Lasareina

SO ADORABLE - little bundles of mischief by the looks of them haha Your little girl looks like such a sweetie

I don't envy you with the dieting - I'm too much of a pushover. Plus it must be really hard monitoring their weight under all that fluff! Interesting that you and your partner had different interpretations of the vet ... that may be a male / female communication gap as well? It does sound like it was an extra unnecessary stress to give the pup a needle for DNA test when Maple was already freaking out, but I am far from an expert. Now that I think about it, I have only ever talked to my vet without the pups present... I usually drop them off with the vet nurses and pick them up in the afternoon after speaking to the vet. :-/ I know that the vet nurses are excellent with them ... the puppies have obviously not been too traumatized while at the vets because they are more excited to go their and get cuddles from the nurses than when we go to the park or the beach :laugh: . I am now a bit concerned that I haven't seen how the actual vet interacts with them though.

Thanks for all the great suggestions ... it would be interesting to see if there are any dog friendly camping areas nearby to the suggestions which are a bit further away!

wow looks fantastic - beautiful photos of your dog too! :)

I get the warning: object: http://happyhewitts.com Threat: JS/Kryptik.AOJ trojan Information: connection terminated - quarantined. not sure if that is something to be concerned about? looks scary haha With regards to house sitters not charging - My Grandparents have done this a bit ... they travel all over the place so instead of staying in their caravan or whatever they will go and house sit for someone and looks after their pets/ gardens etc. One time they looked after a lady with a number of goats... turned out to be a bit more work then they expected! The goats had about 7 different barrels of feed that made up their special mixture, and required worming while my grandparents were looking after them. (my grandparents are from suburban Adelaide and in their late 60/ early 70's so this was an eye opener for them) They also had 3 dogs, one of which continually escaped and nicked off to the neighbors place. I don't think they have house sit since then.

Yes me too - I think that may be one of those better safe than sorry situations! We used to take our dogs to the Logan River out near Flagstone... there's probably sharks in there too! ETA I'm not sure how keen the dogs are on actually swimming... they went in at the Spit when we took them around to the calm bit but only because they were following mum's dogs around... left to their own devices I think they might be too chicken! :laugh:

wow what a stressful beginning for you! Maple is gorgeous though and I'm sure you will get everything sorted out soon! Mum's dog Ninja took a snap at the vet last time he went in as well - he is getting old and grumpy now and is another one that starts to tremble before you even get in the vet office. Sounds like your pup is in a much better home now - I'm sure you will develop a strong bond, and once he starts bouncing off the walls you might think back on the quiet stage with longing :laugh:

Not sure where these arebut definitely sounds like worth a bit of research! I usually only go Sunshine Coast way for the Woodford Folk Festival lol but sounds like might be worth a trip out for the pups! Haha I was all excited (Ipswitch not that far away) and then I read Bullsharks!! hmmmm Hunter has big teeth but I think a sharkie might come out tops of that match up :p Bummer sounded great! Maybe it's just a urban legend or a few people fear mongering?? Ipswich seems an unlikely spot for sharks (drawing on my extensive marine biology knowlege here ... not) The Runcorn one? - through the park and up a narrow rutted track?? If so, this is where the Stafford club lure racing used to be, know it well! I think it may be a different one... just down the road a little bit from the soccer club and directly opposite a big oval and a bridge? i only discovered it because my stepdaughter had soccer up the road and the puppies were fractious and in need of a walk before sitting to watch the game lol. we didn't make it back - I sent the OH to go watch the game and we stayed and played with all the other dogs :laugh:

Thanks Sandra777 - I have taken them to the Spit before but didn't know about Palm Beach. Luckily the last time we went to the Spit it had just finished raining and was almost completely empty :) The council has a list of dog parks but it is hard to know which ones will be a few square meters of fenced grass or a nice big one with trees etc. The best one I have found so far has been at Runcorn - nice and large with lots of trees and bushes to sniff :laugh: Good idea about asking people at obedience.

I'm sorry if this has already been asked... had a search and can't find anything. Just wondering if any of the QLD members know any good places to take the dogs? I am in Logan / South Brisbane area. Growing up on acreage our dogs had lots of room to run around,find interesting smells and enjoy themselves but now I live in suburbia and I sometimes feel like the pups are missing out :laugh: . Doesn't have to be off leash areas although would love to know if there are any around that are a little more interesting than our little fenced area at the park with it's single tree :D We are going to try a walk at Karawatha Forest on the weekend which I am excited about.

The Electoral Act specifies pencil. But you can use your own pen if you want to. The level of scruitineering is meant to prevent changes to ballot papers. Apparently the rationale for pencil is that they can be sharpened whereas pens just run out. Or so the AEC says. And I took my own mine pencil and eraser as I voted below the line in the senate - and the eraser was very handy!!! I wish I had done that... I got to number 80 and still had 4 boxes left... But of an issue when you are only supposed to number to 82! I had go go all the way back through it and work out which numbers i missed *facepalm*

Tried to give the dogs a fresh mackerel today ... Not having a bar of it. So I cooked it (and picked out the bones :-/ )... Still not keen. Now trying to work out what to do with the fish. Bin collection on Thursday and freezer choc a bloc with mince and chicken wings we just bought in bulk... Need a chest freezer lol Think we will stick to canned fish from now on... Can't get enough of that although I have only tried tuna and salmon so far.

I thought the same thing about voting in pencil! The pups came voting with me as I did it on the way home from soccer, which they come to every week lol. My partner is a NZ citizen so he held them off to the side away from the line and no one seemed to have any issue... We are pretty surburban and I didn't see any other dogs there while we were. When I used to vote out in a more rural area there were often other dogs. I think there should have been a more fair approach where all dogs were either allowed in, or not allowed.

Gorgeous dog! I have no handy tips re grooming... Juno rolls in the dust and then self cleans as she runs :laugh: i just wanted to comment on the beautiful photo. I hadn't really seen any Aussies until I joined the forum but they are gordeous! Love the colouring.

Given the cartwheels Hunter has been doing when they are reunited after work (Juno as been contained as she just got desexed), I'm thinking we may have an issue :laugh: Guess we will see next week :p I may just be buying into the stereotypes of bulldogs Hankdog but I can imagine how stubborn your boy can be :laugh: I now what you mean about the instructors seeming to get instant results... there were a few dogs doing helicoptor impersonations last class but the sure pulled into line quickly when the instructor got a hold of them! jake has probably perfected the same sad/innocent face that Hunter has to keep us from being firm with them :D

yeah that's why you guys are still putting up with me :laugh: lots to learn!

Thanks guys it's nice to see some friendly people - I was very close to giving up and finding a more welcoming forum lol. I understand people are passionate, and I have said before that I have nothing but respect for people who are more knowledgeable than myself, but some people seem to like to intimidate others. I was getting to the point where I was asking myself, what do I have to do to please these people who are so determined to see me and everything I do or say in the most negative light possible? Sorry I got the thread off topic a bit - I checked out the photos of the adorable puppies before i got embroiled in trying to explain myself and they were soo cute. I loved how there was an even number of the black and the tans... Bet they were a handful as they got bigger!

Great photo Hankdog - he looks very powerful and dignified in this shot!

yes this will be interesting for us next week too ... Juno will be coming along for her first class (if she is recovered enough from desexing)... I must admit that i am one of those people who hasn't separated them enough ... obviously I didn't really think it through enough! Juno has been handling staying at home by herself the last couple of weeks ok but it will be interesting to see how they do in class together. My first instinct would be to separate them in class but will have to see how they go I guess.

thanks for the advice guys ... practicing my footwork etc might be the way to go! I missed it when they were discussing it in the class as I was off with another trainer trying to deal with Hunter's hatred of the halti lol I think I am proabably getting frustrated/stressed and this is communicating to Hunter as well which could be why he isn't having fun - poor boy, having to deal with a newbie

haha I looked at your website ... very impressive! I will pm you :)

ah worked it out! Hi! :)

haha really Lollipop? hmm now you will have me wondering who you are :D yes i am definitely relieve that we wend down the desexing route!

Thanks Rosetta - no the vet gave her an injection that last for 24 hours but didn't think she would need anything other than that? I guess I will just have to watch her closely. I don't know how people with the little cute fluffys go... I already look at Juno and think she is too little for an operation lol

Thanks for the tips Staff'nToller - I have been sort of doing that lol ... think I might need to move out of formation completely. It's just frustrating when I know he is so much better behaved at home. I feel like our bond is a bit strained in the classes as well... Hunter and I are both big softies whereas the Instructors are very non nonsense and firm... Hunter never really looks like he is enjoying himself. I know my inexperience is as much (if not more!) the problem as the dogs ... I am also a complete gumby so getting footwork and hand signals and everything working at the right time is a challenge for me :laugh: I;m a bit special :p