rubyroo

I resorted to using cricket balls, they are made of leather so mimimal give in them. Providing you dont leave them with your dog to chew they should last a few months.

I totally understand what you are saying, shipping is ridiculous, ;) it seems crazy that it is cheaper than buying them here. :p

Hi Kath the ones on the GSP forum seem to be the cheapest from overseas, I think they work out at around $15 each for3" and $10-12 for the 2". The quality is brilliant. The few I have seen here is Aus are alot softer and doesnt suit my dog who likes to chew things they too are around $15 each. Innotek in QLD now stock dummies, a little closer for you but dummies look more expensive here than the USA. I have a few of the large ones of this brand and way too squishy. http://innotek.com.au/SportDog-Home/Training_2 I think the smaller 2" ones are harder. Dogs can see the B&W ones in most weather conditions, good allrounder, and Orange they just cant see, but with all the scent discrim work you have done it shouldnt be a problem!!. Definately worth while a few of you getting an order together. Happy hunting!

Hi All I have just stumbled across this thread and I love it, thanks Sounds like 'Em' had a lovely afternoon of training, I hope you both continue to have lots of fun, it is a great sport. RV, how exciting a LM! I have always admired them but the long coat is too much so I have opted for the shortcoated one. Road kill is probably the easiest way to fill your freezer providing it hasnt got too much damage done to it. Unless you know anyone to hunts on a regular basis. Rabbit skinned dummies are lots of fun. We are still only very new to retreiving but having a ball. We have just finished our 2nd season of trialling and after occassionally my boy forgetting that he has a problem we have finally passed Novice!!! Now the restricted training starts. We are practising a bit of handling work, I seem to have more control over him in the water than on land at the moment a little frustrating. I really need to do some blind work but have a major paranoia with snakes and very uncomfortable in the long grass. Cant wait until winter. Mind you I have ventured out a little more this week as I have a new toy to play with. I have just received my new 'bumper boy' it is so exciting, hopefully will have a little more time on the weekend to start training doubles, maybe early in the morning when all the snakes are sleeping. (I tell myself that, everyone needs to sleep at some point during the day). Ruby star Im not much help in explaining backs and overs Im stilll trying to figure them out. (Ill try) in Restricted and All Age you will be given blinds and need to direct your dog to where the bird is, (you will know where is is but the dog wont see it fall) You line your dog up straight toward where the bird is then send it to 'find' the bird. If your dog starts heading the wrong way you can stop it (one toot on the whistle and you dog should stop or sit facing you) you can give your dog an over (Overs are directing your dog left or right, toward where the bird is) If they start hunting for the bird a little short of where it actually is you can stop them and give them a back, (meaning straight behind in a straight line) you can even fine tune it with a left or right hand signal meaning a little this way or that). It seems that the straighter lines run by your dog get them there quicker therefore less handling and less points removed from your score. Im sure LL and FHRP can fill in all the bits I missed. looking forward to this thread!

Wow Cooper is really lucky, I had a brown that got into my dogs run, and after his head fell off he was still fighting for the best part of the next 10mins he was not giving up at all!! I have gone around the dog run with the expanding foam and touch wood nothing for 18mths.

I work at a butcher, a few days a week. The chicken mince is carcus, not much fat. ($1.30kg) (My dogs refuse to eat carcus, but will eat the mince? go figure!, and a whole frame is sometimes too big for a little dog, butchers have a really big saw and can cut the frozen packs into bite size pieces if you need). The beef pet mince in generally offal, ($2.25kg) not alot of fat at all, and extremely high in iron. Alot of people with working dogs or racing dogs, take all the fatty offcuts, this doesnt go into our pet mince. Alot of farmers just buy hearts and tongues to feed their dogs. If you get queezy at the though of that, the butchers always have a 50/50 trim, which is used to make sausages, and a lean trim which is used to make mince between $5 & $7, but at that price you will generally have to cut it up yourself. We also sell pig ears/snouts/trotters and beef chews, which are all smoked on premise, no bad things added here.

Thanks for that, had thought about it but have a dog that has to chew everything that is around my girls neck ;) he is a real pain in the butt at times. Whilst Im home they are generally on, the initial putting them on in the morning is starting to drive me crazy as aparently it means that we are going somewhere really exciting and cant controll ourselves!!

Rubyroo, I agree you can tell by the body behavior if your dog has a snake bailed up and I have noticed the bark is more high pitched. I haven't seen any this season but I am sure they are out and very hungry. What type of collar do you have as I think I may have to invest in one?? Hi Dianed, I use innotek. Since the original ones were replaced they are great, mind you I am a little sceptical about the 400m range?? I like being able to operate 2 collars off the 1 remote.

Each summer I have the opportunity to do a bit of snake proof training with and e-collar. My dogs have become very collar smart and wont even look at a snake whilst wearing it. I think I am pretty intune with their body behaviour and can generally tell if its a rabbit, quail or snake. I have caught my girl twice (no collar and me not in sight) having a go at a brown snake, luckly she did listen and I could call her off. My dog seems to really avoid the area that a snake is in, and wont get too close. But I still dont trust them when I am not around as Im sure natural instinct would kick in and they would defend themselves. Have heard of 4 dogs not surving over the last few days, they are out, hungry and looking for love.

I had 4 tigers within 4 days around the 2nd week of September last year, seem to always see them in September, so all we need now is a warm day, god I hate summer ;) Cant wait for winter next year already

After 2 & 1/2 years and exhausting every option I had my girl debarked, it was for consistent whining and screaming (GSP). She still whines, screams and now barks more than ever and I cant hear her. My OH was going to strangle her if something wasnt done. I recommend it everyone is alot calmer.

I have to agree Retrieving is 'Awesome', :D (obedience will definately help, wish we had done a little more in the early years) dont brush it off until you get the chance to go to a trial and and get a taste for it yourself, this is closest thing to doing what these dogs were bred for, let them (and you) enjoy it!!!

40acres is really not that much. Our "house block" is 40acres - and then we have another 4000acres to play with. We just have a small herd of 100 ewes on the 40 acres and that keeps it under control. You could have some steers instead - not as much looking after as the sheep. I was telling myself that they would be easier, I have been very interested in a couple of minature cattle, I think they should be alot less work than having to sheer sheep!! We really are on a block of rock and trees, so not alot of grass for more than 2 head of lawn mowers.

I would be very interested to hear your training methods, as I have very high roo/rabbit driven dogs!!

Very responsible Hubby wants to know how you maintain 40 acres? :o We're thinking of moving more rural in the future (not with THAT Much land) but the thought of so many acres makes his mind boggle! It is not easy, I would love to get rid of 20acres (aparently we are under some gold mine lease, everywhere else around here has been mined except here, so that will probably never happend, would have been a quick fix to the mortgage!!). We are on a very bushy block and summer scares the heck out of me. I just try and keep around the house clear of trees. I think I need a few lawn mowers for the front paddock that will save me having to mow! I think 5 acres would be not enough but 10-15 would be great. I have GSPs and lots of water so it is the perfect training area for retreiving, I really do love it!

Some dogs will just rather hang around the house, but if you have a dog that was bred to hunt you really need to have them safely contained. I live on 40 acres and if my dogs are out of the house yard and I take my eyes off them for 5 seconds they are gone rabbit and roo hunting. It drives me crazy! (It doesnt help that there are so many roos around at the moment, its just a tease for them) They wear innotek collars when we are out walking which have a 400m range on them, so if they do get away I can get them back. Our property also has sheep fencing and they just jump straight through it, if they want to get out nothing will stop them. They are always in the house yard or 6ft dog run, as they cant be trusted. We have many farmers around and they will get shot if they are out and I am not prepared to loose them so they are kept under a very close eye. There are too many problems with dogs out wondering and irresponsible owners, Im not going to be one of them and it is for their own safety as well.

We have one of those electic, fluro light zappers and the girls carry on like there is thunder or fire crackers going off, they hate it.

I still cant go past lodge ropes. They will make to size and do splice ends instead of attaching D or O-rings and very reasonably priced. http://www.freewebs.com/lodgeropes/ Here is one I had them make for me,

Im still very new to the sport, you could ask the question about birds at this website: http://www.australianworkingretrievercentral.org.au/bb/ you may find someone close to where you are.

I have just purchased some dummies from the states, the suppliers here didnt have the firmness I was looking for (they were very soft) the only downfall from that was they ended up costing around $30 each, but well worth it, great quality and alot firmer than I had hoped. The Avery bumper is hex shaped and stops the dog rolling it around in their mouth, my boy has alot of chopps, they seem to get in the way of picking up round dummies, TBI bumpers are great, very firm and very reasonable. If you google Avery or TBI you will find their websites. Good Luck.

It sure does, its the reason I had my bitch done, constant whining and screaming!!

I had my bitch debarked many years ago in Canberra because of the whining and screaming she did, whether we were home or not. A fantastic job was done and I think my OH would have wrung her neck if she didnt get done (mind you she has got worse, I just cant hear her!) But I would never have known there was a brown snake in the run if I had the dog done! Definately pros and cons.

Hi there, everyone seems to have had positive experiences with suprelorin, has anyone had any negatives? General comment is that it has a calming effect on the dogs. and alot less marking!! Does it knock them for a 6? Do they still have the same drive to fetch or run? Do they still like smooching? or could they not be bothered? Any advice here would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

I like the fit of the black dog gentle leader rather than the halti. I found the halti sat to close to my dogs eyes and rubbed quite a bit, she was quite the puller!!

I was extremely relieved with the weather, I dont think I would have got out of the car if it was warm, all that tussock looked like a lovely place for snakes to hide!! I also have Stingers mum 'Ruby' but she likes to do her own thing by herself, I would have been lucky if she came back before we left, way too many things for her to chase, so she can stay at home unless there are fences!! bad dog. Pepper is a lovely looking dog, how is the retreiving going for you, we didnt get to see you in action, although you did a fantastic job on the thrower!! :rolleyes: Thanks again, cant wait for the next one.