huski

Totally agree HW. I had a vet tell me just last week that desexing stops behaviour problems like the dogs roaming and escaping from their yards. Pretty sure adequate fencing and containment is important for all dogs, wonder what their suggestion would be for desexed dogs that are escape artists.

Were the behaviour problems caused by the dog being entire? Could the problems not be fixed with training? ETA: I am being a bit smart with my comments as I don't believe that desexing is the answer to fixing behaviour problems. I agree with Sandra777.

No I don't find they rub, they are soft and the edges are rounded. Not as soft as our leather products but the closest I've found for a man made material.

Don't hold your breath for pink though! May never happen. I do actually love the purple the most. I like making my dogs wear matching collars etc :laugh:

Well I have been pushing for pink but that won't help you Steph M :laugh: Both of my girls have leather and syn tek collars and we use the syn tek collars for day to day especially as Wiz is so grubby. The color doesn't fade so I just wash mine off in the sink with dish washing detergent to take any mud or dirt off. They don't retain water so don't loose shape or get smelly. I still prefer the overall look and feel of leather but the wash and wear of syn tek is very practical.

OMG lol. Would you look at those Jammie's!

I have it on good authority black boys look great in purple :p I've also "dressed" a few black and darker dogs in orange which looks super cool (and hi vis which can be problem with black dogs sometimes lol)

Most dog treadmills are priced a lot higher. The Dog Pacer range is good value for money without compromising quality. The cost to bring them in is pretty high but we are aiming to make them as affordable as possible.

I'd be interested in one of these. What price are you looking at? I need to wait until the first shipment is on it's way before I can be sure on the final price but they will be under $1000.

Yes - they have an incline function that's manually adjustable I don't find I really change the incline often, however I do use the pre set fitness programs.

We have the Dog Pacer treadmill and have our first shipment being prepared now for import into Oz. We have had a few out being tested with clients as well as the one we have set up at K9 Pro HQ and they have been great. They fold up for easy storage too. The Fit Fur Life treadmills are great too but pricey and probably out of the budget for many people who don't want to risk buying a human treadmill and want something designed specifically for dogs.

Yes it will be back there! But I meant if you look at their pedigrees they are registered as mals. Because they are mals and having a coat doesn't make them a Terv :) certainly makes no difference to their working ability. And you are right my girl is out of Hassan too

And Malinois is pronounced Mal-in-wah not Mal-in-noise or Ma-lean-ohs as I've heard a few times lol. As has already been mentioned the difference between the four varieties is more than just the coats now. In many countries the Belgian Malinois is considered it's own breed, and there is probably the biggest difference with Mals compared to the other varieties due to how predominantly they have been used and developed as high end working and sport dogs. There are some lines of Malinois that produce coated dogs and yes it's a throw back to when they were mated with Tervs, but they are Malinois (clearly from their pedigrees).

I don't have a name picked out for my next dog, but I have a long list I constantly update when I think of or hear a name I really like! When I was planning on getting another beagle or ESS I wanted a girl called either Betsy or Mabel, not sure those names suit a female Malinois though :laugh: But I still love them! I don't know if my next dog will be male or female, but it will definitely be another Mal.

Awww happy birthday hank! He's such a handsome happy boy.

The first 12 months of raising a puppy is so critical, the number one thing I would stress about is making sure I get raising them right. That I train and teach them all the right foundation behaviours because that is a huge part of what makes them the adult dog I want.

Many small businesses are also online, just because a store is online doesn't mean you aren't supporting a small local business. I always recommend having a crate, pen, obviously a food bowl and water bowl (I would go with something non spill for a pup). A light weight long line, harness, leash and collar are other things I also have at the top of my list with a pup. Appropriate toys that the pup can learn to self settle with and entertain itself with as well as suitable engagement toys for you to play with. Too many people get large toys that aren't a suitable surface or size for pups so make sure toys you get are appropriate for the age and size of your puppy.

I'm not saying they should be the same but I wouldn't agreed there should be "vast" differences. And I certainly wouldn't call what is generally slight variation in the size between bitches and dogs a vast difference. This is standard across majority of breeds.

But isn't that the same for just about any breed, males usually are heavier than females and I wouldn't call that a "vast difference". I don't know much about labs and don't claim to, but with any breed that has a working/show line split, it always bothers me to hear generalizations about either. I've seen good and bad dogs from both show and working lines. If a dog is fit and healthy and working well, why would the person working them care if someone biased toward show types felt their dogs don't conform to their interpretation of the breed standard. The same goes if someone breeds show line dogs that possess all the qualities the breed should have. Even show lines within different breeds have many different types and lines that people both love and hate.

To play devils advocate for a moment, if those labs are the ones out there actually working and fulfilling their original purpose and doing well at it, how could they be poor representations of "what a Labrador should be" ? How are they any less a good example of the breed than the dogs strutting around a show ring that aren't proven working dogs? Shouldn't the standard they are bred to be the one that produces the best working type? I'm sure if you asked the handlers who do use them for retrieving they would say "who cares as long as our dogs are fit, healthy and work well". I think there are poor examples of every breed in both "splits" (where there are splits). You can't generalize and say all dogs of working or show type are bad. Should there be such vast differences between sexes when they are bred to the same standard

When I go to a trial it's still extremely uncommon to see fully attentive stylised heel work (I have never seen more than two, maybe three dogs at a single trial that would heel that way consistently). But I do think as a sport on a whole it's definitely become more desirable and dogs that win on a world level, win with stylised heel work. There's a reason for that (on it's own it's not rewarded for in points so there is other benefit). I don't personally train a wrap around (or UK) style of heel work but I like my dogs heads up with 110% focus on my face. I like my dog to heel in drive because I like to have a very "up" dog with high level of precision and consistency. Yes it's probably quite removed from how heel work was originally, but obedience is a sport, not something I train for practical reasons but to be competitive. Heel work as an exercise can be really boring for a dog, so I find it impressive to see a dog do it with so much joy and drive. ETA; focus on my face isn't something I train for specifically, it's a by product of the way I train, would be hard to get them to look elsewhere :laugh:

I am no GSD expert but i can say from my experience the number one reason a dog isn't suitable for work is because it lacks the genetics required (drive, nerve, temperament etc). Not because of conformation or an inability to "walk properly".

HW, don't get me started on this, I have never owned a gundog, always working breeds for me, but I yearn for the days when dogs actually heeled in parallel with their handlers :laugh: IME gundogs are still quite popular in obedience, but you definitely see a lot of herding breeds competing and winning now. I am sure 'back in the day' you wouldn't see many of the breeds we see competing now! ETA: I have seen some Goldens with beautiful stylised heel work in obed, Bridget Carlsen from the US springs to mind.

IME if you have a dog that has a really nice drive for food, when it is working you won't be able to tell if its working in prey or food drive. It looks the same whether it is in drive for food or prey. I think we face challenges with any dogs we handle. There are some things about my beagle that make her both easier and harder to handle than Wiz, and some things about handling Wiz that are easier and harder than Daisy. Both have been a big learning curve!

They are great! Almost six months now! Here's a recent clip of her daughter Alis;