CareyJ

Our local oval is an off lead area unless there are approved activities being undertaken and there are a range of age groups which train for AFL each night of the week during winter - this is quite handy for us because it means we get to walk under lights! I always have Leila on the lead because she does have a tendancy to want to join in and steals the footy so I just dont risk it but there are quite a few dogs who will play at one end of the oval (it is double sized) and the kids will train at the other and I have never seen any incidents until a group of 13/14 year olds did a cool down lap past the dogs playing and decided to bark at them. Only the young BC reacted out of 4 dogs and tried to herd the kids - they didnt know if it was funny or scary! The BC had a great time and it was quite amusing although totally inappropriate. The kids have since tried the same trick with me when Leila was on a lead - she ignored them for once but I didnt - straight to the parents and coaches to complain and they got 20 pushups for it I would much rather the consequences be 20 pushups than an incidental bite on the bum! Although that also might be a bit funny!

If he was my vet, I would be in much more often too Leila is only 15 months old and we have only been in for sterilisation and annual vaccinations (although considering alternative vaccination schedules). I have found that in most cases vets are dependent on the feedback from the owner anyway in identifying major problems and we go in armed with a whole lot of questions that the vets wouldnt normally cover.

must be a GSP thing. Hugo walk in the rain........don't be silly, he'd get his paws wet! He's more than happy snoozing on somebodies lap thank you very much Dunno, Leila loves walking in the rain! She wasnt so impressed though when she and OH got halfway down the road and it started to hail last week She jumped under a hedge in someones front garden and when OH tried to get her out he relised that she was on to something and joined her until it stopped!

This is a great idea and I am kicking myself that I havent thought of this. I have been looking at all the cat domes etc for our cat as I am sure she is getting cold and they are quite expensive for what they are - this is ingenius!

Yep, thats about how wide they are - bigger if I cant be bothered hacking it to bits

We give Leila both lamb "rosettes" and lamb necks (neck bone) and have since she was about 14 weeks old. We get our lamb necks and attack them into smaller bits (individual vertebrae or 2 at a time) - we get them from Swansea St Markets butcher for $3.50 or $4 a neck. I noticed he had some cut differently on the weekend but didnt have the change to grab some. We get bags of lamb rosettes from a butcher in Maddington who does them in large bags for $9 - much cheaper than coles or Swansea St butcher. They also do chicken wings in 2 kg bags. We havent had any problems with either and Leila's eyes light up as soon as they are pulled out of the fridge. The necks keep her occupied for much longer than the rosettes although the rosettes have more meat on them.

We are taking Leila. If we see you we'll definately stop to meet you and the doggies. Im now worried that it could be a major mission! OH and Leila both hate walking slowly so now I'm hopefully the monster doesnt go crazy because of frustration. She will already be crazy just because of all the dogs and people.

We held onto the papers of our limit registered pup... the dog was to be sterilised before it would have been ready to compete in dog sports (not that they wanted to compete anyway). By holding onto the papers they couldn't "accidently" breed with the dog and show a copy of his paperwork to say the parents were registered. They got the papers and a $300 refund once they sent the sterilisation certificate And they certainly didn't have any problems with it as unless you want to breed or are ready to compete the papers don't mean anything anyway. If the dog is show quality and you may want to try showing ask the breeder if you can transfer her to the Neuter register as well. Not many Clubs run neuter events but they are bringing in a neuter championship title Cheers. For all the info. You are totally right mirawee, we really havent been that concerned about the limited register papers - we really only wanted a pet and had every intention of sterilising anyway. Hell, we chose to not even let Leila even have 1 season because we didnt really want to deal with it but of course that was weighed up and considered with all the other pros and cons. It is only now that I am considering (but still a fair way off) dog sports and realising that I should get my act together that it has come up. I guess it is a good way for the breeder to get a follow-up a year or two down the track to see the dog? Unfortunately we havent been in contact with Leila's breeder since she was 13 or 14 weeks old (our first major puppy panic!) and she didnt respond to the emails with photos I sent. This makes me get organised and give her a call and take the monster for a visit.

Can someone please help me figure out what memberships I need? Leila is from a registered breeder and has been sold to us on the limited register to be transferred when she has been sterilised. I have her sterilization certificate from the vet and will be getting in touch with our breeder. I wouldnt mind doing some obedience/agility maybe tracking at some later stage (once we get past the basic obedience). I will need ordinary CAWA membership wont I? Is there anything else I need to get her limited register papers transferred to me?. As well as needing to be a member of any of the dog sport clubs obviously.

Yep they are - I just just google MDBA Pacers and the facebook page comes up in the search. What a shame. I guess sometimes the best you can do is try. Poor Spike.

My OH gets very upset when Leila digs/chews something she shouldnt/pulls the BBQ cover off or rips it/pulls washing off the line etc. I have now trained him to yell at the hole/bbq cover/washing line etc so he doesnt yell at Leila. It is so funny to watch and it makes him feel much better for it!

Leila's (GSP) first playmate was a very vocal staffy so when she plays, particularly with Simba they sound like they are going to kill each other. In reality there are big smiles on both of their faces and both know when enough is enough. Usually Simba has had enough of Leila and pins her down! When Leila plays with her other friend - a lab x dalmation they play a game similar to kids playing mercy - they hold each other down until they yap, jump up and run around the garden and the other one is pinned down until they yap. In no way are they fighting.

I have emailed the family just in case help is still needed.

Did you find anyone to help with Spike? I have some family around this area (adjacent towns) who might know of someone who might be able to help locally. I can ask around.

We took Leila, our 15 month old GSP down to our local farmers markets for some people socialisation etc and I couldnt believe the number of very small children (younger than 5) who were poorly supervised, obviously familiar with dogs and had no fear, who ran up and hugged Leila around the neck The parents were there but a couple of steps behind them. Obviously we wouldnt have taken Leila down there if we didnt think she would be able to deal with the situation but we dont have children and very rarely have visitors with children. Luckily she behaved very very well and there were a few people who did ask before they patted She isnt known to be the calmest dog around people! I'm always surprised who the people are who politely ask to pat Leila, terrible to judge but it is always the people who you think wouldnt have the common sense, or the manners to ask nicely. edited because I had a rethink of something I wrote - it wasnt something I should have said and badly judgemental.

my SIL lives in Sydney and brought some of this over for "her fur-neice" last year. OH dropped the bag and the bottle broke. It is just expensive beef flavoured water! I really liked the look of these ones http://www.thewolfsden.com.au/

Leila is wearing last years coat - her bum hangs out the back but she doesnt care in the least Im ordering up for this year - a polar fleece one, a reflective one and a water proof fleecey!

from us. Leila has the tucker ball and a home alone. The tucker ball makes a fair racket on the concrete though but we can live with that if she is distracted from destroying other things

We are in a similar pickle at the moment, we just dont know what to do about our back seat and the dog! We currently have a cheapy cover that goes across the back with the zip in the middle but it is in tatters and hasnt lasted very well. After all the rave reviews about the backseat buddy I tried to push it with OH who had a major baulk at the price, anyway he thought he had found the ideal solution in a seatcover that was on The New Inventors on ABC and it looks just like what we were looking for on the website but they havent bothered to respond to any of our emails....so we are back to square one, still with the seat cover in tatters and OH threatening to upgrade the car and put the dog in the boot which would cost us even more money than just buying the backseat buddy! The car is only a year and a half old and the dog is very happy on the backseat thankyou very much! What a ramble, sorry!

I have considered going down to Perth Agility but the fact that is on fridays makes it hard - we always have stuff on. If I could find somewhere that either does tuesdays or thursdays nights or even saturday arvo it would be perfect!

I would have loved to go and watch on each of the days but I had to do boring things like work! And I would have love to have gone around, seen all the dogs and talked to more people but I was there with a friend so it was a bit hard. It reminds me a bit of when I used to do showjumping with the horse! If there was somewhere we could do dock diving, Leila would be sooo happy

I have considered agility and I think Leila would love it. We definately need to get out obedience sorted out first - her recall isnt the best. But she is only 15 months old. Where do you train and when is that? Do they have beginner, on lead classes?

I was at the agility nationals yesterday too and saw your doggies but decided we would admire from a distance as it looked like everyone wanted to meet them! I was also amazed by how good it was and how exciting. Congrats to everyone who competed! I can only dream of having the control of Leila that all the people yesterday had. Amypie, did you have a run yesterday arvo? I think we might have watched it, there was so much going on that I had trouble keeping up and figuring out what was going on

Every animal we get - dog, cat, horse - we go in with a colour in mind and mostly come out with something totally different! Went looking for a black male cat from the cat haven and came home with a tortoise shell female, wanted a solid liver male GSP, came home with a liver/white flecked female. Wouldnt change either of them for the world although tortoise shell cats have too much attitude! Health and temperament is definately first and foremost.

Awwww! So cute! I have a soft spot for anything pointer! We're in East Vic Park, Maybe we can meet up for puppy cuddles and badger can play with Leila? (You can tell me to bugger off - I have a nasty habit of weaseling in for puppy cuddles ;)) We have only taken Leila to Vic Park Vet (on albany hwy) and have found Julian to be good but we have only used the vet for baby vaccinations and when she was desexed. I did the rounds of all the vets in the area - Willeton, Belmont, Vic Park/Lathlain, South Perth and decided on the closest one. They were also the only vet who could explain why they chose to use the vaccines that they did and were happy to explain what the differences were. This was prior to me knowing about 3 yearly vaccines though. Leila is booked in for her booster in 2 weeks so I might ask some more questions then. Although we did do puppy preschool at Belmont Vet because the day suited. I wasnt impressed with All Creatures Great and Small - the response I got about the vaccines was less than satisfactory for my scientist mind, we have also has some to so good experiences with some of our other animals there. I didnt visit Mill Point Vet but have heard some good things from before they moved to the new (and much larger premises).