Dory the Doted One

I try and sit Willow every time we see people heading our way. But I've noticed now she is much bigger not so many people want to gush over her now. :D

I'm loving all these ear pics. :D Allerzeit I PM'd you.

Willow's ears were beautiful...then she started teething. And it all went to

Have you spoken to Willow's breeder about the method that they use to tape ears? We have a method that we use which we find works very well, but it's a bit different to what other rottweiler people tend to do, and although very easy to do, it's really hard to explain :laugh: But, I can try and find a post that I made years ago explaining it, if you can't get easier to follow instructions elsewhere :) In the meantime, keep rubbing those ears every chance you get - if you're patting Willow, straighten and massage her ears along the fold to soften it, and do this as often as you can remember to. No I haven't spoken to them, I've just taped them the way I was shown a very long time ago. With a broad strip of Leukoplast (seems to stick the best and for the longest) on the underside of her ear and then massaged into submission. :laugh: I'll try and get a picture tomorrow when it's daylight. But I would still like to hear how you do it. I do massage her ears quite a bit, when she sits still long enough. I do it so much I've even been massaging Dory's ears unconsciously everytime she comes over for a pat...much to Dory's consternation. :laugh: My very first Rottweiler (about a 1000 years ago) had the tiniest ears and somehow I managed to get them sitting just right with nothing but massage.

We do hope to show Willow...hence a lot of my stress. :) And we WILL love her anyway she comes, but in my heart, I do prefer them to be correct.

LOL...Thanks Teekay. I'm loving the range of emotions Luka is able to give you with those ears. Is there hope for you?

I didn't see anything on the dog and cat management board website. Hmmm. I might ring the council, I don't want to make a complaint, I was just thinking in terms of a book or some notes that I could print off and slip into their letterbox with barking solutions. Rather than just the generic 'ask your vet' and 'see a behaviouralist'. The dog's not neurotic, just shoved in a yard and they are obviously conscious of some of the noise he makes. I don't think they let him inside, he never seems to be inside. Always running the front yard (dog walkers ALWAYS cross the road to avoid him), or stuck in a dog run as far from the house as you can get...because the pool and the tennis court are right out the back door. I'm not the only neighbour that's disturbed by the barking, either. Maybe I should stop being lazy and write up something for them. LOL How to reward for good behaviour would be a start!

Thank you! Didn't think of approaching it from this angle. It's was a bit of a surprise (although I suppose not really) to find little in the way of easy information to give to be re: barking problems. Councils and the Dog and Cat Management Board seemed to be mostly focused on biting/attacking/out of control dogs rather than issues between neighbours.

With the lengthening of the days, comes the barking of the dogs......(not mine).... I have a couple of neighbours with nuisance barkers, it's been a problem for a good long while. Things became a little easier when last year I left a note in their letterbox, but it seems that they have been letting things slide a bit recently. What I'm looking for is some information that I can print out and leave in their letterbox about better ways of managing their dogs barking or to help them teach it not to bark. Currently what we get is an owner that shouts at the dog to stop barking, it's hard to know what is more annoying, the neighbour yelling futilely at a dog that has NO IDEA what shut up means, or the dog barking. I'm pretty sure we can write off, 'keep the dog inside' as an option. This dog is hairy and stinky (you know the story, let it grow out over winter)! I'm told they do walk the dog, I haven't seen it, but my daughter says she's seen them take him a few times. They swing between 'trying' to moderate it, to not giving a stuff. It's not uncommon to have it barking at 11.30pm and back at it again 5.30am. And on well lit nights...all night long. I'm sure when they notice it they are frustrated too. I'm not expecting total absence of barking, I just want to get some sleep!

My 18 month old pug chases flies, but never gets them. He loooooves bees as they are just like slow moving flies I keep a box of phenergan handy, and make sure the yard is free of the plants and weeds that attract bees. But phenergan is our friend in summer for little Bee-man!!! Dory is the bee-durer around here. She's amazingly skilled at catching them just right without getting stung and then shaking them to death. (It's fascinating to watch) We discourage whenever we can, but she's pretty obsessed and focussed. She's been known to randomly jump from a standstill to catch flies out of the air when we are out walking. Willow stands next to her like it's great fun, but she just doesn't know what the great fun is.

Thankyou Everyone! Much to her disgust she's all re-taped now and I'll be leaving it in place. I forgot how frustrating ears could be. We'll love her lots no matter what, but my preference is to have 'proper' Rottie ears. She's goofy enough without having wonky ears ruining any chance of being taken seriously. :laugh:

LOL...The photo was just a picture of Sister Betrille for those Young 'uns that don't have a clue who she is. I don't have too many pictures of Willow with wonky ears...I'm too embarrassed by them. And I've taped them into submission. But here is one that shows you what I mean...this is Willow relaxing at the Royal, using my daughter as a pillow.

It's been so long since I've had a puppy I can't remember how long it will take her ears to stop flapping around and doing their best impression of Sister Betrille the Flying Nun. I've been taping them off and on, off when they behave, on when they don't...but when should I give up all hope? WHEN can I safely breath a sigh of relief and look at Willow and go....Naaawwww....look at those pretty ears. Knowing that they are going to stay put? She has all her adult teeth that I can see, although she does have a couple of retained puppy teeth, we shall be sorting those suckers out soon if the bones don't work. Ideas anyone? Sympathy? Commiseration?

:laugh: I will pass this one on. I liked this one. Shall pass this on also. Thank you!!

I've been skimming (in some cases) and reading (in other cases) this thread and I'm still unsure how I feel about it all. I thought I was someone who didn't mind dogs off lead, if they were under effective control and not allowed to just approach any old dog without the permission of the other dogs owner. Then Willow got aggressively charged on the weekend. She's young enough that this would have caused untold damage to her reactivity currently she doesn't care about other dogs on walks. In this instance, I opted to become a human shield and fortunately the dog slowed when it realised I was going to be a bit hard to get past and relaxed when it saw Willow was actually a puppy. (but still...this thing CHARGED us, with a focuss that scared the crap out of me and a growl that set the hair raising). So I thought stuff this...get your effing dogs on a lead unless in and off lead area. In my ire (and prompted by this thread), I checked out my local councils animal management plan. We're screwed. All public areas, with a small number of exceptions and rules are off lead areas provided your dog is under effective control. Yeah. Prove that. I think I will still give the Council a ring today and express my concerns. I'm tempted (but probably won't) to print out flyers that point out what effective control is, and what the consequences are if your dog RUSHES at or CHARGES another person or animal and then letter dropping them in my local area.

We have a rather large selection of dogs in my area, what surprises me is for an affluent area they don't seem to have a lot of nice, looking well bred dogs. We have lots of Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Beagles, PLENTY of Oodles (and not even pretty ones at that), we have a guy with a Samoyed, some GSP's, Labradors, some pugs, a Greyhound, a couple of Logotto's (I've only seen the one, and he is usually VERY unkempt)...can't recall seeing any staffy's. Sometimes at Baseball games at the local park there is a couple of Rottweilers. (:D) Ofcourse there is now a resident Rottweiler (Willow :cool: well bred, well conformed...even if I do say so myself), and a very unique and cute, not an oodle, cross bred rescue dog of unkown parentage...Dory.

Thankyou! But I think they are looking more for an actual picture of a dog. It's for a fund raising trek, thingy for men's depression.

Thankyou!!! (DOL is the best :cool: )

Hi Guys a client has asked me if I know where to get a backpack with a dog on it. They would prefer it to be sourced in Australia and for the picture to be of a black dog. Failing a black dog, any dog would do, breed doesn't matter. Oh, and it's a backpack for a person, not for dogs. :)

Around here they didn't generate a lot of interest. Dory gnawed the marrow out of one, but I think that was only because she didn't want Willow to get it. We have another one that is literally kicking around here, no one seems interested in it at all. There is no competition for it and even when I pick it up and give it to one of the dogs, it gets dropped and they walk away from it.

Dory: Is very needy when she's at home. When we are out and about she's pretty independant, especially down at dog parks or visiting friends etc. You would hardly know who owns her. She's very friendly with people she is familiar with, most of these are people she is very good at manipulating for tummy rubs and pats...probably why she likes them so much. :laugh: She can be a bit pushy with the human 'friends' she has...always nudging them and pawing at them, because they always comply to her demand. Willow: Still working Willow out. She ADORES other people, there just are no bad people in her world. Wiggle butt, slobber monster. She prefers people to other dogs. At home she swings between very busy, nosey and boisterous especially when the cats are free roaming the house. And then she can collapse into a pile of readiness for anythings...which she conceals nicely as...'resting'. (the little devil) She will cruise past for pats from time to time. Out in the yard she likes to come and lean against you when I'm reading on the verandah...interspersed with wiggle butting for next doors dog. I enjooy those moments when she leans on you. Willow's not as cuddly as I was hoping for, but there are a lot of times I'm happier that she is the way she is. It gets too competitive otherwise. Out on the training field she is pretty good, loves to work with you (although that streak of independence is starting to creep in...my puppy is growing up ). I do feel like we are getting a stronger bond as time goes on.

And don't forget Number One thing......HAVE FUN! Willow had her first Show at the Adelaide Royal, lets just say it was a great socialisation experience. She wasn't nearly as naughty as I thought she was going to be, but nowhere near as good as I wanted her to be. Hoping to sneak in a couple of more shows before the end of the year and the show season. (We have lots of work to do. :laugh:)

That looks like a Sunbear, not a dog. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_bear

Oh, I just LOVE the 'it's okay'. Yeah. For you. What about me? What about MY dog?

It's taken Dory about 4 years to get the hang of catching. Willow is still learning. I don't think she sees the point when it's just as easy to hoover it from the floor. Her face is, "Why are you throwing good food at me? Can't you just give it to me instead?" :laugh: