Henrietta

Thank you Robbi and Melzawelza for your input. And Ososwift, I read your post after I posted my question - thank you as well!

While we are on the topic of breeds that complement or mesh well together, anyone with Staffords or experience with them want to give their insight into breeds that potentially mix well. Without knowing the personalities/temp of the dogs in question.

I'm not going to be adding to my current pack unless it's my grandmother's whippet, bless him. But just thinking down the road.

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Even with a non reactive dog I cross the street. I don't know of the other dog will lunge etc. Not risking my dogs to spare someone's feelings

Very true. Come to think of it, I think I mostly stay out of other people's way no matter which dog I have. I thought this may have been ingrained from having my reactive girl, but maybe it's just a sensible thing to do.

One of my current pet peeves is people that get all offended when I cross roads, put my dogs on lead etc. Sick to death of being told that their dogs are fine and having them actually chase me to prove it!!!

It might not be YOUR dog that they are worried about it might be THEIRS!!!

Yes. This is me you'll see crossing roads or giving me and my dog extra space. But it's my reactive dog I'm thinking of, not necessarily the onlead dog - no matter the breed.

I'm probably the type of owner that some DOLers would come to the forum bitching about because I have a small dog that I take great pains to not get into situations that may end badly for her. It's quite possible that I would be seen as an over-protective, neurotic owner with a dislike of other dogs. Not true, but I am pro-active and I spend far too much time protecting my dog from offlead dogs to worry about the sensibilities of another dog owner who may just be offended that I 'don't like their staffy'.

I also own a bull breed cross.

Grace is a funny one. She apparently loves gardening. I have recently taken up gardening (herbs first, graduated to veges) and every time I am planting, turning soil, weeding, picking, watering... she is there. She is either chewing (harmless) weeds, licking the hose, or peering over the edge of the garden wagging her tail. This cracks me up. When I water my potted herbs, she just stands there looking at the pot, wagging that tail (never stops really.) :laugh:

She also loves to hold things in her mouth - bottles, newspapers, empty paper towel rolls. I think it's just something that she has done from puppyhood, getting rewarded for bringing things to us, but the value she has for cantering around with something in her mouth is phenomenal considering she is not from retrieving stock. I have a suspicion that she would do it all day if we didn't reward her and take the item off her.

Oh - and her attitude when she has something in her mouth is all 'look at me, I'm awesome! Grr, grr I've got something in my mouth...'

I'm looking at giving the TOTW Salmon a go. Currently on the Canidae Salmon. It's interesting that the protein on the TOTW is so much lower.

I have a dog that does not tolerate raw as a whole diet. I have just started introducing some chicken bones back into her diet. So far, so good. Raw wasn't the best for her and at the time I wasn't really happy about it (because I was saying to myself, 'c'mon, this is the BEST diet for you!') But, in fact she does so much better on a high quality, grain-free dry. Different dogs, different approaches.

Couple that with the fact that she was and still is, a finicky eater - 'oh, I'm not having lamb today', 'oh, I'm not touching my *insert food item*' etc, made getting the balance right a nightmare. No pandering from me, ten minutes and food got picked up. She never starved herself, BUT she would always seem to wait for the chicken or the BARF mix or the sardines. Or she'd do the exact opposite and decide she didn't want those. Completely did my head in.

She will still miss meals with her dry, BUT at least I know she isn't missing out on vital nutrients over time. She is in perfect health and is at a nice weight. She is one of these dogs that does not put on weight even if I stuff her full of training treats and she has her regular meals and eats them all.

I think the Saluki is the most incredibly beautiful dog. There are a lot of other things I admire about the breed. But I'd personally not own one, I'm not the right person for them!

I also love the look of greyhounds, pointers, whippets and Scottish deerhounds. I'd consider the greyhound and the whippet, but my next dog will be a papillon, which I think the perfect mix of beauty and other traits that match me as an owner.

My absolutely favourite calendar ever is the current (2011) whippet one that Krislin designed. Gorgeous dog, interesting and beautiful photos. I have always meant to design my own, I might set that challenge for this year, for a 2013 calendar.

OH wow!! thankyou! :D

Yes, I'll be very sad to see it go, although I'm keeping the pictures. I have Puck's big grin looking at me now! I don't suppose you made a 2012 one, Krislin? :D

My absolutely favourite calendar ever is the current (2011) whippet one that Krislin designed. Gorgeous dog, interesting and beautiful photos. I have always meant to design my own, I might set that challenge for this year, for a 2013 calendar.

One sleeps in her bed in the bedroom, one sleeps in my bed and very occasionally they'll sleep in their crates.

Cosmolo, I love when your girl (the one that was doing the unwrapping in the first video lol) finds a toy she likes and bolts.

^ Monet is just not good at sharing, is he?

Lol, normally she is... But she needs to inspect all the toys first!

Sorry... she. Very cute.

^ Monet is just not good at sharing, is he?

Oh and the props are to teach fronts and stuff, she uses pipe and wood and stuff as a guide for them. They have their uses, but I think she over complicates it by making special things for it. Just use a wall, much easier

Fair enough.

Thanks RS. I'll look those titles up. I'm am thinking something with an obedience slant as I am going to dabble in a bit of obedience training with my girl.

I have some Chris Bach DVD's and I quite like some of the stuff she talks about. Not a fan of the props she uses but she has some wisdom to share in her seminars. She is a positive trainer and focuses on giving the dog usable information to teach behaviours. I recommend her stuff

Thank you RS. What kind of props? Would you recommend a good title?

If only we had access to a rental library like that it would be heavenly

Agreed! I had the exact same thought whilst I was browsing the website.

Can anyone tell me some more about Chris Bach please?

I don't really think that papillons have a 'colour craze', though in saying that a couple of my litter enquiries were for red and white.

I personally don't have a preferred colour, however the one I'm not such a fan of is the light red/lemon colour.

Having been researching the breed as an option for my next dog, I really, really love the black and white and a rich sable and white. Oh so beautiful. But I'd take any pap if it were the right dog for me. I am lucky that I don't have a colour that I dislike.

That is a great poster. Despite being friendly- my dogs do not appreciate rude dogs making a beeline for them, and neither do i!

I also think that once you own a small dog- you gain an appreciation for why owners of small dogs are cautious, if you did not have one before. There is no margin of error with a small dog. My 22kg ACD was nearly killed by 2 dogs- if that had been my 6kg JRT he would have been dead in a few seconds.

Yes, Cosmolo. This is so true. As an owner of a small dog in need of space, I'll do whatever is necessary to protect her even if it means doing what I know is not conducive to our behaviour modification efforts ie. picking her up. There are so many offlead dog and so many owners around here that have no clue. I have picked her up and I will continue to pick her up in situations I feel it necessary... I usually try and pick her up before she evens notices the dog if possible (very hard to do, but I've learnt to be very vigilant.)

I may never get her over her DA issues with strange dogs (working well with friends' dogs ) but I'd rather live with that than have a dead dog because of some selfish individual who thinks all dogs should play.

I've actually never had her hurt another dog (although she did bail up my friend's dog once and that made me feel awful enough, although it was minor and it was mostly a lot of barking), so it's not like I want to see her bite or scare another dog. But being the size she is, she is much more likely to be killed by a dog that doesn't take to kindly to that behaviour and reacts. I simply will not allow it even if it means doing all the wrong things.

Edit - just to add that we have never been to an 'offlead' area and don't intend to. All incidents have happened where dogs are supposed to be onleash. In the streets, at the park and at the beach.

I can't really say for sure what my preference is, because I only ever had females growing up and my current two are girls. I do know that the only male dogs I have had a lot to do with are very smoochy (especially my grandmother's whippet.)

I would tend to go with a mix of genders now, depending on the breed and personality of my dogs. I'm leaning towards a male for my next dog, but I'll take the right dog for me and my existing dogs at the time over a specific gender. It has made me think of gender differences in a couple of breeds I'm interested in. I'll have to go ask in the breed threads.

I came home today to find my parcel delivered. Thank you so much SnT for organising this, it is much appreciated.

I cannot wait to get started. :D

THEY'RE HERE!!!!! :cheer:

Yay! I wasn't around for when you only got one in the mail, so I didn't know any better.

Edit - SnT - did you start watching or flicking through the DVD you got though? Any reviews?

I'm sorry to say I'm only a bit of the way through the first disc, it looks promising but I'm only up to recognising body language so can't tell that much.

Thanks, SnT. It's so close now. :D

THEY'RE HERE!!!!! :cheer:

Yay! I wasn't around for when you only got one in the mail, so I didn't know any better.

Edit - SnT - did you start watching or flicking through the DVD you got though? Any reviews?

I'm a longtime lurker in this thread as I am very interested in training (obedience and agility especially.)

I have an almost 5 year old girl (Abby) who is just beginning to start loving her agility after a lot of hard work and a very steep learning curve for me. I'll never compete with Abby because of some temperament issues (fear aggression, confidence issues.) We are very much improved in this regard but I will never have the nerve to do much more than plod along in highly controlled environments and otherwise manage the situation at other times.

I am very interested in starting to teach some obedience behaviours. For her benefit - something else to learn and to strengthen our training partnership further, and for my own benefit as a learning exercise and with future dogs in mind. I'm really quite excited and I really don't think it's a waste of time for either of us.

She already has a fairly good heel over short distances, a nice automatic sit, a pretty reliable drop. My main 'issue' at the moment is that she does tend to lag slightly, but she is still looking enthused about the whole thing. She is only small, so I worry I'm walking too fast. Sometimes on my turns she also lags. I'm really trying to build up the heel as an awesome and fun exercise, so very short stretches.

I am about to build up our stay durations and I thought I might start some dumbell (?) work and formal recall. Stand for exam with people she knows. Further down the track I'd love to practice some scent discrimination exercises, I reckon they'd be right up her alley lol. Yes, so I may start popping in a bit more in this thread.

Oh - and I'm just starting to teach a stand.

I have favourite colours in breeds I am interested in. But colour itself is so far down in my list of priorities it isn't likely to ever play a role in my decision. If there were two dogs of similar structure, health and temperament, and I didn't get a strong feeling either way personality wise... well, maybe colour would be the deciding factor.

But ultimately temperament and structure/health are the most important things to me. I've actually learnt this the hard way (not so much because I chose colour over more important factors, moreso I didn't understand the basic fundamentals of purchasing a dog and thought temperament traits could be completely changed through socialisation and training - long story. I've been - touch wood - very lucky with health... But I'll not be taking any chances next time around). I just want a sound, healthy, active, confident companion with a temperament that is befitting the breed. The way I see it, my favourite colour or marking is not going to make the heartbreak of a preventable health problem or temperament issue any less.

Edit - I am also pretty set on the idea that I will find an excellent breeder, who I will entrust with choosing a puppy for me or at least strongly guide me through the selection process.