Lollipup

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've posted! But I really wanted to share something I created. If you didn't know, I make educational yet entertaining videos through my brand. I hope this brings a smile to your dial and I'd appreciate any shares if you do enjoy it. https://dogmatters.c...-your-dogs-poo/

Correct socialisation is crucial. Think of it as a vaccination against behaviour problems, some of which cause more dogs to be put to sleep than those that die of the infectious diseases vaccinated against. And correct socialisation also involves a lot more than just a vet puppy school. Take puppy lots of new environments, meet different people, traffic, machinery, noises, all neutral or positive experiences (just use common sense and don't let puppy on the ground at areas highly trafficked by unknown dogs). Make sure the puppy school you go to doesn't allow a free for all where puppies run around crazy as this can cause issues for you later. And make sure the trainer has experience and preferably qualifications with behaviour and training, and is not just promoting products they sell or are endorsed by.

I'm so sorry

Where do you find house sitters that you trust with your animals? I don't know anyone local that I would rely on.

Jason Euler from dog services. Over a decade of experience and a lovely guy. Pm me if you can't find his number as he doesn't have a huge web presence

I'd join if there was one close enough for me. As it is I have to travel 6 hours for IPO

He: "You should add breeding to your business because there is BIG money in it these days!"Me: "I don't believe in breeding for money, there is a lot more to it than that. It's quite involved and expensive and you don't actually make much money if you do it properly with all the health testing etc"He: screws up his face, "what? You just put a male and female together and it makes puppies, what is so hard about that?"

Poor Nova and poor you Lisa! It's so frustrating and annoying when other people being irresponsible impacts us and our dogs negatively. And when they are so impressionable. I can relate!

Hi Jimmay, Yes I do it often. I bought the springer bike attachment to do it more safely and its great. Makes it a lot easier and safer. My husband is a metal worker and he made his own version which is more like the walk-dog bike attachment. Our two dogs that we take biking are a show-line border collie and a cocker spaniel x fox terrier. We try to mostly stay on the grass on the side of the road. I don't like them running on the hard hot surfaces too much, especially when it's hot and sunny. But we mostly go late afternoon and evening. We are lucky to have a huge park with a big flat grassy area and I take them up and down that a lot. We also have a lot of bike paths and most our rides would be for about 30-40 minutes and cover probably about 7klm (estimate). We have worked up to that - originally 10 minutes of running was plenty. We go at a trot speed with occasional faster bursts on the flat grassy areas. It tires them out well. My border collie had elbow dysplasia as a pup and has had an operation. All good now and no signs of lameness but we have to keep an eye on it. He is not like your typical border collie. My spaniel has a lot more energy and goes faster for longer. I also have a 7 month old belgian malinois who is too young for long rides, but have started doing very short and slow goes on the grass with her to get her used to it.

An ex neighbour of mine had a dog killed by a snake while he was home but he didn't notice in time. He didn't work because he was a drug dealer so his dogs got to spend a lot of time with him.. no more though because I hear he's now in prison... My point is you don't need to be at work or even away from the home to miss an incident

So in this heat I've been wearing a light and cool boob tube style dress, like a sarong but holds itself up with elastic. I took Envy out the front to see what OH was doing - he was working in the yard. She pulled by dress down and exposed me to the street That's a naughty yet talented dog.

I disagree too. My OH and I were both working full time for our first 2 pups we got at 8 weeks of age. And almost full time for the third one who has been raised separately to the other dogs for the early stages and is a high drive breed. Most people need to work to support having a dog and most jobs are full time. Our first dog is a very happy independent girl. I'm actually happy she learned how to be alone at a young age.

Yep :)

This is Zola who we are puppy sitting this week. Cute little choc lab 12 weeks old

Just had a long weekend down near Brisbane and was able to get together with some good friends who are also trainers. Here is Envy loving it in protection training: Look how big she is: And afterwards:

Well my well socialised confident malinois puppy at 7 months of age yesterday on our walk was afraid of a black garbage black moving in the wind on the side of the road. I couldn't help laughing at her and I knew she recovered quickly. So here is the before and after pics of how we got over it

Thank you! Awesome video, gave me some ideas for Nala. Having her at work means she's met well over 100 people, but i'd like to introduce her to different situations as well, but work + beach + vets are the only places she's really been due to not having her vaccs finished. Today she had her 2nd and final vacc (didn't realize the vet gave her the Novibac until AFTER she'd been injected. Thought they'd ask at least!) so we can get out and about properly in a week and a half. Might take her to the sunday markets, a park etc. I don't have a horse to introduce her to though lol (wish I did, dallies are perfect horse dogs) By then she'll be in her fear period though...did Envy get out and about the whole time? Sorry for the late reply, yes she did. I just kept an eye on her behaviour with things and made it all a positive experience with the positive coming from me. Tried to make myself the most rewarding thing in any environment.

It's really frustrating isn't it. I work with dingoes for the local zoo and they are beautiful amazing creatures and so gentle.

Well done on Nala winning that photo comp! I can see why! She is beautiful! Today I finally got around to making a video of some of the places we took Envy as she was growing up for her socialisation. She was so little back then! Hope you all like it

Envy turns 7 months old on the tenth so two days. I can't believe it!

Getting bigger!

Oh yes if I were closer I'd seriously be looking into what Steve Austin is offering. Animal Industries Resource Centre is the other group who runs the cert IV and other courses as well - http://www.provetlearning.com.au/CoursesAvailable/CertIVinCompanionAnimalServices/tabid/387/Default.aspx

I did the NDTF course in 2010. I have mixed feelings also. I did the block training in Qld, only the second block to go through qld. I would go to Melbourne if I could do it again. The good: - Met a lot of good people, other students which I have kept in contact with and are great friends now. Also enables me to network even further with other trainers all over the country - Practical hands on experience with dogs. Although this could have been better - Fairly good foundation and overview of behaviour and various training methods, depending on who you get as an instructor. The not so good: - They tell you to have an open mind but some of the instructors are very close minded themselves and stuck in old methods - The admin was shocking. Really slack. Took ages and lots of chasing up to get anything done. I know of people whose assessments (video ones on USB sticks) were lost by the admin. High staff turnover. - The dogs you work with in the Qld block have already had some training so you usually weren't getting the experience of training a dog from scratch - The course is expensive for what you get, in my opinion - Thinking for yourself should be encouraged but if you don't regurgitate back to them what you read in the notes, you don't pass. - You don't get much help on setting up a business or any of that side of things, but you can get this outside of the course by talking to others who have done it I'm curious about the Delta course but I know they are positive only so that may suit you, but for me I wanted to learn about all the methods and then make my choice and that's why I chose NDTF. There is another course which is the same Cert IV as delta but run by a different company. I would possibly look into that. I have also heard good things about CASI which is online learning. I recommend you get a puppy after you've done a course/more learning. I wish I had waited as there are a lot of things you can learn about how to best raise a pup for what you want. I look back and think how differently I would have raised my dogs if I had got them after I'd finished the course. My new pup has been raised very differently and for the better.

We had a magpie for a while and it used to play like this with Lola. I had a video of it somewhere but I can't find it anywhere, it was probably on my hard drive that crashed

With my latest pup the breeder recommended two pups that suited my needs and then I was able to choose between them. I then asked her opinion, she said which she would go with and I picked that pup and I'm very happy with her. I valued her input as I knew she was very experienced at matching the right pup to the right home