OSoSwift

Lewis cannot handle raw Chicken at all. He isn't good with much raw but has very lean Beef ribs without much meat and is fine if only once a week. Cannot eat raw lamb but can eat lamb dry food or cooked lamb

I look forward to hearing about what new meats/flavours there will be! Even though my two love the lamb hehe Are you having much interest with the BH down your way OSoSwift? We are getting there. It has only been word of mouth and mainly through Dog club at this point, but have 5 different customers so far who tell me they will continue to buy it long term. One has already put another person on to me so hopefully is will spread as quickly around here as it did over Australia!!!! Not bad considering I have had the food around 2 weeks!

I have been asked about the lite so will let people know it is coming this year

The foam matresses are warmer than the inner spring, so I am sure the dogs are happy you went with the "cheaper" option My SIL's dog has slept on a cot matress for years and loves it

I am interested in what you think constitues the correct type or amount of theory Corvus, not picking a fight but wondering what you think it is?

I think breed and personality have a lot to do with it. I had two bitches one entire one desexed (although later at 6 years) They fought and the young one tried to kill the old one. From that day forward they had to eb carefully managed. I think temperment and breed had a lot to do with that.

That means they are either not open to suggestion or know no other way. Either way theory has nothing to dow ith people who are not open to learning. If they had lots of theory behind them but still couldn't train a dog what would that mean?????? they read lots have little to no natural ability or are that close minded that they will only follow the theory they have been taught or read and are not opening to learning new things. I do not think that people learning more theory will change much, maybe with some people it will but what do you class as learning theory Corvus??? Is i someone who has done the NDTF course, someone that reads a lot of different things or someone with a mentor who shares all they know???? How do you define which theory is correct or how much theory enough is?

Err how do you know that trainers don't have a strong background in theory? All the trainers I know do. Even I did weeks and weeks of theory before being unleashed as a volunteer trainer. I think Corvus might be talking about PhD level? Personally I don't think you need a PhD to train dogs. Either you can train them or you can't. Either you can read them or you can't. Theory does not give the person a "feel" for a dog or dogs and what works for them. It is the same as choosing and breeding exceptional dogs either you have an eye for it or you don't. No amount of reading or theory can give you what you don't naturally possess. Being open to new ideas to me is one of the most important things when you train dogs Personally I read whatever I can get my hands on but I still do not think that just because someone has done a how to train dogs course that they know what they are doing.

There are a couple of exceptional trainers on here of a number of dogs of varying breeds who consistantly produce excellent work that do reward with food among other things. I think there are frutrated owners because people and society in general want something and want it now. They are quite often unwilling to put the time and effort in to gain positive and permanent change. People quite often want to go to one lesson and see a change within half an hour to an hour, sometimes it takes longer than that, and the time it takes to see change can quite often be as a reult of the amount of time the dog has had no direction. They can't expect a 12 month to 2 year old dog to forget all it's bad habits after a few training sessions it takes time and dedication. I think there are many frustrated owners becauce there are so many rules, regulations and do's and don'ts these days when we own dogs. Blocks are smaller, hours worked are quite often longer. Dogs in this day and age need to be able to stay alone for longer, live in a smaller area and say very little. Having said that there are MANY people who put in the time and effort and have very happy well adjusted dogs. Generally there are very very few problem dogs but a lot of problem owners. I am not quite sure why you are so anti-trainer there are good and bad everywhere, but your posts seem to be all over the place and a little bit contradictionary (not even sure that's a word!). My dogs are trialling and still get food and other rewards, they will always get rewards and they have never worn check chains. Honestly I am not really sure what it is you want and I don't think you know either.

I second the not sending him to acreage. I live on a farm I have manily livestock fences as most have. My dogs need to be better trained than dogs that live in a suburban backyard as if they wanted to they could get through the fences and nick off or chase stock. They are not left out when I am not outside but if they were not trained they could wreak havoc as have some other dogs I have looked after for a short while. If you have that much of an issue with walking thim then I think it might be a good idea for you to seek appopriate help as it is not conducive to a happy stress free life if you are that stressed about going out and having other dogs running towards you (and/or your dog) for fear of attack. I would be putting him and the kids in the car and driving somehwere where he can have a safe walk or off lead run. There are many mnay things you can train in your loungeroom at night when the kids are asleep that will help occupy his brain, I do this often. I got my first Whippet when I had a 2yr old and a 5 month old. Now living on acerage does make it easier as I didn't have to drive anywhere but not having puppy proof fences meant I had to be outside every single time she was, which as a baby puppy is a lot! I did temp fence a small area off near the door but it had no shelter etc so was basically to put her in to toilet when I couldn't be outside for a moment. I guess it comes down to how much you do actually want to keep the dog. If you would really rather not keep him then he will know that. I would also suggest contacting his breeder to see if they can take him back and rehome him

Hi, The obedience test has been replaced with a "willingness" test. It is nowhere near trial standard and is purely done for the judge to see/assess that the dog is capable of following instruction and willing to work with you. It can be done on or off lead and is as simple as a short heeling pattern, a couple of turns, a halt, a stand, and a short recall. M Yes the ET now has a willingness test but the ET trial which js part of the VIMS/montemelia is or at least was not that long ago is the full obedience test. There are other things you needs to do as well Sorry I stand corrected, it is a trial to open standard So the VIMS/Montemelia is quite different and I believe it was the German SHpherd people who created it.

The Vims/montemelia is open to all but from memory it involves a full Novice trial then your 20 kms, then a full novice trial again - like the ET was MANY moons ago. Then their is other stuff you do as well. I enquired about it years ago with my Dobe

What is it you do Mira - sounds facinating If I gave into my sugar cravings my bum would grow wider than it already is!!!

Hi Anyone from WA doing the ET? There is only one held in the state now as far as I can figure out and I was wondering if anyone can tell me where it is held and what the area is like - photos would be great. I have done an ET before but that was in Kalgoorlie

Ideally you should throw it under their body as they back up as you want them backing up with their head lowered, not up. Otherwise they are pushing off their front end instead of working their rear end. Watch a reining horse back up and they will back with their head lowered. Yes that makes sense, thank you. I rarely throw food so it is interesting to find out why others do and now I will go and practice! A good inside exercise when the weather is crap Do you ever play the 2 food game? Nope don't know what it is

hmm I might be off to the pharmacy myself, I had sugar cravings so bad that I could have dug a spoon into the sugar container!!! I do have low normal sugar at the best of times so that may not help????

Ideally you should throw it under their body as they back up as you want them backing up with their head lowered, not up. Otherwise they are pushing off their front end instead of working their rear end. Watch a reining horse back up and they will back with their head lowered. Yes that makes sense, thank you. I rarely throw food so it is interesting to find out why others do and now I will go and practice! A good inside exercise when the weather is crap

Out of interest do you always throw the food on the ground or do you give it from your hand as well. And what is the reason to throw the food on the ground?? Just interested as I don't throw the food on the ground as it annoys me when they get a treat or a click and imediately drop their head and look for a treat on the ground.

Never use one and I think pretty much all dogs would freak out in there.

Happy birthday Chloe, our lovely family Kelpie made it to 16, such a wonderful age

You mentioned a Whippet. I have a similar lifestyle to your but have young kids here full time. We have cats, sheep, cattle, horses, guinea pigs, Guinea Fowl, Alpaca and chooks. The dogs are not left outside to their own devices as we have only livestock fencing and I don't want them to learn they can nick of hunting. But they are out when I am they run around, play etc and do not bolt off. My guinea pig and her babies got flipped out of their house when a strong windgust came up one day, I thought for sure they would get killed by the Whippets, two good roars from me and they stood back and watched me doing rugby tackle dives after guinea pigs and didn't hurt one even when one bolted right under Lewis's nose! I was very impressed by that! They go up to the fence and sniff noses with the Alpaca and horses, pet cow and pet sheep. They do not go into the paddocks unless invited (which is EXTREMELY rare) we have single strand electric cattle fences. All have recieved one zap and stay away from the fences. My dogs have extremely reliable recalls and they are that way because I have worked at it from the day they arrive here and still reinforce good recalls often. They get walked through the farm on lead due to snakes and roos but we have a good 5 acres around the house they use for running. They are extremely good with the kids and my youngest in particular, they are not dogs who jump up but that could be the training as well. They have no doggy smell and shed very little. When they do have their shed and I notice some hairs left on my clothes when they sit on me I go over them thoroughly with a zoom groom - all sorted. They are very quiet inside, up for a good game and run or a good long walk, but other than that lay around. We don't allow running or zoomies inside, inside is quiet time. They are quiet, don't need a lot of food but do need to be kept out of very hot and cold weather - they make excellent bed warmers and love cuddles

At that price and for my situation at this time - no. However I think it is a great idea and yes I suppose if your pet was stolen they could just remove it, but at least this early they probably wouldn't know what it was. If I took dogs running through bush and forrests yep definately, if I had a dog who was a bit of an escape artist, yep definately. Mine would have to get off the lounge to get lost! I also have very secure dog yards.

No point having the flashest harness if its connected to a cheap leash! Leashes and collars should be the most functional and strongest you can get not necessarily the most expensive, but definately not cheap and nasty - also depends on the size of the dog, breed etc. I have stainless bowls but I would like something that doesn't slide around on the tiles, not really interested in ceramic. So stainless and non-skid is my preference.

Oh no hope he is found very very soon. Go home Whip!

I don't follow a particular method for teaching my dogs jumping, but I do do exercises that teach them to jump well and get good height and a nice round shape to their jump. I do do grids and off set jumps etc and change distance between jumps, to even quite close to get them to bounce the jump so the learn to really sit back on their haunches and shorten their stride when required. Most of what I do come from my horse back ground though, I do what I can to make the dog an independent thinking jumper who can shorthen or lengthen their stride easily and quickly so they are not in danger of ever crashing or knocking their jumps. I also use ground rails from time to time which I have noticed SS does do, to help them to take off closer or further away