Lawgirl

Merry Christmas! It is Christmas Eve here in Australia, shorts and t-shirt weather. I am sitting in my backyard with a cold beer and four BCs sun baking, looking forward to home made pizzas tonight (our personal Christmas Eve tradition). I hope your Christmas is as enjoyable!

I live in one of the cooler parts of South Australia, but we just experienced our hottest December day ever recorded at 45.8C (114.4F) for Friday 20 December 2019. As I write this, I have woken up to a Saturday where the forecast is for a maximum of 19C (66F). This weather change in less than 24 hours is insane, from super hot to comparatively cool but pleasant. So I am curious about the weather where you live. What sort of extremes do you get? Temperature, humidity, drastic changes, wind, storms - wild weather tales wanted!

I had always sworn I would never get a tattoo. It is amazing how losing a beloved dog can change your opinion on things. Here is my permanent memorial to Oscar. It took this long to get an appointment with the tattoo artist recommended to me.

I would just add that sometimes dogs learn behaviour in one situation, but as soon as you change that situation, in their dog mind, the behaviour they have learned does not apply, because the situation they learned it in does not apply. E.G. dogs who can do obedience heeling at dog club, but not on walks. It takes some time for the dog to generalise that you want this behaviour whenever they are on lead, not just in one specific circumstance. On the positive side, the dog is not learning a completely new behaviour, just that the behaviour he has already learned also applies in multiple situations, so after an adjustment, you may see a 'click' moment when Kev works it out.

I don't know that I can watch them, Inertia looks too much like my Oscar as a puppy. That loss is too fresh. They sound like they would be very useful though.

Dog on a log! Gorgeous! Interesting to see the side close ups of the tan on her face. I love tricolours and their infinite variety.

Her ruff looks like it is starting to grow out a bit? She is still so cute. Love seeing her grow.

I have never had that extreme a reaction when giving my dogs a bath. The worst I have ever had is a dog jumping out of the bath, leaving me to chase a sopping wet dog around the (admittedly tiny) bathroom, while he shakes water all over the terrazzo floor, then, when I finally corner him, having to lift and carry a 27 kilogram (59.5 pound) wet dog to the bath tub, only to slip and fall on my rear because the water he shook everywhere has made the floor so slippery, then having to chase the dog AGAIN! Some choice words were filling the air that day. We were fortunate to have no injuries to either of us. I use one of those plastic 'shower head on a flexible hose' type extenders that I bought at something like a dollar shop, which I can slip over the end of my tap/faucet and then put right up against the fur. None of my boys are very keen on a bath, but they suffer through it until I say they can get out.

On a lighter note, not sure if anyone follows WeRateDogs on twitter, but Bear the Koala Detection Dog just became their 13th dog to get top rated 15/10 Good Dog. Last dog who got that was Tula, the Maremma who recently retired from guarding penguins on Middle Island in Warrnambool, Victoria. Go Australian dogs!

There is a group called the Rescue Craft Collective, who are sewing, knitting and crocheting mittens to protect burned koala paws while they heal, bags to replace mother's pouches, knitted nests for baby birds and possums, rugs and sheets to keep animals warm when they are in shock - all from natural materials so that the skin can breathe. When it is not bushfire season, they make coats for rescue dogs and cats, and items for other orphaned animals. They have been overwhelmed with support. The koala hospital had a GoFundMe asking for $25,000 to put water stations up in the burnt out sections of bush for native animals - it has topped $1 million dollars. The hospital had to ask people to stop sending items because they literally had nowhere to put them. This support shows no signs of stopping.

Happy birthday to Ziva and Roy! Love the photo of Ziva and her ribbons - long suffering face there, but I bet the getting of the ribbons was more fun then wearing them!

This is a picture from a firewatch website of the fires in Australia over the last 72 hours. The colours have to do with age of the fire, not the size or intensity. Essentially everywhere on the continent is burning, or ready to burn. Every state in Australia has fires underway, including Tasmania, which is not traditionally prone to bushfires, and the tropical north of Australia. Most frightening, around half of the fires may have been deliberately lit.

Awww, she is so cute. Love the sleeping shots, but the photo on the low wall is wonderful. She is looking at you like you are her whole world.

I am not sure how much other countries have heard about the bushfires which have been burning in Australia over the last month or so. New South Wales and Queensland have had multiple fires, with 5 fatalities, around 600 houses burnt and over a million hectares (2.5 million acres) of farm and bush land burned. Smoke from these fires have drifted to New Zealand. The smoke has caused Sydney to have some of the worst air quality in the world. And it is not even officially summer yet. Many fires are still not contained, and may not be contained until next year. We have been having multiple days over 40 degrees celsius (104 fahrenheit) in the last couple of months in these states. Our usual fire danger season would not start until late November, but we are already having catastrophic fire danger days, and total fire ban days. And yes, in Australia our fire danger ratings start at low-moderate and end at catastrophic/code red. Total fire ban days mean you can't even have a Weber BBQ burning (charcoal BBQ) at risk of a fine in excess of $100,000 or prison time. Anyway, much of what has burned has been prime koala habitat, and many are feared to have been killed. They have been sending a koala detection dog in after the fire has passed to try and find any that have survived to see if they need medical treatment. Here is an article about the dog. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/bear-searches-scorched-bushland-for-surviving-koalas-20191118-p53bl5.html There is also a video about a lady who took off her own shirt to save a koala who was running into a fire, but it contains footage of the injured koala crying. It was too upsetting to me to want to post it. If you want to find it you can probably google woman rescues koala. The koala has survived, badly burned, but is getting treatment and is able to eat. I am nowhere near these fires, and I am not sure if anyone on these boards is, but this is a tragic situation and I feel it deserves to be known. Most of our firefighters are volunteers, and they have come from all over the country to help. They are true heroes.

I believe it is accepted in Australia that you can have cream Kelpies. I know that they are often used in Australian movies as substitutes for dingoes. So it is possible? http://www.hnrworkingkelpies.com/Cream.html I am not sure the face looks completely Kelpie like to me, but it could be the angle. I found this working kelpie stud. Absolutely no guarantee of quality, but when you scroll down the previous litters, there are quite a few which have some cream pups in there. https://www.karmala.com.au/pups-for-sale/

Pixie is so gorgeous! You can just start to see hints of her growing out into a dog, like she is moving into that in between stage where she is sometimes a puppy still, and sometimes a gangly dog. That is a super fun stage, enjoy!

I have four boys, three desexed, one who is not. They all get along really well. Lost one boy, added another and still have a great group who get along well. That is a personal preference.

I love the sleepy eyed, ear up, ear down photo, Pixie is so sweet, she really suits her name.

So sorry for your loss. No matter how long we have them, we always wish it could have been longer.

Ouchie! It is so hard that they cannot tell us why and where they hurt. That would make life so much easier. But I do agree that foxtails are horrible. I usually have to clean paws every time my boys come inside, so I end up checking paws daily almost without thinking.

She is precious, and I love the tricks you are training. Keeping her mind busy is so important. If not, you can find the picture below to be so true.

So, with a new agility dog to train (hopefully), this looks, really good. How were you signalling it? Verbal or gesture?

You deserve to proud of that, wow!

I am so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for the update. And, just in case you hadn't noticed, your boy is absolutely gorgeous!

Video or it didn't happen!