Kelpiegal

Just curious about this place? I'm aware they run a normal obedience class that can be attended but what I am interested in finding out more about is their in-house dog training. They offer a service where they take your dog away with them & train them & then teach you what they've trained the dog & how to put it all into place. I am a bit unsure what to make of this & am curious to know if others have ever done this before? My youngest dog has been in training at our local obedience school but apart from learning the very basics of obedience she & I, as her handler are struggling to go forward. I am now looking into what sort of training to get to try & sort the issues we are facing out. When speaking to the people at Alpha on the phone about the issues we are concerned about with our dogs, they made it seem that the problems are treatable but I am just wondering if this place is going to be right for us. I'm not sure me not being there through the training process is a bad or good thing either. Although we are certainly not loaded (I'm looking for a job atm), my hubby & I are willing to spend a bit if it means getting good training for our dogs. I'm unsure if the price quoted to us by Alpha is expensive or not, as their training sounds so intensive, it's hard to make that judgement. Any advice &/or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Everyone, Firstly I am doing this on behalf of a friend who is unsure what to do about an incident that's occurred whilst her dog was being groomed. Any advice would be appreciated. Friend has a little Westie who was taken into a grooming salon to be clipped. When my friend has arrived to pick her dog up she has been told the dog has injured itself. The groomer appeared upset & told her the dog may have sprained or bruised it's leg & to give it a few days & if it wasn't better to take her to the vets. My friend was quite worried & ignored the advice & immediately headed off to her vet. Cast was put on the dog's leg (I am unsure if the groomer did this or the vet). The groomer originally offered to pay for any vet bills. The dog has now had to have pins put in her leg & my friend's partner rang to let the groomer know what had happened. The groomer then got her back up & got on the defensive saying the dog had broken it's own leg. She kept saying it was the dog's fault as it kept jumping up & down in the bathtub. On top of all the upset & stress to both my friend & her dog this has so far all up cost her approx. $3K & possibly more to come for further treatment. What rights does she have & what should she be doing? She & I both feel that the groomer should be responsible as the dog was in her care when this happened. My friend lives in the NT - so if anyone can give me any advice on to whom she might speak to as she doesn't know how to go about getting this sorted out. Thanks in advance & I would love to hear from any groomer's points of view on what happens when dogs are injured in your care?

I'm pretty happy with the club both of my dogs attend. Overall they run a pretty good training program & agility & other areas like tracking, herding & flyball are relatively easy to find out about either by talking to someone within the club who does these or referalls or brochures we have in the office. Having been a volunteer in the kitchen of our dog club last year & this year having gone onto committee the one issue I have struggled with is being able to get decent volunteers for all areas around the club. This year (unfortunately) I had to decline doing kitchen as last year left me very little consistent time to train my own dogs. This year I picked up the position of Publicity which enables me to spend more time with my dogs training at class & I can do the admin side of things at home in my own time. Sadly like a lot of clubs we rely on the volunteers to help run our club. Our membership numbers are doing well but unfortunately we have many who are happy to come & train, use the facilities & then go home. I don't consider our club to be expensive in what we provide & our kitchen offers pretty reasonable food & drinks at excellent prices but we are now looking at possibly having to close the kitchen this year due to no-one being able to volunteer in there. At this stage it may well end up being a no food/serve yourself tea & coffee set up. Anyway, I'll get off my lil soapbox now. I spose I'm still just frustrated with the lack of appreciation & interest clubs get from a lot of their members when it comes to helping out. For me personally, although it did take up some of my time, the kitchen allowed my a lot of interaction & socialising with many members of the club I may never really have had much to do with. Does anyone else's club have such a hard time getting volunteers?

It's comforting at least to be able to come to places like this site where others understand your pain. I lost a dog a few years back & got the term "it's only a dog" so many times, it's not they're part of the family. Don't be scared & let things happen too fast. Treat Bess like you would if it were a normal day & do the things you'd normally do. Vets will often try to prepare you so don't be alarmed. Just remember Bess isn't gone yet if we all pray & send best wishes her way she may even come out of this allright. Just don't get too down until the final verdict comes in & remember like everyone has said Bess will need you so make her life as normal as possible & love her like you always do. Feeling for you but hoping you're keeping your chin up until the full results are known.

Depends on the dog & the situation but one of our dogs Jazz whose a red heeler x kelpie has no interest in balls or related type games but if she's off lead & the other dogs are chasing something she'll join in & run with the group. I assume & people can correct me if I'm wrong but I feel sometimes that it's just a small part of their pack nature coming out. Dogs run in the wild as a pack & I know both my dogs enjoy the group chase as it's providing them with (for Shelby) an object to pursue & for Jazz just general inclusion with the other dogs. When one dog displays aggression in this situation that could turn nasty I suppose you then have to see if you want your dog to play in that environment.