Jigsaw

There was a Lakeland at the Lake I went to this morning. Nice looking dog, will put them on the list to investigate further at some future date. :D

Poor boxer was like who, what, where?? Poor thing. The agility dog - but what was the handler wearing??

Some dogs are just not naturally into a lot of play, you have to teach them it's ok!! Is this your own dog? Does the dog perform better for the owner? Make sure he's hungry and you could try tethering him and playing with another dog in front of him. Tether the other dog nearby, release him and if he shows any interaction, interest, perky ears, reward. As others have said, keep it really brief. Two food game can also create interest, use chunks of food easily seen by dog. You could try dragging the toy on a line for pup to chase, creating some distance between you and the toy. Some dogs feel a little pressured if you are too close to the toy or food. Make sure you keep your own attitude bright, happy and don't allow any frustration to creep in because the dog will sense it quickly.

I would feed bones separately either each in a crate or one inside, one outside. Bones can be the cause of many disputes as they are a highly prized resource. THIS is a good book with great advice regarding dealing with multiple dogs. The warning growls are probably pretty normal for an adult dealing with a pup, especially if he's in sleep mode! :D

In a boarding kennel situation we always keep entire males in separate yards during exercise sessions. I've seen dogs go over the fences a few times to get into another yard but it's usually to get to the human (for attention) rather than the other dog, you just have to move very fast, just in case. If there's a girl in season at the kennels and entire males there as well, a lot of work goes in to make sure they are not in adjacent runs and all dogs supervised closely.

I really don't like slugs or snails either so I can sympathize. My dog when she was a puppy somehow managed to pick off the shell of a snail. It revolting but fascinating! She came in with a slug on her paw the other night and she was shaking it and I was standing waaaay back because if it got on me you would hear the shrieks!!!

You can speak to the local ranger, they may know the dog and person or speak to the lady herself and say you're worried for her safety. Dog could get into a fight and she could be bitten or knocked over. If she is with Guide Dogs they would definitely want to know if it's one of theirs. If you can pinpoint the area they should be able to check if they have any dogs in the area or not.

Thank you very much Dxenion, that clarifies the matter somewhat. I have rung several disability agencies in NSW today and no one seemed to have any understanding as it's obviously not something that is asked frequently! So any suggestions on how to prove that the dog is an AD and is approved for public access? So if they're asked for proof when in the public they can provide it?

How does one get your owner trained service dog accredited in NSW? I've been contacted by someone who's trained their own dog and previously had no problems with entering premises but was recently refused entry as the dog was not accredited. The owner now wants to accredit their dog so it may accompany them and have full public access. Owner states that providing medical certification is not a problem. I'm now trying to find out for them how you can do this with an owner trained dog in NSW but keep drawing blanks from both phone and internet searches. Can the collected wisdom of DOL assist me???

How could you resist that face! I grew up with blue roan cockers so I have a very soft spot for them.

So glad to see the good news! That is one big surgical line! I hope she's feeling much better very soon.

I had an analogy late last night very similar to Aidan's about MM's and lost it Yep, I'd certainly be going hammer and tongs at the machine trying to get more chocolate! A continuous reinforcement schedule can produce response reduction and if your reward fell below expected levels you may have seen a drop off of the behaviour to a slow extinction curve. When the machine started to reward properly I'm guessing it suddenly became more salient to the dogs and you saw an increase in behaviour. If you were running concurrent schedules of reward it can induce excited behaviour and apparent disregard of the stimulus in some cases.

Hope improvement continues over the weekend and no further surgery needed. Hope you're getting some rest.

Lots of hugs for you both and I hope Mindy has made further improvement this afternoon. Fingers crossed.

It's arrived!!! I've had a quick read through and I'm very impressed with it. The cover design, the printing, layout and of course the recipes!! Thank you to all who've worked so hard to put this together, I know it's been a struggle!! I'm one happy customer! :D :thumbsup:

There's been some experimentation done on the shredded paper and guilty look. http://www.ohmidog.com/tag/patricia-mcconnell/ that's Part One http://dogspies.blogspot.com/2011/04/guilt-part-2-she-greeted-me-showing.html that's Part Two

Gorgeous!

Not super important but just found this name in amongst my mum's stuff on a scrap of paper and just wondered what it referred to! There is a phone number but it's six digits so a bit out of date I'm guessing. I'm not even sure if it's In NSW! It maybe even be someplace I've used in the past where I've boarded a dog! I have no idea! I've been wracking my brain for years trying to remember the prefix of our cocker spaniels (just to see if the line was still going) but I have no idea. So was wondering if this was it. Shrug! I have no idea. Any super sleuths out there to solve my little puzzle? Oh and I googled but no luck!

My dog has worn some of her front incisors by picking up stones off concrete and just about anything else she can pick up. Her canines are flattened slightly also. She's not allowed free access to toys and we don't use tennis balls. I do however use an Orbee ball to tug with but she does hold it well into her mouth generally. Although I think with mine I could blame socks!

Fantastic news!

Is her pain being well controlled? This behaviour could also indicate pain. I would suggest talking to the vet about medication if she's that stressed. Ace does not reduce anxiety and can actually increase some dog's anxiety. You could try a tight fitting tshirt to act like a thunder shirt. Tranquil paste may be something else to consider but talk to the vet first.

Hope the two girls are found safe very soon. Put link on FB.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016815911100181X The effect of frequency and duration of training sessions on acquisition and long-term memory in dogs Purchase Helle Demanta, , , Jan Ladewigb, Thorsten J.S. Balsbya and Torben Dabelsteena a University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Dept. of Biology. Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 København Ø Denmark b University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Life Sciences, Dept. of Large Animal Sciences. Grønnegårdsvej 8, DK-1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark Accepted 17 May 2011. Available online 15 June 2011. Abstract Most domestic dogs are subjected to some kind of obedience training, often on a frequent basis, but the question of how often and for how long a dog should be trained has not been fully investigated. Optimizing the training as much as possible is not only an advantage in the training of working dogs such as guide dogs and police dogs, also the training of family dogs can benefit from this knowledge. We studied the effect of frequency and duration of training sessions on acquisition and on long-term memory. Forty-four laboratory Beagles were divided into 4 groups and trained by means of operant conditioning and shaping to perform a traditional obedience task, each dog having a total of 18 training sessions. The training schedules of the 4 groups differentiated in frequency (1–2 times per week vs. daily) and duration (1 training session vs. 3 training sessions in a row). Acquisition was measured as achieved training level at a certain time. The dogs’ retention of the task was tested four weeks post-acquisition. Results demonstrated that dogs trained 1–2 times per week had significantly better acquisition than daily trained dogs, and that dogs trained only 1 session a day had significantly better acquisition than dogs trained 3 sessions in a row. The interaction between frequency and duration of training sessions was also significant, suggesting that the two affect acquisition differently depending on the combination of these. The combination of weekly training and one session resulted in the highest level of acquisition, whereas the combination of daily training and three sessions in a row resulted in the lowest level of acquisition. Daily training in one session produced similar results as weekly training combined with three sessions in a row. Training schedule did not affect retention of the learned task; all groups had a high level of retention after 4 weeks. The results of the study can be used to optimize training in dogs, which is important since the number of training sessions often is a limiting factor in practical dog training. The results also suggest that, once a task is learned, it is likely to be remembered for a period of at least four weeks after last practice, regardless of frequency and duration of the training sessions. Keywords: Acquisition; Dogs; Massed training; Spaced training; Retention; Long term memory

Drive is the motivating force behind a behaviour - pursuit or avoidance. It can be biological (food, sex) or psychosocial (dominance, filial needs) but few are either or. Physiological arousal (be it fear, anxiety, excitement etc) can influence how strongly motivated an animal can be to pursue their goal (tug, food). :D

I know they're a gun dog :D but a Large Munsterlander? :D