Are You Serious Jo

Those "trifling details" make a difference to the message. There are specific terms for things for a reason, it is more efficient to communicate when you can understand exactly what a person is referring to. That can be done without bringing in one's degree every second post. That is what annoys people. I didn't accidentally agree and you and I am merely pointing out where your argument isn't logical or clear. You were the one who started off asking what benefit there was to being dominant among other things you didn't seem to understand, then you backflipped and said oh, I already knew all that. To be honest, I don't actually understand much of what you are trying to say in your posts, was hoping if you adopted conventional terms for the subject it might be clearer.

Animals don't have values, they have drives, values are a human construct and concept.

I don't think you are getting what dominance is, hence why I said go do some background reading. It is too difficult to discuss a topic indepth if the person doesn't have a good understanding of the topic already. This thread is going in circles with the same thing being said to you over and over again. Example, dogs that live on the streets might appear to be living alone but they live alongside humans, who are their social contact. Alphas do exist and dogs don't have personal values.

Noice!

Some social species need to maintain a group for survival, if you aren't strong enough to challenge the leader you find your place in the hierarchy because you needs the others to survive. Dominance is not about maturation, it is about gaining particular resources with the lest amount of conflict. All individuals are born differently, that is why you see dominance hierarchies in vertebrates. "If they get cross with you for not following them, then I might agree that this is dominance." A dog doesn't get cross if you don't follow them, it shows aggression if it is a dominant dog and it prevented by prevented by another dog or owner from having what it wants. "Which is how sneaky strategies like behaving cutely come about." Are you talking about selection here or behaviour, because I can't think of an example for this at all. A dog doesn't behave cutely, it has simply learned that a specific behaviour results in a specific response. Operant conditioning. "But if I am right and every animal is driven to look after their own affairs first (which is what we are told in population genetics), then why wouldn't we regularly see this drive clash with giving others respect, even a leader?" Ummm, we do see this, alphas are regularly challenged in many species.

It is not as simple as is my dog being dominant or not. That's exactly my point! Ha ha, jdavis, you're agreeing with me! :rolleyes: If you already knew about it why ask then? You did ask what benefit is there to being dominant? Sure, dog I know that is owned by someone who is clueless and dog completely dominates her. Dog sneaks out through door and runs off and he refuses to return to her. If dog sneaks out past one of us who have a clue (we don't let him dominate us) he comes back when called. Dog does not display the same behaviours with us as he does with owner because we have relegated him below us.

The reason I said it was because I get the impression you need to read more on the subject to fill you in than can be posted on here. People can only write so much on a forum. "If dominant animals get access to the best resources, then isn't that rather dependent on what resources the individual is interested in? If one dog wants an old bone and another dog doesn't feel like chewing on old bones right now, then how can you conclude that the dog that gets the bone is dominant?" It is not as simple as that, some species have a strict adherence to the dominance hierarchy they have formed at the time, and some species are more fluid. The reason some animals have strict hierarchies is that most resources are limited in nature, or the dominant individuals want to have exclusive access to matings as well as resources. It is all about fitness. "Well, I disagree because it's not hard to figure out what an animal wants by watching them." That is why we do controlled experiments, because people often misinterpret behaviour. I can easily show this in dogs, what people think their dog is doing or thinking is often completely wrong because they either don't have enough knowledge on dog behaviour, or are anthropomorphising. You might be thinking I know what my dog wants because it is walking from A to B but that ignores other things going on that you might have missed. Different breeds have different behaviours based on what they have been selected for, so this needs to be considered, then the individual dog's personality, the background of the dog. It is not as simple as is my dog being dominant or not.

I think you need to go back to basics and read more about dogs as there are many possible reasons for behaviours that are seen. Dominant animals get access to the best resources, but unless you know something about various breeds (not just anecdotes about dogs you know) then you can't understand what weight the different factors have on observed behaviour.

Are you open to other methods midol?

I am all for exploring possibilities, but judging on his OP I don't think there is room to move, his way or the highway.

Maybe Midol is hoping that the crooks will start going awww look at the clever puppy and not attack him.

Can anybody tell me what the actual work is that APBT's are supposed to be doing?

For dogs that aren't sensitive to cereals and are hard to put weight on it is great. I've used great barko and had no problems. Dogs healthy and great coats. But the poo volume increases considerably.

RIP Sinna

Which particular drive? A dog's behaviour or personality is determined by measuring percentage against a number of drives. I assisted with the preparation of a report many years ago. Our research included, but was not limited to, the work of Volhard - Canine Personality Profile Thank doG our Beagle is not aware that desexing him has compromised his food drive I've also been studying personality in animals, and Midol, you are way off the mark.

There was something in new scientist recently about a guy who reckons some mutations are the result of a relaxation of selection pressures, in fact he thinks that humans are just a mutant ape that didn't result from any specific selection. So perhaps the stronger vemon is linked to a beneficial gene and therefore 'hitched a ride' so to speak, or just wasn't detrimental so no reason for it to be selected out. Back to topic it's not looking great for these poor pups, unfortunately a lot of people put money before the welfare of the animal, that may not be the case in this instance but it's common unfortunately. That is exactly right, some traits we see aren't adaptive, they are just there and have neutral selective value, but are linked to something they need.

:rolleyes: Thinking of you

Awww, I am so sorry feef, will be thinking of you and the hobbit.

For those wondering about how they learn that the clicker means food you generally start by clicking and giving the food reward at exactly the same time, without asking for any behaviours. It is classical conditioning and generally takes only about 10 goes at it. The clicker is also known as a bridge, so you can 'bridge' between the behaviour and the food reward. If you see or ask for a behaviour you want, but can't get the food out of your pouch fast enough it is helpful to click so the animal knows they have done the right thing at that instant, then give the food.

I have some software I bought to retrieve data from a dead hard drive, so far it has gotten data from two hard drives that no one could save. It's called get data back, you can download it and it will scan your drive or disc, and show you what it has retrieved. Then if you can get stuff back you can buy it. It was about $80, but I have a copy so if you can't get them back any other way I can run it through mine if you post it to me. Can't guarantee it can save those files, but worth a shot if you can't find anything up your way to recover them.

One problem with the SHHF study I see is that Distichia is not mentioned anywhere, which indicates to me that the survey questions asked may have been lacking. With n = 561, it should have been noted, the fact that not one dog has been reported to have it suggests the questions are flawed. Also, owners self reporting is not the most reliable data collecting method, what would be convincing is a study using vet records on sibes, not owners self diagnosing their dogs. As a study that one is really flawed and as such caution should be used in accepting it as gospel.

Someone else asked about hair in their dogs mouth, and someone else mentioned hair on their dog's tongue. I am not squeamish, except when it comes to hair in dogs mouths, I can't bear it!!!!!!

I like the third one, but the composition has let you down. I would like to have seen less space at the bottom of the pic more to the left and right and a lot more ahead of him. The depth of field is a bit of an issue but you could get away with it. I think you might be able to crop the second one to make a good shot, or crop in really close to the first to emphasise the head, because the composition on the first doesn't stand out. I think it might be a matter of using some pieces of cardboard to play around with different crop options with a print, then cropping in photoshop and blowing up. I like the exposure the way it is as well. Good job with the low light though!

Yes, can get it from garden centres and hardware stores, we got ours from Bunnings. Don't get the dolomite one though, get the garden lime. The problem we have was that the neighbours cats kept coming back in the front yard where they were, so we could never control it completely.

Use garden lime for the yard, just throw it around and lightly sprinkle in with water. fleas have been bad bad bad this year, I had my first flea plague ever.