Simply Grand

Hope pup is feeling a bit better now. I agree, if you haven't already and puppy isn't back to drinking and eating and holding it down I'd be straight to the vet in the morning. Better safe than sorry with vomitting. If it was diarrhea I'd be less worried, could well be stress then, but vomitting and not eating I'd get checked quickly in a baby. Don't panic though, it's just to be on the safe side!

I have 3 Bunnings compost cages! I've used them in all sorts of configurations to block off different areas in the house and even the yard. They're good for small breed puppies too because the gaps are small, they can sometimes fit though the bars in baby gates.

Hmm the article sounds kinda patronizing towards people who show to me... I do know from personal experience that Canberra Times reporting can be very lazy and innaccurate so who knows what was actually said in the interview. 24/7, never being able to take a day off seems a bit OTT though. Thing that worries me is the implication that "a 60 minute haircut" regular baths and brushes including 20 minutes grooming on the day is a lot of grooming. Plenty of long haired breeds would require that amount of time regularly even as pets, this kind of article could make people think only show Poms and the like need that kind of time spent on them, so my pet *insert breed* won't need anywhere near that! Gotta love the media! (insert eye roll emoti)

Hahaha @ fuzzy and OSS! So many things raised in this thread were bothering me for various reasons (especially that ad, just...wow) but those last posts made me LOL! Literally Roos loose in the top paddock, hehehe....

Yes I'm not one to hang around once a decision is made but this is quick even for me! It's just that there happened to be an Aussie litter here in Canberra, which is VERY unusual. I found out that the breeder and the parents are known to trialling people here and was told they were lovely so decided it was worth talking to him. I spent a couple of hours with the breeder, the litter and mum Ivy yesterday I was very happy with the breeder and the little girl is exactly what I'm looking for temperament wise and appearance wise, so I decided to go for it :D They're already 6 weeks old so she'll be here probably New years day.

So, ummm... puppy with her mum...

Poor dog fingers crossed he gets lucky and finds a home.

I've done this, walking Saxon and a young GSD running loose towards us. I'd rather xx kgs ;) of me go up against an unknown dog than 5 kgs of Saxon. In this particular situation I saw the dog running towards us, grabbed Saxon, held him in one arm behind me, walked towards the GSD and told it loudly and firmly to stop, sit. Luckily it did, turned out it was actually a nice and well trained young dog, but Saxon stayed in my arms until the other dog was headed off to his house, and I'd do the same again any day. I do think being confident and assertive with an approaching dog is the best bet in trying to stop it, I'd do whatever I could to avoid physical conflict with a large dog, and I do think in the cases of a pet who has escaped this will generally work. But still, if it really comes down to it I will put myself in the firing line over my 5 and 6 kg dogs.

Hi jebee, the good news is the answer to most of your questions is it's up to you! The idea is that the crate is a safe, secure place for the dog to be in, where it feels comfortable and calm. When, why and where you use the crate is up to you, depending on your situation. Crating for toilet training - the idea behind this is that dogs naturally dont like to toilet where they sleep so provided the crate is small enough (or is partly blocked off) when the puppy wakes up needing the toilet it will whinge because it doesn't want to toilet in it's sleeping area. The noise wakes you up, you take puppy straight outside to the toilet spot, they go and you reward them, then back to sleep in the crate. It's setting up the puppy not to go to the toilet in the wrong spot while you are asleep, and giving you the chance to reward puppy for going in the right spot. During the day you wouldnt want to have the puppy in the crate the whole time so you'd either watch the puppy very closely all the time or attach a leash to you so puppy follows you around. Then take puppy to the toilet spot regularly and reward when it goes (see toilet training threads). Using the crate at night stops your good work during the day being undone by puppy toileting somewhere other than the toilet spot during the night without realizing that's not what you want it to do. Answers to your specific questions included below: Good luck! Edited for iPad typos!

There is a Puli that comes to the local dog park sometimes. S/he's lovely, the cords seem to be well cared for. It's really cute, the owner is a guy with dark hair in dreads, they march! I think I would drive myself into OCD-style insanity with a corded dog, whenever Saxon is lying next to me I find myself feeling through his coat and fiddling with any little knot or matt I find until I eventually get the scissors and trim it out, which then leads to going over him for any other knots etc etc. I can't just leave them, even if I'm planning to clip him the next day. If i had a corded dog I think I'd spend all my time feeling over the coat to make sure the cords were perfect and wouldn't be able to to sleep I they weren't!

The vet just confirmed that Riley's second teste hasn't descended It hadn't when he got his puppy vacs but I was hoping it would come down to save him the bigger op, he's 8 months now so I guess it's staying hidden! I didn't ask about cost, I guess it will depend on how long it takes to find. Poor old Riles and Zorro, sore tummies for them!

No probs, i'm now its biggest fan! You should find it ok if you google. I'm confident it will work with your Staffy, and in my experience works pretty quickly, tho it is an ongoing process.

Che, you sound like a fantastic owner. I think Shibas are fantastic dogs, from the few I've met at least, and definitely gorgeous. I'm not a behaviourist or trainer but my first thought was that as Loki gets older and weaker Wylie is seeing himself as moving up in the ranks and basically taking advantage of Loki's weaknesses. Definitely don't think that makes Wylie bad in any way, in fact seems like natural behaviour that the younger stronger healthier dog has the instinct to take over for survivals' sake. I don't know of Wylie could be trained out of it, could well be that separation and supervision are the best options. Could be that the kenneling was the trigger for them both that things are changing and the dynamic was dIfferent when they came home. You may well need to keep a close eye but "discussing" pack status is to me a natural dog behaviour and something to keep a close eye on but not necessarily put a stop to.

Get Leslie Nelson's Really Reliable Recall DVD. Best investment ever!!! Seriously more than worth the money. Awesome for recall training, good for positive reinforcement training in general. And it really works. My 2.5 year old poodle x has excellent recall, my now 8 month old Sheltie pup would run across the fenced park (at least 100m and with other dogs around) at 15 weeks, both using RRR. Having said all that, I still believe in most situations, if a dog is good enough to be off lead it's good enough to be on lead. And next to a road, I just would never bother to risk it, especially with a puppy. Good luck!

Ahh ok

I can't see what it is an ad for... Pets on eBay? Is that a breach?

It's really interesting to me because growing up I really didn't have much to do with dogs. Neither side of my family had dogs or was interested in them but there was no fear of any particular dog or breed either. I do remember loose dogs on the play ground at school and others being scared of them but they were always sort of just there for me... However somehow the image of a Bull Terrier was in my head as vaguely scary... I couldn't tell you why but maybe it was their image at the time (mid-late 80s?) Now that I am much more involved with dogs I have met a number of Bull Terriers of various ages and seriously never seen anything but great behavior. I've also met several pit bulls or crosses (being in the ACT) and the only problematic one was a very young pup, who I suspect was less then 8 weeks when the breeder sent him home, maybe 10 weeks when I met him, and was the first ever dog of his "mum" owner. The only prob was inappropriate biting of other dogs (not a huge drama in a baby but a future major concern!) In my experience most dogs are decent, our job as owners of our own dogs is to train and control our own dogs, be as aware of dog behavior and body language as we can, treat them all as dogs not babies (no matter what size and even when they're puppies) and then relax and enjoy!! See, that simple ;) (kidding, obviously it's not always easy!) ETA - Greyhounds = pat moochers to the extreme!! And that's about all I've seen from them

Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'. Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's naming' For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'. Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin' It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'. Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin' Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin'. The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin' And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'. -Bob Dylan. :D This topic is clearly a very emotive one and I expect many of us on DOL have been on both sides of the situation and have dealt with it in the best way we see fit. I think the discussion has mostly been sensible and informative. However I find your response above Blackdogs incredibly disrespectful. Anne has contributed her opinion based on her experience, that's what DOL is about. Either respond with an actual discussion point, rational argument or question, or politely ignore posts you just don't feel the need to respond to. Obviously sarcastic or antagonistic responses, even when accompanied by smiley faces, are just annoying and pointless :D

I'm trying to get to know the area as I'm working out there sometimes now (I live in Canberra). The Queanbeyan City Council website lists some streets where there are apparently off leash areas but it's not that clear where they actually are. Does anyone know which spots are popular? Oh also, anyone who lives there and would like a free demo mobile wash on their dog PM me! (numbers limited!!) Thanks all

Ooooh Toby is lovely! I'll post some photos from the computer tomorrow, wish I could do it from iPhone!

That is so cute!!

I like (and have) both and would like to continue to have both, they bring different things to the household. And I find dogs and cats being "friends" the cutest thing ever! I voted both equally tho to be really honest if for some reason I had to choose one or the other I'd choose dogs (sorry cats ).

You have to crawl out thru it ;) Just kidding, the panel fits into the door frame against the edge, top to bottom of the doorway and secures in then stays put. The sliding door then butts up against that and locks so you slide it open and closed as usual, it's just a slightly smaller opening. I think that's it anyway.

Do you know, it never even occurred to me that you could comb matts out! Not that I'm an expert by any stretch but being new to it all when I got Saxon I just assumed that if he got a matt I would trim it out as doing anything else would hurt him. I certainly wouldn't have had a problem with a groomer cutting out matts, especially bad ones. Do you find that the majority generally do expect you to brush them out rather than cut or is it just a few... erm...less realistic clients expecting that?

Hey d, when you have a sec would you mind PMing me the website where you found it? That's a great price! Actually you could probably even post the website, I dont think that would breach forum rules (unless they also sell non-pb dogs of course). Thanks! Oh and good luck with the move