Weasels

:) I think last year they had some 'come & try' days at Bedfordale, I'll find out if there are any of those coming up and let you know :) That would be awesome Thankyou :) Emery the trial tomorrow & on the 23rd June at Bedfordale are open to spectators, I will try to find out if the trial next month has an open day for doggies to try too (there seems to be some confusion :))

No idea, but squeeee! :D Such cutie pies :) Ok I'm going to say cairn terrier cross.... I would've said staffy :p but no clue otherwise :)

Puppy or no puppy, that middle comment is going to get a reaction tho.

Most of us have to do something for a crust, and working hard for a set period then resting just suits how some ppl like to do things. There are jobs out there that are far more destructive to families. .

What about people in the military? They often have longer and more unpredictable absences. Are they also on the "no sell" list?

I agree! I have a rescue and a purebreed and am proud of both of them. Double I could reach out to rescue today and find multiple wonderful kelpies who were only abandoned because their owners weren't able to meet their exercise and training requirements. And as long as they have the kelpie brains/work ethic and have passed their temp tests I am quite happy to work with them to overcome issues they may have. BUT that's just me, I have the time & inclination to do that. If my preferred breed was something not so overrepresented in shelters or I didn't like training I would find a good breeder, and advise others to do the same if asked. Also say what you will about me, but god help anyone who calls my dogs inferior :laugh: A good dog is a good dog, and there's nothing better really :) Edit: and as long as puppy farms exist and pet shops sell dogs, arguments between rescue and reg. breeders is a huge waste of energy. Rescue need to focus on where the real problems are (which the good ones already do).

i always say 'wait' and give a hand signal to my OH when I'm about to cross a road too :laugh: :p when I see a bike while I'm driving to work my first instinct is to play 'look at that' with my not-there dog

I've managed to get both of them over it as-is, but I've bought an extra chain to reinforce it just to be safe :) :laugh: lucky Ella! It's so great when they get along so well :)

:laugh: they're never far away - just in case I suddenly start doing something exciting, they don't want to risk missing out

Amypie - my backyard is looking increasingly kelpie-friendly thanks to your help :D

You can get a $5ea discount for joining the herding club ($10/yr) and another $5ea off once the dog has its first herding title :) We pay $40 per session for 2 dogs and up to 3 hours on stock. I understand about the travel though! It's not so bad for us, but if we lived any further north I'd probably struggle too Oh that's not too bad if you get that amount of time and discount is offered. I might come down dogless and watch for a bit and see if it is something i want to pursue :D :) I think last year they had some 'come & try' days at Bedfordale, I'll find out if there are any of those coming up and let you know :)

http://www.ashgi.org/color/aussie_eye_color.htm Scroll down to the 'eyeshine' heading, has some info :) By my reading, for the blue/green it's probably angle, it it were green/red it would be due to the structure of the eye. Also, gorgeous Aussie pics :D

You can get a $5ea discount for joining the herding club ($10/yr) and another $5ea off once the dog has its first herding title :) We pay $40 per session for 2 dogs and up to 3 hours on stock. I understand about the travel though! It's not so bad for us, but if we lived any further north I'd probably struggle too

When I called my mum yesterday she asked me if the dogs had brought me a breakfast bone in bed. I was very happy to report that they hadn't

I think when the stakes are high, it's the responsible thing to do. If someone comes on with a problem of training tricks or sports etc. where the consequences of getting it wrong are low, then people have great advice. But in cases of aggression or potential aggression, the stakes are higher, and people recognise that they can't see the dog, the child or the handler, and therefore giving wrong advice could have bad bad outcomes

I have heard (although this is second-hand info so I can't verify) that there was a dog near us that killed 2 small dogs in separate incidents after it kept escaping from its yard Hopefully something was done after the second incident, but I would've thought killing another dog would've warranted a stronger response after the first time. Edit: it wasn't a bull breed either

Yay Kenz :) Now you rest up so you don't give poor Ness anymore stress :)

For me it would depend on who I was leaving them with. The last kennel I went to, one of the owners already knew my dogs from training, so I trusted them to make the call about whether there were other dogs there they would get along with. If it was someone I didn't know at all, I'd possibly prefer to keep them separated. But then again mine have each other, if I only had one dog and was going away for weeks it'd probably be better for him/her to socialise at least a bit in that time. So in summary, it depends

Oh big (gentle) hugs and best wishes for Kenzie Hang in there Ness!

Does counter-conditioning change the emotional response or simply the behaviour the animal displays eg. fearful dog looks to owner rather than crying or trying to escape... or responding aggressively??? I'm not an expert but I'd say its expanding the dog's experiences (via controlled socialisaton) that changes the emotional response to situations??? That's certainly the idea - to change the emotional response - whether it works out in practice probably depends on the dog & the handler. I'm definitely no expert either, but it's a process I'm going through with one of my dogs to help him overcome his fear of bikes. Essentially changing his reaction from bike=freakout to bike="oooh a bunch of treats are about to come my way! I love it when bikes appear!" I think if you can read your dog well enough you can tell the difference between a trained look away from stimulus and a relaxed "yeah I see it, but I don't really care" look away. But counterconditioning with other dogs would involve overcoming a complicated combination of instinctive & learned reactions, so it would be a longer process I'd imagine.

Training doesn't change temperament. Socialisation may increase the level of comfort the dog has in certain situations but no training method will make a dog less fearful. But isn't changing an emotional response the core concept of counter-conditioning training? Or am I missing something? (quite possible, long day )

Just check with customs first to make sure you can get them into the country. The pamphlet I have from them, simply states "no animal products" Seems OK - Link - but otherwise TSD's link should do the trick :)

Thanks Ptolomy :) I don't know anyone :laugh: If it's a way off that's OK then, I'll follow it up later. I'm a bit stuck because I can't get to Southern River during the week, my local dog club has stopped doing agility, and the only place I know that does agility on Sundays is a 2-hour round trip. Ah well.

Clean Run have them, I recently got a racoon tail from there. There was much interested sniffing. Edit - they've got a few, here's a link to one of them - http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=445

Me too, who knew there were so many landmarks in WA :p I'm still impressed by Rakim's tree-top walk!