Gayle.

So when I refer to Tarja and her "treasures" I'm not the only one? Tarja thinks that oranges, apples, lemons and potatoes are all treasures, not for eating but to be tossed, carried around and shown off before stashing in her crate. She also has a doorstop obsession, to the point that some friends whose house she visits regularly awarded her her own doorstop so she would stop hunting and collecting theirs. She always looks so proud of herself when she's found a treasure Shae has an obsession with dirty socks. Each night before she settles for bed (she sleeps in our room), she rifles through the pile of dirty clothes on the ensuite floor, chooses a sock and takes it to bed with her. Usually the sock belongs to my husband and she lies with it between her paws and rests her head on it. It's so cute but honestly, I don't know how she breathes!

I would love to have kept fostering but I live in a rental property that JUST puts up with the two I have now.I feel like a bit of an imposter compared to all the hard working foster families like yourself Aaah no, I don't foster, my 4 are all mine and aren't going anywhere. Well, not without me anyway. The last one to come here is the oldest, she is 5 and she's a rescue dog (albeit with a pretty flash pedigree), who's first owners neglected her and second owners abandoned her. I don't actually think I could have them for just a while then send them on their way, I just love them too much once they come here. I promised my rescue dog that she will always have a comfy lap to lie on, a warm bed next to mine and all the love she can handle.

Haha, I was thinking that if you had all those foster failures, wouldn't you stop fostering?? LOL!

Having a registered prefix doesn't make someone a breeder. I have a prefix (Mainstreet) but I don't call myself a breeder. Lots of people have prefixes and aren't breeders.

My baby boy. Isaak, fell head over heels in love with Shae, our 5yo rescue girl when she came to live with us in Feb. He took one look and he was totally smitten.....he humped her head, stole her toys, grabbed her by the neck and dragged her around the yard......and she reciprocated his feelings and simply went back for more. Now, if I'm looking for one, I know I'll find the other there too. They sleep together, they sit together in the house in the evenings, they eat their meals together and they play and play and play all day together. My other two are buddies with each other, but not like Shae and Isaak.

My dogs must be born-again Lappies then because whenever I feed them chicken necks, I have to run around and close the bedroom doors, otherwise someone is sure to find a surprise or two under their pillow.

When Dusty was about 8 months old, I took her interstate to stay at my sons house and also enter her in some dog shows. My son didn't have any pets and after a day or so I realized I'd forgotten to pack some dog toys for her, so I went to the $2 shop and bought a bagful. I gave her about 8 toys...... Soft toys, rubber squeaky toys, rope tugs etc. She picked them up on at a time and took them all over the house and carefully placed them behind curtains, under cushions, under a bed, behind doors etc, til they were all gone. Then she came and sat at my feet. After about 10 mins she went and got each toy one at a time, and brought them back with her bum wiggling excitedly from her "find". She made up her own "treasure hunt". Benson does the bark at the door to distract the other dogs from their dinner so he can clean up. They fall for it every time!

When we designed our new pantry, we made the lower part big enough to store 2 x 20kg plastic boxes, they have wheeled bases and snaplock lids, and that's where the kibble goes. As soon as we get it, we empty the bags into the boxes and it stays fresh and safe from mice.

There are no parasites in meat sold in Australia. Farmers have very strict health regulations to abide by, as do abattoirs and butchers and anyone else handling the meat from conception to sale. Freezing does not kill bacteria (germs), and BARF is sold frozen for ease of storage, I would imagine.

I moved last year with our 16yo Lhasa Apso. She wasn't blind although I don't think her eyesight was all that sharp. She coped really well, I was very "matter of fact" about the move, it was basically......hop in the car, OK we're here, this is your new home, here's your bed and your bowl.......and she was absolutely fine. She died of old age earlier this year but that would have happened no matter where we lived, and she really appeared to enjoy her time at the new property. She loved walking around checking things out with me, feeding the chooks, doing the gardening etc.

The chicken I feed my dogs is for human consumption, it's not sold as pet food. They get the same chicken drumsticks you'd cook on the barbie. No parasites in them, I would hope!

I didn't hear anything but I'll guess that it was because this show was the opening show for the terrier specialty weekend, with the terrier futurity sweepstakes as a highlight.

When we got Shae, our 5yo rescue, her teeth were terrible......very discoloured and thick with tartar build-up. Her breath wasn't the nicest either, but she didn't appear to have any decay. I think she'd probably only ever been fed kibble and/or tinned food. I started to give her chicken legs and other raw meaty bones, plus Black Hawk kibble and within a month, I could really notice the difference in her teeth. She's now been here 4 1/2 months and still on the same diet and her teeth are sparkling white and her breath is clean and sweet. No vets, no teeth cleaning under anaesthetic, just a top quality diet and plenty of bones to gnaw on. I was telling my vet about the difference the bones had made and she said she often recommends a change to raw meaty bones to people who are presenting their dogs to have their teeth cleaned. Much nicer for the dogs, much better for their health and it works!

Benson was named by his breeder and he suited it so well we kept it. Dusty was named after Slim Dusty.....I wanted an Australian name for her and named her after an Aussie icon. Isaak.....well, we wanted a gangster name for him (don't ask me why, it was my husbands idea) but all the ones we could think of we didn't like. Then we remembered a message that had been left on my answering machine once, by a guy from the US, wanting to speak to my husband. The guy has a gangsta accent and his message was "This is Chuck, Chuck Isaac, we needs to talk!" It was hilarious, like something out of a B grade movie and we played it over and over and we'd crack up laughing each time. So here we have photos of this 6 week old puppy my husband wants to endow with a gangster name and after exhausting the possibilities of the real gangsters and the movie gangsters, we rememberd Chuck Isaac and his gangster accent. And so Isaak had a name. Shae was originally named Shade, her pedigree name is Dappledinshade, but she came to us as a rescue and we wanted a new name for her new life so we dropped the D and she became Shae. I called her "Shae-o" and sing her the Banana Boat song.......Shae-o, Shaaaaaaaeeee-oooooo....daylight come and me wanna go home. I know, that's dumb, but I love her to bits and I want her to feel special for once in her life.

Turkey legs are so expensive here. I've seen them in the supermarket and they'd be great for the dogs dinner....one each....but they work out about $5 a piece, so they've never had them.

Mine get one each for breakfast every morning, they love them. They have less fat than wings, which is why I prefer to feed the drumsticks. They eat the whole lot, bone and all.

Doesn't the judge signing the challenge certificate testify that the dog named on the certificate is, in their opinion of a good enough quality to carry the title of champion? That has GOT to mean something, they don't have to award challenges if the dogs aren't good enough. And there are heaps of Staffies being shown........they are a huge class even at quite small shows, so how would a poor quality dog get enough points for a title?

Merle x merle Australian Shepherds can be registered on main. In fact I have one here....main registered (neutered) bitch from a blue merle to blue merle mating.

Aaah, thanks, I didn't see that bit. It still doesn't make him worth $2000, not as a pet anyway. But if the OP is willing to pay that, then I suppose he is worth that.

Just re-reading the opening post, she says he's "won a couple of championships", which doesn't mean he's titled, he's probably just won a couple of challenges. I could say the same about my retired show girl.....she won a couple of "championships" too.....however, she never beat another dog (they were 6 point challenges).

I introduced a 5yo rescue Aussie into my pack earlier this year and for the most part it went pretty smoothly. My older boy and her went head to head a few times over food, but once we started feeding them separately, peace reigned. He has always been top dog and mooches from the other dogs bowls and they let him, but the new dog didn't like that and she wouldn't back down. Now we don't give him the opportunity to pinch her food. I think $2000 is a lot for an adult dog, unless the dog is going to be used at stud the champion title means nothing. And being a show dog doesn't mean he's trained to do anything except stand still. Often they aren't housetrained because they live in kennels and not as family dogs. The upside is that there's no puppy stage, he'll more than likely be very easy to bath and groom, and you'll already be able to see his adult temperament (although once again, a show career doesn't guarantee good temperament). My rescue dog came with a pedigree, and a very nice one it is too......she was never a show dog, but she is main registered and has a pretty registered name. She was housetrained, basic obedience trained, lead trained and she's a very easy girl to live with. She didn't cost me anything.

My "teenage" dog (14 months old) gets two meals a day.....a raw chicken drum in the mornings, and 2 large cups of Black Hawk Holistic kibble in the evenings. He also gets various raw meaty bones through the week as "snacks".

We had a lovely day yesterday. The group 5 judge was a very nice man, a real gentleman who seemed to thoroughly enjoy his time with each dog. Love it when the judges obviously love the job they're doing.

That's an awesome story, Colleen....how proud you must be, and how proud your dad would be.

It's my two neuters....male and female, who sometimes go head to head and often grumble at each other. The two girls are fine together, as ar the two boys and the entire male and female are best buddies. But the two who were neutered very early in life are the ones who seem to have dominance issues.