Paulp

Mostly from Para dog club in Adelaide and T'keilor and Ballaraat from Victoria. Flyball is quite popular with agricultural societies as it usually pulls a crowd at Ag shows, they certainly announce thier presence!

Here is a link to luvalab rescue. Even if there is not a suitable dog on their site contact Jo as they don't always have all of their dogs listed.

We are only doing flyball, I am not aware of any other dog events except, being an agricultural show, there may be some jumping or something on.

Ooo I never knew that, Thanks Flaves! Anyone is welcome to use BODCs off leash areas when the club isn't training (we train Saturday arvo) but I would warn you they are very, very, very, very etc muddy at the moment, take your waders! The word quagmire springs to mind.

Your method of weighing could be introducing some variation and some of the staffies I know are quite keen drinkers which could vary the weight by a kilo depending on whther they had just drunk or toiletted when weighed.

Pity it is the same day as the first flyball comp of the season, my 2 labs love chasing a lure and go very hard, no stopping to sniff for them. My flyball team has banned me from letting my boy lure course at the Pets Day Out in Frankston as last year it knocked a whole second and a half off his flyball run for the rest of the day!

I'm giving joint gurad to one of my dogs as a preventative and the other has recently diagnosed hip dysplasia. The one with HD is definately limping less but we are not sure she wasn't carrying a toe injury at the same time as the HD was diagnosed. To get the dogs to lap it all up I make up a weak solution of salt reduced chicken stock and pour a bit over their kibble with the joint guard sprinkled over it.

I would co-opt some people he may not know to help you out by offering food in a controlled situation so you can command him to leave it (they musn't actually let him have it, I never let my dogs have something I have commanded them to leave, the treat for obeying is always a different type of food, the original offering goes away, if they are going to get the original offering I use "wait" instead). Teach it the same way you would have originally taught leave it, small steps making sure the treat for obeying is a higher value treat than that being offered by the stranger, this way your dog will learn to look to you if they think somebody else has something because you will have something better.

That is the best sandpit EVER. You should start up a business - I'm sure there are heaps of dog-ravaged yards that would welcome it! With the level of damage he was doing to the yard I had to do something. I used to joke he was a prospector, he would dig test pits all over the yard/garden and if he found something interesting like a tree root or watering system he would start excavating a mine! I started out with just a single layer of sleepers and in short order had sand all over the place and he had gone through the bottom So I went the second layer of sleepers and put up some shadecloth on wooden stakes. Came back later and found the stakes snapped so went the starpickets so then he tore all the shade cloth off and managed to pull out a star picket. I then secured the starpickets to the sleepers and put up dog fence wire to the star pickets to which I attached the shade cloth. He has torn a few holes in this but I think I've won......

I think leash walking is a big aerobic work out for a dog, the normal activity patterns for my two is to rush around like a pair of berserkers for a few minutes then collapse and have a rest then be off again which is more about anaerobic exercise. It only takes a few minutes to recuperate before they can go again. Taking them for a leash walk makes them exercise at a lower intensity for a much longer period which takes longer to recover from.

Worked pretty well with my lab but I initially underestimated how much he would dig by making the original 1 sleeper high. I had to increase this to 2 sleepers and was considering 3. The shadecloth is to keep the sand in rather than being sprayed all over the yard. You just bury treats in the sand to encourage the dog to dig there. I find you need to repeat this now and again to keep the focus in the sandpit. I hide balls around the yard for him to find and occasionally bury them shallowly there to help direct him to it. If I did it again I might put in a solid floor (I just used weedmat) because if he hits bottom he goes through the weedmat and pulls up dirt into the sand which encourages weeds.

Even a dog who is terrible off lead can get so focused in flyball they are no problem off lead, they are completely absorbed in gettign to the ball and bringing it back. Whilst I agree, and it can be done......one of mine is pretty unreliable off lead but was a very consistent dog when competing, I honestly would get a good recall first, having a dog that may or may not stick around is such a play on the nerves especially during comps(!!) and can be bad for the relationship between dog and owner. My other boy was a gem and wouldn't stray far and was so much more relaxing to train I would stay on lead until basics are done and then once she is doing it reliably, move running with bunting up to stop her running off and then move to an open area. Got dragged away from the computer before I could finish that post properly, yes I totally agree Jo, a dog may end up totally absorbed in the task but it is a process that is generally worked towards and allowing even an occasional brain fade from your dog through being off lead too early is very self reinforcing behaviour that can then take a lot of work to break down again (we have a couple at the moment at Berwick that have taken a lot of work to get back on track). I went through the will he or won't he come back with Ebon early on as well. The point that I didn't make very well is that don't let not being very good off lead put you off starting flyball training, part of flyball training is to develop a good recall (gets the dog back faster).

Even a dog who is terrible off lead can get so focused in flyball they are no problem off lead, they are completely absorbed in gettign to the ball and bringing it back.

Yes, they can be quite noisy which is one of the reasons I thought the reserve looked good, the area I was looking at is a fair way away from houses (by my reckoning it is about 1/4 of a km or more from the nearest house, much further than our current training area) behind trees and next to a relatively busy road (fenced off though) so the noise levels might not be such an issue. Hopefully it is only a couple of weeks until we can get back onto our own grounds and training only goes for an hour or so but I don't want to cause any issues for the resident club so I need to talk to them first.

I want to give my dog a good hard run and I don't think they would appreciate someone doing that around their classes. I'm also looking for somewhere our flyball teams can train at the moment as our training grounds are awash so I need to talk to someone there about it so knowing when they are there I could drop in for a chat.

I want to go down to Sydney Pargeter Reserve on a weekend but don't want to clash with them. Their website gives no info about when they train or any contact info.

My other labs eyes reflect green at night. There was another thread a while back about this. I wonder if there is any link to coat colour?

My 3yo rescue lab was recently diagnosed with hip dysplasia. No other problems other than a serious case of forgetting to put her brain in gear before doing something. No problems other than self induced injuries with my other labXGR.

My latest bag of Advance Active seems to have a variable kibble size from the normal size down to about half normal. It has been a pain readjusting how much of a scoop I feed. Has anyone else noticed this? I'm hoping it is just an abnormal bag and not a permanent change.

What I do find hard to understand is why people fill up their bins with plastic bags and poos when all you need do is bury it in the garden. All that plastic binned by millions of dog owners contaminating the environment is pretty scary. Even if you have several dogs and/or big dogs, it breaks down so quickly. You don't need are large yard and if you have a small yard, just dig a hole drop in the poo every day and cover with a bit of soil or leaves and put a brick over the opening so dogs can't fall in or dig in it. You would use that one hole for a long time. Think of the "long drop" toilets in National Parks. I have 5 dogs (little admittedly) and I just use a trowel and a dust pan. People with larger dogs could use something larger. I did that for a while but with two large dogs I found that there was still undegraded poo when it came time to dig in the original spot. If you use biodegradeable bags it doesn't contaminate the environment with plastic.

I got my first dog before I knew much about the whole BYB/puppy farm issue. He came from a farm where they had a male Golden Retriever and a female lab. I don't know if it was a deliberate mating but I don't think there have been any more litters from them. I met both parents and as far as I could tell they were well looked after healthy dogs, my boy was the second last of the litter to go and about six months old but was up to date on all his shots. He had some fleas but no worm issues. He is a healthy strapping 3 year old now with no signs of any health issues so far. I don't regret it, but will give more consideration to where my dogs come from in future, my second dog is a rescue.

Mine do too, it is like here's one while you're at it. Quite considerate really so I don't have to come back and get it later.

How much do you walk him? If possible, a good long walk in the morning for stimulation may help. just answered my question.

My lab is a rescue so no idea about parents but I doubt it. My vet thinks she is a purebred but from what I know of her previous circumstances I doubt she would have been papered. It is risk you take with rescued dogs.

Absolutely, I get quite excited when a beginner comes to our club with something that isn't a working dog. We have a husky in beginners at the moment and a girl with a doberman will start when she has achieved sufficient obedience. We have a whole bunch of staffies who are great entertainment and a couple are seriously fast. At the nationals last year it was great seeing dogs like the whippet, husky running and especially the flying mophead (Puli). It is a pity I will have to wait until next years nationals to see Ahsoka and Jedi running. On beating the BCs we have a lab who runs in the mid to low 4s and my labXGR is down to 4.7s and getting faster with each comp so hopefully when we get back to competition here in VIC I will be here bragging about new PBs.