Inevitablue

That sounds like a perfect plan...see what both you and your dog enjoy. I kinda ruined my male dog Jake. He was the first dog I got after I moved out of home. I was sooo keen to do obedience I joined 3 clubs and spent 3 nights a week.....heel *check* heel *check again* left turn, right about turn* check again* I was just so keen and even though I could see he was over it I continued in the hour long classes. My poor beautiful dog In the end he hated formal heeling and I couldn't get him through the Novice ring yet could do all the Utility exercises. I stopped entering obedience trials and took up agility which he looooved!

Hi guys, I would like to have a go at competitive herding when my pup is old enough. I am planning to get out to Erskine Park to watch how the trials are run. With my male, we used to just work cattle for the neighbour...single bulls, moving groups of heifers etc I tried him on sheep at Erskine Park once and he was just waaaaay too rough. If left to his own devices he was always more interested in 'heading' rather than 'heeling' and had to be reminded what the job at hand was - moving them, not stopping them! With this new pup, at what age do you guys think I need to get her around sheep so she is a bit softer on them? An ACD breeder mentioned to me that they are fine on sheep if introduced early enough and before cattle. What is the earliest she can do an instinct test? :)Thanks

Im in awe of my little 8 wo pup... her problem solving ability, finding open gates- pushing her ball under a fence and immediately running to the gate to go retrieve it. I think all dogs are intelligent when the measurement accomodates what that dog has been selectively bred for. Can't measure intelligence when trying to make a square peg fit a round hole. I do think ACD's have a nice combination of 'problem solving thinking' and a laid back attitude, and that results in usable intelligence for the average person.

Wear gloves and do it out on the grass!

Or you could try the method my 8 wo pup just did.... I left my expensive GHD hair straightener hanging from vanity, and she got caught in the cord, panicked and came flying out of the ensuite with a big yelp and the straightener bouncing along behind her proceeded to drop her anal glands all over the carpet.... She was back to her normal self within minutes, meanwhile I have been on my hands and knees for the past 30....

Hmmmm I just googled, looking for what drug it was, but I think our girl might be a different case because she was desexed. Is this oodle desexed? Found this on all things leaking.... http://www.medi-vet.com/UrinaryIncontinence.html

I hope you have tiles! Not sure if it's related, but we had a young 6 month old dog (kelpie x staffy...RSPCA) who did the same thing. Gave her a few weeks to see if it was from being overwhelmed but after a few weeks she was still leaking everywhere. I cannot remember what the tablets were that we gave her but vet said it was for 'leaking girls' not due to old age or whelping. Kept her on them for a few months and then weaned her off them. I know they are commonly prescribed. Wont help you now, but maybe next time your babysitting ;)

Has the pup been socialised? Perhaps she has just lived within their 4 walls, and its just freaking out at new place, new faces, new smells etc.

When I had this problem, I figured I had to make the experience unpleasant. I tried the tabasco sauce, but found out he quite liked hot stuff. So I hung a towel up, just within jumping height and sprayed half a bottle of Bitter Bite spray along the edge that was grabable. When I came home from work the towel was on the ground. I repeated for the rest of the week with some sacrificed T shirts, jeans etc, but nothing was ever touched again. Certainly took away the pleasant experience of pulling clothes off the line, and i was never seen as the 'bad guy'

OH is a keen amateur photographer... I'm looking at the camera now and its a Canon EOS 5D. Those photos are not photshopped yet, as in my 'proud parent' ways yesterday I wanted them on facebook ASAP Here are 2 post photoshop edits from a day at the zoo... it takes a great photo

My partner took about 50 unreal photos yesterday... and she was being such a poser. I knew I had picked the boldest in the litter, but I'm still in awe of just how confident she is. Was the first puppy to leave the litter and hasn't even looked back (Mum?..whose that??) What a set of lungs too! - 'Damn you crate door... you were not shut in daylight hours' She met my lorikeet yesterday, I so wish I had a video there and then. They were rolling around on the floor playing. He established the pecking order first (literally) and then it was game on

Tess came home yesterday.... sorry that should read Cyclone Tess arrived in our town yesterday! so cute, very inquisitive and really does think the world is her oyster....all at 8 weeks old

Whilst not as cheap as going down the human pharma path, there is the generic ACE inhibitor called VetACE, manufactured by Jurox. You could also ask your vet to order some benazapril from BOVA - a compounding supplier. Incidentally, are you guys using frusemide (diuretic) with the Fortekor/Vetmedin combination?

2 more sleeps for me..... come on friday!

Its been ages (eeek! like a decade) since I showed a couple of adult SBT's and I'm planning on showing my new ACD pup. I have filled out what seems like a zillion agility entry forms so all that I'm ok with, but what is expected in the baby puppy class? Behaviour and training wise? A friend did well with her baby Chow and she just went in the ring and followed the crowd. Zero preparation at home with training etc (he was leash trained, that was about it) Is it really that relaxed?

I partly agree, however FEI dressage is not an ecomonic concern to the government, whereas egg production is. I would be overjoyed if intensive farming was investigated and regulated with animal welfare paramount. Unfortunately the RSPCA cops it when the general public dont see them fighting for the injustices to animals that are in the media's eye. Feedlot beef farming and the gradual move to freestall dairying hardly ever get mentioned when people say the RSPCA dont fight hard enough. As a society we are generally going backwards in production animal welfare.... live exports, grain overloaded cattle, dairy cows that never see the sun etc. Freestall dairies are growing in Aust. A dairy in NSW has all their girls in large sheds, with about as much personal space as they would have at a royal show pavillion. Farmers on the NSW south coast are being offered millions for their beautiful land, and the cows are gradually shifting to confined barns. We also export many cows to the UAE. In the big barns in which they live, if the aircon breaks down all will be dead within hours..... One dairy in Canada has km's of barns and there is a platform train that they walk 20m to, which transports them to the milking shed, then takes them back when finished. No humans required as they are conditioned to the system with a feed of grain at either end. The extent of their exercise is about 100m a day! and no sunshine. Some smart non cow caring person worked out that for each km a cow walks she reabsorbs about 1 ltr of milk.... so lets stop the natural desire to move!! Love or hate the RSPCA, they simply dont have the might to argue forcefully against intensive farming. Much like the government trying to handle the situation with Japanese whalers. I can understand all the other factors in play, not that I like it, or approve of it, but like much of society we do give our tacit consent to the governments decisions. As a query does anyone know what animal welfare is like in France (yes..apart from the live import of horses for slaughter), considering they are one nation that does not just accept government jurisdiction?

As what Poodlefan said, with crating both dogs side by side, perhaps start bringing Midge inside so she learns that there is down time too. My ex had staffords and whilst not my chosen breed I did find they responded beautifully to 'appropriate behavior in certain situations' training. Daisy is all so exciting at the moment, but if Daisy remains an indoor dog and Midge an outdoor dog then you could create the situation that 90% of the time Midge is busting to play with Daisy so the 10% of the time she gets to interact with her it's completely over the top. Whilst Midge isnt your chosen dog try to embrace her as well trained staffords are a real pleasure. The play is possibly extra rough because she hasn't learnt to have relaxation time with Daisy yet. With the worry about early damage to growing Daisy there has been some research (will look for it now, its from my old work) that supplementing a young dog's diet with chondroitin and glucosamine, if the is a concern about joint damage, can benefit. DJD and OA are asymptomatic for so long, while the damage is beginning to occur. Have fun with your new puppy :-) Mine comes home on Friday, and I'm kinda sad that I don't have another dog at home at the moment. Well trained dog number 1 helps train potentially well trained dog number 2

Haha the girl telling people in the pet shop that the puppies were blue cattle x red cattle because thats how they get the nice tan markings on the blue puppies.

Can I ask why you were waiting until 13 weeks? Id be busting by that stage!! Tess is coming home in 12 days, at 8 weeks old. How exciting Toolz, ACD puppies :-)

I have met many of the breeders dogs over the years and always admired them. I lost my boy to a brain tumor in April last year. My partner surprised me on chrismas day with the news that the breeder had a litter on the ground and we were going to pick one. Best present ever! Smoothiegirl, she looks sweet but I think is a little shedevil! Biggest and boldest of the litter, and at 5wo was pulling her littermates off a teat by their ears. LOL I can't wait to work with her.

Taken with my supposedly wonderful new phone! 5 weeks old and has been christened Tess. I CANNOT wait to get to know her. :D she will be my first non-rescue dog Congrats to everyone with new little friends

3 out of 1000. I can see your workings in this issue. I just wonder though how that number might increase if you looked at how many dogs are neglected enough to be seized by council, but 'fly under the radar' due to a lack of resources. 30 out of 1000?, 130 out of 1000? who knows. Agree though that resources need to be more aimed at a proactive approach to dogs in society in general, rather than a reactive approach.

lol! my bitch Gwen would cock her leg! and the male squat cause he was brought up with girls...

Its interesting isn't it. With horses, the hormones actually tell the animal to stop growing. The growth plates close over much earlier. Thoroughbred stallions are usually around the 16hh mark on average, yet commonly males gelded as weanlings grow to almost 17hh. You can tell a horse who was gelded late. I have gelded them as late as 4yo and they are far more heavily muscled (and maintain this level of muscle mass if work is continued) but the irridecent shine does go My first cattle dog I had desexed at 4 months. I was overly concerned about the dominance levels. He turned out to be an awesome dog, but was still very aware of bitches in heat etc. I know people say they still have 'dominance' issues with their desexed dogs but I just think that the dog would have been even more of a handful if it had been entire. The difference between a gelding and a stallion is, as everyone would know, huge. While an entire dog doesnt require the same level of husbandry as an entire horse, but I imagine the same level of desire and drive is still present, just in a more managable package. hehehe.... also we know what men are like...so why not remove the brain between the legs and just work with the brain between the ears Also..was the 6 month mark established as the 'optimum' time to desex simply because that was the age where anesthesia posed a lower risk than say at 3 months?

Red bitch, blue dad.....6 reds and 2 blue puppies. Can watch them play all day So damn cute! Yours look likes a real sweety