Gayle.

The food you are using for every day rewards are the high value ones for my guys. My every day reward food is Eagle Pack kibble. What about dried liver treats? Or some other kind of packaged doggie or cat treat? Twisties or Cheezels....in moderation...might be useful too. Dried apple? Benson goes nuts for that. Diced BBQ steak?

I bought a lovely puppy sight unseen (photos only) from a reputable interstate breeder...not a cocker but an Australian Shepherd. In Victoria they sell for around $1000. I paid $500 plus $135 to have her flown to Victoria. She was one of the two pick puppies of an exceptionally nice litter, daddy is a Grand Champion, mummy is a champion, her pedigree has champions and Grand Champions at every level and she is a divine and precious little girl. I did not buy her because of the price but because she was what I wanted. $500 just happens to be the price this particular breeder charges for her pups....and she came main registered, vaccinated, microchipped and with hip and eye sceening certs for both parents.

She might not have enough waste matter in her bowel to need to relieve herself. But if you're worried, give your vet a quick call and be guided by him. Pats and gentle scratches for the little one, here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery.

Mine eat it but they like the freshly grown, undisturbed, non-piddled on variety. Our puppy run has grass growing in it but the dogs don't usually spend time in there. Whenever I open the gate and let them in, they're just like sheep....grazing away on the grass!

No, it doesn't stop them from doing anything they would normally do. Start being more interesting than "them" then reward when the focus is on you.

I just chop it up, cook it, mash it and mix it in....skin, seeds and all.

Just be patient, she is only a baby, and make everything about collar, lead and walks lots of fun. Very positive, gentle coaxing, let her have the lead on without you holding it. And as soon as you feel yourself getting frustrated, remove the lead and put it away. Even if you try not to show it, she'll pick up on your frustration and will associate it with having a lead on and going for a walk. She doesn't *need* to go for a walk just yet, she's still too little to be walking far so keep the sessions with collar and lead short but frequent and lots of quiet, gentle fun with positive rewards each step of the way.

I don't feed offal straight, I mix it up with mince, raw veges, eggs, cheese etc. They don't need a huge amount of it in one go.....just small bits here and there.

I use a plastic cat food bucket I got free from Petstock with Royal Canin cat food. It has piccies of cats on the outside. It's *different* to what most people at shows use.

Is that the one in Sale? I have Leopuppy and her dogs coming to stay with me as she's competing in the Sale one on Sunday then the Morwell one on Monday. I'm stewarding at the Morwell one and might tag along to the Sale one if I have nothing else to do on the day.

No. The line was long and loose and I doubt she even realised she had it on. She didn't trip or get tangled and she had a blast. It certainly didn't supress any instinct that I could see. To be honest, I couldn't see myself doing it on a regular basis. It was fun to see if the natural herding instinct kick in but herding as a dog-sport doesn't do a whole lot for me, I'm afraid. I can see where some people would love it though.

Diced BBQ chicken. My dogs go absolutely crazy for it. Some of the packaged dried liver treats would do the trick too, as they advertise no additives.

You don't teach them. You give them exposure to livestock and keep them and the livestock safe at the same time. The workshop we went to was for dogs of all experience levels......the closest mine had ever been to sheep was via a lamb chop in their dinner bowl. They learned nothing aside from what sheep look like and how they move. Benson didn't care much for them and spent most of the time with his nose to the ground sniffing the sheep poo. Dusty thought they were the best things ever and charged right in amongst them. The longline kept her from getting trampled when she got too close and enthusiastic.

Not sure, but the contact info is here: http://www.dogsvictoria.com.au/Clubs.asp?ClubID=470

The Vic Herding club run workshops at KCC Park every now and then. We took the dogs along to one and they had a blast. It's *not* about letting your pup run wild with livestock.....it's very controlled, supervised etc. and in the case of a 4 month old puppy (Dusty was that age when we took her) the sessions are kept extremely short and the trainer watches carefully to keep the pup from being scared by the sheep. The pup will more than likely wear a longline so it can be pulled to safety if need be.

Chicken frames, chicken marylands......I defy any dog to swallow one of them whole!

I had Benson done when he was 4 1/2 months old and about 15kg. It cost me around $150. My vet doesn't charge by what the dogs weigh though....it's by gender.

I would keep her on it permanantly if she's doing well on it to start with. Bot the super premium and the holistic are excellent foods for dogs. Supplement with raw chicken pieces (necks, frames, wings etc) and raw meaty bones and you have a first class diet for the rest of the dogs life.

I didn't take any time off work when I got Benson as I hadn't been in the job long enough to have annual leave accrued. We collected him after work on the Friday night and had two days to settle him in, then back to work on the Monday morning. He was 10 weeks old and was fine in the back yard on his own. My kids got home from school before us and they made sure he wasn't alone for long.

I took two weeks off to get her settled and also cos I wanted two weeks of having her to myself during the day. It was fun but she slept most of the time. It did allow me to supervise lots of play times with our older pup though, and that experience was invaluable socialisation for both of them. They are now best mates and can be left together in the backyard while we're at work.

Yep, agree wholeheartedly with Tess! My dogs LOVE having a chicken frame for dinner, it's a whole body experience for them, figuring out the best way to tackle it, where to start chewing etc. And it's hilarious to watch them tackle a BIG one because they have to think about it. It takes them ages to eat which is much better for them than bolting down their dinner. Your pup with have healthy jaws, clean teeth and have learned something vitally important to them......food has to be worked for, even eating it is "working" for it when they have a chicken frame for their meal.

Some farm kelpies are very small. She most certainly looks like a Lab x Kelpie but that doesn't necessarily mean she'll be Lab sized or even close to it.

I go to our local obedience club every Saturday morning. I absolutely love it and so does my 14yo daughter and our dogs. She does agility with Benson, then we have a dog each for obedience classes.

My 5 month old Australian Shepherd puppy gets a similar diet but in the mince mix I add eggs, cheese, sardines or tuna (sometimes one or sometimes all ) and don't add any rice, although sometimes I throw in some rolled oats for a change of texture. I also add flaxseed or cod liver oil and granulated kelp. But she also gets chicken frames, wings, necks and lamb offcuts and brisket bones as a regular part of her diet. Tonight she has a chicken maryland which took her ages to eat, gave her whole body a workout and cleaned her teeth nicely. It also gave her brain some exercise while she figured out the best way to tackle it because I didn't cut it up and she had to figure out for herself which end to start on.

Erny, I don't think you understood why I was asking. The person who over-corrects with a check chain, enough to lift a large dog off it's feet, shouldn't be in charge of a dog. But they are. Chains, head collars, flat collars.....yes, I know the damage they do when they are incorrectly used. That wasn't what I was asking. If a prong collar was used with such force, what would happen to the dog? Your reply is in the vein that the person using the collar knows what they are doing and cares about the dogs welfare. Not everyone is like that. Prong collars aren't illegal in most places and I would imagine they are freely available in some countries (they are freely available on eBay) so I can only imagine there are people using them incorrectly for whatever reason. I was interested in what might happen to the dog who is wearing it at the time.