Simply Grand

There's a possum who seems to live in a tree out the back, it's planted on the other dual occupancy's side but hangs over the fence to my backyard. It always stays up on the tree when I see it and the dogs bark at it from the ground but I figure it's smart enough to stay out of their way. On new years day evening though I heard them barking at Possum, went out to look and she has a baby! It was on her back staring down at us. I had a stern talk to mummy possum telling her not to come over our side of the fence in case baby falls. I would absolutely hate to find it had fallen and the dogs had hurt it, or worse

Ah, that's a good idea! Why hadn't anyone in the thread suggested that one? :rofl:

What does Torrens title mean? We don't have that term here. Dougal, my house is a dual occupancy, I own mine and the other is rented. They are strata titled as we share water and sewerage supply and a bit of common driveway but there is only me and one other owner so makes negotiation easier. Also, our strata is divided 52/48% because of land size so if you got a larger share you would technically have more say than the other owner in a disagreement. I dont know if there are any around where you are looking but just a thought.

Sounds good to me!

I just can't believe the hardships in this thread *sad head shake* :laugh:

On second look, yes I agree. He looks like he's watching his trainer to be marked and rewarded. Hard to tell in a photo but eyes look soft, ears relaxed, doesn't look poised to spring and it doesn't look like a full on snarl. Interesting. Asal, there's a staffy (AmStaff I assume) CHaracter in Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 who has that same problem, he smiles when he's happy and people freak out and think he's snarling. Works out well for him in the end though :laugh:

Poor officers, a scared or angry cat gets super strength worthy of much bigger animal! And cat claws huuurt I wonder how they caught it in the end? Poor puddy too, must have been terrified Or crazy... there was a feral cat that used to come into our garden when I was a kid and would try to attack us and our cats. Once I was standing on the deck, it came flying over one fence, flew over to me, launched and embedded the claws of all four paws into my leg, front paws above my knee, back paws below, then let go and flew off over the other fence. I still have faint scars, crazy thing.

Mosley for most popular He is just gorgeous (that's coming from another not huge brindle fan).

What is this magical 'poece of fod' that will make them obey!!? Just teasing :p know you mean piece of food.

Teehee, he looks so happy and excitable!

Oh but Erny that would interfere with my plans to be lazy and never have to cut the grass again ;)

Agree with DD, don't feel like a dummy! I would have had no idea what to do when looking for my first purebred if I hadn't already found DOL! I found Riley's (my Shetland Sheepdog, first PB puppy) breeder at a show. I was fortunate that I met them at the first show I went to, which was in a town about 40 mins drive away, but if I hadn't met them and if they weren't planning a litter anytime soon I would have gone to more. I was nervous and found it hard to talk to many of the breeders there, but they were obviously busy. Riley's breeders were sitting eating lunch and chatting when I came past and their dogs broke the ice by standing up in their pen and wagging and smiling at me when I walked past and smiled at them. Once the dogs reacted positively and I saw the owners were relaxing I asked if I could say hello to their dogs, then sort of pushed my way into their conversation by mentioning that I was hoping to get a Sheltie and then asking them about their dogs. Then they were happy to chat :) Their dogs being friendly (Shelties can be stand-offish) and them relaxed and willing to chat was what made me keen on them as I wasn't looking for a show dog so happy amd healthy were only real criteria for the puppy. After fist contact I did ask around and look up the breeders and was happy with what I found, and I emailed back and forth with them a few times asking and answering various questions as the litter hadn't been born yet, then as they grew. I didn't meet the puppy or see the breeders property until i went to pick them up. I was glad I did get to see where the puppies had been raised and how the adult dogs lived and had I not been happy with it I probably would have walked away, but I was confident in the breeder by then based on our communications and their other dogs. Sorry for the long winded response but hopefully it gives you some tips! Oh the thing I meant to say was that the Show Ring thread often has show people discussing upcoming shows and how many of each breed are entered so you could check out whether there are any berners entered in shows near you.

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I think Hachi is too sad for kids Red Dog is great but also had me balling

Actually I think you can get pre-built raised beds for veges etc so you could use one of those and plant grass.

I'd go with a reasonable sized patch of fake grass! I'm sure they can tell the difference between fake and real but hopefully with it being outside and sort of grassy textured she'll realise that's where she's meant to go if you keep taking her to it. Bunnings has various different qualities of fake grass so you can try and find a realistic kind of one. I would LOVE to get rid of my grass (which is actually mostly weeds and lumpy dirt which is hard to mow )

There's all the Buddies ones as well, about a bunch of lab puppies (or GRs maybe). They're for quite young kids but they're very cute.

They are SO much better at training than we are!

:laugh: :laugh: I can DEFINITELY see Pugs being up there in the manipulative dog stakes!

There's a thread in Puppy Problems from someone asking for tips about their 5 month old Mini Poodle puppy. I commented that Poodles are excellent at manipulating humans if you let them. Saxon, my Toy Poodle x, is a master at it. I like to think he doesn't get away with too much with me, although I'm sure there are things I do without realising, but his ability to manipulate other people particularly at the dog park is amazing. I'm sure it helps that he's small and fluffy and looks like a teddy bear, but he seriously uses it to his full advantage and has a whole routine worked out. Step 1 - He goes over to each new person he sees and investigates whether they have treats. They usually think "oh the cute little dog is coming to say hello" and go to pat him, but if he doesn't detect any treats he'll just turn around and walk off. So rude If he does detect treats he will stand up on his hind legs (which he can now hold for at least 30 secs and I'm sure longer) and give a happy smiley face with his tongue out. Usually by now I've already called out "Saxon there's no treats for you" etc etc. The usual reaction from the person he's dancing around in front of it "oh how cute", "oh how clever" :laugh: If they don't pull out a treat for him then Step 2 - still standing up, he'll flick his eyes from the treat bag/pocket back to their face and repeat. He has an excellent "what do you mean, I don't get a treat?" guilt inducing face. At this stage he often throws in some spins (still on hind legs, spinning in a circle or two). Usually at this stage I get asked "Can he have one?" I say "yes, if you want but he will seriously remember forever and never leave you alone so you don't have to". They always do. Step 3 - if they haven't paid up by now he'll go into his other tricks repertoire. He'll try sit/beg/drop/all of the above, with the happy expectant look back on his face. Step 4 - by now he has started to give up, I'm sure blaming me because this whole time I will have been watching, telling him to forget about it and the person not to fall for it. He'll then go into a resigned sit and look up at the person with sad puppy eyes and no smile, as though to say "that's ok, i'll just continue starving". Step 5 - his last ditch effort if none of the previous has worked, is to do a "huff", stand up and start to walk off, pause, look pack at them over his shoulder with happy face again, then, if it still doesnt work, continue on to the next person and go through it all again! I know this sounds like anthropomorphising but I swear it is really what he does! I could provide testimony from any number of people at the dog park who have experienced it. If people want to treat him I do usually let them because I figure if he can convince them with his efforts despite me saying it is not necessary, well good on him. How to win friends and influence people Anyone else have a dog who uses their doggy wiles to manipulate silly old humans?

The OP lives in the ACT. One luxury we are afforded by living in our little small town capital is that we don't have long commutes so it is highly unlikely that both partners are away from home for 9+ hours per day even though they are working full time. Of course it can be done, and as mentioned a puppy doesn't necessarily need a lunchtime feed. With my first pup (my only 'only' dog) I lived near work and popped home at lunch time to check on him the first day i was back at work. He was sleeping, me coming home woke him up and got him all excited so from then on I left him alone the 8 hours I was away and he was fine. I had started leaving him alone and working up the duration over the week I was home with him. As others have said, I did spend heaps of time with him when I wasn't at work, he's always been inside with me when I'm home (with doggy door), slept inside, had training, walks, play time daily etc.

Oh yeah, with the mouth/tongue licking mine all do it occasionally with each other and some other dogs. Just like Perse said they will do it if there has been a little bit of a scuffle, even if they've not actually been involved in it, they will duck down a bit, come up to the other dog from below and lick at their mouth to say "I'm no threat, happy to submit to you, let's just be friends"

Agree with everything that's been said, especially that poodles are very smart. They are also EXCELLENT at learning to manipulate humans :D I LOVE NILIF and TOT as linked by Persephone, they are invaluable and dogs thrive on it. Teaching a Poodle what he needs to do to earn things is a good way of teaching him that he is not the boss and cannot manipulate you but that he can have some control in getting what he wants by doing what is asked of him. With the recall (coming when called) I also agree with the suggestion of using yummier treats! Mine loooove cheese, chicken, cabanossi etc. People food totally beats dog food :laugh: Reward him when he just happens to come over to you voluntarily, and if he already happens to be running towards you from a distance start calling him and reward him when he arrives. You're teaching him that coming to you is a great thing so that he'll be willing to do it whenever you ask. And with all games and interactions you need to be super exciting! So calling him in a high pitched, excited voice should help get his attention and encourage him to want to be with you. Puppuppup in a super high voice works well with most puppies. Also standing up straight and waving your arms helps him see you and think something exciting is happening, and running away from him is more likely to encourage him to come with you, running towards him is likely to make him run away because being chased is a fun game!

I'm not quite sure what this means, do you mean attack someone? Teekay, if it were me I would want to have a least one consult with a behaviourist, if you can afford Jane Harper that would be great :) I have no idea what she charges and only know of her from DOL but it sounds like she knows her stuff. As you know, Aussies are clever and good at learning things even if you don't actually want them to learn that particular thing *eye roll* so I think it would be valuable to have someone knowledgeable watch you interacting with him to make sure you're not inadvertently reinforcing his behaviour. He's been such a lovely boy you'd hate to have a negative characteristic become part of his temperament. I do agree with what you and others have said about keeping him under the threshold where he stops listening to you. I do LAT with Quinn because she gets TOO excited (happily) around people, especially kids, but if I don't catch her before a certain point she stops listening to me, goes and does the self rewarding behaviour of jumping all over them, which then reinforces her behaviour, sigh... She is getting better at controlling herself as she gets older thank goodness (she's 13 mths now). Good luck from me as well!

When you have to sit OUTSIDE the kitchen behind the gate all evening watching mum and human aunty cooking for Xmas lunch and only get all the scraps of yummy Xmas food including prawns AND some of your own actual dinner as well. So mean!