Inevitablue

http://www.jpmphoto.com.au/ That is the photographer at Eastern Creek in NSW and http://blog.sdpics.com/ for Phillip Island. The prices should be on there. Just bear in mind that some tracks have exclusive deals with photographers. I'm not sure about Winton and Broadford though. Wakefield Park has no official photographer.

Agree with the rugs on the ground. Slipping can put joints out & cause soft tissue damage. I walk a 6 month old twice a day, for 40min each time. I think this is at the extreme end of the spectrum. Our parks around here are all tidal/flooding areas and are very soft and 'peaty' underfoot, I'd never walk a growing dog on hard surfaces. About a km of the walk is on the beach. Weighing up if controlled exercise is better than chaotic zoomies off stairs etc at home is a consideration IMO. Out and about for a walk and mental challenges then sleepy time at home. If I had a Lab though I would be more anal about the exercise levels. I believe it's a balance between avoiding concussive exercise, and building enough muscle to support the joints, particularly the hips. Plus nutrient supply to the body and the dogs/ breeds predisposition to joint problems. I'd stop the fetch on the pavement and encourage some swimming at the beach.

Torn anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus damage doing jumping at Sydney Royal. Full knee recon after than Last turn before the run to the finish line, bad pivot and snap! Thank Dog the dog had a good send on command and did the last 4 jumps by herself. We still got 3rd place YAY. Oh and the time I was drunk and was dared....hmmmm no, that wasn't the dogs fault

At the Petshop they should put an energy rating on each animal- This goldfish gets a 5 star rating with a 2kW energy and effort yearly consumption, Mr Rabbit is 4 star..... right down to the puppies, 1 star. Hmmmmm perhaps that won't fly

Not sure if it is even relevant, but from memory most of WA's nematode and flatworm population is now resistant to Ivermectin. The joys of something that is considered the best thing since sliced bread and everyone uses it. Not sure of the Ivermectin resistant status in horses, but I know many advocate the use of Abamectin now. The speed of which resistance developed in sheep worms surprised many. I wouldn't be surprised if the same applied to heartworms in dogs. Resistance sure is a dirty word when it comes to the pharma companies.

How behind the times is that! Yay for the people who give rescues etc a 2nd chance and have fun with agility etc. Not. How do they handle Sporting Register dogs? The sport of herding must be very small.......

I'd be placing an ad on flatmatefinders.com, or realestate.com.au advertising for someone to share with, if rent is too much on your own. You never know what that might lead to.

I wouldn't stress, I did exactly the same thing. I wanted a dog who knew how to play and interact with others. When she was younger she was allowed to play with other dogs (supervised and selected) but then we hit the point very quickly that as soon as she saw another dog she just went into silly crazy mode, her brain just flooded with adrenalin. I know people like neutralization, and I can completely see the benefits (ie. you wouldn't have done the puppy play) but I weighed up my options and having a breed with a low bite threshold meant, to me, that I wanted her to have interaction skills as well. Its now a bit of hard work on your part to be more fun than the other dogs. Im doing it by teaching 'leave' and using that when she is on lead and even looks in the direction of another dog. Leave, to her, doesn't have negative connotations, just means she has to wait a little longer before she can do/ get something. Also I have a special toy that I carry in my back pocket, a squishy, cylindrical chicken she looooves playing tug with it, and I use it as a reward sometimes. When I see another dog in the park now I keep her on lead and show her the toy, seeing how long I can hold her attention for. Sometimes means I have to clown around a bit and I'm working on getting closer and closer to the distractions. You see it all the time, dogs more interested in playing with their ball than socializing. Your lucky you have a breed that should have good prey/ play drive. My girl is 6 months old now and the ignoring other dogs is still a work in progress but we are getting there. Helps too that she has been to show classes etc where no interaction is encouraged, so on lead has never been too much of a problem. Her 'official' training hasn't been ruined, she just got her first ANKC pass. I'd teach the leave command, keep using your ok release, and work on having him really, really wanting something from you. You can get him back with treats, so when you do get him back get him to do some tricks, like shake hands and keep pumping small treats into him. Over a few weeks you can stretch out the time between treat giving. Try introducing a marker word, which means a treat is coming. Mine is 'yes'. If you don't want to use food all the time, try using games with you like fetch or tug. Short fetches can still be played on lead. Hope my little story helps!

It's not being made anymore cause they can't source the active ingredient. I just bought 3 bottles so that will keep me going for a while. Hope it's only temporary, but sounds like it could be the end for Proban It's the only thing I trust to keep the paralysis ticks off. Long shot, but maybe a compounding chemist can make it. Perhaps the supply issues are more financial/ regulatory?

Wait until you see the photos we got today! The Facebook link should make it onto the Yahoo group in next 24hrs. Congrats for today. I'm on such high HIC and a HT pass for the little blue fuzz girl.

Thanks guys, can't wait to join your Training Talk thread soon. Herding wise, she is such a calm little worker, and even though she is so young, she has been heavily socialized to life in general (helps being my only dog!). Exciting to work with as nothing in the environment rattles her but she is so sensitive to me and my handling/ commands. Congrats to everyone else over the weekend! Dogs are so much fun

The herding thread is too quiet for my brag My girl and I were entered in the Herding Instinct Test at the Working Dog Club Trial today, and after passing that with judges notes being 'excellent work' we got a move up to the Herding Test. She was so good, walked calmly to the sheep, sat while I led out to the sheep, went around the sheep in the direction I asked for, we steered them around the figure of eight, did her stop and recalled back to me away from the sheep. All in 1 min 36 sec!!! and with judges notes again being 'excellent work'. OH stuffed up the video, it's all fragmented I'm so proud, as she is only 6 1/2 months old. Second trial in 3 weeks, fingers crossed she gets her first official title at 7 months old. We have started playing in the PT ring too. Next onto the CCD ring. Yay! Oohhh and there were so many different breeds today, Belgians, Corgi's, Beardie's, OES, GSD's and my ACD.

What a horrible thing to happen, condolences and it's ok to be angry, sad, hollow........ I hope your surrounded by friends/family.

Good luck everyone at the Working Dog Club trial & tests tomorrow at Erskine Park :D Soooo excited, finally my girl is old enough to do a test. I will be the one with the little blue cattle dog, and the OH in tow with the camera

If it was me, I'd invest ~$150 and put up an electric fence around the backyard. When you move, or when you don't need it sell it on eBay. Front yard, no, but you have every right IMO to secure your backyard.

OMG, because I bought a pedigreed dog, then I'm to blame cause I wanted a 'pretty' dog

Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog

Lots of fun mock trials with no pressure. Dog learns that reinforcers can and do randomly appear in the ring, which leads onto one less thing for the handler to worry about 'oh no, he's going to work out I have no food' Mock trials so the handler can practice the serious trial voice I know I'm guilty of! I'm sure I used to try and compensate for the fact that I knew I couldn't use reinforcers in the ring by changing the tone of my voice to convey the message 'you HAVE to do this'. I was subconsciously trying to make my dog do it, cause I couldn't entice him with reinforcers. "Heel" with deathly overtones, or "Heel" with a pretend happy voice that my dog must have picked up on the nervous/ unsure undertones. EDIT: I'm sure this question is relevant. Mock trials are hard to organize, but if a small group of DOL in Sydney wanted to help each other out and meet at EP one day to do some mock trials can we do that? Can anyone use the grounds (if not booked) to train on? I'd be super keen.

I thought he was once heavily involved in importing Paints and Quarter Horses. There is a stud called Burke Stud near Windsor, and I vaguely remember some association, but I can't find it on the studs website, just the onsite stud manager is listed. The stallions and mares that were being imported were VERY typey and often were line bred. EDIT: http://www.burkestud.com.au/ From a bit of googling, appears he does still own it and appears he is doing a fair bit of outcrossing to thoroughbreds.

Hey ES, To see if you might like herding, and getting to EP is too difficult can you take a weekend off work and go to a Robert & Jenny Cox clinic? I recently took a 5 month old pup to one and it was great. There is one on the last weekend in July if your interested. All different breeds go, two gorgeous Corgis at the last one, and they tell me they have even had Poodles there. Not as good as weekly training, but you will learn what commands you need, and what to practice on at home. Hey, at least you have animals at home to practice on...... (jealous!)

My breeder lost her Jack Russell girl last week to a red belly near Penrith NSW. Snake had entered house yard, and being a JRT she killed the 5ft snake but was bitten in the process. She came home from work to find her still alive but foaming blood from the mouth, sadly she didn't make it.

Www.caninefunsports.com.au Website isn't working for me. Keith Edwards (02) 4776 1642 at Castlereagh.

Ok, I think I'm confused So HS you don't have to stay within the line of witches hats and do all voice control? My pup finally turned 6 months last week, so entered in a HIT (with moved ups allowed on the day) in 2 weeks :D She did the HT 3 times yesterday but I struggled with the sheep. Being an ACD she works closer than the collies and as a result the sheep push up quicker and were kinda swamping me. Slowly (read snails pace) working on a bubble. Can't wait to go for a road trip to Victoria and try cattle in the distant future. Have you guys tried cattle? I have been recommended a 3 day clinic in Tenterfield NSW called 'Low Stress Stock Handling' and it's on cattle.

At training yesterday I watched Ann Moy work her versatile herding champion dogs. I have been so focused on just getting through the Tests to even watch the Started dogs work. OMG even getting a Started title is unreal. The distance control is so impressive. The leap from PT to HS looks huge, training wise.

Have you ever competed Corvus? Or do you intend on competing ? Do you train to the parameters of the ANKC? Otherwise how is what you do at home with your own dog (and we all like teaching things, exploring and playing with our dogs, im sure all on this forum take great delight in this) relevant to what this thread is about. Input, yes, but relevant?