wagsalot

another one thats gets to me - people being late! as i do it from home i try to arrange it so i only have one dog there at a time. but when people are 25 minutes late this doesnt work!! it especially gets to me that they pick the time and they're still late!

I agree. My kelpie x isnt a smelly dog. He probably gets a bath about 4 times a year, if that. If he gets wet and starts to stink, then ill bath him, but if hes not smelly i dont see the point. Plus his coats always extra shiney and he always looks clean. As i do dog washing everyone always comments how my dog must be so clean as he must get so many baths. Most of them dont believe me when i say he hardly gets any as he's not a smelly dog.

im only learning grooming and have just been practising on friends dogs who get brushed regularly and are reasonable still and well behaved whilst being groomed. however today my mums friend dropped her dog off, saying she knew his coat was matted pretty bad, but he's well behaved. she talked me into doing it, although i really didnt want to as he was really messy and i didnt feel confident enough tackling something like that just yet. so i finally agreed and well he was sooo matted and the dog couldnt even see as the hair was so long over his eyes. He also had a tendancey to try to bite me everytime i went near it with a brush!! by the time he was done i was nearly put of grooming for life. Think ill stick to bathing only! so i guess my pet hate being a learner is owners who say their dog is well behaved and has been brushed regulary when they obviously havent.

Ive done a few animal health care courses, one day course on grooming and currently doing a grooming course by correspondance. ive started dog washing from home on the weekend, after practising on friends and relatives dogs for 6 months. i would like to groom later on, but at the moment friends have been lending me their dogs to practice on. these dogs have been to groomers all their life so they're all very well behaved and are excellent to get some experience on. hands on experience is definately the best, and lots of practice.

I searched high and low for a good grooming course and have yet to find one that is good, has hands on experience and isnt ridicously expensive! Ive ended up doing one through the Australian School of Petcare, although not that happy with it. You also dont get any hands on lessons which makes it hard. I found one course, it was only 4 hours on a saturday morning at a local college, which was all hands on. But 4 hours really wasnt enough. As far as correspondance coures, id say Thomson Education. I havent done their grooming course, but have done the S.O.A in Animal Care and was really pleased with everything.

thanks guys will hopefully be able to have mac on saturday so ill give it a go then. he's such a great dog, but he cant be too comfortable with his tail in that condition. i was actually a bit worried how i was going to get him into the hydrobath as he was big and heavy and there was no way i could of lifted him. but i had no problems in the end as he jumped straight into the bath and sat down waiting to be pampered! it was quite funny seems he hasnt been in a hydrobath before. it was like he just knew what he had to do.

this is a pic of his tail..not very good i know, but it was difficult keeping him still. he wanted to sniff everything. edited to add : that pic of the tail really doesnt show how bad it actually was, so you'll have to take my word for it. :D

well ive recently started up dog washing from home...just a small thing that i do on a saturday morning. anyway last sat i washed the people across the road german shepherd who was a gentle giant (i actually didnt want to give him back! he was adorable!) anyway, his tail hasnt been brushed in a long long time and it is very matted. Big matts. I brushed some of the less matted bits out, but didnt want to do too much as i didnt want to irritate the skin by pulling too much. Im pretty sure the only option i have is to try and cut these matts out, which is going to be difficult as they're huge. Im hoping someone here with more experience can give me a better idea of how to deal with this. Here's a pic of him..he's names Mac.

i always thought dogs ate grass to induce vomitting. not sure how correct this is though, but im sure someone else will have some good answers.

great thread have never even thought of giving my dog fruit before...probably because i dont each much of it myself. fruit is obviously healthy for humans, but what about dogs? can a dog eat too much fruit??

yep, priceless pets is excellent!

just thought id add.. my dog (before we got him car sickness tablets from the vet) used to drool and be and be sick in the car all the time. ever since we got him at 10 weeks old. (he's now 4). thing is that he wasnt scared of the car at all...absolutely loves it. if someone has their door open on our driveway then riley goes and jumps straight in. vet said his drooling and sickness wasnt due to nervousness...he just gets motion sickness. easily treated with a tablet though :D edited to add: good luck with finding a solution. i used to hate that fact that all these other people had dogs who didnt get car sick and their owners never took them in the car, and i had a dog that i wanted to take everywhere in a car and he always got sick. it was so frustrating!

found this topic quite interesting. my dog hates his feet being touched, and clipping his nails is such a hassle! This dremel thing...are there lots of alternatives?? im wondering if my dad has something similar in his shed of goodies. edited to add: Anyone got any tips on clipping black nails?? I cant see the quick and when i have clipped his nails, i dont take much off as i really dont want to get the quick.

on the same topic is it hard to get them out of their bad pulling ways when they're older? riley is 4 now..he's a kelpie x. he gets overly excited everytime i put shoes on. he pulls like mad until we get half way down the road, then he settles down. when he settles down he still doesnt walk by the side of me, still in front, but he doesnt pull and theirs slack in the leash the main prob is at the beginning when he's way to excited!

cant help with the problem but the photo gave me a laugh least its unique!