SkySoaringMagpie

Woops. My turn to apologise, I've been arguing with MonElite and totally missed this post from you which my OH pointed out to me just now. If I'd known this was here I would have dropped it. OK, I'm off to edit

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MonElite: Some dogs have to be trained to chase the lure and some have to be trained to chase without interfering with other dogs they are running with. You are also competing with other dogs and, while it varies depending on the ruling body, you have to achieve certain pointscores and placements including firsts (unlike a fun day) so speed and accuracy are also trained. The run is judged by a judge looking for a range of attributes. As an example, here is an explanation from the American Sighthound Field Association, from the link you can also read their rule book. http://www.asfa.org/coursing.htm

None whatsoever Phillipa. It certainly shouldn't cost more than an ordinary vaccination though. It will if you are getting titres for all 3 - Distemper, parvo and hep. The hep has to go to Scotland. While hep is extremely low risk, we get it done for paperwork completeness in case we have to have an argument with anyone about the dogs' coverage. Phillipa we get ours done at Hall, I can't recall how much but can PM you tonight if you like.

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Search on fox terrier obedience on You Tube gives a number of hits including this: Search on fox terrier agility on You Tube also gives a number of hits including this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csYrd0WFfz8 OK, better stop looking at dog videos, I now have the whole pack clustered around my computer. :rolleyes: If there is a breed out there reknowned for being too hard to train, you can bet someone out there who likes a challenge is working with them. There is an article in the current Sighthound Magazine about agility with Afghans. There is a discussion on an international Saluki list at the moment about Salukis who do flyball, something even I had dismissed. If you love the breed, you find a way.

The Americans and Europeans are much more serious than we are - apart from QLD the rest of lure coursing in Oz is "fun day" lure coursing. If you are serious about coursing or straight track racing in a country that titles and has leaderboards in these sports you train like you do in any other dog sport. That includes getting dogs who don't immediately latch on to the idea to course. You can subscribe to lure coursing groups if you are interested in their methods. As for plastic bags, my girl Lucy was an instant success at fun day lure coursing, shot after the bag like a rocket on her first go. She ignores the plastic bag stash in the laundry. If it ain't moving, she's not interested.

I'm so sorry to hear this Bellatrix. It's just a terrible way to lose them, so shocking and so fast. You have some difficult days ahead, but eventually I hope you can find comfort in your memories of her.

If a dog has been biting it should be referred for private consult, not kept in the class. The trainer should not get into a battle of wills with it in front of a group of green pet people because the trainer would be modelling methods that the pet people should not be trying at home without supervision. Pet dog classes are to prevent serious problems and deal with minor problems that can be handled without interfering with the appropriate running of a class. They are not designed for dealing with serious problems or with techniques that require concentrated one-on-one analysis and tuition. As long as the OP doesn't name the trainer in public and it can't be deduced from her public posting by a prospective student I don't see the problem. Is there only one correction based business/club in Darwin? If so, then I'll concede you have a point for those already in the know, but that also makes it hard for people who live in small centres to reality check the options available to them. Your casual web browser looking to attend a class is not going to put two and two together to ID the trainer tho'. And people on DOL PM information about doggie services they think are substandard all the time.

It's not common for a beginner's class - you should expect better and don't feel bad about looking out for your dog's best interests. It is not soft, it actually requires a fair bit of courage for a newer person to walk away from a self-styled expert who is suggesting something the newer person feels is wrong for their dog. Good on you, it sounds like complete overkill for training a Pap from what you've described. Also an instructor doing a demo with a class dog in a beginner's pet obedience class should be reasonably confident that they can quickly obtain the required behaviour with techniques that a 10 year old girl can use at home.

EDIT: I misread the OP, read "taking the class" as teaching the class. As you were!

A Jack and a GSD are very different in size. I can see how a Jack getting an untrimmed frame could end up having problems, but if your GSD hasn't shown any symptoms to date I'm sure it's fine. We feed frames to our guys regularly - I hack off the purely fatty bits if there are any - and we have had no issues.

I have done it (two males from the same litter) and don't intend to do it again if I can avoid it. It is not the best way to go. It is HARD work as others have said, and there are some extra risks when you do it that way. It's all mostly manageable if you are experienced, but one of the things that creates the heavy workload is giving each puppy the space to become a fully rounded individual with a separate relationship with you. You will need to do separate obedience classes, separate socialisation etc. The only work you can really double up on is toilet training. Also, older well socialised dogs are useful when raising puppies as they teach them the rules of dog world. At least we had two older dogs, but they clearly found dealing with the boys tiresome because they were a deadly duo! If I were you I would get one puppy from this litter, and wait 12 to 18 months for the next puppy. Some breeders I know have a protocol of two years between homing puppies to the same home for the reasons people have set out in this thread.

Only dogs to be off-leash are those working at the time. Something to bear in mind is that there is usually more than one ring working at a time, and some dogs do make a break for it and zoom out of the ring and not all handlers can get them back right away. Just because it's an obedience trial, doesn't mean all the dogs are completely compliant. Like most things in life it's not totally risk free but if you have Gizmo in a crate when he's not working you should be fine. Another thing to bear in mind re "getting in your dog's face" is proofing stays. You can't pick what dog you line up next to, so as much as you might like to put your dog next to a sensible older bitch with good manners, he may have to hold a stay near a young entire male Dobe projecting "I am GOD!" at him. Edited to fix html and spellinks :cool:

No group of people is perfect. The canine controls do not have the regulatory teeth or financial resources to take on everyone. Most people who are active in dog world can (but won't, for obvious reasons) name people who have been left alone. Either because the canine controls haven't wanted to risk a protracted legal battle or have had their hands tied by federal legislation on restraint of trade. People holding prefixes have been convicted of animal cruelty as well. Not in anywhere near the same numbers as people not holding them but it's not unheard of, and those people are usually the ones who had puppies available for the casual pet shopper. Canine controls do deal with the easy to moderately difficult matters, and do suspend and fine. The current system is far better than no system at all, and I would also recommend going to a registered breeder and counsel against a BYBer or PFer. It's important that people understand that a prefix is not a guarantee tho', in the same way that a law degree or a real estate agent's license is not a guarantee that someone will do the right thing. I'd only want someone with a recognised law degree to represent me in court, but if I'm looking for a lawyer, that degree is a base requirement from which I'll progress to further selection based on performance and recommendations. The licence to practice is not all I need to know. People should do the same kind of research before selecting a breeder that they would before selecting any other person who can have a big impact on their quality of life (dentist, accountant, doc etc). Here's an article that can be given to people, sure it's not perfect, but it's a start: http://www.dogsact.org.au/Activities/Finding_responsible.htm

Cool, I was just going to give Seita's advice the big When we've put dogs in the laundry I've always made sure the hoses and electrical cords are out of reach but your girl sounds pretty well behaved apart from the pooing. Only thing I'd say in a "planning ahead" kind of way is that if you're planning to use cloth nappies you might want to crate train instead. Dog + nappy bucket =

;) :p

I would treat the pooing on the floor as a remedial house training issue before getting too caught up in dominance theorising. We have had the odd poo on the floor, and apart from illness it's always been because one of us has overlooked the routine of kicking them all out to go to the toilet before we retire for the night. Were you doing this? Another option is to take a walk with her in the evening, that usually empties them out. if you can't do that because there are too many loose dogs or mozzies or whatnot around, see what else you can do - many people train their dogs to go on cue. I think it's really good that you are making changes before the baby arrives, but territory marking often arises from insecurity. You might have made things a bit harder for yourself by putting her outside where she is getting bitten. More stress = more likelihood of inappropriate elimination. Go back to toilet training 101 - you and the dog might need some tropical strength aeroguard while you do!

stormie While I think the odds are much better with registered breeders, I agree with Diva and understood her to be saying there were no guarantees. We don't help registered breeders if we don't give people the tools to find a good one and avoid the bad. I'm sure we all know at least one person who has a prefix who we would not send a pet buyer to.

I don't think you've fully appreciated what you are saying in much of this discussion. I think it's laudable that you are looking to expand your experience, but one of the most useful things you could do is to stop judging and start considering other people's experience with a bit more respect.

Agree with Nekhbet. Where do you live? The DOLers on this forum should be able to give you a name to try. Is there a Labrador health study you can consult? If not in Australia then in the US? Your breeder might know of a "heart guru" in the breed who can put you in touch with other people dealing with the problem. If not, I would Google for it.

Definitely get the thyroid test done. If it's borderline, ask the vet about supplementation anyway. Also, is it possible that someone else could be feeding him? I agree that for cutting back weight, a proprietary diet food can be useful. We had success with Royal Canin's Obesity formula, and then switched to their Weight and Osteo formula for maintenance. You can still feed raw bones for teeth, but we stuck to beef bones and chicken frames. With the beef we scraped out the marrow and with the chicken got rid of anything obviously fatty before handing them over.

Has someone suggested otherwise?

Not true. If you have power, you have responsibility - that's the ethical angle.