aussielover

No collar (including the new Scalibor collar) are suitable for dogs that swim often. The active ingredients in collars are disseminated throughout the coat and skin. Water removes the actives from the coat and skin and leaves animals unprotected for 48 hours after reapplying the collar, the time it takes for the actives to re-disseminate throughout the coat. (Unlike topically that disseminate and go through the skin to the various areas the different brands are designed to go ie advantix goes to the lipid layer of skin ( below the surface) and the lipid layer is water resistant. Frontline goes to the bloodstream along with residuals in the epidermis. The current collars, ie preventic, kiltix and scalibor have lower efficacy than topicals. Collars are approx preventic 74% Kiltix 92% Scalibor 81% Topicals: Advantix 98% fortnightly application Frontline 62% fortnightly application Frontline spray 87% sprayed externally once every 2-3 weeks Permoxin 67% sprayed every 3-5 days Advantix is the only one that repels as well as kills. No product is 100% for paralysis ticks and DAILY SEARCHING IS STILL REQUIRED EVEN WITH PREVENTATIVES. NONE OF THESE PRODUCTS ARE SUITED FOR CATS Frontline may be used on cats with veterinary advice. Hope this helps Where did you get these statistics?

Throwing a treat just encourages snatching in my experience. Honestly I usually just feed treats to my dog with a flat hand (like how you would feed a horse), especially if she's excited! She also knows the word gentle but will only actually be gentle if you remember to tell her.

There's really not much point in the elimation diet if the dog is on cortisone. It's not really ideal to have the dog on both cortisone and antibiotics either. I Food allergy should be ruled out before skin testing is performed but not essential.

I drive a Getz as well and a large k9pro soft crate fits quite nicely with both back seats down. I think you'd struggle to get 2 smaller crates in the back of a Getz unless they were tiny. I'm actually thinking of getting a bigger car so I can fit more dog stuff in lol

I know someone who has a "frigate" and "buckit" lol

The pet quality mince usually contains preservatives. Whilst food allergy may be a component of your dogs allergies, it's actually relatively rare for food to be the only problem. True food allergy is much easier to manage than atopic dermatitis though so I hope you see positive results with the food trial. Btw the diagnosis for food allergy isn't in improvement on/during the elimination diet, but rather on a strong, obvious reaction upon the recommencing of the normall/previous diet.

Surely keeping your cat contained within your own property would prevent this?

You could do rally-o wobbly :)

Pugs SOS- it's great that you assess each application and it merits. Personally I think that if a person works full time arrangements can still be made to ensure the dog has stimulation and company. For example doggy daycare, dog walkers, dog sports training etc. even though I work full time I would say my dog has more company and stimulation than many dogs whose owners are home all day or work part time. My housemates are actually home all day with their GSD but they don't do anything with her- my dog gets walked and trained twice a day and goes to doggy daycare 3 x a week because she gets too bored at home with them! Perhaps not being a working breed pugs are happier with a less stimulating environment, I wouldn't really know, but just trying to make the point that people who work full time shouldn't necessarily be instantly discounted as many of us are probably more dedicated and more obsessed with our dogs lol.

Mindy had her first retrieving lesson today! At first she wasn't interested in the dummy at all when the instructor was waving it around in front of her and throwing it a short distance. But then she watched a few dogs retrieve when the bungee thingy had thrown it and she seemed quite interested. Then we decided to give her a go with the bungee thrower thingy and she was really interested and retrieved the dummy really enthusiastically and dropped it right at my feet :laugh: Apparently she's meant to put it in my hand so thats something we need to work on. I've spent heaps of time teaching her to drop a ball at my feet and now it seems like I shouldn't have done that!!! She was pretty much doing 50m retrieves by the end of the session which I thought wasn't too bad (especially considering we'd just come from agility training) Anyway it was heaps of fun and I hope to work towards entering her in a RATG towards the end of the year or early next year. Is anyone else here doing or aining to do the RATG? Also, where do people get the retrieving dummies from?

Yay Jovi! Well done TO I am to am focussing on speed with Mindy now, and she has improved quite a bit (with help form Vickie :)). I no longer care for slow and accurate clear rounds, I would much rather a fast (for us) NQ or DQ at this stage. Last weekend at cessnock she had a lovely fast excellent agility run- DQ but she actually managed to get ahead of me so I was pleased. She had quite a good clear in excellent jumping as well, not as fast as her agility run but it was the last run of the day and pretty much in the middle of the day and was quite hot and being a black dog she is quite affected by the heat. But she was well under the SCT and actually came 7th overall which is not a bad effort against the faster herding breeds and considering the were lots of clear rounds.

I guess it depends on your definition of socialising. Not everyone has the same ideas when it comes to socialising but it important that you train your dog according to what you want of him, not what others tell you. Personally I don't see the point of making 2 dogs who are clearly uncomfortable get up close and personal. If anything it is going to have negative consequences so I think you were right to remove your dog from that situation. Who cares if they think you are anti social or overprotective, you have to do what is best for your dog. I think you and Zig did well in that situation.

what are 2x2x4?s I would probably have a large breed pup like a GSD on around 3 cups of a good quality dry food per day (split into 2-3 meals). But as persephone said check with the breeder or a vet who has seen the pup in person.

anyone with experiences with this group, especially with cats, please PM me

Thanks for the tip!! Tomorrow I'll try to run with Bonnie during training and see if we both improve. I'm still a beginner in agility but this sounds really helpful already :) She's actually quite focussed on you- with is a good thing. She is willing to please and eager to work. I think she could turn out to be a nice little agility dog, especially if you get some lessons and work on her separation issues. She will get faster as you both become more confident.

Awww your cocker seems lovely. She seems happy and motivated enough during training. You don't seem to be doing much moving in that video more standing and poitning- with my slower dog, I find she is much more enthusiastic if I run with her or away from her.

Wollongong dog sports is having an agility trial next Sunday in Wollongong at jj Kelly park. The trial will run all day.

Are you trialling in agility yet? If not I would be going to lots of agility trials and seeing which dogs you like and talk to the owners about how they work and how they are at home. In fact you only need to look at a trial catalogue or trial results to see the breeding of the top performing BCs. I like the guirmere and kerodan dogs, there are lots who have been very successful in agility (and are very nice looking too as a bonus!) I haven't had experience with the other 2 breeders you have listed. Vickie on DOL has guirmere dogs who are extremely successful in agility so perhaps give her a PM Why do you think your cocker doesn't like agility? There are also lots of successful cockers in agility- it's about finding the right motivation! I also trial with a gun dog and while she isn't as fast as a fast BC, she still has fun and can do pretty well. She's actually been a good intro to agility. I can imagine it would be tough having a high drive, super fast BC as a first agility dog!

Mindy now has her AD JD GD and SPD Just needs SD to have all of her novice agility titles! It doesn't seem as popular as the other games though so there aren't as many opportunities. Haven't gotten around to doing any retrieving yet unfortunately.

Yay! Congrats on your baby Aussie! I think they would perfect for your situation. My old black tri girl would have fitted your situation perfectly- very calm, non destructive but also happy to go on long walks etc. she was left 9-5 during the day with no probs. finding the right individual dog is important though (there are some crazy aussies out there!!) and it sounds like you've found a good breeder. My Labrador is very calm as well but it took more work with her and she isn't happy by herself all day. Young gun dogs can be a handful and quite destructive!

Just out of interest... Please answer honestly! I currently am training 2o2o standning but am having an issue in trials. She will still make the contact but not actually do the correct position. I am naughty though and will let her continue if she is going clear. I will make her redo it if she's already DQes or had a fault. Am thinking of also changing the 2o2o to a drop position, still 2o2o but in a drop so she actually has to stop and physically change position. But I guess whatever you choose consistency is key, and its never going to be good if you let them get away with not doing it properly in a trial!

Well I am very proud of Mindy. She gained her AD title this weekend and she managed 2 JDX passes despite me actively hindering her in several sections. She was such a good girl I really need to work on my handling though. I realised we've never actually practised a rear cross over a jump and that I need to work on my positioning on crosses so i don't block the jump from the dog and don't almost run into the jump!

We had a great weekend in Wagga! Mindy gained her AD title, also got 2 JDX quallies and her first ever open jumping qually! She actually managed to get 2 x first places and 2 x second places and a 4th place and 5/9 clear rounds. She actually got 4/4 clear rounds in the ones that I really wanted her to get (AD and JDX)which was fantastic! She was also great in the RQH agility and open jumping day one but had one fault in each- both times when I tried to rear cross her on a jump and caused a bar to come down or refusal. I shouldn't have done that as we haven;t really ever practised rear crosses on a jump! She still gets RQH points though I think (not that I really care- we wont be in the running for that anyway!). Open agility wasn't very good for us, I think we will take a break from that for the moment. But overall we had a great weekend, it was a lovely relaxed trial, will definitely try to get down there again next year

Craig, John and the team at NSVH saved my dogs life when she had a bone stuck and go through her intestine, so I highly recommend them. I hope the surgery goes well. Do you know if she only needs deepening of the groove or does she need the tibial crest to be relocated as well?

How about cerenia? It's an anti nausea tablet specifically for car sickness in dogs