Simply Grand

Oh my goodness, that is going above and beyond! Lovely vet :)

Awww, super cute first post Tuannie :) I wish I had the same scene here, I'm trying to have an exciting night of sitting on the couch watching tv and my dogs keep being awake and playing with each other *eye roll* I'm showing them all these pics of snoozing doggies but no luck yet...

It's been done several times. And it's never very friendly. Yes I'd probably suggest searching old topics if you're interested in discussion on both points you mentioned rather than starting a new one, there have been a number of threads.

The only animals I've had other than cats and dogs are guinea pigs and rabbits, I like both but like guinea pigs the best, love their little "meep meep mip mip" talking and their excited "weeei weeei" calling, ours used to start that when the heard us bringing their dinner vegies out in a plastic bag :laugh: They were always happy to be cuddled and carried around in our pockets too, so cute :)

eschlachter, if we met in at a dog park I wouldn't be surprised if you remembered it, my dogs tend to make themselves hard to miss. I'd be the one yelling "Quinn, down" as she throws herself at your face to kiss you, and "Riley, shush" as he spins in circles and barks his head off The Setter at the park is a boy though, so not sure... He's a lovely boy, luckily I can't speak for his road sense as he didn't try to escape, he was having too much fun playing fetch with his mum :)

So beautifully said and so true. Jelly, I think Roo probably is still there with you, now she has her peace she is looking after you while you need her, just as you did for her. Xxx

As long as a head collar is introduced in a way that makes it as positive an experience as possible for the dog, such as explained by skip above, it shouldn't be any more of a 'constant aversive' than a flat collar and lead. I don't agree at all that they are for people who want to manage, not train their dog, they are a tool that can be uses to manage a dog while you train it. If introduced and used properly the dog can very quickly learn where it needs to be to avoid feeling pressure on its head from the head collar. As long as the handler is quick and consistent in stopping/applying pressure when the dog tries to move out of position and in relieving the pressure (and I tend to give a treat reward as well) when the dog is in position next to you, i find head collars very effective on strong dogs that are inclined to pull or lunge. Yes you can achieve the same thing with a dog on a flat collar as long as you are strong enough to prevent the dog ever achieving the reward of getting towards where it wants to go when it tries to pull, but a head collar allows someone with less strength to keep hold of a dog with more strength. I don't really think it should be necessary for a whole class of dogs just learning obedience stuff to wear them, and I would be very wary of exactly how they are wanting you to use them, and chucking a head collar on a dog that has never worn one, clipping the lead on and expecting it to immediately start learning new things seems like it wouldn't be very effective... If I was happy with everything else about the training school though, and had the time to introduce the head collar properly and use it only as a tool to show the dog what position I want it to be in so I can use other techniques to teach it what else I want it to do, I woul probably be ok with it. BTW, I haven't found the need to use head collars on my dogs but my training with all of them started as baby puppies (plus two of them are small) so strength wasn't an issue, I've only use them working with other dogs, and certainly not with every other dog.

Oh thank goodness! I was checking the thread hoping for good news and there it is. Welcome home Huxley :) Now never do that again! ETA Totally agree about the fireworks raz

Oh I love it! So cute :D

Oh no, how scary for you MUP. fingers crossed for his safe return home really soon xx

Hugs Cos I'm fortunate not to have had to go through this very much so I can't add to any of the good advice already given but just wanted to send my sympathies.

Only if he surrenders them/one, which means he signs over rights to them and can't necessarily have them back, or if they are seized based on animal cruelty laws AND THEN he agrees to surrender them or the RSPCA wins in court if he protests. Which is totally frustrating in apparent cases like this, but there still needs to be that legal process, as dogs are the property of their owners (not that I think you were questioning that MM!). No I get what you mean, I guess I was more wondering they had any programs for low/no cost desexing, but you're right they can't force him to desex them. I wonder if he would voluntarily desex them after this has caused so much drama for him. RSPCA here in ACT does offer discounted or even free vet services to people on a low income, I don't know what the actual criteria are but certainly desexing to avoid unwanted litters would be supported where possible, as you say though, the owner has to want it to even start the process. I don't know if NSW has the same option, from what I gather things are run differently. ETA - I really hope he does decide to just desex them, at least the girl, to save the hassle. #tryingtobeoptimistic

Only if he surrenders them/one, which means he signs over rights to them and can't necessarily have them back, or if they are seized based on animal cruelty laws AND THEN he agrees to surrender them or the RSPCA wins in court if he protests. Which is totally frustrating in apparent cases like this, but there still needs to be that legal process, as dogs are the property of their owners (not that I think you were questioning that MM!).

Just as Cowanbree said (and you obviously have waaaayy more Sheltie experience than I with my 1), it would be great if there was a mute button sometimes... The only thing I can think of with my Aussie Shep would be to make her less bouncy, because her enthusiastic jumping on people, including me, is the only thing that causes me problems... but I wouldn't actually edit it out because I love her enthusiasm for life!

Exactly, I guess in an unpredictable situation trying to arrest a suspect who is trying to flee, plus who knows who else is in the house, police can't afford to have a dog attacking them and causing chaos. Not that it's the dog's fault at all, it was being a dog, it's just really unfortunate for everyone that the dog was there.

Seems like he's stuffed now when it comes to selling them, if he can't afford the next vacs he probably can't afford microchipping for them all anyway but the council will be watching pretty closely for him selling them without chips. Hopefully they are seized or he surrenders them before he resorts to desperately selling them to someone dodgy or unsuspecting that they are getting an unwell pup who's had god knows what kind of life so far. Or worse, dumping them somewhere because it's all become too much hassle. Hopefully he'll also be under some scrutiny in the future so won't breed more litters (though he doesn't seem like the type to responsibly separate his two adults when the bitch is in season so unless she's desexed...) Panto, I could see comments on the story, gotta love the ones about how the pups look happy, healthy and clean. Also the suggestion that councils should subsidize desexing because vets are a rip off, how about if you can't afford to desex your pet (or manage an entire one) you either don't get one, or get one from a reputable shelter or rescue that desexes them for you, not that hard.

That's exactly what I thought!

Ugh, that's scary Mm, so the poor dog learns that being around other dogs is confusing, unpleasant and probably scary and that they are not there to greet or play with but neither can they be avoided...way to help its dog interactions

So this isnt actually something someone said but rather something someone did, it was really annoying but not worth starting a thread for so thought I'd add to this one... I was at the dog park just before with my 3, there was another lady there with her young Irish Setter (who is gorgeous btw :D ) and a couple with their dog, let's call it a BC............(coz it is). All fine until the girl with the BC decides it's time to leave. They were calling the dog trying to get her to come but she was off doing something else so she ignored them. So the girl's solution was for them to go over to the gates as if to leave (it's that double gate set up I assume most dog parks have, where you close one before you open the next so no one escapes), she opened the inside gate, dog ignored them, so she yelled at the guy to open the outside gate as well. (He didn't want to leave both open so she threw a ball at him...nice huh). Then they both came back into the park to catch their dog coz she was still ignoring them, LEAVING BOTH GATES WIDE OPEN leading straight out to carpark which is open to the busy road maybe 60m away! Fortunately my and the other lady's dogs were more interested in us anyway so didn't go near the gates, but seriously, who does that? I've seen plenty of dogs at fenced off leash parks who could be straight out those gates. How selfish Thanks for the vent :)

Excellent point kirty, seems kinda unlikely there would be that many strays. It says he's unemployed so maybe can't he afford to desex them, which would be one of many reasons why he shouldn't be taking them in

It often happens that someone new to the forums who hasn't read the forum rules refers to their dog by its made up cross breed name, I'd be pretty confident in saying that it is always mentioned that "xxx" isn't a breed and that on DOL the dog should be referred to as requested in the forum rules ('xxx' X "xxx'). You may not have seen it but it certainly does cause a reaction! Minimax was just pointing out to you that it is in fact a breach of forum rules.

I took Quinn out after 3 weeks (maybe a day or two more but no longer than that), she was around other dogs then and had no reaction from them so I assume she was all back to normal.

Td, I don't understand the point you're making

Easier to spot the bits when they came out the other end too, with our bright colours :)

Happy birthday gorgeous girl!!