Kavik

My vet has that poster up too, as well as one showing body condition - though that chart is rather hard to interpret.

Sounds promising :D So you will have 3 Dobes? And I thought I was a sucker for punishment

I'm pretty sure sultanas and grapes are toxic to dogs. I use cheese as treats because it is easy to cube and the dogs love it. Would love to use BBQ chicken but can't seem to get it into nice pieces as it tends to fall apart.

I normally crate Kaos and he is very good in a crate - will lie down and go to sleep. I am now trying to get him used to a harness with seatbelt to give more options when travelling (the crate is bulky!). We had our first try last weekend and like Jak he freaked out and tangled his legs. So we stopped the car, untangled him (which required undoing everything!) and tried again. I put him in a drop and told him to pull his head in, and it worked ;) though he still didn't look overly comfortable. We will give it another go on short trips only for now, may still use the crate for long trips. Diesel on the other hand is really cruisy in the car, and never had any problem with the harness and seatbelt. He is way too large to crate in the car, so it is just as well!

Depending on the size/age/temperament of the dog - crate for a puppy or wiggly dog, or a harness that clips into seatbelt for a dog too large to crate in the car or dog that is not too wiggly or destructive.

What about making these things that she thinks is exciting less so by desensitising? For example putting shoes on to go out, put shoes on and don't go anywhere, shoes on, shoes off, no difference. When walking to the door to leave, walk to door, walk back and don't leave so that she cannot associate one with the other.

He is gorgeous and sounds divine! I would love to meet him sometime. I would also like a pic of him swimming in the tub before his bath, sounds way cute! Mine are too big to do that!

Certainly is shedding season - I have gotten heaps of hair off Diesel and there are still GSD hair tumbleweeds everywhere! Do you have some pics of Gomez? I haven't seen many Norfolks and was looking at the DOL pics just recently as I like to think about what small dog I might get in the future. What are their temps like?

Certainly not too late to learn stuff! My youngest is 17 months and there are heaps of things I plan on teaching him still - some stuff you can't even start to do properly til they're older than a year anyway (like agility). - my nearly 8 year old dog still learns new tricks. The key is motivation, if your dog likes to sleep a lot you may need to find something exciting to motivate her! What breed is she? What sort of stuff does she like? Food, toys, praise, tug?

Hi MyPuppyBuster For Dogs Sake (in my signature) runs puppy classes on Monday nights, through DogLogic. Not sure how close they are to you, they are in Cleveland St, Chippendale. Hot_Dog Where in Sydney's west are you? I go to Western Suburbs Dog Training, at Bressington Park, Homebush. They hold pet dog classes on Saturday afternoons and obedience trialling classes (which I go to) on Tuesday evenings. http://www.sinch.com.au/wsdtc/

My OH's parents had a Bully whose nails just grew really fast and long and impeded her walking The only thing to do really was take her to the vet, have it done under anaesthetic and cauterise as you had to cut them well into the quick to make a difference. I had cut her nails a few times with my OH holding her, but it was hard to keep them under control. With any procedure/problem you see that needs vet attention as a groomer, I would tell the owner it needs vet attention.

As long as he is not likely to break out of or jump out of the pen it should be similar to a crate I would think. I have had my dogs in crates outside for training seminars, and they are fine. I would suggest though that if you are going to crate or pen the dog outside, that you only do so in good weather and where the dog has shelter as he cannot get to another spot. My dogs were on a covered balcony when with relatives as they were not allowed in the house. I also covered the crate with a tarp to prevent wind from coming in.

What about crate training him? That way you can have him in his crate at night when you visit family, it is something he is used to, and he is unlikely to be noisy or cause any problems. I have done this, and taken my dogs to my parents and extended family over Christmas, and it works really well. With extended family I have had to have the crates on a covered balcony as they were not allowed in the house, but at my place and my parents, the dogs are crated in the house. You don't have to always crate him at your place, but it might be a good idea to get him used to it (there are lots of threads on how to crate train) and have him sleep in it for a while so he feels comfortable in there.

My guys only occasionally hump each other - when they get excited playing. I tell them off for it, not very polite! I wouldn't let your dogs hump strange dogs - many don't like it (mine don't like it from strange dogs) - and it can cause fights. Have seen this first hand at work - we are now careful to prevent or at least reduce humping especially with certain dogs.

Kaos was scared of kids too. Especially if they came right up and patted him, and there was more than one. More younger kids, teenagers he was fine with. He went through a period of barking at them. What I found has helped heaps is to be armed with heaps of treats and ask kids if they will give your dog a treat. It is hard purposely going up and asking people, but it helps so much! This way, Kaos would approach the kids on his own to get the treat, instead of the kids approaching him. He has improved heaps and is now a wiggle butt around kids, though he is still rather quiet when they come right up to give him a pat, but he usually then settles. The attitude of the kids and the way they act makes a big difference.

No, I don't fast the dogs generally. If I am going to a training seminar the dog I am taking may not get breakfast that day, but will get training treats and dinner.

With my last two it was only a few nights that they were noisy in their crates. And sunny Sydney - you forgetting the torrential rain we've had on and off?

It is up to you where you want your pup to sleep. I crate train my dogs, so they can be inside at night without me worrying about them, the weather and barking etc. The noise is probably the biggest factor in having them inside, evening/night time is when the Kelpies use their voice when you don't want them to! One of mine does not like fireworks and storms, so I know she is safe in a crate. The others don't mind fireworks and storms, but I feel better with them inside at those times anyway. I found that with pups it only takes a few days before they settle and are quiet in a crate at night. During the day they have the run of the yard, and are inside with us in the evening (at the moment they are crashed out on the floor).

I currently work at a dog daycare, as an animal attendant and also help out with the grooming. I have worked at vets as a vet nurse and animal attendant, and have done volunteer instructing at obedience clubs as well. I am hoping to trial my dogs in obedience and agility, and we have started herding which is really interesting and fun, but difficult. I have watched and done some helping with training security dogs. I did the Cert III course and the Scent Detection course (though didn't finish the practical of the scent course - was really cool though!).

Hi I did the NDTF course in 2000. I really enjoyed the course, learned a lot and made lots of friends and contacts in the field. It has changed since I went through, I went to Melbourne for the first week and then for one weekend a month for seminars, was able to do practical in Sydney as they didn't have the correspondence part at the time.

The only dog I've had that chewed the house was a GSD pup I was looking after. She was about 8 months old, I was lookimg after her for a few months, doing some training and socialisation (she hadn't been outside the yard before) - she chewed the wooden frames of the house and the door frames - it was at my parent's house - I thought they would freak out! None of my dogs have done this, I never figured out how to stop it sorry, she was just a temporary guest and had some socialisation and behaviour issues as well.

I use Bega Tasty (I use it for me too! I get the 1kg blocks). Mainly because it does not crumble when I cut it into cubes for treats. I've tried other brands, the dogs don't care, but some of the others do crumble and don't keep their shape.

I don't think it makes any difference if you have the lead on or not unless you are training outside your property, when you would want the dog to be on lead for safety reasons until it has a good recall, or if you think the dog is going to ignore you and do its own thing, when again you would want the dog on lead to keep its attention. But you certainly don't have to have the lead on to teach drop.

I think Victoria is using the noise partly as a behaviour interruptor - something that stops the behaviour. She uses these noise a lot on the show for different things - used it the week before with the OCD Gordon to get him to stop chasing the light and licking things.

Use really tasty treats for training! I use cheese, but cabanossi and chicken are other favourites. Might be an idea to focus only on drop for now since you are having problems with it.