Diva

If you are feeling uncertain as to how to handle this you really do need to get professional help, I'm not sure anyone on-line can give safe advice on dealing with aggression sight unseen. Did Rusty come from a rescue organisation? If so also call them for advice asap. One thing that leapt out at me from your post is that one of incidents happened in the kitchen - if there is a problem between the two dogs the presence of food will only add to the tension.

Mine won't eat anything too cold, even in summer they want it room temp. I wish they would it would be much more convenient. You could try adding some sardines, or warming it up, or sprinkling a little parmesan or dried liver flakes on the top just until she gets her nromal attitude to food back. I'd also agreed with adding some edible bones, for balance.

Actually you're really lucky if that works! Dogs don't always walk evenly on all their toes and often still need their nails clipping even if you walk them daily on concrete! Also depends how soft their nails are and I'm guessing that your dogs don't have dew claws then? :rolleyes: Also depends on the shape of the foot I think, in my experience walking on hard surfaces works better for keeping nails down on 'cat' feet (eg round and tight), I've never had to clip those (no dew claws). For the 'hare' shaped feet though walking makes little difference. I'm going to have to get a dremel to try I think, I have a hard time finding clippers that are strong enough and that my hands are strong enough to operate. Thanks for old stocking tip Crisovar, I was worried about the hair!

That sounds like a long enough run for that age if he gets it every morning, maybe add in a little training to tire his mind as well as his body. Shame he doesn't like the Kong. I wasn't quite sure what you meant with running after it, with mine it's just something they lay down and work at. Is he getting a meal in the morning? If not I'd try that as well, a full tummy can be settling and at that age I'd be giving at least 2 meals still (but I don't know about his breed type). Is he OK with being left at other times, or is it just when he's left all day that he gets upset? You may need to do some specific 'home alone' training if he is generally unhappy at being separated from you. I assume there is no chance soemone can get home to him in the day at all, he's still a baby really and it must seem like a long day to him. Does he have toys in the yard?

No claims to be an expert on this stuff but I think Baifra's got the right idea. You can also -make leaving very boring, don't fuss or say goodbye - leave a radio on low for company - stuff one of those Kong toys with yummy dog treats/cheese etc and leave it with him as a distraction. I'd do these as well as the morning run though, not instead of

I'd say just build up the distance slowly, to me it doesn't really matter what distance he is doing at this point, it matters that he is solid and comfortable with the exercise. The worst thing you can do is rush it and push him to break, lots of people seem to want to charge ahead in leaps and bounds and end up having to go back and repair the stays later. I think it's best taught as an errorless exercise if you can.

Diva - assuming you know, or if you don't, that you were taught, how to use the e-collar utilising the principals of negative reinforcement at low stim level, is there a particular reason why you would prefer to avoid the use of an e-collar? Genuine question. :D Because I'm not sure I could apply those principles without straying into P+. I understand how it's supposed to be applied as R-, but not sure that my very touch sensitive primary breed would experience it as the theory suggests they should. I'm not totally against P+ either, but only when the consequences of uninterrupted behaviour truly warrant. Perhaps if I had a less physically sensitive breed I'd have formed a different view. I'd be reluctant to recommend an e-collar to others because I don't trust most people's instinct to punish. P+ is so much the default reaction for many when faced with a difficult behaviour problem that I'd want to be very sure of the supervision they'd get in using it, or that they were really, really committed to using it right, or that the alternatives for the dog were dire - or probably all three. I don't rule it out of court, but I'd prefer to avoid.

Personally Cosmolo, I'd prefer not to use either. I think both have their uses but neither are ideal for your average pet owner and both have considerable potential for misuse. Ditto here. I'd use an e-collar for a stock chasing dog if getting the behaviour under control was essential to the dog's future. But I'd prefer to avoid both really.

Ouch, if it was the result of a game of bitey-face your other dog seriously needs a lecture on which end is the face. I'm glad she's better

I hope she was a little dog for the sake of your friends. Yeah she was little - for a Borzoi

One of mine (gone to the bridge now) was fascinated by perfumes and sweet scents. If a visiting friend had mousse in their hair or hairspray it could be quite embarrassing, she'd almost climb onto their head to get a good sniffing in.

Ah well, she'll grow up and then I'll probably miss the excitement, LOL. We've had a few small breakthroughs this week so I'm feeling a bit more optimistic. I just wish I had that much energy.

(i) what breed is your dog - Borzoi (ii) was the dog obtained as a puppy or adult - older puppy (iii) if obtained as an adult, did the dog have any prior training (eg., ex-show dog) - no, had spent much of her life with her leg in a splint, no training (iv) how was your dog taught the hold/retrieve? clicker training, back-chained (v) have you previously trained other dogs to retrieve - if you have, did you find this dog learnt faster than you previous dog? Yes I have, about the same to get to the point of reliability, although the Borzoi started off slower.

This has been a great thread for me as I have an eight month old who is also an energiser bunny, I swear she's more trying than my last two puppies combined. I have to make very interaction a training opportunity - as in detach any emotional response and work on her behaviour as if she were someone else's dog. Otherwise my frustration level rises to the point we aren't communicating anymore, because she isn't responding as quickly as all my previous dogs have responded and it drives me nuts - she's very sweet and loving, but hypes herself up to the point she has zero manners. None of the anxiety or vocalisation behaviours though, so I guess I have some blessings to count, but I'm soo keen for her to grow up.

No it isn't - that's a bit of a fallacy. Raw meat has a high moisture content, the figure of around 20% protein quoted sounds about right, less for a BARF style diet with veges etc. Gald you've got it sorted RB

No room for embarrassment while house training, or in any dog training really, you just have to do what it takes even when it looks downright daft. Keep up the good work, consistency and repitition really is the key and she will get there, she really will! It won't be every 20 minutes for too long.

All I would think, it's a general principle of insurance. Otherwise people would only join up once their dogs were already ill and they'd go broke. I hope it's minor.

I've found dog parks great but I hook up with a set of people that all arrange to come at roughly the same time on a regular basis, the numbers vary esp from weekends to weekdays but it's a reliable, informal group - new people are invited to join but are pulled up if their dogs are too rough. I'm glad the Dally's owner is facing up to her responsibilities, many don't. For rehab I'd suggest keeping socialisation to dogs you and she are familiar with and know are safe, then branching out with caution - but a key thing is not to act stressed when meeting other dogs, your dog will bounce back much more quickly if you handle it with confidence. Even if you have to fake the confidence at first!

Wolfsong, several DOLers are trainers at CDC, me included. I hope to run into you there. :D

Just a thought about (1), I've used hessian for this before, for the problem of a neighbour's dog being stimulated by seeing mine and barking through the paling fence. It's cheap by the metre from the hardware place and easy to put up.

So sorry that you and Harley are going through this. I lost a dog to this disease some years ago and it broke my heart. Best wishes

I'd definitely recommend Belconnen or CDC, both are v. good clubs. RSPCA is expensive, if the cost of petrol is an issue you'd not want to be even considering the RSPCA fees. I'd only suggest the private trainer route if you had partiuclar issues you needed one-on-one help with, the clubs are the cheapest and best for normal stuff.

Can I ask what breed? I've heard of it being neurologically-based in some lines of particular breeds, and of it being caused by traumatic brain injury in individual dogs of any breed. (I'm talking about the obsessive tail chasers, not the occassional game for puppy fun or out of boredom.) I have also heard some trainers claim they can use operant conditioning to diminish the behaviour even if it has a neuro basis but I'd be doubtful, I think it's a really hard one. So sorry your pup is showing signs of it. I agree with settrlvr that a chiro trip is an easy first check, let's hope that is all it is.

I use cheese all the time as a training treat, it's high value to my dogs and has caused no problems at all. Why is it supposed to be bad, the fat content? I have heard that it can cause constitpation, but it might have to be a lot of cheese as I've never seen that side effect. Apple is eaten by one of mine and another likes strawberries, but they have been self-harvested, I don't feed it to them.

A BARF diet isn't particularly high in protein I don't think - the commercial patties are around 10-13%, because natural moisture levels in real meat means moisture is about 70% of a BARF mix (which is a good thing). Dry weight the protein level would be maybe 30-35%, but as it's not dry fed it's not a very relevant measure. I don't know if black poo indicates a high protein diet, but black poo certainly is known as a sign of intestinal bleeding, high in the digestive tract. I'm not suggesting it is for your dogs but I'd hate someone else to read this and not realise black poo is often a very good reason for a trip to the vet.