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Elbie, Hoover, Dodge & Friends!


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Well, busy day here! We might have a cyclone on the way :p and the Bureau of Meteorology is talking about flooding in coastal areas in Geographe Bay which is where my folks live so they are busy too! We've just secured stuff in the yard etc just in case, will see how it goes.

Our holiday away went well as I posted the other day. Astrid was well behaved and didn't seem stressed by the new environment at all, if anything she loved the extra attention she got because my folks just love her. Even Mum and Dad's cats were pretty good with her. A few weeks ago we taught her 'go to your mat' and it came in handy for Mum and Dad's house. If she was getting too excited, or getting into things we just told her to go to her mat and she'd go and lay down for a while. The only 'naughty' thing that she did was pick flowers :o . My Mum has a beautiful garden, with everything from petunias to roses. Astrid would grab a flower whenever it was in reach, pick it then drop it on the ground then try for the next one! Luckily Mum is too enamored of her to really care lol

It was a great experience for her as my folks live in a tourist hot spot down south and there were HEAPS of people around. We went to the beach every morning, and then went down to the grassed foreshore/jetty area where there are cafe's etc to mingle with more people and she had a blast. One thing I was quite shocked at was the amount of people that would approach us and just grab Astrid and start patting, talking and playing with her without asking if it was ok first! And 99% of the people that did it said that they had dogs. Maybe it's because she's a puppy and people don't worry? I know she's little in comparison to how she will be but really, her back is knee height on me now (and I'm about 5'11") so she's not a tiny puppy. The only people who ever asked if they could pat her were kids! I don't mind people patting her, but isn't is common courtesy to ask first? Or is it just me? :rainbowbridge: Never once had it happen at home.

When we first got there it was raining and in my folk's street the storm drain grates are in the middle of the road, not to the sides. Astrid decided that grates in the middle of the road with water running through them was against the natural order of things and she wouldn't go anywhere near them! We tried treats, coaxing, everything! She wasn't having anything to do with the Evil Pits of Doom. That is, until it stopped raining and they dried out, then they became The Most Interesting Things in the World. I think if she could have dug through the pavement and gone down into the drains she would have. Weird Dog.

The only other thing that really worried her was one of the people who live in the area. She hated him. Barks, growls, hackles raised and everything. Every single time she saw him, even if she was inside and could glimpse him through the door outside. It worried me to start with as she has never had a reaction like that to anyone, but she didn't react to anyone else like it, even the strangers that came up and accosted her. I spoke to my family about it and, well it seems that dogs might be a good judge of character. Let's just say that in future, if she reacts like that to anyone else, I will take notice of her. Interesting though, what dogs can sense!

On a lighter note while we were out one day my Dad bought her a vanilla soft serve in a cone :hug: she loved it. She loved my folks so much she moped all day Friday :)

She loves beach soccer with my Dad

But she decided yesterday that her little clamshell pool is a pretty poor substitute for the ocean!

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So all in all it was a pretty good experience! Even though it was a bit sad for me as it's the first time we've stayed down there and not been able to hang out with Dad's best mate, who passed away on Boxing Day. Australia Day was always spent out on his boat. We are heading back over Easter though, and we are going to make more of an effort to get Astrid to some of our local beaches since she loved it so much.

Sorry for the long post! :rofl:

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Ooohhh you've done chores!!!! Aren't you good!!!

Husband hasn't phoned or sms'd any dog related disasters in... this is good!

Hooray for no doggie disasters! :laugh:

And I never got around to bathing the dogs... I'm so lazy.. :laugh:

ravenau1 - Astrid is so big now and so so gorgeous!! Where your folks live sounds lovely, it would be great to be closer to a beach.. not that my pups care much for water though. Hope they cyclone will disperse before it gets to you guys.

So I haven't posted any pics of my fur kids in a while, so thought I had better get around to that today.

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Hope everyone is having a good weekend so far!!

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Rav - I hope the cyclone doesn't eventuate...

Not sure where abouts Niques lives, but maybe you, me, Niques and Sammie could all get together for a walking session soon and give each other some pointers??

I'm Western suburbs. Not sure how well structured walking with other dogs would be received by James ("What?! You want me just to walk next to them the whole time? No playing?!?!) but perhaps a play session could be in order when it gets a little cooler?

It could be a very embaressing interesting walk for Asti and I... she isn't used to big dogs and usually pulls, growls - more in excitement to play (or say stay away) and if you're lucky you'll get the nervous frothy mouth :laugh: She has better manners off the lead and that's why practicing to walk with big dogs would be great.

Asti says hi to everyone, especially the brisbanites!

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Not sure where abouts Niques lives, but maybe you, me, Niques and Sammie could all get together for a walking session soon and give each other some pointers??

We are definitely up for play or walking :)

Lovely photo Sammie. I've been dying to meet a Frenchie :( I like to stalk the Frenchie thread :laugh:

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Not sure where abouts Niques lives, but maybe you, me, Niques and Sammie could all get together for a walking session soon and give each other some pointers??

We are definitely up for play or walking :rofl:

Lovely photo Sammie. I've been dying to meet a Frenchie :laugh: I like to stalk the Frenchie thread :bottom:

We like stalkers! :laugh:

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Hi All

Clastic - your house is soooo tidy! How do you do it with the pups? (I have fur bunnies everywhere :laugh: )

KTB- fab video of the doggies playing on Australia Day. I was thinking when I was watching it how great they all look, and what a wonderful keepsake! :bottom: I will have to try and take some of Ziggy!

Sammie S - great to see you back. Sounds like there are a few of you in Brisbane that may be able to meet up, even just for socialisation!

Wizzle and Max#1 - hope your poor doggies are coping with the heat.

Well, I have had a fairly lazy weekend after returning from a short OS trip this week. Lucky for me my mum loves animals and came over to housesit. I do miss my dog when I have to go away, but I don't worry so much getting my mum to house sit than having to use kennels.

Today is a scorcher - s'posed to reach 41 :rofl: Went spent the morning at the dog beach going to a "dog party" - my friends dog was turning 1. Ziggy was like one of those ADHD children that I am sure you only ever invite one of to a party. He pulled terribly on the lead on the way to the beach :laugh: . There was alot of stopping and starting to try and curb this!. During the course of the morning he managed to bite the party boy (they always play incredibly rough, don't worry DOLers), vomit from ingesting saltwater, and finally had diarrhoea :rofl:

In between all that he had a blast running around with the other dogs. Recall was so-so, but not horrendous. Unfortunately (because of the heat :rofl::love: ) the beach was a bit crowded so we had to pop them on the lead a few times when there were smaller doggies about. A beautiful airedale dog (who was 18mo) also came and had a great run about with Ziggy.

We both came back from the beach, blinds shut inside, ceilings fans on, and had a bit of a nap :eek:

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Had the strangest dream last night where Elbie and James were in the same obedience class. There was a third dog as well but I can't remember who it was - I know Kuma was mentioned at one point but I don't think it was him. And Elbie had a bit of a reputation as a clever hound. A non-doggie friend of mine was there and wanted to know the name of the black and white dog was because they'd heard great things about how clever he was :laugh:

Oh, and James could talk...:laugh:

Clastic, your two look like such characters! I wish I could meet them.

I love your photographs, Sammie. You've an excellent eye for artistic shots. And a decidedly cute subject!

Raven, the holiday sounds like a fantastic experience for Astrid, especially in terms of socialisation.

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betsy - Poor Ziggy, hope he is feeling better now. Atleast he had a great day at the beach swimming and playing with other doggies! :D

With the house, there are actually lots of little Mars tumbleweeds everywhere but not too noticable, they like to hang around the corners of the room.. they just get vacuumed up everyday. :laugh:

Niques - Hehehehe, what a strange but amusing dream!

If we ever drive to QLD I'll be sure to let you know so the pups can mingle. :mad We're planning to head up for Christmas 2012, but not sure if we would be flying or driving since we're going to Mackay.

So.. not dog related.. have had a crazy few hours this afternoon. My OH did a very very silly thing and decided to chop his index finger with the stick blender. :love:

He has 2 really severe cuts and a million other ones around it. There wasn't much the hospital near by could do other than pump him full of pain meds, wash it out and bandage it up. Off to the plastic surgeons tomorrow (because they were really busy today) to get it all stitched up, but he also has a fracture from where the blades hit so hopefully it won't get infected between now and tomorrow. OH is now having a snooze on the couch, will have to wake him up later to take some more pain meds.

I called my sis and she picked the pups up and they are having a sleepover at hers tonight, I did get to come home to a chewed up pen (I have no idea where it came from) and lots of stuffing scattered everywhere, so some poor toy is feeling a bit empty inside.

Hope everyone has had a nice relaxing weekend and aren't melting due to the heat. :mad

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Hop Mr Clastic goes ok tomorrow. It sounds horribly painful :love: (and I'm sure was a bit messy!) Good to hear that he is going to the surgeon tomorrow - was it his dominant hand?????

Also good to hear that you have someone to look after the doggies whilst you have to look after Mr Clastic.

BTW - Ziggy is fine now. He drank about 1.25L of tap water prior to getting in the car and no more V&D since we left the beach. I think he just overdoes it sometimes. I haven't fed him too much today, just in case. He has had a few ice cubes as well. I think I worry more about dehydration - hence switching over to aircon and keeping him quiet inside for the rest of the day. Bonus was that I kept quiet too and read a book on the couch!

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Clastic: Yoicks. I am sorry about Mr Clastic's finger. I know someone who fractured her hand when she accidentally left the electric mixer on and tried to remove the blades. Ouch. I hope that Mr C can get all the treatment he needs tomorrow ... hope Pepper and Mars don't pine too much at your sister's house. I'm sure they'll miss you.

Did the pen make much of a mess???? Thankfully our two seem to have stopped their destructive streak. They don't dig holes anymore, they don't chew on the clamshell anymore and when we occasionally hang laundry out tantalisingly on the pergola, they leave it alone. We've started letting Hoover have more free run of the house - both dogs have been trotting around the house now that we've opened the kitchen door and the baby gates. So far no damage or unauthorised toileting :love: Cross fingers it lasts.

Max#1: Elbie is very intense about the ball and frisbee but he sometimes doesn't like surrendering it. You can see how conflicted it is - on the one hand he wants to drop is so that we will throw it again, on the other hand he wants to keep it :D If we have food, he'll drop it immediately - and then not even want the food and retrieve for the pleasure of retrieving. He's a bit bonkers ...

wizzle: today was broiling ... We got up to visit the Old Bus Depot markets at Kingston where I ended up buying a lot of bread, an apple pie, some little raspberry tartlets, merino wool for OH's mother and some Australian flowers for Papa Koala. Then we had lunch with Mama Koala, then went off to the markets to buy some treats for the doggies and also some bones from the organic butcher there. They had some bones but were out of lamb flaps but promised to have a bunch of lamb flaps ready for us on Thursday for the doggies. We also picked up a gift for my brother and sister-in-law's latest pet - Leroy the Diamond Python.

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My SIL got her reptile's licence late last year and so was quite excited to finally have a snake. I am not phobic but I'm not into reptiles. OH is quite chuffed at the idea of playing with a snake. :laugh: Then we got home and promptly melted ... the doggies have been snoozing and playing all afternoon - they seem quite happy despite the heat.

ravenau1: good luck! I hope everything will be all right despite the cyclone approaching... hope it doesn't happen... This really is turning out to be a year of natural disasters ... Very worrying really. OH keeps rolling his eyes when I keep talking about evacuation plans but I've read that there might be some flooding in Canberra in February. I have a friend with four dogs, cows, pigs and chickens and she's got no clue what she'd do in the event of an emergency ...

That's great news about Astrid - glad she had such a good time. As to the patting without asking, it's pretty common. I'm relieved that neither of our dogs is skittish/aggressive because the number of people who just pat without asking is mind-boggling. The thing is, if a dog bit it would be the owner's fault and the poor dog would suffer. :rofl:

Astrid's clamshell is so nice and clean. Ours is grotty and full of dirt. I keep meaning to scrub it down. We inherited it second-hand, complete with dirt. :laugh:

SammiS/Minxy/Niques - if there is a walk featuring a black lab, an Akita and a Frenchie, i want videos and photos :mad It will be so funny. We definitely can't do walks with others. I have to walk our two separately right now so we definitely can't for for walkies with others. Plus I am, quite literally, The Slowest Walker In The World so the rest of the walkers in the group would be swearing at me. All of our photos of China are photos taken by me of Oh Up There and OH taking photos of me Down There ... I can never keep up because of my non-existent lungs. :mad

betsy: I'd love to take the doggies to the beach some time ... never knew about the whole beach-diarrhoea thing before but now I know (I saw the other thread in Health). I mainly worry about recall issues - that something will catch their eye and that will be byebye doggies ... :o

Niques: your dream. :mad You must have been speaking with our vet - they call him The Dog That Does Those Tricks. It would be a lot of fun if Elbie and James were in the same class. I think that they'd have a lot of fun together and you and I would probably get in trouble for talking in class.

Dog school starts up again next week and I'm pretty excited. I think Hoover's going to love dog school. OH keeps joking that he'll be a Nigel because all the other dogs in bronze will know each other from Beginners and have bonded already and won't want to play with him :mad

Threads of the Day ... there was a crazy thread (since nuked, no idea why) in which someone was basically implying that suburban dogs were miserable and depressed compared to dogs on large acreages. It must have gone nasty or something but it's gone now.

Humanising Dogs: this has the usual, "this is what I do, you don't do what I do, so you're not as good as I am/I don't do that but you do, so you are stupid" sort of stuff in it that makes me roll my eyes.

Toxic rescue thread that did my head in. Someone told me once that a lot of people in rescue aren't in it for the love of the dogs - but if not, why not and why do they argue so much??? I still haven't given up the idea of fostering rescue Kelpies one day but gosh rescue people scare me and Kate the person I have been helping out with for the videos is moving to Darwin ...

A more positive thread. This amazing PBS video about where Michael Vick's dogs ended up is so touching. I feel soooooooooooo sorry for dogs used for fightings, I feel so much anger at the humans that abuse their trust and I found the story of the saving and rehabilitation of many of the dogs very touching.

ETA: I am baffled by this one. 10-12 months old cattle dog. Adopted from this pound as a pup but returned almost 6-7 months later because 'he's not trained'!?!? Err ... whose responsibility did they think it was to train him? I am baffled by people who think that dogs come with pre-loaded training ... like pre-loaded software or something.

Edited by koalathebear
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Oh dear doG KTB! That rescue thread...wow. I tend to stay out of most of the threads in General. Too many other posters ready to attack!

Promise we'll get photos if we do all go for a walk. I'm sure all of us would look hilarious walking together :love:

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KTB, if you're in my Bronze class this session, at least Hoover will know the instructor dog! Plus remember all the beginners classes get smooshed into a couple of bronze classes, together with repeats. Hoover will be fine, he's such a well socialised pup.

I'm looking forward to going back to class too - unfortunately, Thursday triallers class is starting at 6pm, which I think I will struggle to make it to from work, especially on days when I'm teaching a class. We've had a great time over the break, focusing on our own dogs training, so I think a few of us are suffering from mixed emotions, as we're really going to miss the classes we had time for over the break!

The infighting in rescue organisations can be very sad - but you get it in almost any organisation, where people are convinced that their way is right, and I think its only complicated by the emotive aspect of rescue.

Everyone - great pics, its lovely to see so many glossy, healthy, happy pups!

Oh, and anyone in Canberra who's interested, or knows someone who's interested, in Dances with Dogs, I've put the information up about our next beginners intake in the training forum. I'm seriously thinking about entering a competition in March :love:

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Hello Friends!!

Clastic - I hope your other half is alright!!!!! That sounded somewhat horrible!

KTB - Sounds like you have had a lovely weekend! I don't like the snake. I am phobic. Seriously - I freak out at pictures, don't go near them at the zoo... Didn't have such a great experience with Brian the snake man when I was 5.... Yes, I should have got over it by now, but seriously!!! Snakes!!!! You can't trust them!

Niques - Your dream made me laugh!!! Isn't it weird, the things we dream about!!!

Betsy - Sounds as though Ziggy had an awesome time!! Isn't that how we all feel after a big night on the town? ;) It wasn't an awesome night out unless you spend the next day puking!

I has been so hot here the last two days, and we don't have air con at home. So after my routine morning swim yesterday, we spent the day on the couch watching some TV series of Simon's... I was doing washing in between. Genevieve was hilarious! She spent the morning lying outside in the grass right under the sun!! She wouldn't come inside and seemed happy enough. Finally she came inside (when we were eating lunch :laugh: ) and she was SOOOOO hot!!! I draped a wet hand towel over her and she was walking around with that until we went to bed last night! I should have taken pictures, it was pretty cute! She kept sucking on ice cubes, but wouldn't drink from her bowl... Even though I kept giving her fresh water!!! Of course, all she wanted to do was sit in our lap... and I am here to tell you, this fatti-pumba who has her own global warming thing happening at the best of times, did not appreciate a wet-dog smelling, hot fur ball in her lap!!!!!

PS - Loving all the pics!!!

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Elbie sometimes lies in the soft crate with his head poking out. Soft-hearted OH doesn't like to see Elbie with his head on the ground so last night, he put a small dog mat outside the crate so that Elbie could rest his head on the mat if he chose.

What happened? Of course our naughty little red and tan monster took possession of the mat :laugh:

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Unrepentant and cheeky little red and tan monster

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At least there's still room for Elbie to rest his head ;)

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When I first came into the room, it was so cute - they were lying there face to face.

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Hi everyone.

Just a quick post as it's getting late and now that I'm back at work (boo!) I can't cope with late nights and cranky, hot and tired children who I must teach the next day.

Clastic, I hope Mr Clastic is okay.

I went to Sydney on the weekend for my older sister's birthday and dreamt about dogs both nights I was there! The first night I dreamt that their backyard turned into some kind of pseudo dog park, and all of your doggies were there! Well, okay, I can't remember all of the dream, but I know Kuma was in it, and Ava, and I'm sure all the others were around somewhere with my sister's dogs.:laugh: So bizarre. My sister's doglets greeted me at their gate late on Saturday night when I got back from having dinner with my best friend and her boyfriend- they kind of blinked at me, realised who I was, then went back to bed! :laugh: My sister couldn't believe they didn't bark at me, but they were pretty tired after my sister's birthday BBQ. They did make up for it the next morning by howling at a siren or something together though. ;) I met my first pug at her party too. It belonged to a friend of theirs and was an ex-showdog. He was pretty cute and laid back :)

It's really hot here. Roo is asleep under the coffee table. I'm thinking of keeping her crate out in the loungeroom tonight with the ceiling fan on. No air conditioning here unfortunately :)

PS KTB, while I'm not snake phobic, I'm not a fan of them at all, and really don't understand why someone would want one as a pet, but each to their own I suppose... Leroy is a pretty cool name for a snake though ;)

Edited by lilli_star
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Clastic: Great shots of Mars and Pepper ;) I particularly love the snoozy doggie on the windowsil!

Your poor OH, ouch! :)

SammieS: Awwww! Asti is gorgeous! Frenchies always look like such characters

betsy: Sounds like you had a great time at the doggie party at the dog beach! Astrid loves the beach but I don't trust her off lead yet unfortunately, though I know she'd love it. We put her on a 15m lead so she could have a bit of a run. I really need to do more work on recalls :D

KTB: Lovely snake! :D I love snakes but could never have one because my Dad is a serious snake-a-phobe. Can't even look at pics of them so if I had one he would never set foot in the house again. I am jealous of your SIL :laugh:

Hoover looks so grown up in those pics, where does the time go?

I just can't believe it! I have never in my whole life patted someone's dog without asking! Part of the reason I got a Dobermann was so that people would keep their distance while I'm out walking etc, it's not working so far :laugh:

Hahaha! The clamshell is only nice and clean because we have HEAPS of mozzies around here, almost in plague proportions lately so we don't leave any kind of standing water around so the clamshell gets emptied and dried most nights.

I've been keeping tabs on the media around the 'Vick Dogs' and it's good to see some of them come out ok. The whole thing is sickening really, so sad. Always makes me think of this anti dog fighting ad :o

About the threads... yes indeed. A lot of threads here make me raise my eyebrows and I have absolutely not doubt are puppy farmers and BYB's best friends. I am sure there are lots of people who read things here, like a thread in general at the moment about puppy inquiries, that send people running screaming away ;). I have to say that it was partly things I read on DOL that made us decide against getting a dog from a breeder who shows. No offense to the show people, I just read enough here, and spoke to people at shows and it was enough to scare me completely off. I think people sometimes don't realise how things come off to someone who is really just a member of the general doggy public.

Wizzle: Aww, I can just picture little Genevieve draped in a wet towel!

Seems like there are lots of doggie dreams around lately! I never dream fun stuff about dogs ;)

Astrid is teething at the moment and has some fairly large and scary looking chompers coming through :) she's also chewing like a maniac, we're going to have to buy shares in the company that makes her favourite chews. I feel sorry for the little muppet though, it looks like it must be uncomfortable. None of her little teeth seem to have fallen out yet though. I am embarrassed to admit that with my last dog, Odin the Malamute, I had no idea that dogs had adult and baby teeth ;) :D I freaked out when he lost his first baby tooth!

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ravenau - lovely pictures of Astrid, she is growing nicely and looks so happy. I am glad you had a good time on the beach with her. thanks for the tips however Echo is too young for a slip collar or choke chain, I also want to keep it as positive as possible. I also have issues with people patting without asking, alot of people around here dont even know what Echo is because they have never seen a Dobermann with a tail lol. Poor astrid teething :laugh: I find carrots help lol!

clastic- amazing photos, I just love your pups colours - so gorgeous. I hope your OH is fine now!

betsy - wow sounds like the party didnt go as planned, but at least it turned out ok for you.

KTB - you seem to get around on this forum lol, I do not even come across half of these threads you find. little hoover is a trouble maker, stealing elbies head rest! lol.

Wizzle - what a precious, echo would not even have a bar of standing in the sun on a hot day!

Echo's nice and happy and his loose leash walking has improved since, I am not sure how but I guess I showed a bit more seriousness in the walk and I did not speak when he pulled on the leash and treated him on the ground instead of my hand so he had to stop to eat the treat. It has really helped and so far in two days I have been able to walk him and and down the street with little to no pulling, he has also begun to follow where i go exactly and stop when i stop on a loose lead. I was able to work on his attention to me when people where around yesterday as the neighbours in my estate were skateboarding down the hill (the father and the child lol) and were also walking their tiny chihuahua which was choking itself pulling to get to Echo. Echo stayed calm and would follow me the second I began to walk the other way and said "lets go", he did so well ^_^

Oh and Echos bling came in the mail! he is now registered with the council woo!!

here is some nice piccies of echo.

This is echo waiting to be given a release command after being told to sit, he is doing very well on this now.

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his favourite breakfast is whole pilchards, he will eat the fish before anything else in the dish if I give him other things.

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koda sniffing about Echos crate for food, because Echo had a bone and Koda wanted it.

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