aussielover

Yes there is lots if dog friendly accommodation in canberra.

That's true but as TSD said, many breeds original jobs have changed greatly, and they have to change somewhat anyway to suit the working conditions. Show dogs can lack instinct for their original purpose eg a collie that ignores sheep, a labrador who has no interest in retrieving etc. Should these individuals be bred from?

Some giant breed people have concerns about GDV and won't teach their dogs to roll over for this reason. I was always taught to roll dogs "under" ie legs first when turning them over for surgery etc for this reason. However this is largely a myth. If the dog is so loose and predisposed to GDV that simply rolling over will cause it, it's probably going to get it anyway no matter what. I have a deep chested labrador and I've taught her to roll over several times in a row, never had a problem. The only thing is that she gets over enthusiastic and so twines throws herself to floor quite hard and you have to make sure there's nothing in the way!

In more popular breeds it's not that hard to get a puppy on main register. Many performance breeders are quite keen to keep potential top performers on main register with the option of breeding (under their name) later. A dog has to be structurally sound to compete at a high level, yet they may not look like a show dog. Conformation is certainly open to interpretation , hence the split between working and show lines in some breeds.

I would politely decline unless pushed for a donation or made to feel guilty about it. Asking once is acceptable however, it is rude to continue to push or insinuate someone is doing the wrong thing if they decline.

I'm in canberra now and in my area we see a mix of dogs, plenty of purebred but also designer dogs and mixed breeds. There are lots of typical family breeds like Golden retrievers, labs, border collies etc. Also I think there are a lot more arctic breeds, I guess the climate is a more suitable down here (ie freezing most of the time :laugh:)

My next door neighbours dogs are also pretty yappy. I think they are maltese cross. I've never seen them taken out for a walk, but they are generally quiet during the night which is good. I understand that dogs bark, and my own dog warning barks when someone comes to the house, but she doesn't bark at every little thing and her warnings last less than 1 minute. These little dogs will go on for 15-30 minutes or so, which I guess isn't really that bad and its usually during reasonable hours. They have a very high pitched yap though which really grates on my nerves.

the ones ive met have been pretty birdy.... someone earlier suggested a havanese? I met a few the other day- very nice dogs and cute as a button!

Just wanted to add- hope you have fun with your pup Yonjuro! I using find toys and tugging very fun for both dog and handler. If I had a choice i'd take a toy motivated dog over a food motivated dog. I wish I had spent more time with my dog as pup building reward with a tug or toy and decreasing the emphasis on food (she's a labrador she doesn't need any encouragement on that front!. Although perhaps others can comment, in my (limited) experience it seems that food and prey drive go hand in hand, ie dogs that are very toy motivated also seem pretty food motivated and vice versa although its usually dogs that are insanely food focused that seem to also love toys as opposed to dogs that just take a treat now and then.

Will she play with a ball on rope? Yes but she mainly plays with the rope part. She wont tug with the ball in her mouth like you see a lot of dogs doing. I think the fun in in the chase of the ball for her... She also prefers when she has to "work" to find it eg. if it falls in a patch of tall grass or bushy area.

Deelee lagottos are quite successful in agility if you're interested in that. Although I think at least one of the deelee dogs competing is a bit reactive towards other dogs, but perhaps that's only when they are worked up at trials.

I've had a few discussions with people about crates and their various uses. There seems to be very mixed feelings about crates. I came across this article: http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/dog-crate-cage-prison/ which I found quite disturbing, yes it is from PETA so it is very one sided. Another blog: http://www.peta.org/living/companion-animals/hate-crates/ Suggests that exercise and training alone can prevent anxious and destructive behaviours. I can see both sides of the argument (well not the extreme peta view) but I think crating for short periods, so long as the dogs needs are met is ok and even beneficial in a lot of circumstances. After all, most adult dogs spend the day mainly sleeping anyway. Probably the most my dog does during the day while i'm at work is to move from one side of the bed to the other. I don't really think being crated for 8 hours a day would be that much of a problem for my dog, as long as she got a break somewhere in the middle (I come home at lunch or she gets a dog walker) In general i'd say all day and all night crated is too much but if they're getting say 3 x 1 hour breaks of hard work (both mental and physical) then I guess it could work. After all many working dogs will be in a kennel or on chain for days on end until there is actually work to do. As for them not being roomy enough, I have the largest size you can get and its enough to comfortably fit 2 labrador sized dogs. I've had a nap in there with my dog between runs at agility trials and its really quite comfortable. Personally I only use the crate at the moment for agility trials but I did use it a lot more when she was younger. I'd like to get other dedicated dogs peoples opinions on them.

Kavik, isn't that more like rewarding for tugging, rather than tugging being the reward itself? Really her favorite thing is chasing a ball but unfortunately not practical in a lot of situations!

Sorry to hijack againI also have a question - Ive been trying to builf speed and drive and I've switched to using a toy and tugging when training at home. I've found it produces much faster, exciting work from her. She is very enthusiastic to tug with any toy I choose, she's always been naturally toy motivated. Except when there's food around. Then she expects a food reward. Unfortunately I believe this is my fault, if I was starting over id use toys as I think she definitely has enough motivation for a game. I think they way I have been rewarding her with food as well has created a half hearted effort. Even when I now try to make the food exciting by throwing etc the performance still isn't as good as with a toy. This is reversed in a trial situation though... Is it possible to switch over to a toy/tug at this late stage (she's 4 years old) or is it too late?

I think because lagottos are so cute and fluffy, people assume they're kind of like an oodle type dog. When really they can be quite a high drive gundog, and in terms of energy and exercise requirements they're definitely equivalent to most of the high energy gundogs like brittanys, GSPs etc (at least the ones I know)

Did you know that you could use a human anti-histamine for your boy? It is much cheaper than one from the Vet. I'll try to find some recent threads here about this. As well there is more about skin issues. Am using my ipad which is a tad restricting to search. BRB :) Actually its not necessarily cheaper. Brand names such as claratyne, zyrtec, polaramine etc are pretty pricey for what you get (sometimes only 14 tablets) and for a large dog the doses are often pretty high. I've been through the full antihistamine trial with my dog and at one stage she was taking 4 zyrtec daily (it was ineffective anyway) The vet brand- iramine, was actually pretty cheap in comparison (around $20 for a month). Unfortunately, they were ineffective as well. Have you done a food elimination diet or seen a dermatologist?

Have you tried a prescription diet eg. Eukanuba low residue - our old Aussie developed a similar intolerance as she got older and did well on this food. Even a hypoallergenic diet might help? Or low fat gastrointestinal ?

Lagottos tend to have strong gundog instincts, a good nose and as megan said, can have temperament issues. By that I mean they will be likely to get distracted by birds and interesting smells. I've met a few that are dog aggressive and fear aggressive as well. Bostons definitely have a low maintenace coat but so do many shedding breeds. Although I dont think they are horrific shedders.

I really like Boston Terriers. I know a few families with them and they are great- a lot of fun! They are like a big dog in a small body. Exercise requirements are moderate. Were you after a non shedding breed though? Mini Poodles are nice too but be selective with the breeder- i have met quite a few that are very nervous dogs (probably the owners contribute to this a bit as well!) I love lagottos but they can also be quite challenging. I also think a mini schnauzer could suit, if you like the look of them. They are a low shedding breed as well.

I find there's a huge difference between off leash areas and fenced dogs parks, I hate the latter and only go in them if there's no other dogs or people. School holidays is the worst time to go. There's a fenced dog park near me with concrete agility equipment ?! Who thought that would be a good idea! I'll admit that I will practice contacts on the dog walk thing they've got if it's not wet. But the other equipment is dangerous. Last time I was there a 5 month old Great Dane was running around on the equipment and the owners were tryng to get it to do stuff

Is this dermatologist actually a specialist? One of the first steps toward investigating ongoing skin problems is a food trial to rule out food allergy. This involves feeding a novel protein and carb only for a minimum of 8 weeks (kangaroo and pumpkin is the most common). You can also use commercial hypoallergenic diets but the are not quite as good at picking up an allergy. Personally I'd do a proper food trial and if he turns out not to be food allergic then transition to a raw diet

If's he is doing well on skin support why change? He may not need it, but if he's doing well on it then there may be no point in switching. I assume he is not specifically food allergic and has done a food trial? Are you after something to help his skin or just a change of dry food? You could look into a raw diet. Earthborn holistic has a grain free range which I have tried for my allergic dog but it is really fattening. Which in a way is good because you don't need to give them much, but not so great for an always starving labrador! It didn't make a difference with her skin. I'm considering a raw diet, the only difficulty is she can't have any bones as she doesn't chew them and tends to get them stuck

Actually my dog prefers funny looking dogs or squishy faced dogs for some reason. She gets very excited by frenchies, boston terriers, pugs and schnauzers for some reason. Also entire dogs, but thats another story...little tart :laugh: Otherwise she's pretty antisocial and will try to ignore attempts by other labs to play with her. She'd rather play with her ball.

So I can actually fit 12 weave poles, 4 jumps + a medium tunnel in my yard so I do have plenty to work with. I have a contact plank in a separate area and I also use the dog walk at the park to help with contacts. Its interesting how poorly my dog generalizes though- since practicing with the plank and dog walk, her dog walk and see saw at trials has improved a lot, but the a frame remains an issue. I think it is because the plank is the same width as the see saw and dog walk. So I'm thinking I will start doing a training diary where I write down what I want to achieve and what sequences/obstacles I need to set up to achieve them. Hopefully this will help our training sessions become more structured and productive. At the moment I'm looking to work on weave entries, tight turns around jumps, speed, and minimizing bar knocking. Any suggestions appreciated... Im actually thinking of re-training weaves entirely using 2x2. Entries have always been an issue and she currently has a very rough weaving style where she knocks the poles out of the way. A few times she has been super enthusiastic and really driving into the weaves and shes actually smacked her face on the weave pole and bounced backwards, then seemed a bit disorientated!!! Although I sounded a bit down before, we are actually going quite well considering, I guess I'm just frustrated it mainly seems to be the little/easy things that I stuff up once i've gotten through all the hard part!!!

I try to do tricks between exercises, but Bonnie isn't in the mood. she doesn't even enjoy eating her treats during class. half the time they fall out her mouth. after class she's fine though, completely back to normal Thats not good I wouldn't take my dog anywhere that would make her unhappy like that- its not worth it. Especially when they are generally happy and food motivated otherwise (although I think Mindy would have to be dead to not take a treat lol). The instructors shouldn't be letting you go on like this either. She's not ready for this type of environment yet or she needs different kind of motivation or there's just something about the club she doesn't like (which would ring warning bells for me). As I said before, even though my dog is very food motivated, for some reason I get much better heeling and obedience work with a toy. Can you get to Pro-K9 where erny is? Maybe even get Erny or another recommended trainer to come and assess exactly what is going on with Bonnie? Do you also do training with Ally?