Thread:Pamster315/@comment-26371377-20160831075236/@comment-26371377-20160902080029

Hi

The Dean thing was me misreading verIII, version 3, for very ill, all good now.

Over her the vets generally try to vaccinate for everything annually. I am sure they do this for the benefit of their cash flow, not the dogs. Not all vets know about teta testing and you still get charged for it but at least the dogs don't get unnecessary vaccines. I always get the lepto annually as here (farm, rats) it is imperative. My vet, South African, is very good and doesn't over prescribe, that is one of the reasons I use and recommend him. It also helps that he is a nice piece of eye candy, lol, you can look, but don't touch😜

're training, many years ago I bought loads of training books but the dogs just weren't interested in reading them, so I went to a group. The other (human) students couldn't understand that my dogs just seemed to 'get it', then I realised that they only did training at training sessions. Mine would practice all week and loved it, we made it into a game. I still drop in some training (if you can call it that) every day and the dogs wait impatiently to see what I want them to do next. They are pretty good, most of the time.

Once I set up a search and retrieve for one of my dog. I dropped a metal lighter on one of the fields, completely out of sight of him and then gave the command and left him to it. He had taken a bit longer than usual so I went to see what was holding him up. There he was trying to herd a flock of ducklings to me with the very indignant parents keeping an eye on him. They couldn't understand why he had interfered when they were doing a perfectly good job of bringing up their young. I let him finish and, through the laughter, gave him plenty of praise. He was so proud of himself. All 11 ducklings and mum and dad we fine and he still had to go and retrieve the lighter! He got it right 99% of the time but no-one is infallible!

It might help, or even be called cheating, but I make my own dog treats (because I like to know only good stuff goes in them), affectionately known as 'doggie crack' (because the dogs go crackers for them, not the other type), dogs will do anything for them. But beware, if you use them when other dogs are around you might be mobbed and get a few disgruntled owners as their dogs will only have eyes for you. I sell these at farmers markets along with produce and they go down a storm.

I am glad Gus has got his enthusiasm back for his walks and I am sure both of you will enjoy the training, it's the highlight of my and their day, they just love to please.

Let us know how it goes, I'm sure he will make you very proud, the little superstar he is.

🐕🐕🐕