pawsaroundoz

So Sorry for your loss Greytmate Rest in peace Bronwyn She will be waiting for you Greytmate Annie and her boyz

Damm it Lablover I was going to be down there in Victoria (or as the NT folk call it Mexico!) this week on holidays and I would have so loved to have run your dog, anyones dog in fact! Now not coming until later in year..... Catch you then Annie and her boyz

I am not sure which property the Retrieving championships will be held on - I have heard it is very very dry down there so i guess water will have a lot to do with it! previously trials have been held on 2-3 different properties spaced out along the road that leads out past the caravan park, follow that road out for 10 - 15 k's or so, cannot for life of me recall the name of the place now! Funny, one of my friends up here is an ex Meningie girl (woman) too! Yes it is quite funny when Clancy thinks he is being 'stalked' he gives the judge/steward such a look! I have tried walking him around the local shopping centre and all that and he is getting a bit better but still a bit iffy. Trouble is, when i run them in the morning or train during the week we don't see a soul so i guess he thinks something is a bit suspect when there are people around!! Your Whippet is going very well by the sounds of it, well done! Annie and her boyz

I am having a similar problem with Clancy, whilst he drops he seems to go down in a way that is different to any dog I have trained before. I am wondering if it is a Whippet / long legged dog thing? His down seems slow because he seems to start to drop in the front, then cantilevers down with his back end, then finnishes his down at the front - sorry that is not a clear description but it is the best I can do! Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get Clancy to do a proper down? Oh and Helen, you are so right - Brits are amazing at doing a fast down! Annie and her boyz

Hi Katie You have a Whippet too? Great! How is your Whippie going in obedience? At the moment Clancy (who is usually fairly outgoing and super friendly) is apprehensive of the judge and steward in the ring, he is fine to begin with then seems to 'notice' these people are 'stalking' him and goes into frozen moment! yes I hope it will be a good trip down - this trip is a bit on the short side only 9 weeks, as opposed to the 7 months we spent on the road in 2006! I am planning to do 7 - 10 days around eyre peninsular, across to the riverland, down to Meningie to watch the National Retrieving Championships and then over to Victoria to catch up with my friends there for about a week and a bit including the Whippet Championship Show - then we travel home again! We travel slow and visit all the nice coffee and bakery shops on the way, and all the nice parks for the boyz! I am really looking forward to the trip! Annie and her boyz

Oh Thanks Katie I need to know where and when to find the schedule and all that - It will fit in nicely with my trip plans and I have not trialled in SA for years so I thought it might be fun! Also are there any dog friendly caravan parks close by that you know of? I believe there is also some sort of caravan camping motorhoming lifestyle week end happening that same week-end at Loxton, does not look too far away and I would like to drop in to that too. Are your Grey Ones doing the trials? I hope to be trialling both my 2 lads, Carlin in Open and Clancy in CCD unless he has made it to Novice by then! Annie and her boyz

Carlin is not a rescue and I have owned him since he was an 8 week old pup. He has always been on a good quality healthy diet, as are all my dogs, with an occasional "junk doggy food' meal so as he will still eat that sort of stuff when in Kennels. Because I mostly live alone and my mate could not care for the dogs if I were in Hospital or anything like that they are always kept up to date with vaccinations as they would have to go into Kennels if anything like that happened. He went night blind fairly early on, but did have a rather strange episode about 3 years ago, in a person I would have said he had a stroke. I do not think he has been quite the same since. Have to say though that carlin has always had some strange ways about him, don't get me wrong as I love him dearly but have to say he is a bit odd! I do not think he read the book about Labradors! Annie

I am guessing that dogs like people can get old before their time? Carlin is not yet 8 but has slowed down a lot, is very grey now, gets a bit put out by Clancy wanting to play, has 'senior moments' when it is clear his mind has gone awol for a few seconds/minutes (I know the feeling well) His eyesight is badly affected and getting worse and he does not seem to be taking it that well.... I would like to hear from others who have middle aged dogs that seem to be old before their time. Thanks Annie

I am heading South for a few weeks R&R in August/September and there is I think a 2 day obedience trial in the Riverland at Berri in August, this fits with where I hope to be "roughly" so I thought it would be good to enter the boyz - anyone planning to be there or know anything about the trials held in Berri SA? Annie and her boyz

I can only think of how i teach L and R directions for retrieving and I have had a very sensitive boy to train previously. I would say definately concentrate on one side then the other and ensure your dog is happy and regains her confidence on both sides 1st, only then start mixing the sides up. Having said that it may all be totally different training for herding!! Annie and her boyz

I just love the sound of rally O - much more fun than formal obedience for the non traditional obedience breeds I should think, Clancy gets bored with trad stuff but I think he would enjoy rally o. annie and her boyz

Spotted Devil, yeah my younger lad does that too, but his favourite is Lavender flavour! He stands in the bathroom waiting for me to get out of the shower!! Annie

Thanks Dolers It is any soap and whilst I put my soap out of Carlin reach my mate doesn't!!! I now do bathroom patrol before the boyz have full run of the house! He eats mostly natural diet and is in great shape/condition, I do not think he is lacking anything must be the taste/smell of the soap I have now (lovely oatmeal honey stuff that came for Christmas) Annie and her boyz

My older boy has quite suddenly developed a liking for cakes of soap, he steals them from the bathroom and eats them! this has only recently started to happen so is he going a little bit loopy or is he missing something from his diet or is he doing a lot of bad language when I am not around??? Annie and her boyz

As a Labbie owner for a few years now I say 'get em off' ! Carlin was desexed at 7 months and was as right as rain from the very next morning! No doggy problems even though he was shaping up to have a few...good temper all round, and no male health problems to date. A lovely boy to take travelling. My old Lab (rainbow bridge now) was not desexed as his breeder still udes him after he became my dog however he was the most 'undoggy' entire male I have ever met and I have met quite a few over the years! I had none of the usual 'dog' problems with Crash but I think that is fairly unusual. If not showing or breeding I would always have a dog desexed. Annie

I use Frontline on my boyz and have no bad reactions at all and it works well at keeping the ticks/fleas away too. Should mention that 1 of my boyz is a Whippet and neither of them have any reaction to the stuff, neither do I (not that i use it on a regular basis lol, but have spilt it on my hand!) Annie and her boyz

It is a funny thing, I too love storms. Clancy just sleeps through them unless I get up and go out to watch from the balcony, then he will join me. Carlin, who has worked in retrieving and has no fear of gunshot used to be ok about storms but as he is going more and more blind he has been getting more and more scared, he 'feels' when a storm is coming long before it gets here and is shaking scared of even the lightning let alone the noise. Annie

Thanks all - I have been back to vet and am watching it carefully and doing some Reiki on it except with the hot humid weather Clancy is not enjoying the Reiki much. If it has not made a real improvement by week-end will take him back to Vet I think, my vet is not charging either. Annie and her boyz

Hi Has anyone else ever had this happen? Clancy had his c5 shot and check up on Tuesday am and on Friday (not before) there was a swelling in roughly the place where the shot went in, does not seem to hurt him and vet did a check on Saturday and said not too worry unless it gets bigger or is still there next week-end..... Has this happened to anyone else? Annie and her boyz

In agreement with previous posters, I prefer building time to a reasonable peiod then working on distance - of course when you start on distance to begin with cut back the time a little and work up again. If you watch your dog closely and it is considering a break some sort of movement will tell you what is on the dogs mind and you will be able to pre-empt it! I differ in one area from the previous posters though - I do not use the word 'stay'. Whatever the position the dog has been told to assume is what it is doing, until I tell my dog to do something different. I have followed this line since reading a very interesting paper/article by a trainer called Honey Gross Richardson, I really liked the things she wrote and enjoyed her thinking style of dog interaction.....I have never seen any books by her alas or I would have bought one yonks ago! Good Luck Annie and her boyz

Amhailte Thank you!!!! I have been trying to remember the name and authors of that great book about training in drive and you have now remembered it for me! Don't suppose you would know where one can buy it? I loved it so much that I painstakingly copied it (at work shhh) years ago but have managed to lose my copies in one of my moves. It is definately not just for schutzhund training but for almost anyone who wants there dogs to work as if they are really loving it and in drive! Annie and her boyz

Hi Reddog and others, I do not own sch type dogs but have to agree the dogs and handlers are mostly really well trained and pleasent people/dogs! I used to do my training at a park in Melboune's western 'burbs where a sch group trained on the oval....I met a number of the dogs and handlers on my way back to the car and would often stop to watch, after a while I was asked why i always put my own dog away! I let my sooky Lab out to meet and greet and even do some obediance on one occasion - the trainer said it was good for his members and dogs to experiance other breeds too. I was very impressed by all Annie and her boyz

I went to a seminar given by the writer of the articles once many years ago, one of those conferences where one takes one's dog and does a bit of work...well Wellington just about went to sleep and when i tried to gee him up a bit...yeah 'don't do that' it will make him take control.....and all that same old same old - Wellie was a GR ! I too have cringed at the advice in the articles, certainly would not get young Clancy working if he didn't think he was going to 'win' or have FUN!! Annie and her boyz

So sorry for you all hannah - Rip little Digby Annie and her boyz

I hear you too Mys' I really think people are terribly rude when they keep on yelling at there dogs whilst others are trying to do stays, when I did train I used to ask anyone whose dog broke in any way to go quietly back to the dog in an non threatening manner and put/encourage the dog back into the correct position. Annie and her boyz