Leah82

I think most dogs are capable of being home alone for periods of time so long as that's what they get used to from day one. It gets harder as they get older if they've been used to spending a lot of time with other dogs. Our cocker spaniel has always lived with another dog so was understandably pretty miserable when he ended up as an only dog, we persisted with trying to resolve separation anxiety issues for about 6 months and then gave up and got Sarah. He still prefers human company but overall he's a lot happier, but that's part of the breed as well.

Good to hear the little guy has landed on his feet again And just because breeders can keep their ex show dogs doesn't necessarily mean they should. Perhaps these breeders recognised that this guy was better off receiving some more 1 on 1 attention and their focus was on the next generation. Although hopefully next time they'll be a bit more selective when it comes to rehoming

I came home today to one muddy puppy, I was a little preoccupied to take a photo during the bath but here is one after I rescued him from the dried mud balls and here's Sarah helping 'dry' him :p

So if he thinks epilepsy is cause by vaccinations does that mean he doesn't vaccinate his own dogs?! Very concerning but still not illegal and there in-lies the the problem Thankfully he's said he won't be breeding any more. Lets hope he sticks to his word and doesn't start back up again once the attention is off.

It doesn't happen very often and even rarely at dog parks when we just go to exercise our dogs. In this situation there were lots of cockers and people in the one place so he was being Mr social and wanting to say hi to everyone. Usually it happens at night when we're trying to get to sleep and he does something to make Sarah growl (like licking her to to death). Then post growl we can hear the play bows and pouncing so we try to tell him off from the bedroom or have to get up to tell him to cut it out. We could separate them but it's getting colder at night and it's usually all over once we intervene

Great shots CC, I love the flying superman dog :D My Week 22/52 - What golf balls Collie used to have such pretty eyes before the PRA got to him

not sure about borders and kelpies but I used to work for an car auction place doing car detailing. We got the ex cops cars and the backs of the K9 units were completely covered in GSD hair and slopper, it was pretty gross

You might want to prioritise your list, some of the traits you mentioned are rarely found in the same dog. Like loyal and capable of spending a lot of time alone The most loyal dogs are the ones that want to be with their human a lot, ones that are happy to spend time alone are usually more independent.

she's absolutely beautiful :) and I bet she's lapping up all the attention

I'm glad some of these working dogs have issues with fetch as well, I figured they were all naturals and Sarah was just a hopeless toy breed :p Sarah will chase the ball, sometimes pick it up and if she does it pretty much get's dropped immediately. Collie will chase it and pick it up (when he finds it) then comes back to you but stays a couple of metres away. Then the OCD kicks in, he lies down, chews the ball on his paws for a bit then finally rolls the ball off his paws with his nose telling you it's time to pick it up. If he's too far away you can then use that moment to tell him to come closer and then he picks the ball up, takes a couple of steps and repeats chewing and rolling. Alternatively if you don't have all day to play fetch you can just catch him and take the ball off him. My parents kelpie x is an absolute natural, he'll drop the ball at your feet, or pass it to you if you want. If he drops it too far away it's just a quick command to get him to pick it up and bring it closer. At the same time you can tell him if you want him to catch it or chase it. But I'm pretty sure it's nothing my parents did so I'm sorry farmerprov I can't help

Unfortunately many of the problems that people have reported were unlikely to be caused by illegal activity, it's not a legal requirement to do health testing or breed from genetically healthy parents (as far as I know). As far as him saying the dog owners didn't follow the recommended diet, it's possible this is just a way for him to absolve himself of any responsibility. The 'recommended' diet could be worse that what most of the owners are feeding their dogs for all we know. Here's hoping the rehomed breeders get desexed first.

he's definitely getting better as he's getting older, he's not usually overly enthusiastic unless we're actively playing with him. If we're at the park and we have his ball he couldn't care less about other dogs around him. The main reason I brought it up was we were at a cocker play date on the weekend and there was a woman with a cocker that she got off gumtree a couple of months earlier (FTGH) who is not particularly fond of other dogs. He was cuddled up with his owner and Collie barges through the group not paying particular attention to anyone. This dog gave Collie a warning growl and then Collie's excitement levels went straight up and it was time to play. We obviously had to intervene before the dog got even more stressed. Generally he's very people focused, he loves human attention more than anything else. There were a couple of older puppies going toe to toe towards the end of the play date and I don't even think he noticed

Short of an aggression incident because your dog fails to heed the warnings, and perhaps even then, you won't. You have to be the one that ends the interaction. No backing off? Game over. Some Cockers either don't seem to recognise the body language asking them to back off, or they simply don't care. They can demonstrate a behaviour known as "obnoxious submission" - their body language is appeasing and playful but they simply don't back off. You'll have to step in. LOL obnoxious submission is the word for it. He's often on his back pawing at Sarah's face while she tries to ignore him Oh well was worth a try. In our house when Collie barks or growls Collie gets told off, when Sarah growls..Collie gets told off :p

So as the breed standard describes we have a very merry cocker spaniel. He enjoys playing with other dogs although this in itself is not an issue and he will still listen to us. The problem lies when the other dog doesn't want to play, or more so when the other dog growls at him to go away. Apparently in Collie world, a growl from another dog means get even more excited, he starts play bowing and getting more in the face of the other dog and typically going nuts. When we respond to the growl by telling Collie to stop it he does so it's not a major issue but it would be nice if he would understand what the other dog was trying to say. Sarah seems to get the brunt of Collie's over enthusiasm, her history means she still doesn't really understand Collie's version of play and will tell him off when he gets to be too much. But because he doesn't really understand what she's trying to say we generally have to intervene. So how do we get Collie to understand a growl means back off not play more?

I'm starting a dog grooming course next month so I had a quick look at the Canine Groomer of the Year to see what the standards are for winning an award I'm not sure I'll ever be up to providing blueberry facial scrubs :p

week 20/52 Sarah munching on a root

we had a bit of a chuckle when looking back through the photos. It's hard to believe it's all the same dog

ok so it's more of a bounce but here are a few action shots from a cocker play date on the weekend

I love this shot, the slow shutter creates a very cool yet ominous tone And gapvic the shot of your sister is beautiful, while they don't always show us in the best light, natural expressions like laughing in photos definitely adds a little something to the picture. My MIL prefers photos from our wedding where we're laughing or pulling faces, although I don't imagine I'll be creating prints of them anytime soon :p

looking on google I assume Irish spotting is white on the muzzel, toes/legs and chest. If so my parents Kelpie x would be a good example. He's a working dog but don't ask me what style he uses :p

I don't have any experience with dog attacks so I don't know what the council will do if your dog is reported. I do however think it's unfair to put any responsibility on the man that your dog attacked to decide if the measures you put in place are acceptable enough to make sure this doesn't happen again. This responsibility lies with the council who have a lot more experience with both the practical and legal matters surrounding your situation.

So old or middle aged people can change health funds and not incur extra loading as long as you can prove you have been insured before. But once a dog reaches 8 you're locked into a insurance provider simply because other insurance companies won't touch them at that age, even though they might live another 8+ years. Something doesn't seem right about that.

I'm very sorry about what happened to your dog, you must be devastated with regards to your neighbours, even though the lease said no dogs it is very difficult to evict them because of it unless the dog was damaging the property but as they no longer have the dog the landlords have no cause to evict them. Focus on getting compensation from the dog owner if that's what you want and if they cause any more issues report these to the real estate in hopes that they don't renew the lease after it expires

Congratulations on your official new family member Michelle I'm glad Bonnie has now found her forever home :D. Puppy farm dogs need a lot of extra love and it sounds like she's is the right place to get that We have a similar confidence issue with Sarah, she doesn't like to be without Collie but she's better if I take her out alone as she has lots of things to distract her. If Collie is the one to go out the front door though she starts fretting and I need to distract her. I definitely noticed an overall improvement once I started taking her to obedience, day one she was literally hugging the back of my legs whenever another dog came close and now she's quite happy to sniff a few butts and go up to other people for pats. Although she's still not overly fussed with other people and dogs, she'd much rather hang out with her pack.

awesome pics of your brittney's RV, they are beautiful Week 20/52: Sarah loving my new camera and lenses - this one taken with a 17-70mm