ish

I've been to 2 K9 Force workshops so far, and I reckon Steve could spend the whole day talking about how to teach your dog to sit and a) you'd learn something new and b) you wouldn't be bored for a second which is why I'm so keen and don't mind what the topics are. A couple of things overlapped in the 2 workshops I've been to, but theres so much of an information overload, its great to hear it again and probably pick something up you missed the first time. Personally, I think it would be best to have a small-ish group - I'd be happy to pay a bit extra to maybe get the chance to have my dog worked with.

Forgot to say, can probably add my 2 sisters as well.

Me! Me! Me! I was going to say you could have it here, but you'd probably want it at the training grounds if the clubs hosting it. I'd prefer the whole day workshop, don't mind the topics.

I've had several of my dogs done with the nose squirty vaccination, some have even had it a few times now, with no problem other than sounding a bit 'snotty' for a few days. Hope Remy is feeling better

Oo Oo, Sparty - any chance I could follow you down pretty please? Save me having to leave 3 hours early so I have time to get lost and un-lost a few times on the way!

I wanted a poodle cross as I was after an allergy friendly dog, that wasn't a full poodle (I had poodles growing up, and wanted something different). Have you considered a Lagotto? Non-shedding, not a poodle AND you can get them from registered, responsible breeders who health check their breeding animals Heres the breed info page, from there you should be able to get to breeders details and profiles of individual dogs http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/info/lagotto.htm Fingers crossed that poor Ruby feels better soon.

Our orbee balls arrived on Friday ;) Chili loves hers "No, you're not having it back!"

I've entered Tiger in both novice classes on Saturday and Chili in the CCD afternoon class on Saturday but she's not a definate starter, we'll see how her training goes over the next few weeks. Tiger is doing great things, its just her handler who messes it up for her!

Wyvernblade I am truly sorry for the loss of your Lane. I admired this beautiful boy at the K9 Force workshop, he was stunning. I know some of how you feel, I lost my first GSD suddenly at 2 1/2 with one of those freak conditions the vets hadn't seen before. Its heartbreaking to have them so full of attitude and happy by your side one minute and be without them the next. from me, stay strong - you did what was right for him and he knows how much you love him. Keep Bayliss company at the bridge Lane, another beautiful GSD taken too early

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Why do you tell me this now after you've already posted my stuff?!?!?!?! How much are they? If I was to use the orbee balls for drive training and have the orbos as toys the dogs could access all the time, would the peppermint smell on both confuse them? Would it make the orbee ball any less valuable to them for training?

Have the entries for the geelong trial already closed do you know? If not, do you have some more details?

K9: keep in mind that the TOT isnt about teh dog waiting for its food, thats only one of the steps.... Sorry, thats not what I meant - I meant that for my dogs who don't need to be trained to tie up, I didn't really need to muck around getting organised so I could tether them to begin the program. I understand its about alot more than waiting for food. K9: as the dog has so much desire (drive) for the prey item, its very easy, small bit of guidance & they figure it all out quick. I understand that in theory, but all I can imagine is a large dog bouncing and jumping around madly trying to get the ball out of my hand and me trying to hold the ball out of reach of the dog. For teaching sit, you held the ball up high, the dogs head followed the ball up, bum came down into a sit and you released the ball - that makes sense to me. If I was to teach stand using food motivation training, I would have the dog on lead in a heel position, hold the food out infront of the dogs nose (making the 'stand' signal and saying stand as it stood) so it stood up and reached for the food, perhaps put my left hand on the dogs tummy to help hold it in position and then give it the food. Could you give me an idea, in steps, of how you'd go about teaching the stand (or stay) using prey drive because I would bet if I used the same technique using the ball rather than food, my dogs would be just jumping and pulling, trying to reach and snatch the ball. I'm sure its really easy, I'm just dumb

I haven't started any new programs with my dogs yet ;) I'm still thinking of how to go about it with 5 dogs with various degrees of training and temperament here. I hope over the weekend I'll be able to screw some kind of ring into the wall in each of the dogs pens so I can attach them to begin the TOT program (although they will all wait for their food already). I've been thinking of trying seperate training ways with my 2x 7month old GSD pups - the dog is very laid back, cruisy but loves his food and the bitch is a wild, crazy ball obsessed thing. When I remember to email K9 my address for my ball on the string and it arrive here, I'll begin prey drive training with Checa and food drive training with Desmo and see what happens. One question though, I don't really understand how you teach the dog things in prey drive - I can understand how it works for dogs who already have an idea of how obedience training works (such as the dogs used for demos) and also how the ball on the string could be used to 'lure' the dog into position for some things, but what about teaching the stand, or stay? I my prong collar - what an amazing piece of equipment! Chili, who I had at the workshop, is 2 1/2 years old and has been doing obedience lessons her whole life but would never focus on me when there was other people/dogs around - mainly a bit problem with her heeling and not pulling. Last Sunday she had her prong collar on at obedience (not one person noticed!) and she wasn't a bit fussed by it, still played with the other dogs and jumped around like a fruit loop - but when we got to the serious work, she was so switched on and focused on me. It was like a light bulb moment for her, she turned her attention to me, got lots of praise and we were both happy! She was so good, I was able to do offlead heeling, recalls and agility for the very first time with her with no fear of her nicking off. I can't get over the difference it made. I've also used it on my 18 month old bitch who has started lunging at other dogs while out on a walk and also pulled like a train due to her show training. I was able to walk her on a loose lead after just a few minutes of pulling which was lovely and she gave herself one sharp check lunging at a dog behind a fence (gave a little yelp) and then gave it up. The check didn't make her frightened of the collar at all, she still tried to chase magpies etc but she thought twice about lunging again. Its certainly not the cruel, harsh, torture instrument its made out to be. Oh and the new leash is devine, just beautiful - thanks again.

I'm pretty sure this is the stuff we feed the dogs at work (boarding kennels), we get it in a 5kg block. I've had my dogs on it for a few months now, they look great and really love it - and its easier to deal with than meat.

You've got a GSD, the swiss army knife of dogs - do it all!! Whilst my GSD Chili isn't a master of anything in particular, we have a go at obedience, some flyball, tracking, agility, lure coursing and showing. If you use different collars/harnesses and commands, I have no doubt your boy could pick the different activities up. I find your comment about your dog being more like a Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd interesting - even though GSDs are a working (sheep herding) breed just like BC, Kelpies etc they don't seem to be viewed in the same light activity level wise. I was having a conversation about this recently with someone who was suggesting breeders should breed GSDs with calmer temperaments to suit pet homes rather then the full-on, active, intense type that I enjoy owning and training. Sorry to go OT your comment just related to the thoughts in my brain!

Riley, I hope you're having heaps of fun playing silly zoomie games with my beautiful Bayliss who was also called to the bridge too early. Be a good boy until you meet up with your Mum again, she loves you and misses you alot. isaviz, can you please post that adorable evil puppy photo of him? Its my favourite.

So sorry to hear about your Mum Lablover

I was the one with the GSD in the crate I knew Clicking Mad with the adorable Chester the dally, and worked out who Nekhbet, Scope, Erny, Fido666 and Haven were but I'm a bit shy Internally, I was very happy to meet you all What an amazing day, my head is still spinning! I had to attend an aspiring instructors lecture today and I don't think I took in a word of what was said, too busy thinking about yesterday! It was too bloody far away though - next time can we have it a bit more central pleeeeeeeeease? It took me 3 hours to get there in the morning and despite getting horribly lost on the way home, minus the traffic it was still over 2 hours. Whinge over, even if it was 5 hours away, I'll still be there next time! Lablover, Stamp is amazing, I'm just in awe. You must be so proud of him and yourself. I think everyone who had a dog used for a demonstration should give themselves a pat on the back, what a fantastic bunch of dogs! Apologies to Skooter and Rosie from Chili for being growly and silly - she's over protective of her food and I think she just freaked a bit when she was playing with Skooter when she realised that huge head belonged to an equally huge body! Other than that, I was pretty happy with how she behaved for the day (a couple of you might remember her from the last vic workshop - Steve worked with her for fear aggression) I can't wait to get started on my own dogs with some of the techniques we learnt yesterday.

I'll have a go at answering a couple of your questions 1) Eating I would guess that he's seperating the meat out of the bikkies, because the meat is the extra yummy bit! Who wants boring bikkies when you can have meat! Perhaps try cutting the meat back and see if he then eats all the dry - that way if he eats it all you'll know you're over-feeding him. If not and it is just because he likes the meat more, I would go with a tough love approach. If you let him be fussy now, you'll be battling with finding things that he'll eat for his whole life. Hills is complete and balanced as it is, without adding meat or anything else - so I would feed him just the Hills for a week or two. If he turns his nose up at it and decides he's not going to eat it, too bad. Give him 15 minutes and if he doesn't eat it in that time, take it away and don't offer him anything else until his next meal time. I know it sounds horrible, but he won't starve - after a few days of realising if he doesn't eat what hes given, when he's given it he'll go hungry, he should start to eat better. Once he's eating the dry food well, you can reintroduce the meat, vegies, etc. Its common for pups to go off their food for a few days when they arrive in their new home, so maybe give him a few days to settle in before trying the above. If in doubt, check with his breeder, they might have some more advice for you. 2) Toilet!! The key to toilet training is to be consistent. Take him outside EVERYTIME after he eats, drinks, wakes up from a sleep and after a big play (or if you catch him sniffing around, carrying his tail high, sooking etc). Praise him heaps when he does go outside. You can use a command like 'empty' when he is in the act outside, and he'll eventually cotton on that when you give him that command outside, thats what he's to do. While he's still so new, keep him confined in one area of your house so you can keep an eye on him and know when its time to go outside. Also, don't carry him outside if you can possibly help it, call him over to the door and the desired toilet area outside so he'll learn where to go himself - after a few days hopefully he'll start making his way over the to the door by himself. If he doesn't go to the toilet while you're outside, I wouldn't make a fuss - take him back inside and continue on as normal, keeping in mind it will be even more important to get him outside the next time he wakes up, or has a drink etc. I've found that pups tend to poop after a big run around, and whilst I don't recommend you make him gallop around too much after a meal, if he still hasn't had a poo a few hours later, you might want to try a big chasey game or something and remember heaps of praise when he does go. 3) Sleeping I personally don't like the idea of a bed he can't get into easily by himself and I'm not sure what you're gaining by this. My puppies have tended to fall asleep where ever they stood when they were brand new rather than finding their bed! I'd suggest, if you're worried about him wrecking a good bed while he's a baby, a cardboard box with the front cut out and blankets inside - if he chews or wrecks it, no harm done and its warm and secure. When he's ready for his next bed, you can transfer his blankets and it will be familiar to him. If he falls asleep somewhere else, gently move him to his box so he'll get the idea that when he's sleepy thats where he's to do. Crate training is fantastic and I suggest you give it a shot - you can put his bed in his crate even. If he can't get out of his storage container to go to the toilet and has to go in his bed, it will upset him and make toilet training harder. Toilet training with the crate works by the pups natural instinct not to want to soil bed and if they can't get out and find a quiet corner of the house to go, they're more likely to hold on and wait for an appropriate opportunity to go away from their bed - but the owner still needs to be there to keep an eye out for signs that the pup needs to go outside and take them. Hope that makes sense. 4) Training I agree its hard to know if you should be letting the pup settle in and ignoring bad behaviour or start teaching him whats right and wrong right from day 1 - maybe someone else will have an idea. With your biting hands example, I have a suggestion. Try not to point your finger at him when you tell him off for this - to him, you're waving your hand at him, the one he's just been biting -so you must be playing right? You're giving him your finger to bite, thats how this game works?!! Instead, say "NO!" firmly, take your hands away for a second so he knows you're not playing and then give him something he is allowed to bite, like one of his toys and have a game with him. That way, you're turning it into a positive - here Juggy, you're not allowed to bite me, but you can bite this and then you're a good boy. Personally, I don't mind scruffing if the pup is really naughty - but lots of people are against this. Same principle with jumping up - teach him to sit as soon as you can (its easy, get him focused on a piece of food in your hand, hold it at his nose height at slowly move it up above his head so his head goes up, bum goes down and as his bum touches the ground, say "Sit!" and repeat lots!). When he jumps up, tell him 'NO!', turn away to ignore him and when he's not jumping, tell him to sit and praise him - he'll soon learn that if he wants attention from you, he's got to sit. I hope that helps

I've seen this method used very effectively - but the one thing I don't get is why the dog needs to be focused on your face during obedience. I know some people have trouble with food training using their hands to give food because the dog follows their hands and ends up in the wrong position - but I think thats just a training thing (my obedience dog was food trained and she no longer follows my hands for food). Whats wrong with the dog watching where its going while keeping an eye on its handler at the same time?

She was beautiful indi dog - you can see in her face that she knew she was your special girl ;) I know how it feels to not be there to say goodbye, my first dog Bayliss also passed away at the vets without me there. Take comfort knowing that she loved you, and she knew you took her to the vets to help her that day. I'll be thinking of you tomorrow

Where was the one you enjoyed Clover? Mine are too old now, but good to know for puppy buyers and stuff. Can PM me if you like

Flaxseed and Linseed oils are the same thing (I'm pretty sure anyway!) You should look into getting it from the horse shops jedash, its much cheaper - not sure what the difference would be between it and the human quality stuff (says cold processed linseed oil on the bottle, source of omega 3, 6 and 9)

I've been using Linseed oil with great results. Its cheapest at horsey places (about $12 for a litre).

You're a darling KK Thankyou!