Kirty

My dog (BC x Heeler) was a TERRIBLE swimmer. We have a pool, so I used to go in with her and support her, and just generally help her swim. It took her a good 6 months to learn how to swim properly - but now she swims like a champ! Most dogs prefer to swim at flat beaches or in a creek/river. It might be best to start your pup off at one of these places where it is shallow - make sure you keep him on a lead though so you can reel him in if you need to.

I used to do dog grooming and clipped heaps of GR's and a few Labs. The Lab's coats tended to grow back normally, but the GR's tended to grow back thicker. The clients who had this done were always glad they did and found their dogs seemed cooler. I think generally though, if you clip your dog once, you need will need to do it again. If you want the dog to be cool, perhaps try just clipping its belly (leave the body hair long enough so you don't notice). Dogs lose a lot of heat through their bellies and will cool down easily if they lay on concrete/tiles. It also means there is no risk of sunburn. ;)

Being in the drop position is a submissive pose - so maybe he is challenging you a bit by not doing it. Or he doesn't see you as the boss, so he doesn't want you to put him in that position. I dunno - grasping at straws here! Go Gomez!!

Hey Shek! I am a C-Wer and have been following little Gomez's story. So glad to hear he is well. Back to Daegon, I went through a similar thing with my Lab X GSP. He knew all the commands but would do them at his own pace, sometimes after one or two corrections. It was driving me CRAZY! He was easy though because he is very food driven! I also started being firmer and he is 99% better now (I won't say 100% because he still has bad days!). If he didn't sit the first time, I would pull up on the chain and push him bum down. I made sure I NEVER gave the command more than once (which was hard!). He did learn though. I was thinking, if he like sheep, maybe you could excite him with a bit of sheepskin? I don't know where you would get some, but our local Saddle-Up used to sell odd-ends of it. If it smells sheepy, it might get him going? Just a thought! Good luck with the naughty boy and keeping little Gomez in my thoughts. :p

Dougie, when I was 16 a woman came into my work (I worked at a stables), handed me a puppy and left. The puppy was about 6 weeks old and a Heeler/Kelpie/BC mix and she came from a farm. At 6 weeks old, she was terrified of everything. Other dogs, cats, cars, new people - everything. If a strange dog or person came too close, she would snap. This was a 6 week old (if that) puppy who weighed less than 1kg! We took her to a great puppy-preschool which helped a little, but it took about 12 months of training at a training centre who specialised in dealing with dogs with 'issues' for her to come good. She is now 5.5yrs old and is the best dog you could ever hope for. She is 100% trustworthy with cats, other dogs and puppies, livestock and anyone who I let into my house. We do agility and obedience and she is just the best dog! We don't know what happened to her in those 6 short weeks before she came to us, and we never will - but there are lots of messed up puppies out there. My dog was just lucky that we persisted - I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have.

Just to clarify, I DID cross post the thread in the training forum, with the exact same title as the one in the rescue forum, with a link to the thread. :D See?? http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?showtopic=83353

Thanks for everyone's posts - glad to see it is staying nice for now! I appreciate everyone's inputs and was not asking for free advice (I know nobody has implied that I was). This dogs only option was foster care because the husband wanted it gone. I have taken in dogs that were said to be 'child aggressive' before (when I was able to take in fosters) but these cases had clear triggers - idiot owners banished the dog from the family as soon as the children appeared, then wondered why the dog hated kids! Once they arrived at my place they were given basic obedience and included as part of the family, and never showed a drop of aggression to my child. However, I still rehomed them to childless homes just in case the problem resurfaced. Lilli, as a carer for BCRA I feel your pain! I get so many people calling when their dog is between 6-18 months old telling me their dog is 'crazy'. It barks, it digs, it rounds things up, it runs laps of the backyard etc. Then they go on to explain that they work long hours, have a tiny backyard and never walk it. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid some people can be. BC's are working dogs and were bred for intelligence, agility and endurance - so you have a smart dog that can run all day! Yet they still appear shocked when I tell them their dog is just a typical BC.

I was the OP in the rescue forum and I did cross post it in this forum too when the situation first arose. I have not heard back from the woman so I am assuming the dog was PTS. I did not post asking for advice on whether I should take the dog in to be rehomed, as that was not an option for me (living with in-laws at the moment). I also did not really want advice on what she should do, because the husband had already made up his mind. The only thing I was hoping for was someone to offer to take the dog and whether people saw him as rehomeable. That was his only chance. The husband was not going to get more behaviouralists out because the one he did get out (who was recommended by the vet he trusts) said the dog had no hope. None of us know what the behaviouralist saw and whether he was any good. My gut feeling is he was useless, but who knows, maybe he saw something that the owners didn't when he visited. The thread got deleted before I could finish reading all the bitchiness but any offer was too late for the poor dog.

I used to have three dogs (now two) and three cats - I would take them all in to be vacc'd and get like 5% off! Whoa! Then I found a vet who does a great deal for multiple vacc's, but I don't trust her at all with anything serious. Last time I took my dog to the vet for his limp, I was charged hundreds of dollars to be told "we have no idea what it is". I have spent so much money trying to find out what is wrong, but nobody can tell me. They don't mind charging me huge amounts of money for the pleasure though! Another vet killed one of my foster pups when he didn't sterilise his equipment before removing its dew claws (it was a rotty and had doubles), and almost killed the whole litter. And yet another vet gave me a puppy for free (when I was 16 she came into my workplace, handed the puppy to the nearest person, and left) and said we could have free vet work. When we got her home, I saw the puppy could not stand up properly because her back legs would collapse from under her. The idiot vet didn't even check her over before giving her to someone! When we took her in to be checked out, the vet told us the pup would have to be PTS because her knee caps were out of place. Thankfully, we sought a second opinion and found out it was just poor nutrition. She is a perfectly healthy, happy dog! Needless to say, we did not take the vet up on her offer of free vet work!

Is this just for an overgrown nail? How overgrown is it? If I were you, I would just snip it back to just below the quick, and then snip off a tiny bit more. You can get this powder-like stuff (I always forget what its called) that stops the bleeding and helps prevent infection. The nail will heal very quickly.

Every time I find a vet I think I trust, they do something to upset me! Or they insist on charging excessive amounts of money for simple things, despite the fact that I am bringing in multiple animals on a regular basis. I have found one great vet - but she only deals with cats!

Regarding the original post, I think it depends whether you want to teach heel for walking or for obedience/trialling. I have two dogs and it is near impossible to walk them together, both heeling. However, at obedience they both heel perfectly 99% of the time. I see walks as fun times - we walk to the park, do a little training, then they get an off-leash run. If I was to try and get them to heel when out walking, I would actually be teaching them to disobey me, because I am unable to reinforce the command. So when walking, I put my dogs on a harness and let them pull. However, they know that when the check chain goes on they have to work. If your dog is very strong, try a Halti or Gentle-Leader. Good luck!

Regarding HD - a friend of mine bought a GR puppy from a petshop and it was lame with HD by 10 weeks. He now knows why pet shops are bad, but HD can show itself very early if it is bad enough.

Its moron people like this who give cats a bad name. You are supposed to contain your cat on your own property - its the law. Hire a trap and trap the cat. Take it to the pound and let the neighbours know that you trapped that pesky stray cat that was causing your dogs to bark. I have three cats and they have never annoyed anyone, never killed an innocent animal, never pissed on someone's front door, etc. They are inside cats and thats the way it should be.

I believe its a nervous thing. I groom a Golden who drools EVERYWHERE when he is being washed because he is nervous. I don't know there is much you can do about it, except make sure that ALL car trips (for the time being) end at happy places. Perhaps put her in the car to take her to the park every few days (only very short trips to start with). Good luck!

OK, I won't!

I thought it would be interesting to compare how much our different dogs eat! So please add your dogs - how much they eat, their breeds, and the total amount of dog food consumed at your place per week!! I have a BCx and a Labx. They eat two cups of Supercoat Active dryfood each per day. So thats 28 cups of dryfood per week, plus a massive bone each per week.

I am a groomer and like the Wahl clippers - we have two Osters but they get really hot very quickly (to hold). I would not clip my own dogs though because I don't particularly enjoy grooming so will never own a long-haired dog! LOL! I have also seen my fair share of grooming 'accidents' - including an oodle who had massive chunks of hair cut off everywhere (some were so short I had to do the whole dog on an 8.5. He also had a really deep gash on his abdomen where the woman cut him with the scizzors - he had to be stitched by the vet. If you want to clip your own dog, its safer to use clippers than scizzors. Spend the money and get good equipment. And most importantly, buy a good book or get someone to show you how to do it properly.

I am pretty sure that they use different tests to determine intelligence, such as how quickly the dog learns something, how quickly it solves a problem, etc. It wouldn't just be based on obedience. I will do a quick google and see what I can find!! :rolleyes: Oh and just for the record, my dog is the smartest! LOL! ETA: OK, after a quick google search I found this. I believe the rankings were based on Dr Stanley Coren's studies. I found this link to his webpage and it explains a bit about intelligent dogs - and how it does not necessarily mean they are well-behaved dogs!! :D http://www.stanleycoren.com/e_intelligence.htm

Its a personal choice. The thing is that she may never 'learn' to walk on a lead so a halter might suit you. Both my dogs attend training and work perfectly at training but pull like buggers when walking!! So I use a body harness when walking and allow them to do what they want, but they know they have to work properly when they have the chokers on. Why not take a flat collar, halter and choker to training and see what they recommend? You might need to try a few things to find something that works - what works for one dog might not work for another. ;)

Cordelia, you crack me up! The link almost made me laugh until I realised they were serious - now I'm just scared!! Hey why not post that link about people 'satisfying' their dogs while we're at it?? :p For the record, my grandparents have always owned undesexed male pedigree large breed dogs (dalmations and dobes). They were/are ALL humpers. One died of bloat while in a boarding kennel, another got it but did not die from it. The current dog has had numerous growths and problems related to not being desexed (can't remember exactly what - prostate problems I think) and has had to be desexed anyway (at 9 years of age). - Aren't there studies around that show on average, desexed pets live longer? What about bitches getting pyo?? Coming into heat after heat and not being mated? And having all the other 'caring owners' dogs jumping your fence to get to your bitch? Sounds like FUN!! - WTH?? How does a dog's purpose differ if its desexed or not??

Some farts can be uncomfortable. If she is gassy then something is not agreeing with her tummy. I use Supercoat and like it - I think you can get sensitive stomach variety now. But the poo would not help!! Most dogs love eating cow poo and I don't know if there is much you can do about it! Isn't charcoal supposed to help farty dogs? Or is that for bad breath?? Can't remember!!

I would have thought that 8 weeks was very early to be sending a large breed puppy to a new home anyway. I thought most breeders rehomed at about 10-12 weeks? Why not, if they want to desex their pups, wait until the pup is 16 weeks old before desexing/rehoming it? I agree with Peibe that all pet quality pups should be desexed - but then Peibe, Cordelia and myself deal mostly with rescues and we see the results of BYB getting their hands on undesexed pedigree dogs.

Its such a tough call though. I mean, whats to stop your pups ending up in the hands of a BYB, or god forbid, a puppy farm? Believe me it happens - the majority of purebred dogs at the puppy farm I dealt with came from registered, reputable breeders who have no idea what has happened to their precious puppies. The PF owner actually told me that she lies and tells breeders about the wonderful home they will have with her. Unfortunately, early desexing is the only way to ensure your pups don't end up this way. I have never heard of hyster's being done on dogs? Do vets actually do it?

Well I have no idea about litter training puppies, but in regards to eating the litter, the paper based litters are the safest. Eg. Max's or Breeder's Choice. Do NOT use crystals or clumping litter as they can be very dangerous if ingested.