Dxenion

I just emailed them about postage for 2 Premier Quick Access Treat Pouches. Apparently $35 is an accurate cost. Guess I'll have to keep my fingers crossed they come up for free shipping.

570mm x 430mm (1mm thick)

Is this Pet Mat any good? If so, I have large one for sale. We bought one for our dog on the advice that it should be okay on top of a soft surface but it turned out not to be the case. It needs to be used on a hard surface only. Other than that it works very well, is designed to be used 24/7 and is simple to wipe clean or take off and wash the cover. The company replaced our mat so we have a brand new mat, mains cable, car cable and one burgundy cover (possibly two - will have to check). Only selling because it's not suitable for our needs.

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice. I was able to adjust the settings as recommended and take an almost identical photo. This time it was a little underexposed because the sun suddenly disappeared behind thunder clouds (where did they come from?) just as we sent the dog through the door. Didn't have time for further shots as the sky opened up! I really appreciate your help.

I borrowed an SLR to have a bit of a play for the first time. Happened by chance (not planning) to capture an image I like but I obviously had the wrong settings and overexposed the photo badly. The dog is a White Swiss Shepherd but he's not that white! I've tried photoshop - duplicate layer, multiply but this doesn't fix the image. Can it be saved or will I have to try again? If I have to try again, could someone please provide a SLR for dummies guide on exactly what settings will get the sharpest image when shooting in continuous mode. The dog will be moving left to right under a patio and it could be overcast or with a little sun. Camera is a Canon EOS500D with a EFS 18-55 lens. I've included the photo data for this image so someone can tell me where I went wrong. Camera was in M mode if that helps.

Received a donated futon frame and mattress for the dogs. Mattress in excellent condition. Mattress placed on futon. Went out for 2 hours and left 9 month old GSD at home....... GSD pulled mattress onto lawn (very strong puppy - mattress weighs a ton) GSD disembowled mattress Backyard looked like a sheep was slaughtered in it GSD's owner grits teeth and spends the next week picking cotton out of the grass, bushes, trees........

A quote from a US forum discussing NSAR. NSAR is a well known organisation in the US (well known for selling anyone a service animal kit without any background checks). They proclaim to register your ESA so that you can take it where pets aren't allowed yet the US Department of Justice does not recognise ESA as service animals. Persons with kits from NSAR and claiming their ESA as a SA for purposes of gaining access to public areas are breaking the law in the US. Many service providers don't challenge the person, even though they have the right to do so, therefore persons with ESA continue to access areas they are not supposed to be in. To sum it up, in the US an ESA is not classed as a SA so what they are doing is illegal. ESAs are not recognised here (for the purposes of accessing public areas) but Psychiatric Support Dogs (PSDs) are. A whole different kettle of fish. In Australia there is an Act in each state that covers educational facilities and dog access. From memory specifically relating to NSW, pet dogs are not allowed unless the person has permission in writing from management. Some facilities might set their own rules with regard to Therapy Dogs but the DDA (or QLD, VIC or SA state law) protects the rights of access for disabled persons (disabled as defined by the DDA) accompanied by an AD.

In Australia, assistance dogs (AD) when accompanied by their disabled handler have the same rights of access as guide dogs. Technically speaking, it is the person who has right of access, not the dog. Therapy dogs have no rights of access. The Disability Discrimination Act (a federal Act covering all of Australia) identifies assistance dogs (guide, hearing and assistance) in 3 ways. They are defined as accredited by the state, accredited by an organisation or trained. 'Trained' covers those that are owner trained. Right or wrong, the DDA does not specify that the dog must be assessed or registered as an AD. The DDA also does not specifiy that the dog must wear an identifying cape or vest. The DDA does not specify what is deemed as an 'appropriate' standard for hygiene and behaviour for a dog working in a public place. Some states (QLD, VIC and SA) have introduced specific AD laws which do define appropriate behaviour (eg Public Access Test), do require that the dog wear a vest and the handler is issued an ID card. Other states have no specific laws at the moment although WA has a draft policy under review and you can get a Letter of Authority and a handler ID card from them. Dogs from an AD organisation have their own rules on vests and ID cards and it varies from org to org. Under Section 54A of the DDA, service providers can ask for evidence that the dog is an AD and is trained to the appropriate standard of hygiene and behaviour, but cannot ask for evidence that is unreasonable for the person to obtain. It is the handler's responsibility to ensure that if asked, they can provide evidence because the service provider is legally allowed to refuse access/ service if they can't. For those worried about non disabled persons abusing the system and claiming their pet dog as an AD, there is a National Assistance Dog Working Group which is working on a national ID system. The proposed national framework is currently being finalised.

We have the crate games DVD and I love it. The part I think would be most relevant here is towards the end of the DVD where Susan demonstrates with clicker training how to get a dog to go willingly into a crate designed for a dog half it's size. This dog is clearly very cramped in there but continually offering to go in to get the click/ treat. She did this demo to show how to get a scared dog to go into the crate on its own, hands free just with the power of clicker training and I think it only took a couple of sessions (from memory). Once the dog is happily going in, then you start basic crate games. If you are able to get the dvd, I think it would be well worth the look, otherwise PM me and I can loan you our copy. Option 3 is I can try and explain here the steps she used in the video.

Must be an SA thing then. I knew a SA based ACD breeder with a lot of champion show dogs (ie not BYB). He always referred to them as heelers. I didn't hear anyone refer to them as ACDs or cattle dogs until I moved interstate.

Sheppies - German Shepherds and White Swiss Shepherds Wolfies - Irish Wolfhounds Blueys - ACD (seems to apply to red or blue), also heard them refered to as Heelers (ie Blue/ Red Heelers)

White Swiss Shepherd Dog (Jan 09 I think)

What behaviours are you describing when you say she is 'shutting down'? You mentioned that you were adding weight to the backpack and she was fine but then started shutting down. Was there a particular incident the last time she wore the harness with weight in it? Did she react immediately when you put the weight in or later on during or after the walk (ie a soft issue or other injury)? Did anything else change on that last time she wore it happily? Just trying to see if there was an event that happened the last time she wore the harness happily. An out of the box idea - have you experimented with someone else (who has good canine leadership skills) putting her harness on using a no nonsense approach. Just ruling out the possibility that she may have linked you + harness + a bad experience. Possibly in her eyes now, you holding the harness is a precusor to the bad experience and 'shutting down' resulted in you not putting the harness on her. Because the shutting down behaviour worked before, she is now even more motivated to 'shut down' in order to avoid the harness. Another out of the box idea - does Lexi wear a jacket and is she comfortable in it? Is your harness adjustable? If she has a jacket she is comfortable in, put the harness on her over the top of the jacket. The jacket should minimise or possibly eliminate any rubbing. Don't attach anything to the harness. It's only a temporary measure but it will help her to get used to it again without it being in direct contact with her fur. When she is comfortable with the jacket/ harness combo, remove the jacket and repeat the process. Assuming: - she has been checked out to confirm no injuries/ bruising/ rash which could cause pain where the harness sits, - no event that may have caused this behaviour, - she wont accept the harness from another experienced dog person, I would agree with Nekhbet to leave it on her and ignore any undesired behaviours that may be exhibited to get your attention (attention equals reward for exhibited behaviour). If you know the harness is not causing physical harm, just keep her under observation for a couple of hours a day, rewarding any behaviour that is acceptable to you and ignoring any 'shut down' behaviour. Please let us know when you get Lexi happily back into her harness and how you did it.

For me, effective socialisation really depends on the following points: Firstly, how do you want your future adult dog to behave around other dogs/ people/ animals? Are there any psychological traits that may affect the pup's reaction in certain situations (eg nervy, dominant, shy, fearless...) as these will need to be considered when planing how you conduct the socialisation. From there you can plan a socialisation schedule with the focus on the desired behaviour ie if you want your future adult dog to be able to meet and play appropriately with other dogs, then as a pup you would gear socialisation with that goal in mind. On the flip side, if you want your adult dog to be neutral, then you set up a training strategy to that end. There are plenty of posts on DOL an how to do either. Personally, I need my future adult dog to be neutral around any other distractions when he is working so I am training now that when he sees another dog/ person/ animal, they are about as interesting to him as a painting of the Mona Lisa. I also have to be careful not to develop any resource guarding tendancies (ie over me) as he cannot show any aggressive behaviours toward people or animals. I use equipment association and shaping/ rewarding appropriate behaviours. My pup lives with three adult dogs and has unrestricted access to them. He romps with them but his play is supervised so that he doesn't get too excited. By doing this, we are also reinforcing appropriate play behaviour to maintain the pack harmony (he can get a bit boisterous with the other dogs and he sometimes ignores their avoidance behaviour indicators in his heightened state). When not in his equipment, he is allowed some supervised greetings with strange stable dogs but we don't allow him to play with other dogs so that he doesn't form that association. When your dog displays behaviour you desire around other dogs/ people/ animals, that is effective socialisation. I believe that socialisation shouldn't stop when the dog reaches adulthood - it should continue it's whole life.

One of ours decided that the only way he could drink from his bowl was when he was standing in it. We were concerned about the water quality, especially when he used to plonk both front feet in the bowl after running through mud and other tasty water additives, so we resolved the issue by getting one of these. No more standing in the water! In summer he does has a clam shell to splash about in. We too were worried about wet paws and slippery tiles so we trained him to wipe his feet - problem solved.

For the last 2 years, we've had it on standby for one of our GSDs who has severe protein allergies. He gets 1 x 20mg tablet a day when the symptoms flare up. After 2-3 days we drop the dose to 1/2 tablet for 1-2 days and then take him off it. We do it this way to prevent any adrenal problems. You need to be careful as it cannot be given at the same time as some other medications (Rimadyl is one I can think of). The only side effect we've noticed is a slight increase in thirst whilst taking the tablets and for a couple of days afterwards. As he will need them for the rest of his life (he's only 3) and he is a working dog, we are also looking at alternatives but haven't found anything as effective yet. Edited: Spelling

Susan is an amazing trainer. Could you post details on where to sign up please.

Stable Master Feed Storage bin from here for all the food and treats because it's water tight and vermin proof. We customised ours with 4 braked castors and 2 heavy duty dividers.

Try 3 or 4 metal egg rings in the bowl with the food. It worked on our pup. No chance of getting swallowed and it still gives them enough of an obstacle to slow down around. As they slow down, you can progressively remove one ring at a time and eventually the dog is eating at a slower pace without any obstacle. Edited for clarity.

I taught one of our dogs to ring a Tell Bell when he wants to go out. Tonight he added his own twist to the trick. I was on the phone which was plugged in charging when I heard him dinging away. I couldn't immediately respond to Lord Furball's wish so he took matters into his own paws. Next thing I know, he's sitting next to me with the bell in his mouth! He had a look on him as if to say, "excuse me, did you not hear me ringing? Can you hear me now?".

Wow! Where is the 'like' button when you need it What camera and settings did you use for this? Absolutely stunning!

After using Joint Guard for many years on our senior GSDs, we recently started trialling Glyde on our 11 year old GSD girl who has creaking arthritis in her hips and knees and is under vet care. Before switching over, she was receiving 3 monthly cartrophen boosters, rimadyl daily, joint guard in every meal (maintenance dose) and is an inside dog, but still seemed to be slowing up with the onset of colder weather (still waiting for winter here in Perth). After reading the rave reviews about Glyde on DOL, we decided to give it a go. She's been on it now for three weeks. I can't quantify how much of an influence other factors have had eg wearing a jacket to bed (the dog, not me) and putting the heater on a bit earlier for her, but her behaviour is noticeably different. I've seen an increase in activity level, initiating play behaviour with the two youngest dogs and even getting actively involved in a game of fetch. I've also busted her sharing chewing duties with the pup on an Invincibles 6 squeaker snake - she's never been interested in toys before. I know it's only been three weeks and it's not a scientific assessment due to environmental variables, but so far I think we might be on a winner. Anything that improves her outlook on life is a plus for me. I just wish my credit card would stop screaming! Edited for spelling

I couldn't find any other reference in the Act which is good news of sorts - it doesn't specifically prohibit access to a tertiary institution. The next place I'd check would be the local council that the university is in to see if they have any specific school restrictions.

This may help. NSW COMPANION ANIMALS ACT 1998 - SECT 14 Dogs prohibited in some public places (1) Dogs are prohibited in the following places (whether or not they are leashed or otherwise controlled): (e) (meaning any property occupied or used for a purpose connected with the conduct of a government school or non- government school under the Education Act 1990 , other than any property used for a residence or the curtilage of a residence). (5) A dog is not prohibited under this section in a school ground or child care centre if it is there with the permission of the person controlling the school ground or child care centre. If the uni doesn't have any specific rules about dogs and you had permission from the controlling body, you should be okay. Note, this Act only applies to NSW. It may be different for other states/ territories.