piper

Thanks everyone. The house still feels very empty Been thinking of some of her funny quirks. She was very much a one person dog, she worked at a few pet expos and would sit for pats etc but always looking at me and only because I told her to. If I didn't tell her to she would side step away from them, not shy - just totally focussed on me. She didn't like other dogs in her space and I put it down to the fact that in her mind if she was out with me she was "working" - as a youngster it only happened on lead. Once we started agility the circle in which she would tell a dog to rack off grew to 10 or 15 meters - the same sort of distance that she would take commands at. Then we introduced herding, and well she could be over 100m away from me and take a command and the circle of reacting grew even more. She didn't want a fight and preferred to get out of the way, she just wanted to be left alone to continue focussing on me. My husband and I have been together well over half of her life and yet right to the end if he got home before me she would not even enter the house until I got home. No matter how hot, cold or wet it was she would remain by the backdoor. I was oblivious to this for a long time as she would always greet me at the front door having come inside when she heard my car. The same happened if I went out without her and he stayed home - she would take herself outside and stay by the backdoor until I returned. Right now I am missing sitting here with the laptop and dropping my arm to feel her head right next to my chair and in my reach

Try checking any obedience schedule as they are often run as an additional ring/class at a normal obedience trial. A quick look on dogssa page found this: My link

Yep once a month is fine with me.

They say you get the dog you need not thedog you want. Piper is not the dog I was waiting for and then her breeder contactedme and said she had this pup that would be perfect for me. It turns out she wasright. Anything I wanted to try, Piper tried.Anything I asked her to do, Piper did and did it well. As a baby we dabbled inshowing and she gained a baby in group, then her ears pricked. But that’s ok –they were part of who she was. We trialled in obedience and agility and shegained her CD, AD, JD titles, quickly and with good scores and fast times. Somewhere along the line we got introducedto the world of herding and both fell in love. Not the most stylish of workers,she was very effective. She liked to work close but was soft enough that shedidn’t upset light stock but with pushy enough that heavy sheep moved. It wasvery rare for a sheep to try and stand her up. Piper participated in the firstinstinct test, herding test, pre-trial test, A course sheep trial, A courseducks trial, B course sheep trial and B course duck trials ever held in SouthAustralia. She was the first main register dog in SA to get a trial level titlein herding, the only dog in South Australia to have an advanced title on ducks,the first ANKC registered dog to gain a B course title in SA (in 3 consecutivetrials at the age of 10 and not having trained on trialled on sheep in severalyears). There is more, but I can’t remember it all right now. She ended hercareer 1 pass short of her Herding Champion title. A title she deserved andthat I know if we were in another state or able to get to more trials she wouldeasily have attained. Ildanach Kennels is so named as it meansversatile and Piper showed me the versatility of the Border Collie. At thefirst Border Collie nationals she was the only dog to place in all performancearea on offer – herding, agility, jumping and obedience. But for the last barin agility she would have qualified in all as well. We went with noexpectations and left with 3 thirds and a fourth. Thank you Piper, 12 years you wereeverything I could have wanted the most loyal dog in the world.

I have however slacked off this fortnight as i thought no one else was still here. LOL. So, I am yet to finish my pics for this theme. I have missed so many great opportunities - went to the beach, took my camera but by the time I got there the weather had turned and the wind was stupidly strong and my camera is not weather sealed so I left it int he car. Went to the Barossa Valley, took my camera and half way home remembered I was going to stop off to get a shot of the Valley. Went to town, planned some photos of some of the old buildings and got part way to town to realise I forgot my camera. LOL

I am interested in continuing and happy with swapping to once a month if it makes it easier for people. I loved checking in and seeing how everyone interpreted the same theme so differently as well as making me move out of my comfort zone. It is sad so many re having a tough time and unable to continue

Agree with this. My question was going to be do you think she feels underweight or does she feel like a lean, healthy puppy as opposed to a "rolly polly" puppy. Many vet consider fit, lean dogs to be underweight. I would say with 2 meals and lots of treats that she is just not hungry so drop that meal and either add in some more incidental training or increase her morning and evening meals a little.

I would go to 2 meals a day with the latest 1 being 5 to 6pm and confine int he crate overnight. In the crate he will most likely whinge to be let out when he needs to go or you can set your alarm to get up and take him.

It actually doesn't surprise me - it is their time and supplies used for a service you asked them to perform. While not directly for your benefit, it is not directly to theirs either. I would not expect it to be overly expensive though.

Yes my understanding of it is that any positive is enough due to the cell memory situation. The trouble will probably be convincing the local dog club or kennel that it is ok, especially if it states anywhere revaccination is recommended.

There is a thread in the health section if you do a search but my understanding is distemper is usually a lot lower as the dogs do not encounter it nearly as often as parvo so their system is not challenged by it. Others can explain it much better than me but basically if they have had recent contact with a disease their antibody level will be higher for that disease as the body reacts to it and creates the necessary antibodies. If they have not come into contact with that disease then the level will be lower. eta: Last post on this page explains what I tried to describe Titre thread If you go to the health forum and search titre testing there are a lot of results, lots of threads with lots of information :)

Yes I had been reading through and thinking that some of the gun dogs may be suitable and wondering when the Toller would be suggested. The Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever is not too big, not too much coat, biddable and friendly.

A friend of mine's boy swims like this. Cracks me up. I was looking after him when he was 3 or 4 months old and took him to the local water hole with my guys and freaked that he was going to drown. He is 8 now and still swims like it. LOL

I'm another that likes my pacsac mat from CleanRun. Fits in my 42" mat. My BCs are obviously bigger than Jules though or hers don't stretch out as much as it would be too small for my guys doubled over.

Oh no kja, I hope everything is ok. Please contribute what you can when you can.

No but they showed it on the national news here in Adelaide and it was a big massage session they showed.

I like these as you connect multiple together and in different ways so that you vary the way they work and also the difficulty. http://www.caninegenius.com/

Yes the border collie 1 is for most number of dogs of 1 breed in a single photo. They have to beat 101 and are expecting up to 300. And there will be no handlers in the photo. They have a lot of other fun events happening as welL I believe and wish I was in NSW to be able to go.

The dog has to be entered by the registered owner. So she can either be entered by her breeds and you join DogsSA so that you are able to handler her or (and this is the most likely option) you get her transferred to your name when you join so her papers are in your name and you can enter her in whatever you want whenever you want. To get her transferred the breeders would need to sign the back of her pedigree papers. You may find these are already signed and you just need to submit them to do the transfer.

Lonerun and Landmaster are the 2 that I think of straight away that are often at shows. Definitely don't be afraid to look interstate - sending puppies is easier and cheaper than most people think. The puppies usually bounce out of the crate quite happy at the other end and are none the worse for wear. Having been on the receiving end and sending end, I think the biggest stress is for the breeder sending them and hoping all goes well when they land :) In the past I have driven to pick up a pup and have had 1 flown in, in future I would always fly - 50min flight time from Melbourne plus about 1.5 hours crated before the flight and about 30 mins from landing until you pick them up is much easier and less stressful than a 7 or 8 hour car trip.

I haven't done it but I have seen it demoed at a seminar years ago and the dog worked it out very quickly The recall cue really became like a click in that click = treat, recall cue also = treat so race to handler to get treat. It is straight out classical conditioning. Look at how many dogs when the handler clicks if they never get rewards away from the handler will rush in, same thing. I think it would work best with a dog with a high drive for food rewards and also I would want to use hugh value rewards if doing it.

Sounds fantastic, I see no reason why not except for the sheer size of them. Might be better cutting them into pieces if they are too much for a single meal.

These were going to be my suggestion too http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3012&ParentCat=449

I'm heading into town in about 10 mins. Trying to decide on lens. I am thinking the nifty fifty as it is sharper and faster and it will be evening...

Yes I just realised I am going to the State Agility trial on the weekend, if I take pictures of people I have never personally spoken to is that a stranger? ETA - Just realised that is after the due date... I took the dogs to the beach the other day and the camera as well. Trouble was it was a mild day and I go to a quiet beach so did not get anywhere close to anyone to be able to get any shots. LOL We have tickets to the football again this weekend so I had been thinking passionate football supporters could be doable. My only other thought is a trip to Rundle Mall in Adelaide on Friday evening to see what I can find.