Weasels

Of course, a GSP! Excellent suggestion I think :)

I'm sure I read somewhere that if a dog has a set feeding routine it will acually start secreting stomach acid at feed times whether food appears or not? (Not sure if that's true) Which is not necessarily a problem if the routine can be kept. I know that neither OH or I can guarantee a regular dinner time so I've never set one, they get fed anywhere from 4pm to 10pm and also don't get fed at all sometimes. But like SM said, whatever works :)

I do formal training like I do housework: sporadically, quickly, and sometimes not for a week at a time

I only do planned formal training when I want to teach something new really. The rest of the training at home is either when we have some food scraps to get rid of/dinner time or just when they are being too annoying and need something to do! Since our jogging spot has all the maintenance trucks out at the same time as we go, they get a good work-out with their directional cues (left/right/go), recalls and heeling to keep them safe and out of the way. And when I get the ball out they do some work for most throws. During herding season we spend 3 hours a week at training, doing 10-minutes at a time on stock then obedience/play in between to keep them occupied (although they are slowly learning to chill out when it's not their turn). We're planning to start Rally-O and have our own sheep to train on next year so will probably increase the planned training sessions then :) Re. the pros and cons - for us I think formal training is great for really getting and polishing a behaviour, and incidental training helps to generalise and increase reliability :)

Are BCs 'playing' dogs though to go with the dobes? The ones I've seen at the park and herding have been quite aloof and just focussed on their handler - are they different in their home environment? Aussie shepherd sprung to mind for the agility, not sure about the lure coursing tho.

Thanks Becks, I was kind of hoping it would have that effect! I won't pretend that was the primary reason though, it was just good ol' fashioned procrastination I saw the same dog loose on the street again a few days ago too. At least I know where he lives to return him now, but fortunately this time the owner appeared while I was still getting out of my car.

WTF O.o I hope common sense appears somewhere along the line.

What kind of harm is being done to the individual dog specifically please? I worm/flea treat my dogs slightly less often than recommended but still regularly, what would I be looking for in the way of damage/problems?

He's absolutely beautiful! :)

Grooming? O_o Nope sorry the kelpies and I aren't big on grooming :laugh: Been a busy week so the crate is still zipped up in the corner waiting to be cleaned Hopefully after we have some potential buyers come through the house this arvo I will get time to head out to the shops and peruse their cleaning range!

:laugh: that's a good point, would rely on me not talking about the kelps tho :p Seems unlikely...

Sorry I should probably put something in my sig....

Are you saying my girl is easy to win over?? Oh wait, yeah she is. Carry on :p

Hehe I decided Weez had had a good run of being my username and I didn't want to play favourites - so for the next year it's Chessy's turn :D

Not everyone ;) Chessy thinks you are the bee's knees! :D

Yes my 3 yo desexed female will air-hump her bed/blanket but never tried to hump anything else! She usually does it in the evening if the humans are too tired to be interesting, along with other boredom behaviours like shaking a toy while running in circles, or hiding a ball in a rug then trying to find it again. It's not disturbing to us at all, just dogs doing dog stuff :) OH or I generally comment something like "time for the 6:30 humping!" and ignore her, she stops after about a minute.

Wild dogs are crepuscular, so they are most active at dawn and dusk. A lot of their diet isn't large kills, but (in Australia) rodents, lizards, birds, rabbits, even grasshoppers. So I would say eating morning and night is fairly normal :)

Thanks Becks, Jr Inoz & HA :) Looks like I should head out and buy something to get any potential nasties out, might see what I can find tomorrow. Fortunately it's just their 'day' crate so the dogs aren't missing it too much. After all this it would've been nice if the lost-dog owners had even noticed he was missing

Thanks Willow! I checked and bleach and direct sunlight are not recommended by the seller, but I think the detergent and drying outside in the shade might be the go :)

I just had a lost dog here for about 2 hours, it was terrified so I put in in a soft crate with a light blanket. I've since thrown the blanket out but wondering if there's any other cleaning I should do before I let my own dogs back in the crate? The lost dog seemed to have very dry skin and I'm not sure about its flea status. Or am I being paranoid? Thanks

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/online/6235/the-fox-and-devil http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-05/foxes-threaten-mass-extinctions/4408604

Some faves, taken by my father-in-law :)

Another good article about the subtlties of dominance theory is here - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201202/social-dominance-is-not-myth-wolves-dogs-and (and links therein) Edit - and from Dr Roger Abrantes, head of the Ethology Institute at Cambridge:

I have one dog on Sentinel Spectrum and one on Advocate. The advantages of SS are that it does tapeworm and is very easy to administer (I just throw it at Weez and he eats it) but the disadvantage is that it only kills one part of the flea life cycle (eggs I think). The Advocate does all flea life stages but not tapeworm as mentioned, but I find the main disadvantage is that it stinks and is messy I keep Chess on Advocate (+ 3-monthly tapewormer) though because it also controls her demodex unlike Sentinel. If it weren't for the demodex I would have both dogs on Sentinel due to ease and convenience. But I've never seen a flea and not in a tick area, so those factor into my choices.

So sorry RV I always loved hearing Toby stories. Thoughts are with you and your family tonight.