Pretty Miss Emma

That's the only thing I could come up with Jules - a blue merle tri (with a fancy name so you sell more for more money maybe!! Ok I should try to be less cynical!! But it's feeling a bit like "silver" bc's).

Huskyfever - I got mine from "lucky pet". They are in sunshine if you want to pick up instead of pay postage. But I ordered on a Sunday night and got the bag on Tuesday! Price seemed to be the best (when including postage) I could find online. On another note BH users... Does anyone know a quick weight to cup conversion?! Yes I'm being a bit lazy!! Hamish should be having around 250-300g per day (he's growing so fast!!), but I work in the world of cups not grams!

Today I was told of a colour of BC'S that I've never come across - merlo or possibly blue merlo. I know of the merle's but have never heard of merlo, however this person was 100% sure that the breeder had called the colour that. Apparently it's blue merle also with some red. Anyway interested to know if this is a real colour or ???

My puppy is in a puppy pen with crate attached while I am at work. And I don't live close enough to be able to go home at lunch!!! I'm really lucky, my pup frequently hangs on and waits til I get home to go to the toilet (I know freaky weird!!!). But he will also use a patch of fake grass I have put in his pen (with a puppy pad underneath) if he really needs to wee. He hasn't ever poo-ed in his pen. But they do a lot of sleeping while they are babies, mind you once I get home it is full on playtime until we go to bed, but that's ok. They do fine in a pen just make sure it does have a bit of space and as I found out make sure it is more secure that you ever thought it should be!!!

So, Hamish has his little heartbeat pillow that I bought from BigW. Have to say he loves it and it works a treat for us!!! He does carry it around sometimes, but usually it lives on his bed (in a crate). It's interesting, when he goes to bed he often steps on it which starts it up and it almost seems as if he has now been trained that when he hears the sound of it then it's time to go to sleep. So who knows if it works, but I know he likes sleeping with it!! And I know that when I hear the sound of it that he will be curling up on or beside it ready to go to sleep. But he has been excellent at bedtime as it is anyway, so maybe I've just been lucky!!

I soooooo wanted to do it!!! I have 3 friends that have now done it and I'm beyond jealous!!!

I have a cat that is being too soft on little Hamish. My old boy has certainly let Hamish know that cats rule this house, but my younger cat is just too nice so Hamish actually ends up lying on top of him. We're doing a bit like what Cosmolo suggested, every time Hamish looks at Poppet he gets told he's a good boy this also serves to distract him usually from going to Poppet as Hamish will most of the time come to me to get pats/cuddle/game/treat. If Hamish does end up on top of Poppet in most instances I try to have a squeaky toy or something that is going to be much more fun to play with and distract him away. So far we're seeing progress (but I'd still like Poppet to man up a little bit and set it straight that all cats rule in this house!!).

I used to live next door to a pit bull that would climb the 6 foot fence, and then when ivy and stuff grew over it it would dig under the fence and then dig out under our gate to get to the street!! I'd be inclined to keep your animals inside. If you can somehow get video footage (or maybe even sound) you might be able to report it to the RSPCA. Certainly if it gets in to your yard I'd be on the phone to the council immediately. If it is causing nuisance (in terms of the behaviour it is displaying through the fence) you may be able to get help from the council, but not sure if they would act on what it's doing at the moment. Good luck though, it's a shame that it's another instance of a breed that already gets a bad rap having owners that cause that bad rap to continue. And poor pup.

All dogs in this house routinely get chicken necks as part of their dinner! My breeder wsa feeding chicken necks to the pups. But because chicken necks are small they are always given under supervision.

The moment I see drinking more I automaticually think diabetes or cushings. But that's because I had a diabetic dog!! She was drinking more than usual for quite some time before her diagnosis with diabetes. We were testing and testing for some time and everything kept coming back as normal and then eventually her sugar levels were sky high and she was put on insulin. There was probably around 6 months where everything came back normal even though she probably was having the starting effects of diabetes. So anyway, I'm just mentioning that as a "keep an eye on it". But I can't help with diet sorry!! All I know is that they do better with a stable diet. But that's not much use for you on the colitis front!

You'll have to meet my new little Hamish!! Let me know if you're showing somewhere local in the near future and I'll bring him to visit!!

Sorry to toss another question in to this. I'm currently reviewing my pet insurance. Can any of you that use PetPlan tell me do they offer a discount for multiple pets? I'm trying to find that information on their website and can't (and it's Sunday night with tomorrow a public holiday so I'm thinking there won't be people manning the phones for an enquiry!)!! But I have to say it's looking like a similar cost to what I already have (I would elect to do the pay 25% - which I have to now with what I have anyway!) but is better in terms of the lifetime cover - having had a diabetic dog that sort of thing has become more important to me!!!

As per fuzzy83. We went through it at about 10 months and then again at about 14 months. And it was just me being slack and having to get back in to a routine and regular praise/reward. After the 14 months issue we didn't have the issue again! It was almost as if she went - "oh now I get it"!!

Ok, so I have 0 experience in this area and was looking through the DogsVic gazette. Questions started popping up for me!!! I have been starting to browse through the massively long thread to help people new to showing, but I'm wondering if you could please give me some really simple explanations of the different categories (??) in shows? What is the difference between a championship and open (did I get that right?!)? What is sweepstakes? What do you enter when you start out? Does it matter?! If a show is not advertised as restricted to breed or group does that mean any breed can enter even though it's run by a particular breed/group/etc? Sorry, but just trying to get my head around the terminology as it's a little confusing until you know what it all means!!!

Hamish had his first visit to the vet this week and I discussed all such things with them! Different vets will have slightly different vaccination schedules - but my vet does them at 12 weeks and then 16 weeks (so your vet may do this or may do something slightly different). I was given a sample of a wormer that is for Hamish at 10 weeks, he'll also get done again I think when he gets his next vaccination. The sample I was given was Panoramis - can't comment on it as I've never used it before but the vet seemed to think that it does a good job (is also a flea treatment).

Hamish has been home for about 5 days now, his routine... Breakfast when I go to work (about 1 hour or more after we wake up - we play while I get ready). He gets left a kong, and a chew, and some other little bits. He gets dinner at about 7pm (well between 6 and 7) when Kenzie does (chicken necks plus some dry food). We then do training with more of his food, and last night he was still hungry so he got another feed just before bed (I think this will become a regular thing as he gobbled it so quickly!!). This is what works for me with my work routine!

So far he has been a breeze!! But I'm all prepared for that to change!! He slept the whole night in his crate last night, he's been really respectful of Kenzie, he's loved meeting the rest of my family when they came over today. And I think he may become a tennis ball obsessed BC given his innate urge to chase, find, carry tennis balls already at 8.5 weeks old!!!

Hamish came home tonight!! Hopefully I remember what to do with a puppy!!

I'm sorry you're in this situation. Last year when I had my Emma PTS she had developed a smell, I just didn't know it until she was gone - then I noticed the smell had gone. She was PTS due to renal failure. It was all very quick, she was happy as larry and then within the space of about 4 days stopped eating and then on the last morning threw up her food. And like you, there was no way I was going to let her be any more miserable (even though I probably could have kept her going for another couple of days had I wanted to), so made the heartbreaking decision - but knew it was the right one. Enjoy every moment with your girl.

I just did it and I'd agree it's actually a poorly worded survey that doesn't really provide all options for what you could be feeding your dog and the one about "what sort of dog..." is just stupid becuase my dog is none of those options!!! Nonetheless I answered the best I could but I don't think I'd be holding much weight on the results (sorry couldn't help myself with that!! :laugh: ).

I'll just recommend here.... Animal Eye Care in Malvern - that's who I used and was very happy with (they also do consults in a few other clinics regionally for basic stuff). There is also another eye clinic in Mount/Glen Waverley, I'm just not sure of it's details though.

When I got Kenzie I let the breeders I was in contact with know what sex I wanted and why, I also let them know my intentions for the dog (interested in dogs sports and wanted a great pet, at that point not interested in showing or breeding), let them know a bit about what I knew about the breed, also my previous experience with dogs/animals and who/what lived in the household. From all of that a conversation evolved with a couple of breeders so they ended up finding out a lot more about me. I did specifically leave some information out and in some ways that worked well for me, as I had some breeders email me straight back saying we'd love for you to have a puppy (and I was thinking, but you don't know about x or y or z so how do you know I'll be a good home!!). But those with whcih the conversation evolved ended up helping me a great deal in general and in the end one of them chose Kenzie to come live with me (I wouldn't budge on getting a girl, but she chose the best girl within the litter to fit in to my home - I was a first timer with pups so it was best that she do the choosing on that front!!!). Personally I think it's good to be honest about your intentions as then breeders can help you get theright dog, be it through them or through another breeder that has dogs that better fit you.

If it's recurring and your vet isn't sure it may be worth a trip to an eye specialist. I'm quick to say visit the eye specialist due to previous dog-eye-issues, but maybe there is something not quite right with drainage, or maybe he has an eye condition that is actually causing it and it isn't simply just conjuntivitis.

I just went and bought a heartbeat pillow - if it turns out to be a toy for destroying, oh well!!! Will let you know how it goes! But $15 ish from BigW.

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand are calling for submissions regarding thoughts on allowing pet dogs in outdoor areas where food is served. It sounds like currently they say it is not allowed, but different council areas make their own laws regarding this so it isn't consistent. Anyway if you want to put in your opinion on it click here and it will take you to the place where you can make a submission!! You have until 13 June if you want to make a submission