piper

Depends on the puppies, the bitch and how long you need to leave them for Merrirose. With my first litter I had to go back to work when they were about 4 days old but Jazz was so relaxed with them them, they were all gaining well and I was only on short days and able to pop home and check on them. Within 3 or 4 days of returning to work I even relaxed about returning home to check on them during the day. Her second litter was pretty much the same, although on hotter days I would return home part way through the day to put fresh ice bricks out for them.

My inititl idea was similar to 1 of yours Snook! I did water, oil and coloured paper under a glass bowl. LOL

I tried the VAN rolls for training bait but found them too crumbly. I did however use them for the puppies as a bit of added variety.

I thought of doing insane close ups of the nose, pads of the feet, eye, hair etc but was determined not to use the dogs this time and succeeded. I'm not sure what I have is brilliant but I am happy with it as I just don't see things like that or have an arty eye. It was interesting though, once I started I saw more and more options. Just wish I had a macro lens. Birthday next week and hoping like hell hubby took my hint!

Thought I would share these... Isn't it always the way. No birds around when we had the bird topic. Yesterday my husband calls to me to tell me there is a hawk in the backyard. My reply was something along the lines of "yeah right, as if, don't be bloody stupid." We live in the middle of the suburbs with 4 dogs in the yard, as if. But just in case I took the memory card from my computer and went and got my camera. Went to the spare room and looked out the window and there was a bird on the ground standing on something with it's back to us. I still told him it was not a hawk, no way. Then it turned and looked at us. And then I realised it was standing on another bird and was indeed some sort of bird of prey. I managed another shot I decided to go outside and try for some shots that didn't involve dirty glass and flyscreen but unfortunately I couldn't get to a position where it was visible under the bush without disturbing it. Then I missed an incredible shot of it in flight as it dropped the pigeon when it took off and it turned out the pigeon was still alive and flew straight at me, scaring the living daylights out of me and making me miss the shot. LOL The only bad thing about it all is having to put up with the "I told you so" my husband keeps mentioning. I asked around on Facebook and was told it is either a goshowk or collared sparrowhawk. After googling and more opinions the general consensus is a Collared Sparrowhawk.

It ended up being a lot of fun. I discovered a foam box makes an excellent light box when placed outside with the sun hitting it :)

Snook, I hated you for this 1. :) And then I went outside with some items to try and get the shots I wanted. While out there I got side tracked with something else, which led me to walking around the yard and finding lots of other things. Then I cam inside and spotted something and went hmmmm. I think I will have more than 3 photos to choose from (about to download from car now) and not 1 of them will be to do with my original idea which was a bit of a failure. LOL

Good luck. I had the same wish. I kept telling Jazz 6 was a nice number and she presented me with 9. I didn't realise until she had just 2 this time just how much extra work 9 had been. LOL

I love your underwater exploits. Always do. The colours are amazing. Hard to believe there is such a brightly coloured other world down there. I have never been diving but your photos make me think I want to.

Piper - I just liked the name and had 3 or 4 short listed to consider. When we picked her up we tried them out driving home and Piper just suited her best. Jazz - was 1 of my short listed names for Piper. Cinna - Her pedigree name is Girl on Fire. We came up with that first and had no pet names in mind at all then I thought of the Hunger Games and how Catniss was referred to as the girl on fire. I didn't think I could use Catniss but Cinna was the designer that came up with the outfit that gave her that name. So it became Cinna. I am already getting sick of explaining it though and that yes I know Cinna in the book is a male and no it is not spelt Sinner. LOL. She actually had the name before she was born but I wouldn't tell people or use it until we knew if she was staying even though she was the only girl in the litter.

Gapvic, sorry to hear about your Grandfather. Snook - I think it was we can use that list or anything else we come up with. That was just for ideas.

Yes I selected original size as well.

Well done!! 2 titles on 1 weekend - great effort, especially for your first titles :)

I believe they stopped selling to Australia after it was found their food had to go through irradiation on import. This caused a massive problem in cats a few years ago as it destroys something in the food that is critical to a cat's health.

I am probably going to end up doing dog pics this time. I really didn't want to but like Snook due to the weather I haven't been out to do the things I wanted to (and a night at Fringe was 1 of those things). I haven't taken any recent puppy pics of Cinna though so wanted to do some of her anyway, Am thinking of something along the lines of variety of ear positions or stupid expressions.

I just recently had a litter of 2 and the main thing people warned me of was not to let her go overdue at all and to monitor closely as sometimes with only 1 or 2 they do not go into labour. We x-rayed in the last few days to double check numbers as well.

BOB border collie and best bitch were Australian as well, from the same kennel.

Snook, I totally agree about the whole new respect for bird photographers. I went to a man made wetland yesterday that is near to home. Not the best time of day and not the best venue but the best I was going to be able to manage. To start with all I could see were Willie Wagtails - OMG those little birds are hard to catch, so quick and so erratic with their movements! I came home with the hugest amount of respect for a friend that posts beautiful bird pics to Facebook regularly, how she gets in focus pictures of swallows in flight I do NOT know! I also decided my lens is too short for birds, even bigger birds and definitely not fast enough for birds in flight. My thought was if nothing else I would probably find some families feeding the ducks when I went out. Wrong. Luckily I did end up with 3 different photos of 3 different species. Nothing amazing but certainly tested me getting them - I was being so careful with every step of of the path as it was perfect snake location and weather but I wasn't game to stand about near reeds and bushes for too long. ETA: I still enjoyed the theme though, it is all about making me move out of my comfort zone.

Whoa that changes things a bit, Encounter Bay is about 90km south of Adelaide! Definitely. I have heard of someone down that way but can't remember the details. Will see what I can find.

I can think of a few in different areas. What area of Adelaide will the pup be going to?

I have had 2 litters with my girl, both would have been fairly similar in terms of how closely related. 1 litter was 9 and the other 2. Was it genetics, timing, other factors? Who knows.

Reading the comments has made me decide I don't want to watch that. Sounds bad

BIrd life is distinctly lacking around here too. I was at friend's on the weekend and was all excited about a rainbow lorikeet on a gum tree branch over hanging her fence. Of course it was in a terrible position and really outside the reach of the lens I had on at that moment in time

I know people that buy online, I think from Ebay. Apparently they can get them much cheaper than from the vet.

Don't think I like what it sounds like this temperament test is being developed for.... http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/desexing-order-for-bad-natured-pets-given-teeth/story-e6frea83-1226567433144 There is more to the story in the link....