~*Shell*~

How about 2? One for you and one for me?

I don't know of any in the country but aren't they gorgeous? I was eyeing them off when I was looking at spitz breeds one night. Kind of like an agouti siberian but the build of a shiba inu.

Nope - he was an exchange student I went to uni with. I wasn't close with him at all - he once asked me about my animals and I laughed and told him all I needed now to complete the menagerie was a llama or a kitten. The card mentioned something about the llama so I assume it was him. Noone else I know would be that stupid. I never saw or spoke to him again after he gave me Mow - I have no contact details for him (i didn't even have a phone number for him) and he's not on anything like facebook. He just dropped him off on my doorstep when I was in class. I don't even know how he got my address.

Same here. I refuse to give them a cent. Ditto. Here's why: My cockatiel Lucius is from pet's paradise. When I was in high school, my friend worked in the local PP and kept telling me about this bird. He had his wing clipped, was kept on one of those open perches and constantly had people poking him and trying to pat him. He became completely hand shy and one day while I was walking past PP when he jumped off the perch, trying to fly away from a child who was annoying him and hit the floor face first. He had a bloody nose and was obviously dazed so I picked him up and put him in a cage. My friend told me that he was about to be "let go" because they couldn't sell him. He was over a year old (he'd been in the store for a year) and lived in the PP store for nearly that entire time. The day my friend was supposed to let him go, she gave him to me. He's still hand shy and hates everyone but me. PP completely ruined him. If he acted the way he is with me with everyone else, he'd be the perfect pet. Fast forward 2 years and I got Remy. Same story as Lucius but he was moved from PP store to PP store (he ended up in the same PP store as Lucius) and my friend brought him to me when her manager told her to take him out to the carpark and let him go - he's now nearly 6 and he is so strange. He's kind of neurotic. I've never met a bird like him. Strange things frighten him, he randomly attacks the air around him when nothing has changed or moved, he will walk up to Lucius when he's sleeping and jump on him, he adores rope swings and perches but won't jump on a normal stick. 2 months before my 21st birthday, a kitten landed on my doorstep in a cat carrier with a birthday card attached. He was a suprise present for my birthday. I have a siberian husky who likes to try and eat cats. I had never wanted a cat and suddenly I had one. Mow was very sick, he had fleas, worms and was insanely thin. A week or so later we got a phone call from a vet - he was overdue for his vaccinations. I found out he was a lot older than he looked - the vet had given him his first injection at 6 weeks and he had only gained like 200grams in 6 weeks - at that age he should have been gaining 150grams a week. The person who bought him for me was able to walk into a store without my knowing, put my details on his microchip without knowing if I even wanted a cat or could care for one, and noone at the store bothered to check. The reason he was thin and sick was because the pet shop didn't give him the care he needed. I would never EVER give my money to a store like that and the sad thing is that the vast majority of pet stores that sell animals don't care about their welfare. It makes me sick to think of what my gorgeous boys went through and I could hurt the people who did that to them. Luckily both of those stores have shut down but one of them has been replaced by another store that sells a lot of designer mutts.

Those savage greyhounds!! Can't trust them around small animals - leave them alone for 2 seconds and come back to find them spooning the cat!

Yep! Definitely got one of those here! Great shots!

I don't have a collar on Zero when I'm not at home. I doesn't do anything other than sleep during the day anyway but I worry about him getting it caught. Zero is another dog that has 2 microchips. The one that was implanted first is now in his back leg and is often missed by the scanner so I had another one put in. It seems to have stayed put between his shoulder blades now though he is a lot thinner and well muscled than he was when I got him so I wonder if that's what's held it in place!

Love love love this! I need new lenses

I really can't get my head around HDR - I understand the concept and love the results but I haven't put it into practice yet. I might have to have a go in the next couple of months. I like the re-edit Josie. The very dark blue is still drawing my attention but it's not as pronounced as before.

That's horrible - how can the groomers not realise?!? what makes it worse is that the first grooming session should always be a positive experience. Hope they go out of business.

Lol - even seals can photobomb. We had this sent around at work with a photo taken at out christmas party. A bunch of people were dancing in the background and there's one of the guys' head in the bottom corner, pulling the exact same face as the seal.

I love your other shots Josie but I'm trying to put my finger on what about this photo doesn't work for me. I think maybe the contrast between the clouds and the blue of the sky is too dramatic? Like the blue levels have been cranked up too high. The other landscape is better for me but still the blues are very blue, especially around the cloud where the blue becomes darker. You are rocking that macro though. I love the rose with the three thorns.

I think the entire dominance theory comes down to your definition of the word and the way you interpret a behaviour. As McConnell says, once you use the word dominance, all other aspects of personality, context and complexity of social interaction seem to fly out the window because this is the way it is used by the general public - it now has a certain stigma attached to it. To me, the idea of dominance (as I see it) is relevant however I don't think it's as simple as "my dog is dominant" or "my dog is submissive" which is what happens when you talk to some trainers (though I must admit I don't see those on this forum). I don't think those two camps will ever come together and agree on one explanation. To me, it is one aspect of their social interaction, not the entire basis of social interation. Some of the behaviours my dog exhibits are "dominant" gestures and some aren't, they're based on his personality, breed, context, learned behaviours, genetics and social interaction. What one person would see as dominant, I would see as insecure. Like staranais said, some people see everything as dominance - others don't believe in it at all. I'm somewhere in the middle. Seriously, I don't think changing the word we use will help - people will always have different ideas about whatever word you use and it's interpretation. Semiology teaches us that. You can pretty much guarantee that someone "famous" (or several people) will get hold of the word and teach it to people who will take it for it's simplest or most obvious definition and will misunderstand it. I think a lot of the reason the general public has taken this idea and run with it is because it tell the owner that "no, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that you have a dominant dog." Simple changes to certain routines often have a big effect too. It's not that the dog is dominant or not, it's just that the dog finds something else rewarding (like sitting and waiting before they are allowed to eat - jumping on their owner with the dog's bowl in their hand is not rewarding anymore because it gets the dog nowhere) and will exhibit a learned behaviour to get that reward. If a trainer says to the owner "the dog is doing that because he respects you as a leader now" the idea that every bad behaviour comes down to dominance idea is reinforced to that owner.

They're interesting - I haven't used Zero's prong collar in months and months. He does everything on a flat collar now (an awesome Ruthless Leather design!) and he acts no different with his prong than he does with his flat collar. He's got a huge ruff though so I've only every had one person notice that he was wearing something unusual (at one of the first dog shows he went to when we were getting him used to having a lot of dogs around) - when i explained to her the reason behind it, she was suprised she'd never heard of it.

Here's the Amstaff thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=75473 Lots of people in there will be around to answer your questions. And the Amstaff breed 101 thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=173200 The main questions you have to ask yourself are these: Is he ANKC registered? Is he on the main register? If you answered no to one or both of them, the simple answer is you shouldn't breed from your dog. There are a lot of amstaffs out there (285 alone listed on Dogzonline) and you're not doing your boy a favour by trying to stud him out if he hasn't got the pedigree to back him up. The best advertisement for him is to put him in the show ring or do another dog sport with him. I have rarely seen people use a dog/bitch for a mating that hasn't at least made an appearance in the ring. If he is worth breeding from, someone will ask you if they can use him for a litter. ETA: Showdog's advice is fantastic - a wealth of knowledge.

Thank you for your lovely comments ZZ... the cobwebs are just beaded on a material overlay... it's from Dress of Your Dreams I have the Guinevere dress - I didn't actually buy it from them though! Lots of copy-cats out there!!!

http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/2...p-introduction/ This explains it pretty well.

They're awesome Bren!! That last one of Abby is fantastic! I can't believe how horizontal she gets when she's on the box.

I don't know the entire reason behind it but some dogs seem to be okay and others react to only a slight amount of it. Zero scarfed down 3/4 of a block one night that my step father left on a table when I was sick and in bed - he was completely fine. Not even an upset stomach (and since he slept on my bed that night, I would have known if he had been having problems!). That being said, I know a dog who had 2 pieces she stole off one of my friend's children. Moira started fitting and was at the vet for nearly a week (the vomiting caused her to become dehydrated which led to other problems). Zero weighs in at about 26.5kgs and Moira is only little (an Aussie Terrier) so that probably helped in Zero's case!

I love my DC23 motorhead. If it can get sibe and cat hair out of the carpet, it can do anything!

I must admit, my first thought would be that the guy was dodgy. Just the terminology he used would be enough to make me think that - and the way in which it was done. I mean, a condom? Seriously? I know a lot of people who have worked in boarding kennels and the majority know less about dog health than I do. It would definitely not be my first stop when it comes to finding help with an AI - i would have asked my vet or breeder friends to help me there. If that wasn't possible, I would have tried to get hold of a stud master. Who knows - he could be legit but somehow I don't think so.

I just used vinegar on ours when it used to get marked. Then I sprayed a little citronella on it to stop the cat from wanting to re-mark it, though I've heard lemon juice works too. He never came back after I sprayed it!

13/52 - On the hunt for bees....

Lestat (pictured above) is my idea of how a lab should look weight-wise. He's food obsessed but he and Zero are about the same in that regard - they even give me the same "puhleease?" look when I have food near them!

I was like "I know someone with that username!!" Awesome photos Bren! Where are the Abby shots?!?