LisaCC

Better nominate your vet for our next awards - that's the first time I've ever heard of a vet doing that - good on them - allowing a client to make their own informed decision. Completely agree with this. I'm impressed by your vet.

I haven't made up my mind yet. The more research I do, the more I don't want to do it and I don't have the slightest intentions of breeding. I have decided I will wait at least until 18 months though.

It's always a good pair too!!

Oh my dog!!! I feel like a crazy person, but Nova just cocked his leg on a plant! He's not a little pup anymore *tear*

Nevering have had Staffords, of course I am an expert :D :D , but have to agree with Sandra777 Yep to this too. I think we can make the mistake of thinking puppies are like human babies and can't be allowed to wander around on their own. Puppies are dogs and love to be outside sniffing and marking and doing all the things that adult dogs do. Great system. Very similar to how I raised Nova, but I never had a pen set up. I also made up my own "crate games" which I think helped a lot.

Beautiful Tikira Try not to feel like that, I'm sure Tippy loved seeing you happy and would love to know that Jingo is helping you feel like that :)

Oh look at him!!! He is so gorgeous! Happy Birthday Sumo! Is it right that he will still grow for a year or more?

Thanks Aliwake, it is quite good (free horse riding lessons too ). Yea the agistment property is only a 20minute walk from our house so pretty close. I was a little worried as I wasn't able to introduce a horse to him when he was younger, but he was really good! Just realised you meant the material coat. DOPE! lol, thanks!

I don't really see why it has to be one method or another. I use clicker training on my boy, I also use a marker word with toy rewards. I not only have a flat collar but I have a martingale, a check chain (although rarely used, it has it's purpose) and a harness. I can use them for different purposes and he seems to understand fine, I actually think his training is going really well.

We finally got our Weatherbeeta coat too! Half price at Horseland if anyone else is looking. This one is a RainStop and has no padding and has breathable mesh on the sides so great for long haired doggies that you want to walk in the rain! It was way too big around the girth so I had to take in the girth strap about 15cm. But the length is nice, it's a 60cm.

If it's quite sudden my first thought would be a vet check to make sure he hasn't injured himself and is in some pain. I do wonder if the lack of tail in Aussies make them harder to read by other dogs.

My boy is registered on mains in NSW and his pedigree is blue. I figured it's nation wide as it has the ANKC stamp on it

Dogs are obviously magically when it comes to making dirt disappear! My housemate who went on exchange before I got Nova moved back in, so he got to meet her horse Rusty today! They were both good boys! Rusty is a pretty chilled horse so I think that helped. Surprisingly Nova didn't bark once or act stupid at all! Oh and Nova is taking very well to having a new person in the house. She only met him the day I chose him from the litter before she left, but is a natural with dogs, and has kelpies back home so is used to the working dog mentality, so he hasn't been able to manipulate her just yet First look out of the car, being nice, calm and sitting. Rusty saying "hello"

Sounds like Nala is in that lovely puppy stage!! Hopefully she stays that way 3rd Knotties toy destroyed. This one in the record time of 3 days. RIP Yellow Patchwork Bunny.

Try teaching her to give it to you. I have a kleptomaniac Dane. She was exactly like your Rosie, except more strategic about it :) Does she know 'give'? If not teach her 'give' with a big reward every time she takes something. Then start to encourage her to come to you before you ask her to give. Before you know it when she steals things she will bring them to you. My Delta has brought me everything from roast chickens, kids lunches and dead birds. Clearly this does not suppress the behaviour, but makes it much safer and more manageable. Once she has got it, continue to reward her for bringing things to you, whether it be with praise, a pat, or a treat. Secondly, it sounds like she has way too much freedom. Is she crate trained? If not the time is now :) Make it a nice place, and really use it. Whenever you are busy she should be in the crate. This is too much. Try spending half the amount of time that you are getting her to do stuff, teaching her how to do nothing. Catch her calm and calmly reward her. Sit with her on her bed and stroke her in a relaxing way. Spend time with her chilling out, so she learns that calm behaviours are nice and pleasant and rewarding too :) It is understandable when a dog is being very challenging for you to feel fed up and tired. If you feel like your relationship with her is being really affected by these behaviours of hers, every day try to jot down in a little notebook something fun, clever, good or pleasant that she did that day, or something you love about her. This helps to train your mind to also focus on her positives and not get so worn down with the other stuff :) I agree with all this bit. Rosie is part Koolie yes? They are very energetic working dogs and I would spend a lot of time rewarding for calm behaviour and teaching her to do nothing. If a crate is too stressful for her perhaps you can work on mat training? I agree with everyone else about finding a behaviourist.

Glad that you know what it is. Hopefully the gel can give him some relief until you decide on surgery.

When my old lab Sam was just a pup and his molars were coming through he ate the foundation poles of our veranda railing one day. One side fell down by itself as soon as we got home, we just kicked the rest to make it come down. This is despite plenty of chew toys, exercise morning and afternoon, mental stimulation and in general being quite a lazy dog. I think some dogs just like to destroy stuff. Nova on the other hand is a working breed adolescent and is a comparative angel. I've been able to leave him in the lounger open plan lounge room/hall/kitchen/dining area alone since he was around 4-5 months old. Only thing he destroys is his own toys and thats just to get the squeaker out. I lock him out of bedrooms alone because he likes to steal socks and undies, otherwise I would trust him in there too.

Twisties my last dog was on the Senior Wellness and it was the only food he could digest so I call that a success! If Nova doesn't do well on the Earthborn I will be giving their new Grain Free versions a try. Thank Dotdashdot. I'll have a look at the packs tomorrow when I go down and see if they say anything different on them.

I only bought a little bag so I haven't got much left at all. You know how the bags had the ingredients written in heaps of different languages on the back? Well now there is some diagram on it instead. I'm not sure if they've changed the ingredients slightly too. I need to go buy some more tomorrow so I might try the Lamb. I'll give Nova some yogurt tonight and hopefully they will firm up a bit

Has anyone noticed poop changes with the new bags of Earthborn Coastal Catch? I bought a little bag last week and the packaging is slightly different and now we've had mushy poops

I have a friend who has a large cross breed pound pup of 8months, pound had him down as wolfhound cross. He is apparently extremely anxious in a lot of situations. Recommendations wanted for behaviourists near Orange NSW. Preferably not a lot of travel as even the car makes him very anxious.

shove over Athena Yes Athena, shove over, that looks lush I love sashimi so I'd just slice it up and eat it! Love the original "cake" Idea. I think I'll have to take a bit of that and Athena's dinner and make a fishy cake for when my boy turns 1!

I started a thread a while ago that I've been updating. Like Hank, Nova is a no go for chicken or grains, after going through lots of foods, we're on Grain Free Earthborn Holistic Coastal Catch. Nova is loving it, which is a big deal because he's never been very foody, poos are small and firm, and he's no longer itchy!! If he goes off the taste I'm going to try the lamb version because it's lower in protein too (I don't want to swtich now that he;s actually eating!), or try the Wellness version you can get from Petbarn. Thread here :)

Crossing my fingers that this will be the last thing that comes up for you guys!

Did they do his eyes as well? Glad he's feeling well :)