megan_

Nekbhet - the advantage is that you can negative gear and reduce your tax liaiblity and get capital gains. With other investments you just get the capital gains. Some studies recetnly show that, overall, property nets a return of ~6% (I think!) and that includes capital gains. This isn't a great return - in fact you can get better rates with cash at the moment.

yes showdog - they are very hard to clean. I actually stick my fingers in them to get all the gunk out of the nooks and crannies.

apparently this is common as food gets stuck in the top air hole. I would never let my dogs have a kong without being there. I can't understand how people leave kongs when they go to work!

Do you know what Huntington's is? Do you know what it does to your brain? Your post is very callous. But you seem to have a habit of judging people without thinking about the facts first. Shame on YOU.

Some people must be glancing over Control Unleashed, and not really taking it in! She points out that you need to address the root cause of the problem and things like clickers don't address these. I love CU, but I have used it in consultation with a behaviourist who has seen my dog (and she doesn't even have aggression issues, which are much more serious). When Leslie (can't remember if she is the author?) wrote that book, I'm sure she didn't intend for people to use snippets of it to give advice about dogs that they have never seen. To the OP - I got 2 hours of time from a qualified behaviourist + unlimited email support (and I still email her a year on!) for $195.

What about a mini schnauzer? Robust, happy, driven little dogs.

BAch is based on homeopathy which many people believe is a crock. It contains very, very little amounts of "active" ingredients. I can't remember the exact amount but homeopathy is something like 1/10000th of the actual ingedient. It is based on the principle that water has "memory". So...I'd go with the DAP diffuser if I had to chose. Have you tried speaking to a behaviourist?I's also suggest throwing in some training sessions during the morning walk (Just a few mins) to tire them out mentally. Do they get off leash play time? That is far more tiring than an onleash walk.

Our Your Charlie is stable, hooray!

How old is he? Mine do a wee in the morning (well, a few on our morning walk) then we when I get home (10 - 12 hours), then we again in the morning.

I believe the Rotty club works with all breeds. I don't know anything about their training style and whether or not it would suit minis though.

I disgaree with the posts saying let the dog inside when the train goes past - that isn't solving the problem. The dog needs to learn how to cope with the train. You never know what is going to happen inlife and I think we have a responsibility to our dogs to give them the skills to cope with stressful situations. This can be hard, time consuming and costly but it will enhance their lives. I'd suggest getting a behaviourist in and working on the problem. I have used Erny on this forum (Judi from ProK9) for a very stressed out and fearful dog (she couldn't even go outside the house without having a little breakdown) and now she loves going for walks, to dog school etc. Trains come past us on walks now and she doesn't even notice them.

I sing puppy-razi too!

Mine often look at me with their heads cocked to the side - the classic calming signal thing. I song all sorts of songs, depending on what mood I'm in. The current favourite is "and they did suffer from cute-itess, it was a very bad case", sung to a tune of my own making. Baby voice optional. When they are naughty the lyrics get changed to "it was a curable case" . I also sing "I will love you, until the end of time" from Moulin Rouge (sp) when I leave for work.

I agree. If all dog owners acted responsibly there would be far fewer people who were scared of dogs (and often with good reason!). AFAIK, there are no "dog beaches" or "dog parks" in Melbourne - all parks are public places. There are some that allow dogs who are under control to go unleashed, but they are not dog parks.

Yip.

Insurance - I only was out of pocket $100 (the excess). With insurance though you foot the bill at the time and then claim it back, unless your vet agrees to claim directly (vast majority don't do this). So it is worth having an emergency credit card for this situation.

For me, it would be a few thousand dollars at least - or a credit card with a nice, big limit. To give you an idea, my boy had a terrible case of gastro a while back. He couldn't even drink water. It presented itself at 5am on a Saturday, so off to emergency we went. The problem with gastro is that the symptoms are a lot like an obstruction, so he had x-rays. Stayed over night. Appeared to get better so was released. Monday am he was bad again. More x-rays. Nothing except extreme inflammation showed up. Eventually he was cut open to see if there was an obstruction as x-rays don't show everything. No obstruction was present and he was put on anti-b's. TRansferred to the hospital so that he could be on the drip and observed overnight. The bill? Just shy of $4000!

Personally, I'd stick with the insurance. If something happens on a weekend you can fork out a few thousand dollars easily. It would be hard for a student to save that sort of money and would take a fair while - and you don't know what could happen during that period. Changing companies would be hard because of the pre-existing conditions - that is why I am sticking with my current insurer even though they took eons to pay. I would change companies if I thought they were dodgy though - no use throwing good money after bad.

Have you formally appealed the decision? I know someone that did this and then they paid up.

Right - just do lots of clicks and treats in all different kids on environments. As long as she isn't doing anything too bad don't worry about her being good. She looks at the couch - click, treat. She looks at you - click treat. She stands up - click, treat. In fact, I like to click for just doing something - anything - as I use the clicker for free shaping (so I want my dog to try do lots of different things to earn the click). How will you know if she's ready? Wait for her to be looking away from you. Then click. Wait a second before giving her the treat. If she looks to you for a treat during that second then she is ready - she knows that a click is followed by a treat. Even after this, I'd still load the clicker in different places/positions.

I agree with PF, but maybe exercise needs to be added in there too? I think that, all things being equal, a dog that gets plenty of exercise and natural play would be healthier than a dog stuck in the back yard.

yes - it is called loading the clicker. You need to make sure she *only* associates the click with the treat, and not her surroundings/position with the click - for example, if she is always sitting when you click, she might think that sitting = click = treat (I hope that makes sense). So be sure to "load" the clicker in many different places and when she is doing many different things. That way, the only common thing is "click then treat".

Moselle - you seem to be very happy to make assumptions about people you don't know. Most people who feed commercial diets (mine is high quality, all ingredients are sourced from Australia) feed their dogs some fresh food as well. Mine get kibble in the morning, and then a raw, meaty bone in the evening. I also give them sardines and veges on occassion. My dogs are muchloved and well cared for. I choose to spend my time training them, taking them outdoors, working on Lucy's nerves etc rather than creating my own concoction of food (there are so many different opinions as to what constitutes a balanced diet anyway). If I wanted "convenience" I certainly wouldn't have gotten dogs! Again, BARF is not the only natural diet out there, and it certainly isn't the closest one in terms of what is "natural" for dogs - surely the prey model would win hands down. I wonder how many BARF feeders feed their dogs a commercial diet - that is what BARF patties are after all. Runs out of thread quickly.....

The majority of people don't have wads of cash to throw around; I was more concerned with people that can only afford the very bare mininal of vet. care; having said that, there are people that are loaded with money and don't want to spend it. Have you figured what it is that one of your guys is actually allergic to? is it contact allergy or is it related to food? I must say that I agree with R&L and Jaxx'sBuddy's posts - I can't stand the preachy attitude of some of the BARF crowd - they do their cause more harm than good. Moselle - Allergies and intolerences aren't always easy to diagnose. From personal experience (ie me, not my dog) I am intollerant to many things and it has taken years to narrow down what it could be (and most of them are natural things). Allergies and intollerences (which are much harder to diagnose) can be a combination of diet and environemental factors, so elimination diets don't always give accurate results. I do giggle a bit when I see people preaching BARF as if it is the only natural alternative. Many prey-model feeders wouldn't give their dogs BARF as they don't believe it is a natural, balanced diet for a dog.

Yeah - it has got a bit OT! Sorry! Deelee - I agree with this advice. What is going to happen if a kid comes to visit? Or if the parents have a huge fight? Will the dog think it needs to step in? If it were my house, I'd consult a behaviourist, and then have a very serious think about what to do. It would take a lot for me NOT to PTS. I like feeling comfortable and safe in my own home, and I like my guests to feel the same way. I think lots of people like the idea of a guarding breed to protect their family, but don't think of the negatives that go with it (just my opinion, not saying the OP fits into that category).