Two Best Dogs!

Hmm maybe I will go pace out 5m to see what it feels like with pup. Start of with it is primarily for teaching her recall when mingling with other dogs cause right now they are much more interesting than me XD Dilemma. I want her to be able to play (politely) with other dogs (chasies, it's always chasies!) and roam around sniffing so I thought 10m is best option but I'm not wanting anyone to get tangled including me. Does syn tek catch on things easy? I do have a horse line, I forget the length, but it is heavy so I'm wanting something more easy to frolic with. Also it holds water like woah! Am not wanting finger burn! Looking like 16mm is better length. I was thinking to tie strategic knots so I have some contact points I'm not fussed about patches, just thought they were kind of neat. But I'm also getting pretty good at telling ppl to not bother us. Darn I wish I could try these harnesses on her! I don't want to make the wrong purchase. Is why I was looking at the third one as it doesn't seem to go across the chest like the others? I need to get home and measure too.

I have chosen, thanks :D Measuring dog was hard so I hope the medium webmaster fits! Am struggling to choose as we slowly work on recall and offlead skills (so for both solo exercising, controlled playing with other dogs and eventually dabbling in tracking. So light enough she forgets it is there, but strong enough to not lose her?) Never had a syn tek lead, are they as strong as advertised? Also not sure if the 10mm vs 16mm makes for notable difference? She's 35kg, doesn't usually pull hard but that may change with distance to build up speed. Tossing up between the 10 metre 10mm (leaning to orange for visibility? and 10 metre 16mm (only in black??) and a harness to go with, narrowed down to 3. Leaning to this one with reflective strap. Would get the In Training and Do Not Pet patches This one seems to be the same but with thicker straps? I don't like how they seem to be up in the armpit, she has no fur there so worried about rubbing. This one seems new, I like the padded breast plate type of it. Does anyone use stuff like this? Stuff i should look out for?

I use these guys, they do house visits and I'm pretty close to your daughter's suburb. A new dog day care has just opened up bundoora, I can grab the details from the store tomorrow as I don't remember what they were called. I paid attention because they had a behaviourist and vet attached to them, i think.

A good reason to not having pics, I'll have to use my imagination of their cuteness :)

Awwwww go justice! He's such a trooper. Do we get any lovely pics? :)

hah! What a little piggy.

Wait am thinking you mean competition. My mistake XD Assuming you mean general obedience and not competition, I have had lots of good experiences with positive k9 training in Kew. I've found the trainers very supportive and open to all my dumb questions. They have a website that gives the general structure run down. If you sign up you'll be emailed the rules and some basic fact sheets. http://www.positivek9training.com.au might be too far out of your way, I'm always a bit confused what counts as south east XD

I think that's the main thing, that once you've made the decision and brought the dog into your home you are committed to making it work, whatever that requires. Absolutely do all your research and find the best match you possibly can, but as dogs are living creatures they won't be perfect and problems will crop up. As long as you work through it rather than getting rid of the dog at the first sign of trouble, then you are providing a good home IMO IMO, that's why foster (or a trial period if you go with a breeder) is good in my books. Give it your best shot, but if that particular dog's personality doesn't mesh with you there is less stress and judgement about your returning the dog and trying with the next one. That's the main reason I went with a rescue over a pound. They had a trial period and until that time was up and I was happy to keep the dog, she wasn't yet mine. It was good to have a fail safe.

What I mean papillon is that one day I would love one of those! When I can afford it and the install. It may now go in one of my back windows when I get them replaced (far in the future, so alternatives to then) instead of the door, now that the idea has been given to me ;) Have checked Willem! Right now all the ones up are for little dogs or sliding doors but I'll keep an eye out. Looks like the laundry method is the most feasible right now. I'll ask insurance what kind of lock they'll accept...

You are correct Mackie. It's why I currently have no money! Just had my 1 year mortgageversary XD Unfortunately, all the walls either have handy storage or a window. You give me long term ideas though. I'm hoping to get all the windows replaced in 5 years so I imagine I could easily have one converted into a dog door... Or hmmm. Could just knock one out myself since any damage will be replaced eventually. Doesn't need to be pretty. Just all these storms out of the blue or 40 degree days.

Hmm I see snook. Maybe I could install a lock on my laundry door like your baby gate. Then dog is kind of inside but ppl can't get in I suppose run of the house is overstated. She only ever has access to half the house.

I realise that I have dreams one day of those ones where the dog collar (has a sensor?) indicates if it opens or not. And that having to crawl and potentially meet a big dog while on your knees is a turn off versus a normal door wide open Until then some kind of in and out for her...but I'm stumped! So pick the forums collective ideas it is

35kg thereabouts. She's agile so I've no doubt she could get out of a window, but as the house is raised up I think getting back in would be very difficult as the height will be doubled XD Blast I'm noticing all these autocorrects in my post. Curse mobile, I hope it all makes sense.

I think the dog is ready to graduate to having unsupervised indoor/outdoor access. So can take self to toilet, if weather goes bad can take self inside. But unfortunately right now a large dog door is out of budget? At least, all the ones I see are little and expensive so I'm assuming bigger = more money XD One day I would like. Until then, do people have suggestions? The back door is like so: - one inward opening door I can lock - iron outward opening security door. Doesn't have anything to keep it open. Is heavy. Has been broken off its hinges on a storm once so hesitant to tie it open incase of a repeat The two door system is stumping me on what to do. I could get rid of the security door as it's mostly there because it has pretty iron flower decoration on it... But I also feel uncomfortable having my back door open during the day for dog to go in and out, even though unlikely she would let anyone enter. Dilemma! People have ideas or alternatives?

It really is the worst time for it too, lots of new people with new dogs so a bit of chaos as everyone gets settled. I would worry the risk of one of the DA dogs breaking free! Especially the bigger ones. Thistle I'm pretty sure just wanted to play too, but obviously I prefer approved dogs I know will tolerate her clumsy manners and not as a reward for lead pulling. I would report to rangers but I don't want the risk of this somehow harming the clubs event renting if asshole owner decides that way to cause trouble...ill keep an eye out to see if she's a new regular at the same time...

I like Scotts suggestion of fostering a young adult from a rescue, then you can get a better grasp on the dogs personality after she or he has settled into your home and see if they're the right fit. I think some programs have a "foster with a view to adopt" option where you get to "test run" some dogs. You'll have to accept the risk of some minor destruction as they settle. My dog fully meets your requirements (not for sale!!! ;) and has her negatives but they're not deal breakers for me), and is pretty non destructive but she has had her odd day where she decided I don't need that book anymore. Lots of her own toys and removing things I really care from her access when I'm not there solved that. I slip up sometimes and I never liked that one plant ;) she's nearly 2 and is calming down at least. Obviously no dog will meet the requirements 100% of the time but I think you could work with it - just need to find the right dog and commit to working to keep you both happy and setting them up to succeed. I say get in touch with a rescue to meet some potential fosters with your partner and give one of them a trial run to see where you're willing to compromise with the dog.

I don't mind your thoughts Willem. As it happened with each repetition thistle got more worked up (I should add, she was overexcited not fearful so a different threshold to what we are both used to working with) and when I realised it was a lost cause around the 8th or so for both of us I took us away from class to do some distraction exercises. Heeling, sits, drops etc easy stuff to regain control. Although my upset frustration probably didn't help in conveying what I wanted (sit calmly, not straining and barking) she at least calmed down faster than I did. If dog was 10 metres away like others dogs chasing ball (it's not an uncommon occurrence) I think we would have been okay. But this was way too close and too often to have any chance at regaining attention without leaving I'm thinking now. Sometimes there's a fella before classes doing the same thing at a respectful distance with his BC. I'll try to practice some look and dismiss and calm behaviours around him. 8-9 metres perhaps. Thistle has seen this dog many times before too unlike other lady who's an unknown (so another factor). I was thinking. Maybe if i turn her to face the other way the minute I see that owner starting up, thistle will not realise what is going on. But then I thought, wouldn't it be funny if the whole class lined up with our backs and dog backs to this lady who so desperately wants an audience?

If she's there next week I'm probably going to yell some things, or at least a one fingered gesture. She was definitely intentionally being a dick, was keeping her personal distance from all of us, out of shouting distance, but was using one of those ball throwing sticks to send her BC between us all and through the agility equipment. Funny enough, once classes were ended and people were dispersing she leashed her dog and left quick smart. The rest of the class was reassuring me Thistle's doing well, so in retrospect I guess they could see how upset I was, but I was too frustrated/upset at the time to appreciate it. It is very unfair to expect Thistle to stay calm when a dog and ball are flying back so close and so many times! Ruining an otherwise perfectly fine morning Once the lady moved off, Thistle was able to calm down pretty quickly to calmly say hello to her second best friend at least (Didi being the first). Love that little kelpie x

Class went fine up until the useless f***ing ~show off~ who kept throwing the ball for her dog to retrieve...by throwing it between the classes and within 5 metres of us all! She'd throw the ball, then look at the rest of us struggling to calm our dogs while hers ran to it and back. Rinse and repeat. One time as close as 2 metres to this poor DA staffie x who basically shut down. I have never wanted to punch someone so much. Thistle spent a good 10 minutes over threshold, no matter how I distracted and we even walked off from class to be further away and no doubt missed out on greats of information. Like what to do about piece of shit people who intentionally let their dogs set off other dogs by running back and forth in close proximity. I'm not the only one upset, other dog owners and even some of the trainers were irritated. But the owner herself was staying far away from us so none of us could tell her off. Goes to show there's not much point having a great dog if the owner of it is a piece of disrespectful shit. I'm so f***ing mad. There was a whole f***ing half oval available up the other end. But here's some good run downs. Thistle sniffed and said hello to a new dog (big lab? or maybe a goldie with short hair? or a goldie x lab?), she ignored the schnauzer playing with his toy (so many play growls), said hello to her usual friends, voluntarily asked P (a big tall man) to pat her, met two new upcoming trainers, didn't freak out from the stall collapsing, was absolutely stella on her heel/return to side and she did try awfully hard to obey commands/calm down at the first few runs of that dog past. Didn't get to practice recall on account of asshole owner. Who I really want to punch, and I like to think I'm not usually violent? But in this case, really f***ing want to punch.

Teeny tiny little jazz hands! They're darlings!

Puppies!!! What a size range :D

Can you send someone to bunnings to get the lino for you? I am immediately excited.

What a dainty sweetheart!

She doesn't like my music box

Ouch! It's so big for such a tiny little dog. How long until they fully heal, roughly?