Rainers

Shoot a lot but also spend time looking at well regarded photographers because most people start off with an inflated sense of how good their shots are and then stop trying! Sites that critique are pretty helpful, but HONEST critiques. Eg if you post some nice but average photos of a dog on a dog forum, you will get a lot more praise than if you post it somewhere more objective.

i totally agree. Very strange. Looks like the person who wrote that has the attention span of a goldfish. I was disappointed not to see Oh look, a butterfly. This made me go into absolute hysterics...:p

Lassie Come Home :p

My son is a similar age and I can tell you, when he jumps like that on ME it kills and I am FAR less tolerant than that Rottie. Similar age, but my son has been taught to be very gentle with our dogs and he would never even CONSIDER doing that to them. And if he did, I am sure he'd be bitten.

I carried my puppy around everywhere until he was safe - he went to cafes, markets, trains etc but anywhere I felt was risky he was carried.

Just re-read the rest of the thread and just some comments... In all honesty, as much as I adore my breed, if your top concern is sports then they ARE a gamble. Of course there are many amazing collies competing in dog sports right now, but they are not a 'given' for the breed and there are MANY who would be hopeless. I have four here right now and I'd have more luck doing agility myself than I would with two of them! The other two are great at dog sports etc but that's what I mean...it's a gamble with this breed. Other than that, they definitely suit your other needs. Easy to live with, they are watch dogs, calm inside, great with kids.

Not to go against Erny, but 7-10 days is not always long enough and I would wait the full 14 days. Seroconversion can take the full 14 days and did in my puppy.

We foster Collies for Collie Rescue and I can tell you that most of them do not have many issues and there is no 'risk' as they are fostered for a number of weeks before rehoming to the right home. In fact my most recent Collie boy was a foster failure as I couldn't let him go, and he is the most beautiful dog whose only issue is a dislike of tiled floors! Collies are such an easy breed in general that *most* have been easy to rehome with no serious issues.

I also did a lot of research as we used Nobivac on Noah and they were the ones who insisted that their vaccination would override maternal antibodies and so they'd only need two shots. I had Noah titre tested 7 days after his vaccination and he had not seroconverted. I talked to Nobivac about it and they offered to pay for another titre test 14 days after the initial one, as they were eager to see if it had worked. It did, but the key here is that the vaccination took the FULL 14 days to work, and previous to that he was completely vulnerable to the virus. I think so many people think a few days or a week is fine to take them out, but sometimes it takes longer than that.

We went yesterday and took my new boy Rainer out. He was a star, took everything in his stride, got lots of pats and greet every dog nicely. Also was great that so many of the breed stands were really lovely at letting my 2 year old have a pat of the dogs. I found this year much better than last year.

How dreadful, but I don't see what BSL has to do with this? Poor lady, and RIP little doggy It has everything to do with it. BSL is supposed to protect the community from dog attacks. Victoria has the strongest and most draconian BSL in the country, with hundreds of dogs being seized and killed because of their appearance within the state. Yet horrible, horrible attacks continue to occur. This is a perfect example of how BSL targets dogs that may never be an issue, and misses dogs that are. I've seen this logic before on DOL and it doesn't make any sense. Do you think we should abolish laws regarding murder and rape because it doesn't stop them occuring? Laws only exist to reduce crimes/violence, they don't prevent it altogether. Whether the laws have reduced dog attacks is another matter, but the fact that dog attacks still occur is not a perfect example of the uselessness of BSL. BSL is proven to not reduce the rate of dog attacks. Attacks still occur at the same (sometimes higher) frequency despite harsh BSL laws. This attack is an example of many. Way to miss the point..

Yes I have. I no longer see one of my dogs very much as he is living with my mum's boyfriend (as she'll be moving in soon) and I haven't seen him much since I left home. I like to see him when I do but don't miss him. One of my dogs I never bonded with at all, yet my newest dog I'm besotted with in a matter of months. It's no reflection on the owner or the dog, they just don't match. I certainly don't/wouldn't feel guilty.

How dreadful, but I don't see what BSL has to do with this? Poor lady, and RIP little doggy It has everything to do with it. BSL is supposed to protect the community from dog attacks. Victoria has the strongest and most draconian BSL in the country, with hundreds of dogs being seized and killed because of their appearance within the state. Yet horrible, horrible attacks continue to occur. This is a perfect example of how BSL targets dogs that may never be an issue, and misses dogs that are. I've seen this logic before on DOL and it doesn't make any sense. Do you think we should abolish laws regarding murder and rape because it doesn't stop them occuring? Laws only exist to reduce crimes/violence, they don't prevent it altogether. Whether the laws have reduced dog attacks is another matter, but the fact that dog attacks still occur is not a perfect example of the uselessness of BSL.

I'll happily judge morons who can't seem to contain a two year old. Poor little boy.

I have four dogs and one is new to the pack. The pack is fairly structured - Ryan is the leader and leads mostly by bluff, Ziva is second, Noah is third and Rainer is definitely on the bottom and I'd say, always will be. However Ryan is getting older and has been sick and I'm fairly sure Noah is changing and is no longer taking shit from anyone, particularly since Rainer arrived. Either way, they definitely have a hierarchy and it doesn't appear to change much at all. When foster dogs come in, Ryan is still always the pack leader and the dogs all support him if a foster is being troublesome.

I do most of my family shoots with this lens, it's great outdoors, great colours, nice and sharp. That's a good price.

Thanks all. We decided to go with a combination approach so far and he's made a lot of progress. We laid out two large mats across the floor with quite a big distance between them and today he was walking up and down of his own free will. Before he wouldn't even step on the tiles! Basically we just walked him across (he resists but not for long) a few times and then he began crossing himself.

One of our dogs can't have bones either, so they are all fed with our local butcher's pet mince, they just grind up chicken frames. We just got a bulk order in for 60kg!

So it appears our new boy has a shiny floor/tiles phobia, and refuses to walk on them. The main part of our house is all tiles so I would like to help him get over it. He's a very sensitive dog and I think he'd just shut down if he was flooded, so I'd like some less full on tips. Any ideas on how to begin? Unfortunately he is NOT food motivated or toy motivated so that wouldn't make him cross.

I agree. The person reporting the pups isn't at fault. The person who illegaly bred a litter of restricted breed pups is. It's very sad for the pups, but there are worse things than euthanasia....ending up in a "breeding program" of their own, or in the wrong hands with people who want a fighting dog, or chained in a backyard and hidden from the authorities...and eventually siezed and removed from their family and PTS anyway....not a good life eithe That's how I feel. It's sad, but that's what happens if you do the wrong thing.

You'd love to be responsible for having a litter of puppies killed? (what else do you think will happen to that litter if you report it? If he can't get homes for them his only option is to have them PTS) People's callous attitude towards animals never ceases to amaze me, I didn't expect to see it in a puppy subforum though. I really have no words. What are you actually doing on dog lovers forum anyway? Since you wrote that yesterday morning I assume you have already reported it. Sleep well tonight mumof4girls, secure in the knowledge you have done your best to ensure a litter of innocent puppies will be denied the chance of a loving home and so will almost certainly be put down. So it's not the "breeder" breaking the law that is responsible for these puppies? Just what we need more of, BYB litters of "purebread" pitbulls being sold via a sale sign at the local shops.

We managed to get a pic of all four of them together! Rainer is on the couch on the left.

Here's a quick snap I managed to get while he was on the couch...he's a bit funny about the camera so I don't think he'll be getting any nice photos done for at least a few weeks!

His name is Rainer :) No we just got him...he was a foster failure :) We'll be hopefully showing him once he settles in as well :) He makes four :) We have Ryan, Ziva, Noah and now Rainer. Reilly lives with my mum and Ebony passed away a few months ago.

Does anyone know of a good Chiro around Geelong area? I'm Ocean Grove so anywhere near there would be great :)