Mystiqview

Seita, I have PM'd you.

Labrose, Glad you found a training facility which suits you. Since moving to the dark side of town I miss Bonnies at The Gap.. Where I am now is good. Very small club, but overall good training there.

hmmm....there are always two sides to any story. ETA: added quote marks

20 years probably of ramming dogs heads into ground to teach drop... yep.. that has to work... 15 years ago when I went to a Northside school of theirs (they called themselves a different name then).. they taught, one-two-three-YANK!!!... No praise (even verbal) Only correction.. I was warned about them when I first moved over to this side of town.. I thought I would have a sticky beak.. I had to walk away after 10 minutes of watching them otherwise I was temped to call the RSPCA for animal cruelty from their instructors. I did report them though.. and the response.. "they have been doing it that way for the last 30 years" They are not dog trainers.. they are dog torturers.

I instruct at Southside.. Good club. Very friendly.

Yep. Confirmed which club it is.. They have not changed their training methods in 20 years or more. When moving to Southside of Bris.. Wanted another night training ground.. They wanted me to pay the $320 to do a basic course for a dog who trials in Open obedience. Went down there one night.. Saw one of the instructors fit a check chain to a husky pup.... and then they tightened it... Dog ended up full on biting him.. (husky not completely to blame here.. bad mannered, not aggressive)... I will not tell more...but first aid had to be given. Wounds cleaned and bandaged. ETA: if treat rewarding is not done properly and the dog never has to earn those treats.. then yes.. it is possible that you always have to treat reward. Otherwise.. no.. they do not become totally dependant on it.. The one, two, three, yank method does not work either. Why dont you just take out a dogs brain and put in a robot brain... that will work..

Go wire crate to start with. Once pup gets familiar with that and is happy in a crate then consider a canvas crate. If you do something like agility, lure coursing or other high drive sport, I would maybe be careful about canvas crate at those events, especially if you dog goes ape with excitement. If you dog is not going to be desexed (ie on contract with breeder or for show purposes) do not use canvas crates at dog shows while a girl is in season. No protection against randy males.(wire crates are not 100% either, but far better than canvas)

Do not know why some breeders stick to the weetbix diet.. There is nothing nutritional in it. Humans thinking like humans and thinking that dogs eat like humans. Good advice given. Give your puppy time to settle in. The first few days are quite stressful and it may be stress of leaving all familiar behind that is causing her to lose her appetite. She will come around. If you start off with a good healthy balanced diet. you will have years and years of joy.

Puppies can start obedience at an early age. As young as 8 weeks. But in saying that I would never dream of doing "obedience" with the puppy for a half hour to hour. 2 minutes 20 times a day is far better... ( I know as if we would do that..but hope you can see what I am saying though) Short positive sessions is far better than one long session. Problem with many obedience clubs. Is some people pay their $4 and think that to get their money's worth (and the time worth in getting down to training), they have to paddock bash for an hour.

have you left the two dogs alone where say your parents dog may have been a little TOO boisterous and given abby a fright? Has abby when she walks outside had any experience where she may have had a fright? At 14 weeks, puppy has just recently come out of a fear period and if something there happened (and not necessarily bad) the puppy may have lost confidence. Being a small dog, do you pick your dog up if it shows stress? If you do... DON'T - this re-inforces a dogs fear. Best is to leave puppy on ground, and be positive, reassuring and confident yourself. Hopefully puppy will pick up on your confidence and run with it.

I was not referring to your question so much as Trojan's comment about mincing meat. They do not mention a dog with no teeth. However, while your dog may not be able to chew bones due to lack of teeth, there is considerable difference between cutting meat into chunks as to mincing meat. Dogs need to chew. As for immune systems to bacteria, yes dogs are hardier than humans, but at the same time, why humanise our animals? Dog's teeth were designed for shredding, ripping, chewing etc. Why do vets say a diet of wet food (typically minced and tin food) is bad for dogs? It is because the dogs don't chew and then develop oral problems. It is not just because of what is in Tin Food.. A dog which is not allowed to chew, grows tartar and then is prone to other mouth disorders. The production of saliva is needed in an all round oral hygiene.. Same is said for humans.... Think one of the chewing gum companies use the same slogan. Big difference between minced meat, chunky meat and a large marrowbone...

A company protecting their butt from litigation IN CASE, someone has adverse reaction to shampoo.. then they can say... "we printed on the label".... (ETA: if you do have sensitive skin, probably a good idea to use gloves. I have sensitive skin, but have not had a problem using the product. Maybe if I had a dog wash business with my skin, and long term exposure of hands in shampoo, then maybe I may have a reaction. But that could be just as much from having my hands in water all day than from the shampoo itself as any shampoo will strip the natural oils from the skin to a degree) If you were using products like Malaban, Maldacin which are insecticide poisons for livestock then yes you have to glove up and use in well ventalated area.

Dogs have teeth.. Unless they have bad teeth... there is no problems with giving larger quantities. Dogs need to chew. Give frozen bones to the borders and the huskies here, especially in summer. Takes longer to eat and keeps them occupied.

If anxiety, you have to make car a nice place to be. This starts by just playing with puppy in car, feeding in car, etc. This first step the car is in the 'garage' and is turned off. second step once puppy is happy with above, is to turn car on and do the same. Next step, just reverse car out of garage. you gradually build up until you take short trips and then gradually increase the trips. Another tip.. Don't feed or give your pup anything to drink from a few hours before a "planned" trip. Another thing you can try, once puppy is happy with early steps and you get to travelling, put another puppy in the car with them who LOVES travelling. They will get confidence off them. Also wind down the windows in favour of the Air Conditioning.

Have a look in the weekend classifieds. There are other second hand baby places that sell reasonably cheap baby gates. I bought a new one from a baby shop here for large doorway for $120, where everyone else wanted over $160 for the same.. Just a matter of shopping around. The one I bought even advertised good for pets cause the bars were closer together and it was one of those open ones. IF you get an old style wooden one, I staple gunned shade cloth to it to prevent puppy from walking through.

Most vets run puppy schools for puppies from 8 weeks onwards. In Qld at least, puppies need to be 12 weeks before they can run puppy class (vaccinations). Some other private dog schools/organisations run puppy classes from 8 weeks onwards. As for socialisation: I take my pups for drives, take them to the markets and walk around the markets with the puppy in arms until vaccinations complete. But to be honest, for most of your diseases, it is as much air borne as anything else.. so even in your back yard, your puppy can still run a slim risk of getting parvo etc. I think as long as your sensible about it.. don't take new puppy to off leash area until all vaccinations complete. The real risk of getting a disease to the real risk of poor social manners... the social manners is a higher risk than that of disease. (except if there are specific outbreaks in your area.) Socialise your pup.. When I breed my litters, I have a pretty much open house from birth (friends I know). come and visit, pat puppy, play with puppy etc. From 6 weeks, they go for drives in the car. I pile them all in a crate in the back of the ute and go to the local coffee shop. I park near a table, order coffee, drop the back of the ute down and let the puppies watch the world go by. At this stage to say the least, no one pats puppies.. but they get to watch shopping trollies, kids running and screaming and a whole heap of other noises. By 8 weeks, they are well socialised.

Agree with others.. Changing food brands regularly can cause stomach upsets in individual animals. Others can change without any problems. Find a food you like and stick to it. At certain times I have had problems with all the mentioned foods here..And I have used all the foods mentioned here without problems. Depends on the dog. I have found a dry food that I am reasonably happy with, does not cause me too much problem in the rear end department.. I also feed a variety of raw as well.

I agree with the others. Get him thoroughly checked. If the mum was found like that birthing the pups, and in possibly poor condition herself, you do not know if something went wrong in the birthing and the pup may have been stuck for a little while and was starved of oxygen etc.. Anything could have happened. Pups do go through stages where they eat, sleep and poop.. then like dougie says.. the other speed kicks in.. so it is eat, poop, flat tak, sleep. Some pups are also just quieter than others. I had one here which was a lounge lizzard.. just wanted to sleep or plod around near you.. very lazy dog.. nothing wrong with him, just very lazy and laid back.

I have not been down much in last 6 months. but I have been going to Val Bonney at The Gap for nearly 10 years. Have put all my dogs through her. Local public obedience club.. Been a member, not been recently going there.. (just been a slackass) 7 years.

I have two main vets.. Samford Vetinary Hospital. They are 24 hours which is good. They tend to be a little higher priced, but the extra care they take is worth it. Love Leigh or Debbie for Dogs.. and Judy for the Horses. Another good vet I have used who is cheaper but a littl efurther for me is Dr Inglis at Kent Street, Wooloowin. He operates out of an old Garage and also owns Priceless Pets online vet meds. The other vet I have used.. but last time I went there she was on maternity leave is Petmania Vet Surgery on Sth Pine Road. Tania used to be at Samford, with her vet nurse Rachel. They have moved to their own practice.. She is reasonably priced and they will do anything for you

To sound controversal.... I use a check chain on all my dogs during training... Well to say use.... they wear one.. I trained them all on flat collars. So really the check/choke never gets used.. For me, the chain is only a train aid.. when the chain is on.. we train and we want excellent, it comes off after training and back to flat collar...and general house rules only.. If your dog is already used to being trained in a flat collar...and does not need the "use" (loosly speaking) of a correction chain... the chain does not get used. I hope all that makes sense.

When I saw the ad on TV, I thought I saw "coloured" bits in the kibble.. So my first thought was that it contained colours to give you the "vege" look. Whether it does or doesn't. That was my first impression. So whatever the voice over said, did not wash as the picture infront of me was of coloured dog food.

When I bought mine, Conmurra also makes a trolly to go with it. Of course you maybe able to make a trolley if you have a handy man handy.... Well I do.. but not very handy TO ME.. "Bloody Dogs" Twin tank would have been great.... or at least autofill.... although a friend has a mobile hydrobath. and the second tank is actually separate from the hydrobath itself. It has a pipe cut into it which has a leaver to fill the tank, while the "storage" tank is autofill. Can probably make that myself with a float valve from one of the horse's trough.

I know some brands of Heartworm tablets (Heartguard for one) has Ivemectin in it which is known to affect some collies. I have used Heartguard on my borders without any ado. I use Pro Heart at the moment, as One it is cheaper and I dont need the chewables, and secondly it does not contain Ivemectin. I dont like the yearly ones either. Then I dont like the likes of sentinel etc using a top spot application. I don't have super faith in the top spot technology for worming. The only main problem with daily tablets is that you may forget to give them to the dog daily. (Like me...hate daily treatments..especially as some days I dont get home from work until really late... I like the first of the month)

My hydrobath is a Conmurra single tank heated design. It is not autofill. I just throw the hose into it to fill it as I use one tank/2 dogs (providing they have not been in the dam.. then one tank a dog) as we are on tank water at home and so have to look at what water we use. Generally speaking I can bath two Borders in one tank of water as my tank is I think around 22 litres. I have bought a 25 mm hose which I have fixed to the outlet pipe which lets the water run off some distance from the tank. I have not found too much trouble with the single tank. I bath in something like Fidos free itch shampoo which is great for hydrobaths as you do not have to wash it off. That would be my only comment, you have to watch what shampoos you use in a single tank. But the fidos is great as it also does fleas, and I found a regular bath controls whatever fleas I have around home. You would want one that has one side cut down to lean over the bath with. I have used the ones which do not have the slight cut down on one side and it still kills the back by the end of three dogs. Especially if they are on the smaller side. The heaters are great, but they take up to 15 minutes to heat the water. In Winter, I just throw a bucket of hot water in the tank then add the cold.. Rather than wait for the tank element to heat the whole tank.