SteveH

I also use MacWets - mine were packaged as riding gloves but they seem pretty much identical to their shooting gloves. They fit well and keep my hands warm enough.

The 5 minutes per month of age 'rule' is often repeated but it's just a rough guide and doesn't work for all dogs. When the older of my Labs was a puppy he was always on the go and although we started by following the 5 minute rule we soon upped the level of exercise he got.

A friend stopped his scottie doing this by lacing a lump of fox poo with tabasco! Didn't work on my labrador though!

My labrador bitch used to do this before she developed enough bladder contol to go through the night. I would let her out, without talking her to her (other than giving her the relevant commands) or making a fuss of her in any way, and then immediately put her back in her bed and leave her - that way she got to go to the loo but didn't learn that making a fuss got her attention.

It would have been nice if the BBC had engaged its editorial brain before publishing some of the GCN quotes. "If a gun is in a house people are far more likely to be affected by a gun injury accident" just doesn't stand up as an argument - it's only 'far more likely' because they are comparing a very small chance with no chance at all.

Same here - worked with my 'mouthy' lab.

My daughter is 13 and has tried various shotguns over the past few months, but she gets on best with my 20 bore Beretta A301. After 50 shots or so she finds the weight a bit much, but recoil is not a problem - it cycles 24g cartridges without any difficulty, and even some 21g ones.

When my 12 year old daughter started shooting clays we struggled to find an over & under that she could manage: most were too heavy, and the lighter ones had too much recoil for her. In the end I found an old Beretta 20 bore semi-auto that she gets on well with - with an added bonus that it's quite short in the stock and so didn't need modifying.

Or here: http://www.berettaweb.com/Munuals/MANUALs.htm

Italian website and VAT rate in Italy is 20%?

Recoil is just one factor to consider. The weight of the gun is another - you need something that your girls can actually pick up and point, and a .410 or 28 bore might have advantages in this respect. My daughter (12) uses a 20 bore semi-auto for clays partly because of the lower recoil but also because when she tried a 20b O/U she found it too barrel-heavy to use comfortably.

I also used the Screwfix resin and fixed the cabinet exactly as Gram described (using 10mm studs and a 12mm drill bit). I used some spare foam packing to cover the protruding bolt heads.

I've got a Beretta A301 20 bore which I don't like much but my daughter uses for clays.

I bought a pair but although the visibility and fit were good I didn't really get on with the colours - I found the grey too dark and the yellow too harsh. However, I passed them on to my daughter and she really likes them.

I owned two RRs over a period of 15 years, and my comments were based on my experience - people can take or leave them, but they do not deserve to be dismissed as the views of an 'opinionated minority' just because my opinion doesn't accord with yours.

I get constant coaching advice from my 12 year old daughter! She came to watch when I had some lessons a few months back, absorbed what the coach said and now delights in pointing out my faults. Thing is, she's usually right!

My Labs are both in 36" crates.

We've had a couple of Ridegbacks and they do make good guard dogs, although one of ours had a hair trigger and would bark at the slightest noise! I wouldn't have another one, though, as in my view they have been over-bred in recent years and a lot don't look right - either too heavy and barrel-chested or too slender and snipe-nosed. And some of the prices I've seen people asking for (£900+) are just ridiculous. If you do go for a RR, remember that they are hounds and so will suffer from selective deafness!

Just make sure that you know what you're getting from a rescue centre - my experience is that they don't always tell you (or don't know) the dog's history and you can end up with a problem dog on your hands.

I was once told by a vet that if you trim little and often the quick recedes a bit and there is less chance of catching it with the clippers. If you do make the nail bleed , dabbing it with a styptic pencil is supposed to help.

It's not uncommon for a dog to lose focus when his hormones start to kick in (around 7-8 months I think). If this happens I go back to reinforcing the basics and ease up on training new stuff for a few months.

I agree - once your pup begins to associate the car with pleasant experiences she'll probably jump right in. My dog started to love the car once he knew it meant he got to go swimming!

Same here.

A fine is applied under criminal law - breach of contract is a civil matter and you would have to sue the other party for compensation.

I have a Lanber 2097 and the paperwork that came with it said it was safe to use steel shot with up to 1/2 choke.