huski

Thanks Erny. Daisy's refusing to eat something happens so rarely that I am happy to 'trust' her on this one. She also won't eat liver, but then Micha doesn't really like it either, so I think there are some things where the texture/taste just doesn't appeal to them. She did eat some of the roo meat a couple of days ago, so maybe it didn't agree with her? I didn't notice anything different with her but you never know I guess! ETA: Cherry had some roo mince tonight. As part of her elimination diet, I usually mix in some mashed sweet potato, but I didn't have time tonight. She didn't eat any of it and left it in her bowl, Daisy didn't touch it (she normal checks Cherry's bowl for 'left overs'). Cherry has had no problem eating her roo mince the last week or so, but she is typically fussy. I ended up letting Micha inside to eat it, he did no worries, so maybe Cherry and Daisy are just fussy when it comes to roo. They've both eaten the mince before with no problem. The roo mince was from a different place to the roo pieces, and from the same place I always buy it (woolies).

Thanks PPS. I thought it could be something like that, but she happily eats the roo mince and sweet potato mix I make for Cherry, maybe it's big chunks of roo that she doesn't like. I have a feeling she'd eat roo meat if it was on the bone (i.e. roo tail) as she loves anything with bone.

Daisy is not what I would call a fussy dog, as most of you know, being a beagle she eats anything. Never had a problem getting her to eat any type of dried food or any of the raw meat I feed her now, vegies raw or cooked, fish etc. In fact I have a problem getting her not to eat whatever she can get her paws on! However yesterday mum bought a packet of kangaroo meat pieces from the pet supply store. They were big pieces with no bone, kind of like breast or thigh pieces. Anyway I gave Micha and Daisy a piece each last night, Daisy was starving (as per usual). I did our usual TOT routine and released her to eat in her crate, I assumed she had eaten it. An hour or so later, she has something in her mouth and drops it outside the crate - it was the piece of kangaroo meat, completely uneaten She had no interest in eating it whatsoever. This has only happened twice before - when I give her raw liver, and with a BARF patty (she started off eating them but refused to after a day or two of begrudgingly eating them). Oddly enough, she likes eating raw heart. Micha had no problem with his roo meat and Daisy happily ate some roo mince a few days ago. Is this fussiness or does she just really really dislike these particular foods? She is very food driven so it is very very unusual for her to refuse to eat anything.

Well, I was in tears by the end of the class She's not called the evil beagle for fun

I'm pretty sure Steve from K9 Force sells them. Maybe send him an email? [email protected]

Don't do that - I'm sure Nekhbet didn't mean to offend you, tone can be easily lost over the net The first night I took Daisy to obedience school (she was about 5 months old) I was very prepared. I had a bunch of dried liver treats in my bag and I had taught her a lot at home. I was confident she would be the star of the class. Instead - she was a nightmare. Barked at other dogs, growled when I tried to move her, ignored almost every command I gave her even commands that she knew. She didn't look twice at the treats I offered her. I was so upset as I was trying really hard but was getting no where. I almost left in tears Until our club president, who had two beagles who were champion obedience dogs, came over to me to look at Daisy and see what was wrong with her. He asked what treats I had - I showed him the liver treats. He laughed and asked me to give Daisy to him. He showed her the food he had in his treat pouch, soft smelly treats like cabonossi/sausage, cheese, chicken etc. They instantly caught Daisy's attention and she was all eyes on him! He worked Daisy for a few minutes, going through heel work, various commands etc and she was perfect. He asked me what was wrong with her Don't feel discouraged because every dog is different and what motivates each dog is different. I am now training Daisy to compete for her obedience title. I just needed to find a better way to motivate her, become more confident in my handling and be a more confident leader for my dog. I was definitely not inexperienced with dogs before I got Daisy. I just had to learn that each dog is different and each dog requires a different approach to the last. What works for one dog will not work for all, hounds are notoriously stubborn and when they switch into scent drive corrections will often do nothing much to discourage them, scenting for a beagle is like the doggy equivalent of being high. ETA: I would start training in lower distraction environments, work on focus commands like look and get them solid before walking her somewhere where the distraction level is a lot higher. Puppies at this age do have a short attention span but it's also crucial to teach them now what is acceptable and what isn't - use the change of direction technique to teach her that pulling will not get her anywhere she wants to go and that she will get lots of high value rewards for walking nicely.

It depends what your dogs do best on. My dogs do best on a raw diet so it is better for them than commercial food. There is however a lot of good quality dried food out there too. Raw feeding will always be my first choice. I would suggest reading Dr Ian Billinghurst's book "Grow Your Pups on Bones" and "The BARF Diet". You can buy them here: http://www.barfaustralia.com/products.php?pid=2 You can successfully feed a pup on raw BUT you need to have a solid understanding of how BARF is not the only way to feed raw, but it's the basic guide that I generally follow (80% raw meaty bones - within that 50/50 meat to bone ratio - 20% vegies/fruit as well as offal and extras like raw egg, fish etc). You can buy premade BARF patties, the suppliers can be found on the website I linked to above under 'Distributors'. Or you can do it yourself which can take a bit more work (but is what I do). Nope, they are cooked meat, and IMO not the best thing to feed

You could try turkey necks, they are much bigger than chicken necks, or look at chicken wings or drumsticks.

To the OP, I would have a read of this thread as it talks about the range of more affordable but still quality dried dog foods available: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=159257 Like Nekhbet suggested I would be adding some raw meaty bones to his diet, chicken wings/frames, lamb off cuts and turkey necks etc to bulk out his diet - they are great for his teeth and for his nutrition. You can also add raw egg, tinned sardines/mackeral, natural yoghurt etc to their dried food to make it more exciting and they are all things that are good for the dogs nutrition wise.

Thanks Staranais, the review was very interesting and confirmed what I thought his book might be like after reading some excerpts and his website etc.

Someone sent this to me the other day, has anyone else heard of Natural Dog Training or Kevin Behan, or read his book? http://naturaldogtraining.com/ Apparently, NDT is: http://leecharleskelley.com/naturaldogtraining.html http://naturaldogtraining.com/blog/why-tra...he-natural-way/ It sounds like he does something similar to prey drive training?

The way I teach winning in tug of war is that I let the dog capture the toy and I tug with her. I hold the toy still to teach give as the dog generally loses interest when the toy is no longer moving, the reward is that I will make the toy come alive again and the dog can chase and capture it. I don't really let it go or give it to the dog to run away with. ETA: I used tug of war as a good way to teach 'give'

I agree with the puppy school instructor Tug of war is great to play with pups that are prey driven, as long as you say when it starts and stops. It can be a great reward to use in training. Drive based trainers use tug as a way of utilising their dogs prey drive. A LOT of people who do dogs sports (obedience, agility, fly ball etc) use their dogs prey drives by playing tug with them. Having said that not all dogs are very prey driven, some are more driven by food and some are driven by praise. When I've played tug with Daisy I say 'ok' to let her know she can grab the toy and 'give' to tell her to let it go.

I agree with the vet - watch him for symptoms like vomiting, shakiness etc but I'm sure he will be ok. Make sure he has lots of fresh water available. I would personally fast him for a day. My beagle once at five large lamingtons and was perfectly fine, she has a gut of steel! She's also gorged herself on more than 1kg of cat food in one sitting, on both occasions I fasted her for 24 hours and she was as good as gold (just watch for lethal gas!)

You do realise that ASTs and Staffies are two different breeds, right? That still makes him a crossbreed, not pure staffy. ETA: And I would suggest that people like PPS who are Stafford breeders know what they are talking about

Yep looking at the second lot of pics you've posted of him I would say he is definitely not purebred. He looks like he has mastiff or dane in him. There is no way he is pure stafford.

I definitely wouldn't be using a halti or head collar on a puppy, especially a scent hound who moves their head around a lot and can lunge on the leash after a scent. I use a martingale collar on my beagle as well as lots of high value treats - soft and smelly things like steak, roast chicken, sausage, cheese etc. Beagles are stubborn and if you don't have something higher value than a scent they won't see the point in obeying you. I used the change of direction technique, so as soon as she started pulling, I'd change direction and she'd have to run to catch up to me. I'd praise and treat when she was in the right position. I also found teaching the look command useful - start teaching it at home in low distractions and gradually move to higher levels of distraction when it becomes solid. Beagles can be tricky to teach to walk on a loose leash because their scent drive can be very high and they are easily distracted. The key is teaching them that they get no where by pulling, I am happy for my beagle to scent on a walk as long as she isn't pulling and gives me attention when I command it.

Did he come with pedigree papers? if not, you will never know for sure if he is purebred or not - maybe his dad was another breed or a crossbreed?

Off topic, but I don't see the point in an emergency recall. Every recall command I give is an "emergency" recall ..... that's the way I train for it. I agree with Persephone ..... sounds to me as though your wonderful lad's hormones are well and truly kicking in now (probably have been for a little while) and he's pushing boundaries. Around this time is the period where the dog's perception of its relationship with you shows up more obviously to our eyes. Take a leadership check and know that he is in his adolescence phase. I also agree with Huski that the NILIF program is a good one for you to follow. Dogs love it too. They love 'jobs' . Think in terms of "your terms" not the dog's. Have a look for the "Triangle of Temptation" ("TOT") which is a sticky at the top of this forum, and follow that. It too is an excellent program to follow religiously and was kindly put up there by K9 Force (Steve Courtney) for all to use. I agree with you in regards to the emergency recall command Erny - I was just curious if that was what the OP was doing as it's the only time I've heard people reluctant to "over use" a command if that makes sense. It's not my cup of tea because I proof each command to be as reliable as possible. When Daisy was a pup and was going through her naughty adolescent age I thought I had NILIF down pat - until someone kindly explained to me that it's not just about the dog giving you a behaviour when it wants something but also about you giving those valued resources on your terms. Daisy was really good at paying for things when she wanted them and I realised that I was giving them to her on her terms more than on mine - i.e. I didn't have to give her what she wanted just because she "paid" for it!

What makes you say that? I'm not quite sure what you mean... are you teaching an emergency recall and come is the command you use? Think of it as giving him a proactive command rather than doing the work for him. Make going to bed something that he gets rewarded for. If you don't want to use come (i.e. you stand outside and call him out) then use a command like 'on your bed'. I use 'in your crate' for my beagle. If you have a read of the article NILIF that Persephone linked to it talks about making your dog pay for everything that is exciting and of value to him - I use it with my every day interactions with my dogs - do you have similar systems or rules in place with your dog?

I got mine from here: http://www.obedienceproducts.com

I've done that sooo many times Uh it was so embarassing but funny in hindsight! She was madly scenting for it all over the ground Even when I showed her the food in my hand she still thought there was some on the ground

Heh, I've used raw meat before, but I find it really hard to throw (I get Daisy to catch her treats) as it sticks to my fingers On one particular occassion I went to throw her a piece of raw chicken and it stuck to my hand instead, she got so confused and had her nose to the ground determined to find it

The best diet for you pup is the diet he does best on! I feed my dogs on a raw diet, because that is what they do the best on. If you want to look into raw feeding, do some research on raw diets/BARF/prey model and decide for yourself!

What techniques are you using at the moment baciandollie?