DeltaCharlie

I have only skimmed through the posts but in response to the issue of another dog coming up to your dog on a lead, try walking with an umbrella. Can be used as a stick to keep another dog at a distance, but can also be opened up suddenly to add that "shock" factor and will usually stop the approaching dog in its tracks. Cody was a very fearful dog, never actually had a problem off leash when he could escape a situation (not that he had the chance to run off lead very often) but on lead would bite first ask questions later. I made the decision 1 day to buy a hannibal lector style muzzle and it was the best thing I ever did. He loved his muzzle and would run up to shove his nose in it whenever he saw it. Very rarely had anyone allowing their dogs to get in his face after that (didn't help the roaming dogs though) but like others have said I would rather have one dog to be pulling off than 2.

Finally found myself a vet in Canberra who will titre test for a reasonable price. The cheapest I had been quoted was $200 each dog and it was going to work out cheaper to take a trip to Sydney and get it done there. The holistic vet in Kambah got back to me today though and it will be $180 total cost for all 3 dogs. For that price I don't mind only having 12months stated as that is cheap enough to do each year. That is without a consultation fee/annual check though as ours are seen by the regular vet for a chiro and check over every 6-8 weeks so it isn't required.

Have considered it a number of times but never went through with it. With 9 dogs it would become quite expensive and if we only did half then as somebody else said it would be the others that would need it. Instead I put money into an ING high interest savings account each fortnight (account is called Pet Insurance) and only touch it for vet things, and even then only if I don't have the money on hand to pay. Not very effective if the illness happens shortly after you start but at least if there is a stash built up it doesn't matter which dog requires the attention. That being said, I am still considering taking it out for the next dog at 8weeks so there cannot be a claim of pre-existing conditions.

Looks a lot like a dog I used to know who was a known Amstaff/staffy cross.

Wow I am so glad that when Cody was hit somebody took him to the vet to be scanned and I was then contacted. He had my number on his collar too so that person also called and left a message. Never even occurred to me that if they hadn't done that I would never have been able to have him cremated (or taken him to bury if I chose). How sad for those left wondering

From memory it was about $90 per dog for me last time, but when it is only for 12months I am thinking it will be cheaper to send to the US every 3 years. Unless Vetpath are now putting 3 years on their paperwork. Does anyone know if they are?

I know when I was living in Sydney they were trying to organise a mass titre testing day with a local vet, and the whole lot were being sent to Dr Dodds in one hit. Was going to work out very cheap but it never eventuated. Wonder if anyone in Canberra would now be interested... I'm seeing my vet this arvo to chiro a few of the dogs so might see if she is interested.

I think because hepatitis hasn't been seen by any vets in Aus for 20 years or so, I know you can send to the UK for testing if you want it done though. Hmm, would all 3 samples be included in that $70? Would work out cheaper over 3 years that is for sure, as opposed to getting them tested every year in Aus.

Didn't realise this didn't go into the health thread, have reposted and this can be deleted if necessary.

3 years ago I had my dogs titre levels tested by Vetpath in WA and the paperwork that I got back stated they were immune for 12 months. After consultation with Jean Dodds I was happy enough to leave them for the 3 years with the levels they received (>1:80 for both distemper and parvo). It is now time to look at getting Whip tested and was going to get all 3 of mine done at the same time. I know if I send the samples to Dr Dodds she will put 3 years on the paperwork, do any of the Australian companies do this as well? Or does it still require a 12month retesting. With 9 dogs in the household that is pretty expensive and almost makes it worth just vaccinating As they are performance dogs they require that paperwork to compete. Has anyone sent samples to Dr Dodds in the past? How expensive is it? From memory someone I knew worked out it was cheaper to send to her about 5 years ago for thyroid testing but things will have changed since then I am assuming.

3 years ago I had my dogs titre levels tested by Vetpath in WA and the paperwork that I got back stated they were immune for 12 months. After consultation with Jean Dodds I was happy enough to leave them for the 3 years with the levels they received (>1:80 for both distemper and parvo). It is now time to look at getting Whip tested and was going to get all 3 of mine done at the same time. I know if I send the samples to Dr Dodds she will put 3 years on the paperwork, do any of the Australian companies do this as well? Or does it still require a 12month retesting. With 9 dogs in the household that is pretty expensive and almost makes it worth just vaccinating As they are performance dogs they require that paperwork to compete. Has anyone sent samples to Dr Dodds in the past? How expensive is it? From memory someone I knew worked out it was cheaper to send to her about 5 years ago for thyroid testing but things will have changed since then I am assuming.

I adopted Charlie almost 5 years ago (at age 2) and can honestly say I have never bonded with him in the same way that I have with all my other dogs. I have actually felt closer to a foster dog I had a few years ago than with him Do I love him to bits? Of course. Would I give my life for him? Of course. BUT there is definitely something lacking in the connection between us. It isn't through lack of trying or 1:1 time spent together, we just weren't meant to connect on that level I guess. Sometimes it just happens like that, and your friend has a decision to make. I didn't want to rehome Charlie, instead I chose to work on our bond and do my best to give him the best life I possibly could. He will happily curl up with me on the lounge and loves to be around me, but that doesn't stop me sometimes wishing it was Delta that was the snuggly one. We trial together in flyball and masters level agility so we definitely have some sort of bond for that to happen, but it is one I am constantly working on rather than one that occurs naturally like it does with the others.

Helen my interpretation of the whole thing is that Vickie is not asking for people to travel to the nationals to be a photographer and she is not requesting your services as a photographer. There are plenty of people who will already be at the event who are experienced with agility photography, either as competitors or spectators, and many of them will be looking to take photos. By stating that there is a pre-cost involved these photographers know before they take and sell photos and it prevents anybody stepping on the toes of others. With the number of photographers who will already be present and willing to photograph for a minimal cost, there will be no need to hire those photographers who would be looking to charge the organisers.

Ok, this is the link to Tailwag's pbase site Flyball Nats 2012 She has the day 1 photos up, day 2 will be up in the next few days. Most of the photos she took were from day 2 as Link was not running.

Tailwag was also there as a photographer when she wasn't in the ring with Link, she is currently going through her photos and they will be up soon :) I agree, the grounds were horrible. We swore 3 years ago that we would never do flyball there again and that wonderful word "nationals" took over our minds and we decided to enter.

Too tired to type much but this is what I put on facebook :) Home from an exhausting weekend of flyball racing at the nationals at Canberra Show. Had some great scallywag successes- Cannonballs (Link's Team) were comfortably leading Division 1 after yesterday's racing but the heartbreaking decision had to be made this morning to withdraw the team as 3 of them had severely ripped their pads, some of the worst I have ever seen, and at the end of the day it wasn't worth risking further injury for the sake of a national's title. I have so much respect for Tammy, Lisa, Linda and Jan for putting their dogs health first and standing up and making the responsible decision. Scallywags 1 (Charlie) managed 3rd place in Div 3 and had some really good racing over the weekend. Not bad for a team that is still learning to run together. Scallywags 2 came 2nd in Div 10 with some great personal successes for their dogs. Well done to Lexie for some great full runs, Floyd for running even when his family was still in Sydney, and to Kyra for retiring on a high with a beautiful last run :)

I know someone who clipped their older BC thinking it would cool him down and his fur never grew back. He was covered in bum-fluff for the rest of his life

We use Sandra Hassett for all 9 of ours and think she is absolutely superb. The dogs absolutely love her to bits and fight to get on the table first when we visit LOL. She is also an extraordinary diagnostic vet, it amazes me what she can accurately detect before even beginning scientific testing :D We use Louise Steinmann (sp?) for dog physio, she can also manip if needed.

Tailwag and I will be there running with Sydney Scallywags. Only 4 dogs will be with us though, the beauty of living locally, only need to bring those that are running :)

I know of a few people that use the soft pens and love them. One has border collies and the other has belgian shepherds. I am pretty sure the one that DOLer meglet uses actually has a roof that can be zipped onto it, perhaps message her?

Have heard good things about these ones and am planning on buying a few when I can afford them to replace some of my older semi-destroyed ones. Definitely the cheapest good quality ones that you can get, even cheaper than vebo and free shipping Aus wide! 36" dog crate We have bought a few of their soft crates (as have other DOLers) and they are a really good quality and no difference between them and our expensive brand ones. I have heard that it is the same with their wire crates- no difference in quality to those more expensive ones.

Generally speaking chooks aren't really able to be "herded" as such. Unlike ducks they don't exactly have a natural tendency to flock together so I imagine would be very frustrating to a breed who likes to keep their stock together when moving them. The dogs instinct would constantly be telling it to get the chook that went the wrong way and in the meantime the rest will have gone off in their own directions too. Would do my head in let alone a BCs :laugh: Not saying that it can't be done because I really don't know enough about poultry herding but I suspect it would not be an easy thing. I have no idea about turkeys- do they stick together or do their own thing?

That is what we had to do for Perth Le. Delta still needed 2 more SPDX passes (out of 3 or 4 runs) and we wanted to pair her with Sweep. In the end we took the risk that she would get it and entered them, but it was different for us because it was our own dogs that it affected. She ended up getting 6 SPDX passes after all of that but I was very selective about who she ran with in those final runs to ensure I had a good chance.

Is her crate covered? Keeping her in complete darkness will work wonders for encouraging her to sleep in. There is no external stimulation that she can see and most of them figure that its really kinda boring, might as well keep sleeping. They also can't see you to get an idea of whether or not you are reacting to their screams. Does she eat dinner in her crate? Feeding them in their crates and leaving them to amuse themselves for a while afterwards can teach them to settle themselves and put themselves to sleep. Rather than putting her in there only when she is tired enough that she will go to sleep regardless of where she is. We start crate training our pups at 5-6 weeks (2 to a crate initially) and they just learn to switch themselves off. It teaches them that you will not be there to keep them amused 24 hours a day. Yes they are only young when they are 14 weeks but I don't see the point in mollycoddling them and giving into their complaints because it won't do you any good in the long run. I am a bit of a "suck it up princess" person though, our dogs just learn to deal with it. As a result we have 9 dogs here who will quite happily go into a crate and sleep for as long as we ask them to be in there. In addition, the dogs in our pack who were crated as puppies are the ones that will quite happily play in the loungeroom with toys and amuse themselves. The ones who were crate trained later in life or only for sleeping as pups are the ones who look to us to give them something to do because they never learnt to occupy themselves.

We have 9 dogs and they are all on exactly the same routine. We also regularly look after dogs for friends and family and they slot into the routine without hassle. 8am- morning toilet. 4pm- afternoon toilet. 7pm- evening toilet. 7.15pm- (or after all the toileting shifts are over) dinner. 8.30-9pm- Eldest dog goes out for another wee as she can't hold on all night anymore. If we have young pups then obviously they have a slightly different schedule until they are old enough to hang on etc. Rush has her evening toilet after she eats her dinner as she won't poo otherwise. We have no issue with any of the others needing to go and poo after they have eaten though, they all just go in the morning. A few of ours only go once a day anyway, the other times they only pee. It all depends on what you are feeding them (and the individual dog) but an adult dog is more than capable of holding on. Should clarify that if ours need to go they will wake us and we put them out, they aren't forced to hold on :laugh: