Pretty Miss Emma

I wouldn't rule them out, but I'd be getting her to go and meet some as they can all be very different! My 2 are not getting heaps of time from me at the moment and they are coping fine, but they have been trained to cope with that. Certainly if I'd not been able to give Kenz 45+min walks plus heaps of training and play every day when she was up to 2 years old, my life would have been miserable. Hamish however has just been chilled out from day 1. So BC's are not a breed I'd rule out but I'd also be looking at what else is out there. And I think I'd also be asking (which you probably have) why she wants a BC? But if she can give around an hour of exercise each day as well as some training and if the dog was a house dog and living with the family then I wouldn't rule out a BC. But I'd be looking out for working/performance dogs in the lines as then she might be getting in to dogs that are needing more than she may be able to give!

Well I love being ambitious!!! Looking at this list makes me laugh a little - as if I was ever going to get all that done this year with other things I had going on!!! So what have we achieved... Kenzie - she got her Heelwork to Music Starters title today!! And that's pretty much it! But it's taken us a long time to be ready for this one as it involves off lead work and that's not our forte, particularly if any other dog is around! And we've started herding, hoping to get her starting titling in that next year. Hamish - well we've earnt some challenge points showing, that's a good thing! He's learnt to do some things - I did actually start training him to get to that point! And we've started herding - I was right, he has a whole heap of instinct and is running circles around me. He's going to be able to start trialling in herding early in the new year, and I'm excited about it!!! I'll just have to put all the other things on the list for 2014!

Oh what an absolutely stunning hound! I agree! That's one pretty dog!

I would be speaking to a professional trainer/behaviourist before following the advice you mention the breeder has given. Everyone is different, but unless he is a trainer who is experienced in dealing with such problems I'd be wary of some of that advice.

ETA - I just saw posts I didn't realise were in the thread so some of what I've mentioned might be a bit repetitive! but I feel your pain having had a high maintenance pup, and maybe some of the things I've mentioned might be useful to you (even just as support!!)! Where did she come from? It's sonding like she didn't have much socialisation in terms of living in a house with a family or any alone time before coming to you. it sounds like she is used to being entertained whenever she pleases. My girl was a high maintenance puppy and did some of the things you are mentioning. First 3 nights I had her there was not a great deal of sleep for the first 2 hours she was put to bed. She was put in a crate with a nice toy, cosy bed, a rawhide chew - she screamed for close to 2 hours! I would get up and take her outside to the toilet, then straight back to bed in the crate (with door locked shut but it was beside my bed). no fuss, no conversation. She eventually wore herself out and fell asleep for the rest of the night. the next 2 nights it took less time for her to get to sleep and then after that she just accepted it was bed time and would go to sleep. But it took toughing it out the first few nights to get to that point. She would chew everything under the sun, so everything got put away. every time she tried to mouth me I squealed, and then once she did it too hard and I ended up growling at her big time and the mouthing stopped. She chewed everything she could for around 2 years, so that meant lots of trips to the cheapy stores to buy her whatever she was allowed to chew, plus lots of soft drink bottles and heaps of rawhides and big bones. She was also a nightmare to toilet train, so she was crated any time I couldn't supervise her indoors until she was reliable with asking to go out or taking herself outside. If your pup isn't going when you take her out it probably means you aren't waiting long enough. Don't forget to praise and give treats when she does go outside, this worked really well for me in terms of getting my girl to want to go outside (but then teaching her to come and find me to ask to go out was a different ball game!). The one thing I wish I had taught my girl earlier (to make my life easier!) was to settle and chill out. She was a hyper pup who always wanted to be entertained and I was excited about training a new pup. So therefore she was always entertained! Big mistake!!! I ended up with an 18 month old dog who couldn't just hang out with me!!! So I would focus on teaching your pup to settle - when pup is lying down beside you that's when the rewards come out. And pups daily food ration can be the rewards it doesn't have to be special treats all the time. The other thing I was thinking as I read your post... Have you taken the pup for a vet visit? Lots of what you have mentioned sounds very extreme, it may be worth having a check up to see that all is ok with the pup if you haven't done this already. And puppy school is good but it probably won't help you with a lot of these problems (still valuable for socialisation and basic training though), it may be a good idea to look at other trainers who may be able to come and visit you at home to see what the pup is doing and give you some specific guided advice.

Hamish thinks birds chirping are offensive so he barks at the sound of them doing that! Maybe birds just make offensive noises!

There are some breeds that have names that I've never been taught how to pronounce, so I just do my best! Can you please spell out phonetically how to pronounce these names if you are knowledgable on the pronunication!! And if you'd like to add to the list please do so (including the names that should be a little more easy to figure out but people always get wrong!!)!! Maremma Lowchen Finnish Lapphund Azawahk Keeshond Basset Fauve de Bretagne Bouvier des Flandres Petit (and Grand) Basset Griffon Vendeen Dogue de Bordeaux Griffon Burxellois Schipperke Xoloitzcuintle

So I've just moved in to my new house. It's in Langwarrin. Previously I lived in the North West and I had a brilliant pet shop where I would buy my food at a really decent price. So far all the places I've been to over this side of town I'm looking at paying at least $15 more for food. So if anyone has any recommendations of good places to get pet foods (particularly dry but also raw meats) I'd love to hear about them, am happy to go pretty much anywhere within a 20 minute or so drive of Langwarrin if needs be.

What does that mean for animals coming from countries like South Africa? I don't know the detail because I've never had to use such a service but I thought the animal had to be quarantined at it's first Australian destination. Does that mean that those animals will now need to go on flights that land at Melb/Syd as first port? Wouldn't that possibly increase their travel time a great deal (and potentially require them to go through other countries?)? Like I said I don't really know details, this is just what popped in to my head as a thought!

Just because the things are still going on doesn't mean the advisory committee didn't do anything, it just means that the government didn't want to listen to what they had to say and take it on advisement. With no advisory committee it means that there are a lot of welfare issues now that won't even get spoken about and considered let alone ever get changed or have hope for change. Well not within the next 3 years anyway. Looking at the list that was in the media release today it is quite obvious that this government doesn't care about any animals be they hominid or other from all the "non-compulsory committees" that will no longer exist. Just because something isn't compulsory doesn't make it a waste of money. It's really eally upsetting watching anything that does not represent direct monetary value being sliced and anything that would show that the government had even the most minute ounce of humanity.

Haven't had a dog needing entropian surgery but went to Animal Eye Care with my old girl and they were brilliant (I ended up with all of them working on her mystery problems one way or another). I can't recommend them highly enough.

Hi, Can anyone confirm for me please the start time for judging tomorrow? I found the schedule confusing, I think it said that gsd's with their special judging were at 830 and normal breed judging at 10. Does that mean all the other breeds start at 10, or do we also start at 830 and it's just gsd conformation at 10. Help please!!!

That we need to continue learning forever to be the best we can be, to be very patient, to calm down (it actually will be ok 99% of the time!), to be a bit stupid (my training mantra is "embrace your inner stupid"!). And so many more things!

I use a Chris Christesen bamboo pin brush, and my dogs love it more than they love any brush! Not sure how it would go on a St Bernard coat, but it's great on a BC or Aussie coat!

I had a RuffWear one (the "portage" model), it was absolutely brilliant. Allowed for easy movement but kept the dog high in the water.

My two are on BH (Hamish grew up on it) and it seems to be doing them both well. I quite like it, plus the small kibble pieces mean I can get some more "training distance" out of it when I use it for training!!

I like Halti's in the right circumstance with the right dog. I use one on my girl sometimes, but my boy I haven't (as yet!). However I don't like the idea of it being compulsory, I think you need to be able to use the right tool for you to train your dog. I have much more understanding of excluding one or two types of tools as at least there is still a range that you can use than I do of being able to use only one. Odd! I'd be asking why this is their policy.

Don't have particular experience with this, but many people say bicarb soda and vinegar will work magic on anything!

When I was renting I just wrote a letter and asked the landlord. I included information regarding size of dog (as I wasn't sure of breed), what I was intending to do with dog, etc. I already had cats, rabbits and wildlife, plus great landlords! They had no problem with it and gave me permission. In saying that though, with the other animals I always stated the animals I had when I moved in but often ended up gathering another critter while I was at the property! In many cases I didn't ask, but they were easier animals to not be seen during inspections! But I was also a great tenant (I had the RE recommending me to landlords when properties came up and I was at the end of leases!) and made sure all aspects of the property were immaculate. I really think honesty is the best policy. And in terms of moving, I'd certainly be mentioning all animals you have or plan to have. Especially if you want a good reference from the previous property. While I think there are some unreasonable landlords in terms of having pets, there are also some really great ones and I think it's important to have the best relationship you can with the person who owns and pays for the house you want to live in!!

I quite like the Halti and have used it with my ractive girl. Key things - get them used to wearing it before walking them with it, always walk with the lead only about 30cm long so they don't hurt their neck if they do lunge (never let a dog walk on a full length leash with a head halter on, you're just asking for injury). Using the halti will probably make you a bit more calm and confortable and that will translate to your dog and assist with his training.

Get in touch with *kirty* if she doesn't come and read here, she will be able to help you out with this. Anyway, yes I've had some experience. Mine was a little different to straight glaucoma as my Emma had cataract surgery and then a myriad of issues of which high eye pressure was one. I wonder if the "suddenly watery" is actually the fluid being released from the eye. My girl was on about 3 or 4 different types of eye drops 2-3 times per day to manage the eye pressure. She was scheduled to have a gentomycin (I think that's how you spell it) injection in to her eye 2 days after she died because I didn't want her putting up with the pain of the high pressure and we were constantly at the eye specialist having the fluid drained. Anyway, gentomycin basically kills the eye, you can leave the eye in place but it has 0 function and it will shrink a little in size. I was going for this option because I didn't want to have the eye totally removed and I was not wanting to put her under a GA again at that point. I do know a dog that had his eye removed and no prosthesis put in. He looks and does fine (struggling a bit now as he is losing vision in his remaining eye due to age). If you are getting a prosthesis I believe you need to have the surgery through an ee specialist, but just eye removal can be done by your normal vet. and I think it all comes down to aethetics and what you would like, there really is no benefit to the dog in having a prosthesis. In terms of most immediate comfort I would say either removal of the eye or deadening of the eye (appparently deadening is much more common overseas than it is here, most people just remove the eye here). While it may be a little traumatic for both of you at the time my understanding is in the longer term it will probably be a lot easier and less maintenance than trying to keep an eye with glaucoma healthy. Good luck.

I have 2 BC's and they were very different weights at 8 weeks old. Kenzie was 3.5kg when I picked her up and she was mid-size in the litter. Hamish was about 6.3kg when I picked him up and he was probably the largest in the litter. Both picked up at exactly 8 weeks old!!! It was a bit of a suprise for me because I took the same carry cage I had used for Kenz and there was NO WAY he was going to fit in it!!!

Hamish still has somewhat easty westy feet. And he sits a little low on his pasterns (I think that is the right way to describe it - he's a bit flat footed!). Anyway I was told that using Vitamin C in his food could help towards correcting these things. Obviously along with a few other things including exercising on different surfaces etc. Anyway I'm wondering if anyone has any expereince in this or if you have used Vitamin C in your dogs what product did you use and what was the dosage? Can you use a human Vitamin C?

If he's going blind you need to let him use his other senses, that's how he will experience the world. If he can't see where he's going he will probably sniff it out - that's what my old blind girl did, once she lost her vision her head and nose was often much closer to the ground so she could figure out where she was going. I would say that a Halti is probably not really appropraite for a dog as short as a cocker anyway, when using one you really want the lead to only be around 30cm long otherwise you may end up with a dog with a really sore neck (unless you have a super tall cocker or you're both quite short!!). Personally I'd be doing a lot of training of focussing on you, and yes, as others have said - the stinky super yummy treats need to come in to play! And use commands that both you and your OH are going to be able to use, no point using whistling if you both can't whistle! I don't know if you've thought about it, but if your dog hasn't lost vision yet it is a good time to start teaching commands that are going to help when he does (such as for stepping up and down steps/curbs/etc, watch out, and things that will be useful once the vision is totally gone).

I've been through a similar experience and now have a dog reactive dog (well she's reactive to dogs who she doesn't know and we have to do introductions carefully). I don't know that I'd call my girl aggressive, but reactive - definitely. And for my girl it is primarily to do with being on lead (she was "attacked" when on lead so I assume that she now feels threatened on lead as she can't get away), when she is off lead we never have issues if it's neutral ground. But get help from someone who knows what they're doing (as recommended) asap. The quicker you get on to this hopefully the lesser the issue will be. I think I didn't get on to it quickly enough and it's been 3 years of hard work and it will always be something I have to keep an eye on. you will be able to help your dog it will just take work, consistency and committment. good luck!