piper

Yep - I learnt that a seminar years ago. Get a heap of small wet, yummy treats, open mouth, say "tablet" (or open or whatever) and push treat in, close mouth and hold. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You end up classically conditioning the work to mean something yummy will be shoved in your mouth. It doesnt take many days before they start to open their mouth as you go to put your hand there. Use the same method when giving the tablet - have a good 6 or 8 treats and just slip the tablet one in there somewhere in the middle. If you are quick enough with the next 1 they don't even know and they think it is a great game. I shared the method at the vet clinic I took puppy classes at and they said they passed it on to clients who were quickly able to teach the dog to take a tablet no fuss. Should add, once you start giving them 1 with a tablet in, sometimes repeat the training game without ever giving 1. I must say I haven't used the method with my guys for ages as they all learnt "tablet" = open mouth, get something put in, swallow and will now open up on command, close mouth and swallow without me having to hold or do anything.

NEXT Monday ST, but thanks for your enthusiasm. I think she is pregnant but then I think she seems to have a waist again when she didnt before but her boobs are bigger and her belly feels tight? I also think she looks wider in general than normal. Another friend made a comment about she knows her girls are pregnant "when the ribs spring" so maybe that is why she looks wider across the back but seems to have a little bit of a waist again? IL - Devasatating news

Jazz is booked in for her ultrasound at 6pm next Monday. 1 more week of guessing about symptoms then we will know for sure.

Yippee!!! 5 is the number I am requesting from Jazz so I will be happy if the vet sees that, but not if they then say double it!! I will be booking Jazz's ultrasound for a week from Monday. Did you progesterone test to have any idea of when she ovulated?

I think it is the whole base. I know it is variable thermostat, other than that I am not sure. I haven't picked the box up yet, I am waiting to know for sure and then I will pick it up and rearrange the spare bedroom to accomodate it. At this stage I actually haven't started buying everything as I figure there is plenty of time and I can go crazy once we have had the ultrasound.

The Saturday would be easiest for me, except for the issue of having to judge. I guess I will book it for the Monday evening instead. The whelping box I am borrowing has a heated base but I am thinking I won't use that but will get a lamp instead as I like the idea of them being able to get away from the heat and also I don't want it to be too warm for Jazz to be comfortable. I am seriously thinking she is either having a phantom or is pregnant, I will be quite surprised if she is not. Her behaviour has changed so much, she has never been like this after a season. Tonight she decided to guard me from the other dogs and she is either ultra clingy or totally separating herself from everyone.

Ok, my newbie stupid question of the day :p How many days is best for ultrasound? And do I count that from first mating, second mating or probably ovulation date. We mated her (based on prog tests and repro vet advice) on a Sunday and Tuesday. Based on her test results ovulation was most likely Monday (if I have got it right) So they have said ultrasound from day 24 but day 26 is best and after I hung up I realised I hadn't asked from what date? I believe that makes next weekend the best time to ultrasound and of course, as it goes I have to judge herding next weekend!! So would waiting a few extra days matter? I have found info about the count being more difficult further along. They did say they have a new 3D ultrasound machine though which should be cool IL - good luck making your box. I spent ages and agea and ages looking around at different designs and patterns, took several walks around Bunnings to price materials out and then a friend offered to lend me her heated box as she is not needing it. So now I will be doing that. I do need to get some vet bed though. And the same friend bought me some awesome digital scales and puppy feeding dishes for my birthday (the kinds of things only a new breeder could consider to be awesome presents, lol). SparkyTansy - at least wit a bit bigger if you put the heat lamp in a corner your girl will be able to stay in there and still get away from the heat.

I think she looks different in her week 3 belly shot too. I rolled Jazz over tonight to try a belly shot and realised 2 things. 1: she is filthy and needs a bath!!! lol. 2: With all that hair there is no visible belly. Feeling her though it feels like she does not have as much of a waist as she normally does. A friend came over on the weekend and she gave her a pat and said the same thing.

Jazz has been doing some grass eating and i found a mystery grass vomit on the tiles a couple of days ago. About 10 minutes ago she had abit of a gag and a cough and has taken herself outside. I had been wondering that same thing Trisven.

I think we will book ours for about the same time. I think there is only a couple of days between our girls I had wanted to get photos of Jazz today but was so busy at a herding clinic that it didnt happen. She has a little less waist than normal and has been growly at other dogs.

I have just spent 2 days with Kate and Karen over here in SA. We had a fantastic time. Some of the ideas were very different and will take a bit of a adjustment to get used to. Piper initially thought we had gone a bit made but sort of worked it out this afternoon. Some of the other dogs did amazingly well over the day.

Jazz has never had a phantom and returns to normal behaviour very quickly after a season usually. Interesting that your girl is grumpy as well, hopefully it is a good sign for both of us I want to start working on my puppy pack but don't want to jinx myself. I took a body shot last Sunday and will try and do 1 each Sunday and see if I can notice changes that way but given her coat I don't like my chances of there being anything obvious for quite some time.

My crate came home with the puppy, lol. And like Amstaff said - it was taped down so thoroughly that there was no way it was coming off.

I'm glad you are waiting patiently. I am waiting impatiently!! I'm trying not to read too much into things but Jazz has got really big nipples, her belly feels particularly tight, she is ultra clingy and last night decided she doesn't like other dogs and would quietly growl at anything that came too close when we visited dog club. This is very out of character for her so I'm thinking she has hormones doing something in there and I'm hoping that they aren't just giving her a phantom.

My 2 girls both came from interstate. 1 posted the puppy pack. The other taped it inside 1 of those plastic post satchels to the top of her crate. I didn't get food with either of them, I just discussed with the breeders what to get. To be honest with them coming interstate I never expected to get anything bulky like food, toys or bedding.

Sounds like obsessive compulisve behaviour to me. Shadow and light chasing can become a big problem. Mental stimulation, training and distraction methods are needed. The more they do it the harder the habit will be to break, I have known of people getting behaviourists in to assist them with managing the behaviour. A google of border collie shadow/light chasing will get quite a few hits to forums and pages discussing it.

If this a new problem and she is in season I would leave the training until she is out season, they tend to lose their minds a bit when in season. If however the problem was there more than a few weeks before her season then it is probably not related (although could well be worse).

Tali looks gorgeous. I love paps, used to run 1 for a friend in agility. Such fun little guys Helen - your shots are always so creative, I wish I had that kind of creativity I am hoping we have pups on the way. It is still very early days. It will be my first litter as well as Jazz's so it is an exciting and scary time. Going by the things people have said it is all looking positive - she seemd to go out of season within a couple of days of mating, she is ultra sookie (she is always a sook but right now I think if she could crawl under my skin when having a cuddle she would!) and her nipples seem quite obvious compared to how they usually are when in season. So with any luck we will have some wonderful photo ops in coming months and it is partly why I chose Jazz for the 52 weeks project as I thought it would be good to document the journey. Piper would have been much easier to work with than Jazz though and I think I would have been more creative with her.

Week 12. "I'm bored, you can throw the toy now." Hopefully we will start getting belly shots soon

The best thing that happened to me is the way NFS sctuffed me around over my trolley purchase, it meant I ended up with an OKS instead and I don't regret the extra $$ at all. I had huge hassles with NFS - after waiting months and always being told they would be in next week I cancelled the order and got an OKS. They come from overseas and they told me they had no control over what was sent and just had to wait and see what arrived and the single trolleys never seemed to arrive, then when they did they had a problem with them so were going to send them back and didnt know when they would get them back again. Then the next lot had no handles and I said that wasn't acceptable and was so fed up with it all by them that I cancelled my order. I can't remember now if I had paid up front or not but if I didn't they must have refunded with no hassles or I would remember that, lol.

LOL - I have just been through that with Jazz. I solved it by starting agility training, booking a herding clinic and writing some show entries (I never got around to posting - the first2 seemed to do the trick, lol) Good luck, hopefully she doesnt keep you waiting too much longer.

Gila, I love how you have got a real "studio" looking photo with that white background. LuvLottie - I like the first 1 best

we seen a few but bella wouldnt keep still, 2 for sure but she has put on alot of weight in 3 weeks. Im hoping for maybe 4 as anymore will be hetic My husband talks to Jazz and says 7 would be nice. I told him if it is 7 then he is responsible for 2/3 of all puppy cleaning, ss I am only requesting 4 or 5. He asked how that works out to 2/3 the work and I said cos I am only cleaning up after half the 4 or 5 I am requesting, the rest is yours!! LOL. He has never been around a litter and has no idea just how much work will be involved.

Excellent news murmurstaffs Did they give you an idea of how many? I will be doing weekly pics of Jazz as well. I should do 1 this week for the before shot. Her first mating was Sunday so I will try and do pics each Sunday.

Yeah, I was going to write a letter and outline the various issues. I have also over the last 6 months had 2 fairly urgent issues so just booked with whoever was on and did not specify who I saw (I have my preferences but for urgent situations then obviously I will not wait until they are consulting and have a free appointment) both times I got the same guy, THe first time he annoyed me, the second time I was ready to kill him. At that point I decided I would just always ask for the other vet that is on as they always have 2 consulting but now with this other stuff I will add that to the letter as well. I had a really good working relationship with the new clinic owner and I think he will be quite disappointed about it all.