DeltaCharlie

I think a lot comes down to your own experience with the breed too. If you know relatively little about the breed, especially with the breed as pups, you are best to take the advice of someone more knowledgeable and trust their instincts for what will suit you best. In most cases, one would hope that is the breeder, but it can also be a friend or colleague who happens to know the breed well. Don't be afraid to take them along and get their insights. Otherwise, if the choice falls into your hands you are left with nothing in your toolbox but "cuteness", " this puppy rushed to me we have a connection" and "what pretty markings". That isn't to say you would be unlucky enough to choose a pup that doesn't fit into your lifestyle, but they aren't exactly the most useful tools to have at your disposal :)

From memory, neocort thins the layer of skin and makes it more vulnerable to breaking. So perhaps it renders that part of skin more vulnerable to infection? Not quite sure about the betadine side of things though, wouldn't that help to kill the infection? Its times like this I am very glad I have a wonderful and very knowledgeable vet on hand, who I trust implicitly with my dogs.

I was going to say Wikdenfox too, based in Bathurst area. Bred a number of agility champions as well as very good earthdogging dogs and a number involved in jack russell racing too. Not sure if they are shown or not.

Similar here, we are country (out towards Captain's Flat) and its all working dogs here, mainly borders, kelpies, cattle dogs and koolies. Plus the other side of the country working dog- pigging mixes. I work in Queanbeyan and there seems to be an awful lot of SBT (and mixes) or little JRT, Mini Foxie type dogs. I rarely venture into Canberra though, other than for agility trials so can't really comment on what seems to be around there.

Ours are on the Artemis Power and have done really well on it. Mind you ours don't eat it daily, they are on bones through the week (beef or lamb brisket, roo tails, chicken carcasses etc) and have diced or minced beef or roo with some kibble on on Fri/Sat/Sun nights (we won't risk bones on a weekend as we are too far out of town if they happen to choke etc.) If they need a bit of fattening up I might give them a cup of dry in the morning before I leave for work, only takes a few days to get them back to the desirable weight.

12 months isn't long to wait at all. We have people who have been on a waiting list for 6 years Can't help that the first litter Link only had 4 pups (and we were keeping 1), and the second litter only 3 pups (we were keeping one each and the sire's owner was taking the 3rd). These people are still really keen for our lines, the bitch has since been desexed so they are waiting for a pup out of her daughter, possibly later in the year if we breed her. Otherwise midway through next year. Ours girls don't seem to come in before 12-14months and then cycle every 10 months. If people want a puppy badly enough, they have to wait for the timing to suit us. As a teacher, it is best timing if they come in during October to give us December pups and gives me 6 weeks at home with the pups over Summer. It means waiting a few years for that timing to happen though. As far as the original post goes, I think your best bet is to get out there and meet some dogs. Sure, meet the breeders too, but no point becoming best friends with a breeder to then meet the dogs and decide you don't even click with the breed. Watch them in the show ring, but also interact with them during downtime. Shows can be pretty busy and stressful for people (in my limited experience), so the other option would be something like agility/obedience trials. Not sure where in NSW you are, but there are breeders of all 3 of those breeds actively trialling their dogs in agility in Sydney (not sure about Obedience but sure there would be), as well as Cavalier people on the South Coast and near Canberra. It may be a more relaxed environment to have a chat and a play with their dogs and ask some questions about the breed. I don't know the show world very well, and wouldn't feel comfortable in it meeting people myself. If you are familiar with it though you may feel more comfortable and know better than I would when to approach people and when not to :)

We use something similar, but given that ours are working dogs and also performance dogs we aim for the closed fist knuckle feel. No fat over ribs at all as it impedes breathing in an active dog.

A bit of a hike depending on where in Melbourne you are, but these guys are in Geelong and offer titre testing. There is mention of home visits to Melbourne with prior arrangement. Paws to Heal

Its free to open an account and pretty straight-forward by all accounts. DOLer Stormie knows a lot more about it than me though, she helped set up the account in the practice she works in. I have only ever gone to vets that already have the account (first in Sydney, then in Canberra). Not sure where in Tasmania you are but here are a few to try: Sandy Bay Vet Forbes St

Ask around and check out prices, make sure you check the holistic vets too as they are usually your best bet. You shouldn't pay any more than about $60-70 per dog, although some vets may charge you for a consult or annual checkup. I always specify that I just want the blood drawn and sent to vetpath and they only charge for the test.

With 11 dogs of varying size, weight, age and a mix of entire and desexed- yes we have definitely had our scraps! Nothing major, thank god, but I think that is more because of good management as I have no doubt that some of ours would really get into it given half the chance. The canine leader of the pack is a 5kg, almost 15 year old terrier mix who is pretty well respected by everyone else. Not sure what will happen to pack dynamics when she goes though. Most of our problems occur when nothing is happening and they decide they are bored and might go annoy someone. We can run any combination together if we are at the beach, in the paddocks etc as they don't seek each other out to cause trouble. We keep an incredibly close eye on the pack and if one even looks like they are after mischief they are separated from their likely target as a precaution. It may never eventuate into anything other than "cat and mouse" tactics, but its not worth taking the risk IMO. Especially if only one of us is home at the time. Ours are fed separately (or in small groups) to minimise the risk of issues at dinner time, but for the most part ours don't have food guarding tendencies. Except Charlie, who wouldn't hesitate to take someone out over a grain of rice if we weren't there, but can be fed reliably in a group if a human is present (he has a healthy respect for our quick reflexes!). Unless we are travelling, he is usually crated on his own for meals. We would be more likely to have a scrap over a soccer ball. Our boys are rarely an issue, only 1 is entire and the 2 desexed boys are rather "gay" and love the real boys LOL We have one who doesn't tolerate puppies at all (and wouldn't hesitate to open them up) so he isn't subjected to puppies until they have matured enough to not get into his face and annoy him. Once they have learnt manners he just ignores them. We can have a bit of an issue with 3 of our girls. They used to all be fine until Link had her first litter and thought she would raise herself in the pack (and didn't like the other bitches disciplining her children, no matter how old they were). We have one incredibly dominant desexed bitch who won't back down under any circumstances and they are almost permanently separated (unless we are out playing in the paddocks or at the beach etc). Then you enter in Delta who is right down the bottom of the pack and makes herself a really easy target for anyone trying to flex their muscles. So she is kept separate from Link too (but is fine with the other bitch- are you confused yet?). Link was desexed earlier in the year and seems to have mellowed out considerably, but we have both had major injuries and I've had surgery since so not wiling to take the chance just yet on having the 3 out together as we wouldn't necessarily be able to effectively handle a scrap if it was to occur. Other than the 2 little dogs, the other bitches are all daughters of Link so absolutely no problems there at all. The eldest is 3 and has a really calm presence about her which at this point the others really respect. The pups are still too young to be a threat to anyone, but they seem to have a similar temperament so not expecting issues at this stage. Ours never run as a whole pack, but that is more an injury prevention strategy than anything else. Some of them are getting older, some of the young ones like to play quite rough (and older ones think they can still play rough), and we have lots of pine-trees and veranda posts in our backyard. Not a good mix and we have had one too many injuries from multiple dogs attempting zoomies at the same time. During the day they are housed in smaller groups, usually in pairs or 3s depending on the dogs. This reduces the risk of any issues arising in our absence. It also makes it much easier to ensure that dogs that don't get along as well, or have a potential for issues, just don't come out at the same time. The majority of the pack is pretty interchangeable, but we try to keep the younger ones as one group (they can play to their hearts content then) and the older ones as another (they still play, but in a more controlled and mature manner). Or as an example, we might have a 3 dogs in the yard, 4 on the enclosed veranda, and 4 in the house. Then they rotate around :)

I had the opposite problem with BCs. Fuze is apparently going to be 10.5kg. Yes we expect her to be light for the breed, but closer to 12.5-13kg. She is 10.4 at 13months but lots of filling out to do yet, certainly more than 100g worth!

:) and that is also when a LOT of people start , AFAIK .When they are able to drive- and take their dog places , and learn more widely :D Perhaps the ones who stop then finally realise that doing agility is not really their dream after all ? Perhaps they don't have the drive and patience anymore ? perhaps they prefer parties and lovers :p I have read through this thread, and I 100% agree with this! I have been training in agility since I was 8, somehow managed to convince my non-dog loving parents to take me, did it all through school, and now that I have graduated a couple of years ago, got a job, a car, and my own dog, I'll be going to the nationals this year! Once your parents see how happy agility makes you, and they start seeing people your age out partying, they might just encourage you to do agility more to keep you out of trouble :laugh: But in all seriousness, I was in the same situation as you when I first started, at a club that used harsh methods, got to agility with Cherry where she would run off and be a little bugger. So I changed clubs to one that uses positive training methods, and even though I had to start again it was so worth it. I had a different dog who LOVED training with me, especially agility. She turned into a little superstar! As has been said, keep working on building a relationship with her, set her up for success so she can have a win often and gain some confidence. Don't be so hard on yourself, it is hard starting out especially without being able to just go to any club whenever you want. Even if it takes a while before you start agility competition, you will be building a lasting relationship with Bonnie and you can keep learning invaluable skills along the way, then when the time is right you will be awesome :) All my life, all I wanted was a dog (or a horse LOL). I was a massive animal lover but had a special love for dogs, particularly Border Collies (couldn't tell you what I loved about them at that time though, just that I did). Every year I would ask my parents for a dog but was never allowed to have one. We had had a Kelpie x when I was a toddler and it was too boisterous for a young family and was rehomed with extended family. Mum had to do all the work as Dad worked late, and it pretty much ruined any chances after that. While both parents loved dogs and had grown up with them, Mum wasn't taking the chance again that all the work would fall back onto her. They were convinced the whole thing was just a phase, and tried to placate me with guinea pigs, fish and birds. Of course, the first thing I did as soon as I moved out of home was get myself a dog (my 21st bday present to myself). Cody introduced me to the world of dog training and agility, and before long I had thrown myself into the dog world. I got Delta when he was nearly 2, then lost him to a car a few weeks later. Along came Charlie who introduced me to flyball. I started to compete in agility and flyball, met Tailwag, and now we have 11 dogs! My parents have since said that they really do regret not allowing me to get into dogs earlier, as it turns out they really were the companion for me (and turns out I was right about the Border Collies too :laugh:). Knowing what they know now, they would have happily driven me to training at whatever club I wanted to (after all, they were already driving me to gymnastics, indoor soccer, netball, dancing, softball and athletics :p ). However, they had no way of knowing at the time just how seriously I would have got involved in the sport and, in my case, there would have been a dog to factor in too. At least you already have that sorted :) All you can really do is stick it out with what you have got. Maybe showing your parents just how dedicated you are to this, and sticking with it for a period of time without getting disheartened, may make them a little more willing to drive you around in the future. Have you spoken to your parents about how you feel? I am sure they are not that scary to talk to :) But at the moment, it sounds like you are not overly happy about going to this club and that is going to be affecting your dog too. Enter your parent's point of view into the equation- all they are probably seeing is that their daughter is not overly excited about going each week and doesn't seem to be enjoying it. If it was my child, I would be questioning whether they even wanted to be doing the activity and wondering how long they will bother to stick it out. I don't think I would be even considering a bigger commitment (driving further to take her to training etc) for something she doesn't seem to like doing anyway. Have a chat with them about it. Tell them how much you really want to get into agility but how unhappy this particular club is making you. Explain to them why it is you may not appear to be overly excited about the whole experience and take the guessing out of it for them. You may find that they have a few ideas for you to go with. Do they stay while you train? Having them nearby may do wonders for your confidence as you are not out there "alone" and they will be able to see the difference in you at certain times in the training. I bet they know you better than you think- they will see those same subtle body language cues in you that we look for in our dogs :) As for school, being involved in outside activities is probably the best thing you can be doing over the next few years. Yr 10 really isn't much of a jump up from yr 9, and neither is yr 11 to tell you the truth. Yr 12 is a little more intense, but only as intense as you make it. I took on a second job halfway through yr 12, and it was probably the best thing I could have done. I was still just as involved in all my sports and my life continued on as normal. Removing all of those things from your life makes school a larger part of it and can leave you stressed :) Obviously, you do need to find a balance and leave yourself with plenty of time for homework and assignments, but don't give up on the fun things either :)

I was given a similar recipe a few years ago from an agility competitor who lives in an extremely high tick area on the north coast. He has a large number of dogs, varying sizes and breeds, and absolutely swears by it. Said others visit with dogs who have had advantix etc put on them and they are pulling multiple ticks off each day. He is lucky to find one a year. He started off trying it on the JRT as she was easy to find ticks on, when she wasn't getting any he started trying it on some of his other smooth coated dogs and went from there as his confidence grew. We don't have ticks here and I was never really brave enough to try it myself anyway, but there are people out there in Australia, in high paralysis tick areas who are swearing by it too. I also know of someone who used to use it on his newfoundlands on the south coast in a high tick area. I remember thinking he was a brave, brave man- but he never had an issue with ticks. I will say though, I don't know the exact mixes these people were using or how they were applying it. Would it be more effective as a mist over the dog or spots on the collar?

I am so glad to hear that this wonderful home has come up for him, I have been following his story for a while now. I think I may have squeeed myself when I read that he had a great home! As far as the desexing goes- why does everyone assume that an entire dog is being left entire for breeding purposes? Not once has it ever been mentioned that anyone is going to be breeding from him, he is being left entire for working. I don't know a lot about that style of working dog, but I do understand that testosterone plays a pretty big part. The guy is responsible, knows how to handle entire dogs, and has an incredibly experienced and respected DOLer vouching for him. I don't get the issue? Yes, when I was involved in rescue it was all about desexing and "OMG entire dogs are evil", but then I started breeding and realised it really isn't that difficult to keep dogs entire without incident. As for the people wanting a conformation judge to look at him? Why? it isn't even a recognisable breed in Aus and I hate to break it to you, the ANKC is not the be all and end all of dogs. If it was up to a judge to determine which of ours could remain entire on looks alone, they would probably all fail. They are, however, great working dogs and built for a purpose. If they couldn't do the job they were bred for then they would be desexed.

Friends of mine used a photographer who does just this style of photography when they lost their little one a while back, the company and photographer was great to deal with and they got some absolutely beautiful shots to cherish forever. I have looked through their website and must say the photography was incredibly tasteful and professional, and all the families were full of praise for the photographers and the way their grief was portrayed at such a sensitive time in their lives. There were many hundreds of shots from completely consenting families who wanted to show off their beautiful children. It is entirely possible that this guy could be a photographer for this company and that he was not breaking anybody's trust. That being said, I looked through the photos knowing exactly what I would be looking at and choosing to do so. I would be incredibly offended if someone had just assumed I wanted to view them and didn't give me the option to leave the room. I think for a sensitive issue like this, full disclosure needs to be made beforehand. There are many cultures that will not view photos or videos of anyone deceased, Indigenous Australians for one (and being in Australia, one would assume that at least one person in that room would have Indigenous ancestry). I think people should be given the choice.

I usually chop them up into small pieces and mix them in with other chopped meat the first few times until the dogs acquire a taste for them. Some eat them straight away, others take a while (and my cat took even longer to adjust lol). For really fussy dogs I mixed them with yoghurt, eggs, tuna (one foster got all 3 mixed in before he would eat them haha). Usually only takes a few meals before just meat on it's own is fine, then progress to an entirely organ meal. Up to you and the individual dog. Most organs have a strong smell, you just have to try and block it out (human grade isn't as messy but contains preservatives). You do get used to it though, I used to get a months worth and do it all in one hit when I was in the mood :)

Heart is technically a muscle meat, not an organ. Still great for them but consider it the same as other meat as opposed to part of their organ consumption. Liver and Kidneys are definitely the easiest to obtain in human grade, brain is full if nutrients (but more expensive), tripe is great, lungs are good too. Pretty much whatever you can get your hands on :) I tend to stick with liver and kidney though as they are easy to obtain, and they get chicken frames with all the organs still inside.

We keep at least one crated at a time, and both crated at night when we can't supervise. Our bitches are NEVER allowed outside unsupervised and during peak times they are toileted on a long line. Dogs can mate through fences, through dog run panels etc. Not worth the risk IMO. It really depends on the individual dogs though and so many factors play a part. How clean is the bitch and do you want her contained? Is the dog obsessed with her or oblivious (Whip is oblivious for the most part LOL)? Is the bitch a tart and wants the boys all season, or one who tells them where to go unless the timing is perfect? If your boy has never been used at stud that can make a difference too- he may not even understand what is happening and ignore her, or he may be so obsessed with her and hound her for 3 weeks straight as he doesn't understand about timing :)

wow, that was rather OT of me wasn't it? Thought I was in the normal agility thread :) In answer to the question, we are not going this year, for a variety of reasons. I loved WA nationals, Sydney wasn't bad either, looking forward to Adelaide in 2016 now.

The contacts in the ACT are bordering on dangerous. 2 clubs woukdnt even have what is considered "non slip surfaces" anymore and I will no longer enter Whip in agility at those clubs after seeing them earlier this year. They are an accident waiting to happen and there is no way I am teaching my dog to slow down and sacrifice the lovely contacts he currently has. The third club has rubberised contacts but they are really lightweight and bouncy, jury is still out on them. At least they are safe though :) I don't mind non-rubberised (ours at home isnt) as long as they are truly non-slip surfaces and provide adequate traction for the fast dogs, and for the little dogs who need to work so hard to get over the slippery ones. The sport is getting faster and we need to take measures to ensure dog safety is paramount, equipment maintenance falls into this category in a big way.

We had fun watching it a few times yesterday, trying to pick which of the "current trends" she was taking the mickey out of each time :laugh:. Although it does go to show, it really doesn't matter what "little details/rules" you follow, as long as your body is telling the dog what to do. That dog had no issue working out what she wanted it to do, regardless of the stupidity of the handler and how crazy she was acting :laugh: Ours probably would have bitten us by the end of it LOL

Google holistic paws at Kambah. Kate is great, big advocate of titre testing and promotes a lot of alternative treatments (acupuncture etc). Also Sandra Hassett at the Animal Medical Centre in Phillip. She is a regular vet and dog chiropractor, supportive of titres and very good with our older dogs.

Yep same here. Though I did also make sure that they were used to eating other foods in case their new owners wanted to feed them commercial food. I don't like people telling me what to feed my dogs and I don't ever intend to tell others how to feed theirs. We have an 11 week old pup here who came to us at 8 weeks. Whilst she had some introduction to raw food it wasn't like we feed ours and it took her very little time to become a pup who could devour a chicken carcass! We do the same, while we feed raw to our dogs, we recognise that others don't necessarily so make sure that all pups are exposed to a high quality dry food too (often in the form of training treats throughout the day). By the time they leave they are well and truly used to eating a variety of bones. We feed frozen chicken wings all the time, especially with young puppies as it slows them down and forces them to actually chew them. Plus they last longer :) Charlie is 9 and still gets a lot of his bones frozen!

The auslink course is available online and I think clubs may use the courses for their mock trials (without competitors officially entering the auslink competition as such). To actually enter the auslink it costs money and the results are tallied over the year. Snazzy will be 8 next month (?) and yes, still competing :)