Weasels

im south of the river in baldivis. Good luck with your trainer :) If for any reason you don't gel with the trainer, in that area I would recommend either Dog Charming, or - although I haven't been to her but heard good things - Kerry's Pawsitive Dog Training :)

I could be here all day if I tried to list the things Weez is afraid of :) But the foxdog seems to have just the one - old ladies. Not old men, not women less than about 60, just old ladies who are strangers. She does have some 'friends' (read: well-trained-ball-throwers) who are female retirees and she loves them to bits, but if we see one on the street she doesn't know she goes crazy

During the Perth blackouts recently our garage door has been inoperable, so a couple of times I've had to go all the way around my house to get to the front door. I could hear the dogs happily going off their 'nanas about someone being in their backyard, but of course despite having a dog door they weren't even considering coming outside to check - 'cos you know...it's raining and stuff..... *rolly eye man*

MTS I think if you follow Erny's advice you'll do well with Missy :) Crate training is the obvious solution to your bed problem. And maybe she likes the attention of being told to go back to her bed, so it's actually encouraging her to get up. I know from experience that poorly administered reprimands will send my boy into hiding for days after. It helps to develop a very clear line of communication, and like Ermy said, structure is a big part of this. I also feel it's very important to train Weez to understand what I expect of him and enough commands that I can tell him what he should be doing. I figure if I have to reprimand him for just everyday stuff that is a failure of either management or training on MY part. The more he suceeds and gets rewarded for, the more his confidence grows and the better the trust between us, hence he stops running off to hide on his mat. JME :)

I buy the Holistic Select fish or duck from either City Farmers or (usually) Better Pets & Gardens. My local BP&G has always had stock of HS, but I'm further south than Trinabean :) I've never seen Earthborn in a shop here, have only ever heard of it on DOL

Thanks Willow :) The foxdog is certainly safe and warm lying right on top of me :D Best wishes to your clan too! I hope no-one gets any damage!

Would she have such an obvious coat morphology but no other symptoms though? She has oodles of energy and is quite thin. When I first joined DOL I hopped into the kelpie thread to ask about her coat and was told it was not an uncommon pattern for a fawn dog. She was ~15 months old when we got her and she had the same coat. If it is likely to be a thyroid issue I'll do whatever it takes, but I'm curious to know if there is often an uneven progression of symptoms such that the coat indicates a problem years before anything else? Thanks :)

I imagine it helps to consider it a business expense! Compared to the costs of hiring someone to help out, then adding the costs of quad bikes or horses to move the employees around it doesn't look so bad :) And you never have to worry about worker morale or bludging with a good kelpie! :p -- Welcome The doggy diaries :)

Gosh Mack is a handsome devil! Love a good b&t :D My favourite photo has to be the red & tan sniffing the dog statue though! :)

Yeah our power was out from about then until 2 hours ago - glad to have it back on but wasn't at all keen on the cold shower this morning! >.< Yay Gibbs! :)

Can you get your Mum & other family members to approach him in the same way, to see if it's just you or if it's the gesture he's reacting to?

Yes and WeimMe's case does seem very extreme! That's why I said at the end a multi-pronged approach might be needed. My comment about training was directed at WM's second post about keeping a dog with stitches quiet, not about the chewing specifically :)

This is pretty much what I did with 'hurricane Weez' when I first brought him home. Although I didn't bother reprimanding him for 'bad chew', I just took it away and replaced it with a 'good chew' then praised him for chewing the new item. But then I was working from home and started working on the behaviour straight away, if the dog has an established habit I can see it might be necessary to use both the carrot and the stick. I also tried to increase the value of the 'good chew' items by playing tug with them, throwing them about or using food-stuffed toys. It is hard to entertain a dog with stitches (I recently had this problem with a young active kelpie!) but you've just got to get their brain tired out. Lots of little trick or obedience training sessions can really make a difference to their level of restlessness!

Would many people even know what a QR code was though?

Do you have a Cavalier pup as well? Edit - if your cane corso is still a pup, I think it would be better to raise and train this boy first, and get to know his adult temperament before adding a second pup, especially for dogs that are going to grow up so big.

awwwww.... My first dog used to go hunt for mice in the sheds while my Mum was feeding the horses - she got locked in them so often we had to teach her a "speak" command just so we'd know which shed she was in!

Does your dog get along with other dogs now?

That's good to know, thanks :) I've never seen another fawn or blue kelpie in the flesh so it's good to have the DOL brains trust :) It's times like this I really wish I knew something about her origins. Poor Mason Does his coat condition respond to a change in diet at all? (I know he's on a limited diet already). I can get Chess's shoulders and neck nice and shiny with a good diet but it still has limited effect on the short hair on her sides.

That's what I was wondering - does he sleep with you? Could you have been yelling or flailing in your sleep at some stage? Very strange Hopefully he'll get over it in a few days.

I like it when the higher trial levels go first - if they have trouble who am I to get worried about failing! We'll be sending you good vibes at least :) Apparently I have to give a demo at the Royal show this year I'm sure I'll be re-reading this thread then!

Thanks Trifecta. We did have a vet nurse at the house once who suggested hypothyroid, but she doesn't show any other symptoms and her coat has been the same since we've had her. She''s only just under 3yo though so we're keeping it in mind and at the first sign of any other symptoms she'll be straight in for blood tests :) Edit - Chess's 'stripe' This one is after a trip to the beach, so she's a bit scuffed up from towelling -

This has been an interesting thread for me :) My fawn girl has a not-great coat, she has double coat around her neck and on a stripe down her back, but just a thin single coat on her sides. I've tried to find out if this is normal because I've seen it on other fawn kelpies in photos, but didn't really know what to look up. It hasn't gotten any worse since we got her 20 months ago though so we don't worry about it too much, it just means she snuggles up to us more when it's cold :D I also just did some googling and found speculation that dilute is linked to a poorer immune system. We can't take Chess off Advocate because last time we did she got demodex So I wonder if there's something in that too....

I hope the Earthborn works for you MTS :) Perhaps the problem is you're looking at feeding on too fine a scale. They don't need every nutrient in every meal. Frankly although mine get Holistic Select (sometimes with yoghurt & sardines) for brekky, they eat whatever is leftover/about to go off/convenient, for dinner. They do just fine. Unless you are feeding a very intolerant dog or a top performance athlete, near enough is generally good enough. Edit - for another tack, you could try distributing the food as training treats. She might appreciate it more if she has to work for every bite.

Whilst I agree that training only with a halti is extreme, I don't see a problem with people specialising in a training technique as long as they are upfront about it and, like you said, only take on appropriate clients. I wouldn't expect most obedience trainers to be able to train a good running contact and I wouldn't expect most agility trainers to train a dog to drive sheep through a Y-chute. It's just a matter of specialisation like any other profession IMHO. If we required all trainers to be expert in every method and tool we'd have a flood of highly qualified people teaching new dog owners how to stop their dog from jumping up and chewing socks. There are lots of niches in training :) edited for grammar

I was going to suggest agility too :) Oodles of fun if you can find a club :)