SkySoaringMagpie

And what about the people who call their dogs by the call name of their best winning dog - even if said dog would be 19 by now!!!

It's a little disconcerting when it crumbles as it comes out tho' - sardines for dinner when that happens

I have been asked to let Canberra Royal Gundog exhibitors know that it was Mr. G Doyle who judged at the NSW Dog of the Year. It is Mrs. E Doyle who is judging Gundogs at Canberra Royal.

We stayed at a dog friendly place once where the unit had wall to wall wool carpet, beautiful objets d'art on low coffee tables, expensive floor length curtains and a lovely tapestry wall hanging. The weather was vile. As you can imagine, a break away turned into a stressful nightmare and yes one of our dogs did pull the wall hanging down and they both got muddy paws. The owner was understanding but I was mortified. I would far rather stay in a property that was a little less chi chi and much more "dog proof" so that I don't have to constantly supervise what they are up to. Hard floors, no knick knacks below shoulder height and plenty of towels/wash off area. Also, for cleaning nuts like me I appreciate cleaning gear being left in the unit so I can mop the floor etc Solid fencing is important, i don't expect not to supervise my dogs but it is nice to toilet them off lead under supervision. For "get away" places rather than hotels that accept dog show people, I really think that to be considered truly dog friendly the dogs have to be allowed inside and there has to be a fenced area outside of some kind, even if it is just a courtyard. On a getaway I want to spend relaxing time with my dogs inside, on a show weekend I spend all day with them so it's less of a drama to have them in a trailer overnight.

- Knowledge and skill, including knowing the limits of their knowledge and referring to specialists at the right time - as someone else said, without that, everything else doesn't matter. - Clean, clean, clean. - Prepared to explain test results and reasoning behind different courses of treatment. Happy to discuss options. Doesn't over-service or over-charge. - Is either 24 hour or has some kind of out of hours service that does not require you to shuttle your dog between their surgery and an emergency vet for days. I will never use that kind of arrangement again having experienced it with a seriously ill dog (who died). Is OK about letting the dog stay overnight with you instead if it's appropriate. - Friendly but not pushy smarmy. Treats animals with care not as lumps of meat. Also, while I'm aware that nursing and reception staff must see a lot of morons, and a lot of stuff that makes them I find staff who treat you as if you are a barely mentally competent 10 y/o really aggravating. - Well designed reception area and systems. Our current vet has an outdoor waiting area with a seat and rings in the stone wall for tie ups so that reactive dogs or dogs that might eat the other patients can wait outside. Another vet we went to had one side for cats and another side for dogs. Also reception staff who will intervene if people/kids/animals are disrupting the reception area. And a rear exit for post PTS exits where you are weeping buckets.

I think the nicest was a framed print of salukis and camels for a class in show at a Speciality. The judge was not only a saluki judge but a camel judge and all the in show prizes were prints of his artwork. Sometimes doggie artwork can be dire, but this was lovely - found out later he had studied with Miro. The club always puts on really gorgeous prizes. The year before was beautiful glazed tiles of gazelles. Most useful - blankets, grooming preparations, towels, etc Also, OH got a nice fold up carry mat as a prize at an obedience trial once. It's still in the back of the car as a boot liner. I figure the measure of a useful prize is if you're still using it!!

That is Sarge

I would once have said babies was an exaggeration but I saw a dog lift its leg on a baby at a show a few months ago.

Salukis and Afghans. House yard is about 2 acres I think. It is constructed so that there is a full ring around the house so they can do laps. Property is 20 acres but like the others we don't run them in the paddocks in summer. Bloody snakes.

They are either lazy or self important. I think the only thing that would stop it is to DNA test every dog that is entered and every turd that is left lying around and cancel challenges when you get a match

Man, I can usually read cruelty cases and I feel emotionally upset but this one actually made me physically ill. I hope Boof recovers, and I hope his torturer is caught.

I think the difficulty is that a vet (any vet) has a great deal of credibility to someone who has very little experience. The idea of "not allowing" a vet to perform a procedure is pretty foreign to your average pet owner. Most people just take the advice as they have no contextual knowledge to ask questions. Breeders who attack the vet's credibility head-on can lose credibility themselves - until about 3 or 4 years later when the puppy owner wakes up and realises they have been seriously over-serviced and over-diagnosed. I say this from the point of view of someone who was that puppy owner once. Sometimes you just have to wait it out until the penny finally drops. In the meantime I think you can only encourage puppy owners to see a vet with experience in your breed and make sure the sale contract states that if a diagnosis is made of a condition that will require ongoing treatment that they will attend a vet of your choice for a second opinion.

They are quite popular for both obedience and agility Megan. But not as cute as Poodles. If I wanted a good spunky dog sports prospect these days, I'd rate the Paps as probably the best bet. They generally seem to pretty good drive. Paps and Mini Schnauzers are both on my "when I buy a small dog" shortlist. Both cuter than poodles too

Happy Birthday!

That was the kind of feedback I was after. There are three sorts we get around our place - red belly blacks, browns and tigers. The browns and tigers are not shrinking violets. I have only ever seen one up close to the house but that was one too many. We've removed the last remaining bits of snake habitat - a low lying shrub near the house and a fenced off area of weeds near the garage. I may diesel the fence line instead. Lime is interesting, my dogs' breeder mentioned that lime is what they used to use back in England around their chicken houses. Another option someone mentioned is hot wire. Our dog runs have a concrete slab base, it may be possible to run a wire without it touching the ground and earthing but I don't want it to touch the runs and wire up all the runs either. Will have to ponder some more. The runs are less of an issue at the moment than the exercise areas around the house. I'm probably asking too much but I'd like to be able to just open the door on a hot night and let them go do their thing.

I've heard a few people saying recently that they've bought snake repellers and they work. I'm fairly sure I've seen others say they don't work. Does anyone know any sources for an authoritative view? Has anyone here installed them and found they don't work? Is it one of those "layers" of security thing where they would help if everything else was right (eg, no rodents, no rubbish, no water outside, grass cut down hard, etc etc)

I think the outside option as described by natamalie is fine. No way would I leave an 8 month old pup in one room all day.. I agree, ours are outside in insulated runs with frozen water buckets, extra water, plenty of shade and toys - plus a fly catcher to deal with the pesky flies - something I think is important in suburban backyards as well. Only thing is to make sure your dog can't reach the fly catcher, while it's non-toxic bait it's disgusting when they help themselves to a fly and sugar water cocktail...

Are you talking about a situation where a dog is deemed to require specialist one on one training before it can participate in a standard obedience class with other dogs? Aggression is a common reason for that. A person can't be expected to run a 1 hour class with a heavy syllabus and 12 other students and at the same time provide intensive training to Fluffy who wants to eat her class members' faces. Someone has to work on an individual basis with Fluffy and her owner first so that Fluffy can participate politely and effectively in the class. I would only have an issue with someone telling a person they could not attend a standard class if that trainer did not go on to offer one on one sessions themselves, or refer the person to an expert in aggression. Me, I'd refer to an expert. I'm a volunteer with a career outside dog world. I'm good at teaching life skills to your average dog, I'm no expert in aggression tho' I manage a multi-dog household with all that entails. There is nothing wrong with playing to your strengths and knowing your limitations. God knows I'd rather someone say "I can't help you with that but I know this person who can" than barrel in full of ego and bugger it up. And FWIW, I have referred people on to aggression specialists who use correction.

Living in fear of your life may be effective but I don't want my dogs to live with that fear. Not only because it's immoral but because as Pax notes, it's completely unnecessary. Have you ever had someone choke off your air supply? If so, did you view it as instructive?

You went further than that and you didn't qualify it by saying "some" dogs. You also bagged out positive trainers saying they could not compete successfully with old school trainers or train working dogs. That's why you were questioned, and quite reasonably questioned IMO. Dog killing (rainbow bridge, c'mon) happens for many reasons, and many dogs have been saved from premature death by people who knew how to tell the dog when it was doing the right thing as well as telling it when it was doing the wrong thing.

Not OK if it was one of my dogs. You could call them and say neutrally "we've just discovered a bite on Charlie, what happened?". How they react should tell you a bit about their attitude. Personally if it was my dog I'd cut my losses and wouldn't take him back to that kennel because my view is that the supervision/dog skills are inadequate if that has happened. I also have to admit on the odd occasion ours have been in kennels, we have made sure they will not be playing with other dogs. While my dogs might be OK (and one isn't anyway), you never know how other people's are going to react. A friend of mine had a dog killed in kennels when his BC was put in a run with two Goldens. Perhaps the kennel people thought that Goldens are always lovely and there'd be no problem. Sadly, they were very wrong.

I found the fill degraded over time with washing with the Snooza. Might be different now. The Rrruff beds are lovely. We got a really large RRRUFF bed for our big old Afghan and he loved it. They do XXL sizes: http://www.rrruff.com.au/rrruff_mats.html Only trouble was keeping it clean, while you can wash them, they are thick and good quality and great dane sized anything usually doesn't fit in a washing machine unless you have a really big one. While I know I can wash beds in the bath old school style it's easier to chuck them in a machine. Pretty much the standard beds we use now are the polar fleece ones we buy from show vendors for secura pens. I think Great Rugs sells them: http://www.greatrugs.com.au/ Easy to chuck in the machine and you can double them up if you need extra padding.

Yep, it's a disgrace. My sympathies are with anyone who loves a breed that is regularly farmed. While my breed is occasionally sought after for pig/hunting crosses, it's not at risk of being farmed and for that I am very grateful.

Run free Bebe

Yes, this is one I was caught with - especially vets. I was someone who would trust absolutely whatever I was told by a professional and hand over the plastic no questions asked. Now I ask a ton of questions and if I'm not happy, I don't agree. Along the way I have changed vets. I have paid hand over fist for unnecessary treatments and things that I now know put my dogs at risk (heartworm injections, ugh) and my breeder's reputation at risk (misdiagnosis of degenerative heart disease). Start as you mean to go on is also very good advice, but the other piece of essential advice is "if it's not working, get someone to check you're doing it properly. If you're doing it properly and it's not working, try something else". On a more practical level, I wish I'd never bought that red velvet couch