The Ark

Congratulations on your New Year's babies, angelsun. Nice gender mix there!

I'll step in and say my trusty little compact has been lucky enough to withstand a couple of storms that saw the bigger models collapse. :D I've been happy with it - maybe I've just been lucky.

I have foam dogs beds covered with heavy duty canvas - they resist most chewing, don't hold fleas and are easily cleaned with soapy water and a hose.

When you work that one out, becks, please let me know! I usually have a few dogs on the go, and one session each at an obedience training morning is enough for each dog (especially if they are youngsters, so they don't sour). You just have to do the homework, which is easy enough because you can work them separately in your own time.

Congratulations nedsur Glad all went well for you and your little Sheltie mum. Cheers Rottsup Beautiful babies, nedsur!

Mine is the same, he has no problems being alone, but he hates missing out on something fun! That's why I usually give him a treat as I leave... the rawhide takes him about 5-10 minutes and it keeps him happy while we walk out the door :D Satch probably breathes a big sigh of relief: "Thank dog she took that pesky thing away for a while!"

Thank you everyone. As Wuffles mentioned, she has the girl pup and hasn't had any trouble. These two are boys, and I have had the same problem whether they are in the same or separate bays, and also when I've tried crating them separately instead. Stools aren't overly runny - they look moist but formed. I think the reason it was on one of the boys' tails this morning was that he had just sat in it. They are usually only fed in the mornings, so I have definitely avoided evening/night feeds for this very reason - however because I ran out of their dog food the day before yesterday they just had meaty bones yesterday morning and then their kibble mid-afternoon so perhaps this one-off might have been due to the afternoon feed. It just seems that on other occasions the same thing happens when they only have morning feeds. They did use the paper as puppies, but I understand what you are saying about teaching them to toilet on grass as early as possible. That makes a lot of sense. All of their normal toileting now is outside on grass/dirt. 1. What sex are they? Both male (one desexed, one entire) 2. When did it start & what did you change before this? (They've been like it since I can remember - not every night, and not so much lately) 3. How long has it been happening? (See above) 4. Do they urinate on the bed? (They do if they need to go - it is a proper wee, not just marking) 5. Are they marking surroundings with urine? (The entire dog does mark around the yard, but not in the trailer) 6. Are both dogs doing it? (Yes) 7. Are the stools normal, or very moist? (Soft to normal, not runny) 8. Have you considered adding the third dog into the mix......Perhaps it can help guide their habits? (The third dog is a maremma, so it would be a bit squishy in there - probably no room to poo though!) So maybe I should put this particular incident down to the afternoon meal yesterday, and make note to avoid feeding them after lunch at all to see if this makes a difference. I will also try separating them again - perhaps the playing/staying awake does make them more likely to need to toilet. Thanks again for the suggestions.

We are having problems with two of our dogs who think it is perfectly normal behaviour to poo and wee on their beds. Our big dogs have their beds set up in our dog trailer at night (in our big shed) so that we don't have barking issues at night. They all love going to bed and happily jump in. They are usually not locked up until around 10.30-11 o'clock at night, and let out by 6.30am. Two of the dogs share a berth, which is big enough for them both to stretch out in, but not really so big that they can get away from any mess they make (which I thought was the idea to stop them messing). I got up this morning to let them out and was greeted by an enormous poo right in the middle of the bedding. One dog then jumped out and whacked his tail up my leg, leaving a lovely smear all over me. I then had to drag the trailer out and hose the whole thing out. Even if these dogs are in a dog run at night they will often choose to wee or poo on their trampoline beds rather than on the cement (and again, it's not like they are locked up for an excessive amount of time). They are 12 months old, so well and truly old enough to hang on, surely! I am aware that it is something we have done with their training, because we bred and raised these guys. They were whelped on fleece/vet bed, surrounded by newspaper so that (we hoped) they would learn to use the paper. I have always understood that most dogs would rather die than soil their sleeping area, so I just don't know why they feel it's okay. Can anyone advise how we might best tackle remedial crate training with dogs this age?

That's definitely a sighthound tail, I'd say.

Well done... My kitey girl got 2 x 10 point BOBs this weekend just gone...I have my fingers crossed that the lasdt few she needs will come easily and I wont have to wait for ever but Im not confident! Awesome result for her first show. Hope the sucess continues! Yay Kite!!! ;) Fingers crossed for the last ones! Hopefully we'll all be there to cheer. We're off to our last shows of the year this weekend too - I almost feel like a complete newbie again because it's been about 5 weeks since our last show.

Does anyone know what the ring layout will be for the shows at Morisset this coming weekend (Sat 18th & Sun 19th December)? I am particularly interested in Toys & Working Dogs. Thank you.

Thank you Heidi!

Here are two of our pups - Aurea the Maremma and Tally the Aussie Shepherd, on their way to the Obedience Club Christmas party. They were just happy to be going somewhere - they didn't really care what we made them do! :D

Thanks Dotty! Well done to the red girl! Only 5 more sleeps til our next show - it's been about 5 weeks since the last one!

Well done, Penny and the beardie!!!!!!

How disappointing for you, Huntia! I hope your little one is on the mend.

Hello everyone! Any results from yesterday???

Can I add ours please? Australian Shepherd litter due 6th January (our first AI, first imported semen so we are very excited!). Our girl had 5 puppies in her first litter last year. Miniature Pinscher litter due approx 10th January. We have leased a little red girl from our breeder and she is enjoying her time down here so far.

Thanks everyone. I know it isn't 100% accurate but it should give me an idea of numbers... Don't count on it I know of some told expect 6, they got 9. Others expect 4, they got 7. Ultrasound - confirms pregnancy but is not accurate enough for numbers. Xrays are best taken at 8 weeks to determine numbers - with that said, they to can also be wrong! I know what you mean Sway... I have ultrasounds in the past... Most have been around what my girl has had... About 3 years back i got an xray done.... Vet said between 7 -71/2 LOL she had 8... Back then i paid $85 for xray but now i use a different vet as moved towns and he said $180 so would like to know what are prices for ultrasounds and xrays you are paying? Is $180 steep for a pregnancy xray?? Wow - that's a bit dearer than what we paid last year. Ours was around the same as your first - about $85. With our last litter we had our bitch x-rayed at about 8 weeks - the (inexperienced) vet counted 6 spines, so after we delivered 5 puppies we were starting to get worried when the 6th one hadn't come - fast forward to vet opening time at 9am and the real vet had a look, reassuring us that there should only have been 5. We had her ultrasounded last weekend at 4 weeks and there was no way we were going to get an accurate count from that particular scan as the quality was just too poor. We were happy to see a couple of "somethings" jiggling about in there though, and that's all we had expected to find out.

Nope Scar will be there So there will be 2 red merle bitches! All the dogs entered are blue. And I'm pretty sure you guys have the only 2 bitches - colour coded sexes And I had the chance to stuff that up too!

and Pissedashleigh? :cry: I can't go :) :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:. It's my home town so I desperately wanted to go, but kids have ballet concerts and I have much stress. Good luck everyone. Someone better bring back some fringies........ ETA: well there you go! There is a limit to the number of crying emoticons you can do in a row because I had to take some off before my post would go through.

Congratulations, ishy! Baby Puppy In Group is a great result for your first show! Good luck with your surgery on Tuesday. :D And congratulations to LOTG and Lola also - very exciting news!

We stayed at Stoney Park Watersports/Holiday Park at Telegraph Point, just north of Port Macquarie NSW, and loved it. http://www.stoneypark.com.au/ We had about 5 cabins booked between a group of us who were showing at Port Macquarie in October this year - we each had multiple dogs and everything went very smoothly. Dogs are allowed inside the cabins, you are just required to pay an extra $20 cleaning fee (one-off for your stay, not nightly). There are no fences and dogs are required to be kept on-leash (or at least under control) but there is plenty of space for walking and the dogs can have a paddle to cool off. There is a nice BBQ area and we all sat around at night having dinner & drinks with the dogs set up in crates/pens out on the lawn - very relaxing!

Whaaaa? Ava was a crazy puppy but is so calm and lovely these days. I took her to the oval yesterday and she wouldn't even run around, all she wanted to do was wander around at my side... Then I sat down on the cricket pitch and she came and lay beside me and went to sleep As nice as it is that she's calmed down, I kind of miss my nutty puppy sometimes About the only time she's boisterous these days is when she's giving her big brother a hard time I'm glad to hear Ava has learned to be a calm girl - she definitely had the "calm" genes in there somewhere from Vivi. KTB - I'm the other way: happy to handle Aussies but terrified of Kelpie energy! :p