Bisart Dobes

We've had reserve challenge at specialty level and didn't receive anything for that at all !! now that would have been lovely for the owners of the dog - he did get class in show but still . . .

Hmmmmm - certainly sounds like it . . .

No kidding - did they actually have to do a study to realise this ??? Anyone who lives with and loves their dogs could have told them this.

Good lord how long have you got. In a really muddy ring I went AoverT once and nearly landed on my poor minor puppy boy who then proceeded to jump on me and lick me ofcourse - finally very embarassedly picked myself up and ran around to the end of the challenge lineup - settled myself and my boy went onto get RCC, RUBOB & Minor In Show - Yup I managed to stay on my feet and when I came out of the GS Ring our group judge said to me with a smile on her face - see that was worth falling over wasn't it . NO !! At a specialty after the judge had gone over my dog she sent us on the out and back and then around the ring - on the around the lead slipped off my finger, my boy just kept on moving so I just stayed with him - he stood in front of the judge looking up at me like a good boy and then when the judge was about to send us around to the end of the line - she said with a smile on her face - 'around to the end of the line thankyou and pick up the lead if you need it' . . . And the day I fractured my toe was probably one of the funniest - running around the ring and my shoe got caught in a slimy clump of taller grass (really bad ring), nearly fell on my poor girl, but managed to dislodge my foot and keep on moving forward hoping like !!!! I wouldn't fall over - only to finally stop and look up to see that my face was about one foot away from the judges groin ;) and he was standing there with a stunned look on his face with his arms out ready to catch me (or stop me from hitting him ) - once I had my balance he very calmly said with a very straight face "perhaps we should do that again she was a bit off balance" . And yep, I actually managed to fracture my toe which took eight weeks to heal properly - everyone thought that was just hilarious and kept saying that the judge looked more than happy to catch me (protecting himself more like it ) . . . I alone could write that book .

BBJ - happy to buy that purple coat off you ;) (secretly wanted that prize - oh well) - or can swap our basket ++ PM me if you like. BD

We had a good weekend in the showring and to top it off won the 3rd prize in the raffle, I just wanted to say thanks to 'Naturally Wagging' for donating all the georgeous things in the hamper - they smell devine . And thanks to the club for running this raffle with great prizes. Hope you raised alot of $$$$$ for the club. Thanks again

And sorry, Well Done on your win (pressed send to quick).

Most people put the class, challenge, bob & rubob ribbons back to save the clubs money on printing more for the next show :D - its not being rude. I collect them for the people who own puppies we bred and I show as they cherish them but don't bother for my own dogs anymore.

It would be different for each dog. I don't as I find they move into obedience heel positon with their head wrapped around my leg and so the front is all over the place. I work hard to achieve the perfect heel position for obedience and while doing so keep their focus with my voice and food - so I must have a different method in the showring. In there is "lets go" and thats it until we get back to the judge to 'stand'. If I speak to them by accident the head wraps around my leg and its all over . I do talk to them while they are in the stack and praise and play with them while they are not being judged - otherwise it would be just too boring.

Yes, I love the way the whole household gets excited when they know the babies are here. I sneak them in to meet the babies around day 2 when mum is outside on her toilet break (as a rule dobie girls never let others near her pups until around weaning time) and the look on their faces is one of pure joy, love, excitement, fascination, adoration - its just so precious to see, especially the boys - they all think they are dad and are proud as punch. I love babies and their journey into life as well - I love to watch those baby puppy videos and identify who is who and wonder at what they have achieved in their lives.

He is just a kid - compare him to your own kids - how often do they push the boundary's ? Good lord I have a 7 1/2 year old bitch who still pushes the boundarys pretty much every day - she may be one of the highest titled dogs in the country but still thats her and she isn't going to change - though she is getting a little mellow with some years behind her we still call her our three year old on raspberry Patience Is A Virtue (at least thats what I keep telling myself).

Yes - well I'm sure we can all understand $$$$ at the moment . I note with some amusement though that our girls have all dug out a perfectly formed whelping dens for their puppies when they are outside while pregnant and going through the nesting phase - these projects take several weeks to get to the right dimensions to pass the girls approval - then all I would have to do would be to line it with straw. I am sure that they would go ahead and raise their babies in perfect health as well - not sure how I would go sleeping next to their 'den' though. Just can't bring myself to let them - so OH gets the job of filling them in when the girls whelp .

We have had ours for years - a bought melamine heated box with all the trimmings . It was well worth it. The heating pad in it has 3 settings and most of the time we have only ever had it on low and the heating pad is located in the centre of the box so that our girls and the babies have ample room to move off it if they warm up too much - though the only time they have was when we had 40 degree days and I didn't turn it off early enough . . . (first litter ;) ). The best thing about the melamine is that you can bleach it or sterilise it easily and so it harbours no bugs. We have had mutiple friends borrow it for their litters as well. I wouldn't be without it.

I am a purebred snob and proud of it . I even give our puppy owners the "Purebred Enough Said" sticker when they take their puppies home I have had a rescue and she too was purebred . . . Be proud of your choice, proud of your breeder and even prouder of your dog.

When I worked for NDTF & ADT I used to take my cats down for socialization (Mozart and Napoleon). They ruled our house with 3 Dobes and thought that the socialization with puppies and dogs was just one more chance to prove that cats were superior to dogs (in their minds ). They would walk down a line of dogs or around a circle and look at them with that total look of distain and flick the tail !! I always had them on a harness and lead ofcourse and their crate open for when they had had enough and all dogs were under control - can only remember one that freaked out as soon as it saw the cat - it was removed to a distance where it could be controlled. I think that most dogs were more shocked than anything that the cats weren't running and so they didn't know what to do. A few would pounce at them when they got close I'm sure to instigate the flight response but the cats would stop and stare at the dogs with a look of total disgust (as only a cat can do) if they did that until the dogs backed down - they had them sooooo bluffed. They really enjoyed it and as I said totally ruled our house. Mozart lived to 21 and Napoleon lived to 19.

What a stupid statement. Talk about being prejudiced against small dogs . I cant believe you work with dogs with an attitude like this. This dog was a PUPPY getting it's first clip for heavens sake!! Have you never considered there may be other reasons that (as you perceive) smaller dogs are harder to groom? Dogs bred for companionship and not for working may have a lower tolerance to pain, may be less trusting of strangers, may be more likely to have had bad grooming experiences in the past (I bet the groomers in this story would not have attempted the same 'tactics' with a large dog due to the likelyhood of getting bitten). Did you actually read the rest of my post ? Regardless of smaller dogs being spoilt rotten and often ruined by the majority of their owners we always took the time to ensure that their experience with us was a positive one.

Firstly - poor puppy. Secondly - having worked as a groomer for years - it is well known that the majority of smaller dogs are little shits to groom and the big dogs are a breeze. Why ? because their owners train and discipline them - the little dogs get away with murder ! Still, there is no reason I can think of to restrain a dog in this way. If we had a really bad case where you just couldn't touch them without the dog having a heart attack and trying to kill you then we would ring the owner and tell them, flatly that the dog would need to go to a vet to be sedated and groomed. But generally you can get around it - this is why groomers have alot of equipment - most bad dogs we had were generally 'top and tummied' - double arm on table and soft noose on neck and tummy, they were then muzzled and if they were really bad their rear feet were raised off the table slightly. Thats all it takes - take the weight off their rear legs and they lose their power to fight you. By the time you got to their head they were tired of not winning and would just stand there and let you finish. (A dog with a muzzle on was constantly checked and given breaks if need be for a drink also). When you finish and they let you handle then without having a go then they would get treats and cuddles - they soon learn, I don't believe any dog is stupid - some just take more patience than others ;). Also, golden rule in grooming - NO DOG IS LEFT ON A TABLE UNATTENDED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF. I hope these people are never allowed to work with animals in any capacity ever again.

Accomodation taken - thanks . We have a 3 berth cabin booked for the Autumn Festival from 23rd April to the 27th April at Highway One Caravan Tourist Park if anyone is looking for accomodation - we can't go now . PM me if you are interested - will be cancelling it by tomorrow night.

Frankston Vic $34.00 per dog - no extra for permit. I thought there was an agreement with all councils / VCA to offer discounted rate for VCA registered dogs - Carluke - I would query it with them if I were you.

OMG What a beautiful place to train. At the very least they have stunning views to look at while they wait their turn . Yep, dangerous dogs - my sexi lexi (a pretty show dog) nearly ruined the door to her berth in the trailer trying to get a sleeve in there once - very funny girl - she won it and she was taking it home !!!.

Our old boy (10 1/2) had bloat 2 weeks ago - surgery (40 staples down his belly) and we nearly lost him - but he pulled through with lots of tlc and now he's back to giving the young ones grief . Our vet is fantastic but of course it happened the Sat morning of the long weekend and so he ended up in the Hallam Emergency Vet for the whole weekend - the vets there are great but we found that every vet we dealt with gave us different advice - different possible causes - different outcomes etc etc They cannot say it is one thing which caused it or that anything we could have done differently would have prevented it. Though they all said that it is always highly stressed dogs, dogs that gulp their food and water, deep chested dogs, high energy/nervous energy dogs that are more prone to getting bloat. Well, this is the first case (and hopefully the last) of bloat we have had and Khann is basically a sloth - he is soooo not stressed, eats and drinks at his leisure, does have a deep chest, has no nervous energy ever and has never been a high energy dog - even when he was a baby when he came home with us at 8 weeks he was a sloth. So he is the total opposite of what they always quote. My point being - if it is going to happen it will - there is nothing you can do to change that. However - we always feed our dogs when they go to bed - so they are quiet and relaxed while eating and obviously no running around. This controls the situation and removes any feeding stress any of them may have. I now know there is nothing more we can do to prevent it happening. The one thing I am careful with is how much water they drink after a big run - I tend to limit it to what they really need until they cool down and relax - then let them drink at their own pace.

Our vet - very experienced breeder vet - recommended that we vaccinate our bitches about 6 months out from being bred, ensuring coverage for puppies. The bitch we will be breeding hadn't been vaccinated for 2 years prior anyway. There is alot of parvo around at present and I would have had her done even if her levels were good - I don't want to risk puppies where it can be prevented.

;) Noted it wasn't through the Dobe/Rotty ring . Why oh Why don't the pretty ones streak ?????

I didn't really notice a difference in the younger ones as I keep them in top condition but our older boys (10yr) coat has improved. I found in actually seems to increase their weight substancially - or perhaps as it works on the digestive system they are absorbing more from their food. My super powder - is my own base supplement mix. I studied nutrition and natropathy and have been making this up for years now - I have tried a few of the ones for sale but have found that this is better for our dogs - one day I will get around to marketing it but for now just our kids get it. I am playing around with seasonal differences - ie they need different things during summer / winter and different additions for the changes they go through - ie going to be bred, high competition period coming up, travelling interstate etc etc - its interesting to see the differences some things make (to me anyway). Good luck with the Chia Seed.