koalathebear

wizzle: so sorry for being gross – anal glands and anal juice are extremely gross. You are very lucky to not have to deal with them. I used to read the threads on DOL and think they were weird (because Elbie never had any gland issues) but along came Hoover and now I know what people are talking about … wuffles – we're all thinking about you for tomorrow! Have a great day and we look forward to the photos. I'm sure someone at the wedding will have a little digi camera so that you can get some photos to share pretty quickly!!

You don't have to upload photos here at DOL, you can link to them at photobucket and then they get embedded here like above. Your pup is sooo cute ... Just look at that little face. Also, please join us in the Kelpie chat thread. It is far too quiet!

As well as that cute pup with the huge ears, Singleton Pound also has a red and tan Kelpie there. The poor darling looks sooooooooo distressed :D

As has been pointed out, most people take ads with a fairly liberal pinch of salt ... One might argue that those ads where you see dogs dancing around, answering the phone, mowing the lawn and doing all sorts of amazing things are also misleading because people will think that all dogs can do that Or deodorant ads that make people irresistible ...

I don't mean to hijack the thread but may we see photos of your Kelpie puppy - on another thread of course ? I adore Kelpies and we don't see enough photos on DOL

Loved Satch and his hole. He really didn't look like he wanted to leave! OH was very unimpressed with the red and tan monster this morning. As he drove back into the carport he found the dogs waiting for him by the carport - except that the red and tan monster was not where he was supposed to be! We thought it was all blocked off and he couldn't get behind the shed anymore! When he saw my OH, he started pushing against the fence and squashing his head - Hoover's head, not OH's head What a brat.

In Off Topic regarding Borders and Angus & Robertson going into administration. The poster seems to just attract disapproving posts! kyliegirl: You have my sympathy. There's a footpath past a backyard in which there was a bouncing dog that always sounded extremely angry and vicious. He wasn't jumping up against the fence - he was literally bouncing up from the ground as if there was a trampoline there or something and I was always worried that he was going to come bouncing right over the fence and eat my dog. It's the quickest way to the oval and I used to dread walking down there. Fortunately, the dog seems to be gone these days. If I see someone with an offlead dog or I know there's a house where there's a wandering dog, I just turn around and head the other way pretty quickly. If I see other people walking their dogs, I'll stop off to the side to let them pass - if their dog seems chilled, I'll let the dogs meet and greet ... wizzle: :D I am sympathetic. Really I am. Seriously. ravenau1: Glad you're ok! Please take care of yourself! We didn't time how long it took oh to do the Falcon sorry - he did it over several days ... It is now finished, as is LEGO Slave One... Also, don't worry about the emoticons thing. I've had posts rejected by DOL because they contained either too many emoticons or too many quotes. KA: Kuma and the phone is such a cute image! OH does that, too with Elbie sometimes - puts the phone to his ear and Elbie always looks very puzzled. Sometimes I see standing in the doorway behind the screen door waiting very patiently. Max#1: Elbie frequently looks so anxious in his photos that it was hard to find a happy photo - but of course that was the photo where Hoover looked all plotty and serious Hoover really is welcoming - he loves everybody and will wiggle his bum all over the place in welcome ... Since watching Max's 'talking' video, OH has been trying to teach the dogs how to vocalise by making sounds other than barking. This was In other news ... be warned, there is grossness, but this is a Dog Forum and there are so many "my dog eats poo" threads out there that we should really all be quite immune ... Sometimes ... Hoover self-expresses his anal glands. It's kind of gross but at least it means that we don't have to do any of the expressing and the vet has said that there isn't a problem ... except for the fact that sometimes we will notice that Hoover has rubbed "anal juice" on poor OH's jeans or shorts. While driving me home tonight, OH said: "I'll tell you the end of the story first ..." Me: Oh noes OH: Hoover squirted anal juice over the front door today. Me: :D OH: Hoover was lying on the mat in front of the door, relaxing, enjoying the breeze and the view of the street. A cat walked past the house, Elbie ran over to look. Hoover must have been startled Me: So Hoover went: "Yoicks, a cat! Yoicks - Elbie looming over me - *squirt!?!?*" OH: Yes. Found a little pool on the floor and on the door. Me: I suppose we should just be grateful that he does it all himself and there seem to be no problems.

These are all so hilarious In other news - Hoover has found a new use for the Tuffie. It's not just good because it's tough enough for tigers!

Welcome Fen - look forward to seeing the puppy photos!

Satch looks soooooooooooooooo cosy, comfy and pleased with himself ... Very "The Castle" ... "Look mum, I dug a hole." wizzle - I've already cooed over your G photos in facebook, but I need to put in a request for video footage of Miss G leaping onto crate. It must truly be a sight. Oh gosh. I saw the Spitz thread, too and the Borders thread. Every time that poster posts ... It's like watching a train wreck ... I can't look away but when I look, I wince and shudder ... ETA: this little sweetie is sooooooooooooooooooooo cute. That face! Those eyes! This fellow also breaks my heart. His ears and piteous expression remind of me Elbie

Aww what a shame .. it would be lovely to 'meet' you at last. I hope that one of these days you manage to make it to Canberra for a visit - you'd be very welcome to stay here and I suspect that Max would enjoy playing with our two monsters.

Poor OH is feeling long-suffering. I want to see Kelpies in action. OH found the 3 sheep trials a little underwhelming (plus there were almost no Kelpies) so I want to go and watch some yard dog trials because apparently there will be a lot of Kelpies and yard dog trials should mean more than 3 measly sheep. Thanks to 4kelpies, I have this link and the following appear to be coming up near Canberra: Cooma Show on 12 March Goulburn Show on 26 March Yass Show on 9-10 April Alas, for my urbanite Torontonian of an OH, the line-up of the shows bemuses him. The Cooma Show has local stock, produce and art and crafts. A snakeman. Patty Paddock, woodchop and yard dog trials. Sumo Wrestling and all sorts of animals. The Goulburn Show has an all breed dog show, a cat show an Alpaca and Alpaca fleece show, a horse program, team yarding, yard dog trials, Punch and Judy Show, poultry and pigeons and ... black and coloured sheep Yass Show has a "wide range of competitions over the weekend. Everything from dogs to sheep, horses to birds, and everything in between." He says that he's going to try to break his leg before March ETA: He is even more horrified by the Canberra show. Programme is here. I want to see the Working Sheep Dog Trials at 7.25pm on Saturday the 26th February. He is horrified by the Pig Racing & the Diving Pig, the lawnmower racing, cowpat bingo and the milking demonstration

I think that this thread has the possibility of going kaboom. wizzle: Sorry you've been feeling poorly. The acupuncture also sounded a bit horrific. I'm sorry but Evil Koala delights in your Tales of Genevieve The Destroyer ... it's just so funny, even though I know it's not supposed to be funny. Honestly she's so tiny - who would have thought that she could wreak such havoc??? wuffles: Ava looks so serene. We don't let our doggies up on the sofa or bed either but they still leap up now and then just to be cheeky. Also, to OH's exasperation, whenever a towel gets used on a dog it becomes a Dog Towel, so it's lucky that they haven't leapt on any pillows yet otherwise they'd probably get a Dog Pillow. I'm so impressed with the heeling progress. OH and I took the dogs to the local oval today to practise their heeling (Hoover) and recalls (Elbie) given their appalling performance during and after Dog School yesterday. I thought about doing the food container thing but yesterday I had difficulty with Hoover even WITH food in my hand so I thought I wouldn't try too much. Weird thing was that even with Elbie and OH a few metres away and a couple of joggers and a determined oval walker - Hoover was very focused with his heelwork. So it appears to be the large numbers of dogs that Hoover finds distracting during loose-leash walking and heelwork. Not quite sure how to counter it at this stage but I was very happy with his heelwork. In other news, OH has varied Elbie's 'dead' trick so that he now also drops dead from a drop position. It looks pretty funny

I love the expression on Pucky's face in the fourth photo. Soooo funny.

It's actually not a stupid question though ... my brother buys dog stuff for us all the time and he doesn't own a dog ... a diamond python and two turtles yes but no dogs

Elbie, our Kelpie/Border Collie cross went through two phases of leash attacking. The first phase was when he was a very young puppy and seemed to see the leash as yet another toy. He grew out of that on his own. The second phase was when he was older and it drove us absolutely bonkers for a while – he'd start attacking the leash as soon as we got back to our street. See this post. We tried a range of different solutions – treading on the leash, stopping, dipping the leash in yucky tasting stuff, distraction … we tried a chain leash but that's quite uncomfortable for our hands and we really didn't like using a chain leash. He's grown out of it now – from memory, the thing that eventually worked for us was what stopped his nipping and biting of our heels when he was a young pup – we used a spray bottle. The first time, I actually sprayed him in the face and he let go. The second and third walks, I just held up the spray bottle in the air without spraying and he backed off from the leash. After that, I stopped bringing a bottle along and he just got out of the habit of attacking the leash so no longer does it. I used to read about non-mouthy pups with great wistfulness and envy but then our second pup Hoover came along and he has never been mouthy at all! He hasn't gone through any nipping/mouthing phase and the only time he's ever put his teeth on us was by accident. Elbie was a LOT mouthier growing up so it's been a relief to us that he has grown out of it and shows no desire to nip/bite/mouth at us anymore. I'd chalk his early puppyhood mouthiness up to the fact that he is a crossbreed but a lot of purebreds mouth as well so perhaps it's just luck of the draw. Good luck – I know how frustrating it can be. At the time, it feels like it's going to go on forever!!

Yay! So glad to hear that Daisy is on the mend.

rotts4ever: That happens to me sometimes. You just need to go up to the 'options' pull down menu on the right hand side and then select: 'Display Modes' and then 'Standard'. Then the view should be 'normal' again. Hope that helps The Ark: Thanks for the update. Little Bear is beautiful and a heartbreaker with how determined she is not to go gentle into that good night. I am really hoping that she continues to grow in strength!

ravenau1: So sorry to hear that Astrid's been so poorly – poor little pup! And sorry to hear that there's stress in the house. Are you guys all ok? It's not a recurrence of the previous condition is it? I really, really hope that everything is going to be ok – crossing fingers, toes and eyes for you. Regarding Astrid, let's hope it's just the early puppyhood woes. Like I've mentioned before, I felt like we practically lived at the vet during Elbie and Hoover's first months. Lately, OH and I have been remarking: "It's been ages since we've been to the vet!" Elbie's vet visits were – standard check-ups, standard vaccinations, then cut paw, then ringworm. Hoover had mange and goopy eyes (probably conjunctivitis). Both have also gone through stages where their tummies seemed constantly upset and we were waking up to the sound of what sounded like an alien regurgitating our puppy. Luckily for us, white rice and chicken usually settled them down but there is something quite wearying about having a pup who isn't feeling great. I hope that she will feel better soon. Those trampoline beds are wonderful – our two love them. Elbie gnawed a bit on one when we first got it but he appears to have given up on his destructive phase so both beds are now still fine for sleeping on. That bed looks nice and huge – lots of room for Astrid who looks extremely comfortable on it. I'm very excited for you about the prospect of a second puppy. As you can probably tell, we love having two dogs and even OH who was a little hesitant about the prospect of TWO crazy puppies in the house totally adores Hoover. The two of them entertain themselves in ways that are probably just as entertaining for us. Won't you share what the other two shortlisted breeds are? Perhaps we can play a guessing game – give us some hints! Like … breed's country of origin or 'category' of breed … The recall thing is kind of annoying. Elbie's always got his eye on his humans so won't stray too far from us and will always come when called during class but yesterday we were in the open field of the obedience club and he was running around with Ava, Mars and Hoover. He was having a good time and the humans were sitting on the grass – it was clear that we weren't going anywhere so he seemed to make the assessment that he didn’t need to come when called Not Good. So we'll probably go back there one evening or perhaps to the local oval with our 5metre recall leash to practise. I'm impressed with the thought of a 15 metre lead!!! Wow! Yes, Hoover's body looks large – he's as large as Elbie now, but he's actually still just a puppy – just 7 months old so he still retains a little of the snubby puppy face but he's rapidly looking like a grown-up Kelpie. You're right about the differences in appearance within a breed. It's like how sometimes I love Rottweiler faces – they're so cute and appealing but sometimes I don't like their faces even though notionally they should look pretty similar. kyojin: Wow… what a very ... random stall to have there. I suppose it never hurts to plan … when I was arranging my dad's funeral it definitely made me determined to sort a lot of things out for my own arrangements so that loved ones who survived me didn't have their emotional state manipulated. For me, I'd be happy with a cardboard coffin and even those aren't cheap, coming at $950! I was completely gobsmacked by how expensive a funeral was. A pet funeral won't be as expensive as a human one but it will be pretty damned expensive, I'm sure. There are a few times when we've noticed that the 'dog equivalent' of something is far more expensive than the human equivalent – vet fees are just one of them. I'm guessing that because the assumption is that if you can afford a pet, then you have disposable income to spend 'more'. But I digress … Perhaps you should put a sign around Kyojin's neck that says: "I'm the same kind of dog like the one in that Richard Gere movie" or: "Before you ask - I'm a Cavalier King Charles, ok?" St Bernard is a funny guess, though. I suppose Akitas as pretty rare so people won't recognise them so easily. Then again, I've been asked if Hoover is a Doberman … Hmm, I wish there was a Saint Bernard at Dog School - they're such huge, gorgeous dogs. People always look sooooo surprised when I correctly guess that their dog is an Australian Shepherd – I guess they're used to people guessing Border Collie … I'm not so good at guessing the Designer Dogs because I am always worried that if it happens to be a funny-looking purebred dog – the owner will be Hugely Offended at the implication that the dog is a DD. I'm pretty good at guessing the Labrador/Poodle cross although there are some standard poodles out there that look quite DD-ish. Yesterday at dog school I saw a dog that I was pretty sure was a DD but I said: "Beagle?" and they said: "Beagle cross."

LOVE these photos, thanks for sharing. Also, so happy to see Kelpies in there. When we went to the trials in Bredbo they kept telling us that Kelpies were too rough for the three-sheep trials :'(

kyliegirl: I suspect that given that you already have a very clear idea of what you want and you've made so much progress already with the training - it will be mostly you that drives his progress and development and the school might end up being a source of socialisation and 'learning to work around distractions' rather than learning the skills. One other thing - I know a few people who don't like obedience school at all and have opted for private classes with a trainer. That way the sessions are very focused to the dog in question and what the handler wants. We didn't go for a private trainer because our monsters need the socialisation but a lot of people seem to like private classes. If you find a good trainer with whom you click, it might be a good thing to pursue, even if it's just to 'supplement' what you learn at obedience classes.

kyliegirl: what beautiful photos of Echo - he is gorgeous. As wuffles mentioned, we have two dobes at the Dog School and I saw one of them walking across the field looking very majestic. Dobes have a lot of dignity ... unlike my two doggies who seem to be goofy dorks with no dignity Sorry you aren't happy with the training methods - it can be a very frustrating search ... I really hope you find a suitable one. To be perfectly, perfectly honest - I doubt that you're going to find a school with which you are entirely happy. Sentiments can vary from week to week depending on a bunch of different factors For us, even when you find a teacher you really like - if the teacher is sick one day, you end up being taught for a week or two by a 'relief teacher' who you might not like so much. We were lucky in bronze that the other bronze teacher was someone we also liked so we didn't have any bad teaching experiences, but it's pretty easy to imagine how you could end up with a different teacher and in an overcrowded class some weeks. Alternatively, you could really like the main teacher but you're not so crazy about the assistant teacher - that happened with OH last week. He really likes OH's silver teacher and has a lot of respect for her but is underwhelmed by the assistant. During Elbie's beginners, we really liked our teacher but she was married to another teacher who before and after class was always giving us helpful tips on Elbie, some of which were well-received, some of which were a lot more physical than we cared for. The tips were well-meaning but and very kind - but weren't quite what we were after. Because of the above, I figure that all you can do is try to find the best teacher for you and find the way that works for you during class. You don't have to follow things slavishly. For instance, our club is very pro-clicker right now, I don't mind using a clicker and will use one when I can, OH does not like them so does not use them during class although both of us will use clickers at home to encourage fledgling behaviours. That's totally fine. People at our club use a variety of different marker words and release words. Some people will stand in the semi-circle for training, some stand a little outside it and walk away with their dog when they need to do so. OH was remarking to me today that dog school is a lot more enjoyable when your dog behaves and does everything it's supposed to That's so true because I think as conscientious dog owners we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and worry a lot when things don't turn out the way we hope. Those weeks when things aren't going along so smoothly are very frustrating. At the end of the day, I've decided that I like going to dog school because: (1) our doggies love doing; and (2) I find that I actually rather like hanging out with other people who love their dogs - i.e. love them enough to spend time trying to socialise and train them and do the right thing by them. Good luck in finding a 'mostly suitable' school ;)

clastic: Those photos are adorable and that upside down photo of Pepper is extremely cute - I am also admiring her extremely nice teeth I always notice dog teeth since I see a lot of them when my two bare them when playing biting face ;) I was hoping that they would be totally exhausted from all the offleash running but when they got home they zoomed around a lot more, snoozed for a bit and now they're playing zoomie chasies in the backyard again. betsy: I think that heeling and loose-leash walking are two of the most challenging, least fun parts of obedience and dog ownership Still, I was looking at some old videos of Elbie when he wouldn't even let us put a collar on him and he got snotty when we tried to put a harness on him and these days he'll sit/stand there very placidly while he's being strapped in so I guess with all things dogly, it's a matter of perseverance. Elbie took an incredibly long time to learn 'stand' but now he does it on voice command from a sit or a drop and will hold the stand ... so when I get a bit disheartened, I remember Elbie and 'stand'. I was looking at some Kelpie photos and said to OH: "This red and tan Kelpie looks like Hoover when he's concentrating - especially the stripy fur on the neck." OH was a little horrified that I might get Hoover mixed up with another red and tan Kelpie so has pointed out that the above red and tan's Batman 'mask' is much more 'pointy' than Hoover's. On closer inspection, Hoover's 'Batman Mask' is certainly differently shaped - it kind of curves rather than ending on a spike. I'm not very good at remembering patterns though.

Thanks Lja - he was a cute pup. He isn't cute like that anymore though although he still has his cute moments :rolleyes: foxyboi: it was good to finally meet up. As you can see the club has a wide mix of breeds and our two love going to dog school so much. Here are the photos of Ike with Nugget, the other Shiba Nugget is on the left, Ike is on the right, with the redder fur. The photobomber is Champ, a Lab x Golden Retriever cross OH was very happy with Elbie - said he behaved perfectly in class today. Hoover had his moments - he was for the most part good but he was absolutely appalling during loose leash walking/heelwork. He wanted to sniff the grass, the air, the clouds, the dirt ... most of all, he wanted to stare at the other dogs and actually started whimpering during class - I think because he wanted to go and play. I'm going to have to work with him more during the week. The doggies were very happy though, they ran and played for almost 2 hours in the off-leash area and in the main paddock. OH has rather intense sunburn as a result but the doggies were very happy. I heard one of the puppy class students asking an instructor if she should take her dog to a dog park and the instructor said: "No - dog parks are just for people who are unable to control their dogs." ;) That being said, we never take our dogs to the dog park unless it's empty or it's populated with people and dogs we know ... Also, Hoover's recall is very good - Elbie's has becoming shocking when there are other dogs around. We're going to have to work on it. Here is the little menace himself being a lap dog Hoover being cute in his soft crate. He has some very cute looks sometimes It's been a busy weekend for us, with lots of errands to run and family matters to attend to. We always stop at the cemetery after dog school to put some flowers on Papa Koala's grave - takes about 5 minutes and we usually leave the dogs in the car. Today we parked in the shade but there were a lot of cars there and I had horrible visions of angry, self-righteous DOLers coming to smash our windows and liberate our dogs so OH stayed with the dogs and the car while I went to put the flowers on the grave.

How about 9.45am on Sunday? Then you can see classes in action, the mix of dogs, how many per class and even chat to teachers if you like. You'll definitely see Clastic & Mars, Hoover & Elbie - not sure who else will be there Sunday though.