huski

She does when she comes to class

Fledge is so awesome, Rach

Gee if I only trained my beagle with a pat on the head and a 'good girl', I'd never get her nose off the ground! She does fairly good heel work and she'll work with the attitude I like to see but I train her in food drive to get that (you can click the link below to our utube channel if you'd like to see her working). I would definitely look at retraining heel using a higher value reward like food - something soft and smelly like cheese, roast chicken, cheap off cuts of steak etc. Substitute treats you use for training for meals or use her meals as training treats if you are worried about her weight. ETA: What Staranais said!

I don't think there's a really simple answer to this problem - for me, it was getting my dog to have more drive and focus and then reteaching the heel command. There is a downside to training obedience in most obedience clubs and this is normally that the dog is worked for too long, trained to be calm rather than 'animated' and does too much paddock bashing.

Less than a month to go now! I am really looking forward to my trip to Melbourne. How many people are attending Julie?

Thanks guys I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am! I think I'll be ordering her a muzzle today as she keeps getting the e-collar off and it will be easier to crate her. Now we just have to keep her quiet for two weeks

Great news everyone - Daisy's paw has gone back to normal size there is still some redness and bruising there and the wound itself is going to take a while to heal but it looks like she is on the mend. The little shit pulled the bandage off on the way home so mum had to turn around, go back and get it done again and she'll have to go in for check ups every three days for the next two weeks. The vet has been great, he said he was so worried about her last night he couldn't sleep - he was very happy her paw is looking better today. Thanks again for all your thoughts, Daisy and I really appreciate it.

Thanks again everyone for all your thoughts. Daisy is off to the vet this morning to have the bandage removed and to check if the swelling has gone down. Please cross your fingers and paws that we get some good news.

I wouldn't want a puppy any older than ten weeks at the most, but from my perspective that 8-12 week window is so crucial. I like to have my puppies at eight weeks so I can make the most of their critical development period. I understand breeders wanting to desex pups before they go to their new homes, but for me personally I wouldn't take a puppy older than 10 weeks. Can't wait to hear about your new boy Selena!

Abby looks great Erin. Daisy is very similar now with the same nice tuck. I am really particular about keeping her lean now we do dog sports because the last thing I want is an unhealthy unfit dog.

I wish I had the guts to do it. Came across a guy and his approx. 5 month old Lab out walking (I didn't have mine with me so obviously I just had to stop and say hello!) and it was the biggest tub of lard I had ever set eyes on. It was atrocious. I wish I had the guts to tell him, but some people don't take that advice too well He looked a little scary too :rolleyes: I try to be nice about it... LOL When I met you at the beach when I was over in Perth, as I was walking back to Hilary's I met a nice lady with a lovely beagle who was morbidly obese. I couldn't help myself, I commented on his weight, she knew he was over weight and I could tell she felt guilty about it. I talked to her about what I feed my beagle, and how I keep the weight off her (because Daisy puts weight on super easily, and has been over weight at one stage). I just can't stop myself anymore! ETA: If I'm worried about how the owners will take it, I say in a happy voice to the dog "you're looking a bit chubby" or something to that effect just to gauge the owner's reaction. I am actually surprised at the number of people who DO know their dog is overweight but just won't do anything about it.

Bahahahahaha I just saw this. LOL. I can't wait to meet little Sid, I think you should have a puppy party when he comes home, and I'll be your guest He looks like such a character already! I am so puppy clucky at the moment, but I won't be bringing a pup home till next year so I've got a big wait ahead. ETA: I wouldn't have minded if you had taken Burt :p I doubt I'll be using it for my new pup cos I'm really keen to get a bitch.

Forgive me for the lack of medical terms/knowledge but basically he said that he thinks the internal stitches that were put in after the cyst was removed were too tight and basically blocked a minor vein that stopped blood flowing properly through the bottom of her paw that caused the swelling. Because of where the cyst was, the stitches had to be quite tight to get the skin back together, hence the tightness around the vein. I have no idea if that makes sense, but that's essentially how it was explained to us.

It's completely bandaged up so we can't see, we have to be extra careful with it now some of the stitches have been taken out. She'll be back to the vet tomorrow or Monday for him to have a look at it. He said the swelling could take a day or two to go down.

Thanks again guys - she's sleeping now but I'm going to wake her up to give her some pain killers. She's taken my spot on the lounge and normally I'd make her move but I feel too sorry for her so I'm on the floor

Yeah call Steve, he'll talk your ear off ;) That doesn't sound like him

Wooooohoooooo!!!!! Goooooo Nik and Jedi

Thanks lovely x hope you all have fun

LOL, as much as Daisy is 'my' dog and she'll always live with me, my mum absolutely dotes on her and spoils her. Yesterday when mum had to rush her to the vet, she called me afterwards in tears (and my mum is one pretty tough cookie) because it was so awful and said she couldn't bare to be in the room with Daisy as they took the bandage off because Daisy was crying so much. So today when I called mum (also in tears) to tell her what had happened and that I had to leave Daisy at the vets, mum immediately wanted to go to the pet store and buy her a nice soft bed because a) it's too hot to crate her in the house at the moment and b) she didn't want her to keep trying to jump on the lounge ;) (she also bought D a whole help of chewy, preservative filled, fatty treats I don't agree with feeding )

I know it feels bad when people make negative comments about your dogs even when you know they aren't true. I'm such a bitch though that I probably would have told them their dog was fat (which it likely would be if they think my dog at perfect weight is too thin) and mentioned a whole heap of problems that come from having dogs carry extra weight.

Yeah it was awful, I was at work yesterday when the paw first swelled to that size and mum rushed her to the vet so I didn't actually have to see it (when I got home, it was bandaged up again). I wasn't expecting to see it so badly swollen today, and I'll never forget how awful it was when the bandage came off and I actually got to see how grotesquely swollen it was. I can't describe the feeling it was horrible and Daisy was so distressed Thanks Dyz, and yes it's a huge bandage - it has to be because that's basically the size her paw has swollen up to ;)

For me getting a puppy is definitely not about being able to bond with it better than an adult dog, but just being able to be there for that crucial development period to imprint the behaviours I want to imprint on it. If I wasn't raising a competition dog I probably wouldn't care as much.

I get a few comments about how lean Daisy is, but I tend to hang around with 'serious' dog people more so than the average joe at the park who doesn't have much of a clue. She's a big girl though (44cm at the shoulder) and very solid and muscley, she's just under 15kg but you can see a bit of rib. I'm one of those annoying people who will often mention to someone if their dog is fat, especially if it's 'my' breed, I can't stand to see fat beagles and they seem to be everywhere

Yeah she's a bit dopey and quiet, actually I don't think she's ever been this voluntarily quiet before ;) I'm sure she'll be back to being a PITA to keep quiet by tomorrow, though (little does she know the vet gave me some sedatives for her - LOL) ETA: you can see her big bandaged paw in this one (from last night); http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=197...129743663721651

Thanks so much for your thoughts everyone. I thought I'd share this pic of my little 'patient', in case anyone thought I was just joking about the new bed, sheepskin rug and setting her up in front of the fan http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?f...129743663721651