wuffles

Mine go crazy over Royal Canin medium puppy kibble.

Mine is 6 months old and has been bathed three times - each because she has been playing in mud She gets a brush a few times a week. Our older boy hasn't been bathed in a few months! He is starting to get a bit whiffy though We use Aloveen also.

My big dog stalks in play and when greeting other dogs and he is nothing but friendly. Just like you can't blame small dogs for being scared or running away, you can't blame herding dogs for herding! I do agree that dogs should be kept under control, no matter what size they are. I don't expect them to be perfect, because they are dogs after all, but I at least expect owners to care

Good point, our older dog is top dog (behind us) and our younger doesn't challenge him. Maybe it would be different if I thought they would actually fight over the toys.

We have a resource guarder who isn't interested in the toys until the puppy has them I don't know if this is correct, but when I introduce toys I play with them along with the dogs, and encourage them to share with each other and me. I do this the first few times the new toys are played with. After this it seems their "newness" has worn off and the resource guarder isn't interested anymore. He does get an "uh-uh" if he starts to guard and is then encouraged to share. On the positive side, it has taught the puppy not to go and steal things from older dogs ;)

My Ava has strange but pretty markings

I love doggies with tuxedos

Ava is the same, they always tell us to "relax" the puppies by patting them but Ava just squirms and stares at the treat bag when I try

Bwahaha! I have to say that the at first our decision to opt for Sunday was: "Hmm, when we start work again, if we work late or there are traffic jams (all those stupid road works in Canberra right now!!) then we might be late." Then it was: "Oh gawd, standing around at night in the cold and the dark. Brrr!" We're hoping Sunday morning will at least be sunny even if it's quite cold. I was amused when the info pack said: "Class will continue even if there is rain." My OH and I will need to buy raincoats now just in case because doing obedience with a brolly just wouldn't work ... The week before last we trained in the rain It was bloody freezing, couldn't feel my hands. The dogs didn't seem to mind, although they got very dirty, and lots (including my little princess) wouldn't drop on the wet grass. Then we let them have a play afterwards, there was a lot of mud......... but they are puppies ;)

Not sure how much the heartworm vacc costs, but I pay about $35 for 6 Interceptor Spectrum tablets online. That's $70 for a whole year of intestinal and heartworming :rolleyes:

I am always teaching a few things at once or at least refining a few things at once. Just make sure you only do short sessions and if she starts to get confused, move on to something else. She is only 8 weeks old so you are expecting too much wanting her to drop without a lure. There is nothing wrong with luring while they are still a puppy. My girl learnt to drop without the lure just before 5 months old, and I am the only one in our obedience class who has managed to achieve this so far My big boy, 5 years old, never learned :rolleyes:

I don't think anyone thinks that being a SAHM is a bad thing! I think people just get upset because most people don't "choose" to work full-time, it's just that they can't afford not to. I know I'd love to be able to stay at home with my dogs more often (and be a SAHM if I had kids) but our mortgage eats up nearly one of our salaries :D We started off with an older dog from rescue because we didn't want a puppy while we were working full-time. We did get a puppy later on, but she has had the older dog to keep her company while we're gone

I agree with what Greytmate is saying. There are a few breeds that I love, love, love, I love everything about them. Yet our current situation was not right for these breeds. We compromised. First we got an adult rescue dog with an even temperament. He's a great dog and was a great introduction to dog ownership (as an adult). Then, two years later, we added a puppy - still a lovely dog from a lovely breed, but not my absolute favourite breed of all time. She has turned out brilliantly but is HEAPS more work than our rescue boy and would likely be too much work for most households.

I was wondering whether standing up would help? If he wants to rough and tumble on the couch, but every time he tries, you stand up and ignore him (maybe back to him), he might realise he doesn't get rewarded? It would take lots of persistence though! Ava is 6 months old and we have problems with over-excitement too. Puppies are so much fun aren't they

To me that's a backyard breeder, albeit on a smaller scale than some and not the same as puppy farms. Someone else would take the free puppy if I didn't, so I don't feel they need rescue. If people thought that it would be too hard to rehome accidental litters, there would probably be less of them. If the owner was going to do something like shoot them if they didn't find homes, I'd do my best to get them into rescue and they would all be desexed before going to new, thoroughly vetted homes.

I paid $800 for my purebred working breed, both parents completely health tested (hips/elbows, eyes, genetic disorders). I'm pretty sure my breeder made no profit whatsoever from her litter. My mutt was $250 from rescue and he came desexed, vaccinated, with basic training. I would NEVER buy from a backyard breeder when there are so many beautiful dogs in rescue. I wouldn't even take one for free! I think a lot of dogs are crossed because they "look cuter" and "special" to the Average Joe wanting to buy a dog. Even if you read the threads on this forum about 'what dog should I get', most of them discount the best breed for them due to looks. Maltese x shihtzu are fluffy little things with sweet features. Pug x whatever I personally find not so attractive, but so many people I know think their funny looks are really cute.

Ha, I was so confused when I kept seeing the name Ava used and it wasn't about my girl :D I did puppy school then obedience for our Ava. I was only going to do obedience school, but the season didn't start until she was something like 16 weeks old, and I wanted to get her out and doing something before then - so puppy school it was. I have trained our older dog previously, so just used puppy school for socialisation. She graduates from beginner's obedience this weekend

"Special" indeed Lottie looks really Aussie-ish if you know what I mean. Her merling, her shape and her lovely eyes just all scream Aussie.

Lottie is so beautiful

Just make sure you have a "normal" lock on your door. Our door has a lock that kind of "sticks out" into the frame which stops the Pig in Mud door sitting up against the frame

Same here. It's just water!

Ava is also on medium breed and aussies are usually bigger than borders. I know that Ava was heaps bigger than Mars at the same age. She's now 17kg at 6 months old, she doesn't have that much more growing to do. Boys are bigger though so who knows. Yep I am hoping to do one at Binalong depending on when the next one is Ava's recall is good, but around sheepies I don't expect her to listen much at all the first go!

Awww, aussies rock! Ava is pretty extreme on the energy/crazy scale, even for an aussie. She is so great to train, though. I'm hopefully going to take her to a herding clinic later in the year, maybe Mars would like to learn what to do with the sheepies too?

Joint Guard has definitely made a difference for our boy who was exhibiting mildly sore hips after exercise/play. I don't think I've seen him look sore or limp since we started giving him Joint Guard. We also took some weight off him, we keep him at the top end of underweight, if that makes sense

Sorry, no advice here, just wanted to say we have a toller down the road that is obsessed with sticks! He even carried a fence paling that he found all the way back from his daily walk one day