J...

Done heaps of part turns in the kitchen just as part of our learning to 1) truely understand finding heel position and 2) enjoy it given I nearly ruined her with boredom from doing 2 years of classes. So as part of that we've done left turns right turns backwards forwards etc etc and she does them fine. We have done some on the spot work and yes she is lagging/not turning as tightly - most of it's been in the kitchen on board floors but I did some on grass this arvo and they were still ordinary. Maybe she's got used to turning badly on the boards due to footing and it's carrying to outside?

I only use a release word (ok) as my cue for retreiving the dumbell. Keen retreiver so she doesn't need much encouragement in that department. Has anyone got any ideas for improving a right about turn? Have worked on my footwork so I'm not leaving her behind any more and I've worked on all her other turns, including adding a u-turn instead of a LAT and I'm really happy with them. But our RAT needs work - she's lagging slightly and it's the only thing she does lag on. I've tried turning and immediately throwing a toy or food as she comes around but it's still not great. Appears she's not reading the cue like she does for a left or left about turn?

So sorry to hear about your friends young dog Ptolomy RIP young dog. Snakes are something I'm really quite paranoid about, I had a close encounter with one when Darcy was about a similar age. It was between her and I and I was able to put enough pressure on it to leave while keeping her at bay. I spent some time with a friend and her dog very recently, she was allowing the dog to run through thick bush and chase rabbits - I did start to wonder if I was being a little too paranoid but reading this thread has made me realise that I'm not. They do have a reputation for being stroppy, but they aren't that bad. I wouldn't corner one though.

Speaking only for Vic here - Sometimes but not always. Or they place a small ad which refers you to their club website but don't put the trial schedule on it. ;)

Hope there's an early cool change come through for you guys... ;) I didn't end up entering, was a bit too far even for me. Good luck to you all

Yes please Wondering if they are all on the Yahoo obedience list? Love to see one for agility - I'm sure there would be obedience triallers who would love to see one for obedience as well.

Too good to be true sadly - but wouldn't it be great?! Especially for those who like to wander over the border occasionally.

Just a bump for this - is there a Vic obedience version of the new vic agility info site? Decided I am going to have a crack at Novice this year.

Just out of interest, my dog was getting roo tail nearly every day and she got to a point where she would nibble at it and then pretty much not touch it at all. So I've thrown a few festy roo tails out myself. She has a really good appetite (she is half lab) but there is something about roo that she decided that she didn't really like any more. I've never seen her refuse any other bone except roo. I gather Mandela is on roo because he needs to be but just thought I'd mention it

My black lab x went the same at a similar age - took me a lot of work to get that dead hair out so as someone above stated, get busy with the brush. At this stage I also found her diet really wasn't suiting her and I switched her to a full raw diet. As part of that diet she gets either 2 to 3 fish oil capsules a day or about 10 ml of human quality linseed oil. Her coat is really shiny and I'm always getting people compliment her on how good her coat is. Given you are feeding dry, I'd try a few fish oil capsules or a can of sardines in oil once or twice a week - split it across a few feeds though.

I have done some drive training with Darcy and I've realised I need to go back to it, she finds agility a little too rewarding sometimes and I need the reward to come from me and not from her agility. :D But her early work still stands her in really good stead - you talk about a low drive dog's eyes closing over at your hare running Corvus. Darcy is kelpie x lab and most people comment on her level of drive, so she's no slouch drive wise. Not only can I call her off a rabbit instantly midway through the chase, these days she will look to me for permission to be released to chase the rabbit. Same for roos, sheep, birds etc. She also has a high food drive (she is half lab after all) and she will drop food in a heartbeat when told, no matter how high her value is for it. A few nights ago both dogs were given a pigs ear and I was in the kitchen in the next room (in view). She was gutsing the ear to stop the pup getting it and started to cough it up while still trying to eat the rest, at which point I told her to put the ear down until she'd finishing coughing. She sat with that ear between her front feet and the pup within a metre or so until I released her to eat it again. As for titles - she's got her CCD but we switched to agility. I'm going back to basics with my agility and as part of that I am throwing some obedience work in and will trial in CD early this year as the quality of her obedience work has gone ahead in leaps and bounds. She is titled to Masters level in both agility and jumping - she had both her Masters titles by 3.5 year old. As a 1st time dog owner I'm pretty proud of her. :p

Are they beef or lamb livers? And are they frozen first? Pigs ears are the biggest rip off these days. Every now and then Petstock Geelong has them 10 for $12, and I picked some up from Best Friends at Geelong 10 for $12.90 - that's as a member! WDTS used to have them for $1 each but I bought some at their last trial - I think they were $1.20 or $1.50 but they were paper thin. I read on here ages ago that pigs ears are all taken up with Woolworths and Coles getting into the pet market. Re: La Famiglia in the Gateway - thanks JJ I'd wondered if they had them out there as well, much easier to fly in and grab my weekly supply there than fight with you Warrnamboolians for a car park And thanks for the tip on meatbarn, I rarely feed marrow bones these days and especially not cut in half given Darcy's last effort - bloody piglet she is. I can grab them for $2 from the local IGA if I'm in need of something a little more recreational for the girls to chew on.

And what are their dog bones like and how much? Not the chicken frames though, don't mind giving my two the occasional feed but Darcy puts on weight too easily on frames. No good for a sporting dog. I've been grabbing a few bags a week off La Familia (sp?) and find them good but it's never easy to get parking, especially at the moment.

I think it was just standard mince Pandii - heard the ad on the radio. Be worth giving them a call though just in case. Where's our nice sunny beach weather gone - would be nice to get some sunshine rather than just grey...

I've just been looking at one of these myself - the only dumbell I have is a plastic fluro yellow one that I found under the house when I moved in Been well and truly "loved" by it's former owner, a GSD, so it's also too big for her. I bought one of the rounded end ones but she picks it up on the ends instead of the mouthpiece. I'm wondering if she'd do the same with a wooden one so we might go for another plastic one which is correctly sized. We will have to work on the mouthing Does anyone have any ideas on where to get the plastic ones and what size/measurement for a small lab sized dog?

Is there camping facilities available there overnight?

Can I please get some information on this - as this is just the tragic kind of thing I'd be happy to do on New Years Eve. Bit of a road trip but hey!

You can get the silicon bowls in Australia from a website that has recently started up for Xmas doggie gift vouchers etc. I can't remember what site it's on but might be worth a google search, it might come up. Dog training sessions, massages and that kind of thing on the website. Very $$$ but the bowl was reasonably priced. I agree they are a great bowl, except when you have a young dog who thinks it's either for crash landing on, sitting in or playing with. EFS

It's not mentioned on the Clean Run list when someone asked about Christmas Sales. It used to be that if you ordered anything on the free shipping list then whatever you ordered (within reason) was also shipped free but it doesn't seem to work these days. I just put in a big order while the dollar is high, cost me a bomb in postage, but I did order one of the big silver mesh shades so not really surprised. Free postage on that would've been nice.

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this. Darcy appears to have a bit of a belly ache and seems a bit swollen around the belly. I had to go away for work early Monday morning, I asked Mum to grab the dogs a dino bone each to keep them happy while I was away. They were fed as normal Monday night and given the other half of the dino bone each on Tuesday morning. These ones were cut in half which my dogs have never had before. Last night Darcy seemed off, and looked like she'd had a massive feed of something. Only ate half her usual dinner. Seemed slightly uncomfortable but had several normally poos and was mostly ok when she went to bed last night. I've seen her look similar when she's had a big feed of bones. This morning she seemed fine, still a little gutty looking but better than last night. I gave her a very small bone so she had something to chew on (otherwise she would've just stolen the pups bone). Tonight she came in, been playing and wrestling, and has eaten all her dinner and done some training. Now she's looking gutty and slightly uncomfortable again, she looks a bit wider across the ribs and she doesn't have her usual fit "tuck". I wormed both dogs Sunday afternoon. Would've thought it's a bit late for a bellyache from that. The only other thing I can think of is she's managed to thieve and clean up both dino bones and is still digesting it all, or that fatty marrow has given her a gutache but her poos are completely normal. Would've thought she'd be over that too. She's raw fed, so her dinner has been her usual vegie mush and some yoghurt. Any one got any ideas? If she's still looking off at all tomorrow she'll be off to the vets.

Munchin - I am in the shop tomorrow to finish the last of the plumbing etc, and he opens 10:00am Friday. He has had the first of his fish arrive and all his stock is sorted so he will be ready to go by then. Not many fish in yet as they need to be stocked gradually over a period but there are some. There are some beautiful marine fish there already! Only thing that may not be ready is his live plant display but I'm hoping to have it plumbed-in tomorrow. Thought it must be getting really close, don't believe I've heard Pet Goods Direct advertising their fish supplies before until very recently... Amazing what a bit of competition does.

Zee has already figured out that I'm really quite ticklish, and that a pointy little puppy nose jammed just under my elbow while I'm sitting down is guaranteed a reaction no matter how hard I try not to. ;)

Well we did some good work early on in the year, Darcy scored her first pass in JDM at the last trial of the year and had her JDM + an extra pass by mid-April, and that's with 2 months off in January/Feb. Ended up with 70 Top Dog points which I was pretty happy with for her first year in JDM. She also finished off her ADX in April and her ADM in early October, as well as her JDO and GDX. We made a start on ADO, only 4 more to go. Unfortunately my lack of work on the basics has bit me in the butt quite a lot this last few months (guess what's on my to do list for the rest of the year?!). And no I haven't had a go at CD yet, done a bit of work on our turns and my footwork and heeling in general. Was going to enter her at Portland but we might leave it until our local trial in April.

Well said Cry123. I've grown up around working dogs, spent time jillarooing in the Riverina on several different stations and I now have a customer base of 100 or so farms that I visit regularly. Yes there are some working dogs who aren't looked after quite to the standard that I would like to see, but nearly all of them are way better off than the dog two houses down who gets no time spent with it, never gets out of the backyard and is left alone for days at a time. ;) Our working dogs always had access to shade, always had a kennel to sleep in. Tried many times to put old blankets or even straw in the kennels, it was often dragged out of the kennel by the end of the day and most of our dogs slept in the dirt holes they had dug around their kennel. They were given a run daily, regardless of whether they were needed or not, and often got taken out for the day even if they weren't needed when fencing or similar type jobs needed to be done. Please don't tar all farmers with the same brush.

We spent ages down the beach yesterday afternoon, poor Darcy must've had a late onset of the squirts and wasn't able to wake me last night as I found a bit of a mess in my shower this morning. I'm still quite amazed that she figured out that was the best place to go