huski

thats just not right, poor doggy. im always interested in talking to my new dog owners, 13 years on.....we had one lady come back to us. she is the one that doesn't want to be in contact with us which upsets me but what can you do, but i know the dog is well looked after and she paid enough for it, you can't push the owners to contact you if they don't want to but it sure is nice when they give you updates regularly and continue to do so. we are a bit the other way. That's lovely though! I wish Daisy's breeder had a bit more interest in her, I will let her know when she gets her first obedience title which you think most breeders would be want to hear about. Small achievement but still relatively uncommon in the breed and exciting for me and Daisy

My mum bought Cherry from a pet store, we didn't know better and had no idea it was wrong or where else we should buy a puppy from. She had a lot of health problem so after some research we made sure our next dog came from a good breeder. Micha's breeders are registered breeders, they are small scale breeders and whilst they probably aren't the most reputable around they have always been there to support us and help us and have given us a dog with an absolutely fantastic temperament... almost eight years on he's also very healthy. Daisy's breeder is also a registered breeder and has been around a long time. She was also really helpful up until we bought Daisy home and then she became pretty disinterested and stopped replying to my emails with updates/questions/etc. That's my only complaint, though - Daisy is everything I wanted in a beagle and on temperament and health alone I would be happy to have another dog from her breeder (I doubt I will though). I think if Daisy was a show dog she would have more interest in her.

Sas he is awesome you have done a really good job with him!

Sas I would love to see a vid of his flip finish if you have one, it's always awesome seeing the big dogs doing them

The big red lines and arrows to point out how wide my dog is heeling also helps

LOL, now I'm picturing Steve giggling about big red balls I had to google what Wipe Out was, I've never seen it before, must be on the same time as Greys or the David Boreanaz hour Bones or something.

LOL Steve getting excited with the screen caps and diagrams?

I have taken my DA dog to an off leash area, but only when it was empty and I stood by the gate so if someone came to enter the park I could ask them to wait while I called my dog, leashed him and left. All dogs need exercise and we don't do it often because it's hard to find an empty off leash park, but I don't think DA dogs should be taken in there if there are other dogs in there. If it's a big open off leash park I am in two minds, I have met owners of DA dogs who have excellent control and reliability, if the dog is kept away from other dogs and taken at a time when it's not busy and the owners are responsible I don't have a big problem with it.

Sas what happens if you try to lure him close to you when you are standing up? Does he stop at a certain point and won't come in closer? What about if you step toward him?

Touch wood our down stays have been going well lately! We've been doing a little bit each day (when I'm not being lazy) and Daisy has not barked during or broken any of them lately we're back up to the two minute mark and over, I have been throwing food and other small objects and she has been consistently solid let's hope that we will keep on this track for our next trial at the end of the month!

:D

He's stunning Ptolomy! And so confident!

Whiskedaway, I would be rewarding for the behaviour I want to see - for me that would be all paws on the ground sitting still. I wouldn't be rewarding her for offering behaviour I didn't ask for - JMO

LOL could she smell the container of cooked liver too??

Thanks Bedazzled and Caffy Caffy I did reward her the video has just cut it out - we did a few short run outs last night and I was rewarding frequently but also when she when she wasn't expecting it (ie not just at the end of the heel pattern/exercise).

We had luck with our retrieves tonight! She's been doing them over the jump quite well lately too, not 100% reliable though - sometimes she looks at me confused like 'you want me to do what now?' because she hasn't been watching where I throw the dumbell. Anyway here is a quick vid; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwbCS2_ttpg And an attempt at doing some distraction work; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUBpWzoUix8 I don't trust Daisy with open containers of food just yet LOL! But just having them there is a major distraction for her. She will spot a container of cooked liver a mile away and will go absolutely nuts insane trying to get to it. We had the platform and dumbell down there as she loves to get on it/pick it up and will sometimes do it from eagerness instead of when I have commanded her to :/ Lots of work to do and you can see scents on the ground is still her number one distraction, she lost it a bit but I got her focus back which was good

The things that I don't like about dog parks still exist in larger ones, although if they are a massive space with dogs spread out over a bigger area I can see the risk would be less than if they were all crammed together in a small space. Yes I agree, it's a problem I have at the moment, we have a small yard and I would like to let my dogs run around in larger spaces but there is really no option where I live. It's small fenced dog parks or nothing. And unless they are empty when I go in, I can't use them.

Megan you are quite right, dog parks here are pretty much all small fenced areas. I'd probably be more comfortable using a large off leash park but the idea of running my dogs with strange dogs still makes me nervous and I can't really see the benefit in doing so (I do understand the benefit to off leash exercise though)

I find the problem isn't my dogs or my control over them, but other people whose actions and dogs I don't have any control over. I've been at dog parks when the instant a dog has walked in the gate, it's grabbed another dog and attacked it. I've seen owners of dogs who are having a fight or attacking another dog brush it off as "oh he's just doing what dogs do" and countless other examples where people have shown a lack of control to the detriment of the other dogs in the park. If I knew other owners were going to do the right thing with their dogs, I would consider using dog parks.

I choose not to use them. I think running groups of unknown dogs together comes with a high level of risk, especially in small fenced off leash areas where dogs are crammed together in small spaces. I don't like to let my dogs run with dogs I don't know owned by people I've never met. I don't see the benefit in it, and the risk in my eyes is too great. Either when they are empty or on the rare occasion, for a DOL meet. But other than that no - we steer clear of them! Except maybe to use them for distraction training in which instance we'll train outside the fenced area. Well, it's nice to have a secure area to run your dogs in but I've seen countless fights break out in dog parks, have seen/heard of dogs being killed and seriously injured by other dogs, I have had my own dogs attacked and bullied by other dogs and met owners who are totally clueless as to appropriate canine behaviour and body language. In my experience, the negatives far out weigh and positives to using a dog park.

My local obedience club encourages peope to use head collars all the time, even on young pups. They sell them at the club house and quite a few dogs wear them even in the more advance classes I know quite a few other clubs around that are the same.

I feel that way about a lot of training tools, not just prong collars. IMO they are hardly the most dangerous or most risky training tool you can use.

Are you in QLD? If so, there is nothing illegal about using a prong collar. The only place they are banned is VIC.

Huge congrats Brooklyn and Bedazzled!

really?? Next time you are in Brissy let me know! No word of a lie! Thanks Huski, I will. Seriously, please do. Just don't bring any donuts with you. Or, you know, anything edible. My beagle is always hungry and can smell a Krispy Kreme from a mile away.