Mrs Rusty Bucket

I started my puppy on Advance - cos that's what AWL and my vet were selling. But she was getting the runs every couple of weeks which wasn't fun for either of us. So I swapped to Nutro Natural Choice - which owned by the same food company - Mars - (yes the same people that make mars bars and m&ms) - but nutro is supposed to have better quality ingredients ie more flesh and less floor scrapings. All I know is my dog stopped getting the runs so often when she was eating that. She loves supercoat - like teenagers like Maccas. Supercoat (and Purina 1) are made by that other food company - Nestles - and I've got ethical reasons for avoiding them. I'm currently feeding Black Hawk Holistic and home made casserole (mince and vegies and stuff), and she does fine on that. The vet I go to that sells advance - says to feed 1/3 less than the packet says - for a desexed dog and often says things about overfeeding = more money for the dog food sellers. He's perfectly open about the profit motive. The other vet nurse I had an argument about was trying to get me to feed tinned optimum chicken and rice - arguing it was better than home cooked chicken fillet and rice for a dog with the runs. Well she argued that until I made her read the tin and she learned what else is in it besides rice and (not much) chicken. Same with anyone who suggests Science Diet is a good idea - after you read the ingredients then tell me that. Not saying black hawk or nutro are perfect but they're better than many.

annie the pet nanny will feed and water and clean up after your dogs daily at their home and take them for walks if you pay extra. Not sure if she has DDB experience or not. She has a couple of adorable aussie shepherds. She doesn't dog sit though.

Balranald caravan park has dedicated cabins for the use of people with dogs. And there is a great big race course area on the other side of the town where you can walk a dog. I didn't let mine off lead because people were exercising their horses and she's not that well behaved around horses. The Armidale Highlander Village also has dedicated dog friendly cabins. Most other caravan parks would let you have dog on lead - in your own tent or caravan - but you couldn't leave it there unattended. In areas near the dingo fence you may have to watch out for dog baits. And the spikey grass is pretty harsh on a dog. Splinters are us. But mostly if you call ahead - there are dog friendly places. I think when we visited Lake Eyre - the bit we went to and through and camped at was not national park. it was part of Mooloorina Station. They do camping - if you contacted them you could ask about dogs (on lead). Any place that runs sheep isn't going to be keen about dogs off lead but many towns (especially in the pitlands) have fairly large packs of loose dogs some of which belong to people and are special and some of which are feral and get their food from the garbage dump. You can't tell which is which until the owner is around. There's a few doggy day care centres just outside Adelaide CBD - which might be good if you want to go into town and visit the museum and art gallery and shops...

what is a barrier for a weave pole? Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave dvd has some plans for 2x2 weave poles. Lots of people make them by putting nails into bits of dowel and then putting that up a bit of PVC pipe. I was going to get an engineer or welding person to make the bases as per 2x2 and then put PVC pipe for the poles.

An amazing and gorgeous dog. So sorry she's gone too soon.

The other thing it could be is a general or specific soreness or injury somewhere. Ie pain. Do let us know what you find.

I sometimes call the dog walk - "walking the plank" - except the best dogs run it.

The whole ad is here and some behind the scenes stuff. It's a dog fantasy... where dogs get to sit in the front seat with their head out the window and choose their owner's dates. http://www.youtube.com/user/JeepAustralia

glad you enjoyed Persephone Strategic pairs is almost as funny - especially when Gabi and Ashwin mad koolies take the field. They're fantastic to watch whether they do what they're asked or not.

and this one cos it's funny

I usually describe it as something like show jumping and obstacle course for a dog and handler. I'd probably send them this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFxbRtQvmMY (agility is not a sport - with some good handler wipe outs) and agility woman

There's a new jeep ad staring the red BC and "owner". According to the ad - the dog character is not going to allow the owner character to date anyone. I hope there's a sequel where the dog finds someone they can both love.

My favourite story of doggy revenge was the one where a certain dog peed on the rather unpleasant father in law's belongings. And the owner couldn't correct for laughing. They both hated the FIL. It doesn't explain why my dog likes to eat my mums golf sox - just one from each pair. They (sox and Mum) don't deserve that.

I think its sometimes a visual and sometimes a smell thing (when they get close enough to smell the person). My dog will go charging up to a person she thinks she knows, all wiggle bum and happy but when she gets close enough to smell them, maybe 2m out, if she doesn't know them, she sort of blows by them and comes back to me (sooner if I call her). If she goes funny about a person from a distance, I think it's because they look odd to her. I'm the only person who is allowed to wear a hat around her for instance. Everyone else - she tells off - until she gets over herself. But anything that's quite unusual or moves funny - she gets upset about. As best I can tell - not necessarily actual creepy people. She's been fine with some seriously creepy crazy people that I don't like at all. And some people I reckon are ok - she gets upset about. The people she gets upset with - I keep her away from. And I try to keep her away from the people I get upset with.

JackC I'm guessing most of these things kick off after 8am ish, and depending what breed is being judged when... most people get there really early with their dogs to get a good spot and get their space set up. So judging might start at 8am or 9am but people will be there earlier. Most people will be happiest to talk to you well before or well after it's their turn to go in the ring, so if they're looking really busy, ask them when a good time to come and chat would be.

The gun dogs will probably cope with the flying machines. They're supposed to sit with the shooter until told to go get the shot bird, or go when sent to flush birds off the ground for shooting and then fetch them - without damaging or chewing the bird on retrieve. You'd have to train some of that, but some of it comes naturally to them. And if you want one that is true to the breed temperament - you might want to go to a gun dog club meet and see who has what and where they come from rather than go to some commercial (pet shop) or back yard breeder (gumtree) who doesn't choose for hunting skills. I have a cattle dog bitsa and I have managed to train her to ignore the glider and model airplane club that meets in the off lead space, right next to our dog club. Not the easiest neighbours. My dog still likes chasing model cars - and the model car owners actively encourage it which is a bit disconcerting. At least she doesn't tear them to pieces but I think that's just pure luck she's that kind of dog, and not due to training on my part. Gundogs include Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Spaniels (various), Pointers (various) and more. Some of them are better at the sit and wait kind of work and others are better at the flush game kind of work. You probably want one of the sit and wait sort. But others would be able to advise better. All of them can be very fit dogs and trainable. Some of them are not great outside dogs - their coats are too thin (in my opinion).

My mum's old dog - had to go to the vet every month to get the anal sacs emptied. At that point Mum asked - what else could she do? And vet said they can be removed. Which worked. I don't know what the long term effect is on a dog, but this particular dog was fairly old then anyway and lived quite a few more years after with no further problems at that end.

She needs him to sign over ownership first. Especially if it is microchipped. If it was never registered with council or microchipped she can probably claim ownership by doing this herself. Otherwise she might need to discuss it with a pound about how to claim ownership of an abandoned dog and getting it signed over to her without actually having to surrender it. If she knows someone else that the ex still talks to - get that person to get the ex to sign it over. Pet Rescue has some good instructions otherwise. The dog needs to be desexed and microchipped. http://www.petrescue.com.au/library/articles/help-i-need-to-rehome-my-pet

I bought a small red bone flashing light for my dog from cheapaschips. Don't expect it to last any longer than a flashing Christmas ear ring... Anyway - I tried to put it on her, flashing. And she freaked out. I haven't tried again. Not sure it was worth it. But if I do decide to get one of these I will definitely introduce it to the dog more gently and with lots of treats, and I think I'd try for something that doesn't shine in her eyes. They do notice. And I should probably wear one myself.

some people ask their dog to do 2o2o with nose touches to the ground - which gives the dog one more criteria to get right so usually the bit that goes to hell is the nose touch but the rest of it is good enough and then they work on getting the nose touches back in training. Personally I can't bring myself to ask my dog to smash her nose into the ground so we're trying for running contacts. Except for the seesaw and then I will ask for 4 on.

I think a French bulldog could make short work of undies crotches if it wanted. But probably isn't as destructive as a bone smashing cattle dog can be. I've had two pair of ugg boots remodelled too.

I'd ask them (dogs sa or dogs vic). I'm not a breeder so I don't know what happens when a registered puppy or dog gets a new home but it must happen all the time.

desert dobes The dog gets a life time registration - if it's not pedigree then yes it gets registered as an associate and proof of desex usually has to be produced. ANKC rule. If it is pedigree - it is supposed to be registered as a puppy and would not need registering again. Though not sure if the person who registered the puppy then rehomes it if the new owner has to pay a fee to get the dog put in their name. You put both the dog's SACA number and the owner/lessee's SACA number on the SACA entry form. But there is no place on it for the Handler's SACA number.

You could ask the breeder about collar size. I got my dog from AWL and she came with a collar that is way too small for her now. Her first few beds were cardboard (and she ate them), and mattresses ended up being shredded too - so she ended up with really old pillows buried very deep under old jumpers (which she also ripped up), and no access to room with her bed, my bed and my sox, shoes and washing unless we were sleeping. I wanted but never got - a baby gate. I did use some old card board moving boxes instead. I also started with a metal crate with a plastic tray - and put newspapers and old jumpers in that. Which she also ripped up. I got some puppy pads for her, but she never used them. Even when I put them next to the back door. I was pretty good at spotting when she needed to go out so we didn't have many accidents. I also set my alarm to take her out during the night - so I was sleep deprived but no accidents then either. And the cat problem was totally sorted within a month of her arrival. For anything else you might have not thought about http://www.dogstardaily.com/training

Ok I'm willing to guess the entry forms are pretty similar across states and sports/shows. The agility comp entry form for SACA has a place for Name of owner/lessee I'm guessing you're the lessee? a spot for the "usual signature" of this person and their SACA membership number. And another place on the form for Name of Hander if different from the owner (/lessee) If you have a lease agreement then I don't think you'd need another signature. If you decide you're the handler not the owner/lessee then you would need the owner/lessee to sign the forms for you and give you their membership number - they'd need to join but you as handler might not (not sure about this). In agility - I've seen some owners and handlers swap around when the owner got injured and couldn't handle. I don't know what happens as far as rules and trophies go for this, but I guess the title points still go towards the dog - no matter who handles. Find the entry form on the DogsVic page and see what it needs on it.