ish

I'm soon to start agility lessons and can't wait! Can anyone recommend some books for an interested beginner to start learning the language etc? I'll be starting with an older dog but hope to be able to apply what I learn to my other dogs too

No sash here yet BB

I'm so sorry for your loss JulesP

We had our vet check the Thursday before our ET last Saturday, no worries with my bitch - she wasn't due for a season anyway after having been in last in March. She vetted fine at the ET and passed. We drove an hour and a half home afterwards and when she got out of the car, she had a blood spot on her back leg and yep, in season Talk about lucky!

RIP Cordelia So sorry for your loss

No puppies for us

Congrats to everyone who passed today, what a great bunch of people we had at Altona today :D This is Tommyspazz's Rajko and my Chili after the ET - unfortunately we didn't get our ribbons today for them to pose with I'll definitely be back next year, with a different dog - its been such good fun training for the ET and my nerves aside, it was a nice title to achieve

Thanks for the luck, looking forward to meeting you on Saturday I definitely have jitters, I left training until the last minute and my dog is 7.5 years old (and a former couch potato!!) She's done very well with her training though and I'm confident she'll pass the ET. She does get worried about strange dogs, after having been involved in a couple of fights, but we'll allow plenty of time for her to settle on Saturday and realise no one is there to get her. I think Friday might be a sleepless night for me but I'm very much looking forward to adding those magic letters to the end of her name after Saturday :D

Jane from Camuka http://camuka.com/ We lost our golden from Jane last year at 15.5 years old - she was a wonderful dog

Thats an interesting point NME. We did 12km today, which is 2 laps of the lake in Ballarat, and I'd planned on doing 1 lap tomorrow too. Maybe we'll go for a walk instead

I've had success with replacing all of the main meal with vegies (the homebrand frozen vegie mix) and just a few spoonfuls of dry/meat to cover the vegies. I zap the vegies in the microwave. The vegies make the dog feel full but they aren't digested well, so they don't add weight. Carrots are good for snacks too, most dogs seem to enjoy them

If you'd like a GSD, I'd love to offer one of mine

I've got Termi booked in for an xray on Sunday - I'm not sure if she's in whelp or not Hopefully she's hiding them away and I'll have happy news on the weekend

My bitch can be reactive with strange dogs, and she was unsettled with the dogs we had rushing us which is why we went opposite to you CC - just wanted to keep her calm. We'll aim to get there very early next weekend so she has time to take it all in and as you say, hopefully the big group will protect us!

Sorry CC!! I was the other person with the GSD today Pity we didn't realise you were coming to see us as we were leaving, I would have loved to asked where the actual track went for the ET next weekend. Nevermind, it was good to do a few laps and let the dogs get their sniffing out of the way! I'm concerned about the offlead dogs - there was so many today with owners who didn't care if they approached us

Pacing puppy Same dog gaiting Gaiting dog

I don't mean this in a nasty way - its a beautiful old photo of what was obviously a very loved dog - but what’s to say that her 'back' is correct? I don't think one photo tells much of a story, she is pacing in the photo which means she is carrying her back differently to how she would if she was gaiting. It looks like a nice strong back but it would be interesting to have seen a stacked photo - plus we need to remember she was a pet dog and not necessarily a competitive show dog Thanks for sharing the pic

I got the vet check form from the GSDCV emailed to me yesterday

My GSD is the most social of all my dogs The most tolerant and the most submissive around other dogs. Big dorky boofhead that he is! Is he show or working line? Oh please tell me you're not going to suggest that makes a difference in this case?! Why? Because it makes no difference what background Kavik's dog is from - he sounds like a lovely GSD with a good temperament. Mine are all show lines and are also lovely dogs who get along well with others too. Not one nasty, cowardly dog amongst them - nor any of my friends GSDs. Sounds like you've dealt with some pretty awful ones but one would hope that you could see the bigger picture, that there are good and bad in all breeds and the working/show debate doesn't come into it I asked out of interest - I know nothing about working-line GSDs & would like to know what they are like as regards temperament etc. I agree with you that I have probably seen some poor examples - the area where I used to live had a large Mediterranean ethnic population - when they have dogs they prefer large, mean-looking dogs and don't socialise them - there was one particular person who used to encourage his dog to attack others . I'm willing to admit that my prejudice is unreasonable (but then, isn't ALL prejudice?) but I have had bad experiences with GSDs and tend to stay away from them. I don't think your predjudice is unreasonable - you can only go off your own experiences, I find it sad that they've been bad when the vast majority of GSDs I know are friendly, happy and playful dogs. If I was in your shoes and had experienced horrible ones, I'd be staying away from them too. I'm glad that your question about working line was curiousity and not a dig at the temperament of showlines as a whole. If we're ever at the same place together, I'd love for you to meet some of my dogs

My GSD is the most social of all my dogs The most tolerant and the most submissive around other dogs. Big dorky boofhead that he is! Is he show or working line? Oh please tell me you're not going to suggest that makes a difference in this case?! Why? Because it makes no difference what background Kavik's dog is from - he sounds like a lovely GSD with a good temperament. Mine are all show lines and are also lovely dogs who get along well with others too. Not one nasty, cowardly dog amongst them - nor any of my friends GSDs. Sounds like you've dealt with some pretty awful ones but one would hope that you could see the bigger picture, that there are good and bad in all breeds and the working/show debate doesn't come into it

My GSD is the most social of all my dogs The most tolerant and the most submissive around other dogs. Big dorky boofhead that he is! Is he show or working line? Oh please tell me you're not going to suggest that makes a difference in this case?!

Good luck!!

Oh wow!! You're so lucky, congrats!

We got the infrared 'Rat Zapper Ultra' which kills mice too, from Derwent traders http://www.derwenttraders.com.au/index1.html Its been wonderful, I recommend it - safe and easy

Here are a few things you might find useful for learning about correct GSD conformation http://www.shawlein.com/The_Standard/04_The_Back/The_Back.html http://www.shawlein.com/The_Standard/12_Type_Comparison/Comparison_Types.html (all articles on that site are a good read) Please note too, that in the breed standard, it does not say the back should be horizontal http://www.ankc.org.au/Breed_Details.aspx?bid=143