Gayle.

Yes, you can have a legal name and never use it. You can also have a preferred name, or a "known as" name. You can enrol your kids in school under their preferred name, even if it's not their legal name. Lots of people don't use their legal name. Memberships to affiliations such as Dogs Victoria aren't generally accepted as proof of ID for anything, so you can join up as whatever you want to call yourself. In the case of my daughter, I can provide my marriage cert to prove that my last name was once the same as her legal last name and that my current name and the name that's her preferred name is one and the same. I don't see why they'd have a problem with a child using the same last name as her parent.

We go to herding with them, and I'm in shock. Dharma, the three legged rotti was the most amazing dog I have ever met. Such a tragic, horrible waste of two gorgeous dogs.

Working for that very low wage is undervaluing yourself and your skills.

What a beautiful girl. Good wishes for a speedy recovery for her.

I still don't know what I'm going to do about the joint membership I have with my teenage daughter. She uses my name for all the dog stuff and is a Dogs Vic member using my last name as that's what she prefers to be known as for dog events etc. But the only photo ID I have for her is a passport which is in her legal name, not her preferred name.

Maybe it's just the new applicants who are being screened and not the registered breeders who have been puppy farming and advertising on DOL for years.

I have competed in herding trials with Chris and Dharma. They were the most amazing pair, and Dharma was the most incredible dog I have ever met. Can't believe this, it's just devestating.

Being selective as to who you sell to doesn't mean you have the right to ridicule or be rude to those you don't want to sell to. Nor does it give you the right to post their enquiries on public forums for others to make fun of. I'm not saying you do Indigirl, but there are plenty of others who do. And being selective and caring about where your puppies are placed is best practice, and no, no one expects you to have puppies available for whoever wants one and at all times. Just treat all potential buyers with respect whether you sell them a puppy or not and always be mindful that to them, you are the face of the pedigree dog world, so make it a friendly one. God knows it doesn't have a sterling image right now.

This. I know they say oh don't worry you'll find things to love in your next dog, but I never felt this way about a dog I've had before. I know I'm onto something special now and I don't want any other dogs Even though I love and adore the dogs that come after, it's just so, so devastating when one dies, and especially when they die young.

Even at a specialty though, where the entry can be 100 or more and sometimes more than a group entry at an all breeds show, it would be a real kick in the guts to come runner up in show, beat some of the best dogs of the same breed in the country, and get no points. And even beat the opposite challenge winner who would have got points (probably 25).

I guess it depends on the dog but there sure is a difference between my dog barking at say a Possum or someone he doesn't know coming onto the property! But if you want the dog to stop barking at the people coming onto the property, it's kind of useless then.

I'm aware that it's not a zap and works more like a remote collar, but it is an easy way to describe what I mean. Well, I've touched an electric fence by mistake and accidentally triggered an electronic collar while I was holding it, and guess what? It was exactly the same feeling. A zap. It's a mild electric shock.

The one I used had 8 levels and they ramped up if the dog didn't stop barking within a few seconds. And if it started again within a few seconds it would go up again. I think the dog had to be quiet for 3 minutes for the collar to reset to the lowest level. it worked on one dog, on another it has no effect whatsoever. So I tried a very expensive remote controlled collar which had even higher levels and that didn't work either. He is just impervious to that particular stim, although he's not a particularly hard dog.....just noisy sometimes.

Even if ANKC go to great lengths to improve their promotion of pedigree dogs and spend squillions of dollars on media campaigns, events and improving public awareness, it will all be for nothing if those breeding the dogs don't start treating enquiries (even stupid, mis-spelt and uninformed ones) with respect. Or at least keep their typing fingers to themselves on public forums. Really, it's not a good look for pedigree dog breeders when someone logs onto a public internet forum and finds posts from breeders ridiculing the people emailing or phoning them with enquiries. They are there for everyone to see....forever! And no, it's not all breeders but it's enough that those types of threads are generally prominent within the first few pages of just the type of forum a potential pedigree dog owner might find when searching for information about pedigree dogs and how to find a breeder.

How does the collar determine the difference between the dog barking at intruders, the dog barking at the people next door (the problem I had), and the dog barking at people walking past and the dog barking at the dogs next door? My boys' bark sounded the same all the time and drove us all crazy, the collar I used gave a tingle (I felt it when I inserted the battery and accidentally triggered it) and it wasn't painful but more of a "surprise"......in that it was something the dog wouldn't have felt before. It worked within a half-day of using it, it was fantastic.

It can, and has happened at championship speciality shows. Reserve in age class, reserve dog challenge, runner up in show. Beat every dog there but one, no points.

The zap ones work best, but they don't work on all dogs. I have one dog who appears impervious to the tingle of an electric shock and just barks on regardless.

Yeah, that's a bonus. Benson was a shit for that....I'd accidentally let go of the lead and it's like he was aways waiting for it because he'd be off like a rocket. The current dogs are excellent at sticking around, in fact Isaak hates his lead off when we're out and he sticks to me like glue and sooks to have it back on if I dare give him some free walking on the local rail trail! At a dog show I can drop his lead while I pack the trolley and he just stays right with me, it's great.

I would like my dogs to live as long as I do....cos it bloody sucks when they die.

Oakleigh Produce - 103 Warrigal Rd, Oakleigh - (03) 9568 0419

They have to win best bitch or dog of that breed, or best of breed to get points. They have to be over 6 months of age to be able to compete for points (3-6 months are baby puppies and they only compete against other baby puppies, but not for points.) Here's an example using last Saturdays show. Australian Shepherd males, there were 4....one puppy, one junior, two intermediates. The puppy won his class as he was the only one in it, same with the junior. The black tri intermediate beat the blue merle, so the line up for dog challenge was intermediate, junior and puppy. The intermediate won the dog challenge and got 9 points......5 points plus one for himself and one each for the three dogs he beat. Same breed, bitches. Can't remember the exact number but the open bitch won the bitch challenge then she and the intermediate dog competed for best of breed which went to the bitch. So she got points for all the dogs and all the bitches of that breed because she beat them all. I think she ended up with 13 points. The intermediate dog won runner up of breed but didn't get any more points other than his original 9. The maximum points that can be won at any show is 25 and a dog winning best in group or best in show would get 25 points. No points are awarded for class in group of show (junior in group, puppy in show etc).

That's probably roughly the same depth as our pool (or probably deeper), so that's good to know. Imagine the amount of fish heart attacks that have been caused when he jumps in though! *edited because I'm rubbish with measuring cms! We started off with 6 fish, we now have over 20. Maybe it increases their fertility or something, but we have a population explosion happening in the pond! LOL!

We have a raised fishpond that's about 75 cms deep, one of our dogs gets in for a swim with the fish but gets out again without a problem (and he's been doing that since he was about 6 months old), the others have never been in it.

Yeah, that'll be me. Love the Aussie temperament, look, coat, the whole deal really. Best dogs ever.

I thought a red tinge to a black coat was dead or sunburnt hair. A red coat fades in the sun so it stands to reason that a black coat will show sun damage too.