OSoSwift

Hope you have taken another little step forward today Jed - If wishes alone to heal you then you would be all better already. We are still thinking of you and willing you better each and every day. *****ooh Pancakes, Lemon on mine please and that coffee, smells good........Spag Bol for tea sounds great. Looks like the house cleaning Fairy has been again - I really need to get her card*****

Yes sorry, I meant phone Dogs west first to see if the Breeder is infact registered and to see if the litter has been or is able to be registered before going to someones house. If the "breeder" percieves they are being hassled and are not legite and trying to cash in on the rego'd bit, it could get a bit sticky. Have you heard how he is going as yet?

I use a clicker as well because I find it the easiest way to capture the exact moment I want. I teach the dog to focus on my face and teach heel position a lot before I actually heel. When I was teaching Lewis to heel I held a treat in my hand but as he had been highly reinforced for looking at me as soon as he looked at me I C/T. Then I would take one step C/T and so on until we could heel around for a good few minutes with unbroken eye contact. If he stops eye contact I stop moving. Rommi is a little harder and she will drop her head so we still do lots of work on look at my face to earn a C/T. When she does it and does it well she can look at my face for 10 minutes with moving her eyes or head away at all, others days well, not so good.

i know this might be an odd question but what sort of heel do you want? casual walking heel or totally focussed heel? Not an odd question was going to ask the same thing

I would phone first as their is no point going to the house and potentially getting into a sticky situation if they cannot be registered. If he does go to the house make sure he takes a friend.

Not good news about the setback, but as a fighter we know you will fight hard. Soups all eaten ********* pulls out a bar of Cadbury Turkish Delight Chocolate ............anyone?????

Soup and crusty bread - Yep I'm in :D I wish my house was this clean. Still thinking of you every day Jed.

The first thing to do would be to contact Dogs WA and make sure the breeders are infact registered breeders. If they are that is a good start, however if you have no phone number or any contact details it may be difficult, even if they are rego'd breeders. The litter also needs to have been registered before he can get the papers as well.

That's ok then, so long as you realise that I do not and was not denigrating any one's method. I actually concur with you. I think perhaps in part that negative comments to "positive training" methods aren't really negative to the method itself, but is negative to the people/groups who have pushed it to the point of ad-nausium and who have also, over the years, tried (and in some ways, for some time, succeeded) in making out any one else who believed differently, to be cruel, harsh etc. So please don't take it to heart and be assured that I was not running down positive training. I love positive training . Oh I agree, fanatical people in any area are a little wearing! I haven't taken it to heart It takes a bit to get me het up, but goes away quickly I don't understand why some people are so one eyed they will not even attempt to understand the other side - although I am guilty of sometimes playing Devils advocate.

For Whippets, I've not seen a better way to train R&L. They need a pay off. Jerk them around or rouse on them and they sulk and shut down. Personally I think the rising popularity of positive training is a direct reason for the increase in the variety of breeds doing well in obedience/agility. Yes I agree, there is no way mine would work they way they do if I didn't train them using positive methods. And I also agree with the increase in the variety of breeds doing so well is because of these methods.

Yeah - try that with a GSD and a BC - hahaha. Damn long hair and double coats! hehe. Why do you think I have the dogs I do - I groomed for 15 years! HAir up your nose, in your easrs down your throat. You do however have lots of roughage in your diet.

Ah yes the "look" you get - um yep I CAN do it, but WILL I do it - now that is the question!

I wouldn't suggest otherwise,RnL. I don't think I've seen you denigrating or scoffing at other training methods, either . I wasn't sure if the above was a response to my post. Not in particular Erny - I guess I am just a bit sensitive due to seeing a few comments of late regarding positive training. I don't often get riled up, but every now and agian my hackles raise a little bit. I am of the opinion that you can never stop learning and the day you say your method is the only one and everything else is second best is the day you need a kick up the bum. You can never know everything, and can always learn something, even if it is not what to do.

But that's the undershot/overshot jaw 'problem', isn't it? At one stage in his early life, my boy's growth rate affected his jaw and ergo his teeth alignment. It was only out marginally though and his lower jaw and upper jaw caught up with each other fairly soon. But this "converging canines" sounds very, very different. Yes it is in relation to over/under shot, the only one I have any knowledge of. I have no idea if converging canines can correct themselves.

In the bath, small amount of warm water in the bottom and a jug.

Havent got mine yet, but when I get my Wagon they will be behind a cargo barrier and I will also have another barrier at the back so I can have the back up for ventilation.

So far I haven't had a dog that wasn't food or toy motivated, in fact my Dobe only learnt the dumbell due to the clicker training method I was taught which is essentially targetting. I had worked on it then given up as she went into complete shut down with the previous method I had been taught. She then went on to get her open title. When I get a dog that I can't train using the methods I do now, I will look for another one. I do not consider myself closed minded or not open to other methods and have helped a friend train her Shepherd using a check chain because she was just not responding to treats. She now will respond to treats and no longer needs the check chain. Just because I train using a postive lure/shaping method does not mean I am close minded or have a small reference base to form an opinion from.

WHat an awful thing to happen. Those poor Camels. How well behaved are they not to ditch their riders and bolt. They obviously didn't kick too much either, Camels have a deadly accurate aim. Hope the Lady with the injuries is okay - how terrifying. The owners of the camles will be beside themsleves. I hope the owners of the dogs are dealt with severely

You are not allowed to show any dog that has had a 'cosmetic" procedure performed - which includes altering bites and teeth. I don't know a lot about AmStaffs, but I have heard of this breeds jaws taking a while to catch up and be a scissor bite. I would be concerned if I was looking at showing the puppy. My general rule to myself is not not buy a dog with a know fault/potential fault. Enough things can potentially go wrong as it is to make a dog unable to be shown, without knowingly buying one with a fault. You may get a puppy with perfect teeth and it ends up under/over shot however, you are well ahead of the game if you start off with everything in the right place to begin with

Can't help you with all of the questions you have, but When I was researching a Pug on the limited register on a desexing contract was $1500. Not sure about health tests, but they can suffer from a problem with mal formed vertibrae(sp?) in their lower spine. They can also suffer from narrow nostril openings and elongated soft pallets Not sure about a Cavalier. Cav's should come from parents tested free from Mitral valve disease (heart disease) If the puppy is a cross from un-health(highly likely) tested parents you have the potential to all of the potential issues crop up in one dog and that dog may just end up with your friends. Registered pedigree puppies from ethical breeders may cost more in the beginning, however over the life of the dog will cost very little. If the puppy ends up with health issues they may die prematurely or cost a lot of money to maintain starting from an early age. They have back up for life from an ethical breeder. With a DD you pay the money you leave - end of relationship. Any problems or concerns down the track - you are on your own. An ethical breeder is always available and will provide backup (different with each breeder) for the life of the puppy they have bred. A Designer cross breed is kindsa like a lottery - if you lose you may end up with a lot of heartache.

One is breeding Rego'd Blues and trying to cash in on the "rare" factor. The other one is breeding VCA reg'd Staffords that just happen to be Blue and is selling them for the same price as their other puppies I would presume.

I use the regular Black dog pouch and I have used them for around ten years. I am on my second one, but only beacuse I left some treats in there(was before the socks) and it was that bad it all went in the bin. I have thrown out one sock for the same reason - you would think I would learn! I fill my treat pouch up, then take a bag with more if I am doing a class. I have training pants that are usually a dark colour and they are bought specifically for sticking slimey treats in. I do draw the line at raw chicken necks though - thank god I don't have to use those for training! Yuk. I got sick of buying dog beds that would squash flat so I got a single bed foam mattress, cut out the size I wanted, made a polar fleece cover for it - all done. The cover comes off to wash. I have made polar fleece beds with stuffing, but the Whippets de-stuff them and I can't be bothered making more just to have them de-stuff and chewed up. My foam bed was and old mattress and I used old polar fleece cot blankets to make the cover, very cheap.

I use mine with their waterproof coats that don't have extended necks. If they did have extended necks they don't stretch and don't bend quite as well as the nice polar fleece ones. Also the snoods dry out very easily. So they get a warm neck and stay dry.

Thanks for the update Toohey - brilliant news. Sorry gotta steal some tissues!!! Will love to heard from Jed when she "pops" by. Excellent, excellent excellent. Got to go and make dinner - might bring back some extra Porcipines (meatballs with rice and other stuff!) mashed potato's and peas.... anyone like some

tlc - my dogs want to come to your house and go shopping! Actually this thread gave me the reminder I needed to go through my excess dog coats and donate them to a Whippet Rescue as well as a couple of collars - so that is a great outcome