huski

I'd be wanting a pup around 7.5 - 8 weeks, 8-12 weeks is IMO the best time to interact with the pup and lay the foundations you want it to have for the rest of it's life. Pups experience their first fear period around 12-16 weeks and I wouldn't want to be taking on a pup in it's first fear period and trying to socialise it etc. Of course people can get pups and dogs at later ages and do very well with them, but if I set out to get a pup I'd be wanting it at 8 weeks.

I honestly don't think my dogs would care if they were on their own each day. There is more to making a dog's life fulfilling then having another dog for company. I get a dog when I want one, I am pretty sure my youngest dog would be quite happy for me not to add another dog to household that she will have to 'share' attention, time, resources etc with.

Poor Jack, that is bloody horrifying. A couple of years ago when I boarded my dogs I specifically told the kennel that one of mine was DA and could not be run with other dogs. When I called to check on them they told me my DA dog "was not very good with other dogs" Needless to say I was furious! They even told me 'oh yes I can see there on his file it asks he is not to be run with other dogs', but they obviously disregarded this.

+1 thanks huski :) No worries! I have been feeding raw for years now and I think sometimes we can get overwhelmed with info and it feels more difficult than it needs to be. It doesn't need to be hard or complicated.

Everyone can approach feeding raw differently, I lean more towards a prey model diet than BARF. We just posted this today and it gives a break down on one way to feed raw if it helps anyone. http://blog.k9pro.com.au/raw-diet-in-steves-house/

I'm not sure what you mean? :) It would depend on what I was training. How I communicate with the dog wouldn't change, I might use food to shape something initially instead of prey if I was training a primarily driven dog, but it depends on the dog and what I was actually training.

I agree totally, you have no idea how the baby may change things - if it is an easy baby or one that doesn't sleep or settle easily or how you'll feel once it's born. I definitely wouldn't do it. Wait and see how you feel once the baby is born.

Bob-A-Lots are awesome!

If I had a super prey driven dog, I would probably shape some things in food drive and then add prey work once the behaviour was learnt. There is no reason why you can't have precision in prey drive. Everyone is different though!

I don't use a clicker with my dogs, I use a vocal marker and IMO they serve the same purpose. I always use a verbal marker for TID and I think it's really important in drive work to have a marker. I haven't noticed a difference in precision, if your timing is good it's good regardless of if you use a vocal marker or click :)

There's no reason why a Schuzthund dog wouldn't have been trained with shaping and taught to offer behaviours. Training in drive is the way I'd train all my dogs, what sport we do is just the exercise I ask them to do to earn the reward. Be that obedience, agility, tracking etc. Once that drive and focus is there, and they understand the game, what you ask them to do to earn the reward isn't so important (IMHO). have you ever asked him to do obedience work at agility club?! :)

I love having girls and would easily have a house full of them, sex would only be a consideration for me if I was breeding and needing one or the other. Personally I would not likely select a pup that was already three months old, but that's just my personal preference.

The FitFurLife treadmills are really super! We are launching a canine fitness week next week and have been testing a few different canine treadmills to see which is the best to stock on our website. We haven't got them listed on our website yet but feel free to PM me if you have any questions about them etc.

Hi Gwenda We are in Kurrajong Heights, shoot me an email at [email protected] if you'd like to organise a temp assessment.

Ooooh how fun! Wish I could be there! Evil :laugh: Sounds like a great event otherwise What they said :laugh: Might have to think about popping into this one I'm sure one of my pups would love an outing!

There's nothing like that feeling of progress! Makes you so happy doesn't it!

I love having more than one dog! I only get one when I want one for myself though. I wouldn't run a puppy and adult dog together at all so for me it is never about keeping my other dogs happy, but whether I want a dog for myself. I'm quite sure my beagle would be happy on her own never having to share my time or attention, too bad for her I always want more than one :laugh:

Or send me an email, [email protected] :) ETA: I would think most trainers either list their prices on their websites or will happily discuss them with you if you email them, we get a lot of emails every day asking about bookings etc so I am sure it's pretty standard.

I always use a harness on my dogs if using a long line.

Nothing is 100% rope burn proof (LOL) but some lines are safer than others IMO :)

It really just comes down to personal preference and how much you think you'll use it too, plenty of people buy the standard long lines and love them but the grippers are extremely popular. I use long lines pretty much every day so I always use the gripper. Especially if going to the beach or working on wet ground :)

LOL thanks for the recs guys! I just wanted to add that if rope burn or the line getting easily tangled is a problem consider looking at the gripper long lines, they are rubber impregnated so easy to grab a hold of and don't tangle as easily. I have both types but the gripper I use every day. They are more expensive but also don't hold water and are super light weight.

I don't think that he was protecting him, I think that's humanising what happened. We all like to believe our dogs would protect us and our other dogs in a situation where we were threatened but that's unrealistic.

I sure did! I just moved from Brisbane to Sydney last week in fact. We did the 12 hr drive down over two days and stopped overnight at a dog friendly B&B. That is probably one of my number one recommendations - if you do stop somewhere make sure it is definitely dog friendly, where we stayed allowed the dogs inside and was actually designed specifically for dog owners and was really well fenced and secure. It made it SO easy not to have to stress about the dogs that night. My two had never been in the car for longer than a couple of hours and they were so easy and didn't make a peep the whole way down. I had Daisy in a crate and Micha on his bed next to her as I can't fit two crates in the back of my car. I didn't have to stop anywhere near as many times as I thought I would need to for them. It was actually heaps easier than I thought it would be! ETA: I actually flew my cat down separately, I am glad I did. I don't generally stress about flying pets though as I've done it a few times. I had her picked up from the airport and taken to a boarding kennel where I picked her up a few days later. I actually think it was less stressful for her than being driven down.

I totally agree with you VP, but that's also why I would still temp test a litter before selecting a puppy even after doing my research and knowing the lines produce dogs I like etc.