~*Shell*~

Personally I would take the treat (depending on what it is) - pigs ears are always good and are something that Zero would love to win!

Beautiful shots AM! I'm thinking of heading to centennial park this weekend to get some shots of the animals. I'll be trying my first proper panning shots on my lunch break today so hopefully I'll have something good to show tonight!

*sigh* It's gone down in price recently - I bought mine about 10 months ago and it cost $1500 for the twin lens kit. I've used it nearly everyday and gone through all the settings and now I'm wishing I'd got the 40d or 50d! It's a great little camera for the price of it, and the lenses are really versatile.

Great shots everyone! This challenge has already proved to be a danger to my camera equipment - I bought my camera into work today so I could take some shots and lunch. I had just taken a few shots with my 55-250mm lens (The cutest possum ever had just it's head and front feet poking out of a hollow in a tree), went to pick up my camera bag and in my infinate clumsiness tipped it over, dropping my 50mm on to the footpath. Needless to say, I won't be taking any more shots with it. RIP 50mm 1.8 - I hope your replacement will be a little bit more hardy than you. On the plus side, it's an excuse to get a new lens! :D

It's so hard at the moment because I leave for work early and get home after dark - I'll have to go out on my lunch break and give it a go. I tried getting some shots today but they all suck - nothing even worth posting. I'm going to try and get down to the waterfall in the nature sanctuary tomorrow afternoon if i finish work in time so i'll see how I go then.

I suck at capturing frozen movement - I can never get a good shot of Zero running! He's not the type to do zoomies a lot so I don't have a lot of opportunity to practice!

I've got a few photos from the day too. I'll have to have a play with the ones of dogs and handlers in the ring (I was using the wrong lens because I'm lazy) but I did get some good portraits of a few of the dogs:

Mine for today - not part of the challenge but i want to have a couple of days of trying to capture movement before I move onto the panning etc shots: My gorgeous niece, Rachel

Whoot! I'm so excited about the movement challenge. I suck at shots where the subject is moving!

I know the feeling! Look at the one of Zero looking up at me. Where was that focus in the ring?

Thanks again Heather! So much for Zero going home and going straight to sleep - he was full of beans and went to get his dumbbell so we could do some training when we got home! He trained without any food in my hand too... only about 6 hours too late! I have some photos so I'll upload them asap.

Thanks Midol! Who says you can't teach a sibe a recall huh?

Hey Midol, Just a quick question - you use the e-collar with the idea that it's not a punishment right? You're giving the dog the power to turn it off by complying with the command rather than using the stim when the dog does not do what you want? Do you find the the dog recalls without a stim too or is that something you have to have to go very slowly with? I haven't seen one used before so i'm interested to see how they're used as a training tool. How do you actually teach a command? Do you use reward based training and then make the dog reliable with the e-collar? Too many questions!

Great shots! You all look like you had a great time! I'm so excited about this weekend - Zero was an angel at obedience this week so I'm sure he'll be a devil on the weekend but it definitely looks like fun!

I'll be there with Zero Amadeus - living proof that sibes are trainable.... sometimes ;) Do you all mind if i crack out the camera and get some shots on sunday? I'd love to be able to show some of my friends the difference between formal obedience and rally o!

How far away are we talking angelsun? Zero and I are signed up for the sutherland seminar and I don't know if he's ever heard an accent before.... you better tell us just so i can prepare him.

I'd suggest starting off with picasa and then moving up as your skill level grows. I started with a free program, moved to paintshop pro and now i use a combination of paintshop pro, photoshop cs3 and lightroom. I'm glad i didn't start with them though - i'd have no idea!

Hmmm - Kurrajong heights is out past windsor (think blue mountains) but it's not to far a drive for anyone in sydney I wouldn't think. The distance is pretty big, but you don't usually have to deal with traffic unless there's an accident so it's not a hard drive and it doesn't take long. Maybe shoot an email off to Steve and ask him about it. I'm sure he'd be able to tell you what they have to do. As far as behaviourists go, Steve was the only one that was recommended to me in Sydney (lots of people saying they're behaviourists when they're just trainers and a lot of the time, not very good ones!) and after the success we've had, I'd recommend him to anyone!

Steve at K9force! He's located out at Kurrajong heights but he worked miracles with Zero and I. Well worth making the trip up to see him. Website here: http://www.k9force.net/ - and he's a DOLer too!

Ha! i only just saw that this morning when I was looking for pictures of Junior for a thread in BSL. How exciting that he's doing Australian eps! *runs off to call the bio channel*

I think he has a very valid point. I see it in the same way as me telling people the bad side of sibes. yes, they're beautiful, yes, they're great dogs but they're a massive handful and can be very dangerous in the wrong hands. ETA: Another Daddy fan here! Have you all seen the photos of the new Daddy in training, Junior? Junior and Daddy: And growing up:

Sending good vibes for a quick recovery!

He's not showing any outward symptoms Neatz - he's completely normal aside from what the vet said. I'm not sure if i was overreacting to him not wanting his legs pulled (it's very possible that's what it might be) or if he really does have a problem but I'll add some supplements to his diet until i have him looked at.

Two and a half years ago I adopted a dog who had a lot of problems, behavioural, mental and physical after being badly abused by his old owners. We managed to sort out the mental and behavioural problems and get his weight down from 43kgs to about 30 (he could still stand to lose a couple more) and he didn't seem to have any residual problems. He's bouncy, happy and doesn't act his age. However, this week i came home to find him crying and even a vet examination couldn't find out where on his body he'd injured. She checked everywhere and we think it's his neck (he's injured it before so it could be an old injury playing up) - I'm taking him out to the chiro to try and help that but during her examination she also found that he doesn't like it when she pulls back on his hips. Without x-rays, she couldn't tell me if he has hip problems (i'll have the x-rays done in the next couple of months) or if he just didn't like her examining him but I want to be prepared just in case. Is there anything I can put in his diet now that would help to protect his joint from further damage? He gets oily fish a couple of times a week on top of his diet of artemis and RMBs - what else can I add?