wuffles

Doesn't sound all that bad to me, sounds like a beginners class. I often treat my puppy when she does something I like without me asking. If she comes to me and sits, this is a behaviour I want to continue happening, so she gets a treat. If she is lying down calmly in the lounge room, sometimes she gets a treat just for being calm. When she takes herself outside to wee, she gets praised and treated. This method works VERY well Occasionally I've gotten angry and yelled at her, and she starts to shy away - definitely not something I want to happen - she responds much better to a gentle "no", distract, and give her something better to do. Many beginner dogs would run off to say hello to strangers in a recall (my older dog had terrible recalls, he would still do the occasional fly-by in advanced classes, but if I'd punished him "occasional" would have become "all the time"). That's why they're at a training class, to learn!

Did you teach Ava to wee inside??? :D ;) I have just started using White King triple enzyme soaker in my mop bucket - hopefully that might work? If nothing else, my mop should be nice and white! Cheeky Our green carpet is obviously similar to grass, but she's a smart girl so she was fine after the first 2 weeks

I used the Biozet Attack a few times for our new puppy, she never showed any interest in going in the same place again. My older dog didn't either, although he would rather be poked in the eye than have to pee inside

I'd give his eyes a wipe with warm, salty water a few times a day. Edit: teekay beat me to it!

I have a 4 month old Aussie pup who is hopefully going to be a great little obedience/agility dog when she gets older. I'm an absolute novice so we'll see how we go One thing the breeder could tell me about Ava from a young age was that she was eager to please, this really stands out to me as a trait that will be good for training later. If I run around the yard pointing at places or items, she follows me enthusiastically, checks out or picks up the items, goes around things if I indicate, jumps into the garden beds if I've pointed to them, and generally does everything that's asked of her She is definitely naughtier than we expected, and an absolute bundle of energy, but her desire to please makes her quite easy to live with most of the time ;) Our older dog is definitely a "couldn't care less" dog so the difference between him and the puppy is amazing.

I usually don't mind well-behaved, well-supervised, dog savvy kids at dog parks, but to be honest, I have had to leave the dog park a few times before because kids have been there. I have no kids of my own yet so probably less tolerant than others ;) One of my dogs is 37kg without much self awareness, and he could do a heap of damage bowling over kids by accident. The other is just a pup, so does a lot of silly things, and I don't want her puppy teeth or enthusiasm to get us into trouble. I think if I had kids, I'd only take them in there if the park was very quiet. Also, I have had some bad experiences where kids who seem well behaved at first, do things to my LARGE dog like physically open his mouth, throw a ball at his head, crawl underneath him, pull his tail and even HIT HIM. He is SO tolerant and I trust him 100% but IMO he shouldn't have to put up with that. I know all kids are not like this but I have had too many bad experiences to scare me off, so I now tend to avoid the park when kids are in there

He would definitely chase and grab a small animal, not sure if he'd know what to do with it at the end, but I'm not testing that theory It's pretty much impossible to break his stare if he sees a cat, he is similarly interested in ducks, kangaroos, etc. He is fine with small fluffy dogs thankfully I haven't had him from a puppy so it's possible he had experiences as a puppy that I don't know about.

My older dog isn't interested in any ball or toy I throw, he's never retrieved anything in his life. However, he does have a high prey drive, he likes to chase other dogs and I wouldn't put him anywhere near other small fluffy creatures. Is there an explanation for this?

Not sure but my Aussie pup was fetching and returning the item when we got her at 12 weeks. She isn't obsessive about it, though. My older dog (GSD x?) doesn't even look at the item you're throwing He does like to chase other dogs.

I'm all for conservative treatment, but as far as I understand, cruciate ligaments aren't something that you can just hope gets better. You can rehabilitate, but the ligaments don't "heal" as such and will result in chronic instability issues, arthritis and possibly further damage to the other structures of the leg... I would think an active dog like a koolie would most likely have issues down the track? I'm not fully aware of the differences between canine and human cruciate ligament injuries but I am getting cruciate ligament surgery in the upcoming months and trust me, I would have opted for conservative treatment if it was a realistic option. I feel for you and your dog, as it truly is a nasty injury

Bitter spray doesn't stop our puppy eating the carpet square from the kennel :D We have an old trampoline bed with a hessian cover. It gets chewed but lasts, and the hessian is cheap as chips to replace. To be honest both the dogs prefer to sleep in holes they've dug in the yard

Our Satchmo is a 37kg boofer mutt! We use Sentinel Spectrum for worming (and fleas which are not a problem in our area) which costs about $13/month. I'd say food costs definitely depend on the dog. Satch eats like a supermodel, 1 cup of Royal Canin per day plus chicken frames/wings and treats. I would say about $50/month to feed which is pretty generous. Our 16 week old Aussie pup costs more to feed than him

Thanks guys, she is a stunner, and very, very cheeky too. The Ark, pics of her brothers very welcome for comparison You're lucky to have Dragon instead of Ava because you'd never get her to stand still for even 5 seconds

Yes I guess the word can sound pessimistic, I don't mind pointing it out to people though just so they know it's not what most Aussies look like She is happy and healthy and very true to her breed in every other way. She's hopefully going to make a great little obedience and agility dog when she grows up

Everyone loves puppies so I thought I'd post some photos of our very sweet Aussie pup, Ava. She is just under 4 months old. We just adore her! She is mismarked but obviously still gorgeous!

I Dug! "Hey, I know a joke! A squirrel walks up to a tree and says, "I forgot to store acorns for the winter and now I am dead." Ha! It is funny because the squirrel gets dead."

I've never really minded as I always saw it as a fairly normal behaviour I am far from an expert though. And no, my dog doesn't do it!

As much as I hated it, I also had to go to work leaving a buckethead at home.... I left him outside (where he usually is when I'm at work) and came home at lunch to check on him the first few days. I found that outside was safer for him because there was more room and less things to run into (like doorways) or get caught on. I guess it depends how Grumpy handles the bucket, Satchmo really didn't care it was there after a few days. Every time I came home to check on him he was fast asleep in his kennel.

I know two japanese spitz -- one of them is such a lovely little girl, happy and playful, quite active but also happy to chill inside. Her owners have put a lot of effort into training her and socialising her and it's really paid off as she is so delightful! She's also very trainable although does have an independent streak. Everyone who meets her loves her. The other I know is a nice dog as well but he was a pet store puppy and has not been socialised He's quite wary of strangers and other dogs, but does warm up rather quickly. He's still a cute fluffball, and happy to play with known friends. I'm not a "small dog" person but I do really like this breed

I have a Canon 1000D which is the most basic (and cheapest) Canon DSLR. I got the twin lens kit with IS which is great. As a beginner I love it. The quality is so far above any compact digital cameras I have used and it does everything I want, mainly taking dog photos. I went into a camera store and played around with all the models, researched the features and differences online, etc. In the end I went with the 1000D because I didn't need any of the extra features the better models had.

A mixture at our puppy preschool but no oodles! Australian Shepherd (ours) German Shepherd Labrador Lowchen (this made me excited) Maltese x shih tzu Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (pet shop) Pug x beagle

Do you have any Wandering Jew weeds in your yard? These seem to be the main culprit for contact allergies around here. Our puppy (14 weeks) itches more when she has been running around in the grass/weeds but not excessively. How about washing powder, try changing to something milder or natural. I have an itchy dog at home so I know it is a horrible thing to deal with

Congrats on your new puppy! It's great to have two dogs that enjoy each other's company. I'd suggest feeding the puppies separately for the time being so that they don't have to compete. Ava and our older dog will try to eat each other's food if we feed them together (and the older dog always wins) so we feed her in her crate and him outside or in a different room. It's good to give them their own space when eating.

Hi Costa's Mum - we had the same plans as you, to let Ava sleep in her crate in the lounge room. We set up her crate next to our current dog's bed in there. However, we've had her for two weeks now and she's been crated in the bedroom overnight since we got her Not only did she scream in the lounge room (our poor older dog had no idea what was happening), but I found that I couldn't hear her stirring during the night. That made me really paranoid, and I couldn't sleep! While she is still little, I feel better knowing that if she needs to go out, I will hear her and can get up and let her out.

Satchmo loves apple. A lady was eating an apple at the dog park once and couldn't work out why he was following her around. She kept saying "I don't have any treats!" but she did without knowing it