Dju

That's Hugo when he was 16 weeks old or something like that His color is a bit different now, he's more gray. My mom says it is expensive if you're a pensioner and you need to buy bread with that money ;) Maybe I'll email them and ask to clarify.

Well he's 13 kilograms of "only little" but when I said that I meant "he's still a puppy" :D Quite a big goggie actually, but after a half hour/40 minute walk, he's absolutely knackered, so if you want us to go the whole 3k, someone better bring a pram, because he's going to roll over on the grass and be like "CARRY ME MOMMY!". ;) Like right now, we just came back from our walk about half an hour ago and he's snoozing under my chair with his legs in the air. And I just got the go-ahead from my mom, we're definitely going!! :D Do I need to buy her a ticket/register her as well? And she says she doesn't really want to walk, just roam around a bit through the stalls and whatnot, so would I still need to register her? I don't really know how it works.

There's no red size 8 :D I know, but my mom assures me that if she puts a ten through the wash the right way, she can make it fit a toddler ;)Oh, besides, about the walk thing, since Hugo is still only little, he might only be able to do the 1.5k walk, not the full 3k. Our breeder told us about 5 minutes per month of age and it takes him about 30 minutes to do a 1.5k walk with me

I might walk with you guys depending on whether who else comes along with me and Hugo to the walk (might only be my mother but if it's my boyfriend I'm kind of obliged to go where he goes and all that :D). I'll be buying a red shirt from this person on ebay (people who need red shirts should check that link out because they're as cheap as chips for people too lazy to leave their living rooms and venture into the scary world of shopping centres ;)) 'cause I don't actually have any plain red t-shirts haha. I also haven't signed up yet because my mother isn't giving me a firm answer yes/no whether we're going, so we might have to sign up like maybe a week before the walk or something. Would definitely love to join you guys on the walk if we come though.

I have but I want to design the layout and the buttons etc etc to make it look more personalised I'm a picky one.

Sorry tlc, his blog isn't up on a public server space yet (I'm using my uni's server space which means only uni students have been able to access it so far, I've still yet to buy a proper domain for it, but I will eventually lol Cat, I don't think he'll get much bigger than he is currently at 8 months but then again I can't really be sure since I've never had a Vallhund. He's about 13 kgs now so if he gets any bigger he might fall out of the breed standard or something I think he'll get fluffier and maybe get a bigger head though. His head still seems very puppy-ish, not sure how to describe what I mean. :D

Naw, just haven't been on much because there are too many way, way, way too interested in what and how I'm doing with my pup and just want to.. you know.. talk about how wrong I am and how right they are. You kind of forget that you can't say things on DOL that you'd say to normal people because you stand the risk of being the WDOE (Worst Dog Owner Ever), i.e. "I let my Hugo greet other dogs all the time, he's so happy and excited to see other dogs when we're on our walks so he just drags me over for a good butt sniff and some snuggles and they usually end up playing together for ages!" Two responses: Owners outside DOL: "Aww he's so adorable! We do the same, they have so much fun on their walks when they meet someone new." Owners inside DOL: "That's so rude! You should never approach other dogs without asking for their owner's written permission first! Why is Hugo dragging you when he sees other dogs? He mustn't be very well trained! Or socialised! Slack owner! Slack! I'm surprised your dog hasn't gotten into a fight and been ripped apart!" etc So sue me, I got a bit exasperated and I was like "Fine, I'll bugger off". I have a proper outside blog now that I can moderate and use it for what I originally intended for this thread--just a quiet little life/photo journal. Anyways That's not important, don't worry about that, just have fun reading about Hugo's super fun exciting awesome life recently and don't let the politics weigh us down! Okay? Okay! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the most recent update for anyone who is interested: Hugo was recently given a giant pork bone and he has been carrying this around all day. Sometimes he abandons it in the quest to find the PPP (the Perfect Place to Poop), so the chickens have been sneaking pecks of it and cleaned it of whatever meat was left on it. That's okay though since Hugo is more interested in destroying the bone. I don't think the chickens were finished with the bone though so you can understand their frustration when Hugo takes it from them and runs off to chew. So they went after him. They're still not ballsy enough to launch a full-scale attack against this scourge, so the best they can hope for is guerilla tactics (like those ever worked). No, I'm just kidding, they're chickens for doG's sake! They run up to him, try and steal the bone, at which Hugo indignantly stands up and runs away, sometimes hiding behind something, sometimes it's me, but they always find him. I think they can smell the fear and desperation in Hugo's sweat as he tries to protect his bounty and that's how they find him. Because you know, hiding behind my legs is a pretty rock-solid plan. Although he doesn't run after chickens anymore (okay, THAT MUCH anymore at least), he still keeps a watchful eye on them.. Because we all know the chickens are pure evil. He always finds a way to outsmart them though, because the smarts in this dog are strong. Speaking of smarts, the Huggle-monster has learned a new trick. Well actually, it's more like we've learned a new trick (and by that I mean me and my mother). It's called the "pat me some more or you'll get slapped trick". So it will be early in the morning and he will have flopped over to recieve his complimentary belly rubs much like a visitor to a hotel gets a complimentary chocolate on their pillow, and then we'd be like, "Little Dude, my fingers are tired, can I stop now?" He doesn't respond warmly to this. He gives us the ever-glaring eye (you just know you're in trouble then), and then he'll stand up and swipe at any of your limbs with his paw and if you ignore him, he'll stand on you and do it a bit more prominently. I will eventually get around to filming this as it's quite an interesting thing to watch, but for now you'll have to take my word for it. Don't let that adorable expression fool you, he is 100% pure Vallhund-evil. He will steal the juice boxes out of the bin and he will destroy them on your carpet when you're not watching, so you'd better give him all the belly rubs he can handle and pronto! Hugo has also found himself a new best buddy. He's a stuffed Old English Sheepdog, and he does everything with him. They're totally tight. Like this *crosses fingers enthusiastically*. When he's not dragging his friend around the yard on the grand tour (which the poor old man has been through many many times), they usually wrestle.. ...and wrestle some more until they both collapse from exhaustion. It's hard work being Hugo. And as a side note to DOL's Hugo fans who have been asking me this question a lot, yes, he still goes ga-ga for pink. You can tell from the crazy look in his eyes.

I think me and Hugo will be going to do the Million Paws Walk too! I'll be the only person there with a Swedish Vallhund I'd love to meet many other DOLers in person, though by the looks of it I only really know one or two people "personally" in this thread.. And if you see Hugo anywhere on the day, feel free to say hi (he's the well-groomed one), he'd love to meet your dogs, all your dogs, and probably go home with them afterwards LOL

The general consensus with everyone I know in the "dog world" is that it's "not horrible food but overpriced for what it is". We feed Nutro and Hugo is very shiny, does rather modest poops, and is altogether a healthy boy, so Nutro is what we're going to stick with

I'll scout out somewhere nice eventually.

Gold Coast! Crikey! When are there going to be central Brisbane meets, it takes me an hour to go north and an hour to go south, I can't win. (Technically, this time, it's not even Brisbane, it's 100km away from Brisbane)

Last night when I let Hugo outside for his midnight potty run, I went to the kitchen to fill up his water bowl and I heard Hugo going wild outside, barking and screaming at something like it was the end of the world! Rush outside, thinking he's seen a cat, and there he is, circling a toad in a 1m radius and growling at it. Not lunging or anything, but just growling and barking madly at it. I praised him heavily for warning me about it and I dumped some bleach on the creature and we went back inside. He got lots of treats for not attempting to attack it! I'm not going to leave him unsupervised again when I take him out at night, not even a little! I don't want to see my baby get poisoned if he suddenly does get brave enough to approach it for an attack. That being said, I think the video is just a joke.

They didn't ask me for ID either when I picked up Hugo. I just went in and said that my pup supposedly arrived on the 2:00pm flight and they made me wait for five or so minutes while he was transported from the airport to the Jetpets facility. I think they expect people to be honest..

I bought mine from Ebay. You'll find it's a lot cheaper than purchasing it in Australia (but that goes for most dog toys). Here are a few links: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/StarMark-BOB-LOT-Tr...=item2eb2660c8d http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Bob-A-Lot-Interacti...=item5196e194bd The smaller ones can be found too but I personally like the bigger variety.

I'd totally recommend a Swedish Vallhund They're up for anything you dish out, smart as a whip, and always happy. They are a bit drivey though, but we've already trained ours to lay off our chickens so I see no reason why you'd find it hard to train a dog not to chase your cat.

I thought that was a wild boar

My first experience was great! I was looking for breeders and not knowing the general etiquette of how to buy from proper breeders, I pretty much treated mostly everyone I emailed with the "How much" deal. It didn't even occur to me that I needed to write out a life story and what I knew about the breed etc etc because I didn't think getting a puppy from a registered breeder was like an interview process (until she nicely told me and THEN I put more detail into communications sent between me and my prospective breeder). Basically all I knew at that time was that there was a litter of puppies available within the next three/four months from a certain breeder and I jumped at the opportunity. I reckon it was fate--I loved the look of the breeder's dogs, the parents came from "good" lines, and my experience with her was wonderful. I'll never forget when she told me during our first phone call that finding good owners for the puppies was more important than money! I'm so glad about my choice of breeder. Hugo is perfect for me temperament-wise, and I lubbbb him sooo muuucch :D. Me and breeder talk to each other quite often nowadays, mostly whenever I have questions, and then spend an hour on the phone talking Vallhunds (LOL), and I would not hesitate buying another pup from her! I did contact a few other breeders about any prospective litters they were planning, but I noticed they were slightly less eager to work with me (possibly because of my stupid "how much" opening line, or maybe because I was a new dog owner? Not sure).

$19 :rolleyes: I also think you should explain how long it takes/the processes involved/etc. If it were my business, just for fun, I'd draw a chart of what would be done to the dog from the minute he steps into the facility from when he exits. Easier than explaining, fun little graphic. That being said, I don't know if $50 is a lot or not, since my breed doesn't require "grooming" other than cutting the nails and trimming around the pads of the feet, both of which I can do myself. I say charge whatever you can get away with charging, but that's the capitalist pig in me talking. If you get customers at $50, then it shouldn't worry you what a few oddballs say to you. You should see how abusive some people can get (behind my back and in front of me) when I tell them how much I charge for my artworks! But it doesn't matter since I get customers at that price, so there's no point in lowering/changing the price.

x2

I go by the "no more than five minutes per month old" rule of thumb. So, Hugo is 5 months old, so he gets 25 minutes of walkies.

Hugo responds best to his own name, but he will also come racing back if we squeal "HUGGY-BEARRRR!!" at him as well. My mother calls him Huggy, "you animal", "mali cuko", "kero seronja", asshole, Hugily, and of course, the ever popular Hugie Boogie. You don't even want to know what the Croatian ones mean.

Yep, I get these too. Hugo's also been called a wolf, which I thought was a bit ridiculous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intelligence_of_Dogs Interesting article, to say the least.

I wasn't aware there was such a thing as short coated border collies. (Is there a reason they don't want a purebred Kelpie though?)

I'm using the Mars Coat King on my Hugo and it's amazing, it just removes so much undercoat! Definitely recommend Mars grooming tools, they're so worth the price