JulesP

Amber hasn't eaten her kibble for 2 mornings now Erny.

Erny I asked a friend today how much she feeds her Ridgebacks - 3 cups over 2 meals and that was Supercoat! They also get a bit of pet mince (couple of tablespoons) and left overs. When I described Mandela's output she immediately said "too much protein". Carrot is supposed to be good for IBS in people btw.

Can't you put mesh up and form a house paddock? That is what I did. No way would Poppy give me focus either in a stop but she does stop. We had an American lady out doing some herding training and she was using a bag on a stick to get the dogs to yield out and do nice flanks. She tried it with Poppy. Poppy totally ignored the bag even when it was applied to her head as she had the sheep in her eye and that was that. I had trouble with HT because of the not wanting to leave the sheep. After that she seemed to know the aim was to pen and once they were penned she was 'job done and happy'. She does now recall off but that has taken about 2 years. The pup sounds like it is going to be brilliant but lots of brilliant dogs aren't super fun to live with.

I really would be keeping her out of the horse paddock. I wouldn't be calling her at all if I saw the cat. You are just reinforcing that she can get away with not coming. I would only be calling her if I was prepared to use the collar. Does she have a stop on her yet? The stop/drop/sit command often seems to penetrate the brain more than a come command. Try stopping her and then going and retrieving her. My Poppy was totally fixated on sheep in the beginning. She would pretty much go into a trance. And no way would she leave those sheep to do a recall. She would happily drop though and I could go get her. Now with a bit of time on sheep she does recall off them. Are you doing all your NILF stuff and TOT (at the top of this page) is really good too. If mine get cheeky a bit of TOT and they are usually back in place.

I was really pleased with my guys training last night. Not because they all worked amazing but because of the enthusiasm. They all wanted to be out first. I had Poppy out and it started pouring with rain. I finished her and figured I would give up for the day but Brock and Amber had other ideas. Whilst putting Poppy back, Brock trotted out and sat in the starting place. So I thought ok a bit of training for you. Put him back and Amber is out and ready Training her was a tad trickier as the poor love was having trouble seeing as she gives such good focus and it was raining pretty hard and she was getting rain in her eyes. I got drenched but they were all happy :D

Dr Harry is ugly and I reserve a special dislike for him too I like Dr Harry He breeds Welsh ponies and likes border collies. He obviously loves animals. He is just a crap dog trainer but I am not going to hold that against him too much.

I think you lot are mean to him because he does look the way he does. Which seems a bit unfair, I would have drop kicked the Chi across the room so he showed restraint. Nasty little critter.

Have you tried asking the doggie for a different position from the one the judge asks for? i am sure Poppy stopped before me on the weekend at least once when the judge said halt. My old girl used to do that to.

Very cute!

There are lots and lots and lots of dogs in the world that would chase cats, including one of mine. I have no idea if he'd actually kill a cat or just chase it, but I don't take the risk. He's not difficult to manage. I think the issue here is more drive in general (mine is a lazy slug unless he sees a cat). Yes but your dog hasn't killed 2 cats. Quite frankly if this dog got into my yard and killed my cat and I found out it had killed prior I would go psycho. A staffy in prey drive is also a force to be reckoned with. A friend's 2 staffies actually ate a concrete pipe to get at a rabbit that was in it.

I also only have wandering jew issues in the spring. It is flowering now so maybe that is the problem. I removed the plant. Used Quit Itch to wash the itchy areas and gave the dogs Zyrtec. I did get some neocort cream but that seemed to make them rub their faces more.

I just don't see this having a good end. I can see staffy out walking, seeing a cat and lunging out of the owners hands..... Or jumping out of the car at home, seeing a cat and taking off.... Also hope new home has good fences. Personally I would be treating and housing this dog as if it had been declared a dangerous dog.

IBD (in humans) isn't just effected by food either. Stress can be a major factor. I wonder if it is the same for dogs. IBD can also swing both ways - constipation & diarrhea. The bowels are either constricting too much or they stop. Whilst in a too constricting phase anything that goes in your mouth can cause issues. Food intolerance you are only going to react to that one thing and once it has passed through aren't going to have on going issues.

I think I understand. Paul has discovered clicker training and thinks its great. He has trained his dog to do a few things and has done some research in it. Now he wants to spread the gospel. I've seen this sooo many times over the years mainly with natural horsemanship.

Now I am very happy - it worked on my Birman cats mats. I normally have to clip the mats out. They didn't complain much either. Might get the soft one for them though.

I have my silver Les Pooch brush and I am very impressed. It got some nasty mats out and more importantly there were no complaints from the doggie. Poppy has been a total pain to brush. She carries on like i am killing her. She didn't like the coat king or furminator or normal brushes. With the Les Pooch she actually shut her eyes and had a snooze and I got a nice thank you lick for my troubles. So

Can't say that heaps of questions about clicker training have jumped out at me. You trying to drum up business Paul? Got to be a bit more subtle then that!

I was wondering this too. It gets pretty exciting at agility training and I would hate to see a SWF get chomped.

My pup that was refusing to eat kibble is now eating Pro Plan Sensitive. She has nearly finished a small bag of it. She was doing the same thing as your dog Erny. Eating a kibble at first and then going 'nope'. The only other kibble she seems happy to eat is the cat's EP Holistic!

Must be a border collie trait

I noticed an improvement within a day of administering the antihistamines. It was quite obvious too when the tablets were wearing off. They do contain different sorts of antihistamines so sometimes you do need to try a couple. Zyrtec and polaramine are different from claratyne.

I think that people who want to go to the lectures etc aren't people that are likely to be doing the wrong thing in the first place. Everyone has such a different idea on what a puppy farmer is that this is really tricky. The oodle farms with tiny cages are obvious but after that it is hard. I don't particularly have a problem with breeders making money. It is a business for some people, I assume businesses are going to make money. I expect health testing to be done and that the dogs are kept in good conditions and not over bred. The dogs should be good examples of the breed and suit the homes they are going to. There should be adequate after care but I think people are now expecting too much from registered breeders.

;)

thanks but I wasn't thinking of the issue with Orijen as I believed the Nutro issue was something to do with the way it was cooked, so I did a search back thru the Nutro threads and found the following post from 4Paws: It is actually the same issue. If the product is not cooked enough for AQIS then it has to be irradiated.

Orijen had problems with being imported due to irradiation. Maybe you are thinking about that? I asked a Pro Plan rep about changes to recipes and she said it was due to availability of different foods here.