Mochastorm

Have you checked with Truckman for a replacement, and more importantly your car insurance. I had similar issue a few years ago with a Land Rover Discovery, the insurance company sorted everything as I had the glass cover. I was directed to the local Autoglass where I paid £40 excess and no penalties for a claim.

Well I’ve just read through 7diaw’s post and I shall PM him in the future with any dermatological issues I may have, forget the dogs. This is an in depth and scientific response with excellent advice. If you arm yourself with this information when you visit the vet I’m sure you will get a successful outcome.

Is he licking himself? I know the jokes may follow, but dogs can form an annoying habit of licking away at an area that may be mildly irritated. Constant rasping with their tongue causes further problem by introducing infection, making the area more irritable, and perpetuating the issue. If hibiscrub worked in the past then try it again, but I would consider putting a buster collar on the dog. If like me you kennel your dogs, while he has the buster collar on he will have to be crated. Racing Greyhounds can suffer with chafing on their scrotums when run on sand. The racing men would sprinkle baby powder around the affected area and inside the thighs prior to running. Greyhounds are more likely to suffer this problem because of their massive thigh muscles leaving little room for anything else down there. Hope you get it sorted.

20 months old isn’t really a puppy. As has been said remove all of the items. She shouldn’t have any toys and her fun should be what you bring to her, and be dictated by you. If she is stopping short, spitting the dummy then running around treating it as a game, don’t play. If she stops short, spits and stays, replace the dummy in her mouth and make her hold it. You decide when to take the retrieve. If she has recently been in season this can also account for daft behaviour. Be persistent, you’ll fix it.

Enzymatic cleaners are required to get rid of the urine. I’ve been told that these are found in biological soap powders, so a quick bucket of water, a healthy sprinkling of Bold or Ariel followed by a brush with a deck scrubber. Leave it for a while and then rinse. It makes your whites whiter and hopefully your kennel fresher. The disinfectant sprays sold in pet shops for use after puppies have had accidents in the home are enzymatic cleaners. They specifically neutralise the smell of urine, but these would be quite expensive if you want it for a large area.

You’ve been group training. It could be the result of a correction while at your side. An example could be that a dummy has been thrown, all the dogs in the group mark it. A dog is nominated for the retrieve and goes out, any other dog moving would be corrected to avoid running in. It is a normal scenario in group training, but every dog in that group has a different nature. A sensitive dog may not forgive the correction and double check the next time. The correction may only have been a stern word but can make a sensitive dog sticky. You describe your bitch as responsive to the whistle, she sounds a real team player who aims to please. I would concentrate on doing your marked retrieves alone. Throw the dummy and send straight away, don’t give her the opportunity to look up at you. It may seem that you’re almost playing a game of fetch but your aim is to fire her up and hold the mark. Don’t worry about it, concentrate on training her strengths and just a few marked retrieves, finishing each training session on a good point. Best of luck.

I have made the mistake over the last few years of concentrating my rabbiting activities around a couple of areas. I usually start ferreting in the autumn following the summer reports of troublesome rabbits. This season I had no such requests, and my permissions are devoid of rabbits. I had noticed a decline two years ago when I took six rabbits from a farm that had yielded 63 the year before. I shoot rabbits in a different area and there too numbers have dropped. I’ve worked around myxomatosis over the years which would appear and peak every few years but we still had a few in the bag. RHVD appears to be a far more lethal disease and I can’t remember the last time I caught/shot a rabbit. From an agricultural point of view this may be welcome, but the simple bunny has provided me with so much sport over the years.

Each time he goes on one of his doggy adventures he self rewards, and it would appear that he is a regular little adventurer. The alternative for him is to sit behind the grille on the back of your truck. I fear it maybe too late to correct him. This is not a criticism, but if you can’t give him 100% of your concentration, and you can’t while your working, leave him somewhere secure. You can’t really mix the two. If you can still work him when you are not distracted then be happy with that.

Yes.

No

Swallows around Knowsley Safari Park, Merseyside this morning.

Even with two dogs there is a pack dynamic. It could be a battle for dominance to decide the Alpha. The younger dog may be behaving in such a way that is challenging for top dog position. Sometimes the shift can be subtle and go almost unchallenged. On other occasions it can be a nasty affair. I've experienced it with terriers which was messy, and the remedy was separation. If this is the situation the only way you can assist is to treat the younger dog as the Alpha, greet it first, feed it first, generally show it more attention. You will now have to reinforce the new pack structure. In the human world we show empathy by protecting the frail and weak. I'm the animal world they shun and attack frailty and weakness. Castration won't assist, certainly not a 13 year old dog. If they fight it may sort out who is boss, and it could be the end of it.

Increase the tripe, reduce the dry feed. Don't feed the raw and dry together, they are digested at different rates. If you only feed once a day consider feeding twice a day. If your dog is kennelled outside they also expend more energy as the temperature drops. When a dog is working hard they will look leaner but need more fuel for their little engines. A dog that is overfed dry food will start to scour, so it can be counter productive. The best way to judge if you are feeding correctly is the waistline and visibility of the ribs, if they are not a heavy coated dog. You will know your dog best and be able to judge its 'fighting weight.'

Similar situation, last year my Border terrier bitch had mammary cancer. The glands were stripped and she recovered from the operation. The cost of the operation was met by the insurance. This year the insurance company want just short of £1,000. I've cancelled the policy. My reasoning being that if she requires any procedure exceeding £1,000 it would be major surgery, and I'm not prepared to put a twelve year old dog through it. My own personal experience in the past has been that when a dog reaches 8 years old there is often a large increase in the premium. Another reason is the expectations of pet owners and cost of the procedures. The Supervet on the TV appears to be able to create bionic pooches out of the most horrendously deformed poorly bred animals. Pet insurance will often have to meet some of these massive costs which in the past would have been dealt with relatively cheaply by euthanasia. A word of warning if you decide to shop around. There a many companies offering pet insurance as brokers, but only three or four insurance companies actually providing the insurance. So, as I found, my hours of trawling the Internet for a better deal gave me the same result.

Where is this information from, what document and who is the author?

The accidental discharge league table looks interesting. It would have to be a non classified Home Office document and therefore be available for public examination. But of course it's not, it's just more flawed information to throw around when there's a bit of Police bashing to be done.

I feed more raw in the winter because the dogs maintain a better condition on it. My lurcher won't hold weight in the winter if she is working and only being fed kibble. The spaniel has increased energy and stamina on it. If I feed kibble to increase the lurcher's weight the only result is more waste. I'm not as scientific as others. I don't mix feeds. One day raw, the next day kibble. I feed mainly chicken carcasses and chicken mince which comes with a warning. The bugs and nasties associated with raw meat, especially poultry can be an issue. The dogs gut may deal with them quite well, but if you have your dogs running around the house licking your kids faces there are risks of such things as campylobacter and similar illness. Vulnerable and immuno suppressed dogs can also suffer with these diseases. My dogs are kennelled, grandkids don't play with them and the handling of the raw meat is done to avoid any contamination. Thorough hand washing and disinfection when required. Feeding a good quality dry food is convenient, it is easy to store and easy to feed. There is nothing wrong with it, but if you have the set up that allows try feeding raw, it may suit you and your dogs.

Any book on dog training would do you. The principles involved for a puppy are generally the same for all breeds. If you are looking to enter the terrier that's a lot more specialised. Expectations are different when the dogs are older. I can sit my spaniel and expect her not to move, whine or react while she's sat in a rabbit pen, or at the flush point of a pheasant drive. I would however not expect the same from terriers I have owned in the past. I don't know anyone who could sit a working terrier at a dig and not chain it. It would be impossible to stop it going to ground or chase a bolted fox. As you said 'that's terriers.'

My own opinion is that there is insufficient evidence to prove the existence of big cats roaming the British countryside. There are no pug marks, droppings, or corpses. There have been the remains of prey animals which have allegedly been killed by a big cat. The predators usually identified as dogs with later feeding by scavengers and carrion feeders. A big cat will leave its DNA all over a kill. They lick it and leave their saliva all over it. With that as evidence you could deduce the species and the sex. The sightings are nearly always of black leopards or Jaguars which are rarer in the wild than their naturally occurring non melanistic cousins. It amazes me that naturalists can find the rarest of the big cats in vast areas of forest, mountain ranges and desert. These areas are often almost the size of this country with tiny human populations. We can't photograph a black panther roaming the fields of this heavily populated island where everyone from the age of seven upward carries a camera. I am open to have my opinion changed, but only with evidence.

Seven months is not too old, but there will be issues to unravel before you move on. I believe that the most important factor is how the respective dogs are bred. Working stock, health tested make the older dog an attractive proposition. If however the younger pup has the same attributes I personally would go with the younger dog, mainly for the reasons already given regarding bonding. There are significant stages in a pups life which are important in their brain development which can be very difficult if not impossible to resolve later.

You can spend the best part of a day digging to ferrets for a couple of rabbits. Nursery chambers are usually block ends and the does just wedge their backsides towards the ferret. It can be done, the professionals do it throughout the year, but not my idea of fun. I put the ferrets away at the end of February. You may be better considering a night longnetting session.

I'm sure there will be plenty of experts on here who will know the cause of this, but whatever you're told I think a visit to the gunsmith is the only remedy to give you peace of mind.

You have a PM

If given a left hand back does he turn to his right (clockwise), or does he still spin the other way. If he only turns the one way when sent back then a change of angles may assist. You move so that you are at a more diagonal position and send him on. If he is spinning anti clockwise then face the dog with the dummy/bird directly in line beyond the dog. You now step away to the left and send him with a left hand on. I know that this is not strictly a back, but if it's a marked retrieve the dog knows where it is going and is sent out. You can also change the command to back. Keep changing your angle to the dog until it stops spinning.

Does he spin the same way, ie. If given a left hand back does he spin on his right shoulder, and vice versa for a right hand back. If he only spins the one way then keep giving him the opposite command until the habit stops. Personally if he was spinning I would stop him, correct him, and not allow him to have the retrieve until he stops.