Gayle.

Obedience classes are fun, but an hour is quite long. He won't be 4 months old forever though. Before you know it he'll be all grown up and will be able to manage an hour long class. But there's no reason why you can't sit out for 10 minutes or so just to give you both a bit of a break.

I reckon he was talking about dogs there.

I have no idea who wrote this, but I think it's absolutely brilliant. I'd forgotten about it til I was cleaning up some docs on my computer and came across it so thought I'd share. LET THERE BE LIGHT by Anonymous (but quite obviously with his priorities in the right order.) In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And darkness was upon the face of the earth, for no light sources were there, for yea not even the smallest of flash bulbs divideth the light from the darkness. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light upon the dry land and the firmament and verily upon the waters as well though polarisers were there none. And God saw the light, and verily did He capture it at 150th of a second at F11 which was pretty darned good for a first attempt even if He did sayeth so himself. And God did call the light Daylight and lo did measure it at approximately 5000 degrees Kelvin, and the darkness he called Night, which required a re-think of the whole idea. And the evening and the morning were the best light of all. And God created photographers in their multitudes saying, Let the light and the darkness be a torment unto you and to your descendants. Go ye forth and capture thine images. Yet no objects were there upon the land to be seen, let alone photographed, and the people were sad. And so God sayeth once more, Let the waters bring forth abundantly, moving creatures that hath life and fowls that may fly above and all manner of other interesting creatures that will not stay still in the one place or stay looking in the right direction at the right time. And God blessed them all, saying, Verily, this will giveth the multitudes a challenge. And God spakest thus, Let the earth bring forth grass, and other less mobile subjects such as the daffodil and petunia and fruit yielding trees that the fruit thereof might be placed within bowls and moveth no more. And the photographers looked upon His still-life creations and saw that they were good, if a tad boring. And it came to pass that Moses came unto the Lord saying Lord, thou art the light and the way, but still thy people are greatly troubled and in pain. So the Lord gave unto Moses a tablet, seeking thus to relieve the pain and misery of the multitudes, and commanded Moses to read the instructions on the back and which numbered 1 to 10 and did commend them to His people as follows:- 1) Thou shalt carry thy camera at all time lest thou misseth the Great Opportunity. 2) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours equipment, even though his lens might be longer and bigger than yours. 3) Thou shalt not steal another's photographs nor commit adultery upon them unless it be skilfully and with Photoshop 4) Thou shalt not make craven images that are more than 800 pixels on the longest side. 5) Thou shall not forsake thy tripod nor forget the rule of thirds. 6) Thou shalt worship the correct exposure and focus lest they forsake you. 7) Thou shalt forgive those that trespass if it means getting the best vantage point. 8 ) Remember the Sabbath and the legions of irritating weekend sightseers who shalt impedeth thou in thy sacred mission. 9) Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother's facial crevices and cherish them for the close-up portraiture opportunities they provideth. 10) Thou shalt not inflict upon others photos of thine own children, pets and garden produce for truly they art a blight upon the land and a pestilence to others.

You are very welcome, it was a pleasure to compile. She looks like a lovely old girl and I can imagine how much you miss her.

Whenever a vet asks me about the dogs diets, I tell them firmly they are fed a balanced diet of raw meaty bones, vegetables, eggs and other whole healthy foods. Generally they don't question it, although I did have one vet tell me they preferred puppies to be fed a commercial puppy food til they were 12 months old. I never ask a vet or a vet nurse what to feed the dogs, because I know exactly what they'll tell me....it's usually in bags piled up as a display in their waiting room.

Maybe the vet owns the puppy farm from which the pet store the OP bought her puppy sources their stock. Wouldn't be the first vet to be involved in something like that.

When I asked my vet for a quote to neuter Benson (4 1/2 month old Aussie Shepherd pup) I got a quote for the neutering PLUS any optional extras. It cost me about $150, I didn't go for any of the add ons as he didn't need them. The main one offered was to take some blood from him before the surgery in case he required a blood transfusion. Mind you, there was no talk of a refund or what would happen with the spare blood in the event that he DIDN'T need a transfusion. To the OP, I'd go to a cheaper suburb. The vet in your suburb sounds like he charges what he thinks the locals can pay. Maybe try the RSPCA, I think they do discount de-sexing...but it actually IS a discount.

I can't drive a manual car, so I was a bit nervous about having a bike with 24 gears, I can tell you! But now I've figured it out, it's absolutely easy to work them. The one on the left handlebar only has 1, 2 or 3. 1 is for going up hills. 2 is for flat ground, 3 is for going down hills. The one on the right handlebar gives you the "push" with the pedals.....1 gives you hardly any tension at all, 8 gives you loads of tension....so you just move up and down the numbers according to the surface and how much "push" you want from the pedals. So, if I'm on a flat grassy surface, I would have 2nd gear on the left, and 2nd or 3rd on the right because it's hard pedalling on grass so any higher and I wouldn't be able to move. Going up a smooth, flat hill like a sealed bikepath, I'd have 1 on the left and 4 or 5 on the right to give me the push I need to get up the hill. Mind you, if it's too steep I get off and walk. On a flat smooth road, I'd have 2 on the left and 4 or 5 on the right. The more combinations you have, the easier the bike is to ride on the different surfaces. If only cars were so simple.

Yep, I knew that. What type of collar do you find best? I'm training him just in his regular collar although I've thought about maybe getting a sports harness but don't think I'm going to need to. Yep, we're working on that. Each time he pulls, I stop and wait til I have a loose lead again. He's starting to get it! My husband has a speedo on his bike and I've asked him to act as pacesetter a few times just to get a feel for the speed. Yep, I was surprised at how slow it is. That's going to be an endurance in itself because the natural reaction after warming up on the bike is wanting to break out and go faster! This years aim is also to get into a CCD ring without embarrassing ourselves. If it's basic obedience, the disobedient one will be OK. Yep, that comes with learning to ride a bike again. When I bought my bike I had them swap the seat for a big, fat gel filled one, it is so much more comfortable than a standard bike seat. Pigs might fly.

I wouldn't clip it either. Get an undercoat rake such as an Oster or Mars Coat King and strip out some of her undercoat to make her cooler, but her coat acts as insulation from the heat as well as the cold. Plus, if you clip her off, it might grow back quite fluffy at first and wouldn't suit her at all. She's an odd mix of breeds, but my goodness, she's a cute little tacker!

I've surprised myself by how much I *love* riding my bike.....I really, really enjoy it and make time on the weekends (when it's not 40 freakin' degrees) to go for a long leisurely ride. It was cooler today so I rode my bike to the local school and my husband brought the dogs in the car, so while he and Dusty were doing their frisbee thing on the val, Benson and I had a really good practise with the bike over grass and ashpalt. One of the members of our obedience club did the Sale one last year then wrote about it in the club magazine. It starts early....around 7.30am on a Saturday in July, and finishes with a BBQ at their clubrooms. She said it was a fabulous experience and is really encouraging me to enter this year.

I'm aiming for the Sale one in July. So far I've bought a bike and learned to ride it. I'm now teaching Benson to run beside it. That's the extent of our training schedule so far, which has now been put on hold because of the hot weather. Once it cools down a bit I'm going to concentrate on progressively longer rides over different surfaces. What kind of bikes are you guys riding? I wanted to get a "cruiser" type bike thinking that would be the most comfortable to ride, but I was talked into buying a hybrid bike and now having ridden some of the local rail trails and bike paths, I'm very glad of it. The tyres cope really well with the different surfaces, and the gears are amazing.

My son has an English Setter with a sensitive tum. The only food he can have is Eukanuba for sensitive stomachs. He thrives on it.

My dogs don't do a thing my husband asks, including come when called. They just look back and keep heading in the opposite direction. And he also doesn't get it that you just can't keep calling and calling them when they clearly are NOT going to come til they're good and ready. They come back about 99% of the time I call them. I call, I put my hand in my pocket as they turn to look at me (that's the signal for treats), I wave my arm in the air, then start running backwards, calling and waving. They return, they get a treat. What's the emergency recall?

Bath him more often. Once a month isn't anywhere near enough if he's piddling on himself. And take him to the vet....piddling on himself isn't normal, he might have an infection which could be contributing to the smell.

Try a Capstar tablet every few days. That'll knock down the live ones, then repeat as the eggs are hatching.

I personally wouldn't. Demodex is highly toxic, I'd be very reluctant to subject a dog to a second very toxic chemical.

I stewarded at an obedience trial in Vic last year, at my own club. They didn't ask for volunteers who were members of VCA, just volunteers! There was absolutely no mention of being a member of anything.

We're working towards trialling too. We've competed in a couple but while Benson was brilliant at home, he was hopeless in a trial and forgot everything, but I'm 100% certain it was the handler and not the dog. He also has the attention span of a flea, so I'm currently working on keeing his focus on me and not worrying too much yet about the finer points of a recall, a sit stay etc. I know he can do them, but I need him to be able to work and focus on me for an extended period of time. He is getting much better....I've been inventing games to play with him...games that involve him waiting in the one spot, or following me around (in the heel position), coming back to me when I call him, shadowing me while I move in different directions. Hopefully, once we get back into formal training, I'll have his focus at a better level than it's been at.

Benson hates the clicker. He would sympathise with the brave terrier. They could hide under the bed and have a sook together, cos that's what my big man does when I click. I thought I'd broke him the first time I tried the clicker...I clicked and went to hand him a treat and my fingers met air where his head had been......I found him under the bed, not coming out for love nor money (nor treats) as long as that nasty clicky thing was in sight. Benson is a big, outgoing, friendly boy who isn't really scared of much (except sheep and cars with signs on top....and clickers). I just use the word "Yes" now in place of a click.

Uncle Albers isn't smelly, well not that I've noticed anyway. It has a strange texture.....very hard, slightly crumbly on the cut ends and quite "oily" to the touch. But it doesn't stain my clothes if I have it in the pockets so it's obviously not oil, maybe it's just the very hard, smooth texture on the sides that makes it feel like that. My oldie doesn't like it but she has hardly any teeth and can't chew it. But the Aussies just love it. It's a pity it doesn't come in 1 or 2 kg bags so that people could try it before buying a big bag. Not that it's a lot of money but it does take up a lot of space and if your dogs don't like it, it's still taking up space.

The first three ingredients listed on the pack are meat, chicken and fish, which is a whole lot better than some more expensive brands I've seen. My dogs are doing brilliantly on it, Benson's dandruff has gone and Dusty is maintaining her trim figure. The protein content is less than Pro Plan Selects. But I'm the same as Piper....they don't have it as the major part of their diet. Mostly raw food here. Oh, no increase in poo volume here and no increase in weight. Dusty is the one I have trouble with....keeping her slim, but she's been looking fabulous lately.

I buy it at the local Petstock store. I've seen it at grain and feed stores as well.

With the results I'm seeing and the anecdotes I've read on here, I'm thinking they can stay on it. My son recently acquired a little cross bred kelpie type puppy and was feeding her Pal tinned food. I gave him a good talking to about feeding her proper food and put him onto Uncle Albers as well. If he can't do raw then I thought he may as well give this a go, and I know for a fact he can't afford Eagle Pack or the like. I also gave him some tins of Natures Gift I had for emergencies. He switched his pup over to a better diet and is rapt with not only her condition, but the puppy-poop is now solid and her accidents are a lot easier to clean up than the slop she was doing.

He doesn't have fleas. Neither of my dogs do, although I don't use any flea preparations....they just don't get them. I groom them thoroughly two or three times a week and check them right over for fleas because that's what I thought it was too, but I've never seen even a sign of fleas.