LisaCC

I'd love to give it a go! Not much around here, could get the equipment and give it a good old try though. I very very dangerously (Don't try this at home kids), used to do it as a teenager with my labrador on a normal mountain bike He was great at it, but we are both lucky we didn't hurt ourselves.

I just booked Nova in for his KC intranasal. I've moved back to my old town, back with my old vets which I've always loved. They have done triennial C3s for years, any C3 can be done triennially. I'm going to see if they can write in his vac record that his next C3 is due in 2 years (3years since vac) not this year though as the last vet wrote yearly.

That looks like great fun!

just this bit. I wouldn't subject a pup to an operation for a minor hernia. I'd do what this breeder did and discount the price a little and say get it fixed when desexed. Regarding the Hernia as well, if it's a mild umbilical hernia, it may very well completely correct itself and never need an operation. My pup had one, it was still there at 8 weeks when he came home to me, vet had checked it out at the breeders to make sure there was no insides dropping into it (hence mild), my vet checked it out again within his first visit (within the first 2 days home) and every puppy vaccination, it completely corrected itself within a few weeks. If you can visit the breeder in person before puppies are ready to go, that could be an opportunity to get to know them better (but don't get sucked in by the cute puppies if there are other warning signs there). Otherwise if you are not comfortable with the breeder I would ask for the deposit back or give it up and go elsewhere.

I had some more goals for this year, but I've had some set backs this year with moving, starting a new uni degree etc. So now for this year, more shows and enter our first Rally O trial soon (looking at September), and hopefully CCD by the end of the year if we get our group stays together. Crazy dog still needs to calm his farm a bit more so agility is being pushed back to next year I think

I got a dodgy bag once, around the end of last year, the back of the bag was different to what they normally are. Caused the runs, I took it back to the shop, switched it to one with a "normal" back and poos went straight back to normal.

Does anyone know why it seems to be so hard to get recently?

Just because someone had an "oops" litter it doesn't mean they are evil. Sounds like they are doing everything right now that it's happened.

Earthborn Coastal Catch has been the best food for my boy. Only reason I stopped feeding it recently is because local petshops have stopped stocking it regularly and it was becoming a huge pain to get. Apparently both Petstocks I can get to have supplier issues with it. I've been giving a few other foods a go and none have been as good, about to try Canidae as a local shop has it crazy cheap and always in stock, but if it doesn't sit well I'll be going back to Earthborn and getting it shipped out.

Great stuff!

That's sounds perfectly normal :) My pup was like that from day 1 and coped fine. If you have any days off from work when you get her don't forget to give her some short time alone outside during the day (as hard as it might be to drag yourself away from the new puppy) to get her used to being alone.

Check for tag/collar info first, then to a vet to scan for a chip. If no chip and contact info, the vet either takes them to the pound or I do. I'll post up on local pages a nice picture of it and where I found the dog and where it can be located. I've put my name down in the past as a back up option if no one comes to reclaim a certain dog. It was a lovely old Goldie, who would of fitted in well with our old lab. Not everyone has Facebook, just keeping a dog is stealing.

Even if they were in a coop I have a feeling Nova would spend the entire day running around and around and around it. No chickens for us.

I've tried to find a diagram to explain it, but the one I had is buried deep in a textbook in moving boxes. A basic way of feeling ribs is the "knuckle test". Remember all of this is "general", It's good to use in conjunction with the above diagrams already posted, I find this good for coated dogs when it's hard to "see". I've taken some quick photos, thanks Mum for her finger in helping , (Excuse the quality and giant size) So by lightly, yet firmly running your hands down the side of your dog feeling it's ribs, you can compare what it feels like to what your hand feels like in different positions. If it feels like the top of your knuckles of a closed fist like this: It is is generally regarded as underweight. If the ribs feel like the underside of your knuckles of an open palm, there is too much fat covering them. Like so: If your dogs ribs feel like similar to running your hand across your fingers thats perfect!!:

I'll try and get a video next week when I fetch my hard drive (I'm in the middle of moving house) I mark with a clicker or a verbal "yes".

I use a hand signal with or without a voice command with the target. I'll do the same movement (with or without command) without the target and he just looks really sloppy. I have tried the luring method, as my trainer at my club got me too try that and I didn't see any improvement with him. Since I tried free shaping it, he's come in leaps and bounds, but I'm just stuck now

Oops. Pocket post!

I've gotten a free sample of this (just enough for one meal unfortunately), but as long as that goes down fine, I'll be trialing my boy on this soon.

Have you tried transitioning already Lisa? Maybe you could post a video of what it looks like on the perch vs without one. When the dog is elevated with a perch this can build the incorrect muscle memory as you are adding height to the dog they don't have without the perch. Have you tried using a flat target, like a frisbee or similar? If you do, do you get the same quality flip? Have tried with a flat target and he still gives me a really great flip. I'm out of memory at the moment, hard drive back at the old place, might be able to get a video next week. I do a lot of these games with him already and he can find heel position quite well from any direction, I got some great new games like this from a recent heeling work workshop with Sam Fields and he loves them. It seems to be the motion of the flip itself which seems fail when the target goes away. He will race to heel from anywhere during games or recalls (if I ask to recall to heel) or do that round the back finish from any positions or directions, or food throws without targets? So I'm pretty certain he understands "heel".

I've had a look and the ANKC Lab standard doesn't actually have a weight outline? The AKC standard says the following: "dogs 65 to 80 pounds; bitches 55 to 70 pounds." which in kilos would be dogs 29.6- 36.3kg, bitches 24.9 - 31.8kg

Does anyone have any hints on transitioning from an awesome flip finish while using a perch (upturned bowl or phonebook) to an average one with no perch?

Appearance and hands on is way more important than weight in my opinion and I encourage people to use a Body Condition Score to assess their dogs. I only weigh mine for the purpose of medication. ETA: Yes, pet obesity is a considerable welfare issue in pet dogs and cats. Yep, I know plenty of people that think their dogs weight is fine because it's within those vet chart breed weight guidelines (my breed isn't even on them!), but their dogs Body Condition Score is obviously overweight. It's like human BMI charts too, you can have a dog that is nice and muscular, it can weight off the charts, but be in perfect condition.

Comparatively heres a the AVAs statement on pet obesity with a few stats http://www.ava.com.au/news/media-centre/hot-topics Overall, obesity is a big problem in dogs.

Pretty much these, crate, mat or outside. If there is any excitement once released from that area, straight back in there.

It wasn't some Tapua labs truffle hunting on The Project tonight was it?