sheena

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.

When we go out that way we stay at the Pembroke Caravan Park with two dogs. It is a very nice park but you have to keep your dogs on leads. There is also Camp Tailwaggers on the Gold Coast. We also stay at the Gumtrees Caravan Park at Manilla. Same thing, dogs on leads but there is a sports oval next door. It is on the Namoi River, & very nice people

Don't you just love it when the same old DOL's keep bagging your posts without even reading the original post. If you can't read then I am not going to repeat myself, you are not even worth wasting my typing finger power on. I was asking for people's observations if they have had their dogs on the food for a long time Yes, they are also on Advantix & I would not be stupid enough to take them off it, in fact I am about to start them on Proban as well just to make doubly sure....as I do every year, but Advantix & Proban do not repel the ticks. The ticks still have to get on the dog & bite, then, hopefully die & fall off. It is just so nice this year that I am not confronted with the task of pulling dozens of ticks off them each night, just a couple if that..Much nicer for the dogs too, not to have the continual itch of ticks.

Proban has been discontinued cause the manufacturer says it can't source the main ingredient. Strange, it is still being produced overseas.

Comfortis for fleas & Advantix for ticks (providing you don't have a cat). You can buy the biggest size of both & break them up to make it more economical. The Advantix I squirt into a very small container & put the correct amount into a small syringe which you get from the chemist.

The ticks are really bad here atm. We just lost a little calf, just one week old We havn't lost a calf for at least 15 years, so it is looking like a very bad season. A neighbour lost a mature cow. We search the dogs at least once a day & are surprised by what we are not finding.

Has anybody else that has been feeding this food (BH) over a long period also made this observation?? I have just been talking to a friend who has miniature ponys & even though he is also in a very bad tick area, he never gets them on his ponies or his dog. He puts it down to the bore water they drink, which contains sulphur & the dog loves to swim in the water troughs. Thought I might get some feed sulphur & start introducing it to my dogs. I have used it in the past to repel lice from the chooks. But if this is a bonus for feeding BH, then I am overjoyed

My girls favourite toy too, till it stopped chirping. I ordered a couple more yesterday, so she will be pleased She also likes those talking babbling balls.

My girl used to do this in class when we first started agility & almost got banned, till I started taking along a squirt bottle & letting her have a well timed squirt when naughty & treats when she was good. It didn't take her long to catch on to which one she preferred & just knowing I had the squirt bottle was a good enough deterent. Of course, I didn't know anything about LAT in those days but practice it now with her & she is going well But for a quick fix...the old water bottle plus treats. Sounds to me that the puppy needs to go back to basic foundation training for puppies.

I love this idea, I would definitely buy this. I'm generally a bit wary about using shocks on dogs but avoiding the dangers of a snakebite are definitely worth a quick shock. I have put it in the hands of my very clever genius of a sister who is always looking for a challenge...but I wouldn't hold my breath. I was also thinking, why not use one of those static mats & put the rubber snake on it...dog goes towards snake & puts foot on mat gets a static shock. Problem is, I guess the rubber snake would trigger the static shock, being on top of it. ETA.... I just got a reply from her to say she is already working on the idea....if anybody could do it, she can...she is a very clever sister in the fields of electronics & sensors

Don't know of any trainers, but you could get hold of some realistic rubber snakes & teach your dogs to "leave it"...might be a start. What would be good, would be someone invent a realistic looking rubber snake & have it battery operated/remote controlled, so it moves & when touched it gives an electric shock. Any good inventers out there, I reckon it would be a good seller ETA Charley gets snake trained

Speaking from our own experience, the cat food by the 20 kilo bag is usually only a few dollars dearer than the dog food, but the distributors usually bag it down, as not too many people want a 20 kilo bag for their cat. From us, the bagged down cat food is the same price as the bagged down dog or puppy, but by the 20 kilo bag it is $5.00 dearer than the dog & the same price as the puppy.

Nope....it's just something that comes naturally to them once they get over any fear they might have of the water.

No exactly an old dog, but a 7 month old pup. The first few times we just held him on the steps & then put him on a lead & swam him around. Now he is obsessed with swimming, so much so that last time we tried to have a swim,(without dogs) he tried almost successfully, to jump/climb over the pool fence We still havn't decide what to do with him next time we take the plunge. The older girl will go out with the board riders & body surf the waves in, but I am not too keen on this...sort of imagine her being shark bait.

Someone conducted a poll on this just recently...is this any help???? http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/228258-what-brand-of-dry-food-do-you-feed-your-dog/

I feed my two BC's a popular brand of "Holistic" dog kibble. The 4 yo girl has been on it for about 7 - 8 months now & the 7 mo puppy has been on it since we brought him home...so most of his life. I read up on what the term "Holistic" dog food means & it said that it treats the whole dog including parasites. Well I am usually a BIG sceptic & was just happy that my dogs liked it & did well on it with nice shiny coats. Always, in the past, at this time of the year my girl is getting covered with ticks despite being on Advantix & Proban & they drive her & me mad. The ticks are still about, as they are crawling on us & are on the cows & calves, probably more so than usual. But I am not finding many on the dogs, maybe one or two a day but that's all & I still havn't started them on Proban only the Advantix. Is it possible that something in the feed is helping to repel them, or my other school of thought is that they have more oil in their coats which is helping the Advantix to work more efficiently despite them swimming almost daily.

Here is a video showing the result of "shaping" our puppy to stay, rather than using physical means like holding collar or tying up. He is 7 months & yes, I know he is a BIG puppy

Thanks for that - I have been reading as much as I can since I found it. Now I am not sure that it would be a paralysis tick as we are in Queanbeyan (near Canberra) and the pooch was found in Bungendore. So perhaps it is a cattle tick or some other tick?? It sure looks like the picture of a partly engorged paralysis tick. I will keep an eye on him and take him to the vets first thing in the morning as he seems OK in himself (no symptoms of any kind) We have most of the tick species here on the NSW North coast & the paralysis tick we get is a light slatey grey in colour & is always firmly imbedded, whereas the other ticks are easy to pull off. I just grab the tick down low as possible & pull it out. I have been told not to put anything on the tick to try & kill it, as this just makes it pump more poisen in before it dies.

I taught my BC pup to stay by using his dinner. First time I fed him, I showed him the food dish & held it away from him till he offerred "sit", then I immediately clicked & put it on the floor for him to eat. Next meal, same thing, but this time he had to sit a little longer while I lowered the dish a bit further, before I clicked & quickly put it on the floor. Each time getting a little closer to the floor, making sure I rewarded him BEFORE he had a chance to break. It only took a few goes, before I could lower the dish slowly right to the floor while he waited. Then dish on floor, puppy waiting 2 seconds etc, then next time a bit longer. About this time I introduced his release word. Of course if he moved at all during any of this, the dish was quickly removed. It only took about a week & I had him sitting (without asking) & putting his dish down several metres from him, with the other dog hovering (behind a barrier), me doing all sorts of dances & talking to the fairies for up to 30 seconds & he would wait rock solid till I released him. He is now 7 months old & I can put him in a wait, stay 40 meters away & for at least two minutes. I must add, that as well as his food, he was taught from day one, to wait to be released from his crate, through a door, gate etc. I NEVER let him break his stay, if he does, which is rare, he gets put back. He has the most amazing start-line-stay with his agility foundation work, with a speedy release.

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BOINNNGGG!!!!!!!!!!!! :D So... snakes are pushed out of any sort of 'natural' habitat, and need to move elsewhere to find food/water/shelter. Where can they move? Backyards.That's all that's left. X 2 Plus along with more people, more suburbia, more garbage, more rats & mice therefor more snakes. Maybe things are becoming a little unbalanced in this modern trend to keep increasing our population, so we can have more growth, & more of the above which equals more snakes, like it or not, unless we discover some way to eliminate snakes then we will be taken over by rodents.

I found out about this six months ago & bought up as many bottles as I could afford that could safely be used by it's use-by-date. With two dogs, I will probably only get one season out of them though.

We had a pair of Guinea Fowl once, but the noise they made constantly, saw me leaving home with the pledge not to return till they were disposed of. I assume it was the male, kept attcking my dog as well.