megan_

What about those of us with older dogs? Can we watch and steal ideas :-)?

Worming doesn't prevent humans getting hyatids though - worming is not a preventative. The workers only kill the worms that the dog has present at that time.

I feed my dogs a lot of raw, but personally I wouldn't feed legs as they are weight bearing bones and are therefore much harder. I feed softer bones like necks & wings.

Does advocate only come in spot on form? I hate spot treatments

in 28% of cases?

use hopshopgo.com Mrs RB

Why not just feed him his normal meal as "treats"? I take every opportunity to give my guys a reward for being good - which means they get their entire meal training.

it looks like a beam is coming out of Ruby's head!

So sorry to hear about your loss. RIP Toby

I'd do what Aussie did, but, just in case someone suggests this - please DO NOT block the doggy door. They need an escape if they are really scared. Let them determine when they will come inside. Just leave it on for a few hours and see if there is any difference. Carry on as usual, because you know the air con isn't going to hurt you :) .

that is a good one - it is like the one they have in comps. If you get some green bags from coles/woolies, tie the handles together (ie join 2 bags) and fill them with sand you can use these to stabilise the tunnel (like in the pic you linked to). A few of these would keep it nice and secure.

All great pics but the b/w portrait of Pippa is gorgeous!

Not a silly question - lots of people are out trialling and training on the weekend. FWIW, while recall is important, my belief is that if you need to recall your dog during agility then something is going wrong. Yet, it is the thing that most instructors harp on about! I'd focus on working on engagement and getting her wanting to work with you, even under distraction, then you'll never need to use that recall. There are lots of games you can play to help build this (2 food game etc, just search this forum). Also look at the foundation stuff - this helps you both learn skills and build a good working relationship. The other thing is to keep the rate of reinforcement very, very high. Greg Derret said something like a reward every 2 seconds when you're working on something. Most handlers are really stingy with rewards and so the dog lands up getting the same amount of rewards if they do the right thing vs doing the wrong thing. Throw away the food bowl and let her earn all her food working with you. This doesn't need to be 1 hr of training every day, just a few minutes. You'll have an eager, engaged dog that isn't interested in faffing around with other dogs when training. Oh, and the tunnel, as Zug Zug says start with 2 people and a short tunnel. Call her through and praise. Then make it longer. However, unless it is a very good quality tunnel and it is 100% properly secured I'd leave it at that. Why? Because flimsy tunnels move around when dogs run in them, which means that they tend to run slower in them. You don't want to encourage that! ETA: I sometimes use a verbal cue, but it it is in front of them then they should take it without me saying anything.

This is a new dog for the OP. I don't think most experienced people would suggest getting two new dogs at the same time? To the OP - please don't fret! Most dogs just sleep and potter around when their owner isn't there. My boy cried for a few minutes when I first left, and then settled himself. He now doesn't even get up when I leave, and he is very owner focused.

I getmist of my meat these days from the farmers market - direct from the farmer.

Didn't you use a harness when moving your pup around though SK? Before she was fully leash trained?

No one here saw what happened - we don't know if the "pup" was scared, or just being obnoxious. Sometimes a stable adult dog can tell a dog to behave. Perfectly acceptable. Sometimes adult dogs can be bullies. Unless you are fairly well versed in dog interaction (most people, even those on DOL, aren't) and you actually witness the event you can't really say what happened. Personally, if Quinn was my dog, I wouldn't have let her approach the pup in the first place. If a dog is hiding between its owners legs then I'd leave it be. Even if the initial incident had happened, I wouldn't have approached them again. Clearly the other dog was unhappy - maybe rightly so, maybe it was being a little sh*t. Either way, I wouldn't risk my dog being snapped at in this situation. Dog fights can happen in seconds and it could have been three dogs against Quinn if the pack decided to back their pup. You'd have to be very, very good at breaking up fights to deal with that one.

Steve Courtney uses harnesses on his working line male when they're working in drive I believe. All the schutzhund people I know use them to.

I've had great experiences with allianz (pet plan). They even paid for thyroid tests in the US to see if lucy's fear aggression issues where thyroid related. The older acdog gets, the mire chance of you making a bug claim. It is risk management

some breed fanciers deliberately don't want to be recognised by the ANKC. There are other registries out there.

Look on amazon - lots of light coloured ones for well, well under that price - quality brands too

All Breeds Kennels in Lyndhurst, however I think they have a minimum stay over Christmas. Cosmolo and her husband are qualified trainers who do dog walking. I trust my FA dog with them and haven't had an issue. Depending on where you are, I think Erny also does dog walking - she is another person I would trust (and I don't trust people with Lucy easily at all!).

Oh, and please don't feel guilty. I wouldn't want to live with my pets - who are part of my family - to be separated 24/7. I know there are some people who do it, but I work long hours and live alone so this would mean my dogs only spent short amounts of time with me.

I don't fall in love with most dogs. I love mine and a select few and that is it - nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is going to love all dogs. Lucy is a rescue and when I got her she was very fearful, and then got fear aggressive. It was a very, very stressful time and it impacted my enjoyment of life. There were times when I would "guiltily" wish that she wasnt here. I know that there would be people here that would be horrified at that but I doubt they've experienced the rmotion and financial strain of a dog with serious issues. Dreading visitors because of your dog. Haring going for walks. Crying yourself to sleep. Those days are past and, while her issues will need to be managed for life, we are both much happier.

She should get her "tiny puppy" out and about to socialise with friends and clubs, preferably controlled environments until SHE and her dog have build further experience and then a dog park is just another new experience. yes - but the OP's question was about whether an iggy puppy should go to a dog park for socialisation. The owner seems to think - like many dog owners - that this means playing with lots and lots and lots of dogs. And it doesn't. Hence my question.