aussielover

I did wonder about this whenever I read about people carrying their dogs around ... Hoover was 10kg at 3 months and a wriggling chunky monkey ... I had assumed people put them in baby carriers or something LOL I have strong arms Mindy was also around 10kg at 3 months (actually more like 12kg). she wasn't wriggly though and liked nothing better than to be carried and cuddled. In fact I'm sure she would STILL like to be carried around \ We'd only take her for very short outings- maybe 10-15 minutes when we needed to duck up and do some shopping and take turns holding her.

I wouldn't be jogging with an 11 month old goldie. They don't fully mature physically until at least 18 months old, sometimes longer. I would wait until 2 years old, but perhaps see what your breeder recommends?

Dont agree with this at all There is too much important socialisation that needs to happen between 8-12 weeks It is entirely up to the owner, do you want to 'risk' exposure to illnesses that can happen even if the dog is fully vaccinated or do you want to risk your dogs temperament being damaged? You can still socialise your dog to the world before they are fully vaccinated, if you carry him/her in your arms. We took our pup to heaps of places before she was fully vaccinated but we carried her everywhere. Seven day after the second vax would be 9 weeks old anyway (usually) so still plenty of time They sepnd the first few days settling into the home anyway. Puppies usually have a 3 course vaccination at 6,8 and 12 weeks, so even after the second vax they are not fully protected.

Hey LS! How's Roo doing after her op? That is a large incision! Did everything go OK? Mindy only had 3 stitches and she probably only needed two as the incision was only about 2-3cm. How is Ava doing wuffles? Kuma looks soo cute in his B'day photo KA. I hope he had a great day! Hoover and Elbie are so cute together! I have been house sitting one of Mindy's friends this week. They are great friends and have been playing non stop for the last few days but now seem to be ignoring each other unless we are outside or at the park. The other dog has a woolly coat as is sooo hard to keep clean and dry. The poor thing got a "hotspot" yesterday from all the hot and humid weather I'm glad Mindy doesn't suffer from skin probs and is easy to clean.

WHy would you own a STORE thats sells animals if you didn't care about making money?

Clip the feet top and bottom. Poodle people have been it doing for centuries for a reason. I can't- they like the "shaggy dog" look. she is getting a hot spot on one of the legs though, so i will have to clip that area. I can see why poodles have their feet clipped now!

Ok thanks, thats is good to know that it is pretty normal. I tie her up under the desk. I am always in the room (usually working at the desk anyway) and would never leave her on a tie-back unsupervised! This is the usual arrangement at uni and work as well, so she is used to it and knows to settle/sleep immediately. She has been to other people's houses before but never had an accident there but having said that she hasn't ever stayed overnight before. I'm going back to basics with toilet training while we are here though.

Well I am glad you enjoy spending time grooming your dogs Unfortunately I have neither the time or desire to spend lots of time maintaining a difficult coat. I have been brushing the Poodle cross for at least 20 mins everyday which is about 99% more time than I spend on the lab (being a pup still- she doesn't shed that much). Tick searches are a nightmare and take up a further half hour, although I really doubt I'd have any serious chance of finding a tick on this dog unless I shaved it or spent half the day looking:( It actually takes me a good 20 mins to do a proper search on the labrador. Any tips for how to get matts out? The body and legs are fine, but the feet are quite matted because she is always getting them wet on wet grass or in puddles. They also seem like the slowest to dry :D I have a slicker brush at the moment

Mindy is confusing me a bit now... She is really well behaved and totally toilet trained at our house. She knows not to get on furniture, not to go on certain rugs, not to enter certain areas of the house (dad's study, formal lounge room, any bedroom apart from mine). She was at my house today and my parents were saying how good she was! Meanwhile, while she is here at a friends house (we are house-sitting) she is quite naughty and has even had 2 accidents (which she hasn't had since for at leats 3 months). While she is here she runs around like a maniac unless I tie her up to her bed area. At home she is normally perfectly calm and if she is in the way, we just tell her to go on her bed and she'll go over and rest on it. Once she is tied, she doesn't struggle or anything but immediately settles down into a long sleep almost as if she was over-tired and waiting for the opportunity to rest? She is still getting the same number of walks per day, even at the places! We have been at this (new) house since Monday now and she has not really settled. I am not sure if this behaviour is due to stress if a new house or the fact she has another dog as a companion or maybe both. I am most worried about these toileting accidents because they have both times been in the bedroom. After the first accident (Tuesday) I am now hyper vigilant- taking her out every hour, but she had another about 20 mins after just going (today). I could understand maybe one accident... but two is a bit worrying. BTW i did clean the first one with a urine odour remover. She has NEVER had an accident in MY room, which she started sleeping in at around 12 weeks old and I would hate for her to begin! On return from my parents today, they reported she had been her normal (perfect- LOL) self and had access to my room which she hung around in for a bit and was in and out of all day and no accidents? Don't think it is a UTI as was toileting normally at home today (every 4 or so hours) Is this some kind of "marking" thing she is doing while in a new house with another dog? Or is it just a lapse in toilet training that is likely to continue even when we return home? She's only ever been other people's houses for a few hours at most and was pretty well behaved, definitely no accidents. any suggestions as the the cause of this inappropriate toileting and weird (hyper) behaviour? Perhaps its all just normal.... I do worry though if she is placed with a new handler and stresses out or is naughty like this. Thanks

One of the things that people keep saying about oodles is that you don't know how they're going to turn out because they're a crossbreed. It therefore follows that not every oodle is going to have a fleece coat. But apparently fleece is one of the most desirable "types".

How is he ridiculous :D What an awful thing to say- and very odd! IMO he is extremely cute!

Oh you poor thing! I am not sure why you said you can't shave him? You can certainly shave pugs and it will reduce the (noticeable) shedding so long as you keep him short. I have also shaved a double coated breed regularly (aussie shep) for health reasons, with no problems, and reduced shedding. However as others have said it is the dander that most people are allergic to, not the hair itself :D Interestingly, black pugs do not appear to shed as much???

I do not believe that purebred poodles coats are as hard to manage as oodles. They usually have a tighter "ringlet" which keeps water out fairly well, additionally, it stops the hair from dreadlocking. Other long haired breeds such as Aussies, BCs, Collies, spitzes etc are also nowhere near as hard to maintain. IMO it is the "fleece" like coat of the oodles that makes it very difficult to maintain.

haha yes you're probably right, one of Mindy's friends is a wheaten and when he gets dirty he looks a lot like the oodle. In fact I embarrasingly thought he was a labradoodle :D when we first met him. The thing is though, I'm sure Wheaten breeders would let potential puppy buyers know what the grooming requirements are.

Oh you poor thing! One of Mindy's friends is actually a failed guide dog- due to elbow dysplasia. She had surgery on both elbows and was given a prognosis of arthritis at around 8-10 years old which doesn't seem so bad, in fact I would almost say that is a typical age to see onset of arthritis. This dog had severly dysplastic elbows due to a noticable conformation defect (you can see it in her gait quite obviously). The dog nows runs around and plays with other dogs like a normal dog. I'm not sure if she would be much of an agility prospect due to her conformation though.

Oodles have easy-care wool coats.... This is the result of two pups having a great time running around today after the storms in sydney: the photos are taken about an hour after both dogs had been towel "dried" (Lab for about 1 minute, poodlex for 10 mins) Lab pup: Poodle x pup: Lab pup was just as dirty and played and rolled in just as much mud as the poodle x pup. Lab took 5 mins to clean up Poodle x is still not clean and is still wet, dirty and a bit stinky. Although the lab sheds a bit, I personally would rather sweep my home every few days, than have a muddy dog running through house or spend an hour washing my dog everytime it went in some mud. Personally i think advertising poodle crosses as having a low maintenance or easy-care coat totally misleading. Even my longish haired Aussie shep was way easier to maintain than this Poodle cross. The hair has sort of gone into dreadlocks due to having a wavy texture (i believe it is advertised as fleece) rather than poodle curls. Both dogs have great personalities though and are great fun! I think people need to be more aware of the high maintenance of some of the DD coat types though.

One of the posters further up mentioned that working line breeders might be breeding away from solids to distinguish from the bench Kelpies. To be honest, when I was looking for Hoover, I didn't see photos for many/any solids when looking at the websites for working line Kelpies - all were two tones, whether red and tan or black and tan. What about show breeders focusing on solids then? There doesn't seem to have been any compromise/detriment on the basis of colour. During my uni placements on various farms I have seen a number of working solid-coloured kelpies. Farmers don't really care about colour and certainly not enough to puprosely select for two-tones only just to distinguish bench and working lines. Some farmers do have strong opinions on what colours make good working dogs or what colours make bad workers, with some having opposite opinions LOL

I was clueless with our first dog so no wories there. She was also really easy, not a dog to run off or be naughty in general. With Mindy, I was paranoid about her getting parvo. Everytime she had diarhhoea I took a sample and took it to work and got a parvo test done on it LOL

Cows don't do the "thrusting" motion though!!! LOL My girl humps large toys like big teddies or big soft toys. I'm not quite sure why, perhaps a dominance thing to the toy? She has never attempted to hump a person or another dogs though.

What is with the black dog one with a belt??? The belt is sooo long! I'd say I'm average sized and it is way too big for me. I have had to tie knots in it to make it fit me! Also the hinges aren't very good even though I greased them.

DAP is very expensive for what might only be a temporary problem. My pup fell asleep straight away for the first few nights or only cried a bit for around 20 mins/half hour. Unfortunately about 2 weeks later she became very noisy all night. The solution was to move her into my room.

There's a lot of very confusing information about there, I'm afraid and at the end of the day, it probably comes down to the breeders and the individual dogs themselves. People are always telling me that working line Kelpies are very high energy, drivey, unsuited for suburban homes but we own a Kelpie cross/border collie (working lines) and one pure-bred working line Kelpie and both definitely have off-switches. The pure-bred can be naughty but generally he is as placid as a cow, as the people on DOL who have met him will attest. Both dogs can play hard but their favourite thing is snoozing near us. They're not particularly destructive and we find them very low-maintenance and they fit in with our cruisy, non-energetic lifestyles. On the other hand, other people have nightmare experiences with their working line dogs and there's a reason why there are so many poor Kelpies/Kelpie crosses at the pound At the end of the day, it's probably just important to find a well-bred Kelpie (bench or working line) that has been chosen carefully with you in mind. When we got Hoover, we described our circumstances and our current dog in great detail to the breeder and she picked out Hoover as the puppy most suitable for us. He was a farm dog who had never been socialised outside of his own litter and pack, he'd never been off the farm, in a car, heard a vacuum cleaner, electric mixer or washing machine but he has been totally fine with us and taken on all new experiences in his stride. I don't attribute that to the fact that he is a 'working line' Kelpie so much as the fact that he has a good temperament and his breeder knew her puppies well. So many people have been horrified that we got not just one but two working line doggies as pets but seriously, as I type this - they're both snoozing peacefully in their dog beds. Good luck in your search for a second dog. I don't think you need to worry about the bench Kelpies being too laid back. Woofen on DOL has bench Kelpies and they participate in flyball with great success! But to be honest KTB, you guys are very dedicated owners who spend a lot of time training, socialising and exercising your dogs In my opinion, this probably contributes a lot to the success you have had with Elbie and Hoover. A working line Kelpie is a great dog for a dedicated owner, but perhaps not so much for your "average" dog owner who is likely to leave the dog in the backyard all day and maybe take it for a walk a few times per week (if they're lucky) and not mentally stimulate the dog at all.

At 7 and a half months my Lab puppy is already starting to ignore other dogs. She still is really keen to play with friends she made when she was younger.

Well, it doesn't result in anything that needs to be cleaned, or any disagreeable odours. It's not especially annoying unless you can't walk around the room because you have a dog attached to your leg. It often doesn't directly impact humans at all. It comes down to whether you're embarrassed by a non-human animal engaging in sexual behaviour right in front of you and the welfare of those that might get humped. Fact is a lot of dogs and humans don't like being humped, so I would stop it. That's the only reason why, though. Sexual behaviour is not IMO inherently rude. I certainly never bothered trying to stop my hare from masturbating. He's a boy. He has urges I have no control over. Humping isn't always sexual behaviour in dogs or in other species. It certainly isn't gender specific in dogs. It can be a dominance, rather than a sexual display. There are plenty of dominant little dogs (including terriers) around, or those looking for something they can dominate. Young dogs can practice dominance displays as much as behave sexually. I wouldnt allow a dog to masturbate or to indicate its dominance by humping me or my dogs. Wild animals aside, we expect our domestic pets to control undesireable urges every day. I don't see humping as different. How much exercise does the little humper get? How much training does he get? What outlets is he given that bring him genuine pleasure - toys, games, bones etc. What about if he humped a toy or inanimate object? Is that more likely to be sexual or dominance? When females hump is it a dominance behaviour as females don't really "hump" as such during mating (they just stand- the male does all the humping)

Aww they are gorgeous! Definitely contact their breeder and see if they can give you hand.