Burkes

Really, 14hrs they say!! Mine don't go to bed as such as they are always in bed. I would say they sleep for 20hrs a day. I am a shift worker so they sleep in my bed when I sleep but the rest of the time they are asleep on the couch, in a dog bed or in my bed. We have a dog door so there is no getting up to go out.

I have had Heike Hahner from Canine Communications come and do a session with one of my foster dogs and it was fantastic. Lots of those moments where you go 'oh yeah, that makes sense". I am now taking one of my own dogs to her training classes as well just because I am interested in the psychology side. She is based in Braidwood. [email protected] http://www.braidwoodnsw.com/heike/about-us.htm

You might be putting a bit too much faith in the obedience training. Learning how to behave inside a house, house training and learning what they can chew needs to be trained at home by you. Could you put in a dog door and housetrain both if you don't want to crate train?

How much other training do you do with him? It may be better to do a quick training session every morning and leave the big walk to night time. My male Rotty destroyed everything in my yard too and he kept it up until he was three years old and I started training him each morning. He was 18mths when I got him. Just like yours my female has never been a problem, she is perfect. A behaviorist would probably tell you not to let it get to the point where Elly needs to tell him off. This is where fights can occur. I had to get one in recently after my foster dog attacked my own dog. Everything she said about making sure that my dogs knew that I was in control and not leaving it up to them to sort out rang completely true. Just keep getting cheap blankets and replacing them. Unfortunately these are the breaks with having a young dog. Happy to pass on the name of the trainer/behaviourist I used. She was fantastic. PS, your dogs are gorgeous. Sadly my boy passed away at age 5 but my girl turns 10 next month. I will always have Rotty in my life. ETA: can they sleep inside at night? This would save the cold problem!

I am a rotational shift worker so there is no routine to what i work. Therefore, my dogs and cats are all shiftworkers too. They never have a time that they expect anything. If I go to bed at 7am when I get home, they go to bed. Vise versa if I go to bed at midnight. There is no dinner time and we can go for a walk at any time of day. Yep, sometimes out and about at 3am. I also foster and so far have only had one foster dog who didn't cope without routine. I could take her for a huge walk, do training then go to bed and if it was daytime, she would escape. Even jumping my 6ft fence with her Elizabethan collar on and eyes full of stitches (entropian). Now she is in a new home she doesn't try to escape at all. Do they have internal clocks......well they never let me know about them:)

Oh CM, thank you for sharing your gorgeous boys last days with us. It was truly beautiful to see what a wonderfull life he had. RIP beautiful boy.

We have one of the other Ruffwear packs - I think it is the Ruffwear Approach. It is awesome and has really slowed Dusty up. One day I would like the Palisades pack though. Here is Dusty doing some modelling when we first got it. Could he look any sadder That's Sharon the Rotty next to him. She is about to turn ten so needs no help in slowing down. :D

Hahaha, great photo. That is overjoyed if ever I've seen it.

Ohhh, some great ideas. Yeah, I think i will try using his dinner as training treats. Well maybe half of it. He is currently eating about a cup and a half of Supercoat Lite and Mature a day. Would I be better to split it into two meals? I have a very malnutrioned foster dog who just came to me and he is eating twice a day so it would be easy to do. I do take him swimming as much as possible as i have a 10yr old Rotty as well who swims for her arthritis. Unfortunately, in Canberra there aren't many options. The swimming season isn't long and when it is warm the lake is often full of blue green algae and they close it. There aren't any hydrotherapy pools either. Secretkei - the running to a target will be a great option. We don't do a lot of off lead work but I reckon he will be great at it. His recall isn't too bad considering we have never done anything with it. Yeah, I was using huge pieces of Cabanossi too. Will cut those down.

Thanks guys, that was exactly what I was after. Nothing like a night shift for online spending OSoSwift - do you order from Happy Paws? Happy to say you referred me so you get 10% discount next time?

Hi All, I have a 5yr old Lab who I started training classes with for the first time today. He came to me from rescue one year ago and is a pretty low impact guy who causes me no stress so I never trained anything beyond the usual sit, wait etc which i did at home. Anyway, he got severely attacked by a dog last month and was torn up pretty bad. So now he is recovered we decided to go to training. Probably more for my sake than his. He is doing really well so I want to get into it a bit further and start doing targetting and stuff. But the problem lies in the fact that Dusty is on a strict diet and still needs to lose 5kg so I need something low fat that I can use to treat. Unfortunately toys don't have the same appeal for him. I have been using cabanossi as it is such high value but is also sooooo high fat. Any ideas? Oh, and unfortunately I can't just up his exercise to help him lose weight. I have arthritis and require two new knees and back problems. We do walk for an hour a day but it is more of a meander.

Nope, the bond is just as strong with older dogs. I foster rescue dogs and with some of them I have that lifetime bond before I have even left the carpark. I like puppies to look at but I don't think I bond as much to them because of the amount of work involved. Sleepless nights are not for me. All my dogs have been older and rescues. Some came from nice homes and some terrible situations. I like the feeling that I have probably turned their life around. And also saved one who may get looked over for a younger model.

I had to break up my first fight last month. It is just instinctual to get in there and pull them apart. Hope your hand is ok. I got bitten once on the finger when my dog and I both went to grab a pinecone at once. I was down the lake with three dogs, blood everywhere, in shock. Haha, I washed it in dirty Lake Burley Griffin. So wasn't thinking. Its ok now though.

I've never had a puppy, all of mine have been mature. The youngest was my Rotty boy who was 18mths and the oldest my German Shepherd girl who was 6. The other two were both 4. I love the older dogs. They already have their own little habits and I love that they are settled and a bit calmer. I think I am too impatient for a puppy and as a shift worker I love my sleep too much to have it interrupted. Its probably just me, but I always think they are just that bit more grateful that they have a new loving home.

Ummmm, IMO designer breed dogs are a very different kettle of fish to rescue dogs. Rescue don't do the breeding, only charge enough to cover vet costs usually (most times not even that) and don't make cutesy names just to sell the cross breeds. As a foster carer I am obviously a big supporter of rescue dogs but also recommend ethical registered breeders. I think there is a place for both. Designer cross breeds - no way!

Width is 39cm but approx 2cm of that sits inside your door frame so around 37cm

Yep, I was a bit worried that the opening would be too narrow. Especially with kids bringing bikes in and out etc. I measured the space with the glass door fully opened and it was only 86cm... I'm not sure how much the XL PIM door would take up of that? Ohhh, it might be a bit hard for things like that. I have 46cm left to fit through. You just have to have arms long enought to put the stuff out the front of you when you got through rather than beside. I love my door! I just used to leave it open so it has been great to be able to block out heat/cold/flies finally. They are very easy to install and would be easy to take in and out if needed.

I have the XL Pig in Mud door that fits into my sliding door. I have a Rotty and Lab and foster large breeds including many Great Dane x's and RR x's. They have all fit through it. Were you talking about the gap for humans once the door is there? Yes, there is plenty of room to go in and out easily. I have barge ass and I have no probs:). Yeah, a burglar could fit through the dog door but if they have already gone into a yard with three big dogs they were going to break in anyway.

Ahhh, I have a link somewhere for a Bacon flavoured bubble machine. I've been dying to buy one. http://www.geekologie.com/2009/03/yum_bubb...gun_blows_b.php ETA: Link to bubbles

WOW! They are amazing. Might look at getting the book as well.

Don't know anything about it but that is awesome! Ahhh, I love your dogs:)

Sorry for the late update. I have been on holidays in New Zealand........without a camera (waaaahhhhhhhhh). Anyway, the camera was totally stuffed. When I plugged it in to my computer it couldn't read that there was a camera there at all. Canon quoted me $500 for a new screen then they would have to look at the rest of it and couldn't confirm that it would be fixable. So, after a month or two of hell without a camera I had to go buy a new one. A very expensive lesson. Think I will buy a safe to keep it in.

I would also recommend Heike Hahner to assess the dog seeing as K9Pro are not in Canberra. She has done some work with our foster dogs and has a very good understanding of dog behaviour.

My last foster dog got it about a month after being desexed at 12mths of age. It went away without medication within about 2wks of it starting and so far (touch wood) it hasn't come back. Fortunatley she has a very understanding new mum who is ready in case it ever returns. None of the eight other bitches I have had have had any problems.

RSPCA ACT run that that Paws Project for people who can no longer walk their dogs. They may have a volunteer in the area that could walk with her. I know someone who uses this and they have found it great. The volunteers are fantastic and really good with the dogs and owners.