Poppy's mum

I only know of one park in Ashfield, but not having been there at night wouldn't be able to tell what the lighting is like? http://www.offleash.com.au/content/cadigal-reserve I investigated the one park in Ashfield - Cadigal Reserve, a few years ago. It was poorly lit and downright creepy. The dog area had a bunch of rusty spray paint cans strewn around. It was intersected by huge half drains which led into neighboring bushland (semi-fenced). I complained to Council and suggested a planned park near me. They said too bad, so sad, that's all you get. The planned park will be a kids' play area. Not a pro-dog council. I asked a dog person who appeared at Cadigal if they ever met any other dogs there. They said 'no'. Says a lot. Hawthorne Reserve is nice in the day BUT recent experience has been bad - meeting out of control, poorly supervised aggressive dogs with bogon owners.

I don't think booko lists e-books, only hard copies. As I understand it, it searches the databases of the online bookstores and if it finds the product lists the price. If it doesn't find the book in some of the databases it lists those stores it couldn't find it in, in a spreadsheet under the list of prices as either "not found" or "not available". Fishpond is on their listing so if it didn't come up with the Fishpond price it couldn't find it when it did the search, presumably because either Fishpond don't stock it or something about their listing is keyed differently (incorrect ISBN or title etc..) They have a separate section for an E-books search.

I always check the reviews out on Amzaon - they seem to have the most. Then I source the book from wherever is cheapest. When I was buying several titles at once - I found that the Amazon prices were generally very competitive and often cheaper, even with postage.

A couple of things: Book Depository just delivered the Stanley Coren dog paperback I ordered : 12 days (so I eat my words apart from the cupcake book and maybe others) I checked out a book I needed for my Delta course on that comparison tool (booko.com.au) - didn't mention the Fishpond price at all...didn't have any E-books for that title. It gave me a hard copy price at Amzazon plus postage and Book Dep and Abedobooks plus postage. I know I can get the e-book for $9.99 from Dogwise or Wagschool Books (I buy local when I can and their prices for e-books are the same). So it's like a lot of those comparison websites - does not always include the whole range of suppliers. May still be useful though and save some time.

I'm, amending mine - just remembered I was on a course recently with someone in the US. They had a "Silken Windhound"- glorious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silken_Windhound And an Orange Belton English Setter... plus a gaggle of chis and greys.

I've NEVER waited that long for a book from the Book Depository :confused: They are usually with me within a fortnight. The last book I ordered from them, just 12 days ago, arrived within 10 days from the UK! Can highly recommend them - they have lots of doggy books in amongst the million others... Maybe I've just been unlucky? Probably bought 6 books from BD UK. I know the cupcake book took that long because I was meant to be making cupcakes for work and had to keep missing my turn...that was when my colleague made the remark about everything taking so long and not to worry that it hadn't arrived yet. They didn't say it was out of stock or anything...

My longest wait from bookdepositary - 9 weeks for a cupcake recipe book. Shortest - 4 weeks. They must ship sea mail. As my friend says "It's always a nice surprise out of the blue when the book finally arrives. I usually forget I've ordered it"

Fishpond.co.nz -free shipping (from o/s) has many dog titles. Like book depositary you often wait a while. 4weeks, 6 weeks... Best deal may be e-books from Dogwise. Sometimes I find Amazon cheapest even with postage. I notice fishpond says they will match Amazon prices on their website.

English Setter. So beautiful! Chihuahuas and greyhounds, of course. But one day I'd love to own an English Setter - maybe a retired show dog. Red Belton?I think they call them. Remember one in the area when I was a kid - Seamus. Brilliant kids dog.

That's a very true statement I think, reactive dogs are a handful and take up far too much training time for sporting trainers to waste their training time on dogs like this and generally set their sporting achievements with dogs of greater stability to begin with. Same with motivating high drive dogs for sport is so easy compared with motivating a couch potato. I think as far as trainers/behaviourists go, it's best to select the one's experienced at what you are trying to achieve with your dog? All so true! Hopefully, there will be a bit of a shake-up later this year when Grisha Stewart comes to talk about "Behaviour Adjustment Therapy" (books and DVDs) at the APDT annual conference in Sydney. It's time the dog trainers around opened their minds to some new ideas. A good 'obedience instructor' is not necessarily suited to reactive dog training. It's a whole other field of knowledge.

I must say I found it hilarious when I was working on Ginger's recall. She soon worked out that yelling people in the park invariably have a bumbag full of treats. She'd sit neatly in front of them, looking angelic. "Hey, your dog won't come but I'm here". They yelled and yelled for their dog... No-one ever fed her that I can recall - she was easily called away. It was interesting because she wasn't particularly food-motivated and was shy of strangers. But she was smart! I wouldn't have minded if they had fed her but I suppose that would have given her reinforcement for the wrong thing. I know round the cafe, certain dogs try to muscle in on people's food and it's not pleasant to have a St Bernard (or whatever) drooling on you. Feed 'em and they become like seagulls. A very bad habit. No - I wouldn't feed a strange dog in the park. Park etiquette is to ask if you're vaguely tempted by starving eyes.

Well done - all things I have been trying to teach - well, mostly apart from some of the tricks. You must be a patient teacher! Nice to share your successes. Gorgeous dog too!

Chis were listed in the Purina guide as on at 1.30 Tuesday - they came on at 1.20-ish. Pretty close. There was a break from judging before that - and as someone else said, the police dog's did a "Bite the policewoman in the padded suit" display. Always worth getting there early so you dont miss your favorites. Big pity is - you had no idea who was winning, which breeders, kennels etc because catalogues aren't available. So disappointing. No chis on display to pat after, either, but there were lots of lovely huskies, springer spaniels, sharpei, Pyreneans and bulldogs you could pat. Dog of the day on the stall - gorgeous CKCS in all colours.

I get frightened, I bark, I lunge, I get hit...what does that do to the relationship with my owner? Teaches me not to trust them in frightening situations. Makes my problem harder to fix.

The behaviour books tell you that restraint, pulling away a dog is likely to escalate aggression. Poppy's park tally of rushing, lunging dogs - 2 bull breeds, 1 ACD. Both bull breeds had inattentive owners 1 on mobile looking away, the other dog was leashed but behind owner (muscle T guy). ACD was just old and grumpy and probably arthriticky - went for her as she was walking past. I'd have been more careful and avoided any issues if I'd had my small dog with me. False sense of security with a bigger dog.

I was reading a great book by Jean Donaldson the other day - 'Oh Behave! Dogs From Pavlov to Premack to Pinker', a selection of essays on different topics. In one she mentions an Ian Dunbar concept - "predatory drift". Bottom line was - even with well-behaved, well-socialised larger dogs, if you put them in a situation with much smaller dogs and the game-playing turns eg when the smaller dog cries out because it is stomped accidentally or whatever or becomes afraid when being chased and starts squealing, the predatory instinct can kick in and take over with unfortunate and tragic results. This rang so true with me from experiences down the dog park. This was one reason I moved from pure chis to chi crosses (x JRT mostly) at one stage - they are a little more solid for meeting other dogs down the dog park and less likely to excite prey drive. I also notice a totally different dynamic now that I own a big dog and go to the park. It is much more relaxing - you don't watch out for something that might rush over and grab your littlie, roll it over or try to stand over it menacingly or chase it (with questionable intent) or whatever (all experiences I have had). That said, because I've been more relaxed, Poppy has had a few bad experiences with large dogs wanting to go for her (off-leash dog parks, what can you say? we don't go any more) (Edit title of book from Dogwise Publishing)

Agree with everything else. You could also talk to your vet about medication - something calming, maybe. And also think about those DAP diffusers (or collars). Some people swear by them for calming dogs in a household. MY GF had a lot of success with warring cats, with the cat version (Feliway).

I've done something similar - using oil, cooking oats (porridge oats), some flour and whatever leftover cans of tuna are knocking around in my cupboard. Shaped into cookies or rolled, then sliced when cooked. My littlies, the extremely old and those with a sensitive stomach, live on the meat off cooked chicken drumsticks ($1.99 - $2.99 a kg at my local Peters) and the chicken jelly (fridged till set) that produces and some rice (as well as Biopet organic dog biscuits). I bring the drumsticks to a boil, on high for the first ten minutes, then simmer for 50-60 minutes. Makes them easy to de-bone. I usually cook 3 to 4kg at a time. De-boning is a fun spectator sport for the dogs of an evening while I watch TV. Mostly it just falls off the bone and I check closely for any nasty bits left. You do get messy hands! :laugh:

You get DOL discounts? Where? I gave CafePress a mention the other day. I'm always so surprised by great service, I can't help but mention it.

Before I moved in there were two problem rotties living at the bottom of my garden. The owners in the street apart from my house complained to Council for months and months. The dog owners had a restaurant and the dogs were left alone at night and howled and howled. Council eventually took action. The people were fined after years of court and eventually, more court to recover the fines. One of the neighbours moved out and rented elsewhere because of the constant lack of sleep. Even in extreme cases, there doesn't seem to be much they can do. Opposite is a maltese who gives the breed a bad name. They let her out at 7am every morning and she barks every time someone goes up the street. Which is often, since it's a shortcut up to the shops/station. No-one complains to Council. My neighbour complained about mine to Council once when I complained to him about the noisy aircon unit he installed a metre away from my house. Pure spite but what can you do? Council was OK. The ranger asked me if I actually had dogs in the house because he called by numerous times and never heard them.

Love both those! [from someone who has a Poppy, a Pansy, a Chelsea and a Fred and Ginger. I'm sticking to the botanical names from now on in, given a choice]

GF's white kitten is called Jellybean.

No surprises there. My eyes are tearing up as I read. It never gets easier and I don't know that knowing the end is coming is any more comforting then having it happen suddenly.

Hey Nushie, where are you doing your CERTAIN II. I'm at Tafe with a class full of school leavers who want to be zoo keepers. One ex-pet shop owner who is a professional snake handler/catcher. Some work volunteer positions at pounds/RSPCA. Not much paying work out there and lots of competition. Sorry about the certain, can't edit on iPad I meant cert II.

I have just had the best service from Cafe Press. I got on to them because the Recallers website had their own tees and I did a Susan Garrett on-line dog training recallers course. My "Every Day is Game Day" T keeps me on track with my dog training. Anyhoo, I started buying other t-shirts - they have a million designs, sweatshirts, hoodies etc. My favorite is a "Recycled Dog Owner" T-shirt - I used it when I did a talk at TAFE (I'm a student in Animal Studies) about rescue dogs and sustainability. I also have "Show me the bunny" a wry greyhound sweatshirt, "It's all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone" ie Elizabethan collar Tshirt and "Saving one greyhound may not change the world but it will change the world for that one greyhound"... You get the drift. They had more than twenty pages of greyhound themed gifts and tshirts (mugs, stickers, boxes, clocks etc). They have all breeds, all themes eg autism, sports etc So, my "organic fitted T-shirt" didn't fit well - it was too tight, I hadn't tried "organic fitted" before. They sent me a refund and told me to keep the shirt - instant refund through Paypal. How good is that? All part of their 100% satisfaction guarantee. They are always having "sales" on the site - anything from 20-35% off and sometimes postage specials (it's US-based). So, today, I am one happy shopper. I wanted to spread the word. ;)