OSoSwift

I hear you on the just enough to reward them and keep them up and not enough they rack off!! Lewis LOVES to be ablet o jump on me and have his chest slapped. That is all fine and good, keeps him up, but very ocassionaly he thinks it also means woohoo jackpot blue ball time and so far a quick firm Lewis has been enough to stop him.....so far!!!! Rommi has very nearly started a big loop for a zoomie but I managed to get her back before she got into warp speed and her ears turned off.

I find that obedience heeling etc is VERY exhausting for them and even though they may be fit, they will not necessairly be fit to do heeling, concentrating etc. I woudl do very short bursts stop him well before he is exhausted and work with the flirt pole etc as already mentioned and work on his general fitness. Yes they get worn out more quickly due to build, but get him as fit as he can be and that will help.

Hello and welcome - love your GSP, I would love one one day and I know exactly where I would get one from Just needs to be the right time

If I really thought my dog was about to do a bunk, then yes I would grab the collar, but other than that I would call them and not touch. Although I did do something that I looked back and shook my head at my first trial back.......Rommi was being slow sitting at the start post and I put one finger on her bottom, very lightly and quickly, but I do wonder how many points that cost me as I didn't even realise I did it until I watched the video of the trial. I am going to slap my hand if I try that again!!!

Ours flatten their heads and stand up, unless they of course have an open means of escape, then are more interested in getting away I have seen them flattened on the ground when it is a bit cold and they are being very defensive. Yep they can get into some seemingly impossible spaces.

Where in Queensland are you sandra.? The colour of a lot of species of snake is so variable that I.D is real hard without a pic Could be a tigersnake.. As far as the dog runs go, i cant stress how important it is to give the snake no where to hide and no reason to visit.Employ some poultry to work as early warning systems and snake deterents.' Today i was called to this tigersnake in Mt Eliza and i managed to get footage of the capture and release. can not believe you were moving the wood with your hands nice looking snake though I really cannot believe it didn't get really cranky. Not sure if ours are crankier than the average Tiger Snake down here, but ours would have had their heads totally flat, be hissing flat out and probably striking by now. They flatten their heads and get cranky if you accidently get too close. That seems a very mellow Tiger Snake.

I'll need to buy myself a show dog then I was put off so really I took a dog that is not for showing. Might have to buy myself a rottie pup to show eh ;) I'll come if I dont have to wear a skirt and you do know if I get picked on someone will be told to get effed :p That sounds just fine Nek, I definately don't wear skirts and have told the odd person over the years to go jump, so you would be more than welcome to sit with me - of course Rotti cuddles help sweeten then bargain!!!

This is the runs with the new yard attached. There is fine mesh to 1 metre tall around them but you can't see it in this photo. I dug out a trench all the way around and back filled with 60mm blue metal all the way around and under the mesh and fence. Now to just get that last bit of grass to grow near the gate

That is the retaining wall which is now back filled . they are not very often locked into the small runs these days as I have attached the yard so don't go to the toilet in them, but I hose them out through the doors as the doors have nothing underneath them like yours would have. Putting up snake mesh or mesh with shade cloth around the outside may be a good idea. I did read somewhere that you need to slope it outwards at the top as that makes sure the snakes cannot climb the mesh. If you did that you could make up gates from angle iron so that the angle iron gate shuts into and angle iron frame and that would be very snake proof. That is the recommendation I was given many years ago as a snake proof gate. Snake mesh comes in 90cm and 120cm from memory. I would consider snake mesh and burying it into blue metal as then it shouldn't rust as quickly or much at all. The other thing you need to keep in mind is that if you have mice issue and they are digging mouse houses under your fence that snakes love mouse holes and can use them to go under a fence

Go for it

Hmmm touching I guess it would depend on how they were touched, but a finger or the collar, maybe not, but hauling a dog or pulling it around yes. I train without colalrs generally as they do not wear them around the house and I train around here a lot. When I go to dog training I take them from the car to the crate and the crate straight into warning up, training etc so many times I have forgotten to put a colalr on them at training as well. I quite often don't realise until I go to take them for a toilet wander before putting them in the car to go home. I would like to be able to do an obedience trial without a collar as I do not have a need for one as such, but can see why they wear them and why there is the rule no touching as they should be at a level where it doesn't need to be touched but is there just as a potential safety thing. Although Lewis got taken out by a dog at training a few weeks ago and no collar would have prevented it as we were doing jumping drills (therfore no collar) and he was one stride from taking off for a jump and got skittled out of nowhere and neither of us saw it coming. Oh and RS I am glad mine don't have coat or I would be straightening their collars as well so I full understand where you are coming from there

On my dogs you would have bucklys of finding anything to grab if they didn't wear collars. Suppose you would need to be fast enough to catch them in the first place but having thought long and hard about it, if they have a collar on and another dog attacks them at least I have something to grab onto so I have a chance of getting them away.

*nods* eyes, ears, teeth, skin folds,...all sorts of things . No way!! That's $%@!# up! I also don't really get the ear taping either to be honest. If people want to do it, of course it's up to them, go for it, but it just seems unfortunate that WE project our issues to do with "perfection" onto them when they're beautiful the way they are. Just my 2 cents though, I think your puppy is going to be gorgeous whether the taping works or not. Ummm no it isn't. If a dog has saggy facial skin that affects it's eyes, cause skin fold infections, to gibe it a facelift and correct those issues is not F%$ked up it is doing the best for your dog. It is not done for vanity it is done for medical reasons.

Hmmmm What do you think of the idea of attatching either shade cloth or snake mesh and bending it so that a couple of inches are flat onto the cement and then using galvanised strapping dynabolted with small dyna bolts into the concrete? I would go at least a metre high. You would of course have to do under the doors as well and on the doors. I have used thin conveyer type rubber around the doors. It is attatched to one side and shuts up against the other side of the frame. Alternatively you need to make your doors shut into angle steel with no gaps. I would make sure all around the bottom of the wood house had no gaps and if it did I would use expanding foan to fill them up. Hope that gives you an idea or two even if they are not exactly what you are after Thanks Ososwift - thats exactly the type of info I was after. Im planning on running shade cloth completely over the wooden section at the back of the runs - dug into the ground and the sides I have already filled with expanding foam. I am still trying to get my head around your description of how you handle the doors on your runs...you dont by any chance have a photo of them? Cheers Yep will find it for you. Incidentally I snake meshed to the roof on mine, but they are smaller than yours.

The Black hawk new website link in in the list of advertisers from the banner up the top of the page

Hmmmm What do you think of the idea of attatching either shade cloth or snake mesh and bending it so that a couple of inches are flat onto the cement and then using galvanised strapping dynabolted with small dyna bolts into the concrete? I would go at least a metre high. You would of course have to do under the doors as well and on the doors. I have used thin conveyer type rubber around the doors. It is attatched to one side and shuts up against the other side of the frame. Alternatively you need to make your doors shut into angle steel with no gaps. I would make sure all around the bottom of the wood house had no gaps and if it did I would use expanding foan to fill them up. Hope that gives you an idea or two even if they are not exactly what you are after

Another cost to the distributors, maybe not in Victoria, because they have Sherel, is the 100's of kilos of free samples we hand out & donate as prizes to dog clubs & free puppy packs we provide. Everytime we post a sample it cost us at least $7.00 + a 14 klm trip to the post office. Plus we subsidise the delivery costs to try & keep it affordable & accessible for those people who don't have the benefit of living in the main cities. When you add all of the above onto the freight cost from Melbourne to Northern NSW, to still be able to sell a bag for $85, it doesn't leave much for the piggy bank. But at least we are getting it out there to people in the country & we havn't had anyone complain about the product or the service yet & their dogs love us for it. ;) Yep I agree, I have handed out quite a lot in samples and sent samples to people who ultimately will end up getting it from someone closer, but I am not in it to make a huge profit, as long as I cover my costs and get to feed my dogs a great quality economical food and have a little in the piggy bank for the next order I am happy. I am also going to be feeding it in my boarding kennels when they are up and running.

Many owners are not really aware of some of the types of people who trawl looking for ads like those. Yes knowledgable pet owners can rehome to a great home, but many think that selling a dog as a BYBing bitch/dog is fine. I would be worried seeing an add for a Limit registered bitch as a "good breeding prospect".

Way to go RS :D And well done to very smart dogs

Yep good idea, I need some more bags of cat food and treats as well Gotta have treats for christmas

Thanks for clarifying that Sherel And yes the freight is what gets the price up. Mine sells for $100 a bag as it costs me extra freight from Perth to Esperance. But it is still cheaper and better quality that anything else that is available down here, and cheaper and as good if not better quality than many of the premium dry foods on the market.

Be my guest :rofl: :rofl: Go for it it I am with you on that one!!! I was a bit tounge tied and not quite sure what to say really. Not that it really matters becasue she wouldn't get a pup from me anyway!!

So very sorry to hear abour Bondi. Hugs from us

I just renewed my PetPlan and it was still 100%

We had our local Ag Show and had some dogs there for the day doing obedience, agility and Flyball. We also got interest as one was a Stafford and I had the Whippets. Lots of people asked questions about training, breed etc. Many people admired my dogs, asked questions and they got lots of good exposure. I have been out fo trialing for a while so not sure about numbers as yet.