Zenith

lol I will be taking an enormous amount of photos!!!! Already have some ideas :) Oh wow - difficult with him getting a one week advantage. Unfortunately both Hubby and I will work crazy hours right up until Christmas but I will mainly be working from home, so he won't get as much time with the pup as me. Hopefully though I will have shaped a few of the behaviours I'm aiming for with the puppy, and can get hubby to follow the rules and not do things like sneak the puppy out of its pen onto the lounge for cuddles! Its training hubby that's the problem for me :)

Flight confirmed :) He arrives in Sydney at 11:25 :) So they said to arrive just after that :) Got most things ready now - just got to pick up some turkey & chicken mince tomorrow and put it in puppy size portions in the freezer, and then will grab another pen to go off his crate inside, on my way to the airport. Anything else I can just grab down the track - I have most things I think. Lol originally hubby was going to buy him for my joint B'day & Christmas present - but considering all the dogs are our dogs, I didn't think that was very fair :laugh:

Oh Wow he's gorgeous :) Looks like our boy will be flying to Sydney on Friday :) Just waiting for flight confirmation, but getting very exciting :)

Very exciting RJ :) Sorry to hear about your sad loss I was also shocked at how quickly my husbands mind changed about getting a new addition. He was dead set against getting another dog as he didn't feel ready, so we were going to look later down the track. Then after a friend dropped in with her dogs, one being a GSP, he decided he can't be without a GSP so he asked me to start looking for suitable dogs :) Now he's crazy excited and can't stop talking about the new addition.

Its is !! but I can't get too excited for quite a few weeks yet in case I don't get one. Not sure how many others on waiting list also and theres only 4 puppies and then the breeder will want one too! The waiting is unbearable lol Of the colour type I want, there is only 2, one is a boy and one is a girl. We are not fussed either way and have never put in a preference to the breeder to which sex we would prefer. Deep down I would really love a girl, because we are not sure how much longer we will have Renae (and also girl dogs are more fun to dress up lol) but then the breeder if she chooses that particular colour, will most probably keep the girl im assuming. We have said all along this has all come about because of fate, so we leaving it up the Universe to decide it we are meant to get one, and whatever sex it is, either way we will be very happy! :D In your case where you have been given a choice to choose, it must be very hard, but the right one will pick you as they say It is a big decision ! :) Must be exciting getting the house organise for his arrival ! I cant even do that yet. Way too early . Naming them would be the fun part ! Ive never named any of my dogs (except for one), as they have all been older and i have prefered to keep the same names they have been used too. The only dog I ever renamed (he was a younger dog) was because the original owner was a nasty person, and named him Killer. I changed it to Sabre :) I'll keep checking in here from time to time for updates :D Fingers crossed for you :) Yes its been a while since I've had to name a puppy as well, I always consider it so carefully and then they end up with so many nicknames anyway that they are barely referred to by their 'real' name :) Some of our friends thought we had a lot more than 4 dogs because we refer to them by different names in conversation!

How exciting Jules :) Are you planning on a boy or girl? We got to choose this week as to which one we wanted out of the suitable boys in the litter - even narrowing it down to 2 puppies made it difficult, although we aren't fussed on colour/markings and we aren't going to show this pup, they are all so lovely it's such a big decision. We thought we were prepared, but I think we will do a final sweep of the house, and I'm going to get a larger puppy pen to run off his crate inside as the one we have is for a tiny little terrier. I guess we can sort out anything else we've forgotten once he arrives. Then its name choosing time :) We've got a list of favourites, but will make the final decision when we've spent more time with him.

What gorgeous puppies :) :) :) We will be getting our new GSP puppy next week! Its been 8 years since we last had a puppy, the rest since have been rescues or young adults from a breeder, so trying to prepare ourselves for him as best we can :)

Akita: Kyojin American Staffordshire Terrier: Tua, Max Australian Shepherd: Banjo Belgian Shepherd (Groenendael): Fleming Border Collie: Roy, Molly, Harley Bull Terrier: Bonnerville Cane Corso: Ali Cavalier King Charles Spaniel: Bree, Ingrid, Jersey, Lacey, Fern, Floyd, Indy, Arnie Chihuahua: Chelsea and Pansy, Heidi, Bertie, Moose, Archi,Pepe, Dally:Appollo Finnish Lapphund: Halo, Vienna, Jaana,Magnus,Aurora-Rose,Niina,Paddington,Maximus French Bulldog: Lola English Setter: Spartan, James German Coolie: FlashBazil, Latte German Shepherd: Java, Odin, Tlaloc German Shorthaired Pointer: Pip, Coco, Polo, Cash Golden Retriever: Onslow, Matilda-Rose, Chester Great Dane: Sparkles Griffon Bruxellois: Mocha Hungarian Vizsla: Flynn, Rogan Labrador Retriever: Lestat, Bailey, Tia, Mieka, James Papillon: Blaze, Minka, Portia, Tyson, Coco Pointer : Kite Audrey Poppin konrad Pug: Lotus Rottweiler: Roxy, Feonix, Radar, Neo, Abby Samoyed: Mistral, Alchemy, Yngvie, Dante, Bundy, Kamikaze, Fergus, Kato Siberian Husky: Akira, Tikaani,Romeo,Baby.Riddick Staffordshire Bull Terrier: Kiara SWF: Zoe Rescue Bitsa: Keely, Fred & Ginger, Ozzie, Tess, Maverick, Bosco, Kyah, Madison, Poppie White Swiss Shepherd: Rakim, Whippet: Herbie Weimaraner: Ariane, Lulu, Louie

RIP Brock - sending loads of hugs Jules

Thanks Fru Fru - atm when we are out (if its good weather) they are either all out together or the two little ones in, and the two bigger ones out (as Cash can't really be trusted loose in the house as yet as he's very keen on redecorating as young GSP's do). Will have to think a little harder about some options I think as to separating them! Wow that must be scary with him having had seizures out on a walk, poor you and poor Acey. I've done a bit more searching on DOL and google and come up with an old thread which has some links - one of which has been particularly great with info www.canine-epilepsy.com

Thanks again! Its awful to watch isn't it WSM? Re the crate, I was more thinking for protection during the seizure, as this seizure was between the wall and my bed (where he sleeps), and my bed hasn't got a solid base so he ended up kind of wedged under it - so I picked the bed up and moved it as much as I could during the seizure. I guess I could always open the door after a seizure and get out of the room so he can come out of it at his own pace. Thanks Fru Fru - thanks for sharing about your boy, was he just yarded on his own? I'm not sure Cash would cope on his own, when we first got him he had a covered run built into our yard but he just paced, so we left him in the yard with the other dogs. Will have to have a good think about it.

Thanks so much for sharing your experience and thoughts I feel a lot better knowing that people are able to manage, and if they go on meds its more a matter of getting the dose right. I'd prefer to keep him off anything if he's not having the seizures too regularly, especially being so young. I appreciate you all sharing your stories, and glad to hear your dogs have done well with treatment if any, and lived happy long lives. I didn't sleep very well last night, I kept waking every time he moved (he sleeps next to me on his bed on the floor), but he's doing really well. I was like that with my old boy as well, it would take a few nights seizure free to start sleeping again. White Shepard Mom, you touched on another question I was going to ask - how do your other dogs react when your dog is having a seizure? Mine all bark, until I put them in another room or outside, but I do worry what will happen if they turn on him during a seizure as he is very vocal during it. We are thinking about buying an airline crate and putting it next to my bed (we have a wire crate for him in the loungeroom but I get sick of taking it into our room every night), so at least he's safe if he has another seizure when he wakes up. Although that won't change anything if he has one during the day when we are at work. Thanks again

Thanks for your reply and sharing your experience Jigsaw

Looking for some experience with seizures/epilepsy and the treatment of them. This morning my 17th month old GSP had a grand mal seizure when he woke up - it lasted about a minute, followed by about 5 minutes of startled behaviour and pacing where he was scared of me, barking at me (so I observed him post seizure through the window as he wasn't happy with me in the room with him), dilated pupils etc, then he was back to his cuddly self and had about 40 mins sleep. We woke up active and bouncy as normal. He had a very short grand mal seizure at home with my husband in February (we got him in Jan and he'd not had one at the breeders), but otherwise his health and fitness is great, so vet thinks we may be looking at epilepsy. Vets have run bloods, and we've discussed the possibility of CT scans, further bloods etc and maybe starting him on Phenobarbital if he has more - also depending on the results of the bloods/tests to rule out other possibilities. The only experience I've had with canine seizures was my last GSP who began having seizures at 13 (grand mal as well), and despite treatment with Phenobarbital and cortisone they became very frequent and in clusters until we made the decision for him to cross the bridge Vets assumed he had a brain tumour, although we decided not to put him through the CT scans etc at his age - he also showed a rapid decline in liver function so they thought he may have a few fast growing lesions in his brain & liver. My boy is very active and he runs next to the bike with me 5-15kms every day, and we do lots of other activities and training. I'm not sure how the meds (if vets think epilepsy and medicate) will affect his energy levels, and I guess the fear/aggression after the seizure when he's not with it is a little worrying if we are out in public I'm wondering what experience people have with their dogs and epilepsy, how it affects your life and what you do with your dog (if anything), how the meds affect your dog, does it change their activity/energy level etc? I'm pretty overwhelmed with the whole thing at the moment, so awful watching them fit, and emotional after my experience with my last boy. Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated

All going well with training here, still riding every day, although had to don some snowboarding gear the other morning as it was 0 degrees when we went for our morning ride. Not that Cash cares about the cold, he just motors on no matter what.

Huge congrats on finishing the ET

Goodluck to all of those doing their ET's We are having lots of fun riding everyday, doing between 5 and 13.5 kms everyday, might try a longer ride of 15kms on the weekend depending on how Cash goes.

Sounds like everyones doing really well We've had a good week, been very cold of a morning we've had a good frost most mornings, but rugging up in my snowboarding gear and beanie has helped, although I shed a layer after a few laps! We've done between 3.5 and 7 kms every day this week at home, and will do a 13.5 km ride tomorrow morning at the bike track, and depending on how he feels, 3.5 or 5kms on Sunday at home. Cash is getting very fit, after our ride we do another 30 mins of free running and some fetch, general obedience and recall stuff, and he's still ready to go. We do another 30 minutes in the afternoon/night with a walk practicing heeling. Hoping hubby will come out for a ride soon too - I'll have to get the border collie a bit fitter on some shorter rides at home I think so we can both take a dog.

I'm another one with a long list of 'wants'! Brittany's are on the top of my list Standard Poodle Hungarian Vizsla Dobermann Pointer Mini Schnauzer Border Terrier Aussie Terrier Boxer Westie Curly Coated Retriever Smooth Collie Greyhound I like them all for different reasons - I've had the chance to spend time with them all and would love to have the chance to own them one day. I will always have a GSP, and I'd also like to have another Mini Daccy and an Irish Setter one day, they both played a big part in my childhood.

Not coming from an ET background (so feel free to ignore because I've never been in or completed an ET), but from a fitness/competition background, since you have plenty of time until you need to complete the ET, I would concentrate on base training. Base training is about completing 'easy' miles, and building distance at a relatively easy pace so that you build endurance. Then closer to the trial/competition you begin a training program specific for that event (interval training, steep hill work etc). I also work on implementing an easy day, medium day and hard day into each training week. I work on a goal distance for each week, and that is my hard day. So for example say you work on a 4 week training cycle, with 3 training sessions per week (Goal of 3.5kms): Wk1 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr) Wk1 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr) Wk1 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr) Wk 2 might repeat depending on your goals and assessment of how your dogs have coped. Wk2 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr) Wk2 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr) Wk2 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr) Wk3 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk3 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk3 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr) Then as I count Wk 4 as the 'rest' week, I would repeat Wk 1 Wk4 Day1: 2km (@6-7km/hr) Wk4 Day2: 1km (@6-7km/hr) Wk4 Day3: 3km (@6-7km/hr) Next 4 week cycle (Goal of 4kms): Wk5 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk5 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk5 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk6 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk6 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk6 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk7 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk7 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk7 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk8 Day1: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk8 Day2: 1.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk8 Day3: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr) Next 4 week cycle (Goal of 4.5kms): Wk9 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk9 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk9 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk10 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk10 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk10 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk11 Day1: 3.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk11 Day2: 2.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk11 Day3: 4.5km (@6-7km/hr) Wk12 Day1: 3.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk12 Day2: 2.0km (@6-7km/hr) Wk12 Day3: 4.0km (@6-7km/hr) Next 4 week cycle: You may be find you may be able to increase speed slightly as fitness has increased so you could do 7-8km/hr, but I would repeat the previous 4 week cycle program, and then think about increasing distance the next cycle if the dog copes ok. NB. Sometimes though you may not be ready to do more distance the next cycle, so just repeat the last one, or if really struggling, drop back another 4 week cycle and build from there. I also make sure I walk my dog before and after his rides, to warm up and cool down. Because my dog is relatively fit and very energetic I have been training 7 days per week, I do one medium distance, one short, one long, one short, one medium, one short etc etc building the long distance each week. I am trying my hardest to stay between 10-12km/hr (he'd rather travel faster), so far he's coping very well. Then working up to 12 weeks out from the ET I will do more interval training, going from 10-12km/hr up to 18km/hr, then back to 5kms per hour to rest/get breath back, then another fast interval. Again as I've not done an ET before I'm sure the more experienced ET'ers may have better advice for you

Sounds great, sounds like great distance/pace for a little one

Hi, glad the training is going well. Sounds like we have lots of bragging posts about all the new ET titles being earned over the coming months! Why do you need to change the side the brakes are on? M I had a fall a few weeks ago when Cash stopped when we were doing 18-19km/hr and I went straight over the handle bars after grabbing the front brake. I feel much more comfortable if I can ride one handed with my right hand on the back brake if necessary Not really keen on having another fall, my skins still growing back after the last one

Sounds like everyone is going great with training. We did just over 13.5kms yesterday on the local bike track, some on the grass, sometimes on the path. He coped really well, didn't even think about passing bikes, kids playing soccer, dogs being walked. A few people stopped to ask what we were doing, and asking lots of questions, and others just to comment on how well he was going (from other purebred owners/showies). I tried to get my brakes changed sides, but the back brake has hydraulic disks and the front just disk brakes, so will need to buy another hydraulic set for the front so the levers can be swapped.

Dog owner, photographer, showed in the past, grew up with family breeding & exhibiting dogs. Training for ET atm. I'd love to get into agility in the future, but time is a factor.

Training going well here, although we won't be doing an ET until 2012 as Cash is only 16months. We've been doing 3-5 kms everyday, and a longer ride every few days. Longest so far is 10kms, and Cash was still wanting to go more. Mainly on the grass, some unsealed road and the mud since its been raining, but also over the back of my place on our old motorcross track, lots of steep hills, dodging trees etc. We rode off the property at the local bike track for the first time last weekend, and he did really well. He was a bit shy going past other bikes at first, fine going past dog walkers and people, but by halfway through (@3.4kms) he was happy to pass anything or be passed without even looking. We passed ducks and geese as well and he barely blinked an eye. I rode on the concrete pathway most of the time, and cash sometimes on the grass, sometimes on the concrete, and his paws held up fine. It was sooooo much easier riding on the pathway than on the grass and mud here at home, my legs didn't ache at all, so at least its good training loads on the grass and mud hills. Taking a break on the 10km ride I've been using the walky dog attachment on the bike, with the lead in my hand as well. I hadn't used it until a few weeks ago I went over the handle bars when he saw a toy and stopped @ 19km/hr of course I had my hands on the handlebars. So I'll use the walky dog again until I get my brake levers changed sides later this week. At least when I go through the bush over the back of my place I'm able to concentrate on the path ahead and not keeping him in check. We are doing the local bike track again this weekend (probably 7:30 or 8am Saturday @ Camden if anyone wants to join us), and I'll do it twice for 13.6 kms. I've ordered a bike rack for my car, it was a bit tight with the bike and Cash all in the hatchback together. Also had Cash vet checked, just to make sure all was good after a few weeks of training. They are really happy with his muscle development and there is no sign of discomfort or lameness Heart rate is great, and all good to slowly increase the km and judge how he's coping along the way