piper

My Dad has this Fuji and loves it. It can be totally automatic or be used all manual and anywhere in between. It can shoot in jpeg or in RAW. Looks like an SLR and has many of the features but in a compact camera without interchangeable lens. https://www.google.com.au/shopping/product/11379205785851356568?q=fuji+cameras&client=safari&rls=en&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.62578216,d.aGc,pv.xjs.s.en_US.Qb9R7Hul644.O&biw=1280&bih=680&tch=1&ech=1ψ=2wYbU5rvMoquiAe-2ICICg.1394280157189.3&ei=4wYbU-6WNYuErAfS_IH4Aw&ved=0CGEQpiswAA

Thanks. I wanted to get there to do that but can't get away from work until lunchtime Thursday.

Thanks PME!! I hope to be ok as I am travelling over with friends but I'm doing all the herding handling. They get to come along a day early and watch :) (and shove me in the direction of the right ring at the right time!) If you can help with stock wrangling - grab the opportunity. It is an awesome learning experience.

Thanks piper, I am so stoked. Never thought we'd get this far. Still grinning! I bet. First trial of the year for us this year is a BIG 1 - Border Collie nationals. Jazz in entered in Advanced A ducks, Started B ducks and Inter A Sheep. I was going to enter her into B sheep but at the point entries closed I decided it had been way too long between training sessions for me to send her out in the big paddock at an unknown venue and no idea what the stock will be like. Trained her on the weekend on some non dog broke lambs and she did an awesome job and I am now kicking myself for not entering B sheep as well. We need 1 pass for our advanced title on ducks, fingers crosse we will bring it up at the Nationals. I will also have Cinna in PT (maybe - might scratch, see what happens) and handling Jazz's daughter from her first litter in her first trial - Started A sheep only. On top o that, agility is on the same day so if anyone visits KCC park, I will be the crazy 1 running from 1 side of the grounds to the other and trying to make sure i have the right dog in the right place at the right time! LOL

Lots of brags from the first Vic trial of the year - well done everyone!! Especially well done on advanced for Cash, a huge achievement :)

I agree. I feed predominantly raw but make sure they are used to and exposed to a variety of foods. I provide dietary info in their packs and cover info on raw feeding or commercial diets but state that they need to feed what works for the dog and for them.

Once solids are introduced I start giving them raw meaty bones. Initially they just suck at them/play with them but they quickly progress to devouring them. By 6 weeks they can quite competently consume a chicken wing. I also used lamb ribs, roo spine (they mostly give their jaws a good work out getting all the meat off rather than consume the bone with these ), turkey neck pieces and whatever else I can get hold of that is appropriate. It Bones are always chosen to be too big for them to gulp down.

These guys in Adelaide are great http://www.camerastore.com.au/?gclid=CLvH3uj967wCFQQipQods0QAcg Even rang before shipping my lens to let me know it was being sent and check that the address I had put was the right 1 for the next day or would I prefer somewhere else if I wouldn't be home. I also know someone that just used http://www.georges.com.au and were very impressed with the service they received and the prices.

Can you look online? Some of the online places have incredibly fast shipping.

If I only I wasn't broke

It looks like they have used vet wrap - that stuff is normally there for a couple of days :) And normally if redressing is required they will say to come in for them to do it, or offer you stuff to take home and do yourself (at least that is what mine have done but I just keep my own supply of vet wrap and non stick dressings due to a dog being prone to foot injuries.)

My guess would be it is left for a day or so. Certainly over night would be fine and then just rung in the morning when they open and check :) Those cones look so much better than the plastic 1s. And they must be much kinder on the back of your legs, drop frames and everything else they always manage to crash into. LOL

Wire - can I suggest swapping the beef to a different protein source. I don't have allergy dogs but I often read people saying beef is a common cause for itchiness.

That looks like an amazing trip! :)

Yes it was. I wanted to do the Lion 1 they have in 2 weeks time but it was for my husbands birthday and he also has Clipsal tickets and the Lion 1 is the same weekend. I will definitely be looking to do others. They said the chimp 1 is great as well as you get to go around to the night quarters and everything. Breakfast gets served on the viewing platform after they are released. eta: They feed you well too. We didn't even bother with lunch. Breakfast was champagne and orang juice, fresh fruit salad, muesli, 2 or 3 types of yoghurt to choose from and then after that a hot cooked breakfast with sausages, bacon, has browns, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans.

Yes you would. I am thinking of getting a teleconverter. Not like I use the f2.8 out there.... Anyway, was just give you an idea of the size we are talking about. Not at all like your typical zoo. On the other extreme, I was only on about 100mm for the lion cubs out the bus window and at time 70mm was too close at breakfast - I have a lot of cheetah photos minus feet. LOL

To give an idea of size. This is the approximate boundary of the zoo grounds This is a photo I took in the lion enclosure of 2 cubs playing on a rock. I was on the viewing platform and this was taken zoomed in as far as I could on my 200mm lens. This is a close up of the lion enclosure, the red dot is where they were and the green dot is where I was, so as you can see not even half the distance away from me.

The breakfast is a once a year members thing. But they do have another behind the scenes encounter you can do. They also have a behind the scene lion 1. Monarto houses half of Australia's lions. There are 12 in the pride. Their enclosure is massive - larger than the entire Adelaide Zoo. All up there is something like 1000 hectares at Monarto, they don't have huge animal numbers or variety of species instead focussing on those found on the savannahs. They also do some breeding of Australian natives and rereleasing into the wild - tasmanian devils to Mariah Island in particular and a particular type of wallaby to an isolated island off of the SA coast.

I am in love. They are so athletic, graceful and gentle. Seems like a weird combination but they really are. Things like the enrichment - they are so gentle they did not damage it at all, just carefully removed the pieces of meat from it. Most other animals would have trashed it. They did say on the upside they can reuse the enrichment they give to them with other animals and it provides the added stimulation of cheetah scent. They do a fair bit of swapping items where safe and appropriate for stimulation. The hyenas had just had rhino dung unloaded in their area to give them something new and natural to investigate.

We have 2 more in quarantine - they have come in from Netherlands. They will replace 2 of the other boys who are heading to Halls Gap zoo. At the moment the group they have are too closely related for any further breeding.

We were so lucky - the cubs were laying about 2m from the road and the bus we were on had only about 6 of us on it so it was easy to stand up and get to a good spot. The driver stopped for about 5 mins there for us. The chimps were frustrating - right at the back of the outdoor area and then when they came down they went straight inside and the indoor light is not very good. It was overcast which on the 1 hand was great as it reduced reflection but had the draw back of making it even darker in there than normal. The cheetah experience was brilliant - watched 4 of them released to their enrichment (they have a total of 10 but in various groupings as some are being weaned, a couple were hand reared as their Mum was unwell so are used for public education, a couple of boys separate as they are fairly solitary etc) in their area, after about half an hour of watching them we went and had a champagne breakfast positioned so we could sit and watch them. After breakfast we watched the keeper work with a young female who was hand reared as she was a singleton so Mum did not make milk (a singleton doesn't provide enough stimulation and in the wild would not survive). It is amazing - they really do train them like a dog. She can sit, drop, stay, come, target. And they also played with a lure with her to get her running which was magnificent to watch but so hard to photograph through the fencing and when she zigs and zags and is so erratic.

Yesterday we enjoyed a members breakfast at Monarto Zoo, it was held in the main part of the cheetah enclosure and we were able to see a mum and her 3 cubs in the "dubbing exhibit". This area is usually a bus only area so they are not used to people up close and the fencing is pretty much farm fencing with some strands of electric fencing. We were asked to go no closer than 1m away and they were unsure how close the cheetah would come. We were so lucky - they cane right up to the fence and it was a case of who was watching who. After the breakfast we went for a bus ride around the rest of the zoo and were lucky enough to watch some of the lion cubs having a play under the shade of a tree. Here are some of my favourite shots. The rest are up on flickr.

Nope. Her marketing actually puts me totally off of her courses.

My concern is what the cost will be after the 12 month $10 per month. By then I won't want to go back to my old versions but also can't justify paying much more than that per month to have it. And it looks like the normal price is close to $50 per month.

Mine too, piper. I decided to keep going with the feral senior as well, and see how far we can get towards RAE2. She does really enjoy the rally ring, although she thinks it's a bit mad and a bit slow. So there's every chance she will do what she can to liven things up - just hope she's not too embarrassing . A friend in the states put up video a few years back of her youngster having a feral round and grabbing the cones as they went past each 1. LOL I need to work on Cinna's walking on lead and fade the treats. This next statement is funny given the heat we have had but... if it isn't raining too much tomorrow night I will take her to the club to work her in a distracting environment.