JulesP

When I bred my first litter I had a older lady from the club helping me. I was being a bit delicate with terminology and umming and arring a bit. This wonderful lady quite firmly made be repeat the real names after her and said I couldn't be a breeder if I didn't say 'vulva'. It was hilarious :D

Some vets don't like raw feeding. That saying there are dogs that have had problems with bones (getting stuck, splintering and salmonella). I think it is up to the owner to research. I wonder why Dash ended up at the RSPCA? He looks like a nice puppy.

The tummy problems on arriving could just have been stress from leaving his litter. What was the breeder feeding? It is best to feed the same thing at first and then slowly change over. If I feed kibble I pick a premium kibble - Eagle Pack, Pro Plan, Artemis, Nutro are a couple. With bones and pups I start on chicken necks and wings. You can even give the wing/neck a bit of a bash first to soften it up if needed. Make sure you supervise.

lol at the other trainers. I used to be full of the advice and now I am a bit over it. I think you also get more careful about giving advice after experiencing what weird things people do with the advice! Or I am just getting old and grumpy

The dog is supposed to target the hand but I have been tardey in teaching a duration hand touch so Strauss is targeting my hand which has food in it and I drop the food and he catches it. I agree with you - this way of heeling produces a much straighter dog with no crabbing. Just be careful that when heeling with your arm out that your arm doesn't drift forward which will produce a dog that heels too far forward. Thanks :D I tried it with all 3 dogs. The older 2 have good agility nose touches and Poppy in particular was touching well.

Don't some allergies cause a yeast infection? A anti fungal might help that.

Question about hand out to the side heeling I played with this today and got much straight dogs, they tend to wrap around my leg. Do you get the dog to target your hand or do you use a treat in your hand, which you fade?

Here you go yellowgirl - http://www.browns-animal-herbals.com.au/45-canine

Read what poodlefan said. And what she said only applies to the merles that are born alive. Many merles are born dead. Personally I don't like this gene in any breed, but for it to gain favour with byb of popular toy breeds is a truly horrific thought. I don't think this is accurate. Double Merle is not lethal. You do get the eye and ear issues though, which leads to bopping on the head. Which is rather lethal. They don't just die like the lethal white foals though.

Do you think it can be trained relatively well with a drivey food driven dog AD? Or does the dog really need to be toy/prey driven? SG suggests staying on concrete/paving for longer rather than moving to grass. I used GoodOs as they were good and weighty to throw and visible.

Border Collie

I guess if people learn something from all this then that is a good thing. The saddlepoint pattern (as) is a different gene from the black & tan (at). Interestingly Amber has a different sable gene (ay) to the gorgeous sable husky (aw).

Sable is allowed in the UK BC standard. I am also looking at a print I have that is obviously a sable border collie that was painted in the 1800s! The Australian BC standard doesn't make much sense genetically. With white dogs and deafness it is not the coat colour that is the problem with deafness it is the lack of pigmentation in the skin. If the inner ears have no pigmentation it can result in a deaf pup.

Yes in most other border collie standards around the world.

sorry i dont know enough about the breed. what is the issue with her colour? The main issue is that the border collie standard in Australia is weird. lol. Amber isn't one of the allowed colours. I could find no health issues with sable border collies. She had no problems getting naughty sheep out of a corner when she was 6 months so her colour hasn't effected her herding ability either. Thanks Ker

Nothing at all wrong with not going things you don't agree with. I didn't do the food manners bit last time as Amber was being very funny with food.

I guess Amber should have been bopped on the head then

I was outside doing trial practice with Amber.

Fair enough JulesP - just not my experience or, perhaps, my perception. Personally I still don't like the idea of pass the puppy (and yes everyone was sitting down). ETA: I don't have a problem with socialising puppies but I also think it should be done once the pups have had a chance to absorb their new surroundings, rather than first thing. At the end of the day, puppy class is probably just not for me. I saw you btw and the little cute puppy

I find some of the health reasons a bit strange seeing as the colours are allowed in other breeds. Producing lethal colours is just plain bad breeding IMO. It is so easily avoided. Cremellos and perlinos don't all have skin issues btw. My friend has quite a lot and none of them have any issues and they are out in paddocks unrugged.

Unless things have changed dramatically I am not sure I would call that Puppy's school off lead session a free for all. Pups are usually let off one at a time to check how the pups get on. Any timid pups are removed to another group. Play is very carefully monitored. Pass the puppy is usually done whilst sitting down.

Nope mine didn't have as much force as the Double K. But the Double K on low would blow a little dog off the table The liberty heated up a lot quicker though and I never feel like the Double K gets warm in comparison.

Jules, you and I have the same bath and the same dryer. LOL. I have to say the Double K has gone up lots since I got it and I would probably buy something different if I was buying now due to price. I do love it though. As a more budget option I know someone that recently got this 1 for her BCs and is really pleased with it: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/2800W-Dog-Pet-Groom...=item45f4d5a7db If you get them at auction rather than on buy it now they seem to go for around the $120 mark. It has gone up heaps hasn't it? I remember looking at the Double K and the one from Pet Network and the Double K was a better price. I had a Liberty in my dog grooming van and did find that a much better dryer.

This would be a choc tri BC. Not a recognised colour in Australia (is recognised in the rest of the world), but certainly not rare since it WILL be produced when 2 recognised colours are bred together. Unrecognised colours are becoming less & less rare in BC's as so many strive to breed them. Could be a red tri Aussie too.

What about them going to a doggie playgroup on Fridays?