DeltaCharlie

Had to laugh at some of the comments though, typical photographers. Aside from the obvious dangerous/illegal/stupid comments about it, there were all the comments about why would you do it there with that harsh light shining on the face and the lack of appropriate camera equipment :laugh: No way would I allow a photographer to place my baby on the tracks, but then there is no way as a photographer that I would even suggest to someone that they should do it with their child either!

Have always administered carafate with a syringe, followed quickly by something yummy to eat so that they swallow everything :) As for pills, we only have one dog on regular meds and she loves peanut butter so that is easy (plus the meds she is on need to be given with a small fatty meal so it ticks that box too). She never seems to tire of it and the others love to lick the spoon when she is done. Other options we use are cheese, mince, tuna, frankfurts, sausages, devon/chicken roll, yogurt, ham. God we have been known to give it to them in a piece of spiral pasta when desperate :laugh: Ours are pretty good though, most will eat anything disguised as food. Some will eat the most disgusting tablet on its own simply because we asked for a simple trick first so therefore it must be a treat (where is Mr Rollyeyes when you need him?)

We don't even leave our little dogs with the border collies if we are out. Much too easy for them to play that little bit too rough or knock them over. Heck, I trip over them constantly even when I concentrate!!! We will crate them together but not leave them somewhere with lots of running room, its just an accident waiting to happen. Our biggest border is Whip at 17kgs. Would hate to think what a maturing GSD could do if it knocked a little one over.

I guess the main thing to look at would be whether they cover a certain amount per year or per condition. Petplan will cover a condition for life, up to a certain amount per year (depending on the plan chosen). Some of the others will only cover it until it reaches a certain $ amount and then wont cover it anymore. I have 3 dogs with Pet Plan and 1 with BowWowMeow (only accident cover though so cant really compare).

In your case, I wouldn't be risking the puppy preschool (unless it is run by some super duper trainer who knows exactly what they are doing). Are there any friends etc with appropriate dogs to socialise with instead? I personally go to puppy preschool for the exposure to other people rather than the other dogs. I don't want my puppies learning that playing with other dogs is the ultimate fun, I want them to think that other dogs simply "exist" in their world.

We have 11 (with a 12th possibly arriving soon- still deciding about it). If we weren't so heavily involved in dog sports then we certainly wouldn't have that many, it is a lot of work. We like to have a new novice dog each every 3 years or so, once the younger ones have reached a maintenance level of their training, so they are all pretty well spaced out in ages. Our dogs regularly go camping and we have travelled Australia with them staying roadside and in caravan parks. We also stay in motels with them (although some sleep in the car, not all are in the room). My ideal number would probably be 4. That is how many of them are mine (the other 7 are Tailwag's) and that is how many I used to try and keep when I lived on my own. Delta, Charlie and 2 rescues at any given time. Any less seemed too quiet.

No, ours just get Interceptor every 3 months. Nothing else.

Interceptor is a monthly heartworm + allwormer tablet, I just followed the advice of felloe DOLers and my holistic vet and only administer it every 3months. Same as sentinel but doesn't cover fleas. Sometimes we use milbemax, same thing just in tablet instead of chew.

Sheena, you can interrupt the cycle at any time up to about 3-5months before they reach maturity and it becomes an issue. Before then, even if they do pick up a heartworm infection they will be small enough to do no damage.We give interceptor to our dogs, but only every 3 months.

Never had an issue with the boys in the house, in fact before this thread I don't think it would ever have occurred to me to question it. Sometimes I think we tend to overthink things and create an issue where they may not be one. Treat it as you would any other dog. Housetrain as you normally would and deal with incidents as they arise. Don't worry too much about what may happen, worry about what does happen. You may be worrying about nothing :)

Its funny, we were only talking about Wendy the other day (amongst others who enjoy flyball and agility with their therapy dogs). I knew she had lost her old boy a few years ago and hadn't seen much of her since, so glad to see she has another up and coming star! Love watching her with her dogs.

A pup we bred was given the nobivac vaccine and then titred a few weeks later as recommended. She came back as having absolutely zero coverage and ended up having to have the protech afterall. I am not a fan of it, anything that is potent enough to completely wipe-out any maternal antibodies in the system is not something I want to be putting into my dog!

It might help if you tell us a little bit more about what you need :) Are you after dog obedience type lessons? Classes? Private lessons? Or do you have a major issue that you need help with from a professional dog behaviourist eg aggression?

Sounds like our place, just as everyone is at the height of "stare intensity" a little blonde terrier runs through the middle and pounces on a nearby collie head :laugh:

The Pet Barn at Port Stephens isn't a part of the Petbarn chain, its a completely different business that just has that as its name :) I have bought a few things from there before but they are ridiculously expensive. Never seen any animals in there, its a pretty tiny little store. The pet place at Taylors Beach has lovely people in there but not sure that they stock much in the way of meat, certainly not big orders. If you let me know roughly what you want (when you work it out LOL) I can ask the guys at Medowie how much it would cost you. Then speak with the Salamandar Bay shop and you will have a comparison to go with :) Might have something to do with having 11 dogs, but we will research a bargain whenever possible LOL We have had a ridiculous amount of water fall here, puddles every where. Half the pack are refusing to go out and toilet without an argument, rather rare with working border collies :) Mind you they would happily run across wet sand to go for a swim... Its certainly a change for us from dry and dusty Canberra!

BC Crazy the produce place in Medowie stocks it in small amounts and each Tuesday they take bulk orders from people for delivery on Friday. Really lovely people in there, tell them Tammy and Bec sent you :) They don't really charge any extra for the delivery from the central coast as there are enough people who order to cover the costs so prices are incredibly reasonable. They will order in anything you want and in any quantity.

Never had a problem with them but they cost too much to be a good option with 11 dogs! Frames are much cheaper LOL. Ours also get turkey wings.

This is where we get our meat from: Swaggerbout They deliver to our local produce place but they do sell direct to the public. They are at West Gosford somewhere. Prices are incredibly competitive, I emailed them to ask for the prices of the items I was interested in before discovering I had a local stockist who would order it for me each week. We get the premium roo and premium beef mince and it is a very good quality. No preservatives (its cryovac though so still lasts a bit before opening). We also get a big box of lamb brisket every 6 weeks or so. We tried the beef brisket but it was really fatty so went to the lamb. They do pretty much anything you could want, and I have heard good things about their complete mixes (their own versions of barf) but have never tried them.

My local vet lost a dog to tick paralysis last week, spent most of the day trying to save it but couldn't I don't know any of the details (preventatives etc) we were just there for a chiro and they were telling us to be vigilant as they were already seeing them.

Closest to here would be either Sydney (a few different options) or I know of some Medowie people who have been travelling out to Scone but don't know the details. We are in the same predicament, need access to sheep to further the dogs training and assess their abilities for breeding potential, but unfortunately its mainly cattle country or hobby farmers around here and nobody for training/instructing. We have resigned to the fact we will just have to look for property to buy and run our own sheep.

My 16month old has cost me over $1000 in the last few days and likely to double that in the coming months while we get to the bottom of what is going on. Definitely glad I decided to insure her as putting away money into a savings account (which I have done for previous dogs) would never have covered it at this age. Now to continue the battle with petplan as they still haven't taken any payments out for her since May. They have assured me she is still covered though and I have that emailed saved so fingers crossed.

Not sure about other working breeds, but a working BCs feet should turn out somewhat, it aids in the sideways movement and quick direction changes required for working stock. They should still move forwards nicely though, its only obvious when standing still :) Not all chiros are aware of it in working breeds (ours used to always comment on their feet LOL) but Pat Hasting's does actually make mention of it in her book. I don't know enough about the original working purposes of Shelties, but still something to consider.

I was actually advised over by someone in WA before the Perth Nationals to rub talc powder over his back before a run to stop him getting a zap from the chute which seemed to work as he happily did the chutes he came across over there. That was before they looked like tunnels though. I will still put him through the ADAA chute (sometimes he refuses, sometimes he doesn't I don't make a fuss either way) as they look different and are a heavier canvas material. I am sick of getting 1 fault runs in ANKC from refusing the first tunnel on a course though! Besides, I'm obviously not going to force my dog to do something he isn't comfortable with. If he is prone to zaps, the talc powder may be an idea though. Charlie was too chute-savvy by the time we realised to be able to convince him they won't hurt anymore, but if doesn't happen often it could be worth a try?

Charlie flat out refuses to go through a chute as he gets a static zap from it. We have actually seen the flash of light from the zap when training at night. Its supposedly quite common with the ACD coats, but most of them are pretty hard headed dogs and don't notice :laugh: Charlie on the other hand is a sensitive soul and isn't happy about it. He will go through for a toy etc but now that the chutes look just like tunnels I just withdraw him from any runs with a chute. He may go through it with the adrenaline of a trial, but he will then refuse tunnels for the next few months worth of trials and it just isn't worth it. A few years ago the organisers of the Canberra Royal Agility were told that they couldn't put anything metallic directly under the powerlines after someone got a zap from their gazebo. We had to alter the courses so that the AFrame (and other obstacles the dog physically touched) were not under the powerlines anymore.

Interestingly enough I seem to have more luck calling them. Next best option is to fill out the contact us form on the website. Just don't bother emailing anyone you have ever had contact with in the past. I have had so many questions for them lately and each time have had to fill out the website form. They get back to you pretty with an email pretty quickly, but if you want to ask any further questions don't bother emailing the same person as none of them ever reply... So far my dramas include: Whip's renewal was due in May, requested to have it switched to monthly and a repayment schedule sent to me. Still waiting on that paperwork but at least they haven't withdrawn any money for him. Shock's renewal was due in June, requested same as Whip's (and in the same phonecall), received a yearly payment form early July for her but not a monthly schedule. Once again, no money has been withdrawn. Litter sister Fuze should have been due the same time but nothing has been received for her. Tailwag pays monthly though so not sure if that is why. Delta was insured in early May, initial paperwork and confirmation that she was insured never arrived I just had money withdrawn one day that didn't match my younger dog's amounts. When I queried it was told they would resend the paperwork (which they promptly did) and would look into why the 10% discount was not applied. A second payment was withdrawn a few weeks later (the first one was delayed, second one was on the right day) but still without the discount. Contacted them again last week in regards to all 3 dogs. Have been reassured that all dogs are still covered, the department that handles the amendments to policies was affected by the system change and that no payments will be deducted for 1st 2 dogs until it is sorted. Also that the extra I am currently paying to Delta will be refunded once the amendments can be processed. That is one email I will ensure does not get deleted!