lilli_star Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Haven't seen Wizzle around here in ages. Hope everything is okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 (edited) Hey KTB: I'm wondering if Hoover lying on top of Elbie is a dominance thing? You know when they play, and they try to put their paws on one another? I don't think so. They haven't really figured that out yet, I don't think. They both steal each other's toys and beds with no growling or arguments and they wouldn't do that if one of them was dominant yet. Hoover likes hanging out with Elbie - I'm not sure if it's for warmth or because he's still a baby. He ended up on top of Elbie because I think Elbie hadn't left much room in the bed even though it's Kuma's old bed. About the dominance thing, a behaviourist came around to help us out when Elbie was living up to his name and being a Total Little Bastard. She said he's actually not dominant - but that among dogs like Kelpies etc, the second in command i.e. the non-dominant one will still try to 'test' limits and boundaries. The truly dominant ones don't do that because they just assume/know they're dominant and it's the lesser ones that try it on. With pack order, the dogs are happiest when there is a clear order, in the absence of it, they try on behaviours to see where they fit and if they can be up higher. So for us, we had to go back to the clichéd basics... Dogs eat after we eat, the dogs go through doorways after us, we initiate play not them and we ignore them if they try to nudge us with toys/noses ... Elbie's behaviour improved almost immediately after he got put back in his place I know it sounds implausible and pack theory is supposed to have been discredited but the behaviourist/trainer is someone who works a lot with Kelpies and Border collies so understands a lot of how these dogs behave and reason. I felt quite upset at the time because I thought it meant I wasn't supposed to cuddle Elbie anymore but all it meant was that he only gets rewarded on our terms when he does something we want. As for photos - here's Max asking me what I want him to do next..... this is the face I get all day... He is so gorgeous. Edited November 12, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 Haven't seen Wizzle around here in ages. Hope everything is okay. I think she's fine. She still posts on facebook. I messaged her the other day and she said that some days were very tiring so she was resting a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilli_star Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Haven't seen Wizzle around here in ages. Hope everything is okay. I think she's fine. She still posts on facebook. I messaged her the other day and she said that some days were very tiring so she was resting a lot. Oh okay. Suppose one of these days I'll have to join the darkside and give in to Facebook.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 Oh okay. Suppose one of these days I'll have to join the darkside and give in to Facebook.... It's pretty effortless and low-maintenance. I have it because it's a handy way to keep in touch and make sure people are alive. When you join, let me know and I'll send you the link to my FB page so that you can add me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max#1 Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 (edited) I too hope Wizzle is okay! Oh I can imagine Hoover likes snuggling up to Elbie! And Elbie is so patient! It must be fascinating to watch them interact..... I wonder if they do form a pack order, if you'll notice (not saying that you wouldn't notice - but maybe its very subtle?). I'm very curious! All those things about dominance and people - again its 50/50. Sometimes Max will charge through a door, sometimes I will go first. I initiate play and end it (with my special 'release' word - 'finished', yes we finish everything.... very boring I know. I wanted to change it to 'sweet', like that earlier post... but never did). Sometimes I try to finish when he's doing naughty things too! It kind of works.... He eats first, mostly because that's at 6.30-7pm, while we don't eat til quite later! So that one's out the window. When I go to pat him, he'll roll on his back.... or he'll walk away. He's quite protective of his 'fresh meat' when he gets it (ie will move away if I move close to him), but I've never really tried to take it back off him.... I found it was worse if I was eye-balling him while he was eating it (if I back up to him, like taking washing off the line he doesn't move)? Oh yeah - one thing is at obedience we're supposed to sit them down, give them a good pat while we're sitting on the ground, and sniff their ears and look in their mouths and stuff. With Max its just not on. I can do it other times - but there and then, he will try to bite me (not in a bad way) if I try to hold him still. Very embarrassing. ETA: good weekend all! I've made a 'spethal' effort this week and have been up at the crack of dawn for walkies. And now I'm dog-tired.... ha ha ha... Edited November 12, 2010 by Max#1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilli_star Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Oh okay. Suppose one of these days I'll have to join the darkside and give in to Facebook.... It's pretty effortless and low-maintenance. I have it because it's a handy way to keep in touch and make sure people are alive. When you join, let me know and I'll send you the link to my FB page so that you can add me. Mmmm. I'm still trying to hold out for as long as I can. It's not like I have anything exciting to share with the world. I had a friend from high school ring me out of the blue a couple of months ago and she said "...you're not on Facebook- it's like you've dropped off the face of the earth!" Errr, no. I still have the same email address as before, you could just email me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Facebook is fantastic for keeping in contact with people Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 Facebook is fantastic for keeping in contact with people I held out for a long time and it used to irritate the hell out of me but then I discovered that there were people I did want to keep in touch with but might not necessarily have enough to say to them to justify emailing them ... So FB lets me leave one line comments for photos and status updates. I still do email though ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Mine are pretty typical of a dominant dog and a submissive dog In reality I think that most dogs sit somewhere between the two. The way I see it, dogs are smart enough to distinguish between humans and other dogs and therefore the whole pack thing is not set in stone. I do definitely think that we need to be strong leaders though so that our dogs respect us! While Satch is easy to live with because he's laidback, he is cheeky. We say that he is passively dominant because he's not really pushy, he is just plain sneaky! He nudges your hand to get pats. He always wants to sniff our dinner and just wags his tail when we tell him "no" (I often have to physically get up and walk him to his bed to get him to back off). He doesn't get out of your way, and if he wants to stay somewhere he will plant his bum and not move. We can take food off him easily with no reaction and when it boils down to it he does listen eventually He's dominant with other dogs but will not start fights and generally just play bows if another dog gets grumpy with him! Ava will stop doing something naughty with a look or just a tiny "uh uh". She went to lick her stitches today, I went "ahhhhh" quite loudly and she immediately rolled onto her back. She does what she's told with one command. If we tell Satchy off at dinner time she will leave the room She will move away if we try take something valuable off her but relinquishes it quickly if we catch her. She's submissive but confident with other dogs. I like Facebook I held off on joining for quite a while but like it now that it's there. Makes things easy (especially when lots of my family/friends are interstate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niques Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 (edited) KTB, I love Hoover guarding the bag of food They're so good with the tradesman! James tends not to be allowed inside when unknown people (i.e. tradies) are over unless he's on a leash as he tends to lose his head. Those roo tails look like a good treat - I might have to source some out, myself! OK. Some photos. As for the rest of you ... KA is off the hook because she's travellin', but what about the rest of you? No photos from me for this week, I'm afraid. My mother commandeered my camera to take to a conference in Spain after unsuccessfully jamming the SD card into her own camera the wrong way I have my doubts about whether it will return to me in one piece. Max#1, I go back and forth on the whole dominance thing. I can't decide whether there's some portion of his mind that thinks there's a vacancy in the position of "pack leader" or whether he's just plain naughty. Most of the time I think it's naughty, but sometimes I do wonder... I've been making a conscious effort to stop playing with him everytime he brings a toy over and expects to have it thrown/tugged with. Haven't seen Wizzle around here in ages. Hope everything is okay. I think she's fine. She still posts on facebook. I messaged her the other day and she said that some days were very tiring so she was resting a lot. Glad to hear she's well - I was just thinking of her the other day. James has finally noticed lizards. The dork of a dog has previously been entirely oblivious to blue tongues, even if they were on the wall right next to him. I tossed him out for his wee this morning and two seconds later he was barking like a mad dog. He and the blue tongue were in a Mexican standoff - the blue tongue on the wall, head out, valiantly hissing away whilst James just stood there barking; little bit unsure of what to do. Eventually he knocked it off the wall and started to ineptly toy with it (in actual fact, I think he just had no idea what to do) so I had to intervene. He was happy to calm down a little whilst I held on to him but still showed some interest in the area even after the lizard has scurried away, which is worrying for a potential snake encounter. He was growled at, in no uncertain terms, to back off and the fact that he did calm down gives me a little hope that he's still malleable in regards to how he treats reptiles. Edited November 12, 2010 by Niques Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KumaAkita Posted November 12, 2010 Share Posted November 12, 2010 Hi all... Sorry for my little moan last night... I am just over all this travel. I get home tonight and head off to Sydney for the day on Monday. Melbourne is lovely, I just wish that I could experience more of it tha just the inside of the convention centre! I'm on a booth and people don't want to talk to us. They either want to abuse us for changing the rules that mean that pharmaceutical sales reps cant give doctors pens anymore (hey, we are drug companies, not stationary suppliers!) or they have no idea who we are and their eyes glaze over... FUN! We have a tradie comong to our house regularly at the moment and he is scared of dogs... And he is petrified of Kuma! So the poor fluffier gets stuck inside when he comes to work in the yard... I'll post more on the dominance thing later, I'm just really popping in to say hi and apologise before heading off to the conference. Enjoy your weekends! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 12, 2010 Author Share Posted November 12, 2010 (edited) I was supposed to be Hoover-sitting this morning as I waited for our new stove and oven to be delivered - with the usual specificity, the delivery time was stated as: "sometime on Saturday morning". OH was going to go to class with Elbie but then we've noticed over the last two days that poor Hoover's had goop in his eyes. The vet checked him out earlier in the week and said that if he was rubbing at it, we should bring him back in. He hasn't been rubbing at it but gosh that's a lot of green goop in the poor dog's eyes that we keep extricating. Because after OH went to class I'd be carless and couldn't drop off Hoover, they said that OH could just drop off Hoover and they'd examine him when they had a moment and then we could pick him up at 10.45 am. "Sorry he'll in a cage all that time, though." It's ok because he's a very chilled dog and is totally happy to be crated but he just looked very doleful this morning as we were putting his car harness on and he was looking up at us with his puppy dog eyes, left ear up, right ear dropping down ... I was going to make the appointment for Monday but the vet's said that anything to do with the eyes is urgent and he might have an infection. We went through this with Elbie when he was a very young pup - seemed like he was constantly at the vet's in his early days. These days he's healthy as a horse so let's hope Hoover follows suit. Niques: Someone else was remarking about us leaving the bags of food on the ground of the kitchen like that i.e. how is it that the dogs don't rip them open. The roo tails are excellent - we bought them frozen from the organic butchers at the markets and they were surprisingly meaty when thawed out. I have to admit, non-Aussies are a bit horrified that our national animal is fed as food to our dogs .. I got a message asking me: "pardon my cluelessness, but... Are those actually kangaroo tails? Are kangaroos so common that kangaroo meat can be sold as a dog treat?" wait until I tell them about kangaroo culling in Canberra ... Are there many snakes in your area? I worry about them, too. at first I thought that we were in a safe area but at Dog School, they've just put up signs warning us that snakes have been sighted in the area I know Elbie - he'd go and nose at the damned thing. KumaAkita: I know what you mean ... travel for work is never fun if you're just going there, working and then back - seeing nothing but workplace/hotel . One adjustment I'm making right now to public service travel is that if I have to travel, I'll only be able to go there and then back - no extensions so that I can 'see' stuff. My old work was so good about that sort of thing. We had conferences in Monaco and Cannes from Thursday - Friday morning and then were were allowed to extend and stay over the weekend so that we could go sight-seeing. We only had to pay half price for hotels etc so I was able to travel around Paris and Nice. Those days are well and truly gone ... Edited November 12, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted November 13, 2010 Author Share Posted November 13, 2010 wizzle (via facebook) says: "I've been very slack I know! I've been quite sick, so sleeping a lot. Genevieve is doing well too. Give everyone my love and I will pop in soon. xx" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genabee Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Hi Everyone! Sorry I haven't been on in a while! Nothing personal! I haven't even tried to read the past 20 pages that I have missed.... Slightly dog - unrelated: I've been really unwell. The doctor has given me something for it to take the edge of it (supposedly, I am yet to notice a difference), but I've had a few days off work passed out on the couch (or the bathroom floor ). All the scans revealed there is one healthy little Wee Wizzle (for a brief time we thought there may have been two!), so that is the main thing. Husband was home for a couple of weeks, so have slowly been transforming the spare room, throwing out drum kits and other crap that he has collected over the years, to make way for baby furniture. Genevieve I am pretty sure, knows something is up! She has spent a fair bit of time hanging out in what will be the nursery... we are trying to desensitize her to it, so that when the baby eventually does come home, hopefully the novelty of the 'other bedroom' would have worn off! In the mean time, we have moved Hubby's desk into the dining room and she has dragged her ruggies from the couch to under his desk. She spends most of her time there now. I feel like a bad dog Mum at the moment, as between very wet weather and morning sickness, she has missed the last three weeks of obedience. Hopefully the rain will hold out tomorrow and I can get myself together for her! While Hubby was home, she spent a fair bit of time skateboarding though! I haven't been letting her sit on my lap like I used to, so she has her nose out of joint about that too! I've been giving her bones to eat/play with, but all she does is walk around the house with it in her mouth! It is quite funny! She trots along... strange dog. I should try and take some photos! I love the new sig KTB! Lil - I hope Ruby is feeling better soon! She definitely has my sympathies! Kuma - I left my car and house keys in a cab this last week! I too was lucky, the driver dropped them off to me at home the next day! I was having a bit of a freak out though because when I phoned the cab company they said they couldn't help me as they don't do lost property!!!!!! Hello to everyone else!!! Give all your doggies a big hug from Genevieve and I and I will pop back in soon! Eliza x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 (edited) This is what Roo's belly looked like on Monday night when I brought her home (3 days after op) Ava's look much neater :D Hey LS! How's Roo doing after her op? That is a large incision! Did everything go OK? Mindy only had 3 stitches and she probably only needed two as the incision was only about 2-3cm. How is Ava doing wuffles? Kuma looks soo cute in his B'day photo KA. I hope he had a great day! Hoover and Elbie are so cute together! I have been house sitting one of Mindy's friends this week. They are great friends and have been playing non stop for the last few days but now seem to be ignoring each other unless we are outside or at the park. The other dog has a woolly coat as is sooo hard to keep clean and dry. The poor thing got a "hotspot" yesterday from all the hot and humid weather I'm glad Mindy doesn't suffer from skin probs and is easy to clean. Edited November 13, 2010 by aussielover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Just wanted to come in and show off my new signature :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betsy Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Minxy your sig looks great - did you do it yourself? Just wondering what type of cameras everyone is using for their photos? I have a point and shoot but considering buying a DSLR.. Horrible and rainy here today. I'm happy to report Ziggy seems to be coping with being inside. Currently munching his antler in the crate (thanks DOL!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minxy Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Minxy your sig looks great - did you do it yourself?Just wondering what type of cameras everyone is using for their photos? I have a point and shoot but considering buying a DSLR.. Horrible and rainy here today. I'm happy to report Ziggy seems to be coping with being inside. Currently munching his antler in the crate (thanks DOL!) Nope, I tried ages ago to make a sig with pics of my cats (before I got Kyojin) and I couldn't for the life of me get it right. WhiskedAway made it for me :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niques Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 KTB, I've seen snakes around the yard a couple of times in the past. And a past gardener mentioned seeing them occasionally. We have a very dense, rainforesty type garden and are semi-rural, which doesn't help. Not to mention the animals - possums and native rats regularly set up camp in the ceiling, but thankfully they've not been around for a while now. And there was an odd bandicoot type thing living in the garden at one point :D I'm sure they all help attract the snakes. James certainly won't be allowed to swim in the local creek over Summer - the brush is absolutely packed with snakes. Poor Hoover! Hope it's not a serious infection. Lovely to hear from you, Wizzle! I hope you start to pick up and feel better Very cute signature, Minxy. How big is Kyojin now? I can only imagine how fast he'll grow. Betsy, I just use a point and shoot. But have had my Mum pick up a duty free DSLR on her way out of the country today so will have much nicer photos soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now