dee lee

Personally, I started using it to keep my dog's skin from drying out. She is a staffy x and staffies are known for having problem skin. She hasnt had a hot spot all year- so something is working . Her fur is lovely and shiny too.

OOPS! Just got pointed in this direction! The food I get is diced roo and lamb and the packaging says it has "minimal preservative 220 (I think) to preserve freshness". I think thats sulphates isnt it? Hmm. Really, it cant hurt to try something without it and see how it goes. Worst case scenario she stays the same. With the dry food I only give to her when we have no cooked rice lying around. Its not a large part of her diet, mostly just so the meat doesnt stick to the bottom of her kong . Good to know about the fishoil. I had no idea about the vitamin E.

This is the only method that has worked for my dog and I had been working on it for over a year. Stopping and starting made no impact on my dog, it just made the walks longer I got a trainer who showed me how to get her to heel and to correct her at the right time whilst spinning on my foot to turn away from her. (Jen has explained it above better than I can). For the first time we actually can walk nonstop. I do recommend a trainer because not all methods work on all dogs and a trainer has a breadth of experience to help you. ( ;) Listen to me, it took AAAAGES for me to get one. Silly, now I look back.) Good luck.

Do you think so? I find I am spoilt for choice, I have found it hard to make my mind up- All cloth, cloth with chain, leather with chain, triangle slip chain, pull trhough slip chain, cheap, premium, online, in shop... I just ordered one from my trainer- a nice, strong, leather, triangle chain one. As for the question of the difference between limited slip and martingale- after searching through many options the only difference Ive noticed is that some makers use limited slip to mean it works like a check chain but as a leather part where the the chain stops, therefore a limit to the slip. the martingale always seems to have a triangle chain. But Ive seen collars called limited slip that have the triangle chain.

Thanks for clarifying!

Just interested Nekhbet, what do you mean by this?

I have the same problem with my dog and am working hard in the hopes of getting to where you are. My method, as recommended by my trainer (and I understand the concept) is the looselead one- but in the past I, like you, have found that keeping her on a tight lead close to me stops the aggression. I put it down to an inability to accompany her aggression with physical body language (if that makes sense?). For me I found it to be not a long term solution as I want my dog not to react at all when we are on a relaxing walk. Also its hard to do whilst using a prong. Bloody DA dogs...

She is young too. Keep up the obedience though and try and work on getting her focus on you. My dog is very exciteable too. I try to practice lots of exposure, on leash, to stimulating environments where we will about turn if she acts out. The idea is that eventually she will be less reactive as she realises that it means she is taken away from the fun. It has been a long road but I am finding that my hard work doing this is beginning to pay off.

IMO that's a furphy. I am sure some will disagree though. Its just part of the "new regime"- which is working brilliantly, so I am sold on the pack structure theory. It doesn't hurt to do make her wait, and I do think that the actually feeding rather than leaving the kongs has made an impact. She still gets bones etc when we go out for a couple of hours, but now she understands I have the power over when she gets food.

I feed my dog after I eat brekkie and dinner. I used to only give her her food in kongs, bones etc but am trying to emphasise pack structure so make it a big deal that she eats after me. Hmm, never thought about only feeding once a day. Is it supposed to be better?

Wow! that describes my dog's reaction (to many things as well as mouthing). I am so ignorant about drive- foolish since I have a high prey drive dog! If only I knew enough to use her drive for good instead of evil... Periau, I found the waterspray worked well on my girl when she was a pup. All I have to do is hold up a water bottle now and she behaves! I particularly used it for jumping on visitors, but have done it for mouthing (which she no longer does). Worked with the hose too when she was barking at the dog next door at one point. And she is in no way frightened of me- she just understands she will get a correction from it.

I know, it drives me nuts!! I especially hate the accompanying "my dog is friendly" comment made with a smile- which disappears very quickly when I say "my dog isnt!" I concentrate on trying to make my dog non reactive these days and the idiots who want their dog to sniff every other dogs bum make this very hard. They'd be the first ones to complain if my dog bit theirs. It is a good idea to avoid dog parks- thats where my dog developed her problems- they are filled with too many people who have no idea about dog behaviour and have little control over their dogs. Pups can also grow up to challenge the alpha dog which will lead to fights. Do a search on prior posts about multiple dog households, I recall some helpful tips such as having age differences and opposite sexes or something like that. Personally Ive only had one dog at a time so I have no real advice on that. I think its great that you are sensible enough to be aware that your dog is potentially aggressive and to ask for help. Good on you!

Just read Kavik's post- and want to add that its usual for dogs to tolerate puppies more but my dog is consistently aggressive towards all puppies so dont rely on that. Behaviouralists are expensive but so are vets bills from bitten dogs. Its too much of a risk- and you need to accept your dog in all probability WILL bite another if you dont get on top of this.

Poodlefan is right. Get your dog seen to by a behaviouralist sooner rather than later. Its a bugger having a dog aggressive dog (I know, I have one *sigh*) you have to be hyper-vigilant especially since it may not be ALL dogs that trigger it and it can be hard to predict at times. Working hard on your dog's obedience and focus on you will be very important too. Until you do get someone around you should keep your dog on leash. Good luck.

I feel your pain!! I have had an ongoing problem with my dog's looselead walking. I have tried all the stop start methods, treats, harnesses etc and nothing worked. I use a private trainer (who is briliant), I have emphasised pack leadership, and still she is fantastic at home but once out the door is beserk. Like Shell, the only thing that I have found to work is a prong. She is a staffy x, HIGHLY excitable, prey driven and with a very high pain threshold so that even the sporn harness I was using she became numb to. The prong demands focus. But I dont think you will need one. Having a lab pup, from what I understand about the breed, you will find success with basic training. I suggest you get a private trainer in and get some tips, there is probably just some tiny thing you have been doing that is sending mixed signals. I knowthis ws the case with me. The biggest thing I have learnt from my trainer is that the dog is not doing these things to be contrary, just because our expectations are not being made clear. Once you learn how to communicate this it gets much better. Good luck!!

Dougal, sounds like its just bad luck.. i hope your dog recovers from the experience. I'm glad they are paying the bill- if nothing else you have been part of waking them up to keeping their dog on leash. Its a bugger having a dog aggressive dog, you really have to be super vigilant- even ON leash. I hope their behaviourist teaches them well. :nahnah:

IMO two dogs attacking yours doesn't sound like your dog is a target. I know of dogs who get rushed nearly every time they go to a park. Its not your dog is the other owners- don't be discouraged . My suggestion would be to monitor all dogs around yours and if something doesn't seem right, get way before the trouble starts. Don't trust any dog- or other owner. Some people will tell you that their dog is just trying to be friendly, but if it doesn't feel right trust your instincts and your dog's body language and leave or insist the owner leashes their dog. OT, but I cannot believe someone would let their rescue dog with known "issues" loose in an offlead park! I have one of those kinds of dogs and I have accepted that she will never be trustworthy offlead so she never is. It only took some aggressive body language and a few overly rough rumbles for me to decide this. Its unbelievable that these people took such a risk. Did they pay your vet bills?

Then please ..... do something about it. Write to your MP at the very least (refer my previous post/s). Complacency is what the Government and the orgs who defame this tool rely on. That, and on a lot of words from people, but no action. Will do. Keep on at them Erny!!

You need to come to "my" club at Peakhurst. Its great fun. Saturdays 3 pm I would love to- had some other recommendations for it too!! Still have to wrangle the family to manage it. THEY are even more uncooperative than the dog!! Sibes untrainable? Try my family :p

I am just so horrified at the possibility that this amazing tool that I have just started using may become illegal. Honestly, if I had not been given a prong to try my dog on I may have had to consider my options with her were all over- I simply could not feel confident in controlling her. She has responded frighteningly well on it. As well as being able to walk her without ANY attempt to pull, her obedience training with it has been FLAWLESS- I can throw her favourite ball with her on stay and she will not flinch. I have in both cases had to correct her very minimally. Initially I found it it a bit scary, but quickly got over that when I realised that she was hyper responsive and I did not need to correct her anywhere near as much as I have had to on any other tool. The sporn harness I used was pretty good but I still did not have her complete focus and was correcting her on it A LOT. This is just my experience so far.

Squeak, where do you go to obedience? It sounds awesome. I may not have a sibe but I definitely need a supportive club.

Yes easy dogs are a lil boring. *sigh* I want an easy dog! :D How does one find one of those?

K9 force's website has a whole article on them with pic- and Steve sells them too. I'm about to buy one from him!!

Ok, Luke W, I get that. I'm just trying to point out to you though that Ruthless has a lot of experience with dogs (she has 3 adult staffies and a husky), I think perhaps you are being a little hard on her. Not all dogs are easily trained- I know I have a difficult one too, and I all too well understand the tendency of certain dogs to seem to give you the finger, so to speak. It is obviously a pack structure issue with the weeing, but could be many things with the recall.

This technique is designed to excite the dog into coming to you. As opposed to chasing the dog when it doesn't come which teaches it that its fun to run away from you. Every trainer I have spoken to advocates this. I think you are assuming Ruthless is a novice and a bit clueless- which she most definitely is not.