those evil beagles huh Bec?

That's awesome! Zero has been diagnosed with HD and arthritus so he's pretty much been wiped out of traditional obedience trialling - too much sitting/dropping and getting back up for him not to be rewarded for it - but the time in the ring for rally seems to be a little less and I can verbally reward him so hopefully he'll be able to compete!

Just look at them! Sibes are gorgeous (especially my sibe!)! Shame about the shedding, the independence and their ability to make any human look like a complete and total idiot! :rolleyes: Seriously though, Sibes were the perfect breed for my circumstances when I got Z - I love that you have to think on your feet with them and think of new ways to deal with their quirks. When they cuddle, because it doesn't happen very often, it's really special and they're just so fun to be aorund. I think he has made me a better dog owner because he's not an easy or biddable dog. I really do have to think about ways to train him, keep him occupied and keep his brain active. He's a challenge!

I've had the "he/she's a purebred moodle/schnoodle/labradoodle" conversation many many times over the last 5 years. I'm so sick of it. My favourite was with a woman who thought that purebred dogs are what happened when you bred a poodle x maltese with another poodle x maltese because obviously that doesn't create more poodle x malteses, it breeds purebred "moodles". :rolleyes: It's sad that there are so many people out there who don't know - that woman got a bit of a lesson from me! ;)

I don't think I've taken it off manual for over a year - both my DSLR and my IXUS.

Lol - the fly on top looks happy

Zero is the king of stupid facial expressions! Not all that funny until you realise his eyes are looking in 2 different directions: More crazy eyes - this time during the dust storm in sydney And again: A call this one - "No Freakin' Way"

Welcome to the canon club! It's a bit overwhelming when you first bring the camera home but your photos are great and they're only going to get better!! Love your last 2 shots!

I got Zero at a time in my life where I needed something to keep me grounded. I will always be thankful that he showed me some things are infinitely more important than others, even if my friends didn't think so. We've been through a lot together but he's my heart dog and I wouldn't have him any other way. And just because Freo is playing in sydney today (and I'm going!), here's a photo of him in his team colours:

I saw that on ebay a couple of weeks ago! I was considering buying one for my coffee in the morning.

Not really! I got sick of trying to find clickers all over my house so we had the cupboard installed. Now I know where everything is.... except I still can't find a clicker when I want one because I never put them back in the tub after I've finished training! At least the rest of my dog stuff is organised. Maybe I could teach Zero to go and put the clicker back in the right box after we've finished our training session!

Top shelf (left to right): Lead and collar I use all the time (Ruthless Leather) In the tub underneath is other collar and leads. The black box under that are my wahl clippers (and spare poop bags in front of that ;) ) Next to that is Zero's walking/training stuff - doog walkie belt and treat bag Then the storage box with bits and pieces like my houndbag, water bottle, clickers, shampoo etc. And finally some stuff for the other animals - bird seed, shell grit, kitty litter tray liners and my biozet (for washing doggie things, especially anything that has been peed/thrown up on) Middle shelf: Treats in containers (in the back), bowls (in front) and Zero's artemis kibble Bottom Shelf: Zero's backpacks and harness + the grooming box. All up it looks like this: Works for me - the things I use the most (collar, leash, walkie belt, houndbag and treat pouch) are all easy to get to quickly. I looove having everything together too - I think I would go nuts without my cupboard now. ETA: I should add that this doesn't include Zero's toy box... and the fact that my car now has a drawer full of stuff for dogs in it too (spare collar and leash, poop bags, non-spill bowl etc) as well as his soft crate (folded down). He's pretty much everywhere. :D Oh and there's also a few things in our storage room like my forced air dryer, shampoos, hammock bed and his hard crate.

Zero is yet to get fleas so I've stopped giving him flea prevention unless it's in the summer months when he has advantix every couple of weeks. He also wears a tick collar during this time.

Zero's the same. Kitty Krunchies are a delicacy as far as Zero is concerned. :D

That's exactly it Jackie - I like Zero to be around other dogs because he needs that socialisation but I don't want him playing with strange dogs. I like to be able to predict what will happen (especially since he has had behavioural problems in the past) and I've found the only way I can do that is to limit who he plays with to "known" dogs. For example, I will let Zero play with the dogs at training. I know who he can approach and who he can't. He's still socialising but he's not about to get bitten. I also know that those dogs aren't carrying any health problems. I will let him play off leash at my friends' houses because I know their dogs and Zero's been around them many times before. You can have the friendliest dog in the world but it's always your own dog you have to worry about, it's everyone else's - there is no temprement test before you go into a dog park and who knows what behavioural problems those dogs have. Until I had a dog with a problem, I assumed that the dogs at dog parks were friendly, now I know that's not the case. On top of my friend's dog killing another dog, I've seen enough dog fights at parks not to be naive about some of the people who go there.

It's a pretty obvious one for me - off leash dog parks. I used to take my old dog to them frequently. She would go and play but was quite content to watch what we were doing and would stay near us so she would play and then come back to us and just chill out at our feet. I always thought I wanted Zero to be able to do the same. Now I know I will never let any of my dogs play with a dog I don't know well again. A girl i used to work with had a dog that had never caused a problem - Sam was a rescue they had had for 5 years, a big boofa of a boy who was fine with other dogs (even fine with Zero) until the day they took him to the dog park and let him wander too far. He was playing with a bunch of other big dogs and a 5 month old Maltese got in the middle. He grabbed the puppy (in play) and killed it. My friend was beside herself - she had been watching the whole time and was on the way down to call Sammy back but the owner of the puppy (who was 17) was on her phone and hadn't seen. Sam had just played with the puppy the same way as he played with the bigger dogs. It was horrible to watch and I'll never forget it. That being said, I do take Zero to the dog beach, he's too busy playing in the water to be interested in the other dogs though and we rarely have other dogs approach him.

I would love to know which lens you guys have - at the moment I'm looking at both the 100mm 2.8 and the 2.8L and I can't decide if I want to spend the extra money for the L series or if the non-L-series lens will work for me. Gah - so many lenses so little money!

Lol I have one like that too: This is gorgeous too! You can just see how much your family loves being together.

That's wonderful Josie!!! Here's hoping it's the start of a lot more!

Hahahaha - Zero does that too! He loves being hidden in the garden!

Yep - that would be mine! I put my camera back in my bag and when I picked it up, the strap was twisted. It did a full flip, the camera and other lenses stayed in the bag but the 50mm fell out, hit the concrete and broke into 2 pieces. It was only held together with 2 little plastic bits. The 1.4 just feels a lot sturdier which I need