flyingduster

wow ripley, they're gorgeous!!! Birds of prey are *amazing* aren't they!

I agree, puppies do a 'teenager' stage at around 8-12 months of age, and can be little terrors; your current pup hasn't even gotten to that stage yet so I'd wait until it's beyond a year-18 months old before seeking another dog...

I already saw them on FB, but he looks great! It'll still be worthwhile doing young kennel club stuff, as it's still only about showing a dog in the breed ring, it's just all about helping them be BETTER at showing their breed in the breed ring!!! And it's nice for the kids to have their own class that's about the handling as much as the quality of the dog [as unfortunately, no matter what people say, a lot of the judging of the dog in breed shows, is also judging the face on the other end of the lead] at least in the YKC ring he can get a chance to be up in front of judges where they're SUPPOSED to be looking at the people handling the dog! LOL! Most shows hold a YKC class during the lunch break of a normal champ show, so he can still do both with his own dog (if he gets one)

wish we had ET's in NZ, could be fun and motivate me to get back on a bike again... lol! I'm not motivated enough to want to try and start something though, so until someone else does, there's no chance of an ET here!

Well Gylfie is doing GREAT! He's (we say 'he' cos we just do... No idea of it's actual gender!) living out in mums [secure] aviary outside now, he still has his cage sitting open for him to go hide in, but he's found he much prefers hiding BEHIND it in a tiny lil nook against the wall, up off the floor. We're still leaving food out for him but he's hardly eating much of it and still thriving so we are HOPING it's cos he's catching moths and bugs himself already! The aviary is huge with plenty of room to learn to fly and stuff, and once we know he's flying well then we'll open the door and let him escape if he so chooses, but leave the door open if he wants to come back to roost during the days, and continue to leave food out for him if need be too. He's very wary of humans, clunking and clacking at our hands if we move near him, though he'll *allow* us to pick him up, he's not happy about it and hides away pretty fast, which really is exactly what we wanted. Don't want him 'tame' and putting himself at risk! I quietly fished him out for some quick updated photos while I was staying up there... he quickly ducked into the corner... and then stood REEEAAALLLLY tall and skinny to 'hide'! LMAO! I then put him up above his chosen hiding spot so he could go back if he wanted, and took a couple more photos before he scurried away All in all he's looking great, he's happy to flutter down, though we haven't seen him fly upwards yet, he's still got some downy feathers about on his head, and his tail hasn't come in properly yet, but he's growing up well!

thanks guys!

and hence I adore my sx120IS; it fits in *jeans* pockets! A little bulky in jeans pocket, but not difficult or a problem...

Went for a run in the park, got some photos, and still experimenting with editing now I finally have PS... lol!

I'd google reviews too, and find out the bad points about it (they all have bad points!) to see if those bad points are tolerable for you. I have a much older powershot (SX120 IS) but I *adore* it for slipping into my jeans pocket and still taking good pics.

I'm wrong, my dog is NOT a poodle, it must be a labradoodle. You don't GET poodles that big; poodles are a small breed. Duh! Either that, or it's a giant poodle, not a standard poodle, but I can sorta understand that one cos there's the mini/standard/giant schnauzers, vs the toy/mini/standard poodles...

Excited to see all her hairstyles throughout the year. lol, will be interesting! Though will be boring for the first half of the year as it'll be the same groom until a grooming competition, and then there'll be 6-8 weeks of GROWING hair before the competition, and of course the finished product after the comp... lol. Will be fun I'm sure! I thought about doing it last year but never got around to it, so I'm committing now! lol.

I'd like to give it a go with Paris this year... http://www.flickr.com/photos/46047051@N07/...57625563944311/

If it already has good hind end awareness then I'd go straight into it! (For any dog that DOESN'T already have hind end awareness then I'd recommend doing more hind end awareness first.) I'd place the ladder just off the ground (put one end up on something, but keep it LOW, like maybe a foot high at the high end) and lure up the ladder initially. If it's lacking confidence then perhaps a mark & reward for each successful step, if they're already confident and happy to give it a go then a simple lure up and big reward when they get to the end and can leap off would probably be more than enough to be keen to do it again. With it being so low, s/he won't hurt itself if it slips through the rungs but with it being off the ground it should be unnerving if they do slip so they auto-correct themselves too and you can mark & reward when they do. And with already knowing well about targeting and where their back feet are they should really be pretty quick at carefully taking each step and getting it squarely on the rung before moving up.

got some more pics too... wei briards

with that long leeeeeaaannn muzzle there's no way her mum was a staffy, let alone an american staffy! I agree with greyhound X too

double coated dogs (samoyeds, aussies, sibes, keeshunds, etc etc) are generally better WITH their coats on, though strip out the undercoat as much as possible to lighten the load, but shaving it will remove it's natural insulation against the heat and you face sunburn and a thicker coat than ever! Dogs with a coat that grows continually (ie poodles, maltese, shih, lhasa, and many of the crosses containing them) don't need a shorter coat to be kept cooler, though they do need to be kept very well brushed out so no mats form against the skin causing discomfort and also keeping them too hot. (Ie, my poodle has 6+ inches of hair, but she's not at all overheating in the summer weather, but she's kept brushed out!) Terriers are best stripped, BUT in saying that if it's only clipped off once a year and it's undercoat is kept well brushed out in the mean time then a once a year shave off isn't going to ruin the coat like a regular 8 weekly clipping will. And when clipping them the coat can still be carded out a fair bit very easily to keep it from being 'ruined' totally. In the end most dogs are pretty much better off with their coat properly cared for than being clipped off if you sole purpose is to keep them cool. If any dog is being shaved down you need to be careful of sunburning which is a big reason so many coats come back 'weird' after being clipped off, especially double coated dogs when their skin has never seen sun! I will always try and educate owners, but in the end if they really want their border collie shaved off short, I'll still do it. If I don't, they'll only go elsewhere and get it done by someone else who may not know the dangers of sunburn etc.

mmm I love pork too but I think you meant to write mopoke but it's definitely and owl. lol!!! no, she meant to write morepork! A morepork is a very similar owl to the little owl, whereas the mopoke from what I can find it an australian nick name for the tawny frogmouth?? Not sure. lol!

I've never seen it taught, but I've seen countless dogs do it naturally! Especially bichons... In fact, I've generally only ever heard it referred to as 'the bichon wave'! I don't know how one would go about teaching it to a dog who isn't naturally inclined to do it though, sorry...

Finally, NZ is getting Rally-o officially accepted by NZKC as a recognised dog sport, with recognised titles and shows etc etc. Woohoo!!! Only bummer is that we have to start again with the titles we already have! But, as there is only one person in the country who's up to RE, there's really only RN and some RA to get before everyone is caught up to where they were with the unofficial titles! It's not 100% official yet, but there are expectations of an announcement by the end of the year that it will be. Very exciting to get 'real' official, nationally recognised, NZKC titles in rally! *bounce* NZ still has a split in rally though, there is still NZARO who are remaining stedfast and not wanting to join with NZKC (as they didn't want to have to start again for their titles? Probably more reasons than just that) so we do have two organisations that run rally which is a bit of a PITA, but I know for sure that I'm going to support NZKC getting in on it, and I'll be entering the trials in the new year to [try] get my RN again!

interestingly, I have never seen a desexed tattoo in NZ either, BUT I do have three bichon X maltese clients that have a number tattoo in their ear. Two of them are puppies from the same litter and they had them right from the get-go, well before either were desexed, so obviously an identification thing by the breeder??? They are definitely cross breeds, and must have been done when awake? Interesting...

Ooh, the tawnys and barn owls are gorgeous too! haha, yes, it's a little owl... hence I said it's a little owl in the original thread lol!

An orphaned owlet was handed in to a vet clinic, got passed on to my mother in law when she was there for something unrelated, and then she passed it on to my mum; an owl lover, and mum was down today so I got to meet "Gylfie" and took some photos S/he is a little owl and is doing well, it's in an old rat cage (minus the levels) at the moment, but now that it's feeding itself from a bowl it'll progress to having the cage out in the sheltered (and cat proof) aviary outside and once it settles it'll have the cage opened to allow it out into the aviary. Eventually it's hoped we can release it, though will continue it leave food out for it until we know it can hunt ok itself! What a gorgeous lil critter!!!!

Kohanui. She doesn't breed or show much at all anymore (her kids are into sports, so weekends are full already!) her last litter was years ago, and she only has a few setters now with only one boy show-able really. GORGEOUS dogs though!!!

they're not mine, they're a friends, but I've looked after them so many times I get plenty of opportunity to photograph them!!! My favorites are when there are puppies...

Oohh, gorgeous! I have an OES that comes in for his bath & brush every week to the salon cos he's in full coat, though he's certainly no show dog! Wonderful breed... I have some pics of english setters to share though