LisaCC

I personally wouldn't risk something like the Million Paws Walk, but I take puppies out before they get all their shots, I'm just careful about it. No dog parks etc. Socialisation is more important in those critical weeks than keeping your puppy under wraps.

This is the new design... Ooooooh Hurtta Torrent Coat

Yea I picked this Hurtta one specifically because it has no insulation, it's only the outta water proof and wind proof stuff. This one is the "Rain Coat" the one that looks the same with insulation is the "Winter Coat". They also have newer designs called something else too, but not sure if they have hit the Australian market yet.

I'd like to see those statements expanded upon. Artificial pets triggering human emotions - I don't doubt it for a minute. Can they satisfy skin hunger, lower blood pressure, encourage responsibility in children, encourage exercise, provide warning of intruder or fire? I don't doubt that a very complex robot might do all those things. But the idea that it would be "cheaper" than a dog, at least initially? I don't think so. And I don't want one. Nor would a robot be able to pick up on our chemical and physical signs of happiness, stress, sickness etc.. Not in the near future anyways, maybe oneday. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they made robotic pets specifically for this reason actually. A health monitoring system that provided an emotional comfort rather than the uneasy feel of sterile type equipment. Well Disney kind of made a prototype in their Big Hero 6 movie Not a pet though. I still haven't seen that yet, so no idea what it's actually about, except big white robot thing

None of these dogs need them. As stated, we use them in heavy rain because if the under coats get wet they tend to take hours to dry. If it's light rain he just gets wet. My labrador was given a warm rain coat when he got old and arthritic as he then felt the cold. It helped him then.

The coat had it's first proper work out last Sunday. I bought it for the same reason, if the rain reaches his under coat he takes hours to dry, and in the cold (and now without daylight savings) it's a good recipe for hotspots over night. Worked a treat with the front chest panel!

Nova is impressed by Ronin's fashion choices. [

I'd like to see those statements expanded upon. Artificial pets triggering human emotions - I don't doubt it for a minute. Can they satisfy skin hunger, lower blood pressure, encourage responsibility in children, encourage exercise, provide warning of intruder or fire? I don't doubt that a very complex robot might do all those things. But the idea that it would be "cheaper" than a dog, at least initially? I don't think so. And I don't want one. Nor would a robot be able to pick up on our chemical and physical signs of happiness, stress, sickness etc.. Not in the near future anyways, maybe oneday. I wouldn't be surprised if in the future they made robotic pets specifically for this reason actually. A health monitoring system that provided an emotional comfort rather than the uneasy feel of sterile type equipment.

I wouldn't call it abnormal at all. I'd say she's probably on the end of any filling out now though. But remember just like people if you do any new exercise with her, her body will change with that. Nova just turned 2 this month and has muscled up heaps in the last year. Even in the last 3 months or so I've noticed muscle gains in certain areas. He is still intact, I think desexed animals might stop gaining muscle earlier? He stopped growing in height around a year old but has definitely grown in weight and muscle since. He is actually quite hard to put fat on. I'm pretty sure my lab was filling out well into around 3 years of age.

*sigh* Ernie just ate: - 600gms of roasted salted peanuts IN the ziplock bag. Yum. - 1 pack of butter. Can't wait to see what that looks like every 40 minutes tonight But: He may be cured of helping himself to the bottom pantry shelf. Miss 15 put her snack time bag of wasabi peas and he ate about ¾ of them before he got Mr Squishy Face and bolted for the water bowl. When that didn't work, he did 4 laps of the house, stopping every few seconds to wipe his mouth with his paw. He then sulked in his bed when I couldn't comfort him as I was too busy wiping tears of laughter and yelling at Miss 12 to video tape it. I don't think he's still forgiven me. He's in bed now, snorting and huffing and pointedly looking away when I look at him. Being given shade by a dog - that's a first. Ooooh ouch bet that hurt on the way out! And smelt all night

I'm pretty pissed he hasn't been hit with a huge fine. He (or his staff) would of signed a declaration coming in to Australia. If they didn't read it properly that's their own stupid fault (although I bet they knew it was in the wrong anyway). Same as the people on those Quarantine reality shows who's Mothers pack their bags for them and packed some extra snacks they didn't know about. They didn't know, but they signed the declaration and still get fined for it.

That gives me some great ideas thanks Corvus! You've nailed what made my initial try so difficult I think. I like the idea of trying shins and top of feet. He has an "up" cue already, I think I will also combine huskies idea of proofing that on heaps of different obstacles on what ever we can find. He's got a small cough at the moment so I'm playing it safe incase it's a minor bout of KC and keeping him locked away inside and in the backyard, so I'll spend the next few weeks finding/making props I thought of trying a back stall first but I actually have pretty good core strength and a shitty back so thought this would be easier on me

Any ideas help :) Having a second person would definitely help! I can see it being a lot easier having a second person as the initial 'prop' actually But I live alone at the moment so that's not really do able.

Hmm I was thinking that. Maybe use a bit of non slip matting as the target. I thought something solid could be dangerous when getting to the transfering to feet part?

Like the red border collie in the back!

I tried to find a google image of it but came up with nothing, you know the trick where a human lays on their back and puts their feet in the air and dog balances on their feet? I want to attempt that! Nova can balance quite well on things, on chairs, on wobble boards, on small platforms, on a fitness ball. I'm not sure how to get him to get on to my feet in that position. I gave it a quick go this morning and was able to get him to put his front paws up on my feet, have to say I found the rewarding and putting him back in to place a bit awkward in the that position I'm thinking I'm going to have to put a target in the "take off" position. Has anyone else had success with this trick? How did you teach it?

If she's got an undercoat like a labrador I'd be giving her a good raking with an undercoat rake weekly. The look like THESE. Thats a single row one, they can have double rows too. They don't have blades like furminators, great at getting out undercoat!

As Oso said in the news thread, shouldn't they under some sort of quarantine restrictions or something now?

He is being given 50 hours to return his dogs to America (How that works with their quarantine laws I'm not sure?) or they will be seized. What should be done in my opinion, the general public wouldn't be given the 50 hours...

Miru these are absolutely stunning!!! You are very talented!

Completely agree. We are extremely lucky here in Australia not to have many diseases other countries does. Having a private jet and fame shouldn't put anyone above our quarantine laws. I don't remember many people complaining when Justin Biebers monkey got quarantined in Germany for illegally taking it there.

That last photo is just gorgeous!

Ok, lets just hypothetically say with Flatties that yellows were allowed (As this thread was originally flatties). Say to keep the gene pool as open as possible. If the genetics are the same as labradors, you could put an allowance that you must breed yellows to only Livers and Blacks that do not carry yellow. Therefore all resulting puppies would be liver or black. Yellows will still pop up when livers and blacks carrying e (yellow) come together, but you are not aiming to produce them. But if they pop up, and they happen to have great temperament, and conformation, and retrieving ability and/or whatever else that breeder is looking for, at least the chance of using that dog and carrying on those traits is there? I don't see how the above situation would be allowing for the decimation of breeds to mutts.

I don't think it's about making colours irrelevant, it's a bit different to taking something like the relatively rare mismarks of say... brindle labs and saying that should be accepted. Someone mentioned border collies already, I think some of their colours are allowed in other kennel clubs but not here? Why is that?

I tend to agree, if the colour is able to be produced naturally within the breed, and the colour has no associated health problems. Especially for rarer breeds where you have a diminished gene pool already.