Simply Grand

Any time anything featuring a dog in any way is on tv, even ads I've seen 500 times before When their poos come out right after a bout of upset tummy When Quinn sits still instead of jumping on a small child - people must wonder why she's getting sooo much praise for just sitting there :laugh:

Espinay, you explain this stuff so well. I studied psych at school and Uni and learnt the conditioning stuff but I can never quite get it straight in my own head, let alone to explain to others!

m-sass, I doubt you're going to acknowledge this but there is a reason why studies adhering to scientific method are much more widely considered valid than anecdotal evidence. IME Corvus tends to base her comments on the former.

So what exactly would you suggest doing m-sass and scootaloo? Ie. what type of corrections in this situation? ETA - oh, and how does the OP prevent it happening again?

From what I've seen, yep it is fairly common for many breeds to have ears go all over the place. I've not seen it in the "floppy ear" breeds like spaniels and poodles etc but really there is lots out there about taping/glueing etc of ears so it must be reasonably common. And whilst I have no problem with people properly doing things to keep the ears in "correct" position as long as they don't hurt the dog, I do feel it's an aesthetic issue rather than a functional one. ETW - oh and again as a personal issue, I was planning on putting stuff on Riley's ears, as per his breeder's advice if I wanted the standard drop ears, I just couldn't be bothered doing it in the end, so i definitely don't have a problem with people doing it if they want.

I think it's really hard to maintain grass in any of them, Belco is just dirt in the middle, most used part. There is still grass around the edges, I think because 1. The edges don't get run on as much and 2. It's more shaded. I've always thought the Qbn park looked so hot all the times, without any trees! (never been there with the dogs). A lot of people take their dogs to an unofficial play area in O'Connor already from what I've heard. I'm not sure whether that means it would be good to have an official park there or whether it would be more useful somewhere else

I really, really hope the owners don't mind me posting this, but seeing as most of us have already seen FB and others want to know, I hope it will be ok... *WARNING - distressing* FB says Orange was found by someone and taken to a local vet clinic. She had clearly been neglected and abused, was septic from infection, severly emaciated and covered in sores and fleas. Her owners were able to get to the vet clinic to see her but her heart failed while they were there. The police are still investigating the matter. So very sad

So very very sad Poor little sweetheart. I too hope the police can catch the people responsible, it would just be too unfair for them to get away with it.

Oh gawd, sounds like she was in full receptive stage That's my biggest fear with Quinn, I take her to the park regularly but she will be nowhere near when in season! With Quinn it's still maybe, but if she is bred there's no way it will be some random at the park, I HATE the thought of her mating with just some dog... She's my gorgeous girl!

Nooeees! Don't add more complications for me to worry about g_s_f! Edited to get your name right ;)

Actually MUP, that might be an idea, i've been checking for so long I just want it to happen. She'll be due for vacs soon so if she hasn't started by then I might ask them to test her. She'd be over 12 months by then.

Stupid iphone

I can def see when I look, but there's no way one would see it if she was just walking along (unless she swells to halfway down her leg). I don't wanna have her at the park when she gets to the receptive stage From what I understand there is a week-ish between starting and being receptive, I really wanna note day 1 so I can 1. Manage her and 2. Monitor her heats. Not that this is really relevant to the OP, except that I don't want to be the person at the park with a bitch in heat!

In a long haired breed though? Ok, I'm totally paranoid about this ATM, I'm waiting waiting waiting for Quinn to start her first season, checking her vulva everyday, noting every dog interaction she has... And hearing about plenty of experiences of bitches who barely swell or bleed, or have totally silent seasons!

When you say you noticed she was in heat, how did you know? Not having a go, just wondering. I've seen some girls at the park that I've wondered about, but they've been short coated so you can see the vulva, and I haven't seen any problems so was probably wrong anyway!

Such a little cutie!!!!!!! :) Yes, it would be because of teething and both ears may go up, down and all over the place over the next few months. If it will bother you if they don't end up how they are supposed to be it's probably a good idea to talk to your breeder and others who know about the breed about the best way of taping or putting stuff on them to hold them in the correct position until teething is over, otherwise they may end up "wrong". Plenty of people do this, especially if they show their dogs. I personally didn't bother with my Sheltie (pet only) and he's ended up with one up, one down

Good thing you have outside 'adult supervision' YG, obviously DOL is no help in discouraging people from getting more dogs! When I was considering my third I didn't mention it to my mum and sis at all, knowing they would say no way, don't do it!!! I asked for opinions here though, and lo and behold, now I has 3 :laugh:

I also feel safer since I have my bigger dog (well, medium sized). The main thing is I think her bark would be a deterrent, she has a big loud bark and can sound quite scary. I imagine that if intruders heard her, along with the other two little ones, they might think twice about coming in, even though she would probably welcome them with open arms. We had a blackout the other week and she must have been freaked out about the street being dark but people walking around out there to see what was going on, it was the first time I've heard her do a serious threatening bark (had a bit of a growl to it), it sounded really quite scary!

Haha, I wish Delilah could have won! Not hard to see why your OH would have liked to have her :) I wish Josh could have won too, if he hadn't had to leave I reckon he very well could have. Such a sad thing that happened, he did so well when he came back on to talk about it. I hope he and his family are coping ok.

Oh how scary!! Your poor neighbour should not feel guilty, dogs can be ingenious little things when they want to get hold of something. Quinn has twice gotten into the fridge and eaten chocolate, the second time was only a few TimTams but they were dark choc, the first time though she got half a block of chocolate, half a pack of TimTams and a couple of Mint Slices. I was SOOO worried but she showed absolutely no negative effects, not even diarrhea. Garbage guts. Fingers crossed for little Penny. ETA - I actually dont often have chocolate in the house, she must sniff it out when I do!

Oooh keisha, may I ask which housemate you know?? I'd love to see someone I know on there. Closest I've come was a friend of my step brother's, I'd never met him though. So am I correct in understanding that the woman who adopted Delilah is the head of the AWL? Does that mean the housemates didn't actually choose between the four families?

Aww cuteness! Yep, some blood with losing puppy teeth here, like perse said as long as it doesn't continue flowing blood it sounds normal.

Yep espinay, of my 3 (2 boys raised inside, Quinn outside) Quinn definitely had the strongest instinct for toileting on grass and not anywhere else. She regressed at my house because of my lazy toilet training. OP, not that I think any of us are saying toilet training is hugely important, I think most would agree that health, temperament and ethical breeding are more important than easy toilet training :)

The school bag story is so cute teebs :) Still love the image of all our DOL dogs backing up YG and her doggy pack next time the idiots turn up :D

Oh, re toilet training, when I brought Quinn home she definitely had a strong instinct not to toilet in her sleeping area, from the beginning they had access to the covered area outside the sleeping kennel for toileting, and I'm pretty sure once they got "older" (in baby puppy terms) they would try to copy their mum and hold to go on the grass in the back yard once they were let out. Quinn went backwards once I had her at home because she didn't have as free access to the grass at my house, though she was very good with crate training because she was so reluctant to pee in her sleeping area.