sheena

It's made in Victoria, so the further away from Melbourne you get, the price changes, as the distributors have to cover the cost of their freight, which is not cheap. The freight prices keep going up with the rising price of fuel, but we try to absorb it as much as possible.

I got thinking this morning about the time before I entered my first trial & how it was so confusing not knowing what to do & OH suggested I add a page to my web site giving some hints for those considering trialling for the first time. Please feel free to take a look & see if you can give me anything to add, thinking back to when you first started trialing So You Want to Trial??

The amount on the packet is a recommendation only & every dog is different. If he is healthy & putting on weight then I wouldn't be worried. You could try mixing something with the kibble, like mince, sardines or egg to make it more desireable for him or maybe a bit of salt free, home-made chicken or beef stock. The amount recommended is also for those feeding 100% kibble, which in your case, he is getting other food as well.

I feed my two BC's turkey necks & wing bits & buy them from Woolies in NSW. They love them & will turn their noses up at Chicken.

Lovely pictures everyone Here's what my two do in the hot weather (or at anytime, actually )

A big whizzer should last a 5KG dog for hours, I dont think you would be dissapointed, my two Staffy's love them. Maybe just need to change your search terms in Google, try "bull chew" or "bull stick". My Staffy's know them as a "Pee Pee", but I wouldnt search on that. Now I am wondering what is in them! Just good old 100% bulls penis :D We waste nothing these days

OK...so I am going to get my Training DVD out today , but thought I would ask DOL's their experiences. Our big BC pup loves to tug, but just recently he has started going straight for the hands. Of course as soon as I see him making aa beligne for my hand I instinctively put it out of his reach, but I think this is only making him more excited & next time he jumps higher in anticipation. I tried saying "no" to him today, but then he lost interest in tugging all together & I don't want that. The tug has a well defined place for him to grab.

I have had "Tug More Learn More" which was a good DVD plus book by Kay Laurence. Among other things she goes into the importance of using flexible tug toys to minimise injury to the dog & to the handler.

Our first dog, because we didn't know anything different, we put a gate on each of the 6 poles so that she had to weave. We found this a really good method & soon had her going fast through the gates around the poles for a ball reward. Then we slowly removed the gates, leaving the first & last on for a while longer. We had the poles set up in the garden while we worked & being ball obsessed, every time she would pester us to throw the ball, we got her to do the weaves first. Worked like a charm, then we set them up at the gate & she would have to do them each time to earn the right to go for a run down the paddock. Our biggest problem with her at trials is that she is a "weave pole" & A Frame sucker most likely because she feels these are the most rewarded obstacles. The new pup we are teaching 2 x 2 & we would like for him to learn the one step eventually.

I'm really happy for you... My dog had a big tick on her a couple of years ago. We used Frontline Plus every two weeks, but due to her long coat failed to spot the tick on her ribcage, until it was almost fully engorged. I removed it and rang the vets. Can you believe they told me to just keep an eye on her until she showed any symptoms. I lived in northern NSW at the time, in a relatively remote area, so only had two vets within a 30km radius to choose from. I was also 6 months pregnant! I insisted on her receiving the anti-venine - before the sign of symptoms. They begrudgingly did so, and I took her home immediately after administration because they wanted to keep her o'night, however no-one would be there to monitor her!!!! In fact, I had to barge into the rear of the surgery and whisk her away, fighting off the vet in the carpark as I did so. In the end I didn't have to pay for any of the 'treatment', and that vet was soon discharged from the practice. My dog had very slight symptoms over the next 24hrs, lethargy mostly, which could have been from the anti-venine, however I didn't have to stress too much, waiting for potentially severe symptoms to arise (which would also cost stacks more $). Vets make more $ out of very sick dogs! One must note - the tick poison is released on removal of the tick. The act of the tick detatching from the animal causes it to release the venom!!! When you have lived with paralysis ticks for thirty odd years, like we have on a farm....the idea of giving your dog antivenom, just because you found a tick on it is ridiculous & could well have compromised your dogs life. I have never heard of the tick releasing the venom upon removal either. If you put something on it to kill it, it will, or if you squeeze it, it probably will, but if you remove it correctly & quickly there is no possible way the tick can give more venom. The only dog that I have had that got symptoms hours after removal was when the owner (my daughter) insisted on killing the tick first with tea tree oil. I don't envy the job of vets & their staff, sometimes dealing with some people You must have felt good when you got away without paying & felt extra good when the vet lost his job because he cared about your dog's well being. I am sorry, but this post made me see red

I have read that in early australian history, the Aboriginals used to prefer the Chinese as they tasted like pork.

I used to feed my BC girl VAN for about three years, plus meat, plus RMB's, plus supplements (livamol, joint guard, garlic powder & fish oil) & she did well on it, but I always had to mix something yummy in with it to get her to eat it. I only switched her when I found something better, something she loved to eat & was also good for her & I no longer had to add supplements. If I hadn't found this "other" food, I would definately still have her on VAN.

We very succesfully get housesitters from www.ausiehousesitters.com & have never been dissapointed. The ones we have had have done a great job & the dogs look forward to seeing them a second time round.

Yep....when the dog looks back at the stimulus, immediately click, she turns to you & you treat. The idea is that instead of the stimulus stressing the dog, it becomes part of the dogs "trick resume". Like when my dog knows I have treats, she will immediately start going through all the tricks she knows to get me to click & treat & "looking" at something has become, just another trick instead of being a boogy-man. If you click & the dog does not turn immediately back to you, then you have gone too far, too quick & need to back pedal. You don't need to tell your dog to look, but you can. But click & treat everytime she offers to look. You know you are getting somewhere when she looks at the stimulus & turns to you before you have time to click....BIG rewards for this, like SLOOOOOOOOOW TREATS Leslie says it is a good idea to incorporate other tricks your dog knows as well, so you might play a bit of LAT, then some hand touches, waves etc....do you get what I mean. I have the job of explaining this all to someone at training on Monday night & I am very nervous he wont "get it" or worse he will think I am mad. But I have already told him that most people who don't understand the principals of LAT think you are mad & lost your marbles....he looked at me very strange, like I had two heads.

Thanks Corvus, I had forgotten about the YouTube channel she has. I am getting a lot out of the book but I find her a bit irritating to watch. I just wish she would tie her hair back so I can see her face.

My dog freaks out when she finds a bit of gecko skin in the house, so not sure if it has a similar smell to snake, but normally live lizards don't scare her. She is very wary of anything snakeish. Next time I find a snake skin I will have to see what her reaction is. You could also pick up the next freshly run over snake you find on the road, & put it in the freezer for training. Might be an idea to carefully remove the head & discard it so the dog can't get to the venom.

Thanks I am looking you up ;)

Our Territory Ghia arrived yesterday & we are in Cricket's crate fits nicely in the back & the second row seats lie flat so Bindi will go in there with her seat belt on. It actually has 3 rows of seats but the others are stashed away under the cargo area. When Cricket grows out of the "I must destroy everything " stage, we wont need to use the crate & this will give us heaps more room.

LAT......I love it :D After all the flak I got from the others at training, my instructor wants me to explain the technique to a newcomer in the class who has a reactive BC. I know what I am doing myself, but to teach it to someone else Maybe I will start by printing out as much info as I can about it & handing it to him to read. :D

Does anyone know where to buy the Sensible Harness ??

Advantix is meant to repel them...but in the case of my dogs, it doesn't repel them but hopefully kills them after they have attached & bitten. Some products probably work differently on different dogs, that is why there are so many products out there. It is quite obvious to me, that the food my dogs have been on long term now is either repelling the ticks or helping the Advantix do it's job. Either way I am one happy person & have two very happy dogs.

That is incorrect. Advantix does repel ticks, you are mistaking the way it works with Frontline (where the tick has to attach in order to die). I would say it is your tick prevention product which is working to fight ticks rather than the dogs diet. ;) Clyde....Advantix does not repel ticks on my dog & I have been using it fortnightly for 4 years. If you read my original post you will see that I said that it probably does not repel because she is in swimming almost every day. And also if you read my original post you will also see that I stated that maybe the food has made her skin/coat oiler & therefor helped the Advantix to be more effective. With all due respects, I should know which product I am using. I have never used Frontline. Rebanne, I am glad the supermarket food is working well for your dogs, but I also have never had a problem with fleas. But I am not talking about fleas. BC Crazy, I am going to get some sulphur & start adding it to their food, as I used to use it effectively on the chooks. Someone else mentioned garlic...I used to add 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder daily to her food which back then was VAN but I found even after a couple of years that it had no effect on the ticks. But I have heard other people say they have had success, especially horse people.

I started training my puppy the day I got him home, using his food, crate door etc. & taught him to love the clicker, again using his food. He is nearly 8 months old now & has beautiful manners & rock solid stay.

I've had two of the Gentle Leader Harnesses now & couldn't be happier, but unfortunately the puppy has chewed both up. OH's fault for leaving them in reach. I keep saying that I must order another one, but then I live in hope that with ongoing training, he wont need it for much longer. I just use a head halter now if I want to get somewhere without him pulling when highly excited.

We get housesitters from Aussiehousesitters.com & couldn't be happier. We put an add in & had heaps to choose from, it was very hard to choose. Now we have an ongoing arrangement with the ones our dogs liked the best.