aussielover

Ruby is adorable and so is her mama dog. Mindy never smiles and always has a serious look on her face ^This is the closest she gets to smiling

It doesn't look like a pure chi to me. Ask to see the parents to be sure though. a dog can still be purebred without papers. Papers only make it kennel club registered.

I think that is part of the trouble with obedience- people tend to go (in the lower levels anyway) out of obligation- their vet told them to go, a friends told them etc or in the hope that it will turn their naughty dog into a good one. This is changing with the introduction of teenage puppy clasess and "manners" classes though run by puppy schools. Ive also heard some clubs run two separate streams- one for competition and those thta want to trial and one for people just after basic obedience. I think it is not a bad idea actually. In agility I would say 90% of people in my beginner class want to eventually trial, even though we only do it for "fun". I think you should suggest some of those exercises that you posted before involving the heel position and hind limb awareness. They are more interesting and the dogs gets more out of it than just heeling on lead in a circle or line.

The problem is that our obedience instructors didn't give us much advice on how to practice at home except suggest we do more of the same as in class, which wasn't very fun. We are still in beginner agility we still haven't done thinngs like see-saw and some poeple haven;t done all the equipment yet. The intermediate classes sound more like how your classes are run. Do your instructors expect you to teach the dog a new piece of equipment yourself? Interesting to see how different clubs run things. I am defintiely going to try to get back into obedience though. You guys have motivated me to want to give it another shot

Around 500 for a spey is normal in some areas. Where is this person located? Perhaps people can give her some suggestions on where she can get it done cheaper?

Poor pup! nOt the best start to life I agree with the others who have suggested getting credit or finding a vet that will let her pay off an account. I feel a bit annoyed that she is asking for money. $500 is not that much compared to a normal desexing and the puppy doesn't need immediate medical attention. What would have happened if the dog had been hit by a car, or gotten parvo? I've spent over $2000 on my puppy's skin condition and I am a student. I have always had a separate account for potential Mindy expenses (though now greatly redcued!). My friends always joke that Mindy has her own bank account I suggets she starts doing somehting similar or at least gets accident only pet insurance for the pup. I'm not sure she is going to have much luck with Fair Trade as the "breeder" isn't registered and she has no proof of purchase. Techincially, there is no reason why the puppy can't fulfil its purpose as a pet. If it were bought for competition, it would be a different story. I have to say that stories like this make me pretty sad and angry.

One of the big advatnages for me is that you start off lead work very quickly in agility. Where as in some obedience classes you can be stuck for months, even years doing on lead heel work. I also feel in agility that you always recive feedback on how you can improve etc whereas in obedience if you doing basically the right thing, the instructors tend to ignore you. The people with "naughty" dogs get more attention. I think is is mainly because in agility the instructor watches each person seperately as only one dog can run at a time.

If it is valvular insufficiency, sudden death is unlikely. Usually it is a gradual decline, if at all. Maybe speak to a specialist and get an echocardiogram done do diagnose what exactly it is (which can affect prognosis) just to put your mind at ease.

Someone has trained me to get up and walk somebody by opening my wardrobe and getting ALL of my shoes and gradually piling them up on the bed, sometimes on my head She used to get all the shoes left lying around (considerable amount!) we tried to be more vigilant in putting shoes away... Did not work. She also opens bathroom doors which is a bit of a rude shock. She has jumped into the bath and shower with me before too My old dog used to be able to get out of her crate- no ones knows how because it would always be perfectly collapsed and folded up (wire crate too!)and she would be sitting happily on the couch or something more befitting her status as Princess

maybe stop saying the commands out loud and only do the hand signals. Hand signals are easier for most dogs. You may be confusing her with the verbal command also? Also maybe teach her a non reward marker- like "try again" or "oopsie" to let her know she hasn't done the correct action. What reward do you use and how do you mark the correct behaviour? A clicker or marker wrd can be good for this. Click and treat for the right response. Then if she does the wrong thing, give the NRM- say "try again" and reward when she does do the right thing. SOmetimes you may need to lure her again to get the correct action

Yes, the long heeling sessions put me off obedience. I think Rally-O (which I just found out about) sounds a lot more fun. Mainly because I have no idea how to teach a motivated heel, and my dog has been trained and heavily reinforced for looking ahead and thinking for herself. In obedience i believe it is ideal for you to guide the dog, not for the dog to guide you (as mindy has been trained)

Maybe try and find her a working home? There is no shame in rehoming her responsibly to a more suitable home.

I totallyt understand about you not wanting to leave them with friends/family. I would also rather pay for a professional service. I've heard of a lot of bad experiences when dogs get minded by friends (getting lost, getting into trouble etc). When you pay for a professional service the provider has more of an incentive to kepe your dogs safe. Even though I am sure friends/family mean well, I think its just more likely for accidents to happen. My friends were minding our previous dog and accidently lost her- the mum hadn't told her son that she was going to be staying and he kicked her out of the house thinking she was a stray (not the brightest). Luckily she just wandered to a nearby park and was found safe and sound a few hours later but she has to cross 2 busy roads to get there! Don't fret pet is quite good, we used to look after dogs for them, but also with this service you don't have the same degree of guarantee of safety as it does depend on the family/person who looks after them. H0w long are you going for? I am lucky enough to have dogless friends (they are older and have always had dogs but don't want one full time at this time) that mind my pup but I would be happy for her to be in a good boarding kennel if it wasn't for a really long time.

Thankyou wuffles, some great ideas. I will try them out with Mindy. They sound a lot more interesting than walking around in circles

Is it 18 months for ADAA and ANKC? Someone told me it was 12 months for ANKC I love agility, we have so much fun during training and i've only done a club competition but it was really fun and I was really happy with the way Mindy went.

It may start working right away but you don't get peak/protective antibody levels until around 1-2 weeks after. My last dog got mince and dry food for most of her life and did well on it so it is defintely not a "terrible diet" I feed Mindy raw because she is allergic and I know more about nutrition etc now than I previously did.

Well to be fair, everything your vet said was correct. A good dry food IS a complete diet. Although it may not be the best for the dog (compared to raw etc) it will be adequate and meet the nutritional requirements. So he is right that you don't need to also feed the mince. Many people feed a dry only diet successfully. In fact most people would probably feed mainly dry (and some scraps etc. Unless he specifically said not to feed raw then I don't see a problem? Lots of vets do not recommend bones because they have seen lots of obstructions due to bone eating. Personally I think it depends on the dog. My dog is on a raw diet and gets bones each day. About the vaccinations- 2 weeks after the second vaccination the pup should have some immunity. I guess it depends on what level of risk you are willing to take and what the parvo incidnece in the area is. My puppy was out walking and being socialised at 14 weeks. If your sister works with parvo dogs at the pound, then it is a very wise idea not to let any of her clothes in contact with the pup etc.

So are you saying she doesn't understand the hand signals?

You don't have to trim them- ust keep an eye on them and make sure they dont look too overgrown or start to turn back on themselves. I've never trimmed any of my dogs dewclaws, they naturally wear them down. I don't know how, i guess maybe manipulating bones/toys etc? I check them regularly as it is not pretty (and very painful) when the nail grows into their skin.

she seems quite tall? She comes up to your hip! My lab girl is within the lab height standard (21-22inches at the shoulder) and only comes up to halfway between my thighs. Maybe you are shorter than me though...

She is a lovely colour! It seems the "golden" retriever is becoming qute rare these days with cream/pale coloured dogs favoured. I think she could probably lose a little weight as her waist isn't all that defined, but it is hard to tell from photos. Sorry I am not a GR expert so can't tell you how she'd go in conformation showing. Maybe go onto the DOL main page at look at some GR profiles of aust champs and see how your girl compares She seems very sweet

She can do the jumps and tunnels confidently. She can do all but the weaves confidently We haven't done much work at all on cross overs though. It would just be for fun, although maybe people take these things quite seriously and would be offended if you ran a dog that wasn't that good? Yes it is a ANKC trial. We've only ever done a whole course once (it was a full agility course though). She had no jump faults and was fine with the tunnels. Though she hasn't jumped at competition height yet except for a few small sequences in training. May be it is too early yet...

Thanks Rubystar! There is an agility trial in two weeks. We won't be ready to compete in agility (haven't quite got weaves yet) but maybe we can compete in the Jumping? That is just jumps and tunnels right? How do you know when you're ready to trial?

whats the difference between jumping and agility? Why would you do one and not the other? Or can you do both?

He is a cutie! So glad there is a happy ending