Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!

[Max#1]

Hello everyone!

Its been too long. But I've kept up with the posts!!!! The 3/# key on our computer at home seems to not be working, so I haven't actually been able to login....

We have had an absolutely lovely time at home with Max the past few weeks. Ah for holidays to never end! We've been a bit slack with training, though Max seems to have gotten his brain back, and the work we've been doing is more re-inforcing I guess. But over the past few weeks he seems to have really settled, which is just fantastic. Lots of chilled out vibes all round. Unfortunately all photos I have are on home computer - so no photos until I either create new login or fix # key?! Oops.

Clastic - congratulations on new house and job!

All the holiday photos look fantastic!

ps - back to the eggs. Being on holidays we often have a soft-boiled egg for breakfast. We make one for Max too, get it started a bit for him, then send him outside with it. It is hilarious to watch him bat it around for awhile, then suck out the yolk. He's quite talented despite having no thumbs!

[minxy]

Oh Lilli, that poor doggy! You can see how skinny her little legs are Ruby's looking beautiful; very shiny coat.

Hope your first day goes well today, Clastic!

[ravenau1]

Hullooooooo everybody!

So much for me having more time to spend on the computer, I swear I haven't had a moment to myself!

I've been popping in when I can to have a read of the forum but just haven't been able to post anything. Loving all the pics and stories in here as always

My parents came and stayed this week and it went a lot more smoothly than I was expecting! They were both really taken with Astrid and kept remarking about how well behaved she was, which was nice. The real test will be this weekend when we go and stay at their place for a few days! Nice long drive (3 hours or so) then a strange new place with different cats for Astrid but I am feeling optimistic!

lilli_star: I love the gazebo for Ruby! We are going to have to do something similar for winter as we have plenty of shade but not much area that's waterproof.

betsy: Love the story about the bbq. My uncle had a Rottie cross that once stole a side of beef!

KTB:It's a wonder Hoover didn't wake up with a stiff neck!

KumaAkita:awwwww! Love that pic!

She's growing like a weed, her legs just keep getting longer and longer.

OH bought her a giant stuffed frog and she loves it, beats it up and snuggles with it for hours.

She loves to dig!

Her ears are doing all kinds of weird things.

We started a new puppy class on Sunday with some gorgeous dogs. A Staffy x Kelpie (who we knew from before), an amazingly cute and fluffy Border Collie, and a lovely Portuguese Water Dog. Astrid has a great time playing with the other dogs now, a far cry from when she squealed and hid the first week

I'd love a bit of advice if anyone can help out? We are having a bit of a toilet training issue! Astrid often won't let us know when she has to go out. I'm going to try and teach her to scratch at the door and make some noise but she just sits and stared forlornly at the closed door. She had an accident inside the other day when she went to the door, saw that it was closed and before I could get to the door she walked a few paces away and did a wee. No whining, nothing. Odd because most of the time she is very vocal.

[KumaAkita]

Wow! Look at Astrid! She's growing like a weed... glad to hear she went well with your visitors. When we travel somewhere new for the first time, we keep Kuma on lead for a little while so he has a chance to calm down. It may take Astrid a bit of time to get comfortable with new surroundings, but that's normal. We also take toys and stuff so Kuma is occupied...

Re toiletting - Kuma didn't make much noise either when he needed to whizz. We had one or two accidents as he got older, when we he was trained, but he just didn't make it outside in time... Astrid will probably be giving you non-verbal cues that she needs to go out, sniffing the ground, being figetty, that kind of thing. Kuma still doesn't bark, but if he is standing at the door waiting to go out and we ignore him, he'll come over and nudge our hands. I have heard of people conditioning their animals to ring a bell when they want to go out - simply by ringing it every time they take the dog outside, eventually the dog learns that bell means going outside. Possibly something you could consider?

Betsy - wow! That's some flooding!! I wouldn't be going in there either

Lilli_star - Roby is looking lovely. Don't worry, i did consider getting shade for Kuma - something like a gazebo - but he seems to be good at finding all the shady spots in the yard.

KTB - Kuma does that... the number of times I've gone over to make sure he's still breathing because of his positions you'd not know whether he's alive or not!

The next shot in the sequence with Kuma and Mr Kuma is Kuma thinking he's a lap dog and trying to sit on OH's lap.

Hope all's well

[kyliegirl]

Hi all I hope I am allowed to join in I have been reading this thread every time a new post is made and love seeing all the pics - I would love to join in and share pics of my boy

Lilli: it looks perfect! We are planning on doing something similar for echo as there is not much shelter outside, for now he has a shelter modified from the cat run which provides nice shelter on the sunny days.

Ravenau: Does she sniff around at all? I noticed that when Echo needs to go he sniffs the ground alot more and he begins to have a funny walk, like a waddle - the second he goes quiet and does any of these I take him out, even if he doesn't need to go, just to be sure. He is also usually pretty vocal

Echo is 11 weeks and 5 days now. Here is some pics of him he is only allowed out of his pen in the house with a leash for now or if an area is blocked off as we have cats and we are trying to prevent any chasing behaviour. The cats are getting used to him, one of them will now let Echo approach him and will sniff noses but any more and he will hiss and swat.

Edited January 17, 2011 by kyliegirl

[betsy]

Welcome Kyliegirl and the handsome Echo! Well done on the cat interactions, I have failed miserably!

Ravenau - Astrid is growing so quickly, and her paws are huge. Love the photo of her with the giant frog .

Lilli_Star - Miss Roo looks very happy with her palace! Hope it provides some shade. I know that Ziggy enjoys lying under the trees by the fence as it is well shaded there. I think most dogs are smart enough to seek out some shade when its hot. Glad it was your brother who found that poor doggy. I beat she thinks she has hit the jackpot now !

Max#1 - good to hear Max is emerging from adolescent brain fade .

Minxy - any new photos of Kyogin??

KA - Kuma looks like such a big snugglebum (I have one of those too, bit of a sookah really)

I took Ziggy for a playdate last night with a couple of Irish Setters down the beach (no photos, sorry). He had a blast and was exhausted! The younger Irish was only a few months older than him and loved to run, exactly what Ziggy loves in a playmate. It worked out well as I managed to get up and feed him early and went back to bed for a sleep, and he is still tired now (having a snooze on the couch as I type)

Oh, is there any news of Niques and James????

Edited January 18, 2011 by betsy

[Niques]

I have a lot to catch up on! Have been enjoying the photos from the last page or two - particularly Kuma with his dad

I had a great trip down south and James is finally home. Quite a few houses on the kennel's street went under but thankfully, due to a hill, the kennel itself was untouched aside from being completely cut off from the road (and thus, most of the employees). Apparently James and his roomie (a lab x kelpie) were bff's and completely inseparable throughout the week.

I had to bite back a, "Uh, whose dog is this?" when they brought him out. Sort of didn't recognise my boy I had to check his toenails (yeah, I can recognise my dog's toenails/feet but not his head ) and make him do a few tricks in the car before I was convinced. The poor fellow is completely exhausted and slept through most of yesterday and looks to be doing the same today. He's come back acting like a dog, strange as it sounds. He's just very doggish. And that's not to mention the smell - he reeks of dog. Nonetheless, very, very glad to have him home.

And the stay seems to have done him a world of good. The eating problems seem all but gone. He's more inclined to drink water out of his bowl rather than the swimming pool. And he's just generally calmer. Very curious.

Anyway, must backtrack through this thread now and catch up over the next few days!

[4Kelpies]

I'm glad to hear that James is home safe and sound. It must have been a worrying time for you when you couldn't contact the kennel. Hopefully he can relax now he's home and will look like himself again soon.

[wuffles]

OMG cute doberdog overload :D

ravenau1: Neither of mine really 'ask' to go out, I just take them out on a regular schedule. Our house is pretty small, and I am pretty aware of where the pups are most of the time, so I don't seem to miss them sitting at the door. As suggested you could also teach her to ring a bell!

Niques: I am soooo glad that James is fine and good.

I just took Ava for her first run beside the bike ;) She was a very good girl. Needless to say her foot is pretty much healed, I'm just going to avoid taking her on really rough ground for the rest of the week then she should be fine to go. Hrmmm... time for a playdate anyone? ;)

[minxy]

Betsy: No new photos lately. Plan on taking some more of him tomorrow after we take him to the hydrobath - he's looking and smelling rank at the moment after all this rain/mud we've been having. He literally smells like pond scum

Ravenau1: Kyojin doesn't really ask either actually. If he's in his crate, he'll whinge to be let out to pee. But if we're just chilling out at home, we normally try and get into the habit of taking him out at regular intervals. He'll never make any noise to go out, but as he sleeps 95% of the day, if he's up and about, it's usually because he wants to pee. We were going to try the bell trick, but we never got around to it. I'm still thinking about it as it would make things a lot easier. From what I understand, you just hang up a bell at the door and ring it every time you take her out to pee. Then start trying to get Astrid to ring the bell when you take her out. Eventually she'll start ringing it herself. You'll usually have a good idea whether she actually needs to go or whether she's just playing silly buggers by how long it's been since you took her out last.

Niques: Glad James is back home safe with you

Kyliegirl: Echo is gorgeous! What a handsome little boy.

[Clastic]

Before I begin, I apologise for all the photos..!!

lilli_star - Roo sure looks like she enjoys that new set up, its great! Actually makes me think that we should have one here for the time being until we get a pergola in.

Max#1 - Hello hello!! Will be looking forward to pics when your keyboard is fixed. If your operating system on your computer is Windows, have you tried using the on-screen keyboard? You can just click on the # key on there instead of having to type it out. Let me know if you need a hand. Looks something like this:

kyliegirl - Welcome!! Love the name Echo and he is gorgeous, looking forward to hearing more about him and seeing photos of him as he grows.

ravenau1 - Astrid sure is getting big now! Good to hear that she was great when your parents were around. Good luck with the car trip, I'm sure Astrid will be fine. Mine don't ask to go outside for the toilet either, but I am thinking of teaching them.. maybe. With Mars I can't really tell as he can hold on for quite sometime, but when Pepper needs to go do her business she paces around really quickly so I know.

Niques - So glad to hear that the kennels were at the top of the hill and that James is safe and sound.

wuffles - Did someone say playdate?! *shoots hand up in the air* Are you thinking of doing E.T with Ava? I'm thinking about it with Mars, but I'm worried that he'll get bored half way through and play up..

So first day of work was good, learning a few things here. I'm never a big fan of starting a new job.. you go from a job where you know everything to knowing absolutely nothing, but I am enjoying this job much much more already.

Pepper gets her stitches out on Thursday, yay!!! The wound doesn't seem to bother her anymore, doesn't seem to notice it at all now.

Last but not least, here are some pics of my place. Please excuse how messy each room is.....

So here we have pics of the front of the house and a view from the front door. To the left is the lounge room, but I didn't grab a pic of that.

View of the kitchen and meals area, the first pic is taken from the sliding door which leads to the backyard and the 2nd pic is taken from the hallway that leads to the bedrooms etc..

The hallway to bedrooms etc. and pic of the guest bathroom.

The laundry where the pups sleep at night. The other pic is the soon to be guest bedroom.. just missing a bed and the books need to disappear.

And this is the crap room.. When we moved, all the boxes pretty much ended up in this room and I made a huge mess of it all trying to find stuff I needed.

And more pics to come..... sorry!!!

Edited January 18, 2011 by Clastic

[Clastic]

The very messy master bedroom, with a HUGE pile of clothes waiting to be folded and put away. Also our tiny walkthrough wardrobe and view to the ensuite.

The ensuite

And the backyard

[Max#1]

Hey hey! Clastic (nice, shiny new house!) I'm on a mac and wouldn't have the faintest on how to get an onscreen keyboard. But very nifty! Turns out (now that the OH is back at work and so I can actually log onto the computer) the thing remembers me when I'm on this page when I'm logged in!

So many cute dobe puppies! Astrid looks very leggy! I remember every day when I'd come home from work and see Max and each time I'd notice a different part of him had grown - legs were long, head had gotten big, ears were gi-normas etc. He seems to have really slowed down with the growing, and at 9 months I reckon he's pretty close to being done.

He never asks to go outside either - will sometimes knock on the door - but usually we take him out often enough to suffice. Its funny these habits you get into! I once read about how our dogs read us, and we read them, almost subconsciously after awhile.......

Photos soon!

[Clastic]

Hey hey! Clastic (nice, shiny new house!) I'm on a mac and wouldn't have the faintest on how to get an onscreen keyboard. But very nifty! Turns out (now that the OH is back at work and so I can actually log onto the computer) the thing remembers me when I'm on this page when I'm logged in!

Ah bummer, sorry.. I have noooo idea about mac computers, but yay that you're logged on!

[koalathebear]

Yoicks, I have fallen behind.

KumaAkita - I love that photo. Close favourite to the one with Mr KA carrying Mini KA on his shoulders. Sadly enough, that photo seems to have disappeared from the thread :'( Maybe a glitch with Flickr?

Betsy: Snakes? Yoicks! I am always worried about what my two would do if they found a snake. Elbie would probably keep his distance but I'm afraid Hoover would try to eat it. :D

Lilli_star - oh poor Lucky .. so mangy-looking ... I'm sure she'll pluck up and look perky and healthy in no time. Those working dogs are so resilient! Tougher than an old boot I LOVE Ruby's new palacegazebo. She looks very majestic! As for feral dogs ... I've taken to walking Elbie on his easy-walk harness again - he walks like a dream on it, no pulling, pretty relaxed. Except when he sees cars - they seem to be exciting him a lot so the other day he saw too many cars and got really excited and started pulling so hard he made himself limp and I had to switch him back to his flat collar for the rest of the way home. I stopped and started every time he pulled and it took me forever to get home and I was in a foul mood, so we went back to basics a few days ago and we're just walking up and down our home street. Heeling, walking, jogging, walking. He is walking beautifully on a loose leash right now but I'm going to stick to our street for another week or so. As to eating poo, a few weeks ago, Dog only knows why, but Hoover decided he liked eating Elbie's poo Thankfully the phase only lasted a week or so and now he has no interest. Phew...

Max#1: welcome back! We're going to have to resolve this 3 issue. Can't you copy and paste a 3/# from a webpage or word doc?

ravenau1: I love that Astrid has huge paws like Hoover. I keep wondering how big our monster is going to end up because of his paws. Also, I suppose it's a given but I LOVE her wonky ears. For the toilet-training, Elbie had a bad habit of just standing by the door silently as if we were supposed to read his mind or something. Drove us bonkers because sometimes we weren't paying attention to what they were doing. Both he and Hoover had little accidents because we didn't get to them in time at the kitchen door. We thought about a bell but decided our monsters would probably eat the bell. So we just taught them to give one bark when they want to be let out. Basically we stand at the door with them and woof once at them. Eventually both of them caught on and they give a very small woof to be let out we felt like dorks the first few times we woofed at our dogs though.

Kyliegirl: Echo is gorgeous! So sleek, shiny and solid-looking. I'd be cuddling him like crazy. Welcome to the thread - so glad you've decided to join in I often wonder what the various Thread Lurkers are thinking

Niques - welcome back and yay for the safe return of James the Wombat Perhaps he picked up bad Kelpie ways while kennelled.

Clastic - so glad the first day at work went well. I always find starting in a new place traumatic. I have an unblemished track record of always hating my workplace for the first bit and wanting to go back to my old one. Lovely photos of the house - love the dogs welcoming us in that photo there ... Are they allowed free rein of the house or just selected bits? The backyard looks a good size - but is it fully fenced? In that photo it looked like it was partially open!

[Max#1]

Okay back again. Late dinner eaten - was first flyball training for the year for me tonight. Max hasn't forgotten - woohoo! He's such a little star. But I find that my confidence in him makes a lot of difference. (And when he did a couple of complete flyball runs tonight, and I was wooping and jumping up and down for joy, he definitely knew he'd done something really really right). So yesterday when I walked him he was a dream, and off leash at the park recalled every time - even when there were other dogs barking. So I was feeling pretty good about tongiht. But then later someone asked me something, and then I lost it, and then he didn't come when he was called. I really wonder. Makes me wonder too about the loose lead walking KTB - does your mood make a difference? I'm pretty sure mine does - particularly at obedience lessons as well when I think back now. The first two lessons were great because I had so much confidence in him after he was such a champion at puppy pre-school, but after some comments from the instructor that left me feeling like I was doing it all wrong, it all went downhill. I'll have to remember that for the future.

Niques - I'm also glad that James is safe and dry and back with you, even if slightly changed. Why was he different?

Minxy - Max is also smelling like a pond so my sympathies. At the park where we go for our morning walk there's a mud puddle near a drain. He always makes a point of going and lying in it at least once - and I swear the mud is completely black. He laps at it while he's lying in it too, and I think its making his poos not quite right. Which leads me back to KTB and her poo-corner thread. I was going to make the suggestion to let them 'dry out' somewhat before picking up. Too gross for words, I know, but I find even the 'softer' poos go hard after a couple of hours, and therefore leave less residue. I know. Gross.

So photos.

Here's Max at his Christmas party that we had at the dog park on Christmas eve...

With one of his buddies... ETA - this photo was able to be taken by quickly distracting them from a game of bitey face...

Edited January 18, 2011 by Max#1

[Max#1]

And with another one of his buddies - keeping guard. This is a lovely bc x kelpie - she has the sweetest eyes.

[Max#1]

And finally, the princess of all the dogs - a lovely brittany. She makes me want a brittany, just because she has such a beautiful nature - the photo doesn't do her justice. For ages her and Max were best friends. But now I'm afraid he's outgrown her a little. They knew each other, waited for each other, and always joyously greeted each other by stalking each other across the park. They still do it, but while she wants to play he's not so interested. Stupid dog. If I was him I'd make the most of every minute with her! Her owner is into retrieving and is training her for it.

In the background is one very shy whippet. He's really come out of his shell since coming to the park, and will surprise you by coming up to you all of a sudden and play bowing, jumping from side to side, then scuttling back behind his owner. A sweet dog.

[betsy]

I don't need a bell here - Ziggy bashes against the wooden venetians that are over the back glass doors and I know then he needs to go outside for a pee. Or that he is trying to trick me into getting up from the dining table so he can thieve what I have been eating . (The noise is also enough to wake me at night if he ever needs to go out). He pretty much trained me to do that himself :)

Don't despair Ravenau - it took Ziggy until about 4 and a half months to be toilet trained completely, and since then he's been rock solid.

[lilli_star]

Hey lovely people! I've had a pretty crappy* day today (* times that by about 10, and add a few more expletives and you might get an idea), but have cheered up a bit looking at all the pics

Welcome Kylie :D Your doglet is gorgeous, and I'm sure you and Raven will have lots to compare.

Clastic, your house is lovely! So jealous of your kitchen! My kitchen is teeny. An extension is badly needed on my house Glad your first day at work went well too.

Niques, glad you and Ruby's twin, uhhh James are home and safe. Miss Roo is hopefully still being good for MDTL while I'm at Dad's.

Koala- couldn't help but laugh when you said you and Mr KTB "woofed" at your doglets to make them bark Roo just stands at the door, and since my house is small, I can see her and take her out. I like the woofing idea though

Max, good to see you back

Wuffles- do you have one of those stick thingys that you attach Ava's lead to on your bike? Glad her paw is better.

Betsy- I too have failed with the cat/dog interaction . They're as bad as each other Jasper the cat riles Roo up I'm sure of it.

KA- Did I miss the pic of Kuma in Mr KA's lap? Or did you mean, that was the next one you took?

In other news, I met my first Koolie today. He was called Spike and was a splotchy light dusty colour with the clearest blue/white eyes. Interesting. Sweet doglet though. Belongs to a friend of my dad's.

Hope everyone is well. It's good to see lots of posts in here again