whiskedaway

As with what others have said, my Sibe is also very prey and food driven, and very intelligent. The fact that she's food driven makes her easier to train, but she's not the easiest in the world. We have worked fairly hard with her (my girl is 10 months) and we get a fair few comments on how well trained she is for a puppy. As a pup, they are definitely harder to train than other breeds, but once they grow a brain they get a little easier (Akira is finally starting to get to this point). Intelligence can be difficult, because they will go "Why should I do what you want?" at times, and other times they just won't listen at all. But they are definitely trainable if you put the time and effort in. No matter what though, there will be times they say "Stuff you" and go and do their own thing, no matter how well trained.

Congrats Parrotpea, that's so exciting! Not long now! We're driving to Melbourne on Sunday to visit OH's family, and also our breeder and the pups. Soooo excited.

Yep, perfectly safe. And yes, they work. They take a couple of days, but they definitely get rid of the flies. Put them away from entertaining areas though, because they draw the flies to them.

I'm pretty sure there was/is a deaf dog at my obedience club - I remember someone talking about him and I think it was there that I heard about it. I go to Para Dog Club, maybe drop them an email and ask?

At least with Akira not there this time, all the other dogs will get a turn in it rather than her hogging it the entire time.

Final two Akira photos. I just went back to the start (which was week 17 and the day we got her) and I can't believe how fast she grew up. She didn't really stay a puppy for long! 51/52 And 52/52 is my handover photo. Because we don't actually have Halo yet (she's 4 weeks old and still with her mum and littermates), I wasn't sure what to do, but then Akira solved it for me when she was being very cute while watching a video of the puppies on the computer. If you want to see all of the photos, they're in this album on Flickr.

LOVE!! I completely second this one! Beautiful! My top 3: I'm hoping to actually take a few non-dog photos next year.

The 2nd is forecasted to be 25 - what a huge drop from the day before! http://www.bom.gov.au/sa/forecasts/adelaide.shtml

My girl is a licker too and like Dyzney I'm pretty sure it's affection based. She won't lick people unless she really really likes them. She has a command for licking "kiss kiss" and this has helped us to get her to realise there's a time and a place for licking. She's still a pup (10 months) so sometimes she gets a bit over-excited and we get a kiss frenzy, but she's heaps better.

That pipe used to be from the old dripper line. The drippers were pulled up when the front yard was redone, but that part of the pipe went from the ground to the tap (and goes under cement) and so is still there. So it was unscrewed from the tap, and Akira decided it might be fun to play with. We didn't mind because we were planning on cutting it out anyway.

How exciting. Can I ask where are you getting the Lappie from? Just that I know a couple of breeders in Victoria with pups at the moment We're getting one of the Taigakoira pups. Okay, I have FINALLY uploaded all of Akira's pictures. They're on Flickr, and here are two of the latest: Week 48: Week 50:

Aww, I'm really wishing I was going to be there now! I want Sammie cuddles! May have to leave Halo with the OH for the February meet and come and see Cooper.

Merry Christmas Troy and also to the rest of DOL. I hope your Christmas is fantastic and your 2011 is happy.

Exciting, Kyliegirl! And congrats LoveLea! I worked out this morning that it's only 9 days until we drive to Melbourne to meet our puppy. I can't believe it's that close! January feels like it should be ages away!

We've done almost every type of collar available due to Akira's pulling. We started with a flat collar, then a harness (she now only wears that in the car or if we're walking a short distance because she pulls the worst in it), then the obedience school suggested a halti (which didn't work), then we tried a martingale and now we use a slip collar. Slip is the only thing that's really helped so far, or maybe we're just making a break through in her training finally!

My goal for 2011 (being completely new to showing) is to have fun and learn heaps.

So exciting Atua!!! Gordon Setters are gorgeous!

It feels like only yesterday that he got the first points towards it. I'm sure he'll get there very quickly!

I agree with as early as possible. We did training at home (Akira knew sit, stay, and how to drop from a sit before we started classes, as well as some tricks) and she started obedience when she was 4 months old. Halo's training will start the instant she comes home too, though she'll be taught stand rather than sit.

Completely agreed. We keep everything off the counters now and any cooling baking etc is kept either in or on top of the microwave, or on top of the fridge. If we catch her with her paws on the counter, she get told "Down" and if she's not listening (because she is a Sibe after all) I'll sometimes put my hand down on the counter so that it makes a slight noise next to where her paws are and she'll get down. The biggest problem is when visitors come over because they don't realise and leave things where she can get them. For us, it's not just a matter of stopping her stealing our food, but also because eating anything not in her diet makes her sick (mostly bread, but there are a few other things that upset her belly too).

Loving the pics!

I'm not sure you want a dog that does dishes, my Husky is a pain in the behind because the instant the dishwasher is opened, she's there trying to lick the dishes and the dishwasher. He's gorgeous, Dxenion!

Congratulations. I'm a Facebook friend and regular Kepala goer with Terri and her Lappie pack. Tasha is a lovely girl. I keep watching the puppy updates she's posting online. Do you know which collar colour pup you are getting yet, I can go and have a look for him/her. Nah, don't know yet. Because we're getting a show girl, we're waiting to see how they develop. However, I do know it's one of the four girls. I'm watching the puppy updates too, and get very excited each time there's new photos. They're really starting to look like dogs now! Congrats on your puppy too!

Are you getting a puppy from Bokezu? I know they had a Vizsla litter born last week. I love Vizslas, I used to own two, and I see you're in SA. We should make a play date when we've both got our puppies. :D Whiskedaway, not getting one from Bokezu although their dogs are so nice and what cute pups and such a big litter! Ours is coming from vic only 7 weeks to go! Would love to organise play date where in SA are you? I'm in the North - Golden Grove area.

And my Husky is the same as well. Has to sit in the rain. :rolleyes: She's a gorgeous girl, Alasse.