BC Crazy

It must hard to get produce in Tassie is it? Thats a shame because I have heard it is such a nice, quiet place to live Frodo's mum. Very pretty too. That would be frustrating.

Thanks for the "heads up" Frodo's mum. Will keep my eye out for it next time we need to buy dry food as I would like to try it, looks really good :) Ours go really well on TOTW but it is always good to have try a new product. They are always improving & experimenting with new ingredients, sounds great

R-M-Rilla, If the crate is a 36" it should be the OK even when she is fully grown. Stella has always had a 36" crate & it is exactly the right size for her. Great find for only $30

Yes I certainly don't want to sour Stella for want of a better to training because she is as keen as to learn. I only have to say," want to do some tricks?" & I have her full attention :laugh: To her it is all fun I think. She loves to play tug of war & fetch & seems to thrive on everything, learning & fun. Let you know how we go with the grate games. Susan Garret certainly makes it look easy. Amazing you could teach that in 1 hour to your puppy. Hope it works for us too. I am needing to separate my 2 dogs from one another from time to time as Stella is a very needy girl & is leaning on Sonny too much emotionally instead of learning how to work things out & cope on her own. So if I can get her really happy about going into her crate at random times during the day & not just over night as she does now, I can start taking Sonny out more on his own & visa versa hopefully. Well that's the plan

Totally agree cavNott Poor little fella. As for the culprits, nothing more than a waste of oxygen Great believer in Karma too.

Buddy1- Glad to hear you train for 10 min approx as I didn't want Stella to become disinterested as well. I am going to get a copy of that Shaping Success book. I half way through watching Crate Games on DVD, very impressed. I will have to work through that with Stella. Susan made it look very simple. I really need to teach my girl self control. At times she is very excitable. Thanks for all your advice in working order, very helpful, appreciate it :) Ollies mum- I'm glad your in the same spot with Ollie as I am with Stella. Sometimes even though I try very hard with Stella I always feel I'm not doing enough Glad you like her name. I waited to get her for over 12 months & she was always going to be "Stella", & funnily enough it so suits her.

Same here, scented ones & they are cheap as chips :)

The trainer I see has a Hyundai I load van which she swears by & she travels the country with no less than 6 dogs at a time. She has the back all decked out with wire partitions. Very ecomomical to run & everybody is comfy :)

Poor little girl Hope she is found soon & returned safely.

Stella is good at staying next to me but with limited distractions but she will sometimes cross behind me. She can do stays well up until the part when I start to run or move quickly away from her or past her, then she is like, "well I'm coming to". It's the whole movement thing I think. Just better keep practising. I am probably not training her enough either. I only do 10 mins a day just her & I on basic commands. Not sure if that is long enough. Not very imaginative when it comes training ideas, even bore myself as I go over the same old stuff. This is one area that I really need to make much more interesting for Stella as I can tell she is so very keen to work. Thanks for clarifying that for me mrs rusty bucket :)

I was thinking of getting Doggles for my 2 as we go to the beach daily & even though I rinse their eyes when we come home. They still get red eyes on ocassion. Just don't know if they will actually leave them on their face :)

Kavik, could you tell what you mean by shadow work please. I have never heard of this before ? Sorry Ollies mum, don't mean to hijack your thread :) Just very interested :)

Hi Ljhd & welcome :) I am in a very similar situation to you only I have 2 BC 's that I would love to get into agility. Sorry I am of no real help to you. I do know that as long as your dog is healthy, you can still teach them & participate in Agility etc. they are never too old to learn. I have just started to watch a few DVDs on foundation work. Interested to read what other knowledgable DOL's have to say about what prep exercises we can do with our dogs. Will watch this thread with great interest :)

Snook & Justice. Sound like Justice is improving out of sight which is wonderful. Well done to both of you. Stella is going loads better with the LAT game as well. She is really amazing me lately, even today we passed 2 people mowing & whipper snipping, a couple of big dogs & 2 noisy pluvers with only a slight reaction, then I said her name & she looked straight at me, I had her total attention & she just sat calmly waiting for her treat Completely ignoring all those things that previously she would of gone off her nut about, lunging, growling & snapping at the end of her lead. I am very impressed with her progress. I shed a few tears to myself when I got home I am also putting her thunder shirt on when she is at home as she flips out, barking & whining at any noises like birds chirping or if she can hear the neighbours are near our boundry fence. Works a treat for us. Helps her calm down & she even gets some rest at times in the arvo which she certainly wasn't getting before. She was running around frantic most of the time. It's all small steps but positive ones :)

I would have seen red too !! Dearest mummy should have been paying more attention to what her little darlings were doing. Since when is it O.K. to throw sand in a dogs face I would have said something to stop the child from doing it too. And then something MORE to mum if she didn't like it.

Wonderful news ! :) :)

I don't think I would want to use the Eucalyptus idea. Sounds a bit harsh but is most probably effective. My girl is 19 months old & still has bad table manners but not as often as she did when she was a youngster. I think she will always do it randomly unfortunately Yet my boy has never done it. They are all so different. I just am relentless in picking it up ASAP, straight away. She very seldom gets the chance to be "little miss poo eater"

They are both looking so good Newfsie. Very happy & healthy playing together. Just so heart warming to see after such an horrendous beginning. You have done a marvellous job with both of them

Hi Heston 1, I personnally wouldn't be too concerned with Heston. As others have said, feeling sick, change of enviourment e.t.c is not the time to do any sort of accurate temp. Assessment. He is still very young & every pup is different. My girl has only just started to relax around strangers. She is just not a confident girl. Stella is 19 months old, not 4. My boy has always just taken everything in his stride & is quietly confident in most situations. If I were you I would continue on as you were. Take him where ever you can & expose him safely to all new things at his own pace. I never force them but if something is new I first just let them explore it. BC's are very inquisitive & like to check everything out. With new people, again let him meet & greet in his own time. With other dogs I am extremely careful with young pups & who they mix with. I prefer to only let pup mix with other dogs that I already know have a great temp. Hope I have been some help to you. Totally understand raising a puppy can be nerve racking because all you are trying to do is "get it right" & then something like this happens & you think you have done the "wrong" thing. Enjoy Heston, he is still just a baby. He will go through many changes while he matures. I am all puppy clucky now LOL :)

The same thing happened to my BC. The bad breath thing & he just had this aweful smell about him as well. I swapped him over to grain free diet about 8 months ago & haven't had a problem since. Infact within 24 hours of the swap all smell had dissapeared. I was amazed & he has never looked better :)

Tassie & Curly are looking terrific newfsie. Dear little guys. Dogs just amaze me, they are just so resilient. Good on you for helping these poor dogs out. You are doing a wonderful job :)

So sorry for your loss Penumbra What a grand old age for a Dane. It is an extremely difficult time when you lose something you love so much. Don't be to hard on yourself, just take one day at a time. His presence around you will help you remember all the wonderful times you & he had together. I lost my dearest old boy at the same age, 4 years ago now & I felt the warmth of him around me at the time & still do on occasion to this day. All the fond memories come flooding back & gives me the strength to carry on. Good that you have family around you at this difficult time. Take care .

I witnessed a choc Lab attack a beautiful 16 week old Mal pup, almost killed the poor little mite. My OH pulled him off the defenseless puppy. Horrific scene. Sonny, my BC was about 18 months of age & was with me at the time. I have noticed since that very unfortunate incident he is very wary of choc Labs.

Great news !! Melton must have put up a very brave fight & won. One very lucky boy. Great outcome for all concerned :)

I groom both my BC's daily. I just find it is easier as I hardly ever find any knots & if I do they are tiny & easily brushed out. I finished with a wide tooth metal greyhound comb. Am in the process of ordering a Mason Person brush as suggested by Dancinbcs. ATM am using a 27m pin brush which is OK but the pins keep sinking which is annoying. I do use a Les Pooche slicker which are terrific when either of them are shedding. Stella got a few bad knots at around the same age as Calvin but I was able to brush them out with reg. grooming. I wash both of mine fortnightly to three weeks but I rinse them daily as they swim in salt water everyday. I also use Lasor Lites Lanolin Conditioner which works a treat on their pants, behind their ears & on their tail, as it tends to dry out & tangle. Hope I was of some help :)