Kirislin

I'm sorry for laughing, having met you and Stan now, I was laughing before I even finished reading as I could just imagine it. :laugh:

:laugh: It's amazing what we learn to put up with, and consider normal. A non dog person would be horrified. as to vomit types, Neko can be both. Sometimes she goes through lots of retching before she unloads and other times it just comes out silently with no warning.

Last night Neko didn't eat all her dinner which is very unusual for her. Later in the evening she woke up suddenly, jumped off the couch and disappeared. Remembering she seemed off colour earlier I went looking for her. The whippets all dash outside if they know they're going to be sick, but not Neko, she's an Italian greyhound and they're just.....different. No she quietly tiptoed behind the dog crate and threw up the contents of her tummy all over the most textured fleecy blanket (and therefore the most difficult to clean) she could find. I quickly picked up the blanket trying to keep the slop from spilling everywhere and made a dash for outside. Of course the dogs then got curious as to my sudden animation and were pushing and shoving through the sliding door with me to see what I was up to, and by then Puck had also got a scent of MEAT!! In the crush to get out the door first they made me spill it on the carpet and in the sliding door runners. Even more goey difficult mess for me to clean now. But quick as a flash Puck took charge of the situation and ate it all up!! Good ol' Pucky to the rescue, you just made my life a whole lot easier. xx

Like any dog pursuit there are politics. Put 3 dog people in a room, get 5 opinions, and all that. Someone in show world said to me a while back that each relationship you have in dog world is your own, not someone else's. So whether they are friend or foe when it comes to each other shouldn't matter, particularly if you are careful to keep it professional. I think the politics would drop back a lot if everyone just concentrated on making what is close to their heart work in their corner of the world and stopped worrying about what others were doing. Amen to that. It's not Highlander ("there can be only ONE") and people who seem to think there is only enough room for one "right" way to do things have limited vision. If you don't like what a group is doing, do your own thing - there's room. Just don't get into "us and them" turf wars that profit no one and confuse the hell out of a lot of dog owners. Just recognise and respect that different people have different goals with their dogs and different motivations and move on. Even the idea of a "fastest" dog has a range of possible outcomes. My Whippets would probably do very well over 100m. Over longer distances, they'd be overtaken by the big sight hounds fast enough!! I agree, I just want to see lure coursing get up and running and hope clubs in all States can share knowledge and information with each other. Some have been doing it alot longer than others and their knowledge will be of great help to the States that are just starting out. But we digress, back to "Who's got the Fastest Dog in Australia" :)

Check with Skysoaringmagpie, she'll know if it's being run, or go ask here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1399559963621860/ Each dog runs by itself and will have 2 attempts and it's just a sprint of 100mts This association is not active in NSW/ACT as far as I know. There are basically two streams Australia wide. The ANKC recognised lure coursing stream, and number of old and new private clubs who are not ANKC recognised who run a variety of events including track racing and straight drag lure racing in addition to lure coursing. It's not just the hounds, there are a few terrier clubs for example. The ANKC recognised stream only does lure coursing. The idea is to replicate as far as possible the behaviour of traditional sighthound prey in the field so speed is not the only consideration when evaluating a hound. Other attributes like agility, follow etc come into play and those things are much more challenging for the hound when the course jigs about. There has long been debate, well before most of us got into this, about whether straight and/or track racing is good for the sighthound breeds if it becomes something you breed for. Because if you breed only for speed over comparatively short distances, you start to lose the other important characteristics of a coursing hound. That said, there is plenty of track racing in Europe and a close relative of my Bahraini girl absolutely blitzes at it. So if your dog is fast and enjoys it, why not? But it's not lure coursing and the two should not be confused. Speaking personally, my goal is to train and breed athletic, true to type Salukis. To do that you have to balance (sustainable) speed with everything else so it's lure coursing and watching what they do in the paddocks for me rather than the fun events. thanks for clarifying. I'm still finding it confusing who's who.... and whether they're friend or foe to each other. It is just a fun event, I would hope people wont start breeding a type just to win this kind of event. Although I would think it better to breed dogs that can run than breeding purely for trotting around a show ring which I believe many breeders have done for generations without ever testing the ability of their dogs. Back in the day, whippets were required to hunt and race, so I suppose they were dual purpose. These days not many do either. The non pedigree race bred whippet looks different to the pedigree that has evolved to look impressive when it's stacked out and at the trot. Anyway, it's a whole other subject better discussed in a new thread if anyone wants to. Haredown, you can run your own event if you want, just contact them and they'll send you the information.

Check with Skysoaringmagpie, she'll know if it's being run, or go ask here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1399559963621860/ Each dog runs by itself and will have 2 attempts and it's just a sprint of 100mts

I think it's the illegal dumping of the bodies that is the problem here. I know lots of farmers dump the bodies of cattle and horses etc down in a gully on their own farms, but dumping them on public land, State forest or National parks is the issue. I hate to think of horses being slaughtered, but it's not illegal.

Perhaps they cant charge them with indiscriminate dog breeding and it's the only way they can charge them.

There's still time to enter. Open to all pedigree and non pedigree dogs, with comps for Large and Small, and Veterans too. You must pre enter though, no entries on the day. Time to get those dogs off the couch, trim their nails and start training. Come on hop to it! https://www.facebook.com/events/463009210516457/

I dont understand how they can be so heartless to a living creature. I dont even treat insects as cruelly as they treat animals.

Yes, the dogs thought the fairy bread was pretty good, cut into cute little bone shapes too. :laugh: I stuffed up most of the photos with the wrong camera setting. This was all I managed to get of Bella and Tari and the backside in the background is all I managed to get of Blaze. 5F6A9199_1 by kirislin, on Flickr

Stans party pics There was fairy bread! 5F6A9149 by kirislin, on Flickr Whispering sweet nothing into Feathers ear, I think she likes it 5F6A9140_1 by kirislin, on Flickr place the food in here says Stan 5F6A9153_1 by kirislin, on Flickr Sandy 5F6A9157_1 by kirislin, on Flickr Zoey 5F6A9159_1 by kirislin, on Flickr Neko 5F6A9163_1 by kirislin, on Flickr The others wolfed them down so quickly I didn't have a chance to photograph them.

Stan brought everyone gifts, I thought it was supposed to be the other way round. Since they got to eat plenty there the little party bag came home intact. Tag is minding it. 5F6A9207_1 by kirislin, on Flickr hmmmm smells good 5F6A9206_1 by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A9210_1 by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A9214_1 by kirislin, on Flickr

a bowl with deep sides so she cant slide the food out?

I got to meet Stan and Maddie in the fur!! They all had fairy bread with peanut butter and sprinkles.

yaaay little Maxie was a star. That was a lovely video.

OK understood, but most carpenters and builders can work in uPVC as well as timber and it is certainly available in Australia, most commonly as vinyl over-cladding but some of the tougher ones are used in in new constructions, both externally and internally - just google some of the distributors of Altro and Formplex etc. They can put you in contact with a local installer who would no doubt have suitable offcuts to purchase plus some joiner ends etc. which would could be made up to your design. I imagine a few phone calls or emails should be enough to ascertain wether that would be a considerable price reduction than shipping the finished product from the UK or not. Plus it's nice to buy locally if you can and if it is exactly as you want. Just a suggestion - let us know how it turns out. :) thanks! I'll let him know what materials, although he might already know them and have already looked in to it, not sure. I agree, it would be good to buy local if he can get exactly what he wants at an affordable price.

He doesnt want a carpenter because he doesn't want it made from wood. He has previously had a whelping box made from a plastic material but it was flimsier than these ones and cost about the same 7 years ago. It seems from his investigating that if he really doesn't want to put up with a plastic box or crate then importing one of these is cheaper than buying one in Australia.

He looked at the company you've linked, they're over $500 and an extra $250 if you want it heated. It's still cheaper for him to import the ones from the UK. Mjosa I'll tell him you've seen them for real and thought they were good, that will make him happy.

That is exactly what mine do. I brush my own with an electric toothbrush and as soon as they hear it go on, they are at the bathroom door waiting for theirs to be done!! how do you teach that?

Whether it is nust [sic - lol] or nuts, I guess it is up to the person and whether he can afford them. :laugh: :laugh: They don't appeal to me, but each to his or her own. Yes, spelling mistake. He wants boxes with hard sides, and of a certain size, and they have to be light, strong and easy to clean, he's very particular.

thanks for the suggestions everyone. If it was me I'd be happy letting them sleep in cardboard boxes, which I did use for a long time, but he's alot fussier than me. It's actually looking like it's cheaper to import them than buy whelping boxes from Australia even with shipping!

they look like they'd last forever but he doesn't want timber.

thanks Perse, I'm sending him the links. He's very fussy, his dogs aren't. :laugh:

a friend wants to buy something like this to use as dog beds in Australia. Does anyone know where he might get one like this. He's talking about importing them but it will cost about $250 per bed all up if he does. I think that's nust! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231043283951