Prag

Hi, I have recently moved back into the area and generally head down to fawkner park with my two dogs. I was wondering if anyone knows of any other good dog parks in the area? Also is there anyone who regularly goes to a park with thier dogs so my two boys could have some play mates. I have a JRTx and a Shetland Sheepdog.

Thanks Megan, I have sent them an email :)

Hello guys, I was hoping some of you may be able to point in the right direction to find beginner Tracking classes for puppies in the Melbourne area? Thanks in advance :)

Hi, I have a policy through 1300 insurance and they have paid everything I have tried to claim reasonable quickly but they increased my premiums substantially over the first couple of years and also dropped my cover form 100% to only 75% all while increasing my premium... I now also have a policy with petplan for my new puppy and the premiums are more than my 1300 insurance policy but it seems to provide more substantial cover. * also good to note is that petplan will cover stuff to do with dental if it is an accident e.g car accident and dental work is needed it will be covered but with 1300 insurance they will never cover anything to do with dental regardless of how the issue with dental occurred.

Thanks I am going to try these guys to see how big the bully sticks are as they can vary a lot but hopefully they are a decent size, thanks for the reply

Hi! I did a seach on Ebay for dog food 2 u but was unable to find it...any chance you could post a link please? I have not seen you around lately, hopefully we will run into each other again soon now the weather is picking up and daylight savings is just around the corner! Then you can meet Cookie my Doberman puppy :) Anyway I hope you are well and thanks for your reply :)

Hi Guys, Anyone know where to get cheap bully sticks in Australia?

Hello, I was wondering how long people exercise large breed puppies for? My Doberman is 13 weeks and she has only been having very short walks but frequent training sessions. I would love to hear how other people exercise their puppies particularly inside since it is still Winter... I really do not want to damage her joints but am keen to get her out for longer as now she is only getting about 10 mins, 20mins at the most. She is still sleeping a lot so it is not like I desperately need to give her more physical exercise but would be nice to get her out to more places.

hello, No I cannot say that I have heard of "Look at That", would you please be so kind as to enlighten me? Thank you kindly for offering your help with your kids if we lived closer I really appreciate it. I have now managed to jack up one more meet and greet with someone from my work with a young child so that is a start :)

Thanks I had a read through and I agree with some of the things stated in the first article and have read the developmental guidelines before. She has been to a park last week that has a footy oval in it and junior footy going on and she was fine with this in fact was completely oblivious to the children and footy. We maintained a good distance so she did not get overwhelmed hence I think she is definitely capable of handling this situation provided she is not forced to get to close. When I say oblivious I am quite sure she was aware they were there and could hear all the noise but was not phased by it so I think this is exactly what you want so you can offer rewards so the positive association starts to form. She has been completely fine every other time she has seen children it was just one time when it was only a couple of kids walking down a street and were a few meters away from her. Yep I will re-think and definitely postpone the fair as I think this may indeed be too much for her. I have taken her a to a farmers market so may do something like that again.

Thanks all, The footy oval for junior footy is a great idea and will do that one. Is there junior footy on most ovals in the weekend? Anyone aware of any that are close to Glenroy in Melbourne? The playgrounds have been really hit and miss for me mainly miss to be honest especially with the weather being so cold of late. I do not know many people with young children but those that I do she is meeting and interacting with but I think she needs more as the day we were out and there were a couple of kids being kids walking home from school and she got a little spooked she barked her little bark and growled once so I really want to get on top of this now. I said at first for this reason as I would rather go super slowly than push her too much and make her even more wary... My brother from the UK is here at the moment with his kids so I have been getting them to give her food and will continue this for as long as they here. Does anyone know of any school fairs that are happening soon in Melbourne?

Hello Dolers, I was just wondering if anyone has some good ideas about where to go to socialise a puppy with children. I have a 13 week old Doberman puppy and would like her to be around some more kids. At this point direct contact is not a necessity but just to be in the general vicinity of them. So any ideas would be appreciated I'm hoping someone has some suggestions that I have not thought of. Also I do not get home from work until 4.30-5pm so School is out by this time... Thanks

Hello, I have a puppy who is 12 weeks old now and she was crazy like your little one when left alone in a pen with a crate, chew toys etc... I initially tried to build her up to being left alone in her pen slowly and we got up to one minute, then had a day where she did 20 mins. Then the next day it regressed back to 30 seconds... I was basically putting her in and leaving her then waiting for her to stop crying then returning with a treat, then leaving again and repeating this process over and over. It helped a little but did not get us to where we needed to be considering I was to return to work after a couple of weeks. I then ditched the pen and left her in a room rather than the pen and this helped her a little in that she no longer pushed the pen around trying to get out she would still whine and cry like we were hitting her though. It was so loud it scared my other dogs I spoke to the breeder about this as I was due back at work in a couple of days and was worried she would be traumatized by the extended period alone. The breeder advised me I need to give her some tough love and just leave her and she would get it in a few days that being left alone was not the end of the world and I would be back for more fun times. I did this and yes the first couple of days were pretty bad with her being whiny and crying for a lot of the day but now on the 4th day she has been quiet most of the day and will settle and play with her toys, treat balls and then when tired go into her crate for a nap. Now the thing that made it easier to do this was that I set my laptop up in the room on a dresser so she could not get to it or the power supply and opened Skype and set it to auto answer so I could video call my laptop on my mobile and see what she was doing when at home alone through the webcam. Make sure you mute your end though as if they hear you it will set them off and they will frantically look for you. Also I make sure I get up earlier than usual so I can train her and play with so she will be almost ready for a nap when I leave to go to work and I find this helps too. Hope it gets better soon as I know it can be quite nerve racking and draining at the same time, Good Luck :)

Sorry forgot to answer she is 12 weeks

She is a Doberman and yeah I had a Jersey for her which she has outgrown, I guess I will have to just keep buying them which is a shame as they are not cheap. No scares as she has since been in backyard with no issues at all and still loves the other two and super excited to get out with them well all but that one time. I will give the crate a clean with Urine off and see if that helps. Thanks

Hello Everyone, So I am blessed with a little puppy who has been great and a little nightmare all at the same time :p When we first got her we woke up every couple of hours during the night to take her out of her crate to toilet. Then it changed to 3 hours then once a night and then none, this was due to us consistently checking the crate to see if it was dry each time we woke to take her out and in the morning. Hence this lead us to not getting up as she was sleeping through the entire night (I was still waking up to check she was still sleeping) and apparently not soiling the crate. However now my conundrum...We got home the other night after a trip in the car and I opened the door for the other dogs to go out and her too, normally she follows with gusto but this time she stayed inside and then ran into her crate and took a pee in it.... Do you think this means that she probably is going in it during the night and it is drying by the time I check? Just curious either way I will be going back to waking up every 3 hours to take her to toilet. Also she dislikes the cold and is shivering quite often, so perhaps that was the reason she went in the crate?? Thanks

Absolutely will do! I know what you mean eh my GF and I have resigned ourselves to the fact that if we take our boys to the park chances are we will have to give them a rinse afterwards as they are allowed on the furniture at home but would prefer to not have the mud that comes with them :laugh:

Thanks guys I really appreciate the positive comments :D I hope you find it useful and enjoyable. Tintin Jac yeah there were a couple of Lagotto's one was brown and another was creamish that went regularly to Fawkner Park, they were great dogs! Steph M yeah it is a lot of fun and it makes me more motivated to get to new places with the boys rather than just visiting the same old places. They love streams and shallow rivers so we are always on the hunt for places like that. I have not added much recently but need to get on there soon and add some more stuff. I have a new camera so hopefully some better photos will surface and I have purchased some noise socialisation CD's which I will test out and review.

Hello, I was wondering if people have had some great experiences with any puppy schools in Melbourne they would be keen to share? What you liked? What they did well? Was the focus on socialization or training? Was the socialization well supervised?

Hello, The fenced park I know of in the area is Whittlesea Public Gardens in Lalor and it is a great a great off lead park, not sure there will be many dogs there as when I have been I have only run into a few dogs. The park has agility equipment which is fun! I looked on google and it is about a 16 minute drive from the airport, there is also a Bunnings in Broadmeadows which depending on which route you take could easily be passed on the way to the park. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?safe=strict&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48175248,d.aGc&biw=1920&bih=979&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=whittlesea+public+gardens&fb=1&gl=au&hq=whittlesea+public+gardens&hnear=whittlesea+public+gardens&cid=0,0,16605326117859917035&sa=X&ei=PJDCUarBAuWViQfy1YHAAw&ved=0CIEBEPwSMAM If you want a park with a lot of dogs Clayton Reserve in North Melbourne which is fenced and usually has plenty of dogs there not as exciting as Whittlesea Public Gardens as it is just a paddock. It is also further away from the airport but definitely within 30mins drive. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?safe=strict&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48175248,d.aGc&biw=1920&bih=979&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=whittlesea+public+gardens&fb=1&gl=au&hq=whittlesea+public+gardens&hnear=whittlesea+public+gardens&cid=0,0,16605326117859917035&sa=X&ei=PJDCUarBAuWViQfy1YHAAw&ved=0CIEBEPwSMAM I have a blog that reviews dog parks and I have recently reviewed Whittlesea Public Gardens but forgot to take my camera so unfortunately that one does not have photos. I will also be adding a review for Clayton Reserve with pics in the next couple of days. it is www.raidenreviews.blogspot.com You could also try looking on www.pawclub.com.au

Hi Guys, So we have started a blog reviewing dog parks in Vic and some dog related products. We did this to help people figure out which dog parks they would like to their dogs too, as often I thought I was going to a reserve but it ended up just being a tiny patch of grass with no other dogs Please feel free to check it out the address is www.raidenreviews.blogspot.com Thanks guys :)

Hi guys, Sorry I probably wont be bringing Raiden and Ozzie due to the heat. The Sheltie doesn't enjoy it when it is that hot. Have fun

Hi guys, I will be coming along with my two boys Prag - Ozzie & Raiden Prag - Cookies

Hi guys, I will be coming along with my two boys Prag - Ozzie & Raiden Prag - Cookies

Hi Guys, I was just wondering what time you all head down and how long you stay for? Also is the whole of Kepala booked by the group i.e. the grass runs, lagoon pool and agility runs? I plan to come down but am not definite yet, once I know for sure I will post with my dogs and what food I will bring along :) Thanks