Gayle.

Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Bergan-Gourmet-Water...s/dp/B0009YYPIU

The earlier model has a metal mount and it's much closer to the f1.4 lens in build quality.....but I'm pretty sure the metal mount is the quickest way to identify it.

I had the same problem with this lens, although it wasn't fixable by clicking something back together. Mine had to be shifted to MF, then back to AF and it would auto focus a few times, then quit, so shift back to MF and back to AF again. A pain in the butt. In the end I gave it away and bought a 50mm f1.4 which is a much higher quality lens. The 1.8 is a crap lens that takes great photos, but doesn't generally last long no matter how you baby it. The earlier model is a much better build. My husband picked one up on eBay for around $100 and it is a VERY nice lens. Same quality glass, much more solid casing, and metal mounts.

When we brought our first lot of chooks home, the dogs broke down the wire fence between the house and our paddock (which is where the chook run is situated), in a valiant effort to get to them. They didn't succeed and the fence has now been fortified and they can't get it down again, but they have never let up their interest in the chooks and will herd them and chase them along the chook run fence. Because the way our property is set up, the dogs have to be taken into the paddock by one of us (the gate is never left open) to be able to see the chooks, so they really only see them once a day under strict supervision. The chooks sometimes leg it over their run into the paddock but have learnt to stay clear of the dividing fence or the dogs WILL bark and run up and down the fence. The dogs bark when I go into the chook run, in fact Benson doesn't let up so he gets his special collar on before I go in there or we'll all end up deaf, chooks included. I have no illusions that if one or all of the dogs were allowed in with the chooks, I'd have a pile of feathers and some sadly dead chookie carcasses. Dusty might be the exception, she might be gentle, she tends to lie down and watch them rather than run and bark, but I'm not going to test her out. I love the chooks, I love the dogs and I consider myself fortunate that I CAN keep the safely separate from each other.

My old girl Kassy, a Lhasa Apso (cross?) is 17 and I fear the end is coming rapidly. She's not unwell and still has her dignity and a good quality of life, but she's slowing down, sleeps a LOT and is very, very thin. She seems happy enough, I keep hoping she'll just pass away peacefully in her sleep, while she's still like this.

I got it from Autobahn, I don't think it's the backseat buddy brand, just the same type of cover/sling for the backseat.....covers the upholstery and gives a hammock effect so the dogs don't fall into the leg space. It came with holes.

The backseat buddy thingo I have has holes for the seatbelts. The dogs still wear their restraints.

Gosh he's cute! Interesting reading all about the Spinones, they sound like such fantastic dogs. But the lady around here who bred a litter had terrible trouble finding homes for them. She ended up giving some away to people she knew would give them fantastic homes, which is how the lady at our obedience club came to have one.

When I was training Benson, part of our training course was past the local police station. I'd often see police cars coming and going we we were riding past, but not once were we stopped or even glanced at. If it's a law, the police here clearly don't know about it. In the ET we competed in, only two dogs didn't pass and that's because they didn't finish. One was a borzoi who's owner pulled him out partway through as he wasn't fit enough and wasn't coping. The other was a Border Collie who was being biked by someone who was not her owner. She stopped for a wee and wouldn't go again....just flatly refused to move, so she had to be withdrawn from the field. Out of 19 starters, 17 dogs finished and all gained their ET title.

I am doing the ET at Sale with Dusty this year. I did it in 2009 with Benson and absolutely loved it. We've recently started training although not heavily into it just yet. Isaak will be eligible for it next year (2012) and I've discovered he's a natural with the bike, just runs alongside it like he was born to it. The Sale course is gorgeous, lots to see along the way, and the club who runs the ET are very welcoming and friendly to all competitors.

Still speak to his breeder, she will be the best one to guide you as to a potential mate for him and might be able to put you in touch with a suitable breeder. Because Bostons aren't at all common in Australia I would assume the gene pool here is still fairly small so you'd need to be very careful who he's mated with.

My first choice was Darktown, after Benson who is Hevnsent Darktown Strutter, but I liked Mainstreet equally so I definitely wasn't disappointed with not getting number 1. I submitted 5 only.......the others were Ruffnex, Trisaak and Bloomin. Ruffnex is an overseas cat prefix and figures in the pedigree of my Maine Coon but I thought it made a great prefix for Aussies or any other rough coated breed. The other two were desperation choices so I'm glad we didn't get down to them.

Probably best to speak to the breeder you bought him from, and have him assessed as to whether he's good enough to breed from. He needs to be on the main register, then find out what health tests are required and get them done.

By the way, Comeby is one of my favourite prefixes as it's a herding term, and Comeby dogs are herding dogs.

I went through this recently. Firstly I decided what I didn't want.....I knew I didn't want a composite of names, and I especially didn't want peoples names. Then I worked out what I did want.....something that was made up of real words, I didn't want a prefix that sounded like an invented word. And I wanted it to be easy to tack names after, so it had to be at least two syllables, Then I wanted something about us.......either the dogs, or something else. My first choice was my first Aussie....part of his registered name, but that was rejected in favour of my second choice which was actually my equal first choice.......our address. Mainstreet. it's snappy, sounds pretty cool, it's real words, it doesn't sound made up (because it's not), it's great fun to try out with names after it....and we DO live on Mainstreet. So start with what you don't want and make a list of things you do want.

Yesterday I was outside for about 6 hours, cleaning out a shed, caring for chooks, gardening, tidying up around the place and the dogs were with me every step of the way. We took a few breaks on a bench under a shady tree, me with a book and a drink, them with a dog bickie each and they napped at my feet. After dinner I leashed up the youngest one and took him out with the bike because I needed to teach him to run beside the bike. No teaching required, he's a natural so we biked a few blocks then came home. Daughter wanted to walk around the corner to visit a friend so she leashed up another dog and took her because it was getting dark and she doesn't like to walk alone in the dark. Husband was doing work in his shed, building some wall framing for our renovations, one of the dogs was right there watching every move he made. Two slept in our room, and when the midnight shoe monster can be trusted not to eat my shoes, he can sleep back in there too. This is a pretty normal day for my dogs, although it's a bit more condensed when we're at work and they stay home. Combined with two top quality meals a day, regular grooming, obedience club training, trials and dog shows, plus outings in the car......how is this a cruel existence?

Mine are far from aggressive. Quite the opposite, in fact. Lots of sweeping assumptions being made in this thread.

Well, that's the thing, wherever I walk on our property, the dogs walk with me, I get to be the pack leader and they are expected to walk nicely and display good doggie manners. They don't miss out on walks, they just don't do it with a leash on. And I defy anyone to say my dogs miss out on anything because they surely do not.

I can't walk three dogs at once, although I might be able to if Isaak ever grows a brain. Every now and then I get my husband to come with me and I take two dogs and he takes one, and we do a walk around the village, but it's rural here and lots of dogs on unfenced properties, who come out with hackles raised. Biking them is better but we can still only take two. I hate leaving one behind.

My dogs go to obedience club, dog shows and other dog related activities, they also regularly get taken into town and now that the weather is warming up, they'll go to the lake again soon. They might not get walked often, but they do get to do plenty of stuff away from home. Two of them also run with our bikes and I'll be training one of them for her ET next year.

My dogs don't get walked regularly lately, but every single day they get to chase a frisbee, retrieve a ball etc in our paddock and they have heaps of space to run around in, and they do. They also help me do stuff.....this morning they all helped me clean a shed out....an exercise in patience and tolerance for me, hahaha. Then we weeded a garden bed and swept some paving, and they had a big run around in the paddock while I checked on the new baby chicks.

I would get the first dog well and truly trained first, to the point where she is reliable and can pick things up on her own, without to much guidance and repetitive teaching from you. You will know when that happens.

Aaaah, lovely to see! Kadbury, if you want to bring your fosters out here for a play date, socialisation with some other friendly dogs and some good off-leash running, you are more than welcome! We have a fab property for dogs and our own private "off leash dog park". I am only at work Wednesday and Thursday next week over the Xmas\NY period, so if you'd like to come out, PM me and I'll give you directions.

Becks, it's a manufacturers guarantee, not goodwill by the store. Most (if not all) of the super premium brands here will offer a full refund if you return the bag to the store it was purchased from, if your dog doesn't like it or it proves unsuitable. The store will simply return it to their supplier and be refunded.

I can relate to the ridiculous things advised by well intentioned instructors. I had one tell me that all dogs should be trained on a correction collar (chain), while looking pointedly at my very well behaved, beautiful heel-walking 5 month old puppy. This is a pup who draws comments from all quarters about his good behaviour and lovely manners in class. I simply trained him at home til he was good e ough to move up to the next class.