Leah82

I'm pretty sure Steph got Rosie from SODR

How old is your cocker? Personally I think you would be better off learning to make grooming an enjoyable experience rather than trying to restrain him for a simple brush out.

While I realise he's not anywhere near as bad, my 6 year old cocker is a big whinger when it comes to being brushed, but after plying him with treats during brushing a few times he's now trying to climb up onto the grooming table himself.

My advice would be to find a professional groomer who can help you work through these issues, the longer you leave the brushing the worse his experience will be, he needs to learn what it's like to be brushed when he has no knots. Find someone that can hold your dog and distract him with treats while you brush him a little bit at a time giving him lots of breaks. Also when you're patting him run your fingers through his hair and see if you can remove some knots and twigs that way, often when a dog knows he's about to be groomed the stress levels go up so make it part of your cuddle time.

Learning to clip dogs yourself is hard enough on a well behaved dog, having to learn on a difficult dog is only going to increase the chance of something going wrong, ending up at the vets and further traumatising your dog

is anyone else coming to the vic catchup next weekend? so far it's just me and superminty

link: http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/258673-recallers-50-vic-catchup/

Zeph survived the surgery and is so far, doing far better than expected. He had a huge cyst (15cm) on the spleen and it was bleeding internally (within the spleen). Fingers crossed he will be home tomorrow. We visited him today and his gum colour was so much better, and he was much brighter than he was prior to the surgery. I'm so glad we went with this option. Yay for Zephyr

yay Zeph!

there's lots of snow pics in the collie and sarah thread... http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/252324-collie-and-sarah/page__pid__6536734__st__15#entry6536734

here's a couple :)

Sarah's tip for getting snow off your face

and this is how much snow there was yesterday

More snow pics :) we were up there early yesterday morning and got to play in proper powder, no slushy snow to be found

Week 31/52: Snow flakes that stay on my nose and eye lashes :)

yay Don pic :)

Just what I needed to get through Friday afternoon

Not long after OH and I had moved in together we went out one night and left Collie inside.

We came home a few hours later and as usual expected to be accosted at the door by Collie as we walked in but this time he wasn't there. We hadn't gotten to the light switch yet and started to get a bit worried calling Collie's name. OH walked around the dining room table to turn the light on, when he did we found a very guilty looking cocker spaniel lying on OH's jumper in the middle of the table.

Funniest past was he couldn't get off the table by himself :p

He managed to do it a couple of more times before we remembered to make sure the dining chairs were pushed in properly before we went out

So turns out we have a bit of a counter surfer as well, although he couldn't care less about food, he just wants a smelly man jumper to curl up on

yep I'm getting a bit behind and well and the local parks are getting soggier by the minute :p

Looking forward to meeting Thisbe, I love Kelpies :)

Great article for new dog owners and children, as time goes on you do learn there are a few exceptions to the rules :p

Sarah loves a good cuddle, I was wary of making her uncomfortable at first so I'd give her a short little hug while she was sitting down, when I stopped she'd hop up on me or put her paw on my leg, so of course I would oblige and give her more cuddles :p

And while I don't like being patted on the head there's nothing better than a head massage :D

I've also heard that rabbits don't like being patted on the face, well tell that to my previous bunny spike, he used to constantly put his face under my hand demanding pats

Nice, but I'm not bringing my possible to be mistook for pitbull or pitbull cross to Vic...

fair enough though

Ok so there wasn't a whole heap of interest in the catchup but it's possible some people might have missed it so I've created a topic in the Social Events section :)

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/258673-recallers-50-vic-catchup/

For those doing SG's Recallers in VIC at the moment I'm organising a mid course catchup next Saturday 9th August at 2.30PM

Bring your crates, favourite tug toys and cookies, and of course your dog/dogs

We'll go over whatever games you want, have a little show off or get another perspective on any issues you're having.

At the moment I've picked Knox Gardens Primary School in Wantirna South (off Fewster Drive) as a location, it's totally fenced off apart from a small entrance and there is an under cover basketball court if the weather isn't great.

If you can think of a better spot let me know. The only issue with the school is other people might be using the space and there might be football going on at the Knox Gardens Reserve oval next door.

Let me know if you're keen to come :D

Also you'll find dogs either shed lots or need grooming. All dogs shed fur but with the low shedding dogs the dead fur stays in the coat and you need to brush it out so they don't get matted.

Low shedding dogs need clipping as well as the fur keeps growing

As far as Cocker Spaniels go I wouldn't call them barkers. Ours will bark if there is a stranger near his territory which fits your watch dog requirement. Other than that they can be a bit whiny and vocal which some people may find annoying.

When you mention grooming are you ok to take the dog to a groomers every 6 weeks or so? As long as you keep the hair relatively short their day to day grooming isn't much. You can get away with giving them a quick brush every few days and focus on the areas that knot easily. If you want to grow the coat out in winter then ideally you want to brush them daily but it won't take long if you keep on top of it.

And finally they can suffer from separation anxiety but as long as they get used to spending time alone from day 1 they should be ok. My inlaws have always had cockers as only pets and not had a problem when they both worked full time, ours was a second dog when my husband got him and consequently didn't adjust very well we he became an only pet so we rescued a mature dog to keep him company and not had any major issues since then.

With Cockers make sure the breeder tests for PRA and FN, ours is 6 years old and almost blind because the breeder didn't test for PRA at the time.

Definitely do a drop by for a few of your neighbours. Telling them about the dog is one thing but it also gives you a chance to sus the neighbours out and find the old lady/couple who will tell you exactly what's going on when you're not there and give you the goss on the other neighbours :)

Like you said you are planning to be there for awhile so it's good to introduce yourselves in person and be a part of the community, especially because of the dogs. If people recognise you and you are approachable they are more likely to let you know if the dogs are being a nuisance during the day.

When I lived in an apartment for over 5 years there were a couple of old ladies downstairs that used to talk out the front a lot, I got all the goss on other people moving in and out, and I even got a heads up when some random guy and his son were looking over my car one day.

Lots of dogs are scared of vacuums and therefore pet dryers but they still need to the dried properly, especially dogs with a thick heavy coat as they can take a very long time to air dry.

If the dryer is a concern you need to find someone that can go slowly and give the dog lots of breaks. It's better for the long term if it's something he gets used to.

Maybe contact a local grooming school and see if they would like to use him as a learning experience :)

Love the pics, he looks so cuddley :)

You need to get a photobucket or flickr account Snippy so we can see bigger pictures of jester :D

Snow report isn't looking too bad for this Friday/Saturday. Not sure if we'll be able to make it but if anyone else is interested then go for it :)

http://www.mountainwatch.com/snow-forecasts/Australia/Lake%20Mountain%20Resort

Where we go is about 1200m and a freezing level of 1000m means you'll get snow down to about 900m. More precipitation would be nice but dogs will still enjoy a mere 10cms

here's a map from Marysville to 'the spot'

We were at the park with our 2 once and a curly coated retriever came bounding up. I'd never seen one in real life before so asked the owner what he was. He told me and after he left OH scoffed and said there was no such thing, I was like 'ummmm... actually...' :p

and surprisingly people sometimes ask what Collie is, I think the liver confuses them so they need to make sure he is what they think he is

I don't buy the vet story.

Maybe the vet decided to 'wait and see' but that's different from the dog being OK. Which it seriously isn't. It staggered, fainted, twitched, stopped vocalising and became disoriented.

I don't see any reason to not buy the vet story. What's the point of judging someone when you have no way of knowing the full story anyway.

Bit of a catch up week for me so here's a little series I like to call 'Sunshine and Puppy Ears' :)

Week 29/52

Week 30/52 - the spot that Sarah is in is the only spot in the house that gets natural sunshine in the morning, she's still there and snoring lighty :p

I saw this on the project the other night, not sure where they got their information but apparently the dog was taken to the vet and is fine.

And the owner hadn't seen the dog in 2 years! I'm sure she was just as excited and not about the ignore the dog because it wasn't behaving properly.

Edit: here's the original youtube link confirming the vet visit

We enjoy going away with our dogs which means holidays away are often in summer when we can go camping and take them with us. Plus is so nice seeing them out in the elements and experiencing something new :)

If we go away and can't take the dogs they stay with the in-laws, but that's about once a year for a couple of weeks at the most.

If you are considering having a dog that you can take to a kennel you might want to factor this into your breed choice. Some breeds are known as velcro dogs and need human companionship and a home environment, these types of dogs would not do very well in a kennel environment.