suziwong66

you still go to SAODC MRB? i'm going back next year after a year off; i just couldn't take anymore of the head trainer. Looked on the website yesterday and saw a different head trainer I'm thinking of putting norty brown dawg into the CCD classes as well as the new girl in grade 1. We didn't actually graduate grade 5; i got bored of walking up and down the field week after week after week so we're officially 'drop-outs'

a rare pic of my two sitting quietly...food is of course involved in creating this calm

her teeth are dropping like flies; today we discovered both bottom centre teeth gone and the two top centre teeth gone; one top adult tooth has sprouted through. She reminds me of "Ramona the Pest"

I'm doing a workshop with Alexis (Scholars in Collars) next weekend which specifically deals with 'meeting manners' which is my boys downfall. I'll let you know how it goes. The biggest issue i've had with training clubs is the lack of people skills that trainers have.

At this time of the year you'll probably have to find a private trainer as training clubs will be closing down for the year until February. I'm in the same boat with my 15 week old labby bitch but i don't go to training club to teach her obedience; i do it for the exposure to other dogs and the certificate for the small council rebate on registration. I train for obedience and general manners etc at home and then generalise out in public. PM Ness, she may have some ideas about private trainers around Adelaide.

Her older brother had his 'devil child' moments, but he's a very soft and gentle boy...not her though.

She has the face of an angel but she's a devil child

Laiken lost her first puppy tooth today - can't say i'm too sorry to say goodbye to those razor sharp horrors

I agree; consult an independent vet before you make any decision. I sourced a great breeder when looking for a male chocolate labrador retriever more than three years ago. She had a litter that was ready to go and a litter that was due in a few weeks. We put our name down for the litter yet to be born. On the night of the whelping we got an email that we were getting the only male puppy; we were ecstatic. The puppies had an initial vet check and then again at six week they had another vet check - the entire litter had a very small over shot jaw that was found on the second vet check. After a great deal of research we were informed that the overshot jaw was minimal and may or may not self correct by about six months of age. We decided to go ahead with the purchase given that he was never intended for conformation showing and we had the time and resources to care for him if he needed care. Three years on, our boy still has his minimally overshot jaw which presents no major problems for him. We take him to our vet every six months to make sure his soft palate is okay because his bottom 'fangs' don't sit in front of the top 'fangs' - instead they both push into the soft palate to differing degrees making holes. We will do this for his entire life. If we happen to take him to the vet for other reasons, we still get the vet to check his palate so we can keep an eye on it. It was a costly exercise for the breeder; the stud dog was one which she had imported and the pairing was a maiden pairing. After the diagnosis of the litter, he was desexed and sent off to live with the breeders adult daughter in Qld. She had invested a great deal of time, effort and money in introducing the dog to her breeding program and in the end it amounted to nothing. If you're seriously considering purchasing this dog, make sure you are independently informed of its issues and how they may proceed into adulthood - so you can make an informed decision about whether or not you can meet its needs.

Apart from the travel crate for the puppy in the car, we have Vebo wire crates and ex-pens. love them.

go and see the breeder and the pup: you appear to be in a hell of a hurry to buy a puppy. Take your time: do your homework.

As sad as it is that you have missed out on the puppy you want it sounds like you may have dodge a bullet anyway Perfume...in terms of having a relationship with a breeder/s with no communication and whom one has no people skills. Aside from two wonderful dogs from the same breeder, i also go a wonderful friend and ally out of my dogs' breeder; you can't buy that!

Any normal person would have exercised some common sense and when asked to stay away, would have gladly opted out instead of encroacing on your personal space and literally force his unwanted attention onto you. That is not normal behaviour, he was clearly harassing you. Your husband didn't say anything to this tosser? No, my husband treats me like the independent adult that i am and lets me deal with my own problems and i'm happy that he doesn't take over; if someone were physically abusive then that would be a different matter.

i may try a martingale flat collar with a harness; we'll see. it's really early days for leash skills atm

i'm not sure if the Easy Walker can be worn under the harness because the front strap of the harness sits where the front of the EW martingale sits. i'm going to take her to have a try out of the Ezy Dog Harnesses with her EW harness.

As TSD said in my recent thread about stupid people: "you can't fix stupid"

i'm looking into this, i've emailed k9pro about how long a back order would be as they're out of stock atm...the one downfall of harnesses is that they are back clipping and Laiken is on an Easy Walker harness as she pulls and has only just started learning any leash skills.

I find having dogs that you take to shared public spaces is tricky and inconsistent. On one hand i'm expected to keep my dogs away from people and other dogs in case they don't like to be approached (which is a responsibility I fastidiously uphold) and on the other hand I'm expect to allow all and sundry to approach my dogs in any manner they want irrespective of my or my dogs' needs. There appears to be an unspoken assumption that once you take a dog in public you lose the right to peace or to be left alone and you're in the wrong if you insist on maintaining that right. When I was in Paris and Berlin earlier this year there were dogs in all manner of shared public spaces and the dogs were left alone by others. Why do Australians find it so difficult to maintain some kind of respectful behaviour when with dogs; both their own and others'? I have a friend who on one hand gets pissy when people let their dogs approach her in public spaces because she's had a bad experience in the past (which i find a reasonable expectation for her to have) and yet tells me that she would be one of the people who would pat my dogs in public and her excuse is because she loves dogs

We tried a new cafe for breakfast this morning; pup wore her high viz learners vest & i moved her mat under my chair. Once i can have her on the ground without harassing her brother it will be much easier. The new place isn't as crowded with tables & chairs packed in on top of each other as well!

it doesn't bother me when people stand at an appropriate distance and ask to pat etc and accept "no" and we have a chat etc I just don't like being hemmed in by someone with a large dog that i know is going to set the puppy off barking because he's sat it a few feet away from her and at eye level. Wilbur sits quietly and is fine, but the puppy is learning how to behave in public and people who push their way into our space when we are CLEARLY sitting at a table eating etc and won't move away and then get pissy because i won't do what they want, the way they want are not going to like my reaction.

She isn't loose leash walking yet and wears an Easy Walker front martingale harness...is it possible to put the harness over the Easy Walker?

A harness works great. I had one of these http://www.k9pro.com...og-harness.html on roscoe as soon as he was big enough to fit it with a "in training" badge on the sides. I got really sick of the question "whats he in training for?" but it definitely stopped people from just walking up and trying to stick themselves/their dog in his face. i have a high viz vest that says : "L"earner (L is like an L plate on licence) please ignore me i'm training. I had it for Wilbur and people still came up to me. She wore it today to a new cafe that has a better, less crowded physical environment. Even when walking down the street toward the cafe, someone saw her and then let their dog cross the path toward her; i managed to block the dog with no hassles and just kept on going. Anyone that talked to us, did so from a distance and didn't encroach on our personal space - exactly how i expect people to behave; with respect and politeness. Today she was much more reactive toward other dogs in the environment than ever before so i'm going to have to make sure i have very high value treats with me all the time when out and about to keep her distracted. I'm doing early stage LAT with her but she still has a low thresh-hold when dogs are too close. I may put Wilbur in his big harness that has the velcro patches; i just need to get the training patches for it. Generally people now leave us alone when he's with us; he's a big boy. A month or so ago, a bloke from the next table tried to entice Wilbur over for a 'hello'...i stopped that pretty quickly; it was friendly and all fine. People see a labby puppy and their brain turns to mush apparently

I have a definite gender bias toward males...the new puppy is a girl and we chose a female to try and create a harmonious household with two desexed opposite sex dogs - she's not desexed yet, that won't happen till she's physically mature.

Sorry, but i don't intend to follow suit and not take my dogs out in public places that we enjoy frequenting together. I am however going to pick other eating locations that have physical environments that are better suited to keeping passers-by from encroaching on our personal space. Additionally the puppy will wear a high viz vest indicating she's in training. I am normally never stressed around the dogs, even when people approach us. But on this occasion we were hemmed in and then followed by this man and his dog who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. I reacted fine in the initial stage: I asked him to move away twice and he wouldn't move away. I knew that the puppy was going to react; he came too close and confined us in to the wall. I reacted in what i see as the only possible solution; to move away to reduce the puppy's reaction; because he wouldn't...even then he followed us. The way i see it, he was harassing us.

I'd love to do Therapy work with Wilbur but i don't think he'd pass their test...especially the one with other dogs passing by. He's fine if another dog ignores him but if he other dog is reactive he'll try to pull toward it. he's not totally bomb proof either; he's fine on the street but if someone jumped out of a bush at him he'd have heart failure and bolt. I'd love a training camp that you could go to with your dog to train for it; i'd certainly commit to the work. I'd love for my dogs to be community volunteers.