FionaC

We also go to Hillsborough All Breeds Dog Training Club - only just started (today was our 2nd week) but quite impressed with it so far - lots of lovely people and great dogs ... the trainers seem really nice as do the other volunteers working around the place, best of all plenty of space, room to sit in the shade if your not participating as well .... Morty seems to enjoy himself as well which is the key for us ... They also have an Agility class that runs midweek at the same location - have to have a certain level of obedience though to participate and must be over 12mths old (they made an announcement today so that's why I remember the details) but we will be working towards Morty being able to go there as well .... Also saw some other DOL'ers there as well - I've met 1 and spotted another 1 from the photos of her dog that are posted here ..... I'm sure there are a few others around the place but you kinda feel odd walking up to someone and saying "are you a DOL'er?"

Yup it was available from the end of October 08..... I think mine came home late Nov/early December ..... soooooooo pretty!

Run free beautiful ones .... :rofl:

Hey Anna - when you come East so Ollie can play with Morty can you just bring that one with you - I'll have my fork ready

Just wanted to say thanks to those that posted above and to those that sent me PM's We called several mentioned above but they were already fully booked .... so we then actually went south to Lakes Canine Lodge & Spa (which has been recommended several times on threads on DOL) and where the OH can drop him in on his way to work ..... We are heading down before Easter to check it out but from the feedback I've read here and from talking to Amanda today on the phone it sounds great ..... So we are covered for the long weekend! Thanks again everyone

Wow Meg - that place looks fabulous! I've got some serious decision making to do!

I just checked out the one at Woodberry online and the pictures on the website looks great and they have nice big runs (on grass) and do cat boarding as well .... mmmmmm thats definitely a contender! thanks

*bump*

We're heading to Port Stephens for the Easter Weekend and as the place we are staying in is in a National Park then Morty has to go into boarding for 4 nights ..... His breeder is in Sydney so that's not an option and we'd prefer as much as possible (providing it is a good place) to board him locally to Newcastle or on the way to Port Stephens... Has anyone had any experience with the kennels around this area? - I could try his vet but he is a very suburban vet and I don't think Morty will have the opportunity to stretch his legs much being boarded there (they are brilliant for Talin the cat but he doesn't require room for zoomies like Morty does) .... I've seen online there is one up near Port Stephens called CEJ's and they answered my email and questions and they look ok on their website but if anyone had any personal recommendations we'd be open to them ..... Thanks in advance (oh and I've already done a search on DOL and found a thread from late last year about the same area but most suggestions were for boarding locations south of Newcastle, I'm hoping there might be some new suggestions or feedback for places north) Fiona & Morty

Oh and re: Gundogs and small animals ..... This was last night ... (poor little fella didn't have much luck in being tall enough to return the obligatory butt-sniff though) (excuse the darkness in the photo but it was getting late)

I'm with FHRP - Mort is easy to train once you get him to focus (but he is only 6 months old) - he likes to learn and to be kept busy and he loves to get things right and once he knows the commands he will do them like a shot when you say them to him .... I think Gundogs (although I can only speak for 1 GSP here) are a very intelligent group as such (even though they do some stoopid things!) I just wish mine would use his powers for good instead of evil :D As for small animals - Mort lives with Talin our cat - they are not left alone however but he is getting better at not following Talin around so much .... Mort unfortunately really likes Talin but Talin really dislikes Mort (he dislikes other cats and dogs so its really nothing personal) - so its a challenge... - as for small fluffies ... Mort plays with anyone at the beach that will run with him - on Friday evening that also included 1 pug and 2 toy poodles along with the other larger dogs ...

Here is my contribution to today's photos This is piggy Morty loves his piggy - piggy was pink, piggy is also starting to lose some of his stuffing, poor piggy Nikon D90 18-55mm VR ISO 800 Cropped, exposure played with and sharpened a little before posting as it was taken inside on manual and the flash washed out the colours a bit

Morty Nikon D90 18-55mm lense 400 ISO

Here is mine Technically it is today as it was about 2 minutes past midnight at the fireworks off Newcastle ..... This was my first attempt at fireworks shots and many were terrible - this is still not a great fireworks shot but I was on the other side of the harbour to the fireworks - maybe 500m away and I didn't have a tripod so I was holding it still in my hands.... Camera: Nikon D90 Lense - 55-200mm VR Not sure how to get the rest of the info etc

The one thing I learnt very early when we first got Mort is that puppies spend a lot of time sleeping during the day - yes they like to play and run about but they sleep a lot as well .... from 2 days after Mort came home to us both my partner and I had to go back to work - M-F 8am - 6pm the house was empty - Mort adapted just fine - we had him in the backroom with his bedding, an indoor toilet, water, toys and the radio on for company .... he did fine - in fact when we introduced him to our neighbour a few weeks later she had no idea we even had a dog cause she hadn't heard him at all during the day ...... what we did do though is got a bit novel with how to feed him his middle of the day meal - we made food iceblocks (that had sufficiently melted enough by lunch that he could eat the food inside) or hid a treat ball or two around the place, frozen kongs with peanut butter inside is another trick - that way he had food in the middle of the day whilst we were out (and for the first couple of days my dad was able to drop over and check on him in the middle of the day) Because we got Mort 2 weeks earlier than we had originally planned for he was out of schedule with our holiday plans (we'd taken time off for a break and to get him settled) so by the time we actually had our holiday he was well into the routine of us going out and leaving him (without any real fuss) I'd just make sure the pup is safe, has things to do & has a comfy bed to sleep on .... then they will get plenty of exercise when you are home and you are playing with them....

Mort is getting a Reindeer costume and a fluffy Christmas collar (the latter if we can't get him used to the costume in time for him to actually wear it for 5 minutes) and a Giant Flea toy ... plus he is coming to my folks place for lunch so he will get some nice veggies and gravy and bits and pieces for lunch .....

same for me

Cost wise - I just bought a brand new Nikon D90, dual lense kit, UV filter, extended warrenty and 8 gig memory card for $1864 .... I bargained hard and Rugerfly helped me with some pricing in Sydney to get places to price match to up here and they did

For the last 48hrs I have owned a Nikon D90 and I love it! I bought the double lense kit and its been great so far ..... So I would say my loyalities (although new) lie firmly in the Nikon camp

Neutering removes the testes and from what I understand this has little or no influence on their ability to have an erection

ditto for me, my pup will scoff food down in a heartbeat so freezing the frames makes it harder work for him - plus he is teething at the moment and the cold frame on his gums is probably quite nice and soothing for him.....

I think it really depends on the definition of vigorous Mort my GSP is 16 weeks old - today we had a walk of a bit over 1hr .... but it was at a Farmers Market - every 2m we had to stop cause someone wanted to pat him or ask questions about him .... so I don't consider that vigorous for him at all ..... but it engaged both his body and mind which is what he needs Usually we take him for a 15-20minute walk in the morning and then to the park for 1/2hr or so of fetch/sniffing around/meeting other dog time in the evening, on weekends he gets a bit longer with a beach trip or the Farmers Market .... We have built up to this level and will continue to increase it slowly as he gets older and as he shows that he needs more, we don't run him ragged until he drops, he doesn't limp or have a lack of strength in his rear end and we are first time puppy owners as well .... Personally I'd not be offended if someone came up to me and asked me questions about Mort in the manner you've said you did .... this is my first pup and I'm learning as I go so I'll take all suggestions on board.... however suggestions made by someone who was an owner, breeder or experienced specifically with the GSP breed would probably carry more weight than a general comment on the level of exercise for all puppies....that would be logical I would think. In my case if someone made a general comment I'd probably followup with someone with that experience and run it by them before I'd make any changes to Mort routine

owwww poor Ollie good thing the other end is sooo darn cute! Morty is now on Royal Canin Large Breed Junior (he loves it and I am thrilled with how good he looks on it) - he gets that for breakfast, and for dinner he gets a full chicken frame, twice weekly raw egg, daily fruit or veg as well (plus Fish Oil daily and 1 Vit E every 2 days) ... he is nice and lean, good coat and growing steadily ..... I think its been a few weeks since I noticed a fart ...... and he tends to time them for when he is in the car (captive audience) To stop him from hoovering down the dry food in the morning we put it all into a treat ball and leave it with him - stops the gulping and keeps him occupied for an hour rolling it around the floor to get his breakfast and since he is inside when we are at work for around 8hrs a day its good to keep him busy with things like this

We are at week 3 of a 4 week puppy pre-school with Mort and we're really enjoying it. There were 7 dogs at the beginning (all purebreds with 6 large breeds and 1 mini poodle) ... they gave us a book with the run downs of each class and homework each week, we were taught things like - how to handle/groom, clipping nails, diet, exercise (especially with large breeds), socialisation, vaccinations and we went through the basics for training. In the first week they let 2 off at a time for some leash free run around but we had to leave the leads on and we were asked to grab our pup every 20 seconds or so and say "gotcha" just to make it less tense ... the little poodle didn't get leash free time with the bigger dogs but she got to go around by herself whilst the others were on their mats.... 2nd week they all got a few minutes off lead together and they had a ball, the quieter ones went by themselves whilst Mort and another little boy Archie played like little boofheads! Our classes are outside so there is plenty of space... we all had to do a presentation on our breed this week including the negatives which was really interesting and each week we get something (first week it was the worming/flea pack, 2nd week it was a grooming comb, this week it was a toy) The trainer has spoken about desexing (1 member of our group has plans to BYB her GSD's ) and general health care but there has been no selling of products, food etc Its been quite enjoyable, Mort hasn't learnt anything really as we were already doing the sit/stay/fetch/drop etc before we started but it has been great socialisation for him and we have met some really nice people who live locally and we're set up a few playdates for the pups as they enjoy each others company and we all know that a tired dog is a good dog and if you can get someone else's dog to tire them out then thats even better

Mort was out being socialised with us from 8 weeks of age... he was heavily socialised from that point onwards at the breeders recommendation (who is also a vet), we avoided high dog areas such as parks and off leash areas and the local dog beach and we took him places to meet dogs that we knew were full vaccinated..... he went to the shops, to the local primary school and to the local police station (amongst other places) he went to the beach at 11 weeks of age - however he was carried down onto the sand and it was a people beach (not a dog beach) and we kept him under the high tide mark .... we observed him carefully over this period for any signs of illness etc He had his 2nd needle at 12 weeks right before his first puppy class and our vet told us that in 1 week he would be fine to go out amongst regular dogs, parks etc. I thought that he had to have another one at 16 weeks but the vet told me that because of the type of vaccination that they use the at this clinic the 16 week vaccination at this vets is optional (or dependant on what age and type the first vaccination is - they also do Titre testing and have interesting opinions on vaccination schedules and over vaccinations etc which I appreciate and am learning more and more about myself) and he is not now due for another one until 15 months... It was a calculated risk I guess but seeing Mort with others his age at puppy pre-school, he is the most well adjusted of the lot of them, he is friendly and knows how to greet other dogs properly and is lovely to take places, he isn't hiding under our chairs, growling and barking continuously at other dogs in the class like a couple of the others still are ..... I believe it was worth it especially since he is a large breed and I wanted him to be essentially bombproof by the time he is fully grown