whiskedaway

We don't have that issue with Aussies, they wiggle their whole butts and in some cases the whole body in several different directions at once. No doubt when a NBT/docked Aussie is happy! :D Haha, that is so true! Especially Holly! She has a massive wiggle.

Yes, Halo gets EXTREMELY car sick. She HATES the car and drools the entire time. I think it's anxiety now too. We've tried gingernut biscuits, junket, not feeding, have sat in the car with her and given her food in there, put her up high so she can see out the window, allow her to move around, restrain her... we're going to try peppermint oil next. We're heading to Mt Gambier for a show for Easter, so we're going to give her Phenergan so that she sleeps because if she's asleep she can't get stressed out. It's also used for travel sickness in humans, so it might help.

I think the thing is that you're talking to the converted here - we all know that the price we pay now guarantees us a healthy pet. Whereas others outside this forum don't know - they think "oh I could buy that from the guy down the road for so much cheaper" and don't realise that they're not getting a quality animal that's healthy and comes with a lifetime of breeder support. Nope, no guarantees. Sure, there's more chance that a dog from a registered breeder will be healthy, but it's only a chance. I've lost count of the number of people I know with registered purebreds that have an assortment of health problems. I probably paid too much for my first 'show potential' purebred. Her 'potential' never really surfaced. On saying that, I love her to bits and wouldn't change her for the world. The 'lifetime' of breeder support lasted until I desexed her Yeah, I still email her breeder updates. Only now I don't look for a reply as I know one won't appear. Well it depends on the breeder. I knew Halo's breeder through here before I even considered getting a lappie - I KNEW that I was guaranteed a healthy pup with lifetime breeder support because I'd had the chance to get to know the breeder, and I don't think I'd ever purchase a dog again without knowing the breeder or having a very good recommendation from someone I do know.

I think the thing is that you're talking to the converted here - we all know that the price we pay now guarantees us a healthy pet. Whereas others outside this forum don't know - they think "oh I could buy that from the guy down the road for so much cheaper" and don't realise that they're not getting a quality animal that's healthy and comes with a lifetime of breeder support.

Akira was cheaper than most Sibes, but she's not registered. She was also cheaper than her littermates because she was the last one left and her breeder wanted to keep her but his wife said no, so they dropped the price for a quick sale. At that stage, we thought it was a reasonable price - I didn't really know much about dogs from registered breeders and what you get with them. Halo was obviously more expensive, but she cost the going rate for a Finnish Lapphund and for what we got I would have paid any price.

I'm giving the Thundershirt a try too for Akira - Petswarehouse.com.au have the best deal on them. A medium would be fine for a lappie.

My OH reckons he can always tell which dog destroyed something by picking up the object and looking at both of them. He reckons the dog that's guilty puts its ears down and tries to hide whereas the other one just stands there. I told him it doesn't work like that because they probably both did it, but he's adamant.

Very exciting Dwilds! And what breed Quesada?

Congrats SmoothieGirl! That's fantastic!

This. OH spends money on his hobbies, I spend money on mine. His hobbies are his car and footy, mine are showing and training with my dogs.

Yup, don't stress, you'll be fine! It's over before you know it. And babies are allowed to be naughty - just have fun (and make it fun for your little one). My little one is a baby too and two weeks ago I had her gallop around the ring instead of gaiting. Hopefully she's a little better behaved this weekend! We're in group 5, so the ring next to yours (you have a Dobe, don't you?) Will try and keep an eye out for you.

Dandybrush, Halo is my second. I have bonded to her so much faster than I did to Akira (though Akira was hard work as a pup) and I love her as much as I love Akira now.

I just rang, they've still got some cheques to cash so if your cheque hasn't been cashed don't panic.

I've entered, but my cheque hasn't been cashed yet. I entered a week before the entries closed, so I might give them a call and check that they got it too.

I find with my sibe (and my lappie to a lesser extent) that they get over stimulated by something and then can't calm down. I find time out works (both get time out in their crates) or if they're being really bad, one spray with a squirt bottle is enough to snap them out of it. It doesn't hurt, but it takes their mind off what the issue was. Obviously we don't saturate them with it, and after a while it gets to be enough that you grab the spray bottle and they calm down straight away.

Not necessarily. Halo has a really good recall. She could be playing with Akira in the dog park and I'll call her and she comes running. Akira has a crap recall, but if Halo comes, she'll follow because Halo might get something that she won't. We took our breeder's advice and made training recall a game - we'd hide in the house, call Halo and she'd get praise, cuddles and treats for coming. So she knew that if she came to us she always had fun and got food. We were lucky though because Lappiemum had started all the recall training off for us because the puppies were always happy to go to her.

Thanks for the heads up Andisa! Will have to head over there tomorrow to grab one.

Yes, it's normal for some dogs to be more toy driven. We have some in our obedience class who don't work for food but instead work for their toy and playtime. Try something soft like Fritz (think you guys call it Devon) or cabana chopped up into small pieces. It's easy to eat and really yummy. Awww, Rebus is so cute!

Completely agreed. My lappie always surprises me with how smart she is - and I thought the Sibe was smart (though hard to train).

My sibe reverse sneezes - I find it's worse during hayfever season.

I've been so behind with uploading my photos and I don't have time to comment on everyone's right now, but some gorgeous photos! Week 9: Week 10: Week 11: Will upload the rest later

Awww, such a cutie!

The only problem is that now that we encourage it, she does it all the time and I often have this little puppy hitting my butt with her paws trying to get me to give her something, and she's always standing up against the kitchen counter trying to peer over it. I think I've encouraged another bench surfer! Willow is so cute dandybrush! Is she a koolie? Congrats Jakemon on Tess's win!

So so sorry Kirty. Run free, Phoebe.