RubyStar

Did a few dummy throws on the large training oval at our K9 grounds tonight and had someone else throw the dummies from afar. Ruby is still eager and happy to bring them back and present nicely, so I am chuffed! We seemed to go backwards previously due to lack of training where she would bring them back but not present nicely or spit them at me. What I got tonight were simple retrieves but I'm just so happy with how her attitude is getting better I also tried throwing one myself, turning her away from it, throwing another, turning her back towards the first one, sending her for that, then sending for the second on her return. As she took off for the first she glanced at the second on her way out but made the right decision to keep going to the one I directed her to. Gonna make sure I keep training this!!

I've just emailed this to a friend who I believe works in that area to see if she can keep an eye out! Hope Tess is found

She needs to take the All Bran 7 day challenge I'd say, RosieFT Sorry, I'm not sure, but I'd say it's the bones cos that was Millie's problem (that and throwing them up sometimes). Mum cut the leads and sewed a new handle. She melted the edges with a match to prevent it fraying where it was cut. I guess we renew membership next year when we go to enrol again. I'm sure we'll hear about it Are you and Rosie moving up? I am doing Elementary with Millie and Amy is probably with Trixie, so you'd have company if you stay in Elementary with us!

Do we have to order in advance, or are the chances of getting what you want high if you just stroll in one day?

Once the xmas period is over I will have extra space and when I go to A & D i can always get you stuff but then there is the extra hassle of getting it from me Midland may be closer for you Maybe one day during the break between xmas and new years we could meet up and you could show me this place where I can buy meat from? Oh and we need to do Ikea meatballs again sometime :D

I got a bargain on a brand new chest freezer (quite large, too), $50 from Kmart a year or so ago. Especially for the dogs! It's now just sitting in my parent's shed, need to get it to my house somehow!

Mason2009 and bedazzled, can I come and shop from your freezers? I can never make it to the real shops

And I'm sorry but I'm so tired of this argument. Just because a puppy buyer doesn't know any better about the right and wrong place to buy their pets (you gotta start somewhere!), doesn't mean their crossbred dog they bought with all the love in the world is going to end up in the pound. Forgive my jaundice but it has been earned. While not every cross bred dog ends up in the pound, neither are all of them bought "with all the love in the world" For a lot of these dogs are reprehensible crosses and by that I mean dogs with conflicting instincts. These pups are then bought by people with very little dog savvy, just good intentions. A recipe for disaster for all concerned. Very true, there can be very bad crosses that end up in the wrong hands and can be a recipe for disaster, that I agree with. But in this particular case, these are Maltese x Shih Tzu puppies, hardly a reason for them to end up in the pound just because someone back yard bred them, which was the basis of your original post. I far from advocate BYB, but I just see this blanket statement thrown about all the time about back yard bred dogs automatically going to end up in the pound regardless of their breed (crossbred or otherwise), and it just gets a little tiring to read

How many husbands do you have?

I was going to try Black Hawk, but while Nutro is on sale I might buy a couple of bags. Though I can't seem to find anything that will reduce Ruby's poos!! (lovely topic, eh?) I need to retrieve my chest freezer from mum and dad's so I can start more raw feeding again. Millie did good on Nutro, but doesn't do good on raw. I think I'll be doing a combo effort... difficult dogs!! Edit: 10kg here would be gone in no time If I were you I would give Millie kibble and meat and Ruby can get bones and meat Got the most awesome bag of roo bones from A & D and they had goat meat today so now my freezer is busting at the seams, enough meat and bones in there for Mason for around nearly 2 months I think Yup that's the plan! When I get my act together :D Are A&D open between Xmas and New Year's? I want to go and buy stuff but it is so hard when I work! I want roo and goat, too. My girls used to love the roo tails and goat necks I used to get them from South St Pet Supplies. I suppose I could do another order with them. I think it's the fact I haven't got my freezer at my house yet that is really stopping me.

Didnt work for me either RS. The qualifying score is 10 btw :D 10?! Out of 100?

While I agree this is sad, it's a battle we will never win Some people just won't get it. For every person that becomes educated and decides to do things the right way (or stop doing things the wrong way), there are another dozen that refuse to become educated, no matter how hard we try. And I'm sorry but I'm so tired of this argument. Just because a puppy buyer doesn't know any better about the right and wrong place to buy their pets (you gotta start somewhere!), doesn't mean their crossbred dog they bought with all the love in the world is going to end up in the pound.

The latest attachment didn't work for me, angelsun Not sure if it's me or the attachment! Can you please remind me what the pass mark is for a trial? Is it 90?

I was going to try Black Hawk, but while Nutro is on sale I might buy a couple of bags. Though I can't seem to find anything that will reduce Ruby's poos!! (lovely topic, eh?) I need to retrieve my chest freezer from mum and dad's so I can start more raw feeding again. Millie did good on Nutro, but doesn't do good on raw. I think I'll be doing a combo effort... difficult dogs!! Edit: 10kg here would be gone in no time

Poor Sophie For those who feed Nutro, City Farmers has 15kg bags $30 off

ooookkkkkkk......

More info please I'm also now wondering if it is worth me investing in subscribing... would I actually find time to read them, though

Sounds a familiar story with PetPlan. A friend of ours has had her dog insured with them for about 5 yrs with no claim at all and then recently she lost her credit card and had to cancel that account until a new card was issued. The direct debit from her card was due the next day and of course wasn't honoured but PP never notified her, by the time she realised they had cancelled the insurance but would not let her back pay the payment they said they had to start a new policy which they wouldn't do because the dog was 8 yrs old. So that dog is no longer insured with them or can be insured with anyone else Disgraceful

Friendly maybe but useless as all buggery. Spoke to them initially and ok'd them to take my payments out that had been missing due to their system error, and gave them a new credit card number in the process. Woman told me that unless I hear from them, then all should be fine. Didn't hear from them, all wasn't fine. Been dealing with the same woman since I noticed no debits coming out and she still can't get it right. Then I had another person contact me stating my insurance has expired and I need to pay before it gets cancelled. I had to explain to her who I had been dealing with and gave her the story over again. Asked her for monthly debit forms, no, she sends me out annual one. Sigh. STILL waiting. And of course now, I need to backpay again a few months because of their constant screw ups. Tell you what, I am tempted to put aside the money I am paying to them in case of emergency and give them the flick, but it would be my bad luck that a real costly emergency arises very soon after and I don't have enough set aside as yet to cover it! And after backpaying an entire year for no benefit other than having no lapse in cover (didn't make any claims last year), I feel I have just given away $420 for nothing, so not too keen to start that plan just yet.

I was going to come along, but I've been in holiday mode since the last obedience trial I was in in November That and I got to work too late today to leave early I've been really struggling to get out of bed lately. But it doesn't excuse me from working on some stuff at home. So that's my plan!

rubyroo, thanks so much for the description. Now that you describe it, it does ring a bell what they are But I guess I am just stuck now on how to correctly train it. A trialler told me about the baseball game I think it was called? to help teach direction and backs. I should give it a go and hope I don't do it too wrong!! Love your name by the way, that is my Ruby's nickname

Although many have good experiences with PetPlan, I'm one of the unlucky ones who has had nothing but trouble. First (and only) claim with first dog, they hit me up with 2 excesses (won't go into it now, but this dog is now with Medibank Private). First claim with second dog took an age to process, and it took for me to chase them up for them to say they couldn't process it yet cos they need more info and could I sent it to them Hmmm thanks for letting me know! Then they changed their payment system over which caused my monthly debits to not come out, to which they said I had to pay those missed months in full so my policy won't be cancelled. Sure I said *sigh*. Fast forward 10 months later, I notice no debits from my credit card from them (how often do we scrutinise statements for missing payments?!) so I contact them for them to tell me my policy was cancelled due to non-payment My dog was unknowingly not covered!!!! Soooo lucky she was in good health!! To reinstate my insurance with no lapse in cover, I must backpay 10 months worth (and remember, I opted for monthly installments because I am better off financially that way!) I begrudgingly did so (it ended up more cost effective in the end to just pay the annual fee at that stage). They said when policy is up for renewal 2 months later, they will send me the monthly debit forms. Nope, nothing arrived. I contact them to ask about it so they make a note in my account not to cancel my policy as I am waiting on forms and will resend the forms. 2 weeks later, still no forms. Find out they have my address wrong (despite me giving the correct one on my enquries, etc.) Send forms out again after me stating numerous times I want to pay by monthly installments - the forms they send out are not for monthly installments. 2 months later after policy should have renewed, I am STILL struggling for them to take my bloomin' money so my dog is not currently covered!! I am soooo over PetPlan. But they know they have me stuck, go elsewhere and all of a sudden there will be pre-existing conditions that won't be covered with someone else

Hope you're talking about the dogs Depends on if their owners' come in here to have a look :p I was actually going to write "bloody bitches" but I thought that would be a bit too descriptive for some people ;) And here I was thinking you were referring to me and Amy

Someone needs to let Banjo know he's spooning wrong ;) fetchindawgs, good to see you around again Sorry to hear about the bad year you're having! Here's hoping for a great 2011 :D

Similar thing here (except what is CRF?). I tried moving mine both to raw only diet but one couldn't stomach it as well so therefore I stopped giving them as often, so my other dog seems to miss out ;) My plan is to move the other back to raw and the troublesome one to sometimes raw. Just got to get my freezer moved from the parentals to my house :D