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Uuurghhh....over, over, over this weather! 3 out of 5 of us at work spent our lunch hours digging trenches to stop the water getting in our homes. So far, so good but it can fine up now so I can get a good nights sleep and not stress about stuff I have no control over! Jess...great pictures! I would have loved to have gone for a look-see but its way too dangerous. Apparently the Cobden pool is flooded up to the shed roofs!!!! All the old-timers say they have never seen 24 hours like this before so hopefully its a once in a 100 year event! Tlc...be very very careful driving tomorrow. By the sounds of it, you will be following the weather to Gippsland so take it easy. Sorry, I didn't see Bronsons spot on Sunday. Thats the problem with my two...Always got an eye on them so I miss every thing else! It was great to have a nice pat with Cooper at training as my two were in the car. I remember thinking that it was the first time I had had a 'proper' pat of him!!! My sister and I actually too the dogs for a walk tonight as they were climbing the walls abit and it was damn scary. The rain had eased of but the wind was unbelievable! I was petrified a tree branch would come down. Thank God the trees are still bare...with them in full leaf, I think the damage would have been horrible! I hope everyone stays safe and sound and warm and dry!

Poor Bronson...where abouts on his head is it Tlc??? Btw...a great walk down the beach on Sunday! It was great to catch up with everyone and my two had a great time! Gus's first time at the beach. He loved it but a la-la about going in the water! Tlc, hows the bod after the ...er...rock fall?

When Jane was a pup...well up until she was over 12 months, we often thought of returning her but realised no-one else would have her She was beyound naughty 24/7. Couldn't even pat her when she was young without escalating her behaviour but while she is still naughty, she has developed into THE most wonderful dog. She is funny and fearless but also cuddly and smoochy and she has the most lovely joyous nature! We often look back and breathe a sigh of relief that her puppyhood is (almost) over! Mind you, we still have to convince her she is all grown up!

Jane is a 'Thinker'. She is constantly aware of her environment and god forbid anything new being put on the bench or mantle piece ( she has trained us to NEVER put anything lower down!) as she will make it her new challange to attempt to get it and explore (read...destroy) it. I am constantly amazed at her ability to actually get things I think I have put out of her reach and poorer for it I may add! I have even seen her hear a plane, look up at the sky and eye track it! Last night, I came home and was getting ready for bed. Jane sleeps in my room and she was abit reeved up so I shut her in my bedroom while I cleaned my teeth as I knew she was in the mood to zoom outside with my pillows ( a predictable little habit!). I was quite smug cleaning my teeth knowing that pillow was safe and sound only to find out 5 minutes later that she had spead said pillow ALL OVER the bedroom!!!! Gus....is easy....abit a a chewer at 6 months and he tears up the occasional bit of paper but thats it!

;) Happy birthday Tanya! Hope you had a great day!

Hey Tenties...Good luck with the car...again! Also good news about the roosters. My rooster has got so big now and very handsome. I think the 2 chooks are over him though! He gets abit er...randy in the morning and whichever chook jumps off the perch first is in for it! I'm sure they nudge eachother and say...'no...I jumped down first yesterday, its your turn today" ;) Mawson...very observant of you about Tlc's tatt. Never noticed that pawless thread until then! Also...how come Moby is now 'Moby'! Very cute name by the way! Tlc... me getting a Tatt.. ...not in this life time I'm afraid! Two Things I'm not keen on...pain and displaying any part of my anatomy to someone holding a needle!

Oohhh...nice tatt Tlc. Did you draw it up yourself? Wouldn't mind one myself but I'm the woosy-la-la type...I would need a general anasthetic! Did you go to training? Bloody hell The weather is scary! Too much wind for my liking and our driveway has turned into a mud pit. It had to be dug up last week to relocate a sewer and it hasn't stopped raining since. I under-estimated the value of the scoria topping that is now underneath the driveway

Well Gus went to the vets today. Annemarie the vet checked out his teeth and found another tooth on the other side (but not his canine) with the same problem. she thinks the enamel has chipped through some sort of trauma. He does like to chew on the wooden furniture outside but it is very soft wood so who knows! Funnily enough, he has the most gentle mouth so of all dogs, I'm surprised he has the problem! Anyway she is not sure what to do about it so will contact a dental vet in Melbourne next week and have a chat to them. Just recommended he have his teeth cleaned daily at this stage to stop any decay, supplied me with a toothbrush and ordered some toothpaste which will come in this week. all for the grand total of....no charge! Gotta love country vets! They didn't charge me for having my chook PTS either god love em! So...I would love to know if there is some sort of sealant that could be applied to these areas. Gus is only 6 months old and I intend to have him and his teeth for many many years if possible!

Thanks for the up date Mawson...I have been wondering how things were going! Sorry to hear about Casey's problems with her eyes and hope she recovers soon! Also sorry that she needs to find a new home but can fully understand your reasons. Dog compatability is very important and its only possible to guage that after the dogs are together for a while. I feel very very fortunate that Gus and Jane get on so well together. About the barking....why the hell does a deaf dog bark??? Is it to release tension or does it just feel good even though they can't hear it??? Its got me stumped! Gus has been a shocking barker. He barked when playing, barked when unsure, barked all the bloody time. We have had him 10 weeks now and the barking is FINALLY getting better. Must be part of the settling in period I think!

Interesting Nekhbet...so you think the bottom fang is rubbing on the top one? Could be...he's asleep at the moment so will check it out tomorrow. If thats the case, wouldn't the continual rubbing have an eventual impact on the integrity of the tooth enamel on both teeth? In which case...what to do???

OMG!!!! Tlc you poor thing! You must be in a world of pain! I has an abcess with one of my teeth. Best thing ever was when they whipped the nerve out with a root canel and no more pain! How long before they can treat the tooth??? Back to Gus...no not bothering him at all. Its not on the gum line or anything. Basically right in the middle of the length and looks like a tiny brown mark. Feels alttle rough so I'm wondering whether he injured it during play with Jane and chipped it abit and then the chip has discoloured but really not sure. Its in the same side as the scape on his lip when he face planted into the blue stone step but I'm pretty sure it was there before that little incident.

Jane came to us because she needed a family who would totally adore a constantly happy but contantly thieving extrovert. She has taught us to be much neater around the house and to never ever put anything less than 4 feet off the ground! Jane has taught us that material things are nothing (especially once chewed!) compared to the unconditional love freely given by 'The Black Menace'! Gus came to us to show us that some dogs are 'easy' and relaxed and not constantly on the go. He came to us because he would have died otherwise and because he needed a naughty extrovert to let him find the fun in having fun!

Young Gus is barely 6 months old and I have noticed a small brown mark on one of his upper canines. Abit of a rub and gentle scratch with my fingernail prooved to me it wasn't coming off so I was wondering what it could be! He has a good diet of advance puppy and chicken frames mostly and no rubbishy food at all. His tooth is basically brand new so I can't imagine it could be decay. Its approximatley in the middle of the length of his canine and very small but still, I'm alittle concerned. Obviously we are off to the vets on Saturday to get it checked out but I would love to hear of any suggestions as to what it could be!

Good on Chris and Ralph! Wouldn't you know we missed the best training day weather-wise! Gotta say though that I saw THE BEST shoes at a nursery in Melbourne that would be ideal for training. They looked like short gum boots but were made of thick wet suit material with an overlay of rubber for water-proofness (if thats a word!). Did I get a pair? Hell no...they were $110.00 Did I want them? Yep! They were even advertised as 'warm and waterproof'....heaven! I missed the puppies heaps but it was good to catch up with everyone. Worst thing was, I left my run home abit late and it was standstill on the westgate freeway for 40 minutes so I missed the start of Masterchef And the doggies excitment about me being home turned into a really long drawn out play-time with each other that was sorta interrupting my ability to watch the Masterchef final. In the final minutes, Jane finally collaspsed in a heap with her head in my lap snoring loudly so it was good to be home! And Tlc...no idea what happened to that PM but I didn't get it! Strange as they don't normally go missing!

Hey Tcl, How was Thunder Point? Bet you all had a good time and hopefully the weather was good!

Maybe its time to get the big guns out....the nicest smelliest food ever...roast chicken, sardines, freshly cooked up liver...whatever it is thats your dogs fav. What sort of breed is she? Could she have got caught up in anything under the house? I'd be really scared about wether the neighbours had baited for vermin under there. By this stage, if nothing has worked, I'd be ringing the police for advice. Good luck and please let us know how things go!

Best of luck to everyone participating. I'm sure you will all do very well. I would love to be involved but sadly Jane is not suitable. Loves dogs and people but too...er...explosive in her enthusiasim plus she's a bloody thief and will pinch any thing not nailed down. Gus, I think, would be great as he is a gentle sweet natured dog but he's only 5 and a half months old so too young to apply yet. I would certainly love to be a volunteer on the assessment day though...it would be a great experience!

We're out too I'm afraid. Its weekend in Melbourne time. Been ages since I visited mum and dad and a few friends I have'nt seen forever so I thought I would bite the bullet and go down this weekend. I hope the weather is great for the lucky ones going for a walk. This will be the first time I am away from Gus...got a feeling I will miss both Jane and Gus more than they will miss me though!

Jane likes to lick but only when she is getting a cuddle. Nothing too full on and I confess that I like it...mind you its never ott and she settles for 3 or 4 licks only. Gus was apparently a complusive licker at the shelter(he was there for 3 weeks) and used to lick, lick, lick the bars of his pen when people walked pass (poor love) so we never encouraged him to lick when we adopted him. He never really showed this compulsive behaviour once we adopted him BTW. I have noticed that the 2 dogs will lick each others faces but only after one of them has got accidently hurt during play. One little squeek out of one of them and the other will instantly lick the ears and mouth of the 'hurt' one. In this respect I think it is an appeasing and comforting behaviour. It also seems to signal an end to the play session and both dogs settle once its done!

Hmm...JJ...4 kids, 3 dogs, a partner and soon to be wife and a new business to set up...not sure how quiet it would be but I understand the wrench you must feel with both Lily and Vitasz going away. I'm sure they will be very happy in their new homes and they certainly had a great start being with you. I never met Lily but Vitasz is such a lovely dog and it was a real pleasure meeting him. Lucky lucky family who have him now! They must be grinning from ear to ear! Mawson...when are you gunna tell us about how Casey is getting on? I would love to hear how she is going! My 2 are good although Gus has a bit of skin missing from his top lip. Jane and he were rough housing in the house the other night so I got them to go outside. Jane ran out the back door and up the two bluestone steps to the back yard. Gus was right behind her but missed the 1st step and face planted into the second one. He folded up like a house of cards then ran into the backyard and cried. It was really hard not to run over and make a fuss of him. As silly as they both were at the time, it was nice to see Jane run over to him and lick his face. She then stayed near him quietly while he recovered his composure. I think it gave them both a fright as they really calmed down for the night after that!

Just can't believe how slow I am at catching on! A few minutes of getting their focus off the visitors and they relaxed and most importantly, lets the visitors relax too! I almost want more visitors to arrive so we can practise again

Ok...Jane is a bouncey 18 month labby cross and Gus is 5 and 1/2 months old. Jane has always been super excited when we have visitors and jumps and bounces around out of control with excitment. Gus is pretty low key but Jane's hyper-excitability really gees him up so when people drop around it can become quite stressfull as both the dogs go all out to meet and greet the visitors! So...the question I have to ask myself is...why oh why has it taken me this long to realise that all I needed to do was get a small handfull of treats and get the dogs to sit and drop while the visitors came in!!!! And to call them over for a sit-reward if they got excited during the visitors stay! Instead of two hyped up dogs going silly, I had two well-behaved dogs who got to stay in the room with some relaxed people. Too easy and yet it has taken me this long to work it out :D

Hmmm...wouldn't mind being 'sexhausted' myself!!!! Casey looks like a sweetie...she must be rapt to find herself in a great new home with lots of new friends to meet! Looks like she had a great time! How is she settling in? Training today was FREEZING! Some people ditched after 10 minutes but as it takes 45 minutes to get there, we stayed till almost the end and surprisingly we were'nt the only ones! Bit of a waste really as none of the many dogs were switched on. One reason for that was that all the handlers were so cold I think none of us were giving proper signals to the dogs.

:rofl: Tlc! Better late than never! Glad you had a great day! Love love love going out for lunch even better than going out for tea so I hope you enjoyed it heaps! Too bad about Logans but it just means you get an extra birthday lunch there when it re-opens!

I was in Tassie last Christmas and saw a dead fox on the side of the road near ?Mole Creek. I wasn't too fussed as I had no idea Tassie didn't have them. And it was definitely a fox. We see heaps here, both dead and alive, in South West Vic.