Niques

No, we are daylight savings free I used to be the same as you but have eventually gotten used to falling asleep again after Mr Dog wakes up. He now gets tossed outside for 5-10 minutes when he wakes up at 5:30am and then goes into his pen for another half hour or so while I get a bit more sleep

My phone thought it would be clever and turn on daylight savings - I thought James was so good not waking up until 6:45am this morning. I was wrong :p

Your sig is adorable, of course, LS ;) I'm thinking we need some more photos of the lovely Ruby... Oh, we have to hear more! Both of Elbie's Origin Story and these future dog discussions....any timeframe for puppy #2 yet? Haha, no, we had how Scary Dog Food decision made for us - we've just fed him according to his breeder's specifications. Saves on the "Oh my god, everyone says my dog's food is really that bad?! " moments - very relaxing Nicely done! He was so excited to hop in the car this morning - he knows the obedience routine! But there was just as much excitement hopping out at the park, so all was good. I lost my dog this afternoon I put him out for his dinner. Half an hour later went to bring him in and found the side gate was left open. Master Puppy = nowhere in sight. I panicked...BIG TIME!! Started walking down the road hoping he'd gone in the direction of our local park when suddenly a black ball comes crashing towards me...and kept going! It would seem he just spent 20 minutes running up and down the cul-de-sac chasing birds. Was (thankfully!) happy enough to chase me back into the house. I think my hands have only just stopped shaking.

This is a really great photo! Elbie looks like he's going to be brilliant at agility! We did the dog park thing this morning as well. Thought it was just terrific timing that it was empty. Until I realised that I'd forgotten it's in a bit of a ditch. Ridiculously muddy and wet, but James had a ball. ...scary ears!

I'm very eager to see these videos - it sounds like so much fun! Yep, James has a Bono Fido bed as well. We've had his about 5 months now and it's really only lost part of a corner, a tear down the inner front and the straps that held the mattress in. Remarkably durable. To the point where he's actually lost interest in chewing on it now - apparently if it doesn't fall apart after the first couple of attempts it's just not fun enough for him. So I'm happy with it.

;) Can I put in a request, KTB? I can easily see Elbie learning to dance a la Beyonce. I've decided to chicken out of obedience tomorrow. Officially, because it's raining - I end up with a soggy, muddy dog the weeks it's not raining so I'm not willing to risk actual rain Unofficially, because I was awoken at 4am by someone throwing up in their crate, thus I'm reaaally desperate for a sleep in. I've only missed one week yet, because I was out of town, so I feel oddly guilty. Like I'm letting him down I'm contemplating an afternoon visit to the dog park to make it up to him. Provided it's not crowded. Any news yet from our little herders, Ava and Mars?

I know what you mean, LS. One of the earlier photos you posted of Ruby is the spitting image of James. I always wonder how people who own dogs of the same breed and lines manage to tell them apart at a distance Very keen on seeing some herding photos/videos! Have fun, guys! Dog hair has become my arch-nemesis. James isn't allowed in the bathrooms...yet somehow his fur is. I've been trying to work it out for weeks - there seems to be a constant carpet of dog hair on the bathroom floor. Surely there can't be that much being carted in on clothing?! And that's not mentioning the rest of the house... I was scratching his butt this afternoon and ended up with a huge clump of fur in my hand for my troubles. It's EVERYWHERE.

Ruby is too cute She still has that adorable, squishy puppy look to her! Has that video been sped up, KTB, or is Elbie really that fast? What a lean machine he is. Quite a character! The frisbee v ball indecision cracks me up. Sometimes James will play fetch with himself when I've initially thrown out two items - he'll pick one up but as soon as he gets back to me he decides that he really wanted the other, so he'll take the first one back and swap them. Rinse and repeat. Until he tries to squash them both in his mouth and gets fed up. That left ear looks like it's making a last ditch attempt to join its pal in the upright position! s, "Why yes, yes I am just about to bite into this full bottle of water." I wish I had something better than just my phone on hand to grab this ^ picture. Definitely one of the cutest expressions I've seen on his face but it just didn't show in the photo. "Ahh! I'm blinded!" He gets very grumpy when a flash is used. Can't you tell

Driving holidays do suddenly seem the more appealing alternative now there's a dog. Before the engagement, there was a plan to do a driving holiday with James down to see my brother, as I've never been to the Central Coast, but the wedding's thrown a complete spanner in the works (yes, I'm blaming my brother's wedding on ruining doggy holiday plans ) - there's no way he can come now :D I'm loving the puppy preschool stories! We had a very motley bunch of dogs, ranging from an absolutely tiny (as in, fitting in the palm of your hand tiny) mini poodle x who was prone to nervous wees to a gorgeous Welsh Springer Spaniel with a cocky attitude. We did preschool through the vet so they brought in a crate one week just to familiarise the dogs, as none were being crate-trained. It was liberally littered with treats to coax the dogs in when they had their turns offleash. Unfortunately we were sitting closest to the crate and within 2 minutes, James had parked himself inside and was happily devouring every treat Never failed to embarrass us.

Nice touch with the clock! Very cute photos, all!

;) That is the best designer dog name I've heard yet! I would get one just to proudly introduce my Great Doodle to everyone at the park LS, I had it in my head for some reason, that Ruby was a yellow lab! Silly me. She is gorgeous Good luck with the "shy" trick, Max! I gave up on that one. He only noticed the tape if it was on a very particular part of his nose. Not to mention it kept falling off so the poor boy ended up with sticky tape stuck all over him from rolling on the ground. Too much hassle for me The amount of contradicting dog advice out there is disturbing. I gave up listening to most of it a couple of months ago. I think James must suffer from SRDA (Suppressed Repressed Dirt Aggression) - perfectly explains why he spends so much time trying to actively bite the ground :D I'm quite sure James and Elbie must have been separated at birth. I was ridiculously smug in puppy school - he was the only dog there who already knew how to sit (among other things)! So of course he just had to be the only puppy who couldn't sit still and was throwing himself at everything that moved. We started obedience and I was the only one who put their hand up in the first lesson when asked if our dogs knew any tricks. Confidently started rattling off everything he knew. My brilliant, ahead of everyone else, nutcase dog is still the only one whose "heel" (and I use that term loosely) is just plain embarrassing So I had Sunrise on in the background this morning with James in the room and they had some sort of sheep race thing going on - I turned at one point to see James with his nose pressed against the television ;) Normally he only watches when there are dogs or barking. He's particularly fond of the little lab puppy in the maze on the Pedigree ad. I also seem to have lost the ability to hold onto a leash. James got away from me twice at the park today. It was empty so I let him have his fun for a bit and when he came close to me each time I asked him to come - he did! :D I'm sure if I hadn't grabbed his leash again each time he would've been back on his feet in two seconds, but I'll tentatively take it as a good sign. Booked him in for a kennel stay in January today. My brother's wedding is in NSW and I'm not at all thrilled to be leaving J. I'm sure he'll have an absolute ball though.

That's what scares me about dog parks ;) I have done a driveby of our closest and it's quite small, which I'm not pleased about, but it's also out of the way and was empty when I saw it on a weekend afternoon, which is reassuring. Will have to find a time to try it out with James sometime soon. @ Kuma's farting antics.

I think this thread has jinxed James - I was just lying here listening to him snoring away like a freight train and a god-awful odour suddenly wafted over And it's not his first today either. I don't know what he's eaten but he's normally nowhere near this gassy. I love the intensity of Elbie's looks - he has such an intelligent face. Especially with those adorable ears.

Clastic, your dogs are gorgeous! Not that Mars isn't a stunner himself, but I have to say, Pepper is a seriously beautiful dog! James has only been bathed once. I expect one day in the future I will very much regret not getting him used to it, but in the meantime, I'm really not keen on repeating that experience He has good and bad days when it comes to being brushed. Sometimes he'll just lie there. Other days, like today, he runs around madly as soon as he sees it. He has two brushes so normally I give him one to chew on (bad mummy! :p) while I use the other. :cool: My sympathies that it didn't go well - hopefully this week both James and Max will be much better behaved! KTB's post reminded me to ask, how does everyone find the dog park experience? Our nearest one is a 10min+ drive away so it's never been a top priority for exercise or socialising, particularly given we have a regular park just down the next road, but I have toyed with the idea a couple of times over the past few months. I keep holding back though because I know how obnoxiously enthusiastic he is with other dogs and I can just see him pissing one off within seconds of entering And I worry about his recall. Do any of you use them regularly? How managable do you find your dogs to be off-leash?

I teach my dog tricks because I like to see his brain work. The end trick isn't the entertaining part for me, it's watching him learn. Like others have said, my dog isn't in a "natural" or working environment, thus, he gets his mental stimulation through "unnatural" means: learning tricks. I don't see the problem - it's hardly to his detriment. As for showing a natural inclination towards certain tricks...he hasn't He's a fast learner but aside from your basic sit/down stuff, he doesn't naturally offer any "trick" behaviours. Aside from automatically trying to put his balls (toys, not testicles ) in his basket - that one surprised me! I can't say that I'm a fan of the "neck twisted, glued to your leg" heel and don't intend on teaching it to James. The only time he naturally does it is if I've praised him and he's waiting a good couple of minutes for me to extricate a treat from my pocket that he knows is coming.

Oh, I'm so glad to hear it's not just me He just always, always wants to play with other dogs. We've made it to the point where he can sit quietly at the side of the path if pedestrians or cyclists go past (although his whole body is quivering with excitement ) but the idea of sitting calmly around novel dogs is an idea that has never entered his head. I'd love to hear your updates if you do persist with herding - those first videos were brilliant. It looks like so much fun for all involved!

The heat wasn't pleasant for our obedience today. But hey, the whole training session wasn't pleasant so it hardly ruined the day ;) I seriously considered leaving halfway through. Between James insistently lunging at other dogs, refusing to move because his nose was glued to the dirt, and then throwing himself on the ground every other minute...it was an awful morning! And he kept barking in excitement as well. James never barks so that was a worry. He knows everything he has to do, he just can't pay attention at all during obedience. I think it's all looking negative in contrast - he'd started getting really good towards the end of beginner's as he knew all the dogs and the class also wittled down so there were only a couple of us regularly turning up at the end. Now in intermediate, some dogs show up one week, some turn up the next week....there's no consistency. Which is probably a good thing in the long run, but god it's hard each week. And I wore a jumper thinking it would still be a bit nippy in the morning, as usual. Wrong again We were all baking in the sun - I can't imagine how the poor dogs felt.

Congratulations Elbie and Ava! Sounds like a job well done! And very cute photos

I'm glad it's not just me who's corrupted their dog into a more slothlike creature He gets walked 3-4 times a week plus obedience on Sundays and seems fairly contented with that I love the photo of the vine, Wuffles. Someone's been busy Mouldy food sounds very unpleasant! I hadn't seen James' Kong for weeks and finally dragged it up from under the deck yesterday with great trepidation. Thankfully, it was quite clean. I stopped giving him peanut butter in his Kong because it was too gross to clean - he apparently has no taste for peanut butter (yeah, I'm surprised too!) and just leaves it there to congeal James is oddly fond of the postie. He's such an atypical dog - will go off his nut at anything else we encounter on a walk but is quite happy just to watch the postman go by. He also loves watching the rubbish truck come.

Sounds like my boy's diet. He gets 3/4 cup of Nutro in the morning with cottage cheese or yoghurt. And mince if I've bought any. Plus sardines and egg about twice a week. Then he gets some form of bone for dinner, whether lamb off-cuts, soup bones, a lamb shank or chicken frame. How much dry do you currently feed him? I think (I'd have to check the packet) that James gets about half, maybe a bit less, of the recommended amount.

That's odd. The Kong Wobbler looks great! I love Elbie's tentative pawing at it. Do you find that it tends to empty quickly once he's worked out how it functions?

He's taken to eating this particular weed for the past few weeks: An old outdoor setting where, over the past 6 months, everything he's found in the garden that he's not meant to chew gets placed. Except he learnt how to climb onto the seat a few days ago and I'm sure he'll be on the table in no time. And lastly, he raced in, soggy and muddy the other morning and left two perfect paw prints (and assorted mud and crap) on the carpet: Okay, that really ends the photo overload

I'm loving the photos of destruction Particularly at the half-eaten animals - I'm laughing much more than I should at poor, noseless badger. The photo is on such an angle that the little eyes (they are eyes, aren't they?) look particularly dismayed at no longer having a nose. :D @ at the couch! I hope it wasn't one that you were using for human purposes! Eek! She's done a thorough job, hasn't she! You have a great backyard, KTB. Elbie looks very at home in his kingdom! I can definitely share your horror in finding nails - James uncovered (along with what looks to be a rather old cow femur.... ) a similar piece of wood with nails hanging out from beneath our deck. Very disturbed by that little finding of his. We've had rain for the past couple of days so the house is generally disgusting and there's an abundance of semi-damp towels around the place from attempts to dry the mongrel, but nonetheless, while we're on doggy destruction, here's what James has done with his place: This is elephant. Elephant used to be James' favourite toy to hump. Until one day, tragically, elephant lost his head. His trunk, as you see, is still hanging around and there are also two loose ears distributed somewhere in the house: This is what happens when towels get left out with the dog. He likes to pull tags off things, and in this case that resulted in the unravelling of the seam and then he just couldn't help himself :D Forgive the foul carrot that's managed to hang around. The hole (well, second hole - there's another) in his bed he chews on sometimes in the middle of the night when bored. And one of his many plant pots. Under the deck, where he likes to sit after eating dinner. I come outside each night to find him just sitting and staring at me. This used to be his preferred digging spot (where the aforementioned bone and nail were excavated), hence the turned earth, but I don't think he does that so much anymore. One of the many places where he's chewed through the retic. I'm pleasantly in denial about the whole situation and refuse to acknowledge it :D Grass doesn't cope too well when it starts to rain. He did some insane zoomie-ing yesterday which very much helped the muddiness. And his mudhole - this is sloooooowly getting deeper over time. It fills up each time it rains and he likes to splash in the mud. And eat it. And generally coat himself with it. He loves to sit in long grasses. I think he's part lion. This is his favourite place to just lie down. And it's thriving, despite the dead patch in the middle He had a patch of mondo grass on his terrace that was doing similarly well until he simply grew too big and it had no hope. While I had the camera out....:p /photo overload.

He started off in his pen in the garage - easier to clean out in case of accidents and vomitting and to sweep out general debris. Come winter he (and his pen ) moved into a tiled room outside my bedroom. These days he's crated in my bedroom unless I'm up late working on something, in which case he sleeps in his pen. Oh, and we're definitely going to need some piccies of Kenobi! Have fun with him today!

James has a certain area of the garden where he prefers to poo and he won't touch a toy that falls anywhere in the vicinity. He'll pause and study it for a moment before deciding that there are better things to do. It's only a toy thing though - he's happy to run through that part of the garden. He just won't touch toys that go there.