Gayle.

EXCEPT a border collie pup Or an Australian Shepherd pup.

There is an old bloke at our obedience club with a Cav puppy who's the same age as Isaak. He is SO tiny compared to my big boofer and really cute. But oh so stubborn, the poor old bloke can't get him to do anything.

Yes I love puppies. My current one is only 4 1/2 months old and still at that very, very cute floppy plush toy stage. I just love him to bits. He doesn't chew, neither did Dusty so the chewing doesn't put me off. Instead, he takes all the shoes he can gather, and piles them under the coffee table. Apparently that's where they belong. He is such a sweetie that I will miss his puppiness when he grows up, but we've got a full house now so no more til my oldie gets her ticket to the bridge and here's hoping that's a very long time away.

I got my first 6 chookies at a poultry auction last weekend. Our new property has a fabulous setup for a small household flock so I figured it was a shame to waste it. I am surprised by how much I am enjoying my ladies. I just love them to bits. My two adult Aussies are a tad too interested in them though, and knocked down part of a fence in order to get a closer look. They didn't even get close but they were pretty determined. Benson just goes crazy when he sees them or sees me in the pen with them, and I would not trust him for a split second with them. Dusty is watchful and alert and has had a good crack at jumping over the fence to get into their pen but she didn't succeed. Our 4 month old puppy isn't at all interested. He looked at them then found more fun things to do. Our setup is such that the dogs haven't got much chance of getting near the chooks unless someone leaves a gate open. We're all in the habit of closing the gates though, even pre-chookies.

A dog and fox-proof coop with a roost and nesting box, and a nice grassy, weedy safe space for them to scratch around for bugs, worms etc. Fresh water, a shallow container for chook pellets and that's about the basics covered. You would also need at least 2 chooks, they are social creatures and need company. This is a good source of info for new chookie owners. http://www.backyardpoultry.com/

I might take you up on that, I'm just waiting on a sample of Black Hawk Holistic to try. I was given a sample of Artemis at a dog show and my dogs loved it, so I'd be happy to feed that. I will PM you in a few days.

We taught Benson to play dead by teaching him to roll over, then once he had that down pat, we'd get him to roll over but we'd stop him when he was on his side by holding him and say "Bang" at the same time and giving him a treat. That soon morphed into "Bang" being the cue to lie down on his side. He doesn't die for long........around 0.5 sec if we're lucky cos he pops his head up for a treat.

My Aussie bitch sheds bucketloads about 6-8 weeks before she comes into season. And by the time her season starts, her new growth looks fabulous. Also, I find if my dogs spend more time inside during winter they shed a bit more due to the house being a lot warmer than the great outdoors.

I agree with this. Our old Lhasa is 16, she was bought for me as a gift when she was a tiny puppy, probably from a pet shop. I don't think she's purebred, probably got some Maltese in her as well. She's lived on canned dog food, kibble and table scraps all of her life. Hates raw meat, can't eat bones anymore due to hardly any teeth, she's a cranky old girl when things don't please her but she toddles around the property and oversees everything and while she's not as sprightly as she once was, she's fit, healthy and I'd say has a good few years in her yet. She has not been vaccinated since she was about 6 and gets wormed only about once a year. I don't like medicating dogs for the sake of it and I suspect this has contributed to her healthy old age. I can only hope my Aussies live as long and with such good health.

Dakota is a bogan baby name. Doesn't suit a pretty Aussie girl at all. It's also the name of my sons feral exgirlfriends dog she bought at a Melbourne market. Ugly little critter, best guess on breed would be a pitbull x kelpie x piglet.

Native american meaning, strong wise beautiful woman. Hebrew meaning, moonlight. Turkish meaning, near the oak tree.

No but I'll find out for you.

I am feeding my dogs on Supercoat at the moment, due to lack of anything better that I can afford and they like. One of them is getting Uncle Albers and he doesn't mind it, but the other one won't eat it, mores the pity because they do very well on it. My dogs love Supercoat.......in the past they have had Eagle Pack, Nutrience, Pro Plan and Pro Plan Selects and a variety of other high and mid range kibble and they are doing better on Supercoat than they've done on some of the "better" foods. Coats are soft and shiny, skin is clear and elastic and they are looking good. Output is more than raw meaty bones but not as bad as I'd expected it to be. My puppy gets Supercoat Puppy, he prefers it mixed with sardines but if none are forthcoming, he eats the plain kibble. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for him to get the picture that he's not getting a topping on it but once it's clicked, he chows down happily enough, although probably doesn't hoover through it as fast as if there's sardines on it.

I wasn't having a go at you, I am getting really frustrated with Nutro. First of all they don't reply to my email for a week, then tell me a local store stocks their product when I know they definitely don't. I could drive to Dandenong and buy it, I did that a few times for Pro Plan Selects, but that adds about thirty bucks to the cost and it's was already expensive. Ditched that idea. Tried Nutrience as I found a store here who had it but when I went back for a second bag they told me the bag I'd bought previously was the last they were stocking as it wasn't a good seller. They offered to order it in for me when I wanted it, but that's not ideal for me.

Aylah is nice, it has a soft tone and it's easy to say and it sounds very different from Leo and Kinta. I found when naming the third, that was important to consider.

Here are my picks. Arlia Arielle Ayla Charm LouLou Mira Chloe

They can probably special order all kinds of stuff for me, but that's not what I want. I want to go into a store, pick up a bag when I need it and buy it on the spot. I hate having to pre-order stuff like dogfood, I never think about it til I'm just about out and I need to be able to just go and buy it. If the Nutro company tell me that the local Petsock store stock their product, I would expect it to be in stock most of the time when I want to buy it. But I know Petstock don't carry it, I was there just yesterday and I can list the brands they had there and Nutro wasn't amongst them, and never has been.

Please not Josie. I had an evil and very ugly cat named Josie and it put me right off that name. Here's what I called our chooks, maybe you could draw inspiration from them....the silkies are Fandango and Fiesta. The crossbreds were going to be Muttly and Heinz but they ended up being Maudie and Mabel. The Isa Browns are Henny Penny and Beyonce.

Well, a whole week after emailing Nutro about where to buy their product locally, I received a reply. The area manager tells me that it's available at Petstock in Traralgon, who also run a reward program for it where you get the 11th bag free. I shop at Petstock at least fortnightly and have done for years, I regularly check out their range of kibble.......budget to super premium....and I have never seen Nutro there. Ever. So I've asked the area manager to follow up that lead for me and see when they'll have some in stock.

Yes, that's Dusty. She was fed raw for 2 years, then all of a sudden, just started bringing it straight back up. No matter what the meat was....lamb, beef, chcken, roo. All got a return journey about 10 minutes after she ate it. Now she is on kibble, she has never looked better. Benson's flaky skin has cleared up and his harsh, dry coat has gone and both dogs have soft, shiny coats that look fabulous. I would love to be able to feed a raw diet, but it just doesn't suit my dogs.

We've got a little bloke of 4 months of age and his puppy license seems to be running out pretty fast. He's a big puppy and can keep up with the other two dogs, but they don't always want him in their games especially if they are chasing a frisbee. One of them will generally turn around and growl at him. Then he comes back to me looking very dejected. However, yesterday I won a frisbee in a raffle at our dog club and it's perfect for my little man, so I throw the big one for the big dogs and then in the other direction I throw the new one for my puppy. Most of the time, he's welcome in their play and they often initiate it, and my big boy especially loves playing with the puppy.......but there are limits and he's starting to find them.

I've seen my dogs dig up raw bones and eat them a week after being given them, god only knows how bad they taste, but they're fine afterwards.

We picked our newest puppy up on a Sunday afternoon, he was 8 weeks old, the following day he was locked in the front entrance and hallway of our house while we went to work. He had a crate filled with warm rugs, pillows and toys, a bowl of water and a bowl of kibble. The first day my husband came home around lunchtime, after that he was on his own each day for around 10 hours. Our front door is glass and the entrance is a hexagonal room with a bay-type window all around. He could see out to the front yard, and also into part of the backyard where the other dogs were. Despite how badly I felt, he was fine. I'd often get home to find his toys scattered down the hallway and him fast asleep in his crate. He's now 4 months old and hasn't developed any neuroses or anxieties. He's big enough to be turfed out with the other dogs now, and like them, he sees our coming and going as a normal thing and the car is barely halway down the driveway in the mornings and they've turned their backs and are heading to do whatever it is they do once we've gone. Start as you mean to go on. Settle the pup in the mornings, then leave. Don't make a fuss, don't talk babytalk to him as you go, just shut the door firmly and leave. He'll soon get the idea that this is normal and this is his routine. The moment you start making a fuss or going back to check on him, or telling him how sorry you are you have to leave him alone, is when he'll start thinking it's a bad thing to be left and will start making a racket.

I have done it twice. Both times from the same breeder. The first time, I was very specific about what I wanted.....a black tri bitch with particular markings and I waited for the litter to be born to see if there was a pup for me, then found there were two to choose from. I had a preference for one, but left it up to the breeder as she was also keeping a black tri bitch for her breeding program. I ended up with the one I had the preference for, but would have been just as happy with the other one. Did it matter about the temperament? In the case of this particular breed, probably not. The breeder I trusted woud only breed from dogs with excellent temperaments and would give the puppies the experiences they needed to be well socialised. My girl arrived here when she was 8 week old, and she was perfect. She is now 2 1/2 years old and she's still perfect. I completely and totally adore her, she is sweet natured, very devoted to me and a smart, happy, companionable girl. My second pup came to me kind of unexpectedly. Long story, but this special little man needed to go to an owner who could keep him entire and would give him a fabulous home. He was offered to me in co-ownership with the breeder. Once again, I trusted she would breed for health and temperament and once again, I have a lovely, happy pup who fitted into our family like he was born to it. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but ensure the breeder is breeding for the type of temperament you want and that they will choose correctly for you.

I tried a completely raw diet with my Aussies, and while I loved feeding it, one of them developed a sensitivity to it and she'd vomit up every single meal, shortly after eating it. So, reluctantly I switched them to kibble.....I started off with Pro Plan, but my current budget won't sustain that, so I went back to Uncle Albers for Benson as I'd had success with this before, and Supercoat for Dusty and Isaak. They all like the Supercoat, and it comes in a puppy variety for baby Isaak, so that's a plus but I'm waiting on a sample of Black Hawk Holistic to arrive so I can try that. One thing I noticed was that within a month of changing back to kibble, the dogs skin and coats have improved out of sight. While on raw, their coats were dry, harsh and dull and Benson had dry, flaky skin. They now have soft, shiny coats and clear healthy looking skin. While raw is supposed to be the ideal diet, for some dogs it simply doesn't work. I tried very hard to feed a variety of meats and bone, as well as raw veges, oils, fish, eggs etc and I couldn't get it right. They now have a piece of raw chicken for their breakfast, and kibble with sardines, table scraps or on it's own for dinner. And they look fantastic, and that's the best result for me.