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SkySoaringMagpie

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Everything posted by SkySoaringMagpie

  1. For whatever reason, and I'm not complaining, we don't have possums. Probably because we are on ex-farming country and we don't have many trees for them to hide in.
  2. Ta, I better start reading all those backed up digests.
  3. Can you explain it to me? I assume those of us who are not Sydney-siders can just fill it out and send back our proxy to the chairman. Of course, it would be useful to know what the heck is going on first. That was the weirdest letter I have had from a canine control for a while.
  4. Let dogs out, admire beautiful full moon, shut door, dogs wander off then spot something in the front paddock and go off their heads at it because they can't reach bunny/fox/hare from behind 6 foot chain wire. Call dogs in. Shut door. Other dog paws door to go out. Let dog out, notice moon has risen a bit, shut door, dog wanders off then spots something in the paddock and goes off his or her head at it because dog cannot reach bunny/fox/hare. Call dog in. Let other dog out, curse bloody moonlight lighting up the paddock critters, shut door, dog wanders off then spots something in the paddock and goes off his or her head at it because dog cannot reach bunny/fox/hare. Call dog in. Semi-slam sliding door ungraciously. :D Let other dog out saying "no barking", ignore moon, shut door, dog wanders off then spots something in the paddock and goes off his or her head at it because dog cannot reach bunny/fox/hare. Call dog in. Dog raises middle claw and does the "in a minute" routine. Put gumboots on, get torch and slip lead, walk dog down, bring dog inside ;) :mad I suppose a smart person would just put them all out at once and march them all back in again. Tomorrow....
  5. I don't actually want to see high sales of my breed or my partner's breed. They are not for your average pet owner and you need a certain degree of mentoring to successfully own one. I definitely don't want to see them sold in pet shops but DD's are irrelevant to that point of view.
  6. Yes, that all sounds familiar particularly the tail wagging part. To segue over to another thread theme too, she is hunting stock. I don't say that to be an appalling wanker, but her parents are both owned by a breeder/hunter in the middle east and both parents successfully hunt hare and gazelle - sometimes with falcon. On our property she "interacts" with rabbits more than SWFs. As Diva wisely noted in another thread, if you have one of these breeds then integrating their behaviour into modern life can require a bit of thought - something I am only displaying after the fact in this situation. However, i also don't want to overstate the problem. We're talking about barking here when she is in my hands, not full on "l must kill it!!" lunging. Overall I think she did quite well in the situation I put her in.
  7. In some situations she has been reactive on the move. When we were training for the endurance test and met up with some border collies also training for the test she was at the head of the line and she turned around and barked every now and then at the BCs (nowhere near constantly). The BCs were very well behaved and their owners dog cluey (ie, they didn't get up her butt) so it wasn't a matter of unreasonable provocation. Anyway, she didn't take the test as she suffered a leg injury as a result of a dog attack so I don't know if she would have improved in that context. On reflection I now have a much better picture of how I unwittingly set up the situation in the park to get the result I did and then made it worse. As I said to Diva offline, this was one of those hindsight being 20/20 retrospective :rolleyes: dog training moments. Those of us who aren't professionals can confess to those in public!!! I plan to train the "Look at That" game rules with her over the next few weeks with some other self-confidence and self-control exercises and then catch up with Diva and her Russian supermodel for some dog on dog work. If that works out I will beg the use of PF and her Howie to grade down to smaller dogs.
  8. If they are sold to impulse buyers who are not checked for suitability my view is yes they should be stopped. I think most rescue sales of this nature are backed by much better vetting tho'? Just an update, the urgency for this puppy has passed as she has been purchased by suitable people after they heard about her via the breed rescue grapevine. I am concerned tho' that PP have sold 3 of these puppies from the same litter and they may now conclude they have a market.
  9. I think it's useful to work out if she is feeling ill from motion sickness combined with the confined air of the car, or if she has a nervous reaction to the motion of the car. I know if it's been going on a while it can be hard to separate as dogs tend to make associations. However, where it's motion sickness I've had some success with ginger tablets given half an hour before, and ensuring that there is a source of fresh air. If i can't do that (ie, travelling at 110ks), i make sure that I don't have the car heavily heated or on recirculated air. It seems to help my unhappy traveller. Edit: The model of car and the "ride" can have a big difference. Our car unhappy dog does much better in our old Ford, which is a big boat of a thing and automatic. The ride is smooth and the car is large and airy. Our small manual Euro hatchback tho', our car unhappy dog dislikes it a lot and the other dogs don't seem as comfortable in it as the Ford. This puzzled me for a while until I rode in the backseat of the hatchback one day as we had a guest with us. Horrible ride, all the gear changes you can really feel in the back and it's jerky and much more hermetically sealed than the old Ford. I can see now why my car unhappy dog hates it. If you were hungover and being driven in the back of that thing you'd puke for sure!
  10. Thanks Vehs, that sounds like it's definitely worth a try. Keshwar found this too today, I was particularly interested in point 4. http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/dog-d...y-ii-the-basics 4. If the dog wants to get to other dogs to interact, (and is barking because she is frustrated) then increasing the distance between her and another dog is a punishment, not a reinforcement. For these dogs, you can teach some form of polite behavior, like stopping and looking back at the owner, again long before she has reached threshold, and give her food, play or access to the other dog as a reinforcement. Needless to say, interactions should be done carefully and only with dogs who are totally trustable.
  11. Yes they know. Good idea tho'. Edited to say that I consider the breed club welfare/rescue contacts the lead on this issue and wouldn't do anything without consulting with them first. Just trying to gather as many options as possible. Also wanted to acknowledge Christina's post. I think sometimes those of us with rarer breeds can forget that some breeds are constant pet shop fodder one way or another. I'm surprised there isn't an armed poodle liberation front given all the horrors poodles have suffered in puppy farming and pet shops over the years.
  12. This one won't spend 6 months - it's a large breed that loses its "cute" puppy look fairly early Sorry to hear about your girl's start in life.
  13. After the hassles with the dutch shepherd litter I've become aware of another breed in Sydney pet shops that is a disaster waiting to happen - for the dogs this time as they have very specific and demanding grooming needs. I am not going to say what breed or which shops as I don't think vigilante behaviour or phone harassment helps. I know you can't buy them because you just fund the whole horrible business but are PP and their ilk receptive to breed clubs dropping off a business card and suggesting the buyers call them for advice? If they don't sell, can PP be convinced to hand them over to rescue or do they just get green dreamed after spending 4 weeks in a perspex box? Is there anything that can be done? Or is the whole thing just hopeless? Some days it's just the whole way...
  14. The right Saluki could be perfect, the wrong one would definitely be a disaster. If she has her heart set on a Saluki I would try and source a mature Saluki with a reasonably soft temperament. A retired show dog that is already leash trained and isn't too reactive could be a good option. In this situation tho', much as I love my own breed, I would be inclined to go with a reputably rescued greyhound or a mature whippet after being explicit with the rescue about your Aunts preferences and limitations. To answer your questions, generally speaking Salukis are more "primitive" in mindset than greys. They can be wilful and prey-driven and their personality requires an accurate and patient handler/trainer. If you combine the wilful and prey-driven with their natural running and jumping ability my view is you do need physical strength to manage one if you are not already a skilled handler of Salukis. That said, there are laid back Salukis and very prey-driven greys. No Salukis don't need to be muzzled, but the problem with them and small dogs is not so much biting as them running full tilt into or over them and soccering them. This can cause broken bones and provoke (naturally) aggressive responses from the smaller dog. Edited to add: I think temperament is a problem in Salukis. There are a lot of nervy dogs being bred on with, and there are also some very OTT jump all over you and lick you to death temperaments being bred in an attempt to counteract the nerviness. If you go with a Saluki you will need to shop around for the right dog for your aunt.
  15. All the other dogs, with the exception of an exuberant 11 month old puppy who has no fear and no worries in the world, were extremely calm and well behaved while sitting. I would expect her to take her cue from the other dogs in that respect but she didn't appear to. That said, it wasn't constant - so not one of those bark bark bark bark horror shows that never stops. However it did get worse the longer we sat there, hence my feeling it is frustration based.
  16. This is close to my gut feel as I was pondering it this afternoon - I wondered if what I needed to do was to train more self-control exercises, because I think part of it is short attention span plus barrier frustration because of being on leash and boredom sitting still. Just googled the "Look at that" game and that looks promising.
  17. Well that's the thing, she was fine with the walking "pack" of 6 dogs apart from a little initial friction between her and another bitch. She did settle with that bitch tho' and all of them were sighthounds. So while Howie is a nice Stable Pony I doubt he would make much of a difference if any - she was already with her "peeps" with the other Salukis there and trotted on quite happily with them. It's small dogs she goes off at, she ignored a lab and a large doodle, so I'm wondering if part of it is predatory. To my mind it definitely isn't protective/defensive - I have seen that in her breed and she is quite different. Someone observant noticed she was wagging her tail while doing it. Edit: edited the edit, don't think it's all that relevant.
  18. Bit puzzled and hoping people can throw some ideas at me. One of our dogs, a young bitch, is fine while walking in quite busy and congested areas. OK with other dogs, bicycles, cars, old people, prams, kids etc. She walks along in a quite business-like fashion. However, when we stop - for example, for a coffee - her reactivity escalates and she barks at other dogs, kids and anything else she considers out of the ordinary. I tried handing her off to someone else and the barking escalated to lunging, so while I'm not happy about the barking, at least it appears I have some control. Ordinarily I'd call it territorial if a dog barked while its pack was stationary but I don't think it is territorial. If I had to guess I'd say frustration - but I'm not sure why she wouldn't express the same frustration while moving. Perhaps because on the move life isn't as boring? Any thoughts? How would you handle it? If it is frustration I think dealing with that will be more successful than correcting the barking alone but could use some hints either way.
  19. I think this is very important. Not all breeds can legally do exactly what they were bred to do, but in my breed watching a dog hunt or even lure course tells you a lot about what is between its ears and its construction. I would now want to see a dog lure course at least before using them. I do think there are some problems with generic show dogs but I also think it's important to take the time to watch your breed judging when you are not entered. That way you don't have the influence of your own feelings about where your dogs placed to affect your view of the judging. My kids are all titled so I've been going to a few shows with OH without my dogs and it's really interesting to watch what is rewarded by different judges when I have no emotional attachment to what is going on. I'll be honest tho', it is also sometimes pretty depressing. Our breed has some bad movement problems for a breed that is supposed to be a steady long distance hunter and almost never are those movement problems penalised. If the animal is cream and feathered a multitude of sins will be forgiven because it satisfies "type". Don't get me wrong, Australia has some very lovely cream feathered dogs, but it also has some very unsound ones that would never get away with it if they were a smooth or a parti-colour or a brindle.
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