Gayle.

I chose Benson, but he decided he's my husbands dog. Actually, I chose all the dogs, although Rick had a say in all of them....but I'm the one who does everything with them so I suppose I got the final say. As far as the breed goes, we differed at first then came to a mutual decision and I'm so glad about that. I definitely don't think I could have got so "into" a breed had I gone with my original choice. Rick really loves the dogs, so I'm lucky there.

I have got a dog who acts like that when I walk him towards the car.....he cringes, crouches, ducks his head, lowers himself and makes himself very difficult to move. Why? I have no idea. He has never, ever been treated badly, in fact he's been treated like the little emperor he believes himself to be. He has never had a bad experience in a car. He goes in a car at least twice a week, usually to a fun destination or just for a ride. If you saw me walking him to the car, you could be forgiven for thinking he is absolutely petrified of the car. And you could be forgiven for thinking this dog has possibly been beaten to make him so terrified and submissive. Nothing could be further from the truth. I totally adore him, he has never been hit, yelled at or treated poorly in any way, ever. Once I lift him into the car, he sits up happily and watches out the window, then lays down for a snooze. He recently travelled with me for a 13 hour trip to Adelaide and back, and he was the best co-pilot ever. So what you see, isn't always "proof" of how a dog is feeling.

Those of you who are so violently opposed to euthanasia of unwanted animals, I ask you this? Where did you source your dogs from? A pound? A shelter? Did you save a dog from being euthanased? If not, why not?

We had ours in the house when the bitch was in season, but it was very carefully managed. We have a large house with a number of entrances, and the ability to shut off the back area of the house completely. The dog only used the rear door and was not able to access the front area of the house. The bitch came in the front area and stayed there. During her season, the dog wasn't able to access any areas that she'd been, it would have been too stressful for him.

Toy possessiveness, I take the toy away. In fact, any possessiveness gets the item taken away. I have no idea of the psychology behind that, but it seems to work. They get the item back later, but any more bad behaviour sees it taken away again.

As soon as you see it about to happen, remove the JRT firmly. Don't let it start. Ever tried to catch a JRT that doesn't want to be caught? lol, not as easy as it sounds doesn't your dog come to you when called? If it doesn't, you probably need to go back to basics and work on recall. And maybe make use of a long line.

Benson tries it on occasionally......he's the head honcho of the dogs but he understands and respects that I'm the head honcho of everything, and a quick fingerpoint and "ENOUGH!" from me, and he sighs, sags and all the oomph goes out of him. As soon as you see it about to happen, remove the JRT firmly. Don't let it start.

Can I ask, how do you ensure there is no bullying between your dogs? I'm only asking because my JRT is very possessive over my Golden...so far my Golden doesn't care, and chances are it will stay that way, but I'm not looking forward to the day she realises she is the bigger and stronger one I remove the offending dog from the situation, remove the stolen booty from the thiefs mouth, but mostly, from when they are puppies, let them know I'm in charge, not them. I'm a benevolent dictator but what I say goes.

I've got 4 dogs...2 of each gender, and I can have any combo of them together and they are fine. But I do not tolerate bad behaviour and I don't tolerate any bullying, food stealing, toy possessiveness etc.

I don't think the older Commodores and Fords are all that good on fuel. In fact, unless they're on LPG, I'd say leave them well alone.

I was told the same thing by a trainer. But.. I can see where it starts to become a self-fulfilling prophecy- The more black dogs that run in a race, the more likely it is that a black dog will win. Fewer blue dogs means statistically, fewer blue dogs win. And with so many black dogs now, a black dog is always bound to do well, proving their superstition correct When my dad was training and racing greyhounds, he used to speak with great reverence of a dog named Black Top. http://www.agra.com.au/nbtributeblacktop.htm#btop He could be one reason why black greyhounds are more sought after than other colours.

I have a shed devoted to dog stuff. It was the previous property owners tool shed, it's quite large and my husband replaced a couple of the roof panels with clear perspex so it now has good lighting. I use the tool board for hanging leads and collars, I have an old cupboard with shelves for bits and pieces, a set of shelves for toys and balls, a wall cupboard for shampoos etc and an old wooden office unit as a grooming table, it has shelves under it for their grooming tools. The show gear is just leaning up against walls and their rugs, towels, coats etc are stored in big plastic boxes with cliplock lids. It lacks power and plumbing but there is a power point at the fishpond not too far from it so I run an extension lead to it, and it backs onto our excess water storage so plumbing it shouldn't be too difficult if I need water to it.

Sorry, it doesn't look like a GSD to me either. Nice drawing of a dog, but I wouldn't have put a breed on it. Can I offer a word of advice? Don't write on your drawings.......they'd be much better without a title, without any writing on the page. If you must, title it on the back.

Well, I have three black dogs and I wouldn't swap them for the world. I like them dark, and the darker the better. If there's a black option in a breed, I'd choose that over any other colour. My blackest is Benson, his colouring is unusual for the breed in this country....the all black face in particular....but not so uncommon in America's west where the breed was developed. I'd have had four black dogs given half a chance but my little blueberry pie, Shae, came along so she's our patchy, faded black.

Whenever I see the poodles being groomed at shows, it occurs to me that shows are probably not the best place to chat to breeders. The poodle people are BUSY, and often look very stressed....and being that the breed is well into the second half of the program, they get done with breed judging and group judging is on. I just can't imagine someone with a casual enquiry, wanting a lengthy chat, is going to get a warm, friendly reception from someone wielding a handful of brushes and scissors, with hairspray by their elbow and often a comb and a few clips in their mouth.

It's an Australian Shepherd, if you look at her profile she has a pic of one there.

My early desexed girl (around 8 weeks, I believe) is tiny......far and away the smallest of my tribe. She also has a very pretty, puppyish face (she is 5 years old, came to me as a rescue) which I thought may be due to the early desexing, but that idea was knocked firmly on the head on the weekend when a breeder who knows her background took one look at her and said "Oh my god, she looks exactly like her mother!" It was also agreed that she grew just fine in spite of being desexed as a baby.

Any dog will cope just fine with being left alone 6 hours per day if no fuss is made when you leave. I've left 8 week old puppies alone for up to 8 hours and they've all grown up to be nicely balanced adults with no separation issues.

Jonny, if you have any questions about the product and the manufacture of it, why not email Sherel and ask her directly? She will be able to tell you what makes up the protein and what the lamb meal contains.

My entire bitch does not tolerate young male dogs in her face. She reprimands them with a growl and a well-timed snap if they don't get it on the growl, but I don't consider that aggression, just a low tolerance for bad manners.

I have got 4 Aussies here, one of whom was neglected and possibly abused as a puppy, and absolutely no aggression. In what way is your dog aggresssive? I've got one that does a lot of barking when people come onto her turf, but she's not aggressive at all, just loud.

Same with Benson. I generally take him to the speciality shows, just for the day out, and I've had more than one breeder gnash their teeth over the fact that he's desexed, as he's from old American working lines which are highly prized here.

It depends who you buy it from, transport costs etc. I pay $75 per 20 kg bag, and no delivery costs. Others I've heard pay $90 inc delivery which is still cheaper than most super premium brands.

I agree with your post. This is pretty much the same as my boy who steals a bone from another dog then walks past me with the bone in his mouth and his eyes tightly shut. If he didn't know it was wrong to steal the bone, why would he walk past me with his eyes shut (in the belief that if he can't see me, I can't see him)? He knows it's wrong before he does it, which is why he does it when I'm not in his line of sight, he knows it's wrong when he takes his stolen booty to his corner but has to go past me on the way. And he gives it up as soon as I approach him because he knows he's not allowed to have it.

If you're interested in a top quality locally made product, you can't go past Black Hawk Holistic (see adverts at the top of the DOL pages). It's far more reasonably priced than imported kibble, it's locally made from mostly Australian products and is much fresher than anything coming from overseas. Oh, and you can request a free sample pack....and they are a very generous size, big enough to work out if your dog will or won't like it.