huski

I've got a few names shortlisted already for my future puppy even though she (hopefully she) won't be arriving till next year

dastardlyboo, I am in no way saying that you abused your dog but hitting him for following natural instinct well after the act is pointless.

Well I for one am not about to sugarcoat the fact I am quite horrified a dog was hit and left outside for doing something completely normal and instinctual... You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Not one of us is perfect, we have made mistakes in various areas of our lives, including with our dogs. While we may know more than others at this point in time and it is easy to say 'I am horrified' or 'it is completely your fault', how would we respond to such remarks? I for one would be far less inclined to attend to information presented in such a way than, for example, "I am really sorry for you loss, however have you considered...." I agree that the message is important but the delivery is not going to do anything to help. ... and no I am not talking about you specificially.. but the whole DOL demeanour. I don't see anyone flaming the OP here, just being frank and honest whilst still being well mannered. The OP sees no problem in hitting the dog after it's killed something, and that DOES horrify me. TBH considering the subject matter I think everyone has been more than reserved. Besides which, I fail to see what is achieved by adding in a little high and mighty moral lecture in the middle of a thread.

Let me assure you, he is a dog that has no moral compass and therefore no concept that what he did was wrong. Otherwise why would he have done it? He could probably tell afterwards that you were upset with him, but he wouldn't have understood why.

Well I for one am not about to sugarcoat the fact I am quite horrified a dog was hit and left outside for doing something completely normal and instinctual...

I feel sorry for the dog getting smacked for an instinctive and normal dog behaviour He doesn't see what he did as wrong. My dogs have killed small animals like possums, rats etc and I'm sure they would kill a GP if they had a chance. I don't get mad at them for doing so - it's their prey drive and nothing more. TBH I also wonder like other posters have suggested if you know he actually shook the guinea pigs or frightened them? I imagine it wouldn't take much for GPs to die from a heart attack from fright etc if the dog bailed them up. It's poor management IMO and nothing more. He is definitely not a bad dog, not even remotely.

It sounds like you are asking him for too much too soon, I used to be able to wave steak under my dog's nose when she was distracted and she wouldn't even notice, getting results was about working on the principle of time before distance before distraction. Adding distractions to training needs to be done gradually, putting your dog in a situation where they are right next to a distraction and then trying to get their attention once they've crossed the threshold is setting both you and your dog up for failure. You said he has no real drive for any rewards you offer when he is distracted - what rewards does he have value for when he's at home in a low distraction environment?

Nooooo MEH...... please don't encourage him :p No one wants to see that

Bumping this up to let anyone who hasn't seen it know that Steve is giving away four phone consults as part of the FB promo today and tomorrow.

Congrats Xena, Seita and TSD! nice work Ziggy!

Congrats to the WA girls and Pax!! Great work everyone

OMG pmsl

Like GG said he posts quite regularly on his FB page LOL once you start getting into dog stuff you have to have a cheque book!! The dog world is still so old school I'm not sure when it will get banked but I imagine it would be pretty quickly, I can check for you ETA: The Metro facebook page; http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Metro...204845539532312

I think he's just super busy I think I saw him post in the thread in general about his FB page a few days ago.

Hey GG I believe you can pay by cash, money order or cheque - just fill in the form here and send it with your payment; http://www.metrodogclub.com.au/index.htm ETA: Cheques would need to be made out to Metropolitan Dog Obedience Club

Hi Kath There are definitely still spots left

Oh SUUUUUUUUURE!!!!!! Of course it wasn't you, Erny. You're not chatty at all!

Har har har Judi. I think Steve's stolen your log in, that joke had him all over it After all, you weren't the Judi who stayed up talking to me and Shell until 2am, were you?

I'm glad I'm not the only one with an evil dog!! Thanks everyone for laughing at me

This morning I was sitting at the dining table eating my breakfast. Daisy walked in and saw me eating and then left he room and started barking at something. I got up to see what she was barking at and to stop her but as soon as I got up and walked away from the table she ran back in and stole my toast SHE TRICKED ME INTO LEAVING THE TABLE SO SHE COULD STEAL MY BREAKFAST! And the worst part? She's done it before but this is the first time I realised she was tricking me

Yay! They made the announcement Not quite a strip show MEH

Beagles are listed around number 70 on these lists. Someone forgot to tell Daisy she's supposed to be dumb. Maybe if she was shed stop thinking up new ways to steal stuff off the kitchen shelf

Sometimes it takes a bit to show up, it's at 485 now

I can't believe how quickly it's gotten up there!

Goooooo Beth and Lottie!!!!!!!!