Simply Grand

He is beautifu! I bet you're going to get very used to being asked "what's your German Shepherd crossed with?" :p

I think an Aussie Shepherd could work but I would ask the breeder for a softer natured, unboisterous one, and you would have to work on keeping the excitement under control from day one, as they can be excitable and jumpy ie. mine. It's very easy for her to accidentally hurt people, especially children, because she loves people so much she wants to jump all over them. She doesn't live with children though so still finds them quite the novelty. She is very trainable but has quite a strong will, her litter sister on the other hand has a much softer and more biddable nature which I think would be better for a child handler. She has no problem playing rough, including body slamming, shoulder charging, leg grabbing, being dragged around by the scruff :laugh:

That's so cool! I looove vicarious puppy breath at the park. Puppies always get lots of attention from both humans and dogs and it's interesting watching how different dogs and owners cope with it. And then watching the babies grow up if they become regulars :)

Google pulled up an old DOL thread that seems to confirm that collie breeds are at risk of the Ivermectin reaction from the annual injection. So lucky Riley didn't have a problem, and I'm so glad for DOL, that's the only way I know about the problem! I think I will get Riley and Quinn MDR1 tested as suggested, can my normal vet do this?

Ddd you've just reminded me that there are several Dalmatians that come to the park too, a couple of black ones and a brown (liver??) one.

It's fun breed spotting and I love seeing breeds I've only seen pictures of in real life! Kirislin I didn't actually write them down, I remembered by going through in my head what we did and who I talked to and picturing the dogs that were around at the time :laugh: Other not so common ones I've seen at the park on various occasions are Anatolian Leonberger (there's a guy who owns one of each of these, they are the sweetest dogs and the Leonberger is only young, maybe 12 mths, and you can tell he thinks he's still little :laugh: ) Maremma Borzoi Cairn Terrier Westie Bull Terrier Viszla Newfoundland Bernese Mountain Dog Corgi Bichon Frise Do you know what I don't think I've ever seen? A pure Maltese. Soooo many crosses of them (including my own) but never a nice little white pure one.

I wish I'd taken pics of them all perse, there was really an unusual number of PBs today! Several are regulars so maybe I'll see if I can make a thread of breed + photo we've met at the park!

If you'd like to move to Canberra I could probably help but no use in Melbourne sorry.

Belconnen dog park in Canberra. I really think we are lucky in Canberra with relatively sensible regulation and relatively sensible owners. We also have a big community of regulars on weekdays where dogs and humans know each other. There is another Puli who is a regular visitor Sabath, so I know two, agree you don't see many!

Dbl post

OMG that makes me feel sick

I can't remember if I've told this story before but when I'd not long moved into this house Saxon ate cat poo, which I'd never known him to do before, although he may have because I only found out he'd done it when he did a huge dark brown vomit on the rug that had not only a doggy spew smell but a distinctly cat poo aroma as well The smell was so bad, I took the rug straight outside and hung it over the front porch railing to deal with later... Then someone stole it! I was annoyed that someone would steal it but I figure they suffered the consequences, I hadn't cleaned it yet :laugh: I've also had a couple of bathroom bin raids where they've had a fun time playing with used tampons At least I knew they were my own Aargh, dog ownership is so undignified!

This afternoon at the dog park was a little unusual in that there was such a range of pure breeds there! Including mine, in the couple of hours we were there we saw: Aussie Shepherd Shetland Sheepdog GSP Labrador Rottweiler Italian Greyhound Dachshund Boston Terrier Puli German Shepherd Weimaraner Border Collie Kelpie Collie Rough AmStaff Great Dane Standard Poodle Malamute Whippet Mini Schnauzer Cocker Spaniel Boxer Papillon And of course there was the usual assortment of small, medium and large muttlies, "oodles", "staffies" and an Australian Bulldog (which I know isn't an official breed ATM). So it was a fun and very interesting afternoon! And I just realised I should have taken some photos, oops. Edited coz I remembered another one

Does the heart worm annual injection have Ivermectin? I don't think I asked when Riley had it, oops, he was fine though. Quinn hasn't had it yet. Oh, I ask because they are both collie breeds. I don't do intestinal worm or flea treatments unless there is some sign of a problem.

Here's an idea if you think it's a bad thing for puppies to be left in a store and to have to toilet in close proximity to food and bed, DON'T SELL PUPPIES! Much simpler and kinder than shuffling the poor pups back and forth every night with god knows who

That's cute :) They certainly are good little actors aren't they!

I got to talk to someone at the park about a similar thing today, she said she spends part of the week living in Cooma as her partner lives/works there full time and when she was there the other day she saw puppies in the pet shop that looked just like Quinn, same coat pattern (blue merle) and even the multicoloured eyes, she said. I said" oh really, wow" in a chatty tone. Then she said "I told my partner there's lady at the dog park who has a dog just like that and she's such a lovely dog, I think we should get one of the puppies". I think she was only half serious but I said to her "hmmm, not many Aussie Shepherd breeders would sell to pet shops, they tend to be quite selective about how their puppies are raised and which homes they go to, so probably if they're in a pet shop they wouldn't be the best bred and raised..." She replied "oh, I hadn't even thought of that... hmm good point" So I don't think they were actually about to run out and buy a pup from a shop but at least she took in the info and will hopefully think before buying from a shop in future

Oh gosh, perry's mum, the rescue msg post had me furious then teary, Blueylove that poem had me balling I'm another one who can't understand how people can have so little care and respect for pets that WE CHOOSE to have, they get no say in it yet still trust and devote themselves to us.

Oh interesting, thanks Jo.

How do we know that dogs don't know that they sound different? Are there studies?

Birds have so much character, I never realised.

One of my favourite memories ever was when I was a kid our two adult guinea pigs and their four babies all escaped their cage and ran around the garden in a little single file line, it was the cutest thing ever :laugh: Luckily we didn't have any dogs to "help" catch them.

These stories are awesome! Love the images of little birdies hanging out with dogs and cats :)

ann21, I think you're really caring wanting to help this neighbour and her dog, good on you :)

MM, I think you were on the right track way back in your first post when you said you thought he had decided he was your leader and protector! You said you're already seeing benefits from giving him limits, he is learning that you make the decisions in the household and that he and you will be fine if just listens to you. I think you need to just keep working on that. Have you read about NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free)? Search DOL or the web and read about it, it's an easy and stress free way of teaching the dog that you control all the resources in life so he needs to look to you for guidance at all times. In addition to NILIF in general I would also be taking control of the interaction with visitors. You know that visitors will trigger him and there are lots of thing you can do to control the situation. You could have Benny penned or baby gated out of the room and ignored for the whole time visitors are there to start with, hopefully he would learn that you don't care what he thinks or does, you are fine and his actions won't control what you and your visitor do. You could also have him on leash with you. When visitors come in if you can get him sitting and focussing on you, do some trick training and reward him focussing on you instead of the visitor. If that doesn't work maybe hold him back, tell him firmly but calmly "stop it, it's fine" then keep holding him out of the way while ignoring him as you and visitor go about your business (I know, complicated). This may get him really worked up rather than settling him down so being separated and ignored may be better. I think these things would only be effective if you also have NILIF or something like it going full time, even when it's just the two of you. What you want to teach him is that it's your job to protect yourself and him, not his, and that you make the decisions about what and who is ok, not him. As I said, I think before the drama of this thread you were on the right track anyway, but you have a bit further to go. If you can I also think a professional trainer is always a helpful thing, I'm planning to have a consult or two with Riley, my reactive Sheltie, who I manage using basically what I've said above, and who is improving (he's 19 months) but I think we will both benefit from some professional advice.