aussielover

I think some people genuinely don't understand the use of a crate and purely see it as "locking the dog in a cage". Some people do abuse the use of crates also (imo), I know people that crate their dogs all day while they are away at work (8hrs +). However, although far from ideal in my opinion, even this can hardly be considered dog abuse or cruelty.

A good suggestion was made in the news thread. If you have a dog remotely pitbull looking, keep it locked in your house when you are out. If I was in VIC at the moment, its wat I would be doing even if I has a purebred amstaff or stafford or any bull type breed Does anyone know how long you have to reclaim your dog if it is seized?

thanks aussielover, i do train with a club. do i have to get this done before the trial? I only know of one judge with the club. Also, i noticed there is something called vetting before the trial, do you know what this is? I would try and get it done before the trial, as they can sometimes be a bit chaotic and you don't want to be running around trying to get your height card sorted, on top of everything else. As far as I know vetting is not always done at every trial, but I assume it is just to make sure the dogs are fit to run and are the correct height? But not sure... Good luck! I am also keen to start trialling. Unfortunately I just found out that dogs have to be 18 months old to trial (I thought it was 12 with ANKC), so it looks like we won't be able to trial until next year as my dog isn;t old enough until Oct/Nov and there are few comps over summer.

Could someone please clarify for me? - So any non-papered "pitbull" looking dog must be registered as a "Dangerous Dog" and kept accordingly? - Any dog not registered by the deadline, deemed to be pitbull-looking may be seized and destroyed? - Any person can ring the hotline to report a "dangerous dog". Does this apply to any breed/crossbreed or just pitbull types? I feel it is very unfair for pitbull type dogs to have to be registered as dangerous dogs when they haven't neccesarily done anything

Do you train with a club? I think you need 2 judges to measure and sign off on the height card. If you belong to a club they should have people who can help you out.

This!!! Although I can see how the general public would be put off by them at the moment given the current media attention they are getting

Thanks guys the wine idea sounds good lol!!! I think mindy actually does better when I am nervous, worse if I am frustrated.

I haven't done the distance course but did a llw program with k9pro after a consult. Yes it works and we didn't use a prong collar, we used a martingale but I guess it depends on the dog and handler.

For sure! I know I have lots to work on with my dog. But surely dogs can have a "bad day" just like humans as well? I know there are days where I have really felt like not working and only put a half hearted or no effort into it Of course it is up to the handler to motivate the dog though... Which I clearly need to work on lol

I've asked before but forgotten what is lumping? Is it doing too much at once or something? I don't understand how she can run a whole novice agility course well one day and then not be able to/want to do a few simple exercises with only 4-5 obstacles. I ended with a game and swim- honestly took a lot of effort not to just stornm off and throw her in the car but yeah I think I should have just ended it sooner, as it was obvious we weren't achieving anything. Isn't hindsight wonderful :p

What is a wee-saw?

NO offence to vets (I'm a student myself) but what use are they going to be in identifying dog breeds? I personally I think I know purereds quite well, but when it comes to guessing crosses- my guess is a good as the next... Their expertise is in treating illness and injury of animals not identifying breeds. I've even had my purebred labrador identified as other breeds or as a crossbred by vets and vet students. None of the vets I ever went to with my aussie shep even knew they were a breed!!! Shouldn't they be focussing on temperament and health to decide which dogs are adoptable?

I saw steve austin today do a fairly similar thing with his working springers today! It was pretty cool! He used a series of whistles though. No idea how he tuaght it though sorry. I doubt my voice would be loud enough to cover great distances

Cats will get sick and eventually die if they don't eat meat- they are obligate carnivores and can't get all of their nutritional requirements from a plant- based diet only.

Can dogs just have a "bad day"? Yesterday my dog was appalling at agility training. From start to finish she was unresponsive, spent the entire time sniffing for food/ interesting smells, refused obstacles that she normally has no problems with and was generally just naughty. She wasn't physically tired or sick as she ran off into the creek during the break and chased some ducks for about a km down the creek! It was the worst training session I've ever had with her. This contrasts to the week before when we had a in-club trial, where she was awesome, focussed, fast and accurate and came 3rd in intermediate and 1st in her height (although there were only a few dogs jumping at that height). Today, she did an agility demo and was awesome again, really fast and did everything I asked of her. I was almost going to pull her out of the demo after yesterdays training but I am glad we went ahead with it. She even did quite well in an obedience demo on the same day. She did bad and got distracted in the trick competition but I think in that case she was actually tired as she'd already done the 2 demos and been there for 3 and a half hours meeting and greeting. We are hopefully starting a drive training program soon which I hope will make her focus in training a bit more reliable. What do you guys do when you have a bad training session (if you ever have a bad one lol)? Do you just keep on training and competing the same as you normally would?- and assume your dog was just having a bad day? Do you "rest" your dog from training for a while? I was thinking about giving her next week off from training? Can dogs get "over" (ie sick of it) doing training? Do you only train in a low distraction environment for a while eg home, and work on your reward system?

Dislike and "don't agree with" are two different things imo. You can get on with someone whose views you don't share. If I just didn't agree with some of their personal views (except when it comes to pet care etc) then yes, I would give them a pup. If I disliked them for whatever reason I would not.

Oh no! Poor thing! I hope Amber is ok... Sending good vibes your way

:thumbsup:

It does matter wear your dog sleeps- as long as it had no behavoiural problems. If the dog as been correctly diagnosed as having a dominance problem (relatively rare), then sharing the bed is probably not the best idea. In fact many dogs with behavioural problems benefit from stricter rules (to a point), restriction of certain privileges and good human leadership.

As others have said- risk of testicular cancer, castration does reduce wandering behavoiur (althoug if your dog is securely contained anyway its not an issue), entire males may be a target for dog fights, it is cheaper to register a desexed dog with your local council.

Don't tether the dog at night, it is potentially dangerous. If you're not hearing the dog, you can set your alarm every few hours and take him out. Can you get a wire crate or playpen?

These are my perfect dogs. I think they are stunning and I wish there were some here in Australia. If I ever win the lottery, I'm going to import some. I think these dogs are why I love the black tri Aussies above all the other colours Aussies come in. Wow I think mum would love these. She also loves the black tri aussies Gayle! And they have a nice easy coat as well! I wasn't aware that they were in the UK. Thanks!

crate the kitten (they can do a lot of damage if they freak out wile you're holding them) and let them have supervised interaction while you gauge their reactions. The kitten should be ok. All my foster kittens have been fine with both of my dogs (though I haven't ever left them unsuperivsed together). Although ,they are generally slightly younger than what you would get from a breeder or rescue goup. I've only ever had a few that have been a bit hissy at the dog and they settled down after a few days. It is important to give the kitten a clear space where they can escape from the dog (maybe an elevated position etc) Also do not leave them unsupervised together until you feel they are 100% comfortable with each other. Although Mindy is really gentle and submissive with cats and kittens at home, she will try to chase a cat in the street if it runs (though she'd probably come off second best if she caught up to it ) So if a cats runs off in fright, your dog may react quite differently to a cat playfully running around etc

I assume they are affiliated with an obedience club in their council area? You should probably ask them directly what they mean by level 3? It sounds rather club specific as nationally the levels are CCD, CD (novice), CDX (open), UD and UDX I doubt it would mean CDX level, I don't think realistically the "average" dog owner is going to want to achieve this level to be honest as it takes quite a lot of time and effort even to get to CCD trialling level. My local obedience class has 3 levels- red, green and some other colour (maybe yellow?) lol and then trialling classes.

Hi guys, Can anyone tell me if my dog needs to be a registered purebred to participate in retriever trials? I spoke with someone from dogs NSW recently and she said that they don't have to be a reg purebred but they have to be "identifiable" as a retrieving breed ie. look like they have at least some retriever in them. I thought this was the case for herding trials but not sure if its accurate regarding retrieving trials? I'm still chasing up papers for my dog and I want to compete her in agility soon, so I am thinking that I'll just put her on associate reg for now (because it takes up 2 weeks- 1 month to process the application and I hope to start trialling her in around a month). I am not doing any retrieving trainning at the moment but would like to leave it open for the future. Can I change her from associate to limited register in the future (if and when i get papers?) Thanks