Dory the Doted One

Yep, the feathering. And there is no way she would sit still. No way. Even to trim her dew claws we have to surprise attack and hope you get enough off before she notices. Dart in, snip, dart out and distract. :laugh: They will just have to love her Au Naturelle. Like the rest of us. I do love her, but Lord alive she makes nothing easy. (Except the loving her bit. :D )

He is getting a bit nekkid, isn't he? I'm sure when it grows back in it will be simply glorious. :) The most fluff on Willow is her tail. I hope it doesn't get too long and daggy, really hate trimming tails. I mess it up every time.

Great! Feed time around here? Dory opens her crate door if it's not locked and then dives in. Willow stands there staring at you with her, "Are you going to hurry up or what?" look. (I swear she was a head mistress in a past life)

We've had more destruction. Willow has found my wool stash, thankfully only one ball has been lost. She looked so pleased sitting on the couch gnawing on it and it was not so much fun for me trying to untangle it from all the furniture. And then she has somehow managed to pull a venetian blind through a locked and closed dog door, which she has never used, and chewed up the blind. What happened to my cheeky puppy?

This was Willow on the weekend. I must borrow a better camera and get some nice shots.

That's what it feels like. It's hard to get the formula right. People complain because the puppies don't get to all be on the floor at once, too boisterous, not boisterous enough, too much training, not enough training, etc,etc.

Death of a Toilet Roll. I think we might be rescinding some of her privileges.

Not eating it?

Do people honestly think that just because someone is a Vet Nurse they automatically know nothing about dog behaviour and training? There are a lot of Vet Nurses out there who have done any number of behaviour courses/seminars etc, aside from training their own dogs. There is good and bad in every camp and there are plenty of 'dog trainers' out there with absolutely no clue either...and some of them have even done the limited courses that are available here in Australia.

:laugh: I need a new car too. Mine has been very, very faithful. But it's old and done a LOT of km's. I will need a new job before I will ever be able to afford a new car though, so we all squish into the one I have and hope it keeps being the faithful beast it has been. (I could do with less fuel useage though). It's tough trying to find a car that suits though. I want something that the dogs have their spot, which isn't separated from us. Is comfortable for dogs and people. Dory HATES utes and vans, she was only ever meant for a back seat (or a front seat if there is a passengers lap to sit on). Don't know how Willow would cope with a van or ute, I would imagine she'd take it in her stride. Although she'd get a bit sad face at not being able to throw things at me or slobber in my ear while I'm trying to concerntrate on driving. A car that is handy for shows/trials/general cartage of dogs where they might need to be kept comfy and cool. And can do distance driving. New Job first. (or a well heeled sugar daddy who loves it when I spend his money on the dogs)

I weighed Willow the other day and there was no change in her weight. However, when she walks past the couch you really see how tall she has gotten. She's as tall as the top of the arm of the couch. She is looking very lanky though.

You can take my advice with a grain of salt.... I had a Miniature Pinscher who was the same (no shock there :laugh:), what I did to him was hand him over to people for a cuddle. At first he would give a rather horrified, " ...some PERSON is TOUCHING me", but it didn't take him long to relax. I did this often and continually through out his life. He did tolerate people touching him and even solicited attention at times. In the ring he was great. On walks he was a bit hit and miss. It wasn't so much that he was scared of people, he just wasn't that into anyone that was his family. I did it this way because at first he wouldn't even want to get close enough to people to want to take food.

Lord, even a dog can't have five minutes peace in the bath without children interrupting.

And the trauma caused to whichever unfortunate driver may have hit the dog and the possible damage to their car.

I love this picture of Willow's legs.

If you're worried that it is something beyond arthritis I would suggest a comprehensive blood profile. I think it's a good idea to do this with oldies regardless if there is a health concern or not, as it gives a baseline (if things come back normal). And maybe even take in a urine sample and see if things are okay from that angle too.

Person: I'm a dog trainer, and I'm studying to be a dog trainer. Me: So, do you trial? Person: What's a trial? Me: You know, Obedience trials, tracking trials, agility trials. It's a test like a driver's test, only for dogs and their owners. Person: Oh I know tracking. What's a trial? And so we went in circles.

Taken this morning...Willow watches Monty Pythons Holy Grail....

I'm using this as one of my weight loss/fitness goals. None of this fit into size 10 crap. :laugh: Willow is still too young to train, so I have lots of time to build up to it. And get used to the idea.

Willow was watching a dog training video and she will periodically watch other programs, mostly those with animals in them or a bit of fast moving action. These are definitely things she enjoys in real life. She's my first TV watcher.

Yep. Willow does. :D

I'm sending Willow around! Although she is getting better, I still have a long way to go. I've been trying to get a picture of Willow and Dory together, like the one in my signature. This is the best I could do...

I'm not sticking around to lecture people whilst their idiot dogs are bouncing off my dog, especially if my dog is not coping with it. I also have no patience. If the owner is open to a conversation, fine. But if all I'm going to get is excuses or abuse, I'm not interested. I don't enjoy the confrontation and would rather avoid it.

Wow. They are all looking like big dogs now, starting to lose some of the adolescent, puppy look and starting to look like the gorgeous young adults they are going to be. Bum Of Naughtiness was looking for the cat, she got a quick glance at him before he hid behind some blankets. So she decided that the best way to search for him was to hike it over the arm of the couch and scruffle about in what the cat thought was a pretty good hiding spot. :laugh: This morning she was boooooooooooooooored. She was walking around the house looking for trouble, found a bottle of toilet cleaner and thought she'd bring that to the lounge room and chew on it in companionable company with me. She is so naieve sometimes, did she honestly think I was going to let her do that? So then she wandered off with her most put upon face to go find something else she could have. Eventually she gave up and then struck upon the bright idea of Woofing at her Tug which is sitting on top of the bookcase. Then she looks at you...cos she wants to DO something. So a quick tug and training session....all good...right? Nope. She wanders off to find something else to do, because that was fun but not fully satisfying. Fails to find the cats, fails to get Dory interested in a game, fails to get Daughter interested so she saunters back to the bookcase and sits there staring at it and me. Back and forth. Back and forth. I pretend to not get the hint and........WOOF!! I love her so much. The big, doofus, hilarious doofy, doofus. :D

For me, if the dog was just playing, wasn't getting the message from my dog and the owner was unwilling to step in...I would just leave the park. The park that I go to is used by a largely excellent bunch of owners and dogs, occasionally you get numpty dogs and numpty owners. I've noticed that when this occurs there is a mass exodus of the regular users and the offending dog and owner are left on their own wondering why. There have been times when the same numpty owner is treated the same way and on subsequent visits it's like the light bulb goes on and they realise we don't like the way their over enthusiastic dog is behaving. (I'm sure that they get told by other park users, there are plenty of them that will 'nicely' mention the inappropriatness of their dogs conduct...or the owners). These people go there so their dogs can 'play' and 'socialise' with other dogs. Their intent is to go there and let their dogs run amok. You see their disappointment when there are no dogs at the park when they arrive or when everyone leaves soon after they get there. They don't see the inappropriateness of their dogs behaviour because 'they are just playing', 'isn't it cute'. They are as clueless as their dogs. Sometimes a bit of social ostracization can work wonders. You leave and the owner doesn't get the fuzzy feeling they are seeking by being good doggie mums and dads and letting their 'babies' play with other peoples 'children'.