JulesP

lol Leopuppy I do remember you fretting last year! I love pre-puppy school, think it is my fav class.

Were you taking pics of the fancy dress? And the instructors? I think pre-puppy starts back up the second wednesday in Jan. Could be the third. I'll let you know.

When I went to a sheep herding day the trainer was pleased at the end of the day to see Brock think about returning to me (it was like for 1 sec). I think he wanted to see the dogs want to be with the sheepies. The rest of the day he had been doing straight away recalls. Doesn't sound like anything drastic is going on Reddii. Sounds like you have trained her to ignore the first come command though. Call her once and then go get her. Also don't call her if you can't get her or if what she is interested in is tooo exciting. You want to train to succeed. Christal alot of obedience trainers want the dog to look into your eyes for focus etc.

Normal Sunday training starts up on 3rd Feb.

PC were you taking pics last Sunday?? I wondered if it was you. Croydon is a good club Tess32. I've trained 3 dogs there now. Training is postive based. They have obedience, agility & flyball.

Some steak in gravy!

How bad are her paws? Is she mainly inside or outside? To see if it is dust mites causing the problem you could leave her outside for a couple of weeks. To check if it is a plant then keep her off all green stuff for a couple of weeks. Allergies are a pain to pin down!

No worries DD. In the New Year it is!

Some dogs are allergic to some sort of meats. And flax seed oil can be dicey.

Mine doesn't. The most he does is go lay on it.

lol, I am having the exact same problem with my border collie! Have also chatted to a couple of other border owners and same thing. Mine isn't even fussed with play retrieve. He will now run after the object but lays on it instead of bringing it back and will only do it a couple of times before he gets bored. The only advice I have received is keep going with the process. Am doing it the same as you btw, clicking for a touch, then a mouth etc

Seita try a capstar tablet (kills adult fleas). Sentinel doesn't kill adult fleas. Ruling out fleas it does sound possible it is a food allergy. Ruthless do you wash the run out at all? With cleaning products?

Leopuppy goes to Action Dogs (think that is what it is called) in Doveton. So sort of nearish to you?? I can't get there on a weeknight.

See if they are sleeping on any plants. Mine was sleeping on a nice, cushiony ground cover! He also seemed to react to the mulch.

You can't get a second dog Ness? I haven't had 2 young dogs to train at the same time before. The other times the second dog had been retired. The clubs aren't mega close unfortunately. It is hard to get to the week night sessions. Mmmmm unless I take a dog to workies....then I can go on the way home. I also work full time, have horses and have a property to look after by myself! But hey you only live once!

Were is the dog itching? That can help rule some stuff out. I pulled all my wandering jew out, took frigging days and a lot of tears. Still had an itchy dog. His was on his belly mainly. Then I realised that he didn't lay in the spots that had the WJ anyway and with a bit of spying located the plant that was causing the most problems! He is still a bit itchy but the yucky weeping red sores are no more. So if on belly, look at were dog is sleeping. On feet, were is dog walking? Could even be grass! All over? probably not a contact allergy.

Sentinel doesn't kill the fleas, think it stops the eggs hatching or something. Capstar tablets will kill any flea that is on the dog. I've never found anything natural that worked well for my allergies. Honey from your local area is supposed to be good for plant based problems, you are supposed to eat some everyday.

I am not too fussed with the day to day training. It is more trying to work out how to get to classes.

Congrats all! on your title Dogdude. Are you and the other Melb people up for some training over Xmas & New Year? I am quite peeved that club has closed down until Feb. (yes I don't have a life beyond the dogs!)

Thanks everyone. Croydon pre-puppy is starting back up mid-Jan and they are going to be a bit lenient with the ages (usually under 12 weeks) so looks like I'll be right! I can do a couple this year and then pick up next year.

OK how do people go about training a couple of dogs in different sports??? It is just aboout doing my head in trying to work out when I am going to do what when and with whom! And I am only doing obedience & agility with one and hoping to do showing and obedience with the other. At the moment I think I am going to have to join Berwick DC as well as Croydon to fit it all in! So how do you juggle?

I am getting a new pup in about a week and all the local obedience clubs are closing for Xmas. I'm a tad stressed as I have always done the pre-puppy schools and found them really valuable for socialisation. Don't really need something for training but more for experiences and socialisation for pup. Anyone have any ideas? I'm in the Yarra Valley, Vic.

A normal old rake works pretty well too. For the back legs sort of pull the longer hair out up to the hocks and scissor that off. The front legs trim the back of the leg up to about the dew claw area. For the feet poke between her toes and get all that long hair standing up and snip is off, trim around the bottom of the foot, turn the foot over and trim the hair the sticks up from the pads. If you want to trim the feathers higher up then special thinning scissors work the best. If using normal scissors sort of hold the scissor vertical facing the back of the leg and snip that way. Rather than holding the scissors straight up and cutting the edge of the feathers too straight. Same with other feathering, cut with the scissors straight up rather than across the hair. Hope that makes sense! Is hard to explain! Think about how the hair dresser does your fringe, they don't cut straight across but have the scissors pointing in the air and cut up into the hair. Gives a softer edge.

lol Mizzi, that is funny! My agility instructor was laughing at Brock today because he is so laid back. It is stroll along, pop over a jump, stroll along etc. No spinning, woofing, bouncing that you expect from a border. Great dogs, hey?

Every dog I clipped that wasn't meant to be clipped did grow back a really weird coat. Sort of fluffy and woolly, that was GSD, Goldies, BC, Chow. I have a coat king. It mainly seems to strip the under coat out and dead hair. If you trim up her belly hair, hair around the bum, feet, bottom bit of legs and do a bit of coat kinging I reckon you will be right.