leopuppy04

I'm auditing Fri - Sun.... Apparently I heard on the radio that it's 40 from today until Sunday Eve.... OUCH! Glad they've moved it from 7:30 - 1:30 but gee I'm going to struggle to stay awake considering I need to travel for an hr to get there *yawn* Such a shame, as I can't wait.... My dogs will be at home staying cool most likely.... so I guess they won't mind if I wear their cool coats right?!

Thanks PC - not sure whether I would have bought by then or not - I have no time to go shopping My main question now is lenses I can't afford to spend thousands on lenses, but I don't think that kit lenses are worthwhile. What would be your recommendations? I would still like two lenses - one for landscape/ portraits and one for zoom.... suggestions?

tee hee Ruger - we all know that Canon is better

Ness you are the worst friend ever and SUCH a bad influence Thanks for the thoughts rubiton :rolleyes: Are the 1000D's still easy to come by - I often only see the 400 or 450D nowadays (or the higher ones which I am not looking at )

Ok - so I finally have enough money to get myself an SLR...... was wondering what everyone's recommendations would be. My mum has an old (EOS) analogue Canon SLR, and since I have used Canon all my life, I would probably want to stick with that - I like the cameras and like the pictures they produce. I don't know that much about photography, but would love to learn more - so what type of courses would you recommend (I also *hopefully* have a friend who will help me out too;) ). Currently I have a canon powershot that I love mucking around with and learning on. I mainly love taking general shots - photos of the dogs (agility, showing, action, portraits), family and scenery (this I need to learn more on) so would love a camera with the versatility to do all of this. So..... what should I be looking at.... currently I like the 450, but should I save money and go the 1000 or 400D? Is there any reason to go the model up? What should I look for, what features to I need? Do SLR's have features like digital macro or colour accent etc? What type of lenses should I be looking at? I think mum has a fairly good zoom lens which I could use and I'd love a wide angle lens..... obviously I'd love to get a twin lens pack, so not sure what I could get with that? ETA - just checked mum's camera - her lens is a canon zoom lens EF 28 - 105mm, 1.4 - 5.6 (no idea what that means ). THANKS!

When speaking to Bayer they recommended Killtix - but when I mentioned that my dogs would be swimming they said that it would no longer work..... The lady said it wastn' water proof... Guess I'll go with Proban

OK ok I'll admit it - I too own a ball theif though this is not through the secondary reinforcer... ball is definitely primary!!! Step 1- Go and bark at whoever might be holding a chuckit stick. The louder you bark and bounce increases the probability that ball will be released. Step 2 - Chase ball.... can win most times but sometimes those pesky fast breeds, or swimming breeds will beat me first. Step 3 - Should I be beaten to the ball - intercept.... chase and cut off dog trying to bring ball back.... do this until they drop the ball Step 4 - Pick up ball and proudly bring it back.... since it was me that did ALL the hard work Step 5- Repeat steps 1 - 4. NB - fortunately this works very well on my little sister... she tries it with me, but the most she gets out of it is if there is a rope dangling then I will graciously let her bring the ball back with me,.... together.... that is after the lap of honour of course

LOL RS - I have plenty of tips for the noise - mine don't make a squeak when I take the other out now... it's the pathetic face I have no cure for I'll PM ya

Do you have any tips on how to leave one in a crate or tethered while working with the other, without it carrying on like a pork chop waiting for its turn? RS - I own Aussies - I swear it's a breed disposition that the louder and harder you can chuck a tanty when one dog is out training, the better you are I got lots of tips for that one.... but sorry - no tips on how to get the sad, neglected, RSPCA case look off their face when you are training the other

I always think it's important to teach your dogs to be alone by themselves, even if you don't ever think they will *need* to be on their own. Start small - so pop a crate inside or start with a dog outside and a dog in - reward the dog outside or seperated from you for not chucking a tanty while you are working with the other one. Gives the one inside some special training with you (perhaps some training for Fly) and also helps them settle when they are separated. As others have said - leave the one at home with a tasty treat that will take a while to eat (pigs ear, RMB) as chewing will amuse them and reduce stress. Don't make a huge fuss when you return and if need be, don't let the dogs re-unite as soon as you come home either. PM me if you want more - I have a handout that may help too

Thanks Kallistar - will air it for longer now He is doing really well with his scent so far and we are pretty much up to a full set now.... but seeing as I took a long break, we've gone back a bit to 'not quite a full set' Ptolomy - well we definitely aren't that experienced yet Hopefully one day!

Thanks Kallistar - I've aired them for about 48+hrs but he still struggles with this set more than the older ones.... I guess I just have to keep using them eh and make it nice and easy for him

Oh yeah - forgot about needing the extra sets - I have about 4 full sets and a set on loan from a friend that has extra metals in it Ok - I have a question - 2 of my sets are new and Leo has difficulty with this.... what can I do to make the set 'old' and easier on him?

I agree erny - I don't believe in hypnosis either. I don't think that it would work in the sense that your timid dog will magically become calmer - but I do believe it would help, say.... if you were moving to a new house or had just re-homed a pet etc. Not sure about the health one though -ie: offering 'recovery' from injury etc...

So I have this stuff sitting on my desk - it's a CD designed to play music (duh!) that will calm your dog or relieve stress... another that is to help with the 'recovery' process after an injury or surgery..... Anyone believe in it? Do you think it would work? I don't think it's meant to actually hypmotise the dogs, but the music is supposed to be 'calming'... which I guess is similar to us listening to calming music. 99% of me says 'nope, no way' but interested to hear your thoughts....

Great news seita I also found there was a point where more was better for Leo - ie: if I had 2-3 he wouldn't scent properly but if I had 5-7 he would scent.... all takes time though I'm not sure of any other methods other than tie down, but I found that Loopy Leo found he didn't want to pick the others up once he gained confidence Like you - I'm very green too ;)

Just spoke to Bayer - they said it was an allergic reaction on Kinta, but the lump may be irrelevant (not ruling it out yet as it's very similar to a lump my friends dog has when he swelts up with allergies).... Most helpful over the phone - they suggested I don't use it again.....so now the question is what is just as effective and waterproof should I hit tick - country again

SnT - is the Lufenefron what is in Sentinel? hmm... maybe I should just stick to my original remedy - nothing wrong with it - just thought putting less chemicals the better (cheaper too!) LOL! Thanks Settrlvr. When I put it on, I did it in about 4 spots.... didn't seem to help much as each spot had the icky stuff Will ring Bayer tomorrow

Clyde - that's what I initially thought too - but noticed these other reactions so thought it might be something more serious. I was quite careful with the application - trying not to splatter into one spot and not letting it dribble on the coat.... don't think I was too successful

hey settrlvr - did you have it dribble through the coat too?

Thanks snt - that's what I think - which is why I want to switch them to interceptor as opposed to sentinel as I don't feel they need the treatment for the fleas That way I can treat them only when required rather than every few months regardless What would you recommend to use? We didn't have any bald patches, but we definitely had the itchies - I am just really concerned about the lumps/ scabby spots

Earlier in the summer we went up the east coast and into ticks-ville... so I put the advantix on my kids to help with the tick issue :rolleyes: I have however noticed that where I put the spot on treatment: *Their hair became knotted and had to be pulled/ cut/ brushed out..... depending on severity *Near the area of the spot on treatment - they dogs were very sensitive and would itch if I rubbed their backs around that area *Kinta has a few scabby spots on her back where the treatment was applied *I noticed a teeny lump on his back near where I applied the treatment - only noticed it once I gave them a dose and it hasn't gone away yet... but not too woried about that Oh and my dogs have been tested for ivermectin and both are clear Anyone else have these problems or anything similar to it? I'd like to use a spot on treatment when required (dogs are on interceptor spectrum) - and have one tube left of advantix - should I use it or not.... what other recommendations do people have for the fleas instead of this?

haha - ahhh the memories of teaching scent discrim! Don't worry - it's quite common and I went through similar probs. For problem #1 - have you tried a tie down mat? This can help if your name isn't "Leo" and you become so fixated on the tie downs that he pulls it out anyways ;) A lot of people have found this helped... but make sure you move ahead fast as some dogs will be cued by other things other than scent (eg: the right one is the one that moves, not the ones that don't). It's great that she is so eager to get there I know exactly what you mean - Leo is sooo eager about it he knocks all of the articles into the middle making it super dooper hard for him to find the right one You will find that as she gets better at it - she will taste less and use her mouth more. I was told not to worry about this and they were right - the more confident he gets the less he will mouth and the more he will scent with his nose. He used to do exactly the same chopping and changing between articles, and now has a nice confident scent on him where he will work the full mat to find the right one (mind you we haven't practiced since before christmas!) Sounds like everything is going on track to me. If you find she is still not really scenting - perhaps go back a step, or switch to an easier article such as wood, which holds our scent a little better PS - I used the dog scouts training method for scent discrim (don't have the link with me, but someone else might be able to provide it ) PSS - it's also not very helpful with the dog dislodges the mat and tries to bring you back the whole thing ;). Sometimes dropping out the NRM can help - I found leo made great improvements once I dropped it, even though he was responding well to the NRM (going back to the mat and finding the right one). Leo also went through a stage of simply bringing back the first one he sees until I ended up with about 5 woods at my feet.... ahh it's all fun and games and you go up and down like a yo-yo

yup that's who I was watching last night KC. He also has a game he plays where dogs are told to sit and everyone else is going to try to make the dog break. the only thing they aren't allowed to do is scare the dog or touch it

I watched a dog DVD last night and it was really interesting One thing that I found particularly interesting was testing how well our dogs know each command under a set of criteria. Now I've done it before, but I upped the anti this time and tried it on the Mr Leo. I only used a verbal command, no visuals. A 'yes' meant he complied within 3 seconds and off one command. I used sit.... next to me.... of course me a few feet in front - back to the dog... yes me a few feet behind.... facing dog (dog not facing me)... yes me sitting down.... facing dog..... yes me lying dog... yes me sitting down - back to dog.... a little harder but yes me looking at kinta saying sit.... yes (from both dogs LOL!) me out of sight.... yes Leo in a drop, me lying down..... he came over and licked my face! LOL! To say the least, I was VERY impressed at how well he knew the command!!!!!!!! It was fun! Anyone want to try?!