Tassie

Gosh, it must be hard, Vickie, organizing the kids (well, Chloe's not really a kid any more ) - there are distinct advantages in being single and kidless. It certainly fres me up to travel a lot more easily.

Hey Ness, at the rate I'm training Rory (not), Kenzie will be in Masters by the time I get him into Novice . And yes - I know Tasmania is in the wrong direction for you .

Are you having your big agility weekend in March again Tassie? As far as I know, that will be in the off-Nationals year - so I guess, 2011. It was quite a big and rather expensive undertaking for our small club - not something they're prepared to let us do each year .

not really so amazing you are one of the most travelled agility people I know. I've only left NSW once for agility & am sure I have met you at least 4-5 times over the years. Dare I ask if we will see you in WA next year???? If that was to me - yes, hopefully. It will be stretching it a bit - Kirra will be 8, though hopefully still fit - I'll be a year older , and my little big Winpara man will probably not be in the ring yet - at the rate my training is progressing :D . (Darn work gets in the way - but is necessary, to fund the luxury dog-friendly accommodation I've already booked in Perth ). Are you planning on going over, Vickie? And when are all you guys coming over to Tasmania?

Thanks for posting this, Vickie. It was amazing looking at the list, to see how many people I know. Well done to you and Trim and Shine, and good luck to you and everyone at the weekend.

What poodlefan said . Good to get on to it very quickly - and it's not at all unusual. Teaching him to swap stuff is IMHO a nice way of doing it - offer him something even more yummy in exchange for his pig's ear - or another pig's ear. Play the trade game often, and he'll come to see that you near his precious resource is not a threat - may in fact mean a chance to get something better. After quite a bit of the swap game, you can take something off him, inspect it, and give it straight back. Eventually you will be able to just take things away from him - but in my book, that should only be done when it's necessary (i.e. take away and not give anything in return.

:D Congrats you two on a good day's work - sounds like a GSD take-over . biker_girl, you must be very pleased with your two. Pity I won't be able to see them when youcome down to Hobart - BC Club show on the Saturday, and teaching commitments at club on the Sunday. Wish you luck anyway. (Let's hope the flooding has gone down by then - the ground was under water yesterday, apparently .

I would certainly not be making a baby (and he is still a baby) wait till that late for his single meal. I would be feeding him twice a day - and like many others - I'm not fussed about the eating before the dog - there are lots more important ways of showing leadership and earning trust and respect. I would definitely be investing in a crate (for bedtime) and crate or playpen for inside when you can't be watching, or at least baby gates to keep the pup out of places you don't wnt pups in. A thing I did with my bitch when she was little, was to use the 'umbilical cord' method - of having a light long lead on the dog while I was busy around the house, but didn't want to put her away. Helps with bonding, helps with hosuetaining - and mkes you pay attention to the pup. I'd be trying to spend more time doing little bits of training with the pup, to keep the pup's brain occupied. With the grown children, you could stir up some competition to see who could teach the pup the cutest trick (providing the training is done in a fun, positive way. That should help both kids and dog .

I had a Kelpie/BC bitch who was eventually diagnosed as hypothyroid at about age 3. No blood tests in those days, and her only symptom was severe hair loss. Anyway, she was put on Oroxine (that was how they diagnosed her - it was - if the Oroxine improves her, then she's hypothyroid :cool: ). Thankfully, we saw improvement within 2 weeks - then it was just a matter of fiddling around to find the dose that worked for her. In her case, it was a fairly high dose, as she was a dog that seemed to need to operate at the higher end of the normal range. Vet was happy to work with the dose that saw her with no symptoms. Jess was on meds from then on for the rest of her happy, active life - old age finally saw her go to the bridge at 15 and a half - never had any problem related to the Oroxine. You may not see a change for about 2 weeks - that's the lead time for this sort of medication, but hoefully it will work as well for your Boris as it did for my Jess.

:p I do this too, Ptolomy - and mine are happy enough to go in the waiting room - well, happy is probably a bit of an exaggeration for Kirra. But she makes a very clear distinction between the waiting room and the consult room . I have a lovely vet who will usually examine her on the floor if it's just a routine - and who let her off the temperature taking last year at the check up, becsue he had already done Fergus, who was fine, and said she looked bright eyed and healthy ;) . Mind you, this is a bitch whose standing heart rate when tested the fortnight before their ET wouldn't go below 140 - and who screamed at the first temperature taking at the ET vet check.

Oh, bless her. Ninoid12, thank you so much for sharing Molly's last days with us. And I am so happy for you that she held on so you could carry out your plans for her. Although it's such a sad time, you will be able to look back on that lovely peaceful end, Look after yourself, and the other animals. T\You will all miss your lovely Molly. (BTW - I have a Kirra too - love the name.)

I use a variety of things too - mostly small, soft and easy to eat so you can do lots of reps quickly. Usually have two or three in together. I cut into cubes things like low fat tasty sheese, devon, chicken loaf from the deli, but one of my favourites - and they'd probably be good in warmer weather, is things called Ameican hot dogs (skinless frankfurters) which I cut into quarters lengthwise, then cut small slices, then microwave them on a paper towel. Very tasty, not too greasy - you zap them to your liking.

Way to go Helen and the lovely Chazer boy. That's great to hear. I so want to have a go at a tunneler's course. For a while there we didn't even have enough tunnels in Tasmania to do it - but I think we could now, if we gathered from north and south . It always looks fast and furious - and would be a great challenge for people like me who have trouble reemmbering courses even when they're made up of different obstacles! From what I hear, it doesn't make dogs tunnel obsessed.

Good stuff, giraffez - sounds like you just need to build up gradually, and he'll be fine. Do try to make sure he doesn't have unhappy experiences with other dogs - keep your eyes open for 'rude' dogs, and just calmly walk in a different direction with your little man.

Molly certainly knw what she was doing when she found you - that's a lovely story. And vent away - I found DOL such a comfort when I lost my 6 year old BC boy suddenly last year. You know that the good folks here know exactly how you're feeling, whereas non-dog people have no idea. If your dear girl does fall asleep and not wake, while that's awful for you, it will be nice for her.

Tears here too ninoid12 for yo and your lovely Molly. It is so hard when our loved dogs get sick and leave us. I don't know which is worse, knowing what's going to happen, or having a young dog die suddenly - they're both gut-wrenching. You are doing great- having lovely fun times with your dear girl, and doing the necessary planning (consider in that planning whether you're going to opt for cremation or burial - I know that sounds macabre, but I have found it really helpful to have made that decision ahead of time.) You already know that you have plenty of comforting thoughts coming your way through cyber-space.

I'm a very newbie in the showing field, but my boy has been shown as a pup by a friend, who is an experienced show handler (as well as obedience and agility.) He has been fairly lightly shown, and she has been careful that the experience is always a happy one for him. Partly because of this, and partly because he is an outgoing lad anyway, he loves to show, and the other weekend, when his normal handler was away, showed very well for an experienced and trusted junior handler (who'd had one training session with him) and then because of a clash, he was handed over with a very brief introduction (and treats of course) to another trusted and experienced junior, and was quite happy to show for her. So in answer to the question - I guess it's a lot like other disciplines. If the pup has been kindly and appropriately taught what the game is, they end up being happy to play the game with anyone.(Oh, and while I don't normally let other people handle my performance dogs, I will do it sometimes through need. In the case of the show ring, I have to learn first, before I could even think about showing the boy myself - otherwise I would be letting him down. As an instructor (puppy and agility) I will occasionally - with the owner's permission - take another dog briefly to demonstrate something, so the owners can watch and absorb without trying to handle a puppy at the same time.

As usual, great advice here from 'the usual suspects ' - you guys give so much to other dog owners - thank you. giraffez - now you can see why we were urging you not to wait till after 3rd shots. (sorry - couldn't resist that - and it's there for other new puppyowners who may be reading.) However, you can still help your pup to become more accepting of other dogs - he may never be a party animal, but then not all dogs are, and it's not compulsory. He does need to be taught that seeing other dogs around is OK, and you will always take the leadership role. I'd suggest you invest in the Control Unleashed book by Leslie McDevitt - and the DVDs if you're well off. Particularly I'd suggest playing the Look at That game - essentially, you're teaching your pup that looking (nicely) at other dogs is a good thing, for which he will be rewarded by you. IMHO, you need to be keeping him sub-threshold - i.e. keeping him outside the distance where he will react inappropriately - that gives him the feeling of safety, so that he can pay attention to you. If you inadvertently get too close, take the leadership role and turn and go (if possible, turning round his head, so that you are between him and the other dog. - thus showing him you have the situation in hand and will do the protecting if necessary - it's not his job.) Don't feel embarrassed in a class situation if you're the only one staying a distance off - it doesn't matter - you do what you need to do for your dog. Any sensible instructor will a) respect that, and b) probably have suggested that you do it. Don't necessarily be comparing your pup with others - their socialisation history may be way different from your pup's and they may by nature be more sociable and outgoing - just like people, really.

Yep - for night time, I really like to have the crate right beside my bed - easy to hear the pup and get up and take him/her outside to pee, and then easier to settle down again. (I always give a small biscuit when they get back in their beds - adds value to the crate.) And as has been said before on other threads, they can hear you breathing, and you can put your hand down near the crate while they settle down again. If you can afford it, another crate or play-pen is great to have as a time-out/rest spot in one of the more social areas. And well done for thinking this stuff out ahead of time - it will help your future puppy to be nice and settled.

Nice reference Rusky. ;) Yes, I was thinking along the lines of simply giving an Uh-uh and then a time out - no more interaction than that at a time when the BC is hyper-excited. IMHO, all the action from you that you describe is simply upping the ante. The pup needs to get the message that you just don't want to know her when she's behaving like that. I would also have plenty of legitimate chew toys around so that as soon as any biting starts, you can quickly interrupt with a verbal uh-uh and re-direct to an appropriate toy - which isn't always the pug. I agree with the breeder about limiting the amount of exercise in a growing pup - but having said that - 45 min to 1 hour of walking in one go is too much IMO. And that much ball play is waaaay too much. I think you'd get much better results with maybe 5 minutes of relatively gentle ball play, and much more mental type interaction with your girl - teaching - tricks, obedience skills, foundation agility skills etc. etc. Wears the pup out much faster than just physical exercise, and enhances the relationship between pup and owner. Oh, and I'd be doing plenty of practice with 'swap/trade', where the pup learns to give you something she has, and either gets something more valuable (toy or treat) in return, or gets the original back. When you're doing that, just make sure you're not trying to pull whatever it is out of the pup's mouth. the idea is that the pup lets go of it.

Hi Helen Yes - and not just green dogs. There was one set of equipment at Adelaide Nationals, in the Excellent ring, that was significantly different in colour and texture from 'normal' equipment, and a lot of dogs had problems, particularly with the seesaw - and most of those dogs had no problems in other rings (my Kirra included.) Night and day can be quite different too.

Ive found Ed doing that, and then he ends up doing a 270 degree turn around my body for a simple left turn not a great look My first trialling dog used to do that occasionally in UD signal heeling - it used to make me laugh, because he did it so smartly and neatly that I would wonder if the judge believed what he was seeing.

;) Me too. I like maintaining the connection with the dog. I do flip finishes too, for the same reason. And it is a matter of good hind-end awareness as Cosmolo says.

As far as the socialisation aspect goes, it shouldn't be a problem IMO if the breeder has been doing the right things. I got my boy at 10 weeks (10 hour flight with a stopover), and he was fine - had been well socialised by his breeder though.

If only that's all it took .