Carolk9s

Perhaps this will help, a dog with his mouth full cannot bark! Does he like to play with stuffed toys? A ball, a frisbee? And, a tired dog is a good dog! If he will chase a ball, can you throw one in the yard for him? If so, do you have a chuckit? They can really save your arm from getting fatigued. Petsmart carries them, also a chuckit jr., roughly about $7 I think. When you have time, work on a shhhhh or quiet command. Perhaps most important, buy some good earplugs! 8) Good luck to you,

Thats a tough one! I'll have to think on it.

Another thought occurred to me. Again I will use Jesse as a reference. If I was able to show him neutered, and he earned a championship, and I am not concered about pure ethics, am I going to tell anyone WHY he was neutered? His full brother is intact, maybe a champ, maybe not. Someone might decide that since Jesse was SUCH an excellent representative of the breed that they will breed from his brother. Oops, that retained testicle propensity is also in Jesse's brothers lineage.

[quote name='K']Here Carol say hypothetically that you could show spayed/neutered dogs alongside intact ones...and that was preventing the intact ones from winning...do you think the people with intact dogs would think twice about breeding them becuse they had not been championed?...or am I being silly and expecting to much of mere humans?[/quote] Some would, some would not. There are far too many irresponsible breeders who only breed for profit, not the betterment of their breed. Those who are serious about selecting a dam and sire who are JUDGED to be excellent representatives of the breed, those who also factor in working ability, temperament, and the total dog, would seek out dogs worthy of a championship. The game is what it is, each can choose whether or not they wish to play. My Jesse is not championship material, he is still beautiful and a champion in my eyes. Jesse was neutered because he was monorchid. One testicle was retained. If I could have shown him anyway, what purpose would that serve? Would not matter if in every other aspect he was a superior model of the Belgian. Excellent temperament, excellent structure, excellent health, no matter, could not breed from him because he is neutered. If the rules were different, say I could have shown him even though he was monorchid. Say he got his championship. Say I said woo hoo I have a champ, I want to breed him. And he passes that retained testicle propensity on to his offspring. Speaking hypothetically, the top 5 males in the breed are all neutered. The next 5 are nice dogs but have little flaws or not so little flaws, east/west fronts, cowhocked, not quite right shoulders, maybe even an iffy temperament, etc. The breeding pool is limited to the just nice dogs because the top dogs are neutered. Maybe someone will want to breed from one of these dogs, maybe not. Gene pool is shrinking worse than ever before. Conformation showing has never interested me, I prefer agility. Proper structure is very important in agility, not so you can win, so the dog is not running on heart and injuring themself in the process. If my choices were limited to dogs bred from dogs with compromised structure, my chances of getting a dog with compromised structure are high.

[quote name='Cairn6']I don't get this whole need to show a dog. What to show how pretty he is? [/quote] As Aroura said, it is not a NEED. I do not NEED to run my dog in agility trials, I do it because BOTH of us have a great deal of fun at it. Perhaps you like to hang out at home with your dog or play with it in the yard and not compete in any way, fine by me! [quote name='Cairn6']Just the fact that they don't let you neuter the dog makes me sick. What do they care if you are going to breed the dog or not. [/quote] Because if no one cared, if breeding stock was simply based on the dogs left intact not necessarily the actual best representatives of the breed, we might see more average or even mediocre dogs being bred. Of course purebred dogs have their problems, I for one agree with keeping them intact for MOST conformation showing. Most if not all Veterans classes allow spayed bitches and neutered dogs. Conformation showing BY DESIGN is to evaluate BREEDING stock. If you do not like that game, by all means do not play it. [quote name='Cairn6']The fact is that a dog that is neutered is healthier and happier in the long run. If you make sure that he is neutered before the age of 6 months he won't reach sexual maturity and you will have a much better dog all round.[/quote] NOT ALWAYS TRUE. There are studies that indicate that early neutering contributes to a disruption in long bone growth. Those same hormones that can be problematic also contribute to a dog growth, both physical and mental. My Jesse was neutered at 6 months, he is taller than all of his littermates but the bone in his leg is moderately thinner. As a pet/companion dog, not an issue. As an obedience dog, not an issue. As an agility dog, perhaps an issue. His lighter bone structure may have contributed to a problem in his shoulders and back, the reason he was retired from agility at a younger age than other Belgians I have read about. If I had wanted a 'serious' working dog, might well have been an issue. If I choose to get another male puppy, I will wait to neuter him until he has reached his full physical growth.

Aroura, What do you WANT to do? If he is show quality and you think you even might like showing him, then go for it! You can always have him desexed afterwards. You might decide after a show or two that you do not want to continue, you can have him desexed then. Or you might like it a great deal, he might be a little showman, you'll not know if you do not go for it.

I too have no problem giving the command more than once. If I were training a dog for obedience, I would certainly work hard towards only saying it once, but for an agility down, sometimes more reps are called for. You just do not want to stand around waiting for your dog to decide to down when they are on the pause table and the clock is ticking!

You are NOT a bad mommy. You ARE now a wiser mommy! 8) My dogs do not wear their collars at home just for this reason. Brittany and Candy wrestle quite hard and I was concerned about this very thing happening. There is a breakaway collar available, one source that I know of is Premier Pet Products. Their site is: [url]www.gentleleader.com/[/url] You could use them as an alternate when the dogs are home, you can put a tag with your name or phone # on it. The catch is, if your dogs get loose, and someone were to try and grab the collar to catch the dog, the collar WILL pop off in their hand. I bought 3 of these collars, realized their usefulness was very limited, so they hang on the wall! I took Candy to an agility demo once, both of her collars are purple. I grabbed the breakaway by mistake, got there, snapped the leash on, she pulled once and the collar popped. So grateful for her obedient response to my come command!

Great suggestions Kat! Another idea as well, think of your body language. I use a lot of body language to encourage a fast down. If I stand still and just use a hand signal with a voice command, I get a much slower down. When I started using more body language, I got a faster down. What I do is drop my shoulder and curl my upper body kind of towards the dog and down at the same time. I also use a fast chopping motion with the hand closest to the dog, palm flat, like I'm pushing something downward. Good idea to jackpot for fast downs ONLY. Slow downs get a 'ooh lets try that again' in a happy voice. Play a game, get down on the ground yourself with a yummy treat, she gets the treat for a fast drop. Experiment with different body moves AND treats, find one that REALLY gets her excited. Garlicky chicken, liver bites, hamburger, cheese, whatever makes her eyes light and her mouth drool! Good luck!

I agree with Kendalyn, visit your vet. If she is still sneezing with such frequency, best to find out if it is simple allergies or perhaps a virus. Young dogs don't always have a strong immune system in place yet, find out if her sneezing is something that needs medical treatment before her health is compromised. It may just be allergies, even so, the vet can help minimize her discomfort. Almost forgot, think about her environment, i.e. your home, yard, etc. Has anything changed recently, a new cleaner being used, carpet shampooed, lawn treatment of any kind, a new bed for her, more dust in the air, pollen, etc etc. Any new toys added recently? Lots of what appear to be insignificant changes can stir up reactions in people AND dogs.

Congratulations Nea and Web! What a wonderful start, sounds like you and Web had fun too!

My deepest condolences to you Aroura. Whatever demons tortured Lily in this world will no longer bother her at the bridge. She knew you loved her, she will be waiting for you in the afterlife. RIP Lily, until you are once again with the one who loved you more than anything.

It may also help if Coal knows that the frisbee he has caught is not the only frisbee you have! Try to have 3-4 in hand, start by just tossing one a short distance, as he gets the first one, wave the next one for him to see. If he returns with the first frisbee, click/treat then toss the next one. Keep the distances SHORT at first, gradually increase them. If he returns but drops the 1st frisbee before he gets close, still praise him for coming back. Pick up the frisbee he dropped. You could also work on doing the click/treat routine for him dropping it at your feet. Start with him on a lead so he cannot run off with it and create his own fun game. Give him the frisbee, tell him to drop it, treat. Give him the frisbee, step back 1 step while encouraging him to step with you, drop the frisbee, treat. This may help teach him to come in close to you with the frisbee, when he does and he drops it at your feet, he gets a treat and PRAISE.

Well, I have to disagree with SRC's assessment of this particular photo, looks to me like these dogs are having a blast roughhousing! [img]http://www.thedogisland.com/images/firstday.gif[/img] Very much how my girlies look when they rock around the dog park, lots of teeth flashing, lots of noise, then they will look at me with ear to ear grins. They can go from appearing to be snarling beasts attempting to decapitate each other to lying side by side with their bodies touching and simply nosing each other. It is obvious they are doing what dogs do, having fun and playfighting. Gotta say, I am not about to attach any leash to my dogs collar then to a collar on me! Not gonna happen! 8) Beyond this, I think Dog Island is a load of crap. I wonder, is it a scam? A joke? Lots of B.S. in their descriptions. Under photos, the 6th one is of a Belgian Sheepdog, wonder where they stole that photo from?

[quote name='Kiwi'] PS I love your accent :D[/quote] Heehee, it took me a second to think about that! My accent? But of course! 8)

Izzy, oh yeah, she had me thinking, 'What is SHE thinking????' 8) Kiwi, I LOVE Bull Terrier heads! They are unique. Thanks,

The webmistress of JFF Agility put our video up since we were the only team to successfully complete last weeks gamble. For me and my old pokey pc, it is a very slow load, just be warned it make take a bit of time for the videos to load up. There are two others there as well, the MVPs for that session. Most opted to run with their dogs, I chose to at least try the gamble and it paid off! The site is: [url]http://www.jff-richmond.com/[/url] It is funny and gratifying for me to hear the running commentary, of course on the course I hear NOTHING as I am focused on Candy. Yes, Candy was a bit peeved at me, I made her sit at the start line. As one person said to me, the look on her face was like: 'I'll do it but I aint happy about it!' She was quite happy with the praise and the big cookies she got afterwards!

[quote name='HazelNutMeg'] You do know any average joe can make an e-mail account right...? :roll:[/quote] However, no one, not even the average joe, can DUPLICATE an existing email account. Someone else could use [email][email protected][/email] or whatever but they cannot use [email][email protected][/email], that is mine and mine alone.

Boomer is AWESOME. Gorgeous. Stunning. You know, I don't 'see' your pjs, your so called messy hair, etc. I see someone who loves her dog, and I see a dog that loves his person. The love shines through and who cares about the rest?

I adopted both of my mixed up girls, I have volunteered at the local SPCA, I have donated items to a local rescue group and helped them with their adoption stand. I am currently active in Belgian Shepherd Rescue. I am signed up for identifying, evaluation, transport, and training assistance.

The pic I posted is supposed to be of a Shetland Sheepdog. Pathetic looking pup. M&M, I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way, you and your dog are suffering because of this horrible puppy mill and their practices. I would not accept another pup from them, who knows what medical condition the next one would have.

Atom, please clarify, do you mean breeding the same stud to the same bitch or to a different bitch altogether? Genetic screening and diverisity are still important of course. I've heard a great deal about 'popular sire syndrome' whereas a dog is sought after as a stud by many people. More important is to do indepth research into both the bitches and studs pedigrees to match both of their attributes and to minimze any negatives. Again, genetic screening is SO important, after all, a pedigree only tells one part of whole story, you want to know if ANY ancestors on either side have genetic conditions or tendancies, if both sides have the same one, any pups will be at much higher risk. This truly illustrates working with a dedicated, responsible breeder, one who has taken the time to research the lines of both dogs.

I too have experienced that terrible sick feeling of a loved pet gone missing. Last year I was in Pennsylvania with Jesse; I had left the girls with my mother in Maryland. The day after I got there, my mom called to say Candy has escaped the yard and could not be found. Mom had already been out searching on foot and by car for a couple of hours. After working to calm my mom down and hanging up the phone, I burst into tears. I was preparing to pack up and head back home. Being so far away I felt truly helpless and scared sick. I had told my mom when she went looking again to take Brittany with her. About 1/2 hour later, mom called, she had Candy! Sure enough, Candy had seen Brittany and come racing out of the bushes. She had been ignoring my mom calling her name the whole time. She was just around the corner from moms house. My mom won't keep Candy for me anymore. 8) It scared her too badly for Candy to sneak away like that and I certainly understand!

Finally something to brag about! Tonight at Just For Fun agility, we had a gamblers course. I've tried to recreate it here, the numbers are the order in which you had to take the obstacles. Visualize the dots as empty space, I had to put them their so it would lay out properly. The two jumps without numbers by them were dummy jumps or traps. The gamble was, the handler was restricted within the astericks. Out of 16 teams, Candy and I were the ONLY team to successfully do the gamble! The others said they could really see Candy thinking about the directions I was giving her. It was cool for me too, no running involved! 8) ..............................6...................9 ...............................T U N N E L 3 ....................................................... ..........................................[size=2]J[/size] ..........................................[size=2]U[/size] ....10...................................[size=2]M[/size] ...T..................................... [size=2]P[/size] .........................8 TIRE ...U.................................. ****** 7 ...N.......................4.JUMP*..........* JUMP ...N.................................*..........*2 ...U.................................*..........* ...L.................................*..........* ....5................................*..........* ......................................*..........* ......................................*..........* ...............................JUMP*..........* 1 JUMP .................................................................. ...11.JUMP.......JUMP

Thanks for caring and posting abker but this is just another URBAN LEGEND. It is making the rounds all over today, I've seen it on BELG-L and the agildogs list. Of course we must take care with ALL cleaning products and our pets but there is NO basis for undue concern in regards to the Swifter WetJet. Might even be another attempt generated by PETA to slander the Proctor & Gamble company.