jaybeece

Patch was a sweet little jack russell who had a hard life. When she was 6 or 7 her owners bought a new dog that didn't like her so they decided to shoot her. My auntie stepped in and said she'd take her instead so she went to live with her pack of terriers on a farm. That wasn't a good a good time for her as they picked on her until she hid under the house. Then she went to live with my grandma to keep her company as they both needed a gentle companion. When grandma had a fall and had to spend months in rehab Patch came to live with my parents which is where she stayed. She was very afraid of people touching her back and would growl and bite if anyone did. After a few months the family could pat her anywhere and a couple of years later she was happy to be loved by anyone. She had a lot of awful teeth that had to be pulled out, half an underbite and runny eyes that the vet couldn't figure out. But she was very cute in her own way. She lived with Basil the collie and Sybil the deerhound until first Basil and then Sybil passed away due to old age at 16 and 14. Then she welcomed a male JRT called Jack and shortly afterwards another JRT called Max who she was happy to snuggle with in front of the heater on cold nights. The homestay students adored her and gave her a lot of cuddles. She became mum's shadow around the house when her eyesight failed, but was still happy to totter along on walks with the boys as long as she could smell and (just) hear them. Even when her back legs started to fail she soldiered on and every time mum decided it was time for that final vet visit, she'd wolf down her dinner, actually break out into a run on a walk or spend a lazy evening snoozing in front of the heater and mum knew it wasn't quite time yet as she was still enjoying life. She sat up on 2 different nights nursing her in her arms, certain she would be gone soon and each time little Patchy was up and hungry for breakfast the next day. Patchy spent the last 10 years of her life adored by everyone around her and loving life until she passed away peacefully in her sleep this morning at the grand old age of 18. Basil, Sybil, Patch and dad Winter terrier pile, Max, Patch, Jack Fender the foster, Jack and Patch RIP little Patchy, we all hope you're now chasing Sybil in the clouds somewhere now, letting her know who's boss of doggy heaven Your gentle presence will be missed by a lot of people.

Are people allowed to just come along and spectate?

Down when he's bored or just trundling along doing his thing. Up and wagging when he's enjoying it, engaged and in a good mental state. Up and stiff when he's alert, a bit anxious or thinking about flipping out over another dog. The second one is the only one I like and the only one that shows he's really getting something out of training, thankfully I'm seeing more and more of it each week.

I really like that I go to Jules's club and it's ace. We still cover the more boring things like staying and heeling, but it's never long enough to get tedius and there is a lot of emphasis on keeping the dogs engaged and motivated in what they're doing. There's also a lot of discussion on how to fix behaviours and setting dogs up for success. Damn good stuff

Thanks Pers, I have actually tried a quick "Aah!" which is what I always use to correct behaviour, it's just escalated to a yell due to frustration at the fact he just doesn't get it. I'll go back to being consistant with it though. Yelling just makes ME feel better. The licking once again, I did "Aah!" for ages with no change. I hate licking so much, it's worse when with one lick he can cover half my face in spit. Urgh. I'll work on the space aspect, although he's already quite good about it. When he's engaging his brain he's really good about pretty much everything, pity it doesn't happen much I think I am being overbearing which in turn makes him nervous and doesn't engage the brain. Thanks I'll give it a shot Janba, although he's surprisingly coordinated when facing things like that. Go figure

So I've had my dog for 4 years now and in that entire time he's stood on my feet. I'm not talking in a deliberate way, he's just a clutz who has no apparent concept of or respect for spacial awareness. As an example I went to open the door and he wandered up and stood on my foot, hard. I did what I have done for 4 years which is yell loudly. The he did it again. Another yell. He dropped and started to shake. This is not working. If he stands on my foot while trying to get past I tell him off, push him back and let him through only when he allows enough space to not hurt me. Does not seem to sink in. I asked a dog trainer once if it may be dominance and what I can do and she said "Yes, of course" and then walked off. Well, that was helpful. He's a bit of a sensitive soul and yelling did not work when he was a silly puppy, it does not work now he's a sook. It's like he doesn't actually realise he's doing it and can't understand why he's being told off. How can you stop a dog doing a behaviour he doesn't understand? Cooincidently it's the same problem I have with him licking, he gets told off every time and then just lookes unhappy and licks again. He doesn't seem to understand that I'm yelling at him for the behaviour itself and then gets nervous and licks more. ARGH. I've tried to teach him to respect my personal space and keep a distance away when he's running around, but it hasn't worked. Ok, it has. He's lovely and polite when he's calm and thinking about things and then it all goes out the window when he's just woken up, it's too hot for brain activity or he's excited about something. So pretty much 90% of the time. It really bloody hurts as he sometimes does it as he's running past and he's not exactly a light weight. So does anyone have any suggestions? My bruised and battered feet will be very grateful for any And any ideas about his licking would be very welcome too, although that might be worth another thread.

Same here. Mine goes off his food very easily and eats less when the weather is warm. He's 36kg (down from 42kg when he was 10 months old, what he hell???) and I'm lucky to get 3 cups of dry food into the bugger over summer. He always eats his bones so I make sure he gets some good meaty ones with a bit of fat on them as well as a weekly egg and tins of sardines. Vet reakons he's in fantastic shape every time I ask and it's better for him to be lean anyway for the sake of his joints. I figure as long as he's healthy and happy I'm not going to worry. I'm still waiting to be told off by a member of the general public for having a scrawny dog though ;)

I am so sorry :laugh:

I'm so sorry RIP Bindi

This thread makes my brain hurt ;)

K9 + Katz Kitchen sell it and offer free delivery (over a certain purchase amount) to a lot of Melbourne: http://k9katzkitchen.com.au/store/index.ph...Cat&catId=3 I have nothing to do with them, but have used them a lot in the past and their service is awesome I'd put in orders sometimes and end up with a bag of dog food on my front step the next day.

I think it's just down to consistantly only rewarding her for good behaviour, which is hard when all they do is jump. I had a border here for a few months and she was just as bad, but 4 or 5 years old. You could try crating her until the excitement of a new person in the house is over, then let her out and praise/reward for good behaviour.

I'll start working on a bow, that sounds really cute And I think he could pick up the spin quite well too. He already plays dead dog (lying catatonic on his side) easily

At dog school we're told to teach the dogs new tricks at home and so far I've recycled a couple of old ones so we need more! Thing is he's waaaay too big to be able to any of the more athletic tricks like hand stands, he can't physically sit up to beg and I've given up on roll over because he's so incredibly awkward. He can do a left hand shake and a right hand shake which I'm going to work into waving when I lift my left or right leg up (suggested by our trainer) and he can crawl along the ground commando style but now I don't know what else to try. Balancing food on his nose has been completely unsuccessful over the years, failed at speak too as he's just not an enthusiastic barker. Any suggestions? EDIT: forgot to add, needs to be able to be done onlead and in front of a class of people

Very sad for the employees and those who attended.

Oh dear, I know the stuff you're talking about and I'm going to give it a funny look next time it turns up in a bowl of soup

I tried that a couple of years ago as it's nice and smelly, but it was no better than tasty dog treats, cheese, ham, sausage, raw chicken, wet cat food, etc, etc. I mean, he'll eat it and appreciate it as a reward at home, but he doesn't work for it. The sardines were the first thing I've ever seen him really try for. I really hope that extends to dried fish too Ptolomy - Oh gawd, even messier I'll bet he'd like them even more.

Hahah thanks Huski, I'll check them out. I don't mind the smell so much as the mess

So I have a dog who generally ignores food while training and is...well, not so smart sometimes. Last week at home I tried to lure him with food into learning to drop backwards from a stand (straight onto his haunches rather than stepping into it as usual) and at school on Sunday my instructor gave it a shot with liver treats with similar amusing results. Dog fell over* or dog commenced with enthusiastic licking fest of luree's face with a big goofy grin. Aaaaanyway, tonight I dumped a tin of sardines in with his dry food and did some training before he got it. Tried some dry food as a reward, nah no good. Took the gross plunge with some sardines and he got the drop within 1/3 of the tin Not 100%, but he's awkwardly getting the movement now. Please tell me I have not just found the one food the rotten bugger will work for and please tell me I am NOT turning up to training with a treat bag full of stinky, oily sardines. Please tell me they are bad for him in quantities of more than 1 tin a week. PLEASE :D *happens a lot while teaching new moves

Glad they got it all! My boy had a lump removed late last year that ended up being harmless. The size of the cut was 1/3 to 1/4 the size of Trixie's and he has a pretty obvious scar now. However he probably has a thinner coat and we had all sorts of drama with the stitches splitting open and having to be redone so that probably didn't help the healing process. This is what it looks like now: (the long one, not the round ones) I think it cost a similar amount too, I've deliberately blocked it out of my brain now even though it was covered by insurance The vet I went to is very expensive though, I went with them knowing they generally do a good job and wanted to make sure the scarring was minimal. Clearly didn't work

Fingers crossed he's on the mend soon Shmoo

My bullmastiff x looks like he's grown lately, but he's 4 1/2 and I would have thought he'd be done by now? My brother commented that he looks bigger and I think he might be right. I don't know when they're supposed to stop really, but he was more or less full height at 6 months old which seems pretty early, all he's done since is filled out a bit. In fact he hit 42kgs at around 10 months old but has dropped to 38kg and I've struggled to put weight on him since then (don't know what he weighs right now though). Does it sound plausible that he's actually grown? He used to refuse to eat more than 3 cups of food a day (adding raw bones just meant left over dry food), but he started to look really thin just before Winter so I tried him with 4 cups again (in addition to raw bones) and he's been right into it, in fact his appetite is the best it's ever been. He doesn't appear to have gained any fat either, he's still a walking rib cage so all that extra food's gotta be going somewhere! To add more to my musing I'm wondering if it's because he seems really content? We've had so much trouble with dog aggression over the years and he's been through a lot of stress over it, but now he seems genuinely happy and is relaxing on walks, could it be that stress can delay a growth spurt? Or maybe I'm just imagining things

Nah they don't, well not when I was there 6-12 months ago. They do have some agility equipment, but more for fun than training. Not a bad club, but it's very limited when you hit advanced obedience. Me and my boy were in the highest class and got bored as they had nothing new to teach. I strongly disliked one of the trainers though and one of the others was very unwise in the way he handled dog aggression (my reason for leaving). EDIT: also agree with Dogdude, some of the class sizes are way too big. Knox is great, but probably way too far for her. Croydon is a hike, but quite not as far and I'm enjoying it so far there.

Ideally once a month, realistically once every 6 months The brown one doesn't smell unless he's rolled in something, but I love how soft his coat is after a bath. I should give the border collie one though, she actually does smell a tiny bit doggy at the moment.

Haha yeah that's true IF I can drag my sleepy butt out of bed early enough tomorrow morning I'll take her down, otherwise we'll get there soon. Thanks for the suggestion Clover, will take a look