Pretty Miss Emma

I just wanted to throw this back out there. I visited one today that I was interested in, but it turns out they won't take an insulin dependent diabetic - not much use to me! But if you have recommendations I'd love to hear them!

My 12YO has had leaky problems for about the past 2 years. I got her as a 9YO rescue, but found out later she was speyed at 10 months old. Between the age of 9-10 I don't remember having any big problems. But after 10 it became a problem. She first went on Stilboestrol, but this lost it's effect after 12 months. She was put on to Propalin (this is a liquid that they have in their food every 12 hours) which works wonderfully well. She is also diabetic, so if her BSL is up I know because she has accidents even when she has her Propalin. We have tried taking her off it to see if it was just the diabetes causing the incontinence, it's not! So with her there are a few factors I think contributing to her incontinence. But I must make mention that if you notice your dog is becoming incontinent make sure you look at all possibilities - this was one of my very obvious signs she had developed diabetes.

I'm just wanting some quick opinions about boarding kennels in/around Melbourne. I may or may not need to put my girls into a kennel for a few days to 2 weeks (still trying to sort out the arrangements for that period of time). I'm basically looking for my back-up plan if I can't get a house sitter or they can't stay with a friend. They are both Border Collies but with differing needs. Kenzie is 14 months, and I think has the typical activity level of a 14 month old BC! Emma is 12YO and is special needs as she is diabetic and has just had surgery with some fairly major complications, but this is now pretty much under control (I'm just somewhat paranoid that something will flare up when I'm not here). So really I just want to make sure that their needs can be catered to as best as possible. I have found that the best option 99% of the time is on recommendation from others, and as I haven't ever used a boarding kennel I'm looking for recommendations!

I have just gone through the first 12 months with a pup. Before her I adopted a much older dog, and it was all so easy!!! But a pup - different kettle of fish. Has been one of the best learning experiences I've had and there are a few things I've learnt along the way that I don't know why I thought differently before! Agree with pretty much what everyone has said here regarding feeding times and lengths, my Kenzie learnt quickly that if you didn't eat dinner when it was put down it went away and didn't come back for quite some time. A benefit with this (which I'm not sure if others mentioned) that I found was that when it came to training and dog school she was much better prepared/focussed (my dog club is a +ve reinforcement club and we use food as rewards) and food worked for us. Definitely look ito the best dog foods you can afford, I've been using Nutro recently and it has been going well originally she was on ProPlan I think andd she also had Eukanuba for a while. They may look more expensive, but I find that the cost works out similar to the cheaper ones as you don't have to feed them as much as it is higher quality food. Just remember that if you are changing foods don't change 100% overnight do it gradually. I also question the why you want an outside dog (yes I did read the things you wrote). But say this in terms of seriously look into crate training. My old girl came to me crate trained (I later found out that she was a show dog, so had learnt early what a crate was then when I got her as a 9YO she quickly remembered the system when I neededd to use it at dog club), and I didn't realise what was involved in the training aspect. But with young Kenzie I started her pretty early, made some mistakes (know better for next time), but now have a dog who is happy in a crate. Good things with this... she was able to sleep in my room in her crate (she's happy in her house, I know she's not wandering), when I have visitors over she can sit with us in the living room without causing hassle because she's happily sitting in her house, when I go to other people's places I usually have the crate in the car (if she gets unhappy or mischievous then we can put her house up where we are and she can sit happily in it), etc, etc. Before my little trouble maker I wasn't really sold on the idea of crates, I am now convinced that for me this is an essential part of dog ownership (just in terms of being able to keep my dog happy and my environment manageable). If you are interested in it I'm sure there are plenty of people here who can give good advice and you can pick up a crate relatively cheaply on ebay (and I also made one from materials from Bunnings). Good luck with your little munchkin and enjoy her, just remember it's a massive learning curve for everyone and you'll make mistakes but it will all be alright because you're trying to find out as much as you can and do the right thing by her!!!

Google Karen Pryor and have a look at her website and books, easy to undersstand and takes it one step at a time. Both my girls started learning things so much faster and do them better when I started using a clicker.

Both my girls are long haired border collies. I haven't yet used it on the young one, but using it on my old girl kept her being able to work in obedience and agility when it was getting a bit too warm for her without it (as you would expect we weren't working hard, but it did mean that she could get out and about on a day that was a bit warm for her previously).

I have a cool coat for one of my dogs. i probably wouldn't leave it on her unattended (as apparently it can cool them down quite a biit), but when I'm around it is great for her. You can also get bandanas and mats, etc. I got mine from a dog show but this is their website... http://www.coolweave.com.au/coolchampionst...oling_vests.htm

I stayed several days at Countrywide Cottages which is about 25 min inland from Lorne. Exceptionally dog friendly (they prefer dogs to chidren!!). I think in the Dog Friendly accom thread it is mentioned a few times. But could be a good spot to base yourself before/after the GOR, even though it's inland it's lovely, dogs allowed inside, dam for them to swim in, not too long to Lorne (which seemed to be very dog friendly, at the fish n chip shop we went to each of the dogs were given a treat with our order!!), have fenced verandahs where you can leave the dogs if you are comfortable doing so while you go to places that dogs are not allowed. I would go back there in a flash!

I had a dog kill some of my chickens, and it was only a council issue. Even though I saw the dog in the chook pen all they did was warn the owner. However, it was a warning with a "we'll take the dog if it is seen doing it again" - which it hasn't. Although i wouldn't hesitate to ring the police and report it to them, even if they can't do anything at least it is then on file just in case. Horrible for you neighbour, it's very distressing to come back to find that sort of massacre.

At our dog club we would encourage someone with 2 dogs to train them separately in different classes. Giving each dog the full attention for the length of the class. But I also expect that people training in my classes are working in a manner appropriate to them, just because you are training your dog in class 2 doesn't mean that it has to do ONLY what is expected in class 2. I have some people who I know have dogs that have been in higher classes at other dog clubs and I will tell them to extend themselves if they would like to, etc. Just as some people/dogs are still new to the level so they may be working at a slightly lesser level of expectation than others in the class. As I instruct during one of the 2 sessions at our dog club I can only train in the other time, which is sometimes the level below the class my dog is actually in. But I think it is also good for her/us to take a step back and revisit the lower level class. And it also gives me time to focus on training other things with her. If you were at our dog club I would suggest having a good dialogue with the instructors so that they understand your needs and that you may be training a dog in a class that is usually at a higher level, that way hopefully they can adjust to help you out as best they can.

Yeah, it really is slow for the riders!! Most of the ride I was at a slow pedal. The ET is much slower than people think it is... It's good to keep that in mind when you're training and if you can get your hands on a speedometer for your bike, you'll be better able to keep to an appropriate pace. As Abbiestar said, the course is mostly at about 10-12km/hr (my speedo said we were going 9-12km/hr for the majority of the test), but your dog should also be able to get up to higher speeds e.g. 15km/hr for when you need to catch up to your place in the line after toileting stops. For anyone interested, this is a link to my report of the ET for Jedi and I last year - Clicky That's really useful. Thanks!

Something one of my vets once said to me was - you know when the time is right because it's when you are able to make the decision that it is time. In some respects too late and too early mean different things for everyone. I'm a big believer in you will know when the time is right, we are so lucky with our pets that we can do this for them rather than make them continue suffering. So the time is right when you know the time is right (you will be sensible enough to weigh up health, quality of life, emotions in the best way you can). Well that's my take on it and it has worked for me through several pets (and each time is just as hard as the last, if not harder). Good luck.

I had read somewhere that there was some dispute in Victoria about whether or not dogs could be on lead when you are on a bike. Apparently there is some law saying that a dog must not be tethered to a moving vehicle and a bike counts as a moving vehicle. I'm not sure about any of it as all this is 2nd or 3rd hand information but would be interested if anyone does know anything. On another note. To get the ET title do you only have to do the test once? I'm new to competing in dog sports and so far am used to sports where you accumulate points to get titles. But my understanding of Endurance is that it is a once off thing. And if you do get the title can you continue to compete purely for fun? What would be the proportion of dogs in the trial that are successful and those that get eliminated at the test points etc? And those that do get eliminated what sort of cause is it usually (not adequate training? mishaps on the day?)? I know basic sort of questions but I haven't been able to find this sort of information elsewhere and you guys seem to know lots and lots!!!

My Mum was given advice by her vet to give her 9kg dogs 1 2mg Polaramine tablet twice per day and it seems to work a treat and has no side effects on them.

I would be interested to hear more about this and the training as I've struggled to be able to find much information. I think my girl is a bit young, but I'd like to start training her for this in a few months just to see how she goes.

Roughly crushed egg shells. Or if the ground isn't soaking wet, rock salt can work. Obviously you need to keep an eye on this and replace it as it goes, and also make sure that the salt content of your soil doesn't get too high. Use both/either to create a bit of a ring around the vege patch or plant.

I think again it's what everyone else has said... practice, practice, practice!! But I would also resommend taking the training back a step and putting the dog on a long line until you know it will come back. Can be a bit annoying at the beach, but better than a lost dog! A 10m horse lunging lead is what I use and you can get one for about $25 or less depending on where you go. The other thing I did with my girl who did not like coming back... On the long line recall every time she got to the end of it, she came back got a treat, then got told to go, recall, treat, go. It became a fun game for her. When I was game to let her off the long line I would then still play the game - recalling her every time she got 10-15m away from me. But to emmulate what others have said, it also takes a long time to get really good recall. It definitely won't happen overnight because the rest of the world is really interesting. I made it my training priority for about 2 months - we just did recalls in every single place we went no matter how the the lead, but kept it fun and yummy treats involved. We now have a 99% recall. Good luck!!

I'm also a massive fan of the clicker. I won't use punishment based training techniques - there is no need to once you plan what you want and how to get it. I trained my 14mo to walk on a loose leash using a clicker to mark (and then provide a reward) every time the leash was loose. Yes, at first there are a lot of treats, but that's ok they just get fed their dinner while they walk if needs be. We also use a gentle leader easy walk harness. So when she did pull she would end up facing me - not the direction she wanted to. As for walking in a heel position (where the dog is beside your leg and walkign looking up at you). An easy way is to keep food treats in your hand at the point where you want your dogs nose to be and treat them in that position as you walk. I'm not so fussed about my girl heeling at the moment but I do want her to be able to walk beside me when we are in a busy environment etc. So I have been walking her on a short lead that keeps her very close to me (she can get about 20cm in front of my leg) and again clicking and treating her for walking beside me. She knows the leash needs to be loose so getting that sorted out first will help in getting them to walk close to you. That way they know no matter how long the leash is it just needs to be loose, so if it is a short leash they just need to walk closer to you. Definitely have a look at the Karon Pryor clicker training stuff. I very honestly think both my dogs learn things at least 2-3 times faster using this method. My young one learnt a couple of new tricks (such as "Bang" - shoot dead) within 5 repetitions using this method. Good luck - a dog on a loose leash is a joy to walk!!!

My 14mo BC was a chronic chaser of cars, bikes, people running, anything moving. I started working with a clicker for her ((it seemed to be the only thing she could hear when she got worked up). She gets a click every time she looks at me. I started this because of the cars. She would fly off after every car that went past (she's almost always on lead as I'm not prepared to risk that she might chase anything). But I would also ask her to look at me when I could see a car approaching and then try to maintain her focus (often by holding a treat under her nose) while the car went past. I also have used the "leave it" command when she starts to stare down a car. On lead she is 99% fantastic with this now (it took me about a month to get her to 80%great), and I'm not prepared to risk what could happen off lead but the one day she did slip her collar she did the best receall I could have ever hoped for! I also very much agree witht he others who have mentioned restraining/containing the dog. Better safe than sorry!!

Hi everyone, My 12 year old border collie has been a bit in the wars of recent - cataract surgery, post-op complications in one eye, ulcer on the other and now to top it off also has something going on in her lungs giving her a brilliant bronchial cough. Because of all the other meds she is on due to her surgery etc we're a bit limited with treatment for her lungs. Antibiotics have been started but for her cough there's not many things that can be used just yet. I'm wondering if anyone out there has used Bisolvon to help with a cough in a dog?? it has been recommended to me by the vet. And if you have what dosage did you use? After going through all the other med changes we forgot to discuss that bit!! I'd like to get her started on it as soon as possible as we think stopping the cough may help the eyes get better a bit faster. So any and all advice will be welcomed!! Thanks!