Mrs Rusty Bucket

That's straight out of a hollards backed Product Disclosure Statement. Looking forward to you pointing me at a PDS (not al nz) that says anything different. I still think my example of cateract in one eye, then the other - the second would not be covered, because the second one is considered "pre-existing" because of the "bilateral" thing. Now if you were talking about something in the heart and then something in the liver (and it's not a spreading cancer), then it might be considered two separate conditions and they might pay out on both.

Hopefully they will respond soon. For me - sometimes I go friday through monday morning without switching a computer on, my weekend gets that jammed up.

Why does this make me think of "the Shire" ep that I didn't watch last week. Why a pom? why not a gorgeous pappillion or schipperke. Personally, if I wasn't getting my dog from the rescue orgs, I'd be going to breed clubs and breed shows as a starting point.

WTF? There goes all dog sports including greyhound racing, herding on the farm, and we won't need to waste any money on dog parks or dog off lead areas.

Do we have a date yet?

so very cute. Now for the trick training... jump in my lap, shake hands, speak, sing, roll over, tilt head (look cute)...

I found a lot of stuff about not using live animals or something about blooding, ie allowing a dog to chase and kill a lure animal (my phrasing of it). So I imagine if you tied a whole carcass (or even something that started out whole and got a bit shredded) to the lure rope - it would be hard to prove it wasn't killed after it was attached. It would be really messy from a purely practical sense - I'm pretty sure my evil hound would have to stop and clean up the mess on the return journey... So the cured skins bit makes sense. I'm pretty sure fox tails, bits of sheep skin, or rabbit skin is ok - but I'm not sure I'd want to use sheep skin just in case the evil hound got the wrong idea about it. My ugg boots are in enough trouble already. Ps the relevant stuff is in the animal welfare acts or prevention of cruelty acts in various states.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAdogagility/ that one is still working. there's a fair bit of overlap.

sharpei rescue mabye? I like Heather and she's good at matching dogs to new owners. And if she hasn't got anything suitable she's in contact with other SA rescues. http://www.petrescue.com.au/search_by_member/?member=1149

Pretty sure using dead animals for lure coursing is not ok (illegal?). So is using live animals but that's obvious. Ours uses a ball of dead tee-shirts and fake fur wrapped around something like a tight carpet roll or door stop thingy. It's not quite a carpet covered brick - but it's solid like that with tassly bits (tee shirt tassles).

Congratulations CC I read somewhere that Dog Obedience was started by a poodle owner to show off how smart they are. Now if I could just get my evil hound to SFE without trying to pick the judge's pockets... and actually retrieve on command. I do appreciate the efforts and patience of the top obedience trainers.

Good luck with it. It is hard to stand up to an instructor when you want to use different methods and science to what they know from "old school". Our club has a "fun class" which is for CCD standard dogs (eg graduates of our basic obedience - grade 5) and the current instructor likes to get all the dogs in close but she's always willing to let any dog or handler who is uncomfortable with it - work at a distance. We do have a few dogs in the class that can't do it for various reasons. I'm not much for flooding or overwhelming a dog with a situation it finds frightening. I'd much rather work at a distance that the dog is still comfortable and responsive and gradually work closer as the dog learns to be ok with it. And 8 months - can be a time to protect your puppy. Hope someone recommends a good club for you. For the brisbane area - I've seen these guys recommended - they run small group classes. But I don't personally know anything about them. Jane Harper - http://www.dogsontrack.com.au/ Craig Murray - http://www.dogschool.com.au/ They might be able to recommend a club or trainer closer to you if that works better for you.

As best I can tell - from reading a lot of pdfs (product disclosures or the fine print) - all the ones backed by Holl ards - which is all of them except the Alli a nz one - they all changed some time last year. All the H-backed ones except maybe medibank for people on that before they changed (not sure how the renewals are going now), no longer cover "bilateral" ie they will cover the first cateract in the first eye - but not any in the other eye... and there is a 20% co-payment in addition to the excess (which was reduced). I didn't get a say in that, they just changed all the cover to less cover and upped the premium. I considered swapping but I couldn't find one that was different. I think if my dog gets something nasty that doesn't go away with one treatment - like cancer - then I have life time cover up to a limit around $15,000. But if she gets something that drastically ruins quality of life - I'm not likely to spend squillions keeping her alive just because I have insurance to cover it. As best I can tell - paying a higher premium can get some preventative treatment covered (but why would you claim with the excess and co-payment making a net nothing for you) or it gets a higher annual or lifetime cover limit eg different premimums affect whether they cover up to $10K to about $15K max annual or lifetime (for one disease). Point me at a pdf that says something different (and isnt the big A) and I'll consider swapping to them. Not all insurance is bad - I've been very glad of my car insurance (although the company refused to pay for the listed accessories which I was pretty mad about) and health insurance.

A lure is a bit different to any little thing... Dogs know the difference. My dog loved lure coursing - and it hasn't made her more likely to chase other things. Being a farm dog bitsa herding breed - she's inclined to chase things anyway but not so interested in actually catching them. It's something we're always working on.

My brother decided to get some fatty lumps taken off his SBT. He rang the insurance company first to see how much they cover and the phone girl said 80%. Wrong. They would only pay for the first lump to be removed and not for any of the others, and there was an excess and some other stuff that meant he got back less than half on their initial assessment - and a bit more after he rang up and complained and refered them to the conversation saying 80%. And the dog won't be covered for removing any more fatty lumps. And when my premium came in last year - it had gone up but the cover had roughly halved. Ie if she busts an ACL on one side, she's not covered for ACL on the other side, same with anything she's got two of. And if she gets anything more than once - it's not covered. I can't see the value in it any more. I initially took it out for things like snake bite and car accidents. And we haven't claimed for anything and yet the premium keeps going up and the cover keeps going down.

I'd be putting my dog away where family cannot get to him. Frosty barfed up most of last nights dinner, a kleenex (she nicks them out my pocket), some carrot and a piece of ball - I think she ate about a week ago. Sheesh. At least it's better out than in. She is feeling a bit sorry for herself now. The sardines from dinner and yohgurt for breakfast - no sign of that. Figures.

Can't do next Saturday 11th but might be able to do 18th - I think we've got a bye that day. I'd still have to leave at half past sparrow fart to make 10:30am

OHS liability of catching the stray vs the legal liability of knowing allowing one to roam the highways. Still how different is a dog to a stray kangaroo, koala, wombat, horse, sheep....

I can't see why you couldn't run a greyhound... it's where the greyhounds regularily run for training. The not-greyhounds tend to turn around at the end and sprint back to their owners. But - some people think allowing a re-trained greyhound to run a lure course undoes all that training not to chase SWF and etc. So you might ask the GAP people about it first.

can she heel flip? That helps get the butt back in... Maybe some perch work with getting the back feet on the perch - then using a flat version of it to get her feet where you want them... eg feet on a face washer or magazine or something...

i had a chat to a guy who works in traffic management in our state - the ones who watch the traffic cameras, provide the traffic jam reports and fiddle the lights to improve traffic flow - I swear if he's on when I'm driving - I get all red lights... Anyway if they see a stray dog on a highway - they used to ring the relevant council - but councils across Adelaide - now only send rangers to pick up dogs if they're "restrained" or "contained" in some way. Ie joe public has to catch the dog and lock it up before the ranger will come. Pretty bad when the rangers won't come when the traffic monitors call them.

Trick is to only reward what you want... Or at least progressions towards what you want.

The NSW link says "in the business of breeding" and the actual document just says "the activity of breeding" which is nice and vague and covers anyone who breeds dogs. But the detail is all about what paid staff do... But I like the details. It would be a PITA for a small scale breeder (eg only one breeding pair and only breeds occasionally).

Some terriers can be a bit snappy. But this can be managed with good training and supervision. JRT I know, sometimes kill small animals like mice and rats and sometimes tackle ones they shouldn't - like snakes. Again - a bit of supervision... It can be hard on the kids if the snake "wins" though. Maybe take your son to visit some whippets to see if he likes them or not. Otherwise JRT - I don't see why not.

NSW have introduced a code of practice - which parts of it are supposedly enforceable. Don't know if they are or not. And it's a bit vague about who it applies to - people making a profit from breeding or anyone who breeds. http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/animal-welfare/codes/breeding-dogs-and-cats