Natsu chan

Petmezz someone else suggested paw wax but I couldn't find it anywhere around here. Any ideas where to get it from? I fed raw meat veg and bones with a vitapet, but no one had mentioned zinc so I'll look into it. Thanks!

Sorry feralpup I must admit when I read it back I missed your question. Sorry I was tired. Salt and water does, perhaps a bit of purple spray on them. If she's sliding on them it might be worth taping them over once they've dried out to protect them from more friction anyway as it's a vicious cycle. Once they damage them you have to give them a chance to heal or just keep getting to the point of almost healed and then they do it again.

My girl has very sensitive feet and seems to burn hers down quite easily so I'm constantly trying something. We did try two brands of boots but both rubbed her in just a few minutes moving around the shop. So now they get salt and water and then a spray with the spray on bandage you can buy from the chemist. That helps a bit, but I found that getting a band aid and some extra elastoplast tape over the pads when we go out for walks works best. It's fiddly to put on though and needs to be redone every day.

Boots are easiest no doubt and personally that's what I'd prefer but I can't find anything that doesn't rub and get caught up in the feathering on her legs.

It'll be either November or September's articles I think causing the ruckus. They're here:

http://www.vca.org.au/Content.asp?ID=194&SubID=310

http://www.vca.org.au/Content.asp?ID=194&SubID=285

I must say that while I'm not a trainer that check chains have their place. While there are some people who will never be capable of using them appropriately for what ever reason most people can be taught how to use them correctly. Back in the late 80's when I was a member of an obedience club and a junior I vividly remember being taught how to fit and use the check chains we were required to use. The instructors were none to shy about correcting those who miss used them. Things have changed it seems or perhaps I was just lucky? I don't know I train on my own now.

A check chain is just a training tool and to be honest there are people who are perfectly capable of inflicting damage with a feather duster never mind anything else!

I have to say though I wish people would stop using them as collars!

I'm in two minds about that letter on one hand some of it is perfectly valid on the other it sounds rather needlessly critical. One training method will never work for all dogs and all handlers in all situations. I wish people would just accept that.

Yep the troy spray is brilliant it's the only thing that ever worked for us. I will say if the ears are sore and bleeding it would be worth spraying them with purple wound spray first because the troy repellent will sting.

Yep it's the down season now. Though KCC park on western port hwy has conformation shows most weekends and if you're only wanting to expose your lovely pup to the hustle and bustle you can always go have a look at those. Dog sports generally wind down over the summer break, it gets a bit too hot and people often go away.

KCC has rings outside on the lawn and an indoor pavillion...well it's like a big aeroplane hanger. I know there's a few shows up there over the three days from the 11th of January. One on the Friday night then a few during the day over the weekend. I don't show but the twilight shows are fun!

Hmm he sounds challenging! I take it he's a soft dog? Koori is soft too and I certainly won't touch her chin unless it's to tickle it as a reward (she loves it!). Does he understand change position? I mean will he go from sit to stand? What does he do if you just hover you fingers under his chin without making physical contact?

If it was me I'd forget the dumbell for a few days and see if you can get him to sit and stand and change between the two while you tickle his chin. If he drops just get him to go back to the position he was in initially, and praise him when he's steady. Once that's fixed you'll have a way to keep his head up. You could try a treat to draw him into a stand but some dogs will just spit the dumbell out with even more force when you do that and a dumbell to the groin isn't much fun!

Jules will he hold it while he's siting?

I start in sit with mine. I slip the Dumbell in to their mouths while saying fetch then hold. If they do go to drop it I say "hold" and slip my fingers under the chin just hovering there to stop the dumbell being drawn out by gravity. Then the very moment before they get sick of holding it I grasp the dumbell with my left hand and say give and take the dumbell. Lots of praise interspersed and possibly a treat as well once you've taken it from them. A lot of it is timing, watch very carefully and you can see the moment when they're getting tired of holding it. It is an effort for them at first. Then progress from sit to stand to walking around. This is how I do it anyway.

My girl is in the early stages and will only walk 5 meters without thinking about letting it go. At first it needed my fingers hovering under her chin but now we don't need that just close observance. It takes patience and perseverance but you'll get there!

Nova's Mum yep that's exactly it.

Kavik broadly speaking yes. I use the forced retrieve method too, all be it a modified version. I use light finger pressure on either side of the first vertebra, it's very light just to guide the head towards the dumbell. Collies although eager to please often seem rather baffled when it comes to retrieving. Once they get the idea that, yes I want you to pick this thing up in your mouth and carry it then it's not too much of an issue but getting the penny to drop even with a forced retrieve takes a little while. Collies are a herding breed remember and of the many we've had I've never come across one with any sort of retrieving drive. They just don't get why anyone would want to run out there and pick that thing up. You can see it on their faces "gees if you wanted it that badly why did you throw it away?"

The whole point of a forced retrieve is to make what you want completely clear to the dog, the idea being that the dog gets it right every time. That way there's never any miss understanding about what fetch means, it always means pick up the dumbell and bring it to me and hold it until I ask for it.

It's different strokes for different folks though what you find comfortable and what works for you is what's best. If it's not working then look at what you're doing and see if you need to modify it.

It could just be her age. They do have medication for incontinence, but not sure what they'd do given she has cancer. I'd take her off to the vet and see what he has to say. One of my girls became incontinent towards the end of her life but she was given a hormones based tablet and that fixed the problem.

If you're putting it in their water I'd only start with a teaspoon and slowly build up to the right amount. Especially this time of year as they must drink and they might not do so if it tastes too strong. I put half a table spoon in my girls dinner instead for this reason. Started out with just a single ml and worked up to it.

You use to be able to get something similar from Kmart. I had one until my little dear got to it. It was handy but I haven't gotten around to replacing it. I've just been using a soft rubber curry comb on the furniture that works quite well on collie hair at least.

We've used the eye drops on our girl as she has a small white mark on her eye from a scratch. The vet didn't think it was anything to worry about but we had the drops so we tried them. The mark is steadily disappearing and there's no problems with putting them in Koori just stands there and tilts her head. Though I'd imagine it would be a different story if it was something that she had to take orally!

I don't really want to get into this either, different styles of training work for different dog/ handler combinations. What works best is best for that combination.

The articles in question are here:

http://www.vca.org.au/Content.asp?ID=194

Minus the diagrams. Personally I found them interesting, and the foot work for the finish helpful. There's always something you can learn from other peoples methods it's up to you to find out what that is.

I didn't trial my old girl (she was mechanically unsound so it wasn't an option) so perhaps I'm not qualified to judge but she got like Ness at about the same age. Walks were so boring, but training well that was something to sit up and dance about. She had to be walked because she needed to maintain her muscle tone but she really wasn't impressed by it. You could almost hear her sigh at the very thought.

I found interspersing her walks with periods of training and taking her somewhere different for walks helped. That way the training that she adored was a reward for the walking that she wasn't too keen on. By the time she reached about 11 she had changed her tune and was back to being her silly enthusiastic self about everything.

Ness I felt the same way about chiro's due to one my mother use to visit when I was in my early teens. I hadn't really considered taking the dogs to one. I wasn't even aware that they did existed for non racing dogs. My little girl had very funny movement and I really felt there was something wrong but after visiting several vets around here who'd all insisted there was nothing wrong I came to the conclusion that I was seeing things.

It was only when I went to a trial and ran into her breeder who saw it too that I was told that she'd certainly hurt herself and that chiro's can help dogs. I can't tell you how guilty I felt, so we went asap, anything to make her feel better. She's been to the chiro a few times now and there's been a slow but definite change for the better. She still needs more work done but her movement has improved no end and she's finally starting to look and move like the show quality dog she is! Poor thing I wish someone had told me sooner. She'll keep going now even after she's over this injury on a semi regular basis.

Since it's your first don't worry about qualifying scores, they really don't matter that much. There is always next time. I took my girl to her first trial back in July (haven't competed since as she hurt herself). It was a wet horrible day and no one in our class got a qualifying score. My girl bombed as she got jumped on in both stays and broke but she came out of the ring wagging her tail and pleased with herself. So she's decided shows are fun!

I was very nervous too not having been in the ring for 16 years myself, but we both had a good time if a rather wet and muddy one and that's what counts. Next time we'll both do much better.

Just try to stay calm and listen to the judge they'll tell you what to do. If you make a mess of it don't worry there's always next time and the best of us make a mess of things on occasion. Good luck and have fun!

Yep they'll have pegs or something of the sort in the stays for you to line up next to. And yes they're generally done after everyone in the class has done their individual exercises.

Thanks Tapferhund but actually I'm off to the Collie nationals at KCC (yep crazy I know, but whats the worst that could happen?). The obedience and agility is tomorrow, the conformation classes are today.

Sounds like that hasn't changed much at least. They never use to ask for Phantoms paper work either but I was a junior back then so I usually had an adult with me who dealt with all that.

My VCA card lives in my purse too but the vaccination card lives in the filing cabinet with Koori's papers and all the other doggy paper work I've acquired in the last 16 years, other wise I'd misplace it. Thanks for the support too, fingers crossed we don't make too much of a muck of it. It feels like a couple of life times ago not just 16 years!

I'm competing in my first obedience trial in 16 years on Sunday, my dog kit is packed but I just can't remember exactly what paper work I need to take with me. Can anyone help? So far I have my number, vaccination card and catalogue voucher is there anything else paper work wise I need to take?

Thanks!

I've come to the same conclusion about it being the flavour of the month. Shelly I've been out of competition as long as you have and all my dogs heel in the manner you describe, my girl will offer UK type heeling sometimes but everytime she does one of us ends up tripping over the other! Usually me it has to be said. So I'll stick to the old fashioned way, can't have the judges ruining a perfectly decent pair of pants laughing at one of my particularly graceless face plants!

All power to those people who can do UK heeling and stay on their feet. It certainly looks impressive but as I say it's not for the clumsy among us. Isn't very practical in the real would either as has been mentioned. Personally I've often wondered if the dogs get a sore neck craning back and staring up like that.

My old girl hated it. Even on a very low dose she acted as if she was very drunk. Leaning against walls for support and crying in distress. The vet insisted it wasn't the Metacam but I stopped it anyway she was back to her usual happy self in 12 hours. I think it's like alot of things some animals react badly to it and some are fine. I did want to try the Carthophen but the vet didn't seem too keen so she had lyprinol gel caps instead which seems to help her quite a bit.

Aristopet, various ones dependent on what colour the dogs are. I've been using it for around 20 years now and I'm still happy with it, the bonus is it doesn't irritate my skin. Anything with coconut or oatmeal makes me come out in a raw lumpy sometimes bleeding rash but the aristopet doesn't do that and the dogs coats always come up beautifully so I'll stick with it. Mind you in times of desperation I've used wool wash, champion tails or Equinade too.

If you use a spot treatment for flea control I wouldn't think you'd need flea shampoo but that's up to you. Years ago we'd mix up a flea rinse then shampoo as normal but then that was before the spot control products and back then we'd use a kennel flea wash too. Ah things are so much easier now and thank god we don't need to use that stinking flea rinse anymore.

My tri colour girl who passed on last year damaged a growth plate as a pup. Her right fore leg was broken at the knee when she was around 3 or 4 months of age (it's 16 years ago now so I can't remember exactly without going and pulling out the paper work). Her leg did heal after a prolonged recovery in a cast and confinement but the damaged leg was always thinner, twisted and shorter than the other. The paws on the other three legs spread and flattened due to the uneven weight. She was always mechanically lame and ended up with arthritis in the elbow of the affected leg in later life. She was going to be my obedience dog but she was too unsound to compete, she was a really lovely dog though. Her temperament was outstanding and she happily trained all the way up to open level even though she couldn't compete.

Does that help at all?