Leah82

I thought heart worm was transmitted via mosquitos? Oh is it? I don't know why my vet said that then. Sorry :laugh: Mosquitoes can be pretty rare along the coast, I've received similar advise personally about other mosquito borne infections. When in Malaysia I was told to not worry about malaria tablets if I was staying near the coast and in the Cook Islands recently they recommended people going into the mountains wear insect repellent when they were having a dengue like outbreak. This would explain why beach areas are low risk for heartworm

Ok now I'm sad. Registrations are open and they only have the $400 option, can't even justify that to myself let alone trying to convince the OH. Saving for a house sucks :p

To me there is a difference in keeping your dogs young (obviously not forever) and keeping them alive. Although they are related To me giving my dogs a high quality of life is more important than making sure they live a long time, so obviously balanced diet and exercise but also treats from time to time and lots of trips which means they get vaccinated occasionally (not as much as my vet would like though). You can wrap them in cotton wool, keep them away from any potential hazards and have overly regular check-ups. This might mean they live a long time but for me that sounds very limiting and usually they end up turning into a old dog years before they pass away. My inlaws old dog was a perfect example of this, lived a very sheltered life and was roaming around the house like an old dog at 10, she didn't pass away till nearly 16.

Gosh you are testing my post World Cup lack of sleep memory now! I only know because a friend did it. So I am not sure. I think they met at Jells Park. I can ask at my club on Sunday and post or check Dogs Vic web site and get contact details. Yes Knox do tracking, they have a waiting list though to join the training group. I asked to be added to the waiting list back in April and haven't heard anything since. If you want I can PM you the trainer details

I Have been thinking about a Finnish Lapphund. If we do get one, I want to call it Kimi after Kimi Räikkönen, Fininsh F1 driver :D Hubby and son heartily approve. However, my Aussie Shepherd has stolen my heart and I could be persuaded to have another one, preferably a blue merle this time. In that case I have no idea for a name :D Mark Webber? :p Doesn't quite have the same ring to it, Leah :laugh: lol fair enough, either way I think you have found the best way to sell dog names to the rest of your family... find a way to link it to motorsports, or sport in general

I Have been thinking about a Finnish Lapphund. If we do get one, I want to call it Kimi after Kimi Räikkönen, Fininsh F1 driver :D Hubby and son heartily approve. However, my Aussie Shepherd has stolen my heart and I could be persuaded to have another one, preferably a blue merle this time. In that case I have no idea for a name :D Mark Webber? :p

Week 25/52 (almost half way!) - Having fun at the beach

Makes sense to me, after all a lot of French people emigrated to Scotland during the French revolution :p Glad someone agrees with me lol! My boyfriend thought I was insane when I told him I'd found the perfect puppy name :p My Sarah is actually named after the Land Before Time character Cera, so technically Triceratops Now you can tell your BF it's been done before so you can't be that crazy :D

I use it with my own dogs and hundreds of others….from puppies to shelter dogs. The way I have done it is to not reward a specific behaviour, that is, don't always reward a drop or a sit or a step backwards so they understand that you are not rewarding the behaviour per se but their choice NOT to mug your hand. If they keep offering the same behaviour, simply don't reward it and they will tend to try something else. It may also help to move on and put the treats on the floor to trigger a different behaviour. I hope that helps :) Yeah I assumed I was rewarding the metal state or decision rather than a particular action. Thanks for confirming TSD

has anyone been trying their hand at the basic it's yer choice stuff? Mine are getting the hang of it but they seem to prefer to lie down rather than step back when they realise they aren't going to be able to take the food off me. Not sure if I should be rewarding this or not, I have been because I have not idea how to get them to choose to step back

Collie wee'd in it in the house, does that count?

Oh come on, that's an awesome name! You need to take that one back to the discussion table I think :D I have a friend with a pug called gremlin, apparently that was his condition for getting a pug

My next dog is going to be an agility dog and the OH has agreed I can start looking when our current dogs slow down (I've negotiated him down from wanting 5 years dog free to 1 year to no years :D) At this point I'm hoping for a field spaniel and I'm happy to wait as long as it takes. No name picked out, I'll just need the right temperament regardless of sex.

I'm considering it if that bloody dog doesnt can it! (on the owner, not the dog. I'd never harm a dog) :laugh:

OT: I just decided to google why they call it a battle axe block, interesting stuff, although now I'm left pondering why it's specifically a battle axe because the driveway is not always in the middle, surely a wood axe or even a hatchet would suffice. Who even uses a battle axe these days?

2nd video is up :D I'll be trying out a bit of it's yer choice I think Not sure exactly what Sarah will get out of it as she gives up when things are too hard anyway but I guess it's a base to build on further

You must be devo KC :p

I'm pretty sure these are actually the same type of people, just separated by age :laugh:

I'm going to put in a vote for cocker spaniel. They are a very sturdy dog for their size, minimal shedding and a great temperament for families (providing you find the right breeder). Only downside would be that they take awhile to mature Edit: they also have a decent bark on them, we had handy men too scared to go into our backyard to check the gutters despite telling them the dogs were harmless

Thanks! I think it is better than my video last year! I didn't get into the finals though, oh well! Time commitment on the course - depends on how much you want to do. A couple of short sessions of a couple of minutes long works! Some of the games fit easily into a warmup routine for training other things as they are drive building/relationship building type games. I didn't like the winner of this year's video comp at all Didn't really show the dog doing anything. I did recallers last year and whilst I did think it was brilliant, I found it hard to be consistent with the games and sort of gave up half way through. I do think what we did manage to do helped build my relationship with Luka though. That was one good thing about doing the course again. Knowing the format etc and then working on the games we didn't master the first time around, as well as being more relaxed about it, whereas the first time felt a bit rushed as there is a lot of course content (as in all of SG's courses). Of the 3 of this years winners, I like the third one the best, with the Beagle - the start of endless possibilities. They were all about journeys with very difficult/rescue type dogs this time that won. Me too Kavik, it was the only one that made me a bit emotional. Mind you I do have a soft spot for beagles :) I just watched that one as well, it really spoke to me because I have a lot of the same issues with Sarah. She shuts down when something is too hard or she doesn't understand what you want her to do and pretty much everything new is scary

Yeah I would probably have trouble convincing the OH to spend that much. We'll see how much I can get out of the video series

I think the signup is just for the 4 part video series, I'm not sure what the actual recallers course entails. I guess I'll find out soon enough

Maybe I should video one of my attempted agility training sessions with Sarah in preparation for a before and after

As far as I can tell it's free. I put in my name and email and got a 'Welcome to our video series' email, no-one is asking for my credit card deets yet :)