Lawgirl

Not really a question I can answer, as I have not been in this situation.  The first two BCs I got were puppies who were the last two in the litter, and I took them both.  The third BC was a give away puppy at 20 weeks old.  The fourth and fifth BCs were both rescues as teenagers/young adults, so I have not had to pick a puppy yet.

I want to say that I would want a confident, intelligent but cuddly puppy, but if I am brutally honest I suspect I would just fall in love with one out of the litter.

I have not heard of this - my experience of litter mates was adopting two male litter mates and they got along great.

I am certainly no expert but my guess would be possibly memories of competition for food or attention from puppyhood, or else feeling protective of you.

It could also just be that something scary or unpleasant happened when he was a puppy, and their scent/looks remind him of that experience, the way some sound or smells can remind dogs of a bad experience years later.

Not sure you will ever get an answer...

I am not one hundred percent sure this is the right category, but here goes.

We neutered our oldest dog George last year.  He was nine years old, and was starting to potentially have some prostate issues, and the vet recommended it and we agreed to do so.

There have been a couple of changes we have noticed with George.  One is his appetite.  He used to go through periods over late winter/early spring where he would have to be persuaded to eat.  Now he is barking at me to put his bowl down now thank you, with no drop off in appetite.

Of bigger note however has been the change in his coat.  George always has had beautiful, soft, straight coat with a good undercoat that came out easily with brushing.  However, since neutering, his coat has become wavy, and coarser, with a real tendency to mat, which he never used to have.  He used to enjoy being brushed but now it is unpleasant for him.

I assume this is due to the changed hormones, but it was not what I expected, and unfortunately, we did not pick up on the matting early, which caused some scissor work to be required.

Have others here had a similar experience?

When I posted the article, they were still waiting for the Zoo rescue team to attend.  So sad what happened when they did!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-18/seal-spotted-on-simpson-farm-victoria-long-way-from-beach/101345104

This farm is around 30km (18.6 miles) from the closest beach.

What a handsome guy!  Hope he is a wonderful addition to your home

My boy has A BALL - a baseball we found abandoned at the diamond where he goes every morning for a run.  He will only chase this one ball.  "This is my ball.  There are many balls like it in the world but this is mine..."

We have found other baseballs at the diamonds but he does not care for them, is not interested at all.  So his ball playing is strictly limited to the mornings to this one ball, and we never have to worry about him trying to steal balls etc.

Hi everyone

Not sure if this will be of interest to others, but in Australia, we have a National Film and Sound Archive, and they have on their websites pages of videos and images from yesteryear on various topics.  They have one on dogs here https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/vintage-dogs

It includes a video of a three sheep dog trial with a kelpie from 1947, under the title of "The Kelpie: Australia's Wonder Dog"

I am hoping that this is not geoblocked for people outside Australia.

Having had one dog who was prone to a bad reaction to shampoos, I have always erred on the side of caution and gone for an oatmeal shampoo, generally Dermcare Aloveen.

Poor Oscar went to the groomer once and came out in hives and scabs all over his back. Poor thing was miserable for about a week.  Not something I am prepared to put another dog through.

Are you a sucker for the bad boys, beachdogz?

Just thought people might like another update on Muster Dogs alumni Frank, Annie and Lucifer.  Some feel good news for you.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-15/muster-dogs-stars-annie-lucifer-frank-finger-give-back/101229762

Older dogs are a special blessing and still surprise us.  My boy George will be turning 10 later this week, and I still miss his brother Oscar who passed away three years ago far too young.

Also, there is a book written by one of the participants about cattle ranching with dogs in Northern Australia, which is available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com.au/Muster-Dogs-companion-book-ABC-ebook/dp/B0942JRDW4

I was given it for my birthday but have not yet had a chance to read it, but it rates fairly well.

Now we will need to start calling our dogs "lovely dog" instead of good boy/girl!

If you don't follow that comment, watch the series - you will not be disappointed.

Can't speak to the US but the use of a rake is common here is Australia - have been to two different sheep dog training sessions, and a rake was used in one and the other had a taped up roll of newspaper used to extend the arm to increase pressure and bang against the leg to produce noise.

23 hours ago, beachdogz said:

Thank you so much for this link!  I started watching this, and it is now clear to me that I am not going to be getting much done in the near future

I think I binged it in one night until around 1am in the morning.  Thank goodness there are only four episodes.

On that topic...

I live in South Australia (albeit a cooler corner) and we often have days well over 35 celsius for a week or more at a time.  We only walk our dogs in the early morning, and only on grass, but I have never noticed that they prefer to be in shade.  In fact, several of our dogs love to go out and sunbake in the hot sun when they go outside during the day for toileting.

Having said that, on hot days they enjoy lying on cold tile or under the air conditioner...

It is fascinating reading you talking about possums.  The possums we have where I live in South Australia tend to be vegetarian, and are exceptionally good at getting into roof spaces and making a lot of noise at night, eating every piece of fruit or vegetables in our garden and being very stinky.

I recently found out that the first lot of participants were approached by the trainer based on people who had attended his schools.  So it is a big change to do an open call for participants this time.  I wonder if they will do a third round with Australian Cattle Dogs?

The best way to learn is to do, but the next best way is to watch.  I learned a lot when watching things like Crufts or Westminster agility trials, or look at international trials.  Watch to see where dogs made mistakes, and the difference between how handlers approach a course and the tricky bits where mistakes were made.  The mistake might just be going wide, or not turning nicely, or knocking a bar, going the wrong way etc.  Another helpful thing is to go to agility trials and watch people run their dogs.  How do they handle the start line?  When do they turn their shoulders; how do they cross their dog's path?  How do they 'walk the course' i.e. working out how they are going to approach the course, working out what position they want to be in compared to the obstacle and their dog, and where they are going to cross so their dog handles from one side to the other.

There is a whole language as well.  I learned a lot of it at trials, but otherwise something like Clean Run magazine has useful information.  I think they have older copies online for free.

A lot of handling I found depended on the dog, how fast, how well it would work at a distance, did it have a favourite obstacle?  A lot of dogs will choose to take a tunnel rather than a jump if given a chance (tunnel-suck).  My first dog preferred the scramble/a-frame.  So I had to be aware when working out how to handle a course to block the scramble if it was a chance to be chosen.  Timing is almost impossible to work on until you are on course with a dog.

Be prepared to make mistakes.  My dog usually failed because I did not have my timing right and he would find his own course because I was not clear with where he had to go.  Mistakes are part of agility.  It makes the good runs all the better.

I have found very useful the command "drop it!".  I try to have it solid, 90%+ if possible.

On 5/7/2022 at 12:06 AM, amc said:

Does it get any more Australian than that?  Love it!!

Ah, no.  No, it does not get any more Aussie (especially country Aussie) than this.

For those of you who saw my posts on the Australian TV show Muster Dogs in the Kelpies thread, I can tell you it was an absolute hit!  Pretty much all of my family and a fair proportion of Australia watched it, and there was lots of videos on social media of working dog breeds watching the show.

So recently there was a call put out for people who want to be a puppy trainer for season 2 - and this season it is Border Collies!

Because of the set up I imagine it will be at least a year before we even get a release date (Have to pick participants, then get the puppies, train them for at least nine months, edit etc) but I promise I will report back

This is actually about an hour and a half from where I live.