BrunoBella

Thanks FHRP. I'll have to hide my two in Vizsla outfits to join the Vizsla club BP

You need to make it look like the living area and not a toilet. Move everything in your yard: dog bowls, water, your chairs and table, picnic rug whatever, and plonk it all over the paving. Then use it as a seating area - sit with a book, have your cofee etc. This is the easiest way to show the dog the pavers aren't their new toilet. You don't have to do this forever but just till your staffy learns what the new pavers are for. Have fun BP

Thanks everyone. I am leaning to doing some type of gundog sport. We love going for long walks and will soon (in two days or so) have a remote trainer so they can go off lead. I'm in Brisbane. Where would I do Gundog Field Trials or Retrieving from water. I don't want to compete or anything, we just all want to have some pointing/pseudo hunting fun . Sidoney, is the quarter and point an organised thing or do you do this yourself? BellasPerson

Thanks Sidoney I have added Vizslas to my topic now! What about hunting like activities? Anyone do any of those? BellasPerson

Just wondering what sport GSP/Pointer owners feel their dogs like the most.... I am trying to decide which to do with my dogs. They are both very fit and love chasing butterflies. Thanks BellasPerson

Fantastic news! Who would have thought a poo could be so wonderfull

I know how you feel, Bella has had a cut eye, Kennel cough, gastro from an off bone and numerous injuries to her feet and they always appear in the middle of the night when you can't do anything about it. She's a very expensive dog I'm sure everything will be fine.

Doggywoof You can get a fair idea if something is wrong by feeling the abdominal area. If it's hard and bloated, there may be an obstruction. My Bella had Gastro as well and that made her abdo feel hard as well. She might be hiding her poo . Can you take her out on the lead and watch what she does? If you're worried about her being sick you should also restrict her movement. I had to keep bella in the laundry/crate for a week when she had gastro. Good luck BellasPerson

How's the barking going Tess? I have been dilligently teaching Bella not to bark at people walking past which is working really well. I'm using a word, the growling at her method and a bit of timeout. Today I discovered that Bruno has decided Bella is not doing her job properly so now HE is barking instead I love dogs

Not sure about cats but here's a link to tick info someone put up in another thread. Tick Alert It has great info. bp

Mine still haven't arrived. This system will making travelling with the dogs easy cause I can exercise them off-lead which is a no go at the moment.

Hi Aurora This is off topic but you have put your age in the post two above which is not safe on the internet. You should never tell anyone your age or where you live. If you go back to that topic and edit it you can remove your age. Enjoy the dolforums. BellasPerson

It will work if you do it quietly and calmly and coax him along with praise or treats. The lead on just makes them thing they should follow you. He will be less frightened if there is no noise and there is only you there. Also, throwing a ball in the water - 50cms away - should coax a reluctant GSP. Have fun

Sounds like you are doing a fantastic job. With the pool, I would take him in without the kids on a lead and let him paddle around. He'll soon figure out he loves it When I was coaxing Bella in, I borrowed a dog who loved swimming to give her a demo and she hasn't looked back since. Bruno is not so keen yet as I haven't had anywhere for him to swim but I took him once on a lead just walking through the water. I will give this another go soon. BellasPerson

Regarding exercising of pointers, this one is a puppy and they should not be lead walked for long periods because of potential arthritis problems later. My Bruno had only very short walks until 12 months of age and then they can go for longer. He will have to wear off the rest of his energy in the backyard if it's big enough. My two love dragging their inside beds outside so I gave them a piece of shadecloth which they drag around to their favourite spot in the yard. By about 18 months my gsp's were calm and stopped chewing things. Bruno has never been a digger but Bella did used to dig a few holes. Have fun. GSPs are the best and smartest companions. BellasPerson

Cyclone Bruno ate four beds before I gave up and bought him a plastic basket which I line with old towels. This one he hasn't been able to eat

I agree with Poodlewrangler, a bit of vomiting is not worth stopping the paralysis tick treatment. One of my dogs threw up three times today (thanks Bruno ) before his fortnightly Advantix. We have no problems with it at all. Good luck BellasPerson

The pool on backwash would work to distract mine. They hunt butterflies during the day and possums at night. I have lots of trees and thousands of possums living in my backyard. Quite a distraction for my two.

Yuk, maggots are gross. I feed my dogs bones they will eat in half an hour and there are never any juicy bits left.

Merriment and co Thanks for that great post. I ordered e collars and Steve's training for my two gsps last week. Am pacing up and down waiting for it to arrive. I'm looking forward to finally being able to take them off lead and to stop them hunting butterflies (which one of my neighbours is not a fan of) Great work guys!

Tess32 I've been looking at this issue as well and was looking for more answers. Here are some quick suggestions - a segregated section of the yard or a dog run. - an electric fence inside the noisy neighbour fence. - I read that e-collars work better than citronella collars. I'll think of more later

The ones I got from the RSPCA the dogs can't eat. Bruno has eaten three other cloth baskets inside but doesn't chew on the trampoline one.

HI I bought my dogs trampoline beds for outside and Bruno the pup stopped digging! I assume cause he can keep cool on the trampoline bed and he spends less time lying on the ground near temptation. We have the RSPCA one covered in shadecloth material. Good luck

she has about 150m2 to gaurd. And she also has a big deck to lie on with her bed and under that aswell. She only barks when outside. Sounds like you'll have it worked out soon. She might be happier in a portion of the yard (away from the other neighbours) or inside. Dogs do bark more if there are people around, other dogs barking, burglars to defend from (this is where a smaller section of the yard will help). My dogs bark a bit more occasionally and I just lock them inside for a few days and they settle again With getting another dog, this could help in the long term but will make life much harder in the short term. It takes time for the dogs to learn to get on and I think it could confuse the issue at the moment - particularly if its another puppy. It took my dogs 4 weeks before they could play nicely together and be trusted not to hurt each other. A second dog is not an instant solution . Good luck

Dogs bark less if they are in an enclosed space. Is she outside/inside? How much room does she have to guard?