persephone

LINK TO ARTICLE This is one person's writings about her very strong feelings against P O training . I agree with a lot of her points .. but, in the end, it is just her opinion . :) short excerpts : We people live in a world of boundaries and consequences. Ignore the crossing light and possibly get hit by a car. Exceed the speed limit and you risk a ticket. Be mean too many times to a friend and you risk losing themBut in the PO universe there are no consequences for canine bad behavior. You are supposed to either ignore or distract bad behavior. Don't correct the dog for chewing your shoes; pick them up. Don't correct the dog for chewing on the couch; give him a toy. Don't correct the puppy for jumping on you; step back. Don't correct the puppy for biting your hand; move it higher or ignore it…he'll quit eventually. (Then give him a cookie for ceasing to bite!) Ignoring bad behavior will extinguish it, because they get no positive reinforcement from it. (Really? The dogs I see get a heck of a lot of positive reinforcement from jumping and chewing and biting what's around them.) `````````````````````````````````````````````````` Competitive obedience trials are 60+ years old. During most of that time, Novice dogs lined up to perform their Sits and Downs without muss, fuss or controversy. Open dogs waited patiently for their people to come back from out of sight. Obedience trials once the bastion of canine compliance are now too regularly concerned about dog fights and mayhem. How has this come to pass?In the last 10-15 years, group Sits and Downs have become "Awful", "Impractical", "Dangerous" or "Foolish exercises". How did the sport manage to get from Group exercises being a "no big deal" part of the sport to a constant whining tempest?A culture, quite frankly a cult, has risen. This cult believes that a dog should never be corrected for bad behavior and that a dog should live in a world without framework, boundaries or consequences. Living in this type of environment makes a dog hyper, hysterical, aggressive and unable to function out in the world. ``````````````````````````` Back in the day, training methods were pretty harsh. After all, when you start with the premise that you have to wait until a puppy is 6 months old to be strong enough for the training…that gives you a clue. Now the Pendulum has swung all the way to the other side and Positive Only is the only sound that may be heardIf none of us can stomach the idea of going back to the choke and puke methods, and PO is dangerous and ineffective, what is left for us to try?How about a Balanced approach?Balance—to bring into harmony or proportion (Webster's DictionaryWhat a beautiful, rational goal. To accomplish this goal, a savvy teacher seeks out and dumps words with an extremist leanings such as Positive Only. When something is an "only" it is by nature unbalanced. Instead look for the balance of positive and negative reinforcementsReinforcements are information. I've used the example many times that teaching a dog is the process of escorting him down a hallway full of doors. These doors represent choices of action. The teacher's job is to help him make good choicesIn the PO world, if my dog chooses to walk to a door I can say, "Yes! Behind that door are cookies and hot dogs and all manner of good things to eat." If he walks to another door I can again say, "Yes! Behind that door are games and play equipment, friends and ball tossers." However, if my dog walks to a certain third door, I can say nothing. My dog walks thru the door…and gets eaten by a tiger.I think, "No, don't go there" would have been useful information.

These links may help... CLICK CLICK CLICK

You can also try using a word.. "quick" , or 'wees" etc EVERY time she toilets outside . Use the word, and give much praise ... in a while - she will toilet for you when she hears the word .. this is SUCH a good thing !!

That's great .. more time spent on a refresher course will hopefully help :)

Congrats Scotts nan !!! :D :D That photo brings back many memories to me ..and I LOVE the detail in those hands :)

WooHoo :) I hope Sebastian settles quickly, and teaches you LOTS ;)

As you are obviously worried ..then do the blood test to put your mind at risk :) Yes, the Big Cheese is a much safer product to use !!

LOL - there is no profit in breeding . :D - that's not why breeding should be done ! Glad the bitch is OK . AS I presume neither of you are registered breeders - you do not have ANY legal/formal guidelines /rules to follow , so whatever agreements you wrote/signed are in force. if you have NO hard copy of anything .... then it's going to be hard ..and the strongest will win

:) good ol' boy! What has your vet suggested ? is arthritis the diagnosis? if it is - use the search function here(top RH of the page ) for arthritis , and you will find heaps of info :) Sounds as if he's a lucky boy!

yes!! That's often an easy one to make mistakes with ...

Glad he's feeling better !

semi frozen turkey necks are fantastic - and a meal in themselves :)

oh not good.

Very good dog!!

:) Glad things are not a lot worse

My Puddenhead ? he does indeed have a shallow cleft ....along with the other genetic errors that make him 'speshal' .... well spotted ;) he's also SO much like his maternal Grandma Caillie ... he has her 'look' when he watches us ... and his thick bones /general build are a lot like hers Actually looking at that pic - she appears to have a depression /beginnings of a cleft in her nose too .

thinking of you all..

have a read here : LINK

All legs & ears !!

When mozzies are bad here , I hang mozzie coils around :) LOOK and HERE these holders are just brilliant!!! not sure what you could put on a small puppy ... maybe a TINY dab of roll-on aerogard on his ears?

:) Good for her! I had a dachsieX many years ago who worked sheep in teh yards/on trucks :)

:)

if the car and facilities are airconditioned , I would ....surely they dog would not be dried with heat ..why not ask the groomer ?

rabbit is a 'whiter' meat than goat /lamb/beef . almost no fat ...maybe that & chicken?