Scottsmum

We opted for as many short walks as possible (to the letter box and back) and to the common area near our car park when my old girl was too old for long walks. That said - we didn't have the pack to deal with just her, and sometimes her "cousin" who we would babysit. My girl never really minded being left at home when we walked Jem... so basically I'm not adding anything useful to the conversation. So - in an attempt to be helpful - Guin used to love sitting up between my nieces and nephews in my dads bike trailer / pram. Similar to this http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Frunbobbierun.com%2F%3Fp%3D4457&h=0&w=0&sz=1&tbnid=zKg5VHW-sTwwfM&tbnh=194&tbnw=259&zoom=1&docid=qYz7gempk0wp6M&ei=gaDQUsCXN6uFiAfYk4DwCw&ved=0CAUQsCUoAQ and he was given that for free so maybe you'll be able to find a cheap or free jogging pram on ebay or gumtree or free cycle. Many come with seat belts you'll be able to attach a harness clip to. Think he'd sit in this?? http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/adelaide-region/prams-strollers/3-wheeler-jogger/1034686141

I read this article a few days ago. It was apparently a fight between a boxer and a spaniel with the others (breed unknown to me) getting involved. The boxer bit the males femoral artery and he bleed out. The Spaniel died from its wounds and the family elected to have the rest put to sleep for a number of reasons - one of which was that all were involved and they couldn't be 100% sure the boxer delivered the fatal wound. Very very sad, extremely traumatic for all involved

With such a sensible attitude, agility might be possible. Is he a Scottie? What about seeing if he likes earth dog work?? He he ... Nope. He's a foxie with a silly name :) I don't even know what earth work is ... off for a google. :) I just want to find another class / activity for us to do together. Towards the end of the year I work a lot of weekends and one sunday offering per week won't suit us.

He stayed in!!!!!! (as an aside I had him in the office yesterday and he hurt himself playing fetch (my own fault) so I let him stay in the house today. Clearly I;m very consistent in my approach to training.

I'm not too worried about stress. I have had him vet checked but I do need to remember that he's a senior and I don't anything about his background. When i did beginners agility it was more just fun but maybe I'm romanticising it. I'm really just looking for something casual where we can come and go, not let down a team and not be pushed to advance beyond beginners (unless he really takes to it). Certainly not looking to "compete".

Hi All, I searched "casual" and didn't get a hit on the forum. I'm after a casual class or group I can take Scottie to for dog spots. I'm based in the Marrickville area and don't mind travelling but not too far as he gets car sick after about 40 minutes (so Parramatta for Agility or Newington or Holsworthy for flyball isn't the best option). I used to attend the Parramatta agility group (many years ago with a previous dog) and they were nice and casual - I'd like something like that again. Maybe teach both him and I the basics of flyball, do some very basic agility. We have a great obedience class where we do some jumps, tunnels and weaving but it's on a sunday morning and not always practical. It does need to be casual and low stress as he is a senior and I don't 100% know how physically sound he is - I just want something fun for him to get some exercise and more importantly mental stimulation and I think he'd really like it. Or maybe I just need to find a second / back up obedience class /provider - I noticed Pet O in Annandale runs classes - they might be a good choice coming into Winter as I assume they're indoors / in the store.

Our local tennis club donates used balls to the local school & also to dog rescue The other day I picked up 10 dozen balls to be circulated to Canberra / NSW foster carers. The balls are like new, hardly worn at all, especially the competition balls. That's amazing! I wonder how you do about sorting that one out? Do you have more info I'd love to look into it.

Ditto on the fussy. Has to be a tennis ball - NOTHING else will suffice. I was told by a Lab owner that you should get "people" tennis balls - Ideally a band name as they last longer than the cheapies in the pet section. They're moulded differently. I have to agree - the only ones which have split have been the kmart ones so far.

Lovely :) Really lovely :)

Sorry for your loss. Today couldn't have been easy on you.

Nekhbet - Any tips on him jumping the gate? At the moment I'm putting him out as soon as I find him in the house and re-securing the gate. No (other) "punishment" as such other than a stern "you're a naught boy" just being put straight back out until I'm calm enough to not want to kill him.

Thanks:) the thunder CD is a great idea

Hi all, This has potential to blow out to a long thread so I will try to keep it concise. Basically I need to know if we're on the right track / where we can improve dealing with S.A. So... First two weeks 30 Nov 2013)- Bring Scottie home - good behaviour. Restricted access to house with use of baby gate at laundry door. Free access to back yard via external door. Only in house when under direct supervision. On mat in lounge, not allowed up stars, not allowed on furniture. Weeks 3-4 - Learns to but out of baby gate, also learns to / shows us he know how to jump. We spend a large amount of energy trying to contain him while we're at work. Give in and give free run of downstairs at night. During this time; He learns to pop the baby gate and come up stairs, Starts vocalising at other some other dogs and in certain situations - never encouraged or rewarded Cries / howls so badly the day we lock him out completely that the neighbours send a kid over the fence to check on him. Also did damage to the door and we rent so... thanks boy. Weeks 5-6 starts getting fussy with food, shows thunder phobic tendencies follows me around the house when possible. This last few days we've been locking him in the laundry (with "baby gate version 1 million - 1 meter high board) for slowly increasing amounts of time. We had it up to 5 hours. Then yesterday I popped out for about 3 hours to come home and find he'd jumped that too. Other things - we're trying to work to the guidelines given to us by the shelter. No fussing over coming and going, desensitising him to our leaving routine -putting on shoes but not leaving immediately, picking up keys, opening the garage and not leaving at all. I take him to Obedience class once a week (its on break at the moment) and I'm trying to encourage hubby to come along to that as I have noticed Scott is getting more clingy with me since we started going to that. He also gets 2 walks a day 20-30 mins fetch in the AM at local footy grounds and 30+ minutes walk + fetch in one of 4 different parks of an evening. I try to mix the AM routine up as much as possible while keeping in mind that we leave for work by about 8 am. All meals and the comfy dog bed are in the laundry. We hang out in there with him when possible. He goes there of his own free will when we're home. I'm trying to moderate my behaviour as much as possible - be reserved and cool around him but it's hard as I want to shower affection on him (and he wants it back) and I am also the primary care giver and the one trying to teach him (really working on name, recall and sit at the moment). He's not at all food driven so lots of love is best reward / only reward he'll take sometimes. (This is the main driver behind wanting Hubby to start taking Ob class every other week - so we're both on the same page in terms of technique and they get some intensive one on one) I've upped the barrier today - the baby gate on top of the board - I'd say it's approx 150cm now. Don't think he'll jump but I do have to be wary of him crying too as we're in a very built up area - some neighbours are great others won't tolerate long term crying. I was planning on giving him one day in, one day out and mixing it up until he is in 5 days a week. I have no problems ramping it up so he is in the laundry area 7 days a week if that helps establish rules. There is no way to simply block his access to the carpeted areas of the house as I have said - he can "pop" the baby gate to get upstairs and the opening to the lounge is over a meter high so we'd need a huge board to block it. No doors on either area. Plus I suspect he'd be happy in the kitchen for a few weeks then the same behaviour would repeat. My main reason behind not wanting him to have free roam of the house is that I don't particularly want wet dog in my bed or lounge during winter and he has quite a strong body odour which leaves the house smelling "doggy" (working on that with diet. Not sure if he's improving or if we're getting used to the smell!) So..... there you go. He's obviously used to having free run of the house where he last lived and he's formed an attachment to us very quickly but are we on the right track? Is it only a matter of time or are we doing something very wrong? Is there a better way? I will crate if I have to but only as a last-ish resort. I would prefer to not medicate. thanks