huski

I think the program works most effectively if you follow it word for word (including starting with the tie out, using the marker etc), to make sure you are recognising the right stages of the dogs drive. ETA: Mel, you could PM Steve (K9 Force) or have a read of it on his website. http://www.k9force.net/index.html?row2col2=tid.html

Good suggestion TSD... the dog might be a great candidate for drive training. And you can do it all by distance, you don't have to go to a club.

I'm in Adelaide. The thing is this club actually came really highly recommended, so i feel like maybe it's just me and that particular instructor was maybe just having a bad night? I don't think his dodgey training methods can be put down to him just having a bad night - maybe he is just a bad trainer and the other ones there are ok. Have you ever tried doing the triangle of temptation with B? (link is pinned above). I found it made a big difference with Daisy when she was going through her terrible adolescent age.

Whereabouts are you located, Mel? Someone might be able to recommend you a club you feel more comfortable with.

No, because IMO it is still unnecessary to use an alpha roll as part of your training. I don't need to physically pin my dogs on the ground to make them see me as the alpha, and TBH, I don't know what I would supposedly accomplish by doing so. When Daisy was a puppy she would growl at us if we tried to move her off the lounge. We were always taught to growl back, scruff her and force her on to the ground (not alpha rolling her but forcefully remove her). This made her behaviour so much worse, as she would take me up on the challenge and just became more snappy and she would not back down. Thank god some DOLers put me in the right direction because confronting an over confident dog like Daisy just made the situation worse and her behaviour could easily have escalated. If you are doing things right you wouldn't need to use an alpha roll as part of your training, and there are much easier and more effect ways to rectify over confident behaviour/growling etc than pinning the dog on the ground.

I would think it would be incredibly inappropriate too, and I really don't know why so many people recommend it. I think it's a good way to get bitten - some dogs may take it, but there would be many who would take you up on the challenge.

My club does the yellow ribbon thing too... everyone knows that if a dog has a yellow ribbon on its lead that it needs space from other dogs, and the instructor points it out at the start of class just so everyone else doesn't miss it.

Run free Paris

A lot of what I feed my dogs is human grade (mince, vegies/fruit, raw bones from the supermarket etc). The argument that raw food is biologically appropriate (again, not saying everyone should feed raw as a complete diet, although even before I knew about raw diets, I always fed raw bones regularly) is based on the way that dogs bodies have evolved to benefit from and digest raw foods. We're not talking about the dawn of man kind of stuff - as it wasn't that long ago that there was no dried food to feed. Even cooked food is different to commercially processed dried food. There was an interesting discussion in another thread not too long ago about what people fed dogs before they had kibble. I agree that not all dogs will do well on a raw diet, but I can't deny the results I have seen in my dogs since changing them over. Dr Jean Dodds also sees a lot of excellent results in dogs that are changed over to raw, and not just in regards to overall condition but in health too.

But we're not talking about a millenia ago. How long do you think we have had commercial food for? it hasn't been around that long. What do you think domesticated dogs ate before there was neatly package dried food?

In terms of them needing it - it depends what diet you are feeding. I feed vegies as I feed a BARF diet. There are many various ways to feed it - some people use a blender to mix it into a pulp like substance for eg - my dogs love vegies and fruit so I just grate a variety into their BARF mix. They also eat them whole.

But for that is the problem - it is the same thing as training. The only thing two trainers will agree on is that the third is wrong. There are vets out there that agree with raw feeding (such as Dr Jean Dodds) and vets who don't, I chose to do the research and make up my own mind, based on what I have learned and what my dogs do best on ;) If raw isn't the best for them I have no qualms feeding dried food.

Micha is so not small ;) A terrible pic but you can see he is quite tall (at the max size for the breed) and his big chest. I see a lot of older Sibes his size, less so with the younger ones but I think (I could be wrong) these lines are more popular in QLD.

We actually race Sprint - and short sprint at that, due to conditions. A mid distance race would normally be classified as anything from about 100/200 miles onwards. Sprint races in Eurpoe and the US are usually anywhere from 6 miles to 30 miles. Long Distance is your 500 - 1000 mile races... In australia due weather and MORE IMPORTANTLY due to our governments restrictions not allowing us to access tracks in parks and forests the longest races you will normally see here will be about 8kms. Sorry SH I knew I'd get my terminology wrong! Just proves how much I know about sledding, I have never done more than the intro days ;)

Yep Micha and Zero are both from "bigger" lines. Micha's grandfather was a Grand Champion and was a very 'solid' looking boy! The sibes in the movies probably look quite solid looking because they have their big winter coats too! Although, TBH, I thought the Sibes in Sled Dogs and 8 Below looked like normal Sibes There are a lot of people here in Oz who race mid distance with their Sibes, the same as people in the UK and US - just not in as grueling a race as the Iditarod.

If you look at the pics here you can see that they are a crossbeed, but generally are leaner dogs than Sibes or mals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Husky Some sibes are quite stocky, I guess it depends on the lines.

No, they are Siberian Huskies in the films. Alaskan huskies aren't more solid, they are leggier and thinner. I think lots of dogs like to pull though! Daisy would pull if she wasn't trained to walk on a loose leash, even if she isn't on a scent. Walks are stimulating and enjoyable environments so very exciting for dogs. I know what you mean though.

My guess would be its part of prey drive, in a similar to how scenting is part of prey drive. Just a guess though!

Micha does that too! And he is really good with directions and responds instantly if I say things like 'up' (i.e. jump up over the gutter) etc. While I don't like pulling and like to walk with a loose leash, I like to give him a bit of room to walk in front of me as I prefer the dogs to walk a bit in front so I can see what they are doing!

Cherry has always been a dog that gets stinky quickly, maybe I notice it more because Daisy has short hair and the Sibe never smells and rarely needs bathing

I think allergies to red meat are actually pretty common. What are the ingredients of RC you are giving her? More specifically what are the sources of proteins? I would just stick to that source just in the raw version. So if it's chicken I would give her chicken mince rather than beef. She is tiny so you will not need a lot of it anyway. The RC she does well on is chicken based. So it is ok to feed her a raw diet that is just made up of chicken (and all the other stuff I include obviously like vegies etc)? I have changed her back to RC for now just to clear her rash up as quickly as possible, if it is indeed the food (I can't think of anything else it would be). Once she is ok again I will make up her own little BARF mixture using chicken mince

Thanks for that Sam. That's what I worry about with Cherry - that it won't just be beef she is allergic to. The rash makes her stinky too.

So she can be ok on a BARF diet without any beef? The only problem I have found with getting non-beef mince is that it seems to be a lot more expensive and less available. ETA: I'm not sure how she will react to lamb or roo mince, but once her allergies have cleared up I can try her on some.

Cherry has always been prone to rashes, itching and allergies to certain things, although we couldn't never pin point the exact cause. For many years she always had hot/itchy spots (usually on her belly, feet and at the end of her back, near her tail). She has always been worse in summer. The only way we could manage it (she becomes obsessive about itching and will bite/rub herself until she bleeds) was to get the vet to give her cortisone injections. A couple of years ago we changed her over to Royal Canin and she has not had rashes or itching since then. However, since changing all the dogs over to BARF I have noticed she has become itchy again and it has really escalated the the last few weeks. She can't stop itching/biting herself. At first I thought it might have been fleas (fleas really affect her and bring out her rash) or the heat but I think it is the change in diet. Before changing her to BARF, she was eating the RC and would also have raw chicken bones (like wing tips, necks). I know RC is chicken based so I am wondering if her recent allergies could be the red meat we are feeding her? She only gets red meat in the BARF mix I make up (beef mince) as she struggles with any bones larger than chicken wings. I doubt it would be the vegies or sardines, or yogurt, as red meat is the only thing I can think of that she would have before we changed her to RC and her allergies went away. Is it relatively common for a dog to react to red meat? The other two have thrived on BARF. I have changed Cherry back to RC and chicken bones only, as I can't see how I could feed her on a BARF diet without any red meat. And how long should it take for her allergies to go away now she is back on dried food? (she's only been back on it for the last 2 days). The itching is really bothering her

Yep I completely agree. I have a 'sled dog' whose instinct is to pull, but this would be completely unacceptable on a walk. On a sled however...