huski

I think that what your describing is generally more resource guarding than anything else and it can be fairly common. It's also pretty common to find dogs that don't tolerate rude behavior from other dogs and will respond accordingly. I don't think that behavior around other dogs will really tell you what your dog will do if threatened by a person, we wouldn't for example test how a dog responds to other dogs around the owner if we were assessing it. Luckily it would be rare for someone to find themselves in a situation where they had an intruder in their house etc. in many cases the fact you have a dog is often a good deterrent on its own. I hope I never have a need to test my dogs training in a real life situation (as much as I know she's love it :laugh:).

A dog that displays social dominance or confidence or whatever you like to call it when pressured doesn't make it a dog that can't also be a friendly well mannered etc. It also doesn't mean it is soft just because it is friendly to people, is eager to please, can play with other dogs and so on. Maybe we have different ways of wording the same qualities. :)

Double post

Definitely agree Moosmum that a PP dog isn't the same as a sports dog, and when testing if you know what to look for its there to find. However I disagree that a PP dog could be "very soft" - genetically it needs hard nerves to have confidence in confrontational situations. A weak or soft dog might bite out of fear but a PP dog needs to display some social dominance and confidence when pressured.

She can thank her lucky stars she put it on my wine glass rather than IN it! :laugh:

I don't think how loudly a dog barks is really relevant to whether they would bite someone, lots of dogs, in fact most, bark at people coming to the front door etc. Some people also seem to think that because the dog has stopped barking or isn't barking that means they aren't going to bite you. Just being a specific breed doesn't guarantee the dog will act in a certain way, not every German Shepherd is capable of being a protection dog for example and even if the genetics are there training still plays a part in giving the dog experience and confidence so it knows what to do. If you really want to know rather than guess what your dog is capable of doing, get a professional to assess and test it. Then you know for sure!

Some dogs might growl or show their teeth or occasionally even nip an intruder if they were threatened but realistically very few dogs have the nerve and drive required to actively engage an intruder. There's also a big difference between a dog that will bite someone because it is confident and a dog that might nip or bite someone because it's fearful. My beagle barks at people walking past the house and would probably bark at an intruder whether I was there or not, she wouldn't bite someone though. My Malinois is a different story but she's trained and knows what she should do, as well as having the right genetics, for engaging someone who is a threat.

Aside from stays when else do you use a release word and when you do how does she respond to it?

We have been playing around with positioning and doing lots of backwards and sideways heelwork, perfecting position and I am also doing some work on fronts and stand.

Jules I do think some dogs find the flip easier than others, whether that is their body shape or what they feel more natural doing or how much rear end awareness work they've done or whatever could be a factor too. I think it can sometimes look a bit messy if the dog isn't really fast and snappy. We are working on building our duration and durability in heelwork too, and perfecting position. I like the look of stylized heelwork but I also want it to look natural and fluid, I'm quite happy with the medium we have at the moment. Funny what things we can obsess over!

Speaking of finishes. Does anyone have a preference for what they train or do you find your dogs prefer one over the other? Daisy was taught to do both but I prefer the flip so Wiz has only been taught a flip finish.

Great to see the thread bumped! We are still loving training here and at the moment everything feels like its coming together really nicely. I have a lot more bruises from training Wiz than I did training Daisy (LOL) but it is loads of fun.

Hey there Bec from K9Pro here, just wanted to let you know I'm on annual leave at the moment so not in the office to pick up the phone and its not likely anyone will answer your phone call as we are out of the office most of the time in training lessons. If you shoot an email to [email protected] we can give you a hand :)

Still, at least a dog owner using a long line is being more responsible than owners who know their dogs don't have a good recall yet let them run loose anyway. I can't see how anyone would prefer to see dogs off leash and out of control as opposed to on a long line and under control

I would rather see a dog on a long line than running around off leash with no control or recall. I hope you don't frequent dog parks then :laugh: No I don't for that reason (dog owners rarely have effective control of their dogs)

I would rather see a dog on a long line than running around off leash with no control or recall.

Does your dog have a reliable recall? Can you call him away from other dogs? If not I definitely wouldn't be letting him off leash.

I'm not sure if you read the article I posted above Mita where it is explained what we mean when we use that term, but when you are raising a dog and are socialising it, what are you aiming to achieve?

That is why we refer to is as neutralisation, we posted an article on this very topic just last month. Anyone interested can read it here; :) http://k9pro.com.au/services/socialisation-what-is-it-exactly/

Dogs needs to be socialised but socialisation isn't about letting them meet and greet other dogs. I think the message we give people to socialise their dogs can have detrimental effects if we don't also explain to them what socialisation means and how to do it properly. Socialisation is about giving your pup a new experience and assigning that experience a value, and it is about teaching a puppy how to behave in new environments. If you let your dog develop a super high value for other dogs, higher than what their value is for you and the rewards you have to offer, you will often end up with a dog that shows behaviour you don't like. Lunging on the leash at other dogs, ignoring you in favour of playing with other dogs, wanting to "say hello" to every dog it sees regardless of whether you want it to or not etc are some of the most common training issues people experience with their dogs. Some dogs do like playing with others dogs but this is also something that many people socialise their dogs to enjoy and get value from, from a very early age. Some dogs owners like to see their dogs playing with lots of other dogs and that is ok if that is what they want and it doesn't cause other issues for them. I don't do that with my dogs and their lives are definitely not lacking.

I used to leave my husky with our chi cross alone together and did so for years without any issue.

I don't trust any dog owner who lets their dog rush up to others. In my experience if they let their dog behave that way they don't have the ability to read dog body language in the first place and won't be able to tell if their dog is acting inappropriately. However since having Wiz I don't tend to come across many people who want to let their dogs approach her, or even people who will approach for pats like they will with my other dogs, not sure quite why, but it works for me, lol.

You have to make sure your dog learns how to play appropriately with other dogs and when and what play is acceptable. Lots of dogs that play too rough are dogs that haven't been taught how to interact with other dogs appropriately or how to read when another dog says they aren't interested. I have my young very high drive dog with two older dogs who aren't interested in play and she had to learn how to behave appropriately around them. If you put the work in at the beginning to teach them how to behave how you want them to, then you won't have any problems :)

I've trained my beagle to do obedience and scent work. Even people who work with customs beagles say she is one of the most scent driven dogs they've ever seen, so I am working with a dog who has a very high scent drive. If I could go back to when she was a pup I would do a lot more scent work but only on command so she knew when to switch her nose on. She had to learn how to channel her drive into working with me and for my rewards as opposed to seeking drive satisfaction on her own from scenting. ETA: from your previous posts Paddles and videos I don't think your issues with ground scenting are related to scent training or something doing more scenting would worsen. I think it's more an engagement and focus issue. Just IMHO :)

We use a canine treadmill regularly with the dogs which I would guess has the same sort of benefits as road work. I also use a FitPaws peanut to build core and muscle stength with Wisdom most days. The training we do is also very intense and physical, drive work with tugging and ball games and bite work is obviously very physical and requires a high level of fitness (for both us and the dogs LOL). The dogs also free run and swim and when the weather is cooler I will take Wisdom on some trail walks again.