silentchild

I walk mine most days usually in the evenings. We do a lot of sniff walks, she is free to sniff and smell as she pleases - I look at it this way, dogs smelling stuff on their walks is similar to us checking Facebook - getting information about who has peed there, when, how long for, male or female - just as I read Facebook to find out who so-and-so is now dating or what they ate for lunch.???? Sometimes when she sniffes for a particularly long time I ask her, "oh my what drama is going on in dog Facebook today?!" ???? ???? Figuring after being cooped at home all day waiting for me to get back from work she'd like a good Facebook binge! Some days I let her choose the route, some days I choose, some days we stick to the familiar, some days we go power walking or running without stopping to sniff (if I feel my pants are getting too tight!!). I'm lucky she pretty much is game for whatever I want to do on walks. We also have a treadmill which she goes on if the weather is crap or I'm just too tired, usually once or twice a week she goes on it anyway for cardio work, she also goes swimming at the dog pool or in the underwater treadmill every fortnight, and every other week if we are not doing water conditioning we go for long hikes and bush walks. She also gets free running at the park and she gets to sprint around like a crazy doggy getting her jollies. ???? Almost every day or every second day she does conditioning body work, stuff on peanuts, wobble boards, balance boards etc etc. I'm not sure why I've not lost more weight!!!! ???? Throw in the massive amounts of training we do also I'm not sure where I get the time?! ???? Maybe I'm a time traveler?! Edit: oh and in summer we hit the beach loads too so lots of running and swimming there too. Bring on summer!

I saw these in the catalogue and wanted to check em out but didn't have a chance to pop down to Aldi today. Thistle looks very pleased with herself. :) Breeze has a light up pendant from Flashdog. It can be set to shine steady or flash quickly. It is really bright!!! I clip it to the leash attachment on her harness and we light up like whoa!

I use a dremel but I don't think they make the model I use anymore. It's small, wireless and lightweight, and shaped like a gun. I love my dremel, my old Rotty wouldn't tolerate the clippers so I switched over to the dremel and she was much happier. With Breeze she was deathly terrified of the dremel but within a few sessions of getting her used and conditioned to them she now happily snores away lying on her back between my legs whilst I dremel away at her nails. And I don't have to worry so much about accidentally cutting the quick like I do with clippers. Dremelling is so oddly satisfying to me LOL. I loooove my dremel.

Yay a reason to show off doggies lol! Dol dogs are a good looking bunch! Breeze aka Incredi-Breeze, 6 years old and my heart dog, my partner, my best friend, my everything. Phenomenally intelligent and I swear most days half-human. Chaser of ducks, roller of bird poo, and lover of mud. She has her fair share of titles and is also a demo dog with Melbourne Canine Freestyle showing off her countless tricks and performing in all manner of public events. Pretty sure she also has a doctorate and completing her third PhD. :laugh: Star of my youtube channel and she is the one thing in my life I could not live without. I really do have the bestest best most best dog in the universe.

Helping Hounds, K9 Nose Fun and Scent Dogs Australia are the ones I know of who hold training classes locally (VIC). I do Nosework with the Fenzi Academy as I hate attending classes and personally for me I've found their method to be the easiest to transition to competition and makes the most sense to me. Not saying the other organizations aren't great also, just this one works best for me. But Nosework in general is a quite 'safe' sport no matter how it's taught - it's very hard to get it 'wrong'. :)

In short, nosework is very much a scent detection sport - it was developed to mimic professional detection dog tasks. The dog learns to find a specific scent(s) that may be hidden in boxes, rooms, vehicles, outdoor environments etc, whereas in tracking a scent trail is laid down by a person for the dog to scent and follow the trail to an article at the end. Both are great scent sports in their own rights and it is fascinating to see a dog work using its natural instinct and ability! Scent sports are one where the dog truly takes center stage with minimal interference from the handler.

Nosework is excellent for dogs who are fearful or lack confidence. My girl thrives on it. :)

Just to give you some hope, here are some pictures of my dear Rottie Emma with her best friend Jiji kitty. Not all Rotties are cat killers. :) I was nervous about having a cat with her too and armed with a bucketload of manic PMs to TSD (remember those days TSD, LOL) and her very sound advice, was very careful with introductions and giving the cat safe places, etc etc. Emma was very gentle with her kitty and played very softly softly with her even tho Jiji was a psycho and actually wanted to get Emma to chase her! They were best pals and at night when Emma put herself in her crate to sleep Jiji would jump on the crate and sleep there to be closer to her. Then poor Emma lost an eye to glaucoma and it was the turn of my manic psycho Jiji kitty to learn to be very gentle gentle with her pal. They were thick as thieves and little Jiji grieved when Emma died. Luckily now she has Breeze as her new best buddy, much to her chagrin. :laugh: With Breeze, her new bestie. Your Rottie pup looks gorgeous, good luck with it and I hope my shameless pic spam has given you some hope! Rotties are amazing dogs that are very adaptable, Emma was no exception.

Love the K9+ crates! Mine's lasted two dogs throughout several years and is still going strong!! I love how every window can be covered. Mine has the pouch on the back and top for stuff too. Just can't go past them for quality! Plus the owner of K9+ is a bit of alright too. :D :D :D

What a lovely update post of some incredible dogs and an incredible breeder/trainer. You have a lot to be very deservedly proud of!!! I have a secret soft spot for Ziggy even though he is not even in this post. :laugh: Your springers always look like they are having a blast, if I ever convert to gundogs I know who to look up! :D

Not going to weigh in on the discussion at hand as everybody else has already articulated so well some excellent points (also I hate debating on the internet), but TSD I just wanted to say I've watched your Recallers video like a million times since you first shared it and it never fails to put a HUGE smile on my face every time!! :D I love it and it encapsulates every thing I love about dog training - fun, joy, relationship-based training! I hope your video makes the finals too. :)

Those collars are gorgeous!

I'm not even going to bother with Willem's post, but I just wanted to quote one of my favourite sayings by Sue Ailsby: "The leash is to keep the animal from getting hit by a truck, not to control, punish or teach." eta: Thanks TSD!! :)

I am another one who trains mostly by myself. :) I am pretty much a fully Fenzi trainer LOL, although I have also done SG and a few others. The online communities are great and Denise has been an incredible mentor to me, going far above and beyond and helps me far more than any trainer I have trained with in the flesh. In the rare occasion I need training in a group setting, like TSD I catch up with like minded people. My dog is very soft and she would not cope in an environment like the one you described, and I would get far too annoyed and frustrated at other people. If you are the kind of person who can do your own thing and not let what others say or do bother you in the slightest then you'll probably be fine, and if your dog can also handle that. Unfortunately me and my dog are not like that at all LOL. My girl has gone from a dog who was scared even of people walking past loudly to a demo dog performing complex behaviours in busy, noisy crowds with countless noises and distractions. Instilling confidence and joy in her has been key, and I doubt I would have been able to do it in a club setting where I am very self-conscious of myself and how others are training. Online training has worked wonders for us. I have attended clubs before, quite good ones too, but they are just not my cup of tea.

I have no idea what her role is at the club, on the Chihuahua Facebook page they said in a comment to someone that she had been booted out of the club in 2010....whether true or not who knows.

Just saw this posted on facebook: "Puppy farm seizure of Chihuahuas. A great deal of misinformation regarding the Chihuaha Club of Victoria is floating around in the newspapers and tv news bulletins. The Secretary of the Chihuahua Club Victora is MRS CATHY STIRLING and she has been doing a stirling job since 2010. The President of our club is MRS KAREN MCCABE." Yet more misinformation in the media, so many people vilifying purebred breeders on social media.

Bloody cat will jump on me half an hour before the alarm rings, just so I know. If I don't get up at breakfast time she jumps on and off me repeatedly, purring and meowing away. Then, she will enlist the help of the dog who will try several methods in order of least annoying to most annoying until one works. First is licking my face. The next step is digging at me or burrowing under the blanket. After that comes the play bows and little wuffs while pouncing on me. And the last resort is pulling the blankets off me. Dinner is usually 7.30 or 8, the dog has a very varied dinner routine with training and activities so she doesn't really make a fuss but good lord the cat! Half an hour prior she will just sit at my feet and stare at me, just to remind me dinner is soon, and if I am late then the meowing and whinging starts! When daylight savings starts/ends they all get very confused when I yell at them and ignore them for an hour LOL. Disclaimer: my dog generally isn't a nuisance in the morning, in fact she always just cuddles up and sleeps for as long as I'd like, but that got too lovely I ended up being late to work almost all the time LOL so I trained her to be a nuisance and wake me with those methods! Sometimes I regret it. :laugh: But my boss is very happy about it. :laugh:

I work full time and I own an active working breed. :) It can certainly be done, but I train and run the heck out of her during outside work hours, you should see my activity schedule for the dog for every day throughout the week lol! We also do a lot of dog sports so sometimes we have night classes to attend after work (though I've cut back a lot on that now) and we do lots of things together on the weekends, she is with me pretty much 24hours on weekends doing all our activities. When I get ready to go to work in the morning she runs to her bed and expectantly waits for me to leave presumably so she can rest LOL!!! I've now cut down my work days to 4 days a week and I have my partner home an extra day as well so she is only on her own 3 days a week now. (Technically not completely alone, she has a cat :) ). However previously she was on her own whilst I worked all week and she was fine. I also always leave her with enrichment puzzles/food toys when I leave her. I've spied on her using a camera throughout the day and she just sleeps. Tldr and all jokes aside it can be done as long as you dedicate enough time and commitment to fulfilling the dogs' physical and mental needs. Also prepared to be a tired human. I miss sleep (what is sleep?? LOL) but I wouldn't trade it for the world. :)

Sorry to hear. Hoping it all goes well and she has a fast and easy recovery. Sending healing thoughts.

There is a puppy culture breeder in Aussie Shepherds although she is not on the map, I believe it is Pawsitive. :) It must be getting much more quiet at your house now Starkehre, not as many little puppy noises any more! How many are left now?

So so very sorry for your loss. Rest in peace gorgeous Maddie.

This thread is terrifying, one of my worst nightmares and I hope I will never have to experience an attack. Can't imagine carrying a fire extinguisher around with me on walks!

I have Chilly Dogs too, and like them - the one I have is the Chilly Sweater. I also have a Weatherbeeta which is ok but the Chilly Dogs are warmer IMO. I also have the Back on Track coat - excellent coat for keeping muscles warm and my current favourite.

I am so so sorry Sarasmum. How devastating. I am glad she is able to be surrounded by you and her loved ones in her final days. My thoughts are with you.

What a good update, hopefully she is on the road to recovery. Gorgeous girl. :)