Leah82

Hi Guys, Thanks for the advice so far, it's very hard convincing my OH to wait any longer, he can be a bit impatient when it comes to the dogs. We might need to look at getting a behaviourist out, maybe he'll be more likely to listen to a professional. Collie is 5 and he's very attached to my partner. Separation anxiety wasn't really too much of a problem until we moved in together and Collie was an only dog for the first time, as well as spending his days outside. We have since adopted Sarah which has been a big help, the dogs are generally happiest outside when we are outside as well but video footage and sneaking up on them has proved that when we're out they just sniff around the backyard or curl up together. Before we got Sarah neighbors let us know that he was spending a bit of time howling when no-one was home. (no complaints, they were just concerned) When we're inside both dogs follow us around a bit but it's not to excess, and they spend time on their beds. They don't spend too much time outside alone when we're home, generally a few minutes here and there so they can go to the toilet and once a week for a few hours when we're cleaning the house. Previously Collie would shake the back screen door with his paw when he wanted to come inside, but now he's ok to sit and wait. They're also usually curled up together in the kennel before I leave for work in the morning so they are not at all frantic before I go. I'll suggest we wait a little longer in the afternoons, as of next week OH and I will be car pooling and getting home at the same time which will be good coz at the moment OH is home first and he really struggles to just ignore them.

List of dogs Snout Girl- Bert, Sally, Bruce Lucycharzie - Satu StephM - Rosie and Gus (might ask around and see if anyone else is in) Leah82 - Collie and Sarah List of food Snout Girl- T.B.A Lucycharzie - T.B.A StephM - Potato salad and Soft Drinks of some description. Leah82 - Leafy Salad and Sausages

Our Cocker Spaniel Collie has had separation anxiety for sometime, we've been working really hard to improve the situation but there's one obstacle that we can't seem to over come. When we get home anywhere between around 4pm and 6pm Collie goes absolutely nuts, he'll be barking and howling to get us to let him inside, once inside he's yelping and running around the house. We've tried ignoring him and leaving them outside to wait until he gives up and calms down but after about 10 minutes of waiting there's no improvement. We've tried putting him on his bed when he gets inside, this will stop the yelping and running around but doesn't prevent it from happening in the first place, and you usually have to get pretty angry with him to get him to listen which we don't want to have to do. The dogs are fine when I put them outside in the mornings, usually about 15 minutes before I leave. If I go home at lunch they'll wander inside completely relaxed. We've been doing NILIF and obedience training and practice which has definitely helped but there's still no improvement on the coming home from work scenario. Any suggestions would be great :)

Purebred: A dog bred from a pure female and a pure male dog, dogs bred from hermaphrodites and transgender dogs are not considered purebred :p The other more likely scenario, if designer dog A mates with designer bitch A then that produces purebred puppy A. Not many people think about crossbreeding going back generations, if mum and dad look the same then it must be a purebred dog

Can you get a treadmill to help with the exercise?

Lol, but when they do get dirty, my god they get dirty. Somehow Collie's paws (all 4) got completely covered in mud yesterday. No idea how as it was all 4 paws and our backyard doesn't get muddy. I put a couple of inches of water in the bath thinking that would be enough to clean them...only for the water to turn completely opaque brown as soon as his paws hit the water :p

Oh No! Poor Gus I can definitely attest to his submissiveness, he had a usually submissive Cocker trying to dominate him on the weekend - in the most playful of ways of course :p I can't imagine Gus getting the dreaded op will make him behave any differently as he's not displaying any testosteroney behaviour

definitely rabbits, I've had 2, one when I was a teenager and the last one was a perfect apartment pet, he passed away in Dec last year. Here's Spike munching on some watermelon :) Now that I've got my doggies though I probably won't have any more bunnies, too much effort to keep them apart, not to mention the god awful smell cleaning the cage :p

Maybe organise a play date with the dogs before your house-mate's parents go away? Hopefully your housemate will be convinced it's a bad idea after seeing them together.

I'm not sure what you can do about his current state, hopefully he'll come good soon. Maybe some food/toys to distract him? Also getting a Thunder Shirt is probably the best place to start to try and resolve the issue long term. Poor Mr Huxley, he's had a full on few days

I used to live in Kew which is near by but unfortunately I didn't have a dog there so I can't comment on many of your points. However there are plenty of walking / biking tracks along the Yarra river, the Banyule City council seems to be pretty relaxed about where you can take your dog, there's more detail on the council website. http://www.banyule.vic.gov.au/Services/Pets-and-Animals/Walking-Your-Dog Also for dog training, check out this post, Eastern Suburbs Dog Club in Mitcham would probably be the closest to Heidelberg :) http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/251783-looking-for-a-dog-training-school-in-xxx/ Also not to far from Heidleberg is Ruffey Lake Park in Doncaster which is a very big park with huge expanses of off leash areas. Good luck on the move and hopefully other people can help out with a few recommendations :)

Awesome, thanks for the tips :) The ring I'm in (Number 1) will have Novice Agility B, followed by Excellent Agility B and then Master Agility C. So I'll keep an eye on the newbies Now that everyone knows where I'll be for the afternoon session feel free to come up and say hi

Sarah passed class 2 in obedience on the weekend! I was generally surprised as I didn't think her heel was that great but it seems she's good enough to start the off lead work in Class 3 :D So since August we've managed to fly through Beginners, Class 1 and Class 2 Unfortunately Collie will be staying back in class 2, his heel let him down. However my OH and I are looking forward to Sarah and Collie being in separate classes as they constantly get distracted by one another when in the same class I'm extremely happy with how Sarah's confidence has improved since we started. Initially she didn't want to go near the other dogs and I could get her to down stay forever because she just didn't want to move. Now she's happily sniffing doggy butts, although will always come back to me when she's had enough, and now if I get distracted during a down stay she'll end up jumping on me, frustrating in class yes but I'm happy she has the confidence to misbehave :p

I offered my services to help Marshal at the Agility Trail my dog club is hosting this weekend (26th Oct) I will be helping out in the afternoon so will have the morning to watch proceedings and see how it all works but does anyone have any tips for being an effective marshal? :) The only thing I know so far is that I'll be calling the names of the competitors for their turn in the ring. How far in advance will I be doing this and will the competitors most likely be already waiting and ready to go?

I think this is a great idea, I know our dogs are constantly bringing a smile to my face. My fiance's grandparents live in a retirement village, they're currently in a decent sized unit with a small courtyard, the residents who live in these units are allowed to bring their dogs when they move in but are not allowed to obtain a new pet once they are already living there. I've been told a few of the residents quietly replaced their beloved pets with lookalikes when they passed away. Can't say I blame them :)

I've got two littlies myself and they're slowly improving their stand. I find the position of my hand is very important when you're stopping at a stand. Too high and they're straight into a sit and too low, they're dropping, hand needs to be right in front of their noses, a treat to nibble on will take their minds off the usual response to sit when they stop as well. Although once I have Sarah into a nice stand any attempt to reach for a treat to reward her she has her bum on the ground faster than I can say....well..sit :laugh: Once in the stand there's lots of strokes on the head and the back and a bit of support on their sides so they know you want them to keep standing. It is tougher with smaller dogs, I'm only 30 and my back gets pretty sore after a few heel exercises when I'm using a lure

I came across this youtube clip awhile ago. teach your puppy to bark on command and you'll be able to teach the quiet command to go with it

Fantastic news! And good on you for sticking it out, these types of issues can get very exhausting and many people in your position would have given up a long time ago :-)

:) thanks will send Prue an email. Can't this weekend, I have Steph M coming over for a BBQ and doggie play date

I'd love to come and watch some gundog action at work. Our gundog is a bit useless with his PRA but I love watching dogs doing what they were bred to do.

Let her know you'll be continuing with legal action. The pup was sold to you on the condition that it would be on the mains register and the breeder has neglected to live up to their end of the agreement. Let her know that the papers should have arrived 6 months ago so you have been extremely patient but at the end of the day the disagreement between the breeder and the sire's owner is not your concern and it's up to her to sort that out so she can deliver what was initially agreed upon. Otherwise I'd be looking at compensation, I'm assuming a dog sold for showing is more expensive that one sold as a pet. As far the flaw goes unless it was noted at the time you purchased the puppy (when she initially agreed to the main reg) then it's not worth discussing. I know next to nothing about showing and breeding but people like this are found in all walks of life and give me the absolute Sh&%s.

As far as the extra walks go, I have heard people mention that you more you exercise your dogs the fitter they get and the more it takes to wear them out. Maybe alternate one of the walks with mental exercise instead with some obedience or trick training.

My take on it is that they want to move to the Shire and they are still in QLD. They are also g for pet sitting opportunities in the shire so they get 'free rent' so to speak so they can manage the relocation... maybe look for a rental while they are living in someone else's house pettsitting etc. I could be wrong though. :laugh: Yeah I assumed this was the case as well. Still it doesn't mention anything about having current pets so this could be a positive thing, I personally wouldn't be letting a family of 4 with 5 year old twins house sit at my place regardless of their history.

very weird to be offering pet/house sitting services when you have pets of your own. Maybe Casey has moved on as well as 2 of her family members (she's gone from a family of 6 to 4)

Me too, just read this whole post and now I'm very curious as to why it's been reactivated. I did do a quick google search and came up with some very strange results. Apparently she's offering her services as a Pet and House sitter in the Sutherland Shire (just moved back down from QLD) http://www.stayme.com.au/housesit/sitter/19555 Ans she's listed on "QLD's No.1 Spirit Meditation / Psychic Development Circle" (thats the actual name of the website) :p