LurcherGirl

Jesse and Flash play so much together now, it is great to watch; much more entertaining than TV. Oh, and Jesse had his first carrot... he loved it. And I love this one... :lol:

We had a match between our and another obedience club yesterday. Flash and I were running in the lowest class. Each class had 4 dog handlers. I didn't have high hopes, I have never done well in this particular match in previous years and Flash was also very nervous and edgy. Whilst waiting for our turn, I did some ttouch on Flash which seemed to calm him down. He didn't do bad during the round I thought, not brilliant, but not bad. But when we left the ring, everyone said how well we did. Later we had to do the sit and down stays, which were a doddle for Flash! And guess what, we won the class. We came first - the first time ever! I am well proud of Flash! He did ever so well... and of course he was the only sighthound there, two of the class were collies, the other was a labrador! Here's to the first win of hopefully many!

I seem to end up capturing this behaviour... Flash used to walk back as naturally as forward, so I just clicked when he did it... no problem at all. Jesse is the same; I just captured the behaviour that he did naturally during clicker training sessions. So I have never actually had to teach it as such! Vera

Dylan: I went through a dog/cat names book at "Dylan" jumped out at me and suited him Troy: He already came with that name and there was no reason to change it Flash: I wanted to call him Dennis, but OH hated it. He came up with Flash and it suited him Jesse: I thought it was a beautiful popular American name for an American boy

I have to largely agree with Ingrid. All of our dogs have been chose by looks first and then secondly checked whether their temperament would suit our circumstances. Of Dylan and Flash I saw pictures and fell in love with them before I even knew anything about them. Troy we knew was a Pyrenean Mountain Dog, so we knew what he was going to look like. My husband loves pyreneans because of how they look and because of their temperament. And the American Cocker Spaniel... well, it's a long story, but I met an American and totally fell in love with her and hence the breed... And Jesse was even chosen by colour rather than temperament (and yet, he has fitted in beautifully and is just perfect). I agree that I have to click with a dog... and the first thing I go on is looks! If a dog doesn't do it for me, then I'd have a hard time bonding (though I am sure it would not be impossible). Sometimes I can't explain why I like a certain dog or a certain look, but it just happens. And sometimes I fall in love with dogs that I never thought I would like... It doesn't matter to me in the slightest whether a dog is a pedigree or a mongrel/crossbreed... we have two crossbreeds (lurchers) and two pedigrees... We love them all equally regardless of their ancestry. After all, it is not the pedigree dog's fault that it was born and they have just as much a right to be loved. I don't like and understand "breedists" regardless of what side of the fence they are... (be it breedists regarding mongrels or breedists regarding pedigrees). We all love our dogs and that should be respected. I fully agree of course that the first port of call when getting a dog is a rescue organisation and lots more work needs to be done to drive this home to the general public! But to make a sweeping statement that people that have and love pedigrees are not good dog owners, is extremely unfair in my humble opinion. Vera

And here's lesson number one on how to teach your child to teaze and frighten dogs! A few years down the line there will be an accident where a dog retaliates or defends himself, and of course the dog will get the blame for it. Stupid, stupid people. Vera

That's excellent. Two of ours would be eligible... sort of... I wouldn't volunteer Flash due to his allergies though. So that would leave Troy... but they are too far away! Will have to wait until they spread this a bit more countrywide. Vera

I think most breeds with merle coloured dogs often have blue eyes.

I think Innova is only available in the US...

Here's some very special pictures... Troy, our Pyrenean Mountain Dog always take a little time to get used to new dogs in the family. So the first picture of him with a new dog is always very special to us. And here they are... the very first Troy and Jesse pictures two weeks after we brought Jesse home! Jesse comes out a little dark on the sofa because Troy is white... I have therefore added a close up!

Have you tried CSJ TurDucKen Food? It is without rice.

You're a star... that would be fab! I'll pm you my address. Vera

I was so looking forward to watching the Crufts coverage on BBC 2 last night as I was hoping to catch a glimps of the American Cockers... but our electricity went out just after 7 pm and wasn't even back on this morning when I went to work... (And yes, we have paid the bills... it's the whole street that is out... :P ). Has anyone taped it? If so, could I borrow it? Vera

Our "quiet" dog is Dylan. Troy always gets noticed and mentioned due to his size and fluffiness... and Flash gets noticed and mentioned due to his beauty and problems (allergies that cause physical and severe behavioural reactions). Jesse of course is the puppy and everyone wants him anyway. Dylan however is always in the background, be it in real life or in cyberspace. Though I find him an extremely attractive dog with the most beautiful eyes and lovely coat, he does not have outstanding beauty or anything else that makes people think "wow"... We adopted Dylan in March 2002 (happy 5th gotcha day later this month ) from Binfield Dog Rescue. He is my very first dog (up to then, I had only looked after and trained other people's dog) and will therefore always be extremely special to me. Dylan was by no means an easy dog for the first 3 years due to his recall problems as he has a very high pray drive. He used to chase everything from bikes, joggers to trams and of course small animals (foxes, rabbits etc.). He also drove me mad with having little recall around other dogs and chasing them and nipping their bums. We soon sorted him out with bikes and joggers, but stopping him chasing trams took the best part of three years... though now his recall is never better than when a tram approaches. He now also has good recall when other dogs approach - unless they run! He has given me hours of desperation when training him for obedience as he often has less than no enthusiasm and other times he is full of fun when training... and he's cost the pet insurance hundreds if not thousands of pounds for having him stitched up approximately ever six months after incidents with dogs (unprovoked and one or two provoked incidents as well as accidents). He must be the most accident prone lurcher in the country. Dylan is overall now a very easy dog apart from his pray drive, which is fine by me - he is a lurcher after all. That can be managed quite easily. He was not the best choice for a first dog, but god, I wouldn't want it any other way now. This dog has taught me so much, in every day life and particularly also about training dogs! And he continues to teach me... and I continue to learn from him! In other words, although Dylan is mostly overlooked by people, he certainly plays a big part in my life and I wouldn't want to be without my big lap dog cuddle monster.

Troy and Dylan are always a grump when new puppies come into the house, but Troy tolerated Jesse around very quickly... We basically let him say hello when we brought Jesse home and that was it... Troy's face just said "oh no, not another one of these puppy things... " (we have fostered a couple of pups over the last two years). Both Dylan and Troy are funny about their personal space for a little while, but are now fine with Jesse, even if he bumps into them, the only thing Troy does not like is when Jesse bumps into or walks over his face, which is understandable... Dylan has started playing with Jesse and Troy will try soon too I am sure (that'll be fun to supervise... ). Flash on the other hand has no problem with new dogs, although he showed some toy possissiveness which I have never seen in him before. He even does now from time to time, but Jesse backs off now, so that's fine. Flash is however playing lots with Jesse and has learnt to adjust his boisterous and rough lurcher play to little Jesse (well, most of the time anyway). I think the only thing that is stressing Flash out a little (or quite a lot actually) is the fact that he is worried that Jesse is leaving us again. Last time we had a puppy here for three days, he was absolutely devastated when she left and struggled with the loss for quite a few weeks... He has been a little weird over the last two weeks or so, and I think it might be because he is worried that Jesse is leaving us like the last pup (which of course he won't!). I am happy with the progress of the pack... although it'll take time for everything to settle down completely, everyone is certainly comfortable and not overly stressed anymore. Vera

Definitely not a soft one as they are only suitable for dogs that are already crate trained. They can be damaged by a stressed out dog. Ebay seems to be the best place to buy a crate, cheaper than anywhere else.

Since someone asked in another thread, I thought it might be about time that I introduce our new member of the family, which joined us on 23rd February. Jesse is a 10-week old American Cocker Spaniel... and before you ask, his colour is called sable. And yes, he is undocked! He is a little weeing and pooping snapping turtle... and we love him to bits. On the day of arrival Sleepy the next day And with Flash on the sofa Chewing... And relaxing... Playing with Flash... Cheeky monkey With Dylan With his big brothers Dylan and Flash The gang including daddy

I guess I best introduce him in a separate thread... don't want to highjack this one...

Dylan doesn't like the rain and will even struggle going for a quick toilet trip to the garden, Flash doesn't like the wind at all... but he does need his walks, so unless it is really extreme, they go for their walks. Little Jesse however, 10 weeks old, doesn't like the rain either... how on earth do you toilet train a puppy in rainy and windy weather like this when he doesn't like rain and wind?

How will it tackle fouling? Do they really think that a lead stops a dog from poing? Quite the opposite, they will do it just a bit closer to the path as they can't go far. And stray dogs... they are not the ones that people keep under control anyway... if a dog escapes by accident, then that won't make a difference and if an owner lets them stray, they sure won't care about the law... Vera

I am not a huge worrier (generally) and no, I don't stay awake at night thinking about pound dogs or other similar things as mentioned above. I tend to think about what can be done instead... I run a dog training school and tend to see it as a way to help prevent dogs going into a pound situation in the first place by training dogs and owners and also by talking about pounds and things and hopefully get one or the other to neuter their dogs, which they might not have done otherwise. I feel that it is more fruitful and effective to put my energy into things where I can actually change something... I am not involved in pounds and that end of rescue, so there isn't much I can do... but I can help to hopefully keep a dog or two out of the pound in the first place by investing my energy and time in educating and training dog owners and the general public. And yes, it has been pointed out by friends (not in a nasty way) that I can actually switch off and be cool as a cucumber when dealing with certain members of the public where we would normally rather be a lot more confrontational because of what they do to and with animals. Vera

I had my first asthma attack about 3 years ago at 32 years of age... So yes, it is possible to get asthma as an adult.

She's gorgeous... are you sure she is only a foster?

Dylan was from Binfield Dog Rescue, adopted in 2001 (wow, time flies...) Troy from breed rescue, adopted in 2001 Flash was from Lurcher Link, adopted in 2005 And our newest recruit Jesse (still with the breeder at the moment as he is only 7 weeks old today)

Nope, I can seriously say that I love them all the same. As I do all the training and walking with the lurchers ("my" dogs), they tend to be around me more than Troy ("OHs" dog). But I can't say that I have a less intensive relationship with Troy than I have with the others. They are all my babies and I couldn't say that I have a deeper bond with any of them than with another. Vera