koalathebear

Buddy, the 27kg working line Kelpie. I had heard that Kelpies could get this big, but it was the first time I'd met one. During the novice finals Lovely little Kelpie girl getting squished among the sheep

I put together this video: Despite it being a very cold day, the trials were still a lot of fun to watch! :) All photos taken by the OH. So many beautiful Kelpies there today. First of all, the apparatus - sheep! :) Red Kelpie Cream Kelpie

Sorry - I stuffed up movie times today - arrived an hour late by accident so they've had to reschedule our Hunger Games tickets to tomorrow morning at 10 am ... Sigh. We'll probably take the dogs to Forde in the afternoon but we will definitely be at Yarralumla next week. Sorry we won't see you guys in the morning ... Perhaps you could sound out the others about the possibility of perhaps going to other parks on Sunday morning now and then? :)

Wow she sounds amazing!! :) Elbie and Hoover are pretty much finished their destructive days (that photo above was from a year ago) but I do remember the days of foam and destruction well :laugh: OH has taught Elbie the word for 'fan' (ceiling fan) and taught Elbie to use his paw to touch the remote control to turn it on and off :p

OH's colleagues have a very, very old dog that's fading fast. In preparation for when their dog dies, they wanted to know if there are any pet cremation services in Canberra so that they don't have to just go with the disposal by the vet option. Does anyone know anyone reputable that they recommend? Thanks.

"I dinna know what you are talkin' about! I didn't touch my Christmas Penguin."

We'll be there. Once there we can discuss about perhaps trying different venues now and then :) Will get email addresses or something.

Lyndsay - I agree with you about how perplexing it is that people assume that vets don't care and why they would continue to go to a vet who doesn't care when there are plenty who do ... My dogs are on the annual injection but that doesn't mean that I don't care about my dogs or that they are left in the backyard. They are dogs with access to both indoors and outdoors, they've done obedience, they do agility, they're healthy and well-fed. We put a lot of effort into socialising them and keeping them enriched. They're part of our family and we love them dearly. Our local vet cares about our dogs, too. If I believed at all that they did not care, I just wouldn't go to them any more. We've driven to Sydney for training assistance, to Tuggeranong when our local vet was closed. We'd be happy to drive anywhere in Canberra for appropriate vet care for our dogs so it's not just a matter of convenience for me. Our dogs almost never go to the vet anymore - they went a lot as puppies for preliminary vaccinations and little things like ringworm, mange etc but since being pups, the visits are very infrequent. There are many times when I've phoned and asked whether I should bring them in and and sometimes the vet will say yes (usually anything to do with the eyes) but for most other things, they'll talk us through them on the phone to assess if it's serious or not and frequently they say it's not necessary to bring the dogs in. When we first got Elbie, my father was dying of cancer and we were in and out of hospital all the time. Every day was unpredictable - I had absolutely no way of guaranteeing that I could administer medication to Elbie on a regular basis. The annual injection was entirely appropriate given the circumstances and given the lack of adverse effects and the fact that we had discussed the options at length with the vet that we know and trust - it made sense to me. Hoover's now on it, too and both are fine. They aren't on 'heaps' of other medications - just usual vaccinations and the heartworm injection. I am not trying to say all vets care but ours definitely do and I know that there are others out there, too. There have been times we have visited the vet as a follow-up for something and we've been sent away without being charged for anything because it was such a quick consult. There have been times when we've called at the last minute and they've just shoe-horned us in at the last minute because they knew we were worried. There was once when they couldn't guarantee Hoover a consult on the Saturday morning and we couldn't go to the surgery and just wait for a spot because we had other things on so they let us just drop him by at the surgery and pick him up when we were able. We were running late and picked him up after surgery hours had closed and that was fine. The most lingering memory I have of our vets is that a long time ago, one winter night when our family dog grew old and sick, we could not get him to the vet because he was in so much pain he was trying to bite anyone who approached him. The vet drove to our house, picked Kitt up and carried him to his car and put him on the beautiful seat upholstery without a blanket and drove him back to his surgery. That vet saw Kitt from the time he was a puppy and was also the vet who cared for him in his last days. We still go back to the same vet surgery and they have seen my dogs through puppyhood and I expect that they will also be the vets who care for our dogs during their last hours. It's not just money for them - they are extremely busy and there are loads of people with sickly dogs. They'll also probably get loads of money out of us when our dogs are old and infirm. So there are many, many reasons why I choose to believe my vet over and above faceless internet people who may be very knowledgable - but do not know or care about my dogs ... While I feel very sorry that many people have had bad experiences with vets, I've had good ones and I believe that they care about my dogs.

Is this Heike? She's lovely and was very helpful with Elbie when he was a young pup :) Good luck!!

evjorgo - I am so glad that Dusty is doing well. He's a absolutely gorgeous-looking boy. Jackie - I'm so sorry to hear about Lucy. My thoughts are with you and Lucy....

I'm happy for my two to play with Ziggy, too. Elbie used to be quite nervous around staffy-types so I am very happy for him to have the opportunity to play with a friendly staffy. I was just thinking that we should do meet-ups at Yarralumla, Forde and Casey - all three are nice places and e.g. Casey and Forde are pretty empty on Sunday mornings and last week, Forde wasn't too crowded on Sunday afternoon, too - the dogs that were there were very friendly.

We've brought our dogs into Pet Barn before to have a walk around. We don't let them sniff anything though, it's more just for them to be in an interesting environment and get pats from strangers. They're not the sort of dogs who would grab things off of the shelf and if there was something on the ground, they'd leave it alone if we said "leave it". That being said, if we weren't fast enough and they picked it up, we'd probably pay for it. Our dogs drink from the water dish outside Pet Barn and dog club. They don't get 'watered' at the vet but are allowed to accept treats there. They also drink from the communal dish at dog parks - although we do bring our own water dish for them for them to drink from most of the time. :p Thank goodness they never seem to feel the desire to drink from the giant muddy puddle at Yarralumla Dog Park though.

Possibly because the toy might be bought and taken home to a puppy that's still largely house-bound because it's not fully vaccinated?

I was amused when I first started reading up about toilet training before we got Elbie about 'crates'. What they were describing as a 'crate' was basically a cage. The soft crates look less cage-like but the metal crates definitely look like a cage. Any dog post on youtube that has a dog in a crate has dozens of comments about the 'cage' being cruel. :p I guess it's all a matter of degree and what you're used to. My dogs were crated as young pups for house-training purposes, overnight and when we left the house for short periods of time. Aside from the overnight crating, I don't think we ever left them crated for longer than three hours during the day. I would hate to do what many US owners have to do (because they are in apartments/have no yards) which is crate a dog the whole day while you're at work. My two are Kelpies and would HATE that so much - then again, they'd hate being in the house all day with no access to the yard. Sort of depends on the dog and the owner, so crating for me is not cruel but excessive crating is. Tethering is pretty common for farm dogs. The WKC website even says that you should get your Kelpie pup used to being tethered. It's not something I would want to do but if I had a house with no yard, then perhaps I'd consider it. I've read articles that say that collars are cruel and can cause cancer!?! Some people say desexing is cruel. There's probably no right and wrong. As with many things, most people who do certain things (myself included) of course don't think that they're being cruel. Others look at things that people do and think that they're cruel. As with most things, it's probably the conduct taken to excess which is cruel. For me: 1. I crate the dogs as needed - these days the crate door is never closed unless we're out at a picnic etc. 2. My dogs are tethered while I set up and put away agility equipment at dog club 3. My dogs have to have collars for a variety of reasons.

I wish more people would remember this. Everyone's dog and everyone's lifestyle is different. I wish people wouldn't be so judgmental about dog food - some people's dogs get sick on raw food, some people's dogs are allergic to this kibble or that kibble. My dogs did fine on Evil Hills Science Diet and they do just as fine on Royal Canin. I am sure they would have been fine on Black Hawk, I just preferred to get them a kibble that was guaranteed to always be easy to source. I think there are even a few people here who feed their dogs 'supermarket' kibble/wet foods and their dogs do fine/better on it than they do on premium kibble. It's like the whole "you must feed bones"/"you should never feed bones" debate. No one is right or wrong and no one can win. I think it's fine to put forward what you do and what your preference is, but then leave it at that. To be honest, there are many who probably think that one is a bad owner just because one feeds one's dog kibble rather than a raw diet so all of us kibblers are naughty regardless of brand :laugh:

I hope they clean it up, I wasn't up to giving my two another bath yesterday :laugh: We did go to Yarralumla that afternoon but ended up leaving because the small pen was filled with daschund owners who did not want medium sized dogs in there and then the large pen had a cranky small white fluffy and then an aggro GSD So we went to Forde where the doggies played with a friendly yellow lab, choc lab, red heeler, two little Westies and a bulldog. A great time was had by all :laugh: Did you see LaWanda at the dog park on Sunday? When I didn't show up, I forgot that I had told her about our regular Sunday meet-up so she had shown up!! She has several foster Kelpes.

Not very long at all here - but the farts they cause last forever For that reason, our two never get pigs ears anymore :laugh:

It's nice and sunny now, we're thinking of heading out. Was it very muddy there this morning? :)

Good to hear. My two do wonderfully on Royal Canin - very shiny coats and they are lean and Elbie in particular seems well-muscled. We supplement every now and then with chicken wings (instead of the kibble) and a raw egg cracked on top of the kibble and everyone is happy. Elbie started on the Evil Hills Science Diet and did wonderfully on that, too - but when Hoover first arrived, he didn't like it so we did a gradual switch for both over to RC. Irony was that by the time we switched to Royal Canin, Hoover had decided he didn't mind the Hills after all. :laugh: In any case, we're very happy with Royal Canin - plus Pet Barn gave us a free kibble bin after we'd bought x number of bags

I was a bit too scared to We should be there next week though if it's not too muddy.

I can't help with the trialling question but I have completed the forms and had my dogs registered. I think discipline is what sport you want your dog to do - obedience/agility/flyball etc. In terms of the registry, Elbie my Kelpie/Border Collie is on the associate register (for cross-breeds) and Hoover my WKC Kelpie is on the sporting register. There's a different registry for non-sporting purebreds, but I can't remember what it's called :) It doesn't take too long - I put my forms in last year and got registered very quickly. I haven't trialled yet but I got them registered just in case :laugh: Good luck with the trialling!

It's sign-posted as being for puppies, smaller, lighter or elderly dogs. My two are pretty light - medium-sized dogs but on the lean end. I wouldn't feel comfortable with them playing with the big boofers in the other yard.

Sorry people have had such bad experiences. That story is quite horrific. We've always been very cautious with our two. At first, our dogs only played with dogs before and after Dog School in the off-lead area. We did doggy play dates with known dogs at our club grounds and also at dog parks. My two have 'grown up' with 6 other doggy friends (different breeds and sizes) who also trained at the same club and have always got along beautifully with them. We never went to dog parks 'alone' unless it was empty so would usually go early in the morning or just at times when we knew it was likely to be deserted. While the dogs have been at the dog parks with their doggy friends, strange dogs have entered the pen but we've never had any problems - although we always keep a very close eye when there is a strange dog in the yard with ours. Given that our two seemed to be very happy playing with other dogs, even the occasional strange dog, in the past few weeks we've started letting our dogs play at Yarralumla on Sundays in the pen for smaller/lighter/old dogs. There's a bit too much growling and rough play in the larger yard but our two are pretty happy in the smaller yard and we have not had any problems yet - all the owners seem very friendly, respectful and mindful of manners. I won't post them here, but there are videos in the Canberra thread in the DOL Social Events sub-forum and you'll see that all the dogs seem to get along beautifully. I've liked letting my two have the experience of playing with the little puppies - they have been very gentle with them and tend to ignore them. I wouldn't say that all dog parks are a bad thing. I wouldn't go if it was crowded, I wouldn't try to take two dogs on my own without OH coming along to keep an eye on them as well but I definitely think that they can be a good source of fun and enrichment for your dog. Like wuffles above, the only time either of my dogs has ever been attacked was not a dog park, it was during an agility class. One of the dogs went off-lead and went for Elbie. Neither was hurt and the other dog was not permitted to return to class until its issues had been resolved but like all the dogs in the class, it had passed the very basic temperament test to even be allowed in the class so I guess I definitely hadn't expected it to happen. Sometimes it's just bad luck. Irresponsible owners could show up anywhere - on the street with their offlead dogs is just as traumatic as in a dog park :p The only time Hoover's almost been attacked was when an offlead GSD rushed at us when we were on a walk. The owner said: "Don't worry, he's friendly" but it was pretty terrifying to have a huge, growling, long-haired GST hurtling towards us :p I just picked up Hoover off the ground and started walking away.

We like Casey and Yarralumla Dog Parks and haven't had any problems so far and our two have SUCH a good time when they go, you would not believe it. We don't get to go to the dog park every week but we try to go on a semi regular basis so I hope we can see some/all of you soon. Our dogs have loved all of your dogs so far - but then they are goofy, spazzy Kelpies who just love to run :p

staffyluv: that horrible dog attack didn't happen at this park did it? We've been so lucky so far and not encountered any unpleasant incidents ...