Starkehre

.....ok... then my brag is.. to day Dyzney (along with Bronte) also achieved her HT title passes. Dyz has achieved 3 titles in the last 5 weeks and this now brings her to 9 titles in 5 different disciplines and the 1st Rottweiler in Vic to gain a herding title. I love to campaign my Rottis as the true all round working breed as they should be. We are very proud of our girl. It was her 7th birthday yesterday, so this has been a wonderful birthday present for her... playing with the sheep today. Many DOLers know we nearly lost our precious Dyzney to IMT over 2 years ago, and she is lucky to be alive, let alone out competing again. We tried retiring her once recovered, but she loves learning and working, so we just had to bring her out again. She has never been happier and seeing her this way just thrills me to bits.

Huge congrats SmoothieGirl. :D ;) I watched you achieve both those passes and Bronte worked extremely well. You have done so well with her, you must be thrilled. And it was lovely to see you again, though my terrible memory took a while to get going. Also wonderful meeting Bronte. She is absolutely beautiful. I really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the herding test day and everyone was so friendly, supportive and welcoming. Can't wait til the next one.

I always enjoy reading your posts Jed. Just lovely and thank you.

What a relief Webby. Glad your girl is fine now.

It is a good question cosmolo... I would like to think that I could be tough enough to deprive my dog for a whole 24 or 48 hrs of food if I thought it would get me the result in a comp that I wanted, but the fact is that I couldn't and wouldn't do it. I am not saying I am against it, I see the merit, but I just couldn't do it. For example going back to my last post regarding the upcoming trial the next day, I cut right down on her food, but she already doesn't eat much anyway, as she gets fats very easily. So what would have been a dinner meal of around a total of 1.5 cups of food, went down to 2/3 cup. and brekky was 1 x 2x2 Box 1 biscuit, which is usual brekky anyway. That is as tough as I can get food wise. The love deprivation I described earlier ran on into the next day, day of the trial. Instead of having her in her crate next to me or having intermitten cuddles, she was kept in the float. The float was right with us and under shade and she had a comfortable bed and water, but I knew she would have loved to sit with me. She cried out a couple of times, and it did break my heart, but my OH emptied her for me a couple of times, and then when it was time to prep her for her class, we did so and went straight in. No obedience training outside the ring or anything. Just a quick drive session with her chicken wing and in. I will also say that I only do this for obedience trialling and she has now achieved what I feel is enough for her and has retired in obedience, so won't need to do this again. Also I never used deprivation in training, except to ensure my dog had not eaten the half day prior. For agility, conformation, herding, tracking and anything else Dyzney has done or is doing she has enough drive and willing ness to work. This deprivation was purely for heeling purposes, which has always been my nemesis. I know my own conscience could not allow me to get to the point in deprivation where the dog was physically or emotional suffering. As an owner I know what my dog can handle. She behaves hungry all the time no matter how little or lot you feed her, so we can create food drive even when she is 3/4 full, so starving her would not give me much higher drive than I can already get. That is why I used attention deprivation. Mind you directly after her last pass and title, we had lots of snuggles and plays, so her desires were fulfilled.

I saw the Lucas Paw Paw ointment yesterday at the chemist in a huge bulk tub. That would last you quite a while. It was a chemist warehouse store. Good luck with it

Hi Gabba, like pers says, but I will also add, there is a good chance that your puppy is full. Depending on how much you are expecting him to eat. Royal Canin, like all the good quality premium foods, use a ridiculously high quantity feeding guide on the pack that I have yet to see a dog eat and not become obese very quickly. So if by chance you are using the guide on the pack, you are most likely over feeding your dog once every few days and it takes him several days to fully process all that food and get hungry again. This is a very common issue with people new to feeding premium foods The dog can get backed up with it also, so be careful. Also note, that the guides on the pack are if the dog is getting absolutely nothing else to eat, at all. So if pup is getting raw meat, bones, training treats and anything else, you need to take all that into account as part of his daily food in take when calculating what he is eating during that day. It can be easy to forget how many treats etc we feed during the entire day. From my experience, dogs do well on anything from 1/4 to 3/4 of what these packs recommend, depending on the individual dog and circumstance. I never even look at these guides anymore. I look at the dog. Good luck with him, he is at a beautiful age.

Yes vet now. Best of luck with your girl Webby. Please let us know how she goes.

Hi Secret Kei, sounds like a great idea for Kei. Now, I could be wrong about this, but as far as I am aware, the gelatine is added because it is very high in protein which would assist in the weight gain component that is typically required with the satin balls. Hence, I don't think you need to worry about it. Also, Kei might not like the taste of it, though it is typically somewhat tasteless, it would be a shame to drop the drive you would be gaining from all those other yummies. I hope these do the trick for you Good luck ;)

You are such a hard worker. I know you and Daisy will get it together. Your enthusiasm is inspirational. I wish I could say I feel your pain, but I gotta say, Dyzney's only poor part of her obedience is her heeling (mind you it is such a major part) . So once we scrape it through, I tend to breathe a huge sigh of relief, as all the other exercises are pretty close to spon on. She has not once lost any points for her stays and only the odd minor one or 2 on everything else. I have really enjoyed being back into obedience trialling after so many years. But I gotta say, after 5 months (including xmas break) I am already ready to move on We are really enjoying our herding and I want to get stuck into it before poor old Dyz is ready to retire. Sorry to go OT Cosmolo Back on topic, I just ate an ice cream in front of Dyzney. Well, she came over to watch and rovel anyway. Knowing how food driven she is, she definitely felt very deprived. Just building it up for tomorrow. I am a mean mum

And thank you Jess.

U know that ain't gunna happen husk. but nice try Thank you for your best wishes Have you put that entry in yet???.

SecretKei, you are absolutely right, it doesn't work on all dogs, unless of course you were prepared to deprive them so badly that were going into survival mode with food, and no one is suggesting we do this. I know how hard you have been working on developing Kei's drives. Keep up the good work. You will get there. Thank you for the well wishes for Dyzney.

Oh wow, Dyzney ...... Good luck for tomorrow !! Thanks Erny. I would love to do Open with her, but I think the jumping might be a much for her now at her age. She is doing herding now, so saying goodbye to obedience again til Jaggy bum comes out, hopefully later this year.

Yep, I do cosmolo. I deprive my bitch of gushy lovin from the arvo/evening before a trial and right til after the test is complete the next day. I also cut the meal to bear minimum the night before and just the tiniest bit in the morning. My bitch mostly trains and trials in food drive, but it does fritter away during the heeling pattern off leash, so we need every bit of pack drive we can muster, and I create this with semi ignoring her prior to the trial. Of course she is totally cared for etc, not neglected, but just not gushed over. When I gush over her she couldn't care less about me. When I semi ignore she want me more... just like teenage love, Her competative drive is also enhanced if she sees me giving any attention to other dogs at the trial. I am not big on this as my guilt gets the better of me, but it does help her heeling. I only need this one last pass tomorrow, and we are retiring her from obedience anyway, so no more of mum's silly games

I understand. Well, it if was me, I would be collapsing up the steel crate each time and taking that along. I did it for years before I got soft crates. At least you know she will be safe, secure and is already familiar with it. Saves spending any more money. Just a little extra time and effort. Sorry, that is all I can come up with. Good luck with the girl.

Dogs NEED food, water and shelter. They do not NEED to be taught to tie up. However, it is a very handly tool to have in your dog's kit of behaviours to be able to tie it up to secure it if the need ever arises... short term I mean. And I always teach my dogs to be quiet, confident and comfortable being tied in case this situation arises. An example being if I had 2 dogs at the local park and wanted to train one for a moment and secure the other whilst only metres away and I was not at the point of trusting a "down stay" as yet with that particular dog. But sorry, cannot help with assisting any permanent or semi permanent tips on tying, as I do not find this a safe way to secure a dog. Having said this I do understand that true working dogs and other farm dogs are often tethered and I am not judgemental towards this. Different culture that I totally respect, just not for me. I am unsure if OPs rescue dog is a working dog on a farm or even if they wish to tether this dog on a yard situation and leave it unattended. Not enough info. Edited to add...OP responded whilst I was writing. Might I suggest a soft styled dog crate? Much lighter than a steel crate.

Just gorgeous Z n Q. All peaceful there. Q looks in her element and babies are just beautiful. Please sniff in some puppy breath for me.

Congratulations H and SH. Babies here at last. Well done to all, and hugs to Q. What a good girl and a big litter too. Sorry to hear about the little lost ones.

Thanks for the update on Charlie CW. It is so lovely to hear he is full of energy, returning to his former self and coping well. I am so glad he is happy and you guys have a terrific attitude about his life.

I really do feel for you, and yes puppies can be super trying at the best of times, but.... and I do really mean this in the nicest possible way.... puppies will chew, and you already knew your puppy enjoyed chewing number plates, so in affect, by leaving puppy again in a situation where he can do so is simply reinforcing that he did a good job the first time and probably an even better job the 2nd time. He is being trained and proofed to chew number plates, and was rewarded the first time by being able to do it again. So, roll up the paper and belt yourself over the head with it. Do not leave puppy and cars in the one garage or yard again until puppy has grown out of chewing. The take OH out for a nice dinner and suck up. Things like this are more of a owner training issue than a puppy training issue. You cannot train puppy not to chew whilst he is not being supervised. Just remove everything he is not allowed to chew. This is not a behavioural problem. Good luck with OH. ...oooops, re read your OP and now not sure if your dog is a puppy. Same principal applies, but belt yourself again over the head a bit harder for allowing your dog to be bored. You know he is a chewer. Set yourself up for a win and don't keep tempting fate. I do sincerely hope OH does not give you a hard time over the number plate. Most of us have made these same mistakes at one point or another. We all live and learn. I am pretty sure you can just pay to get a replacement number plate issued.

With you Pers. If my dogs had to wear a collar at home when unsupervised, it would be reasonably tight or snug fit. Loose is very dangerous. I have seen feet and objects from around the yard caught in dog collars. The looser it is, the more chance of getting snagged on something. On a similar note, though a little different, a young wild cat a neighbour of mine decided to keep and tame many years ago ended up having to be euthanased as it got a loose fitting flea collar stuck in it's mouth and could not get it out. This was way back in the days when people used flea collars and let cats outside. We tried to catch it for days but it had become almost feral again because it was so scared. We had the RSPCA out, and even they could not trap him. The collar was slowly poisoning him and cutting into the sides of his mouth. It was a very very sad time and we all felt so sad for this cat. It must have been absolutely horrific for the poor boy. Eventually he became emaciated and in a weak enough state to be caught, but this was days later, and it was too late for him. Anyway, my neighbour thought she was doing the right thing by leaving the collar loose.

No collars here, only put on when we go out. My dogs cannot escape from our yard, so I feel safe in that regard. I have no biased on what others choose to do, but will just mention.. if you do collar dogs in the yard and the collar has a tag, please ensure this tag cannot slip between deck timbers, as I have seen dogs get stuck this way.

Will do Kirst. When I know, I will PM you.

Just an update, I spoke with Judy at Dogs Vic and she is going to put something up on their website and also try to include something in next month's Vic Dog mag.