koalathebear

random note - I love learning how to say "hello". He has such a cute look in his eyes ... Elbie gets that look sometimes when he's trying sooooooooo hard. Also, check out the tail - I'll bet the floor is clean now I am also very impressed by . Not only is she a beautiful-looking dog with gorgeous colouring, she's so clever. OH is currently scouring youtube for new tricks to teach Elbie ... ETA: Yoicks, lilli_star - just read your post about the bone. You must have posted the same time I did. I'm glad you were able to dislodge it. My old family dog Kitt had a similar issue and I also had to reach in and dislodge it. A lot of people get bitten when they do this but clearly we were lucky!! glad Roo is ok.

Nooooo please do bring squeakies! It's great training for the red and tan monster! I thought it was good for him to hear a squeaker nearby

cleoJ - gorgeous photo. I love how alert all the doggies look - except for the one at the front who is looking the wrong way. Also, please don't apologise! It was good training for Hoover and I was pretty pleased with how he managed to stay put despite the temptation to run away. You could have ended up with a Kelpie to add to your dog collection Also, OH used some boxes to form a tunnel to teach the doggies 'through'. Hoover went through without hesitation. Elbie hesitated but then went through. When they both realised that 'going through the tunnel' = treats, this is what happened: Yes ... he seems to think that if he just stays put in the tunnel he'll get treats ...

Max#1: Funny account of the first day back at class. It was a bit crazy at the dog club today. Soooooooooooo many lunging/barking/happy/sniffing/jumping dogs around. I saw a very embarrassed owner hiding in the corner with her barking dog and I said: "Don't worry, I have a dog that's just the same," and she said: "That's not possible," but Elbie was by the fence with OH barking like a maniac because he wanted to go and play ;) Max sounded like he was very funny at training OH said that Elbie's 'trick' fell flat because he was supposed to do 'drop dead' but every time he 'died', the dog next to him kept coming over to investigate as if to say; "Is everything ok here?" which of course made Elbie get up again About the rescue dogs - I feel so bad for those poor dogs ;) I hear sooooooooooooo many stories though about people getting a rescue dog with Issues and then having considerable heartache as a result. It's such a dilemma and it's not the poor dog's fault and blah blah blah ... I am not sure I could ever take in a rescue dog with my high strung Elborino ... the best I can hope for is very short-term fosterings of puppies or something ... In the fleshhair??? KA - were you lurking around BDOC today without telling any of us?

Lucky doggy - also a consummate actor if he can turn on the googoo eyes like that ;) This is my spoilt brat of a Kelpie thinking he is a lap dog He's pretty big for a lap dog! Note that he has already developed the Imperious Kelpie Stare: "Fan me, human!" Yes, that's my OH with the red and tan monster on his lap and yes OH is fanning the monster Sometimes OH wants me to look at Hoover but doesn't want to catch Hoover's attention so he will say: "Look at the red and tan ..." ETA: I've just completed 3 new rescue dog videos. This is .This is .This is . Such an expressive face! So far all the rescue dogs the subject of videos have found homes except and .

ravenau1: Great photos. Dogs in snow look like they have a lot of fun. wuffles: thanks for the temperature information. OH saw it before I did and was quoting it to me ;) wizzle: congratulations. The facebook photo was very cute but your explanation was definitely needed. I love the name Madeleline, too although my Madeleine friends have always ended up being Maddie, Madster and Mads which is not so pretty. lilli_star: wow that is commitment! I'm impressed but I can see how that's alarming. I'd probably freak out if either of our dogs decided to dig out of our yard! betsy: love the tongue-lick photo. So much enthusiasm and Doggy happiness kyliegirl: OH thought that the first photo of Echo with the shell was funny - he looks so unimpressed at having his digging limited to one area like that It was Hoover's first day in bronze today and his first official day at obedience class. He was soooooooooooooo excited - I've never seen him pull like that before! I'm happy with our class, we have cleoJ as an instructor and Clastic and Mars as class-mates. Hoover did pretty well for his first class - he was initially very distracted by a very happy dalmation but eventually settled down and did all of his exercises well. He wiggled his butt too much for sit for pats, but he knows cleoJ as a Friend and was very excited to see her. I'm not sure he understood what the whole thing was - it was lots of new sights, smells, dogs and experiences for him but what helped was his mat. As soon as the mat went down, he knew he was supposed to go to it and sit on it so that always provides a measure of structure in the midst of all the craziness Mars performed very well - very placid for his pats! At first I thought our two doggies would be lunging at each other during class but they were mostly pretty well-behaved with Hoover being the naughtier one! Clastic - it's fine to bring the squeaky toy - Hoover needs to be 'proofed' against distractions. Today was so funny because when cleoJ gave her "example" of how to call your dog, she said: "Hoover come here!" and I could see the look on Hoover's face as he debated whether or not he was supposed to go running off. Thankfully he stayed put. We were all very soaked by the rain but at least we weren't hot.

I've been curious, too i.e. why is a blue SBT any worse than any dilute colour in any other breed. Colour dilution alopecia can happen in dilute colours among Kelpies and other dogs but the SBTs blue seem to be much worse for some reason.

She is absolutely beautiful and I particularly LOVE the head tilt in the first photo. "Am I cute? yes I am"

foxyboi - have PM'd you. If you decide to come along to BDOC one Sunday morning with Ike to check out the facilities/grounds/classes/doggies, make sure you bring treats or toys along and we can TRY to show you some stuff. Keep in mind, we're used to working with Kelpies though Never had a spitzy though I love them

No way! I would never think that ;) besides, I've been in a class with Mars before - HH was always pointing out how well-behaved Mars was ... in comparison to Elborino ... Hoover is nowhere near as responsive to voice commands as Elbie - but he's going to have a lot of fun I think. Still - Thursday might be a cooler class ... (temp-wise and people wise ) foxyboi: For the first year of signing up, it's $170 ($70 one-off joining fee, $80 membership fee plus $20 for obedience classes). If finances are a bit tight and you can't enrol at BDOC at this point in time, we could probably arrange a playdate at some point and 'show' you some of the stuff our two monsters have been taught in class. We're definitely not instructors (nowhere near!!?) but having gone through the training with our two doggies, can definitely 'convey' to you what we've learned so that you could still work on stuff at home until such time you feel can enrol?

I feel this way, too. It's kind of like: "Make sure you buy from a registered breeder – oh and make sure that breeder meets with the approval of x% of the dogzonline forum … "

Well presumably all 87 listings on DOL are registered breeders and someone searching for a puppy could be forgiven for thinking that he/she was doing the right thing by purchasing from a registered breeder i.e. not getting from a pet shop or BYB. Even if you Google "Staffordshire Bull Terrier" with key words like "health issues", "health problems" - you only start getting useful information if you narrow the searches to Australia. "Skin problems" gives a tiny bit more but not much. It's only if you hop onto the DOL forum that you get more information but lots of people don't like internet chat fora. At the end of the day, if someone's already bought a puppy from a registered breeder, there's not much point making them feel bad. It's probably enough to tell them to keep an eye out for possible health problems that may or may not arise. If they haven't bought the puppy yet then there may be more room to move but let's face it, a lot of people like the dilute colours across a lot of breeds and dilutes show up in the litters produced by many breeders ... 'Unethical' is pretty subjective and an emotive word to be throwing around. Some might say 'unethical' can include being rude, uncivil and defaming others who are in the same industry. In the absence of a code of ethics prohibiting the breeding of dilutes, perhaps the most we could say is that it's just very irresponsible/undesirable/unwise to be deliberately breeding for blue ...

Foxyboi - great photos. He has such a soulful little face. Which obedience club are you with? I'd love to meet the little fellow one day

My younger brother has many phobias. 1. He always hated those black and white photos of Abraham Lincoln (like this one). Cruel and Evil Koala used to trick him into looking into the Viewmaster at it - I told him it was on the Disney picture 2. He hates clowns - although is absolutely hilarious3. He doesn't like inanimate things talking/coming to life so any talking broccoli/statues/cauliflower freak him out - even Sesame Street style. Me? I strongly dislike maggots. Hoover seems to have no fear. I guess those farm-bred Kelpies are bred tough ... Elbie's getting over most of his phobias, thank goodness. Last night, even with the crazy thunder and lightning he was totally fine. Too bad about the Robo Panda ...

Ooops. No, I am stoopid The doggies had lamb flaps tonight. We've had an annoying dilemma of the bone-feeding thing because they have to be supervised because bones are so High Value and a Potential Cause of Conflict ... Sometimes they take forever, they eat at different speeds ... Tonight we just put their leashes on them and tethered them a distance apart and gave them their lamb flaps. Problem solved. We still kept an eye on them, but we didn't have to be glued to their sides. Funny thing was - today they finished at almost exactly the same time. I am being overpowered by Lamb Flap Breath wuffles - I feel the same way. Sometimes the thread movies soooooo fast. I try to reply but I'm sure I miss stuff sometimes Will your trialling on Sundays still be at 8am? I guess you'll do trialling at 8am and assistant teaching at 9am? lilli_star: it is a freaky thing. I'm not surprised Elborino doesn't like it ..

Oh .. and Max#1 - congratulations on the new job! I hate wearing stockings to work in this heat .. I wish I could get away without wearing the darned things

lilli_star - don't worry. They're not Kelpie-proof either. One of mine gnawed on one of the trampoline beds - I'm think it might have been Elbie. They don't do it anymore though and seem to love sleeping on them now. clastic: Heh! Come on Sunday morning then! Then Hoover and Elbie can play with Mars in the offlead area. Hoover and Mars might even be class-mates! KA - was the evening session cooler than Sunday morning ... although I guess tonight wasn't too representative... max#1: Hoover's ok with the vacuum cleaner. Elbie does not like it. What he hates most is OH's Giant Robo Panda (given to him by my brother). Its eyes glow red, it moves robotically and sometimes it talks. Elbie HATES it and will circle around it barking like a maniac.

KA - glad it didn't rain! I was thinking about you all this morning on the way to work in the pouring rain. I was telling OH that you, Clastic and wuffles were all going to be at Thursday classes now!

lilli_star - very cute photos. Don't worry, Roo is still adorable. Labs stay cute! It's the snubby nose thing wuffles - poor Satch! He looks so unimpressed. He also looks like a housewife from Coronation Street. I've been reading yet another one of those endless Blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier threads. It's quite perplexing. To be fair to the novice, not everyone knows that there's a difference between a registered breeder and a trustworthy/reliable breeder. Even among so called registered, reliable breeders there are frequently points of difference. Also, some registered breeders aren't very friendly - it's a matter of luck who you get. For instance, a newbie looking for a SBT might go to the DOL listings. 1. There are lots of blue SBT puppies listed on DOL. A novice might be forgiven for thinking that they breeders are relatively trustworthy compared to listings found elsewhere. 2. I did a Google search for "blue staffordshire health issues". Results are here. Unless I limit the search to Australian sites only, I don't pull up anything in the first couple of pages that discusses health problems associated with blues. 3. I did a Google search for "blue staffordshire health problems". Results here. Same deal unless I limit it to Australian sites. 4. When I look up "blue staffordshire skin problems" I get a few more relevant hits but articles like this one aren't particularly informative. A novice would get lots of answers if they came onto the forum but lots of people don't care for Internet chat sites and wouldn't go near them for anything. The DOL puppy page is so interesting. 87 SBT litters. Yoicks! By far the most plentiful ... only five litters of Kelpie pups and 4 are showies (solid colours), one set have black and tans. 17 litters of Australian Shepherds which is quite a lot. Also, at the end of the day - I am not sure why blue is such a popular colour. It looks a bit strange to me. Working line Kelpies can also come in blue, see here but they always look a bit dusty to me ...

What you laughin' at??? Also, James is soooooooooooooooooooo cute in those photos. More cute than usual. He's also much more accepting of the towel than my two are! Gosh I love his snubby nose. I love my Kelpies but their snouts are so pointy ...

It is pouring with rain right now so no real need to cool the doggies down so I was just playing with the damp facewasher and the doggies. OH did not approve. Hoover - looking like a barrister Elbie, also looking like a nun but a less chilled out nun than James ...

I'm not sure they would care. If you look at the article I linked to above, it says this: And this: And this: As for pets: So it looks like for the centres that are full, they aren't even letting in children let alone pets even though as mentioned above there were 80+ people sitting out in the open. Very, very sad ...

Given that even people are being told they can't go into evacuation centres (see this article), I'm not surprised that pets aren't permitted.

I feel your pain. I've read so many of the panicked/grossed out DOL threads that go: "Why is my dog eating poo????" and I used to feel so relieved that Elbie had no desire to eat dog poo – he actually appears quite revolted by it and will avoid it like the plague. I was a bit grossed out when he ate sheep poo but all the Kelpie breeders laughed at me and said: "It's basically just grass!" To my revulsion, a few weeks ago, Hoover decided he wanted to eat Elbie's poo Absolutely no reason why. All we could do was: 1. clean up the poo even more regularly than we do 2. reprimand him verbally when we caught him doing it and shoo him away He seems to have stopped now. Generally he's very sensitive to correction so I'm guessing that for Hoover it was a curiosity thing and he has now lost interest in it. Good luck with Mindy!

Mine are both on the 12 month injections. After reading up on DOL, I bought a packet of the chews, printed out a lot of the literature and did talk about it at great length with our vet but in the end opted for the injections. It's definitely not the approved/preferred way to go for heartworm on DOL but it's worked out fine for us and both dogs are healthy with no side-effects.