Carolk9s

[quote name='Hmmmm'] Id like to meet him one day when Im walking a dog.... Show him what he really has. [/quote] Could you elaborate on this statement? How would you 'show him what he really has?'

There is some interesting reading to be found regarding the so called 'Fear Period' in a pups life at [url]http://www.nwk9.com/fear_imprint.htm[/url]

Just voted for Gladis again, she is in the lead by 5! Come on you dogomaniacs, lets keep the lovely Gladis in the lead where she belongs!

I just voted for the lovely Gladis, she has 12 votes and still in 2nd place. I believe we can now vote once each day not just once a week so lets remember to vote for Gladis each day!

My dogs LOVE salmon brownies. You can use any canned fish, salmon, jack mackerel, I guess even sardines if you wanted to mash them. You can make them like brownies so they are cakelike or spread the mix into a LARGE baking sheet for a thinner, drier product. I just use a 15 oz can of salmon, dump it in a BIG bowl, mix in 1 or 2 eggs, and enough wheat flour to make a semi stiff dough. Mix with your hands then let your dogs lick them afterwards. 8) Pour mixture into a GREASED baking dish, 8x8 or 9x9 for a thicker, moister result or a large greased jellyroll baking sheet for a thinner, drier product. Bake at about 350 for 30 minutes or so. For the drier, thinner product, turn the heat down to about 200-225, let sit in the oven for many hours. Cool, cut the brownies and refrigerate or break apart the thinner product. I do keep the thin stuff in the freezer just because I had so much of it. The dogs just love it.

[quote] I was even walking through the store last night with it in my hand just click click click clicking away. It's a great people attention getter, too, but they seemed more annoyed than eager to see what I had in my hand. :oops:[/quote] Did you forget the people treats? Chocolate brownie bits work for me! :lol: Both of my girls responded VERY well to the clicker, I trained Candy to do her weave poles using a clicker. Jesse, on the other hand, is a sound sensitive guy and HATES the clicker. TDG made a good point about ALWAYS treating when you click, the click is a 'promise to pay' as I was told.

Kendalyn, I totally agree with you, how irresponsible of this idiot! Even IF her particular dog was ok to be bred that young, and I don't agree with that by the way, how many others might decide their dogs can be bred that young as well? Or feel that it's perfectly fine to breed at the first heat since THEY HEARD ON TV that 6-7 months was old enough. Shame on PETSBURGH USA! I used to see this show from time to time, I don't think it is carried by my local cable company anymore. Sounds like I am not missing anything of use! Apparently the show is produced by Discovery Communications, here is their link in case anyone else would like to drop them a line regarding this show. [url]http://www.discovery.com/?channel=APL[/url]

Quite a few Belgian Sheepdogs are named Shadow, I've seen Magic a good bit, such as Black Magic.

I agree with Hillside, timing is very important to people showing their dogs. Many people are concentrating very hard and trying to keep their dog in the 'zone', focused and ready to show. After all, a large part of showing success is the mental prep, not just the physical presentation. Make sure the person is truly finished when they come out of the ring, sometimes they are going to go right back in if they won their class, other times they are just switching dogs before going back in. Of course outright rudeness is still wrong, but being thoughtful and waiting until they are DONE showing their dog will be more likely to garner you a welcoming reaction. I have been at the entrance to the ring, next on the agility course, and had someone touch my dog or talk to them. I am working on keeping their focus on ME, I HAVE had to say as nicely as possible between clenched teeth, please back away from my dog, she will be happy to visit with you AFTER we run the course.

Oh Malamum, Kira is such a lovely girl! Kudos to you for bringing her into your pack.

[quote name='ebkelsey']I hope all the people who are against having dog's ears cropped are against women and even some men having their ears pierced. If you ask me most people do both for the same reason, which is cosmetic. I have heard better reasoning for a dog to have their ears cropped than for a person to have theirs pierced. Eric[/quote] Nope, sorry Eric but you are missing the point in regards to the above. If people wish to inflict pain upon themselves and have their body parts pierced, that is THEIR CHOICE. What CHOICE do we give our dogs? Do we discuss the pros and cons with them? Do we explain to them that in return for some discomfort they will, in OUR opinion, look better, sharper, tougher, etc.? Do we tell them we love them therefore we are going to chop off part of their ears? No, of course we don't. Our dogs have NO SAY in this decision.

Well, this IS an open forum where we can all exchange and share our OPINIONS fairly freely. I am one who DETESTS all forms of 'cropping' purely for aesthetic purposes. I dont feel we have the right to make this particular decision 'for' the dogs, to chop off their body parts for no other reason than we think it looks better that way. But of course humans love to play god don't we?

I too would stay away or use extreme caution with ACE. One of the possible side effects of ACE is to lower the seizure threshold, if a dog is predisposed to seizures, ACE may increase the chances the dog will have them. I used ACE in the past for my Belgian, before I knew better. It DID sedate him, actually made him weak, groggy, uncoordinated, unable to stand, and the effects lasted far longer than 8 hours. Of course every dog reacts differently to drugs, but I will not give my dogs ACE again.

Eric, I commend you for deciding against ear cropping for your pup. I too prefer to leave a dogs ears natural UNLESS there is a valid MEDICAL reason to crop. I've seen some beautiful natural ears on pitbulls. Regarding the buildup within the ear, yes some earsets to assist in creating an environment for buildup or moisture problems. However, I highly doubt a pitbulls natural ears would be a culprit, generally speaking, its dogs with long, hanging ears that lie close to their heads that seem to cause the most problem. I believe Cocker Spaniels are one such breed that has a higher incidence of ear troubles due to the size, weight, and furry coverings of their ears. There are other causes of excessive waxy buildup or infections in the ears. I wish you and your pup the best and hope to see photos of him.

This dog is listed as a Belgian Sheepdog mix. I don't see ANY Belgian of any variety in this fella. [img]http://www.petfinder.org/fotos/DE17/DE17.2672335-1-x.jpg[/img]

Definitely, absolutely agree with RnP and K, never leave your dog with the bunny or guinea pig or a kitty etc etc. Certainly NOT because your dog is a pit either! I would not leave ANY dog unsupervised with little critters. Dogs are predators, bunnies and piggies are prey. When I first brought my Belgian Sheepdog home, I had a guinea pig who was allowed to run loose in the house under supervision at times. I always sat on the floor with Jesse when Mr. Piggy was loose. Jesse was just a pup but I swear I could see the predator gears turning just a bit. It did not help that Mr. Piggy tried to run off with not just Jesse's booda bone, but his tail as well! Mr. Piggy was not terribly put off by this pup that was 10-15 times his size, he tried to steal the rope bone right from between Jesse's front paws. Jesse slapped a paw on his toy and that was that. Piggy ran off to find easier pickings.

Another thought, it may help YOU to think ahead and decide how you are going to react should 'this' or 'that' happen. I learned this with Candy, since I KNOW she loves to take a moment during a run to go visit with the judge, I try to remember to decide how I will react to this before we even go in the ring. If I don't, I usually get frustrated by her disregard of me standing across the ring calling her name. Once I allow myself to become frustrated or otherwise lose my focus, the rest of our run is usually in jeopardy as well. So I decide BEFORE we step in the ring how I will react if she gets the zoomies today or decides to go visit the judge or starts sniffing the ground, etc. This really helps me to maintain my cool, calm, and collected demeanor. Ok, so in reality I'm a nutcase on the course, I have dreams ya know! 8)

nea, Keep in mind that to our dogs, WE act very differently in a trial setting than in the back yard or in class. WE are uptight even though we try hard to be calm, cool, and collected. WE are nervous and our dogs know it. We act different, we smell different, they pick up on these factors and stress themselves. So just keep practicing, try hard to walk in the ring truly feeling like it DOES NOT MATTER if there are mistakes, this should help YOUR mental status which should help HIS mental status. A little bit of inexperience mixed with increased stress levels will generally blow your plans right out of the water! But do not despair, keep at it, relax, RELAX, [color=red]RELAX![/color] Soon you will see success, celebrate the small victories over your own nervousness and his. I retired Brittany from agility competition because she just 'did not seem to like it'. Duh on my part! I finally realized I was putting too much stress on her so she would poke about, go visit the ring crew, sniff the ground, etc. I finally learned how to get the best out of her in our Just For Fun league by changing my view, after all this is JUST FOR FUN! So try to think of obedience in the same light, after all, that is why we do these things with our dogs right? 8) You or Web makes a mistake? Ok, lets keep going and try the next exercise. And know that YOU have the best dog in the world by your side no matter what. Best of luck to you and the BEAUTIFUL Web.

Thank you everyone, my Jesse bud won the contest for last week! I appreciate your votes! A round of cookies for all, on me!

Hey Kat, HUGE CONGRATS to you and Meg for doing so well. I can only imagine the pressure and excitement of being at Crufts! Wow! I too am looking forward to seeing photos and especially want to see coverage on AP!

Congrats on his placing 3rd, some days ya win and some days not. I know it's tough waiting til June for the next opportunity. Best of luck to you!

When Jesse was a pup and still had a puppy coat, the hair around his ears and neck was fluffy and kinda stuck out in different directions at times. I was asked one day if I had his hair cut to look like that. I've been asked if he is a wolf, a collie mix, a lab mix, etc. One person TOLD me, "I've never seen a black lab with such long hair!" After rehinging my jaw, told them they still hadn't. Brittany has light colored eyes, I've been asked if she is blind, even as she chases Candy or runs after the ball at the park. I have had several people ask me out old my 'puppy' is, they think Candy is a Lab pup. When I say almost 4 years, I swear they look like they do not believe I have a clue. One question I love, when people see all 3 dogs with me, "So which one is top dog?" I smile sweetly and say 'I am' 8)

I can hardly stand the sound, I try and be patient, give the dog a couple of minutes, then tell them to knock it off or go into the other room. When I first saw the thread subject, I thought you were referring to another licking behaviour that some like and some cannot stand. I cannot stand a dog to lick my hands beyond a quick swipe, drives me nuts if they want to wash my hands for me! However, Jesse likes to wash my feet, this will dang near put me into a trance. I find it SO relaxing and soothing for him to wash my feet, even though the nibbles wake me right up!

Well, it's mixed answer. My dogs do not stare at me while I am eating because it is not allowed. However, I do catch them sneaking glances at me and oh boy if I drop the tiniest crumb! You would then see Brittany and Candy keeping a sharp eye on each other to see which one will make the first move on that dropped bit. What drives me nuts is that if I go visit my mom, all 3 will try to cosy up to her when she eats like they have no manners at all! Stare, drool, I have to get quite firm with them as I will not tolerate it. I tried to reason with them, said I don't stare at their food while they are eating but that seemed to go over their heads. 8)

[quote name='abker17'] Ooooohhhh Carol the weather has been lovely here also. 8) The dogs and I are lovin' it, I'm so sick of winter I'm glad for the much wanted heat. :D[/quote] It's STILL warmer than normal. Friday we could very well see 80 degrees or about 26 for you metric folk. Today at 10am I was at the agility yard with Candy, I was running about in a tshirt again. Later, I was outside sitting in the sun reading a book, had to put up a sunshade for Jesse. I'm loving it but oh the nag in the back of my mind is reminding me, the grass is growing, the grass is growing, I'll be hauling out the mower before too long! It is supposed to turn cooler by Monday, I'm kinda glad as both Brittany and Candy do MUCH better at agility when it's cold. Brittany was quite pokey Tuesday night and even dropped a bar, she rarely does that. Somebody could make a killing by bringing a band of sheep along and putting a few in my yard, a few next door, etc etc. Their sheep get fed and my yard stays trimmed. However, explaining to the bug-eyed with excitement dogs that the sheep are NOT for their amusement would be difficult.