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~*Shell*~

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Everything posted by ~*Shell*~

  1. My advice would be to put the leash up to the top of her neck (shouldn't be too hard since she's behind you and not pulling infront) and try and get her to walk in a "heel" position, not infront, not very behind but just close to you. We got this advice from the Dog Whisperer show on foxtel and it's worked for a couple of dogs that we know - the trailing behind is a sign of fear, as is the walking ahead - as she wants to get home. Also, if you could i would try and vary your walking route so she doesn't know exactly how far from home she is. I know this is difficult to do if you have a set route but it helps with my dog when he's not behaving! Good luck with her! Let me know how it goes!
  2. I would suggest to everyone having this problem to consult a behaviourist - in Sydney I've been told to see K9-Force (they have a very long waiting list - i booked 4 weeks ago and i'm not booked in till July!) though i'm sure there are other fantastic behaviourists around! With pound dogs in particular it's very difficult to discover their past and therefore the reason behind their problems but they can be fixed with training and patience. The behaviourist may be able to tell you what is causing your dog to act this way and therefore you can get to the root of the problem easier. They will also work with you so that the behaviour can be discouraged when you're at home or on a walk. To train my dog to be able to go into the dog park we took him to the fince and allowed him to sniff and be sniffed while both my dog and others were safe. We were ready with corrections for any bad behaviour (like growling and jumping on the fence) and with praise when he was calm or when he voluntarily lay down. When i was certain he was fine to go in, we let him but it was on a leash and any time i didn't feel like i could predict what he was going to do we would go back outside. After a few weeks of this, we told the other people in the park that it was his first-time off leash and to please watch their dogs around him, and let him off leash, being careful that we were never out of arm's reach. A few weeks of this and Zero now doesn't have a problem. He even knows he's not allowed to even look as though he will be agressive - unfortunately, this has meant that he's suffered a couple of bites (including one to the side of his face on the weekend ) as he is very big and often frightens other dogs. (Note: I did this training myself, not with a behaviourist so it might only work with Zero) If you really want to stop the lunging while i walks, i would recommend some training tools like a halti, or prong collar (illegal in victoria!), but get a professional to teach you how to use them first as they can cause neck injuries (like nearly all training tools if used incorrectly) Sorry this post is so long and i hope it helps! Good luck with it!
  3. Ah - there's another thread talking about this. There was a discussion about a BC in there too. You can find it here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=133824
  4. I don't know if there's a spray to make it grow but there are certain things you can put into their diet to help it look beautiful and lush. From your name I'm assuming you have a German Shepard? They're a double coated breed like a husky, so i put things like sardines, olive oil and whitebait into my dog's diet and his coat always looks healthy. If you want it to appear shiny then there are several shine sprays available but they only make it look shiny, not grow that way. I always find it's better to make a coat look good from the inside, rather than just putting a spray on it. If we've got something special on, i spray a conditioning spray on his coat and then brush brush brush, but this mostly only makes it easier for me to comb him out, it doesn't make the coat itself any better. Hope this helps!
  5. Around here, with me working full time, there's not really much of a choice. To me the cengage course is more for someone wanting to learn how to groom their dog at home, with a little bit of information about what goes on in a grooming salon thrown in! I mostly only wanted to do it to be closer to my dog, who because of abuse issues before we got him, doesn't like strangers trying to touch his head and hold his paws. Good luck with your course when you do find a good one!
  6. Thanks Sas - i think i will try the physiotherapists - their treadmill looks fantastic!
  7. I hope that Chanel's symptoms stay mild - I don't know much about the disease but from reading the other threads I'm guessing it must be a terrible disease. I'm glad she has found a family like yours to take such good care of her! best of luck with it all!
  8. I've been very ruthless with his food - cut down by half and put on pedigree natural lite and mature (the only kind of food that doesn't upset his stomach). The colder weather we had today helped too and it's only going to get better over winter. We walked nearly an hour and a half tonight without him dropping his tail (which is his sign he's ready to go home) but i would still like to get him into a pool for a swim, preferably out of the wind. I'm sure by the end of winter he will be slimmed down and ready to start some agility training!
  9. Well, working cattle dogs often sleep out in the cold without a dog house or blankets so i guess as long as Chewy (i'm assuming you're talking about him?) has a place where he can snuggle down that's out of the wind he'll be fine. A dog house with lots of blankets sounds like a nice place for a dog to sleep! Zero prefers to sleep outside, but then again, he's a husky. He'd be happy to burrow down into the snow!
  10. Hahaha - i probably would have fed it to my dog too... until i learnt what it was! I'm sure your dog didn't mind!
  11. Perhaps contact the rspca? We got my male kitten desexed through them for $40, though that was during desexing month last year. They may be able to help since it's a rescue case. Edited to add: (from the website) "Some RSPCA Veterinary Clinics offer desexing at a discounted rate. To check whether this service is available please contact your local state or territory RSPCA."
  12. Hi all! I'm trying to get some weight off my boy who at the moment is a pretty husky husky (sorry, couldn't resist the pun). I don't like to walk him as much as i should while he is at this weight because of the strain to his joints so i was hoping someone knew of a dog friendly pool in Sydney (preferably close to castle hill or parramatta) where we could go for some much needed aqua aerobics. Thanks!
  13. Just out of interest, are you just training instore, or are you training at tafe or something too? I'm training through cengage education but so far it's not a very good course and I want to know what else is around!
  14. We've only ever fed Zero once a day - i figured that wild dogs only get to eat at most once a day so it's a little more natural... but at the same time, like humans, smaller meals at more regular times are probably better for the dog's stomach and energy levels. Just disregard me arguing with myself...
  15. Thanks Lea - I always wondered what the problem with bathing them often was, and if there isn't one then he can have a bath every couple of weeks. He looks so much better after one!
  16. I think it all depends on how much weight they're carrying over a long distance. For my husky, i would only put an extra few kilos on him but if you had say, a toy poodle, or a pug then i wouldn't recommend them at all - it's all relative. I don't have one yet but I'm looking as well and have found a website called polapaws that specialises in things for arctic breeds and has a few backpacks that can be used by all dogs. I think the cheapest one was quite a lot cheaper than the ones you've looked at but I guess that if you want a good one thats more comfortable for your dog then you need to spend that little bit more... Edited to add: Where the backpack sits on the dogs back is important too - they don't just sit on the dogs back but more like a saddle on a horse, which sits over the shoulders, that way the backpack doesn't put strain on the spine and instead puts the weight on the front legs.
  17. I wish I had a force dryer Gretel but I don't know where to get one! I've seen what my groomer can do with it... Zero comes back from the salon looking fantastic (he knows it too!). I've always been told not to bath my husky often though - all the books recommend only bathing them twice a year, though i admit i do bath him a lot more than that! I'm not sure of the reasoning behind only twice a year, but it's probably got something to do with them not having a doggy smell...
  18. *sigh* I'm training to be a groomer at the moment and my reading says to use a wide toothed comb, and undercoat rake and a slicker brush - all of these clog very quickly and i spend more time pulling hair out of them than I do brushing! I bought the furminator off ebay after seeing the demo online and while it works better than all of these previous brushes combined timewise, but the effect it has on his coat isn't fabulous. Maybe I'll try a mars coat king and see what happens. If anything I can put the $$ down to education! I wonder what the people who show Sibes use? Obviously they put more time into the grooming than I do but it'd be good to know for those times like in a couple of weeks where we're going out to something special (the million paws walk!) I find the bristle brushes annoying too - they don't seem to get into Zero's coat the way i could like and the clogging hair becomes a problem as Zero loves to play with the big clumps of hair, like the ones i pull out of those brushes!
  19. With Zero's ears we use a combination of lanolin which soothes and moisturises the area with a spray fly repellant over the top - this way the flies can't actually get to the sores, they don't scar and the fly repellant doesn't actually touch the dog's skin because the lanolin gets in the way. We asked our vet if this was a good idea and she started using it on her dogs! If the dog doesn't show then i've also heard the trimming the ear fur to the skin helps - it means that the dog can rub his or her ears on the ground when they feel a fly there but the fly can't get caught in the hair and doesn't have the hair as a buffer between the fly and the ground. Zero used to get the flys burrowed into the hair on the tips of his ears and no amount of scratching would get them out!
  20. They've only got one available on there at the moment - I'll wait and see if there are more to be had and if a different store will ship to australia later. Other than that i might try and find it in a big pet store and see if i can ahve it shipped here...
  21. I know what you mean Kodiak! This year Zero seemed to get his winter coat in before he had finished blowing his coat from last year! He didn't really have any time this year where you could pull out handfuls of fur like you could last year but Sydney's weather has been very strange - we didn't really have hot weather. I'm glad this weekend is a long one! I think he's about due for a bath and a blow dry - hopefully that'll get some more of this coat out! When someone does invent the husky hair magic wand let me know! I've been told by someone at the park that he got enough fur out of his husky's coat this year to fill a pillow case, so hopefully I can get about the same amount out of Zero this weekend! Is the zoom groom the one made by kong? I've seen these around at stores but was a bit skepticl - it didn't look like it would do much for his coat! But if you recommend one I think I'll go and grab one on the weekend! Thanks Ruthless - I've seen these around in stores, even thought they're not the same brand - I might wait until this one is available for me to buy - it won't ship outside of the US and canada atm!
  22. Hi all! I was just wondering if anyone has used both a furminator and a mars coat king on a husky (or any double coated breed really)? We've got a furminator but no matter how long i brush Zero, he still sheds terribly, and the furminator leaves bumpy marks on his coat that look like he's been brushed with a wide toothed comb. These ridges just won't brush out of his coat no matter what i use! I don't want to buy a coat king if it's going to do the same thing to Zero's coat and I don't know anywhere around here that sells the coat king so we can try before we buy. I've looked through the other forums for both the furminator and coat king and noone seems to be having the same problem... Has anyone used the coat king (or both)?
  23. We had a major flea infestation that we got when a friend bought her cat over to us for the night - while we were lucky enough not to get them on Zero (no idea why, but we've been told by a vet tech that because huskies have very dense coats, fleas find it hard to get to the skin - correct me if this is total crap!) but our cat got them terribly! In the end we managed to flea bomb the house (lots of chemicals but worth it!!) and then we used advantage on the cat and dog and even sprayed the birds with mite and lice spray just to be sure, followed by vaccuming the whole house with an industrial vaccum. We advantage once a month - and had planned to bomb the house every six weeks for 4 months to be sure but after doing it once the fleas haven't shown themselves again so we'll do it again when summer hits and hope that they don't come back. I've also heard that a spray called "quit nits" (which is all natural and you can get it from coles - and it's made by a Western Australian company *whoot*) also helps to repel them - and makes your dog smell good (the main ingredient i think is rosewater?). I'm going to get some and try it when we go to the dog park - after what happened with the cat i'm very careful now!
  24. To trim Zero's foot fur, i use a pair of rounded end scissors that I bought at Kellyville pets quite a while ago now - I also have a pair of hair dressing scissors that I got from a friend to do the areas I can't get into with the round tips, though these rarely come out!
  25. We've never had a problem throwing ours in the dishwasher - if it's not dishwasher safe then i guess only time will tell...
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