Kavik

Yes, doubling up on the merle gene is considered to be lethal white. So merle to merle matings are not a good idea. I met a dog last year who was the result of merle to merle breeding, copped the double merle, and had something like 10% vision. Harlequin to harlequin also produces semi lethal white - Mendelian expectancy 25% in each litter. These pure white puppies are usually deaf, and sometimes blind or vision impaired. They are usually euthanised at birth. Or they used to be, until some breeders found they could sell them .... Well, "lethal" implies "deadly" (in horses lethal whites die within days of birth because of a malformed intestine if I remember correctly, it simply does not connect to the anus....) Deaf or blind or even deaf and blind pups are not technically dead unless they are put down so it can hardly be called "lethal"? Am I missing something or did people simply like the sound of it and that is why it is called thus? From what I understand there is a chance that these dogs could die shortly after birth due to deformities, it depends on luck of the draw how badly they are affected.

That sounds like great progress with Steve Glad to hear it went well :) Our retrieve has improved heaps now since I have taken the pressure off and can remember to have fun with it :)

Yes, doubling up on the merle gene is considered to be lethal white. So merle to merle matings are not a good idea. I met a dog last year who was the result of merle to merle breeding, copped the double merle, and had something like 10% vision.

even with people and swimming I remember being told 1hr either side of eating. I keep mine in the house for a period of time before being fed :) and mine are older now so don't run around the yard doing zoomies. I didn't used to worry quite so much, always ended up being a certain amount of time due to my schedule, but now that my GSD has had torsion and his spleen removed, I am being much more careful.

Yes BCs come in blue merle :) It is becoming quite a popular colour now.

Could it be because you expected him to be harder, so put more energy effort into teaching him to relax and/or enforcing rules and boundaries? Whether it was a concious effort or not. I think some of it was knowing more than I did with the others, and putting effort into teaching him to relax, but some of it is also temperament, Zoe who is my poundie is more highly strung than Kaos who is working line from a breeder. A dog which cannot relax and continually paces etc is not that useful as a working dog, most dogs are either tethered or kenneled when not working. And most working Kelpie sites I have visited are keen to point out that their dogs are calm, and have a calm working style, so not frenetic. And Diesel, who is nearly comatose at home he is so low key and low drive, gets super excited if we eg take him to visit the inlaws, to the point where he won't listen or work with me, won't obey commands. I had a hard time with him at those times because he is normally so hard to get excited I can't replicate the excitement when training him in a controlled environment to work through it. He was one of those dogs who would use up all of his energy being excited at being at the venue instead of using his energy in a useful way such as working with me. Not so much of an issue now that he is 9 and slowing down, but when he was younger it was frustrating.

Sounds like fun :) Give them a pat for me :) Interestingly the dog of mine that is the easiest to settle is my working line dog, whether that is temperament or because of the training/management I had in place I'm not sure. He knows his crate is down time, very important for training and competition so they don't use up all their energy being excited being out and about on the training/trial grounds all day. I will get to start the challenge all over again in a few months time when I get a pup :D Can't wait!

And what type of dog Corvus? I'm jealous - would love to spend more time with working line dogs that are not my own :) It is great experience and lots of fun.

I walk first, and now I wait 2 hrs after exercising to feed them, especially as Diesel has recently had torsion.

Agree with this! Mine sleep inside to minimise barking, among other things

Haha! You couldn't tell from my facebook?? :laugh: Yes, he was surrendered to rescue and we were fostering him with a view to adopting him out so providing training. Problem was, he gets along so well with our dogs and we were putting so much time and effort into him that we thought we might as well just keep him :p So yes he is a first failed foster. He was a VERY very restless dog when we first got him. Neurotic, bonkers little thing that kept pacing everywhere. Fortunately, like all th eothers, he has learned to chill now and loves his crate and mat. The first night in a crate though ... Good lord. Sounds like he has fallen on his feet And you must have a great OH to not only let you keep him but foster again as well! :laugh:

All of our fosters pace a lot like crazy when we get them and our three resident dogs used to also be naturally very restless and 'wandery'. I'm sure there's something more 'formal' to do to address this but what we do is put the dog bed near my computer desk and lure the dog to the bed and treat (whether with a small bit of food or a toy). Every time the dog gets up, I just keep guiding it back to the bed. Eventually it stays and learns to just lay there quietly - in our house, resident dogs and fosters know that when the humans are sitting at their computers, it's time for dogs to chill. For the dogs that still keep getting up and wandering, I clip a leash on their collar and tether them to my leg so that they have to stay in their dog bed when I'm at the computer. One dog was too big for tethering to my leg so he was tethered in his dog bed in the kitchen - but a short distance away from us. When he remained quiet, we moved the dog bed into the study and removed the leash. Some dogs catch on very fast, some dogs take much longer but eventually they learn to chill out. My husband and I love our internet time so it's important that the dogs don't wander. For new fosters (because we are still assessing their level of house-training), as well as encouraging them to go to their beds, we also section them off i.e. even if they do wander, they can't wander much further than the study and perhaps one other room. Eventually they tend to return to their beds. The first few times, they will get up when we get up - but eventually they learn to chill. You can also reward them if they stay put Good luck with it all. Three resident dogs? So does this mean your keeping Dodge? Or am I slow to realise this

Sorry you are having a tough time I have heard good things about thundershirts and DAP (dog appeasing pheremone).

Kelpies generally have a long life expectancy - into their teens is not uncommon. My current oldie is a Kelpie X who is 13 years old, my current 'youngster' lol is nearly 7. Good diet, exercise, fitness both physically and mentally, and trying to avoid the nasties such as ticks and snakes - most other things are down to luck and genetics. My 9 year old GSD is not in as good a way as my 13 year old, he has a lot more health problems, that have nothing to do with anything I have done.

Happy Birthday Mina!

Yes I would suggest watching the DVD :) I had to watch it several times before I understood the method, and I am sure I will watch it a few more times before and during the time I train a dog using that method :laugh:

There are many different methods of teaching the weaves. The best one for you will depend on a number of things. I haven't yet trained a dog using 2x2 but knowing a good amount of SG's training and having watched the DVD if you wantto use this method I would consider: * How good are you and your dog at shaping? If you are not confident at shaping and if your dog is not good at offering behaviours or bouncing back from falure I would either do some unrelated shaping exercises first or choose another method * Does your dog have good toy drive? I think it is easiest to teach this method using toys once you get past the very beginning, it is harder for the dog to see and drive towards thrown food. Some other methods you may want to consider: * Slanted poles, which you have started - you can start with doing a restrained recall through the poles, then move to a send and thrown reward, or stationary reward if they will not self rewrd * Once you get to totally upright poles you may have to give the dog some time to work it out as this is where some people come unstuck * If not using 2x2 you may want to use another method such as 3 pole to teach entries Weaving is a difficult skill to teach, it can take a while to master and for you to work out the best way to teach it. Good luck :)

Got to 43 here - yuck! Everyone inside under the aircon, don't think we will do walks tonight!

Thanks guys :) If anyone knows where I can get meat at a good price in Sydney I would be very grateful as well :)

OH is a bit funny about buying some types of things online, does anybody know where I can get the Vets All Natural Health Booster in Sydney or is online my only option (which I will do if I can't find it somewhere else)?

Photo??? I like snakes and wish they could be left alone, but where i live we are in a set of 20 units, we range from 90 year old ladies who spend all day every day into their garden down to i guess it would be me - pregnant with a new born only weeks away. It isnt safe to let them have run of the place when they do show up My brother has a snake (python of some sort) and i love him, im one of the few people who will walk in and hold him, everyone else is scared of him! I think they are amazing animals... when not in my backyard! Here you go.... my beautiful Elmo. *Named by my kids.... He was about 18 months at a guess in this pic. I must take some new photos of him as he's a big, beautiful boy now! I have friends with pythons and that is pretty cool but whoa that is full on having a venomous snake as a pet! You just have to be responsible, and have rules. I have a number of 'reptile rooms' and the kids aren't allowed in the room with a venomous snake if I am going to have an enclosure open for feeding/cleaning etc. They know the rules.... if the door is closed they aren't allowed in. I don't think it's full on as such, I have a very cool collection including a Crocodile, lots of Snakes, Lizards, Dragons, Frogs, Turtles, Goannas large and small. But you wanna see what DOLer Snake Catcher has got.... he's right into the bitey stuff! :laugh: I'll get there.... Things come slowly when you have a young family, and we must prioritize the money etc. It is am expensive hobby/passion, that's for sure! Sounds like a good safe system and great work on educating people! Whenever there is a reptile show I take my kids, and recently went to a bug show where they could hold and touch some of the bugs. I think I'll leave the venomous ones to you though :laugh:

Photo??? I like snakes and wish they could be left alone, but where i live we are in a set of 20 units, we range from 90 year old ladies who spend all day every day into their garden down to i guess it would be me - pregnant with a new born only weeks away. It isnt safe to let them have run of the place when they do show up My brother has a snake (python of some sort) and i love him, im one of the few people who will walk in and hold him, everyone else is scared of him! I think they are amazing animals... when not in my backyard! Here you go.... my beautiful Elmo. *Named by my kids.... He was about 18 months at a guess in this pic. I must take some new photos of him as he's a big, beautiful boy now! I have friends with pythons and that is pretty cool but whoa that is full on having a venomous snake as a pet!

Thanks Nekhbet I will look into that :)

Yes the vet suggested a calcium supplement. I haven't done that before.

The no bones is because he has had his spleen removed so the vet doesn't want anything that could potentially perforate things while he is still healing internally.