JulesP

Just explaining why the lady might have been 'nasty'.

Well done for having a go but if your dog is not stable in its stays then it really isn't fair to the other competitors. Judges are allowed to do a second stay if things like that happen, so I probably wouldn't be impressed either if the judge decided not to. A lot of the triallers on here will also don't do the stay part if they have failed the heeling part. A stay incident like this could stuff a sensitive dog up for months btw.

Really depends on your bath set up. Both the baths I have owned you would end up adding the rinse water from dog 1 to the bath water for dog 2. So you would end up with water in the bottom of the bath I imagine. Were is your bath pulling the rinse water from?

Fern continues to look quite perky. She is eating again and come out for a paddock bash this morning.

Fingers crossed for Diesel and hugs for you.

Clean Run is were most of us shop for agility videos etc. It is a US website.

Great pics Vickie I have a friend who used to love one of my borders licking her ears!!! Very strange! Old Moss was a very gentle licker but still.... ETA you have to laugh - Brock is outside licking the window as I type this!!! :D

Just being able to get the words out here has helped me. So thanks for listening. It is easier to type it then try and speak it. I started howling at dog school because I tried to tell someone about it.

Fern is looking quite chirpy today! I haven't been able to do street walks for ages with her. She had a tendon problem. But I have acreage so she can walk as much as she wants to and can then sit in the middle and watch the younger dogs running around. She 'lost' us the other day as she is totally deaf so I sent Brock back to get her. The younger dogs are so good with her.

Here is Fern. Taken a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks guys. Fern is looking quite bright today. She is a super tough dog so hard to say about the pain. I didn't like the shivering on Saturday because it really wasn't cold. Her mobility is the worst thing but doesn't seem to bother her too much. She has lost a fair bit of weight recently so obviously something is going on. She had been eating happily until those 2 days. She is eating again now. Toileting is ok still. She sometimes wees in the house but I think that is more a senile thing. She doesn't wee were she is laying though. The younger dogs are being very sweet and giving her heaps of kisses and licks. I thought it would be better for a pet to go in its sleep until the other week when my 20yo cat did just that. I felt horrible that I wasn't with her when she passed. Sorry you are going through it too Borderpower.

2 years ago I didn't think Fern had long for this world but she has soldiered on. There have been a couple of times since that I have thought 'this is it'. Obviously I get really upset each time. I thought I was going to have to give her wings yesterday. She really didn't look good. Today she has rallied again. I think she is feeling better than me as I totally lost it today at dog school because I was upset. Her legs aren't great but as long as she looks like she wants to be here then I will let her. Yesterday she looked like she was about to die. My last dog was very well and went downhill in the space of a couple of days so it was a no brainer. This is really doing my head in. Obviously it can't be too much longer as she is 15yo. This is my heart dog I hate looking at her everyday and trying to decide if she still wants to live. :D

My Poppy is the same. 20 month old border. She doesn't just make little whines though, the noise is horrendous! I just make sure that no patting happens whilst her feet are not on the floor. She does try and control herself but sometimes just can't. I figure there are worse problems to be having with a dog.

I also think that some dogs will not tug outside of home because they don't really have the value for tugging and there are more interesting things to look at. One of the most frustrating things I have to teach at school is toy release. Getting those pups to play in the first place is very painful!!! If your collie likes movement you could try attaching the tug to a bit of rope and pulling it along the ground.

I find the only angst with the not tugging is sending over a jump but if the dog will chase the ball over the jump then that would work.

I am glad you wrote that 4kelpies as my borders are very polite too about tugging. You can use a ball to create drive. You don't have to actually tug. If you are in NSW I would contact Steve at K9 Force, he does great drive training. Bit hard to explain over the net.

Flyball is basic 2. Even all the instructors have to do basic 2. You don't have to turn up every sunday but you do have to pass the test.

Yes you have to pass Basic 2 before you can move on to agility or flyball.

I disagree but what ever.

I thought that you already went to Croydon? Some of the pure agility/flyball clubs might not ask for the same level of obedience.

Clare did say she just wanted to do agility at home. You could set up some small jumps and see if he will jump over them on lead. It probably wouldn't take much effort to get him through a tunnel either. I took my puppy class into our puppy obedience course yesterday and they were going through tunnels, tyres and over small dog walks pretty quickly. All on lead and just for some fun.

Umm maybe $14 a week's worth. I feed 50% raw. I hate butchers btw cause I am a vego. Pet Warehouse in Ringwood have cheap chicken frames. Have you looked there?

I just get mine from the supermarket. Safeways at Lilydale is usually pretty good. Lots of lamb flaps. Also get chicken frames from there.

Congrats!!! :)

Congrats on the duckies Piper! But ummmm were is the video link!