aussielover

but he looks so innocent....

They are not a recognised breed in the australian national kennel club (ANKC) therefore, they cannot be registered as pure bred. I believe there is some effort to get them recognised through various labradoodle associations, but they appear to be a long way off breeding true to type. At this stage, I don't think it should be recognised as a purebred because there are so many variations. some are woolly, some are wiry, some look very much like labs, some look a lot like poodles. They also have many of the health problems associated with the two breeds such as PRA (a condition leading to blindness), hip dysplasia, bad skin/allergy etc. So they can't really be considered to be healthier than their purebred counterparts.

There is a difference between dominant towards other dogs and dominant towards humans. Dominant dogs want everything their way, and they are not afraid of using force to get it.

I was quite willing to pay a trainer or behaviourist but my main problem is my fear of walking him and now his obsessive need to chase as a result of me not walking him - no ammount of training is going to break his natural instinct of whats been bred into him and im feeling very guilty for trying to bring a working dog into a family home. so thats why i think its best to rehome him to a place with no kids and where he can use his working dog background and be happy. hes always been very gentle with my one year old but does have the hearding instinct and as a young pup nipped holes in my kids clothes when they would run and tease him, he grew out of that and even chewing shoes. the kid at school got in his face (on lead) while he was intently watching the ball, i dont think he meant to connect but.... Don't you think you should get the opinion of an expert before you write this dog off? Of course you can't break a dogs natural instinct but you can reduce it and harness it into useful or acceptable behaviours. Many working breed dogs live very happily in a family environment You may not think your dog biting a child is serious and that it only meant to nip the child or warn it, but that is still completely unacceptable and dangerous. ETA: have you spoken to the breeder and will the breeder take the dog back? can you clarify- are you asking if someone on DOL can take him? you might be better off placing this in the training forum in that case

I am sorry you have had a scray experience and do not feel safe in your area but I agree you cannot rehome a dog that has bitten a child. You clearly have some very serious training issues, otherwise your dog would not have bitten anyone. Please consult a behaviourist for the sake of the dog and of other people. And i think you are misguided in your thoughts that a home with "lots of room to run" would be ideal for this dog. If you manage to rehome him at all, it should be to someone experienced in the breed, that can provide the training and mental and physical stimulation required for a young active BC. This does not necessarily mean the dog running wild in a large yard or acreage.

Our groomer at work charges more for a SWF than for a labrador or keplie or other shorthaired largish dog. They often take a longer time to dry, trim and neaten up. They also often keep the dogs in all day and work on them sproadically throughout the day. like do all the baths in the morning, the dogs are dried in their cages while others are being washed, then the clipping etc so it would be quite hard to keep tabs on how long each dog took.

You poor thing What tests has the vet done and what antibiotics are they using? Pneumonia is quite hard to treat in many cases and has a lengthy recovery period. I hope she gets better soon

I suppose i think it was a little naive to buy a pup from a breeder that was awaiting PRA results for the parents (and really unethical and stupid of the breeder!) and with a hip score of 7/7 (well its really 9/10) which is around the breed average, so not a dog that really should be bred from (they really should be well under the breed average). But yeah, i recognise it is unhelpful to dwell on the past....and i prob sounded like a b*tch, i apologise. i understand how stressful these things can be- my own dog is an allergy dog. I'm sorry if i sounded mean. But it sounds like you really love your pup and you've made heaps of progress with her training and socialisation . It would be a shame to give all that up for something that may or may not be a problem. My dog is from guide dog lines (very strict with their health testing) and has allergies Her parents haven't had allergy problems, yet several of her litter has been affected. They also never breed from dogs with greater than 0/0 elbows, yet i know of several dogs that have had elbow dysplasia and subsequently been rejected. So there is no guarantee with these multifactorial diseases.... sometimes it is just really good luck or bad luck that a dog gets affected Edited to say greater than 0/0- you cant get less!!!

I totally sympathize with you dee lee. I've even had off lead dogs bothering my dog (who was then a guide dog trainee) when i've been sitting at cafes on busy roads. When I asked the owner to remove their dog, they implied that I should leave as I was the one with the problem, even going so far as to insinuating my dog was not well trained enough to be off the lead!!! To which I implied that they were right, my dog wasn't well trained enough to be off the lead she is IN TRAINING as at this stage i probably could not prevent her from wandering off and annoying other dogs and owners and the cafe (hint, hint). I also have the opposite problem- i always call my dog back to my side and make her sit and she has to be given permission from me before i allow her to meet new dogs, even at an off leash park, even on the lead. This leads to the assumption that i am a "mean mum" (yes people have actually said that to me!) or that she is aggressive- totally the opposite, she is very submissive. And I also do not like small dog owners who allow their dog to intimidate my dog by barking, growling and lunging at her and then thinking its "cute" or "funny" or "brave". Its idiotic. If I allowed my dog to do that she would be declared dangerous! They also get offended when I block my dog from theirs and say "hes only small, he cant really hurt her' or "he needs to learn his lesson" rant over

They haven't defined barking dog- Do they mean dogs which bark for a prolonged period (say >than an hour) or dogs that bark when strangers knock on the door or come into the property? Personally i think its unacceptable for people to allow their dogs to bark for a prolonged period in a residential area. I don't mind dogs that occaisonally bark when excited or when someone enters the property, but a dog that barks all day and/or night is a nuisance and screams bored, under stimulated, under exercised dog to me. It is NOT natural for a dog to bark all day long or even for periods of greater than an hour at a time.

Don't bother unless you actually know that's the problem. Allergic dog owners waste so much money self-diagnosing their dogs allergies. Head to the Derm + 1 You need to do a proper food trial if you're concerned about food allergies. Changing foods will just make this more difficult in the future. If you're dog is so itchy you really should be seeing the vet, ideally a dermatologist.

If you love the puppy, i dont think you should give her back. YOU were the ones who decided to buy her in the first place, without having checked the parents hip scores, pra tests etc, so i really think the puppy is your responsibility now, it is unfair to give someone else the responsibility. Besides, HD is a multifactorial disease, good hip scores dont mean the puppy can't get HD. Puppies have been affected even where both parents have 0/0 elbows and hips. Be very careful not to overexercise this puppy and feed it a good diet. I also recommend delaying desexing to as late as possible- ideally let her have one season, but if not possible then wait at least to 6 months. If you're really concerned, get the pup Pennhip scored as others have suggested. No one wants an unhealthy dog, but at this stage she isn't showing and signs of HD and seems to be doing well.

Hopefully agility when she gets older. I think retrieving would be fun as well. I'm also interested in SAR as well, but I'm not sure she is the right dog for this (she is probably too old already!!) and if this is the right time for me to be doing it as i know its a massive commitment- i'm in my fourth year of uni this year, starting rotations next year.

Just watched then vid. Theere is a beam of light going over the jump lol- was that intentional? She is a lovely looking dog!

I wouldn't expect a member of the general public to realise there may be a potential situation. Most likely, he would have thought the dog was being "friendly" and wanted to say hello to you. He probably also thought your dogs would "defend" your baby from this other dog. They may have even thought the other dog was yours as well. This is how most people think, it is sad, but its not really their fault.

Ouch to some of these stories! I didn't know dog walking could be so dangerous

It is actually against health and safety guidelines to do it without- vets and vet nurses should not unnecessarily expose themselves to radiation. That means that if it is possible to sedate or anaesthetize and animal they should do so. Of course, this doesn't always happen in practice- some animals are not safe to sedate or have a GA and of course owners rarely want to pay for it. It is legal though to get the owner to restrain the dog during the xray. Some dogs are really good and will just lie, though these ones are usually very well trained or older or not feeling so well.

How did it go?

I don't want to sound horrible but are you sure you want to keep an allergic dog? Owning one with severe allergic skin disease is expensive and an emotional journey, the dogs do suffer and the ones that have no choice but to live on medication don't always have the most awesome times....competing in performance sports can be done but if the dog has a flare up which they often do you can be waiting months for them to recover sometimes....their mental state isn't always the best either when they feel absolute crap due to their condition. If you do decide to kudos to you Get in to see the Derm asap I'm a vet student and I've seen lots of allergy dogs during my time as a vet nurse. I wouldn't say Mindy's allergies are severe (yet). They are seasonal and can be managed with antihistamines and occasional antibiotics if there is secondary infection. She hasn't been on any meds for around a month now and has had no infections or severe itchiness, even though it is still quite hot. Guide dogs thinks that her allergies are probably seasonal and will require some management but they aren't really that severe (she's never even had a hot spot). Its just that they can't really afford to train any dog that may have a medical issue as the dogs are meant to be looking after the clients, not the other way round! Of course, i will be taking her to see a specialist to determine what allergies she has and how severe they may be, but i think if I (as a vet student and future vet) can't manage her allergies, then it would be pretty tough to ask someone else to take her on.

Yes, there has been some research done as part of a guide dogs program for trainability. really interesting study actually. Here is a link to some info on it Study

haha just this arvo i was at the beach with mindy and we played tug and she was tugging quite hard and then suddenly let go. I fell on my butt into the water The worst part was the beach was quite busy so we had quite a large audience!

No we don't have to pay for her. I will probably make a donation to guide dogs though. It costs them a lot to purchase the pups and then supply food, medications and training for all the pups. I am very attached to her, she is such a sweet girl.

I sometimes refer to Mindy as my "baby girl" but I would never refer to myself as her mum. I have other people say stuff to her like "wheres mummy" 'here comes mum" "go to mum" etc, I don't really mind, i do think its a bit ridiculous but then again calling her baby girl is probably just as silly!

I am not an agility expert, I am also looking to doing agility with my dog but this is my opinion anyway... 1. i don't think punishment is ever used in agility. You want it to be a fun activity not something your dog dreads. Also if you punish your dog, it will be less willing to try new things for you when training 2. I think the reinforcement would depend on the level and stage of training. Eg if you're teaching a new behaviour, then you would reward more frequently and once the behaviour becomes easy and established, then you would decrease rewards, or only reward for a string of behaviours. Very similar to obedience. 3. I think this depends on the dog. For my dog, initially, I know I would achieve the best result with luring/guiding as she is a very compliant and eager to please dog with a VERY high food drive she would literally do anything for food, or even the thought of food. I guess the technique used would be individual to the dog- what methods are your dogs used to and how do they learn best? i don't think its right to say that there is a best method for ALL dogs. Good luck with your pup

Can anyone recommend a good agility club in Sydney? I am located on the lower north shore, but happy to travel up to 45 mins to get to a good club. I would like a club where there are regular opportunities to compete. The dog is an 11 month old labrador. She is very fit. I understand it would not be a good idea to compete with her until she is at least 18 months, but i would like to get some training in the basics and to have fun!