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Good article PF. I have a question about this bit though: "To check the neck, press your thumb and index finger deep into the side of the neck just ahead of the shoulder, and pinch them together. If your fingers are more than 1/2" apart, the dog is overweight. (Note: this is where old dogs tend to carry most of their excess fat, and they may actually be thin in other locations.)" I always thought my boy was lean cos I can easily feel his ribs and he has a very defined waist, but it seems he does carry all his fat around his neck like the article said. I can grab a fistful of it I didn't really notice for awhile cos he also has a thick ruff. Should I be cutting his food down? And if I do cut his food will he end up looking like a skeleton cos he doesn't carry much fat on his mid-section?

This would be a choc tri BC. Not a recognised colour in Australia (is recognised in the rest of the world), but certainly not rare since it WILL be produced when 2 recognised colours are bred together. Unrecognised colours are becoming less & less rare in BC's as so many strive to breed them. Could be a red tri Aussie too. It also looks a lot like my boy, who's a BC x Kelpie :D

Wait til the peeps in the enablers thread see this!

Oohh I'd be interested to hear people's suggestions too! We haven't been able to progress beyond standing on three legs either

The article doesn't say whether or not the Pom was in his yard. He might have been leaving for or returning from a walk with his owner. Or maybe the owners fences are sufficient for keeping a little Pom in, but not for keeping larger and stronger dogs out?

If he's ignoring you when you call "come" I would re-train using a new word. My dog learnt that responding to "come" was optional so I'm using a new word to re-train the recall.

So far , so good! I've done a few training sessions with Spence and he think it's the best thing ever! Me saying "report!" and then shoving a treat in his gob. When I was trying to think of a special recall word last night, I was seriously considering using "Accio Spencer!"

Deal spottychick! If you don't hear from me, it means my old boy has given me the finger

Okay I'm going to give Shirley's program a go. With my 9 yr old dog who has never had a good recall lol.

Look at that Ringo in the last pic..shameless!

I think some people think it's undignified, making the dog do something "cute" just for humans to laugh at them. I can understand that since I wouldn't teach a trick that I felt made my dog look undignified. We just do the dignified kind of tricks. Yeh same. The one possible exception may be "silly bugger" when I get him to roll around on his back grunting and snorting But the idiot already did that of his own accord, I just put it on cue!

What tricks does your dog do? stop back up (jump onto whatever I indicate, log, bench etc) weave through my legs jump through hoop jump through my arms go round (run around pole etc and come back to me) bang high five shake (both paws) wave gimme five march (march on spot) spin touch roll over find it paws up say your prayers speak on your mark (go to target on ground) sad cover sore paw (stand on three legs) silly bugger run through my legs middle (come and stand between my legs) beg hold it (hold a stick or broom handle with his front leg while sitting) Why did you teach that trick/those tricks in particular? Not sure why those in particular. Some are just pretty standard sort of tricks. Was it something your dog gravitated naturally toward? Yes. Spence is another working breed mix living in suburbia. He's smart and picks things up easily. Since he was a puppy he's had a habit of raising his front paw when he wants something, so all the paw related tricks stemmed from that. He loves the attention he gets when we show off some his tricks to people. I have started teaching him some tricks before that he just didn't seem to enjoy or want to do, so I let them drop and didn't persist. Did you teach as a pup, or as an older dog? Taught him both as a pup and an adult. Why are some people against teaching tricks? Genuine question cos I don't really see any negatives with it.

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear this casowner. I'm another who loved Jake from afar. I really enjoyed reading all your stories about him and your other animals.

*squueeeeee!* I love puppy dog eyes! I don't have any photos though. Spence just does the "oh crap, not this again!" eye roll when he sees the camera

Happy birthday Tag and Pucky!

ETA: Crap I don't know why it's so small. Stoopid photobucket..

He obviously takes his modeling duties very seriously Gorgeous

Great day! Cosmolo your speech was awesome! I recognised a few DOLers (actually I recognised their dogs), but I was too shy to say hello

lol really?? When I look at him I just see pure evil!

Had a little photoshoot with my cat yesterday. Tis very different to shooting a dog!

Aww happy birthday Micha! I'm surprised Daisy didn't come along and steal his noms!

Katie? Or Kate Moss? The second pic is great. Look at her posing like a supermodel. She's got the 'wistful gaze into the distance' down pat!

Thanks for all your help and advice sumosmum. I think you're right. I'd hate it if someone in my council area had their dog destroyed by dodgy rangers and I hadn't said anything. If that happened it would be no use popping up and saying, "But I heard the rangers saying xxx" because the council will just say "well we never heard about it; if we had we could have addressed the problem". And they'd have a point.