Leah82

That's kinda what I was getting at, all dogs know commands to some degree but it's pretty funny when they pick up words on their own and even funnier when they respond correctly to something you've said to them completely out of the blue :)

Our cocker is also pretty funny when you say 'where's your ball' he'll start running around frantically looking for it. It's especially handy when you're in the back yard or at the park and pretend to throw the ball, he spends ages with his nose to the ground and tail doing figure 8's looking for it. So much easier that just throwing the ball because he never wants to give it back.

Love it :D smart girl

I'd say it's a combination of learned responses to words, tone and body language with a bit of coincidence thrown in. Still very funny when it happens though. With Sarah I'm guessing it was mostly my tone mixed in with a bit of couldn't be bothered on her behalf. I've told her to go to bed plenty of times but never go to sleep :)

I got up from the couch last night to go to the kitchen and as usual Sarah puts her head up to see what's going on which is generally followed by her following me around the house. When she put her head up I said 'It's OK honey go back to sleep' and then she promptly did just that :) Got me wondering about times when this has happened to other people....

That's funny because yesterday I was at a cafe and it was the other way around! There was a Collie tied to a table whining and pulling at the table trying to get to my Cavalier. I find that a lot of dogs go crazy over my Cav but he just doesn't give a damn. However he will pull at the leash for any human, especially kids, he loves kids! Whenever we are at puppy class he will try to get all the dog owner's attention and not bother about the dogs :p OT - Our Cocker Spaniel is called Collie :) It's does get pretty confusing sometimes. It's an abbreviation of his former show name Rum and Cola. You can blame my OH for that one, Rummy would have been a lot less confusing :p

I was at a cafe awhile ago and were seated outside next to a middle aged couple with their black Cavalier tied to a chair. We'd considered getting Collie out of the car but decided against it as he has a natural ability to get himself tangled in the shortest of leases, and it was a good thing that we didn't because when other dogs walked past, the Cav went absolutely bonkers barking and snarling. Obviously this is completely preventable but as with all dogs socialization is key :)

I was at Ruffey Lake Park in Doncaster with our 2 yesterday afternoon. A couple of standard poodles ran over when we got there, one lost interest fairly quickly but the other was a little tooo interested in Sarah and at one point put it's mouth around Sarah's neck when I was in the process of shooing it away, mean while their owner was calling and calling from about 30 metres away, once my OH and I got between our dogs and the poodle it eventually went back to it's owner. Bit scarey, bit frustrating, but I guess you just do what you can to protect your dogs. Hopefully their owner is now practicing a bit of recall. After a not so great start we still had a great time at the park, as you can see from these happy and tired faces. I'm just glad that our 2 don't seem to be particularly interested in other dogs at the park and tend to just stick together.

Hi riverstar, I tried the no-pull harness last week, it worked a bit better than just his collar but seems to be a size too big so he wasn't responding to it as much as I hoped. I'm going to look at getting a replacement. My OH measured him and said he had a 25 inch girth and the medium size is between 22 to 28 inches so i figured it would be perfect but not so much.

I can definitely attest to the fact that Cockers will want to be where you are. I grew up with independent outside dogs so it was a bit of an adjustment moving in with my OH and his Cocker. I couldn't understand why we he wouldn't stay outside by himself, he was fine when we weren't home after all. Over the last 6 months I've come to the understanding that he's the type of dog that needs to feel included in your everyday life, they're very conscious of what's going on around them and don't want to miss out on anything, hence the following from room to room, no necessarily anxiety, just curiosity. If you want a dog that's more independent you may want to rethink your choice of a CS. Also cockers aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, especially compared to your BC. They can learn but often their wants and curiosities can get in the way of them wanting to please you. I find the difference amazing compared to my rescue poodle x. If Sarah get's tangled in her leash she'll quite happily untangle herself where as Cocker Collie will just deal with the discomfort because he's following a scent :p

we have an Angelica at work pronounced Anhelica although I'm thinking this one isn't Colombian :p

I just recently got our Cocker from 16.2kgs down to 14.5 where I can now just feel his ribs. It's probably the easiest 1.7kgs I've ever managed to loose :p My OH tends to overfeed a bit, plus a few treats here and there but since I've taken over dinner time the weight has fallen off, although you can't tell because he's so damn woolly at the moment.

haven't used it yet, only got it yesterday. Will give it a go tonight and let you know :) Collie generally eases off when you give him a tug on the leash and say "walk" which usually results in me having to say it every 30 seconds for the entire walk. Sarah is a great walker which is surprising considering her lack of leash experience, although she's starting to get a bit more confident and taking cues from Collie which is not a good thing.

I got this harness for Collie, he can be a bit of a puller, plus with him loosing his sight he can be a pain on walks, he has to sniff everything and keeps nearly tripping me over http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=3470&ParentCat=202

I just received my clean run order! I got a harness for Collie because he's constantly getting tangled up in his leash and a treat pouch which will make life easier at the park instead of finding pockets for keys, phone, doggy bags and treats.

regardless of the wording of the article all you have to read is 70 living animals and do a quick google map search of Coodanup to confirm that it's not going be a rural property to know that it's not at all possible for these animals to have been treated humanely. Nice to know you now think the charges are reasonably but I for one don't need to see it to believe it.

Thanks Guys, will probably save bringing the dogs till the Cocker show, it's in Oct so assuming it'll be outdoors by then. And don't worry we don't have any snot nosed kids yet :p And while I like to talk to people about their dogs we're not going to be in the market for a puppy for quite awhile, we'll probably wait until we have snot nosed kids first :D

it would be interesting to take our Cocker. firstly because liver roan is not listed as a colour in the Cocker Spaniel club of VIC website. and also he was a show puppy before an undescended testicle forced him into early retirement so it would be interesting to see if any memories of misspent youth come back :p attempted to get him to 'stack' a few weeks back which according to my partner he used to do very well...no idea now was very funny to try though. Will probably drag the other half along as well so one of us can hold them somewhere else if we want to talk to breeders.

Hi All, Was just checking out the schedule down at the KCC park in Melb thinking it could be a good day out to head down there and watch some dog shows. Unfortunately the websites are all targeted towards ppl showing. So before I waste my time heading down to Skye I thought I'd ask a few quick questions as I've never been to a dog show before. Are spectators allowed? Is there usually an admission fee? Can I bring my dogs? Any other do's or don'ts to make sure we don't get in the way of proceedings and/or look like complete newbs?

Hi Kristy, Would love our 2 to do a bit more socialising outside of their small pack, we'll be busy this weekend but maybe next month. Also does Boronia reserve go by any other name? I did a quick google search and only came up with reserves in Boronia.

well from what you guys have said it's doubtful that Collie is resource guarding, i was wondering if it could be very subtle but to be fair he's not all that smart :p mostly he just tries to get himself between you and Sarah because being a cocker he's always desperate for attention, and being almost twice the size as Sarah he can be a bit of a boof head about it We shall continue to wait patiently, in the meantime I get Sarah cuddles all to myself :)

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I just know my finance is taking it a bit personally because she'll jump up on me for pats and cuddles and she wags her tail when I walk up to her and he doesn't get any of that. Will keep working at it. :) Also I'm wondering if our Cocker has anything to do with it, he's my fiance's dog and being a cocker spaniel is extremely attached to him, could he have possibly claimed my finance as his human and is telling Sarah to back off?

Ok peeps, I need some help. My puppy farm rescue dog who I've had for over a month is scared of my fiance. I initially thought this would get better with time but it doesn't seem to be improving at all. She'll cower and walk away whenever he comes too close, which includes getting off her bed if he walks by. If our Cocker is getting cuddles from my fiance she comes closer to give Rick a quick lick before running away again. She's better in open spaces like the park but can still be pretty skittish. I don't know why she's like that towards him, initially we thought it might be all men but she's been fine with other men that we've introduced to her including both our dads. He's tried giving her treats and cuddles but it doesn't seem to change her overall reaction to him. He's also tried just ignoring her altogether to take the pressure off but still no change.

My sarah looks like a meercat after she's been snoozing :p

I forgot to mention this as well... Not sure about the laws in NSW but in Victoria landlords cannot always evict you for just having a pet they didn't approve, they may have to prove that the pets are damaging the property. Obviously it's up to you whether or not you want to lie to your landlord but it's nice to know the option is there if you have no other alternative. http://www.tuv.org.au/articles/files/resources/Pets_FS_R_062009.pdf Just checked the Tenancy union of NSW website (http://www.tenants.org.au/tenants-rights-factsheets) and there's no mention of pets which may indicate the same lack of rules apply