Luke W

What Rubiton said. Does it need a clean - are you seeing dust spots on your images? They'll show up in blue skies when shooting at smaller apertures. I use a sensor brush and for stubborn marks - eclispse fluid and a lens cloth wrapped around a cotton bud.

I'm no expert but based on the stuff that I've heard comes out of dogs - I suspect it won't be a problem! My 5m old passed a partial plastic bag yesterday...about 5in x 1in. ETA: Spelling.

For what it's worth, looking at an image at 100% on the computer screen is like looking at a print that's 1m wide. The test is in the resized images and the prints.

What's the problem with the images? The review on DPReview suggests that apart from significant Chromatic Abberation, image quality is pretty good.

Like Barkly's stand from sit: Raise bum off floor, leave front paws in place, swing bum and back legs around 60degrees, do a little dance with the back legs, whimper and whine a little bit, sit back down, wriggle bum, bark.

Takes a few minutes for them to learn what it means. You can switch from clicker to verbal marker any time. Some trainers use both at different times.

I'll take a stab in the dark so to speak. When you tell him to go to his bed....how does it work? "Bed" He goes to his bed. "Good boy, who's a good boy? Goooood boy!!!" So he gets praise for GOING to his bed. What is his motivation for STAYING there? What's in it for him? ETA: Highlighting "STAYING"

Couple of comments... Dogs don't do 'up yours'...they simply don't have the smarts for it. You're correct - she's housetrained when you are at home but not when you are out. She probably just knows that it's a bad idea to do it in the house when you are around. When your out - she knows no different. They can't generalise. And if you growl at her for toileting 2 minutes after she's toileted - she has no idea what you are growling about. At 11 weeks - she should be crated/penned and on a 1 hour toileting schedule. Are you toileting her outside just before you go out? Chewing carpet and stuff - don't let her have access, simple as that. Put her in a pen/laundry whatever when you can't supervise her every second. My pup is nearly 5 months old and will chew just about everything he can get his teeth onto. Fortunately, he's not that interested in furniture, rugs and carpets. Shoes, socks, underpants, cloths, towels, cables, paper, toilet rolls, on the other hand, he loves. How do I deal with it...I try not to give him the opportunity to get at them. Baby gates, closed doors, a doggy pen, everything out of reach, nothing left around on the floor. I think the bottom line is he's a pup. Pups piss, chew and poo - that's what they do. That's what he'll be doing for the next 6 months or more. You have to prevent him as much as you can. Don't make him an outside dog, it's often the first step to a poorly socialised, bored, barking, on it's way to the pound dog. As for puppy school - ring around - 11 weeks is NOT too old - no way! My pup didn't START puppy school till 12 weeks. Download Dunbars before you get your puppy - RIGHT NOW: http://www.siriuspup.com/beforebook.html Read it while you are waiting for After You Get Your Puppy from Amazon.

Even still - it's a time thing. It's also a grounds thing, I know in my municipality, precedence is given to sporting clubs and we have been fighting for about 2 years for council to give us ONE reserve that we can use for dog activities. Then you need storage...more permits!! Cost of building a shed, then some a**holes come and burn your shed down- bam you've lost all your equipment. If you don't store all your equipment on the grounds you need someone with a 6cyl car to pull a trailer full of equipment, and petrol is of course sky high. If you want to train year round at night- you need floodlighting, then you need to pay more rent if you can even manage to get a grounds with floodlights. Clients want instructors who are very experienced and are trialling their own dogs to great things, if you are already working full-time, teach at an obedience club as well, it just becomes a huge drain, it doesn't matter about the money you are getting paid it's work/life balance. Instructors are always there for an hour before and after classes, you need more than one instructor, you need someone to run a 'desk' situation and do paperwork. Then you'd also need to be forking out to attend workshops with overseas and Oz experts each year- more weekends out of your slightly skewed work/life balance..... Get the drift??? Loud and clear!

Yes, the camera works it out. You'll also notice that when wide open, your f/4 lens will now display as f/5.6 if the teleconverter is attached.

Sounds like a business opportunity! How many experienced trainers would come to a brand new club if they GOT PAID ? :D :laugh:

When demand outstrips supply - someone usually steps in to increase the supply. I wonder why there is such a shortage of agility places? Is it an expensive and/or difficult thing to setup? Is it a shortage of experienced people? The cost of equipment?

OK thanks, as to uploading photos, I didn't do it the way you describe. following instructions in my manual that came with the camera, I first downloaded the CD's that came with it and then plugged the camera directly into the computer and it did the rest. Is your way better? I suppose it means I'd have to buy a card reader now. Ask two people and you'll get three opinions! A card reader is faster and doesn't use the batteries in your camera. Your method is the one that works for you and your comfortable with it. It might be easier to stick with your current method. I don't use the Canon software so I do things a little differently, I use Photoshop, Bridge and Vista.

Aah OK, next silly question, do I first delete the photos, and then format or just format over the photos and they will automatically be removed, if that makes sense. Just format. I remove the card, upload the photos to the computer using a card reader. Stick the card back in the camera and select format from the menu. That's it. BTW - Even after formatting images CAN sometimes be recovered with special recovery software.

I format everytime - I don't think it matters that much.

Definitely! Then let her out later - when she's quiet.

She might be crying when she needs to go when she's in the laundry but not in the house because the laundry is her 'den'...and she's loath to toilet in her den. Same for crate/pen training - my pup would scream to get out of his pen to go to the toilet but would happily toilet on the carpet in the lounge with no warning - I second some of the advice mentioned above. I would take my pup out when he cried (at around 6am)...business like approach. Then straight back to bed (him and me!). I'd let him out when we got up around 7.30 am.

Two thoughts.. 1. She needs to go to the toilet at 7am. 2. You've trained her for the last 4 weeks that crying at 7am gets her what she wants.

hehe - paw paw for their poor paws.

These 2 sites suggest it's not a good idea. http://www.helium.com/items/717315-home-ma...lthy-dog-treats http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/dog-food--vegetables I have no personal experience myself.

Cool - no problem. No offence meant. Good luck...I know my pup drove me insane for a little while pulling on his lead!

It sounds like your OH has taught her that pulling gets her where she wants to go - even if it is unpleasant, she still gets there. Have you tried the old 'stand still as soon as there is tension on the lead' method? Shoveling treats into her as she walks by your side? From a couple of your comments (and I could be wrong) - I get the impression you've been trying to get her to walk on a loose lead by ever increasing intensity leash jerks. So now you want to up the intensity by introducing a prong collar. You mentioned you were trained as an obedience instructor many moons ago - perhaps methods have changed since then - maybe another method might work better.

Yup. I think this was one of the problems I caused.

There's a method using a mat detailed here: I haven't tried teaching it to my pup yet.

I haven't seen any of these... A couple of Dunbar ones here: http://www.caninetrainingsystems.com/products.php plus Leerburg: http://leerburg.com/301.htm and CAMP REWARD FOR AGGRESSIVE DOGS DVD - http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB831