wuffles

Mine are alone from 7:30am to 5pm so 9.5 hours. They get Kongs and treat toys which only last about 30 minutes. Then they have a play. My older boy sleeps a lot but the younger girl patrols the yard and chews her toys. Of course they would love it if we were home with them all day but the unfortunate reality is that we need to work to live!

I like The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller. It's quite easy to read and is set out nicely.

Gosh we are a bit deprived of trials down here No more obedience trials for the year, possibly some PM ribbon trials at the end of January. I'm away the whole of Feb on holidays so looks like we won't be competing until at least March

Your puppy lessons are definitely spot on

In summer, once a day. In winter, once every few days.

Hasn't made much of a difference here either. He is perhaps slightly calmer but still a panicky, stressing mess at a hint of thunder. To be honest the most effective thing we've found so far is turning the TV up really loud to drown out the sound!

This. Click the link to the off leash areas map. It makes it pretty clear

Isn't Filtabac zinc based? I've used that on horses, but they don't lick it off. Not sure. I've found that it's so thick that even if they give it a lick most of it tends to stay on. I only use it on the top of the nose and ears so they don't seem to eat much

I also use Filtabac and would highly recommend it

Does anyone have the schedule for the Manly trial in January that you could send me? I am interested in coming up from Canberra

Also, it's useful to get experienced people to have a look at what is happening to see what the intentions are. My girl has decided at 2 years of age that she does not like rudeness AT ALL. If a dog lunges at her, puts their head over her back, comes at her paws flailing, barks at her etc. she will growl and if they persist, snap. In no way, shape or form would I call her aggressive. She greets well mannered dogs very nicely.

I find it interesting lots of people are using the same descriptions but for completely different breeds :D

Well, people are generally going to get the type of dog they like, aren't they? My points relate to one of my dogs, but my other dog definitely doesn't fit them all. I still love him but he's not my ideal dog.

Cool Nik, when is it? No more trials here until January so that is most likely when we will have our first Open attempt I find with DC and DOR I still need to do a few quick exercises before I go in the ring, just at a short distance. I obviously have to work on her understanding of the exercise but if she's done at least a drop and sit from a few metres beforehand she tends to do it nicely in the run through. Otherwise I occasionally get the "I've never heard that command in my life" look

I have a quite lightly coated Aussie who is SO easy to manage. Not enough coat for the show ring but it's perfect for a pet. She gets a full brush after a bath (about once every 2-3 months) and a brush of her pants and behind the ears every few weeks. If she gets dirty I just wait for her to dry and she's squeaky clean again! Mine would probably be: Biddable and/or easy to motivate Relatively soft temperament but not timid Fun-loving and not too "serious" Active and agile Great with people and other dogs

My not-so-old boy (7) grumbles and mumbles and whinges for no apparently reason quite often, but not for anything like 2 hours When at the vet for his vaccinations and check up I mentioned this, she wasn't concerned. She said he was a bit stiff but didn't seem to be in any pain. However a few weeks later I took him to the chiro who said he felt extremely sore So after a few chiro visits along with some cartrophen injections he is obviously feeling a lot better and runs around like a young dog. Still grumbles a bit though

I did. I met a great breeder of a "slightly down the list" breed and the dog has turned out perfect for us in every way. And now of course I'm a breed convert. I ended up with an Australian Shepherd, initially I really wanted a Bearded Collie.

Yes thankfully we have breakaway tyres. And yes she has smashed straight through them and just keeps on going

We've had one agility run, which wasn't too bad, I think she just got a bit overwhelmed and decided to make up her own course a bit Let's not mention our lone Gamblers run either... (actually it wasn't that bad, didn't get the points but she did the gamble beautifully and in time so I can't complain too much). Ava is a definite bar knocker, her jumping style isn't very good so we are in the process of doing some grid work to try get her thinking about it a bit more. She jumps early and has no self preservation (hence injuring herself yesterday) and our big enemies are the spread and tyre. I like to call it the Superman Style. We are both still learning but were super happy to get two quallies at our second trial Well done with Trixie and hopefully the winning run continues!! We are also training for Open obedience in the New Year so lots of challenges in store for me in particular

Hehe it's ok, there are so many threads to follow and I can't remember which I've posted in! :p We have a Q in JD and SPD so far In our first trial she went clear until she knocked the last bar of the broad jump... which was the last obstacle!! Ohhh well, there will be plenty of trials next year! We've only done one full day trial and by the end of the day she was running much better. At first I think she wondered why she had to jump things instead of do obedience heelwork, as that's all we've done at those grounds in the past. Once she worked it out she was great.

Nah our 3rd, would have been our first run in JDO though! There's only one left for the year, a ribbon Pairs trial next week, so crossing fingers she will be fit for that one. She decided that jumping up a 1.2m retaining wall was a good idea... just clipped her back leg! .... I've never had any problems with her being scared of obstacles

How about adorable mismarks and their cheeky little blue merle brothers? ;) Ava loves to be where the action is but also loves a snuggle on the couch. She has a very soft personality but plays very rough with her friends. When she was younger she loved everyone and everything but these days she is more selective about her friends, both human and canine. She is soooo easy to train and just LOVES to please

We were meant to have a home ground trial tonight but I had to pull out because Ava was being an idiot yesterday and hurt herself Bugger.

I just did some shaping with 2-4 poles at the local oval and after a difficult first few minutes, she started to understand a lot better

Sounds good... any details?