megan_

Thans Cosmolo. We have two Nina O games already (the brick one and the tornado) but they finish them pretty qucikly. I might need to "invest" in some new ones . I'll give the scent detection one a try tonight.

I'm always on the look-out for indoor games to play with my two. I have no real garden to speak of (it is all decking) and the entire house is floorboards with no rugs or carpets, so I need games that don't involve a lot of running (lest they slip). At the moment, I am playing a targeting game with one of these: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...p;ParentCat=133 They both know how to target, so that was easy. I now crate them, hide the target and then release them with "find it! find it!". They run and find the target, nose to the red thingie then get a click and treat. Fergus looooves this game and runs around the house in a furious hunt. I need to lead Lucy around a bit and make it easier for her. I also hide a water bottle with some sardines in it (with a few small holes punched) and get them to hunt that. I'm looking for some more game ideas, hopefully ones that are pretty simple so my speshul girl can play too. Any suggestions?

ta - just realised my error too.

As above, does anyone have feedback on them? It is run by the same people from diggydogdaycare. I'm not really keen on daycare, but after a long wait Fergus' has served his time on the Altona Agility Club's waiting list and, given that training is on a Friday night and I live in the SE 'burbs, I'm not keen to leave work early, drive out to my house and then drive back past the city every Friday. So I was thinking about putting the dogs in day care near the city and then picking them up and going to training from there. In particular, I'm interested to know whether they cope with "speshul" dogs. Lucy is a fearful dog and I want her to stay in a nice, calm environment and not a free-for-all kind of place. This place is also a kennel so I figure that they'd be better at separating dogs?

thanks everyone. I'm always on the lookout to see what my dogs are naturally good at and plan things around that. Oh well, Thanks for the links Aidan. I have often looked at the Dragonfly Lama site and though the levels were great - but I've been to lazy to do it properly.

cooked pumpkin (microwave with water, add nothing else) is great for beefing up meals. What breed is she? A cup and a half of food is a lot. My mini schnauzers get 1/2 of that and they do a lot of exercise and agility.

Ooh where are the parks with the fixed equipment ?

Where I train beginners are on leash but we do a lot of foundation exercises and only introduce equipment slowly and not at full height, so the risk of tangles is very small . We learn the slanty poles weaving method which is easy to do with a leash. We have some reactive dogs who could not be off leash when we started. If they had trained at a club that insisted that they were off leash they wouldn't be doing agility and that would be a real pity. In less than 6 months they are all doing full off leash runs and are focused on the job at hand. They are also alot more comfortable around the other dogs while they're not running a course. Personally I like the idea of on leash until the dog and owner prove focus and recall. As the owner of a focused, non- reactive dog I'm not at all worried about my boy running off- but I do worry about a larger, hyped up dog having a go at my little one. If reactive, non focused dogs are given the option of participating on leash in a safe manner then I think everyone wins in the end. One of the reasons that I train where I do is that I didn't need to go through multiple levels of obedience( including auto sits etc) in order to do agility. I find obedience at the clubs ive been to mind numbing and both my dog and i have been bored. What i love about our agility class is that aLl dogs can participate without safety being compromised.

thanks for the responses. RS - I thought poodles were retrievers? He is crossed with a terriorist - mini schnauzer. He doesn't behave like a typical terrier though.

He does always bring his ball back to me when I throw it. He isn't a naturally nervous dog.

My boy is a poodle x, and in the last 6 months he has started displaying a new behaviour. When I arrive home and put hte key in the door, he runs and picks up a toy and proudly shows it to me. He eats in his crate and when I say "crate time" he often grabs a toy and runs to the crate too. Is this retrieving instinct? If so, are there any good websites, books etc that I can use to train him basic retrieving?

They need to be treated like a dog - rules, training etc. One of the nastiest little dogs I have met is my sister's chi. She come up to people, sits on their laps and then bites them on the face. She is also very protective of my sister and will attack anyone walking near her. She is completely unpredictable and now lives with my Dad. There are people who refuse to visit because of this dog. If your housemate gets one she needs to get a very well bred one, train it, socialise it and don't treat it like a baby.

There is also the squeaking nubby. I haven't tried this yet but it looks really good. http://store.clickertraining.com/sqnuba.html If you order a bit of stuff their postage is really good (and the kong stuff is really cheap).

clean run also have mini bottle toys with free shipping at the moment: $4.95 each! http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...p;ParentCat=449

It is easy to squeak, however the squeaker can be a bit hard to find as it "floats" in the body of the rabbit. But the actual material feels very soft.

Mine love Harvey Bunny from cleanrun - great quality and free shipping: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...p;ParentCat=449

I bloody well hope that charged DEFINTELY get laid against the owner - and either a very large fine or jail time comes their way.

Ilive in Vic and have seen a few off leash in public parks, no muzzles and no green collar. I have little dogs so left the park.

Agree. We have two in my extended family. Beautiful but need LOTS of boundaries - constantly. My aunts has taken to nipping people he deems a threat- and he is very well socialized, he just gets away with too much. My cousins STD schnauzer is a lot softer and lives with 4 kids. She is very much part of the family but is treated like a dog and doesn't get away with anything.

But the money has to come from somewhere. If the owner doesn't pay immediately then the vet has to cover the cost. Are you really saying that the vet should cover these things out of their own pocket if owners don't have the money/don't believe they should pay because the dog died/says they can buy a new dog for that amount? The vets bills don't stop.

Because vets need cashflow to pay their bills - ie the timing of the income is the most important thing in keeping a business afloat. If people pay by installments, vets might not have enough cash at hand to pay their bills. After all, they need to pay their wages, the vet nurses' wages, their suppliers etc. Would you expect a vet nurse not to be paid that week because clients were struggling to pay their bills? Many people don't have an established relationship with their vet and then turn up and expect thousands of dollars in free credit. As pet owners, we have a responsibility to care for our pets. This means putting aside the $ for vet care. Obviously, not every one has the same means and some owners won't be able to afford costly treatment to care for their pet. That is sad, but I don't expect vets (and their staff and suppliers) to foot the bill instead.

I agree with you there GR! Honey's recall is a constant work in progress, presumably because she was never taught it as a pup. We have made progress, I work hard at it but it's still not as good as I'd like and I doubt it ever will be. I too dream of having a pup to teach it from day one. But then there's other puppy "stuff" to contend with!!! I've had my girl for almost 2 years. She was an ex-puppy farm breeding bitch (so never had a name, never mind a recall!) who was too scared to even be in the house at first. She now has an excellent recall. When I call her she runs like the klappers. I have even called her off chasing a bird. So it can be done! It is something I train a bit every single day and she always gets some yummy food, lots of praise and a scratch behind the ears when she comes to me. I'll try to download a photo of it when I have the time.

There is actually an option for a vet to claim direct. However, it would be a big liability for the vet (ie the insurer may not pay and then the vet would have to chase you for payment). I couln't imagine a vet ever doing this for a new client.

I agree with this statement. It would be great if the decent majority to tell the apparent few where to go...

Gayle's post was written in response to what RSG said - not you!