~*Shell*~

I second this! Great job!

Thanks Luke! My computer has totally died (goodbye 5 month old hard drive - that'll teach me to want 500gigs!) so i'll have to have another go when it's fixed.

I still am clueless! Zero and i are still working on roll over which he totally refuses to do. Some easy other tricks to teach (if you have the shake hands thing down) are shaking with the other hand ("paw"), waving each paw (I use "wave" for his right and "rock on" for his left - i use a waving action for the right and a hand gesture people do at rock concerts for the left - I just thought it was funny when i saw wolfsong's Lestat do it so decided to teach it to Zero like that) and paw targeting - which means you can move onto nose targeting and then to other things like "beg" by raising your hand over the dog's head while it's sitting and giving it the command for beg, and the command for "touch" so the dogs balances. I try and teach things that i can teach several tricks as a lead on from because Zero gets bored easily. I love love love the clicker - makes teaching Zero things so much easier!

Zero and i have been working on hind end awareness work too - he loves learning those things and i think it's great for leadership because he's learning and the way i teach it (he puts his front feet up on a crate and i walk around so he has to face me the whole time - he only moves his back legs and just pivots on his front) he has to look at me the whole time. Just having him pay constant attention to me is great for leadership i think. We're also working on having him take a dumbell from me and to for him to give it back. It's taking a while though because he's definitely not a retriever - but i'm determined to teach it to him anyway!

Not fair Ruth!! I wish i could photoshop out long lines - would make Zero's beach piccies a lot nicer! I feel your pain - if i'm playing with Zero in the backyard then he photographs great but he's not being asked to do anything. When i ask him to sit and stay he gets this look on his face like "whatever" and the second i get down to take a photo on his level he gets up and runs towards me so i get a shot of a blurry looking fluffy monster in mid flight with his tongue hanging out.

This is what i used too - my vet doesn't recommend elizabethan collars. The one we have is a bittering agent for horses and cows - non-toxic for dogs and Zero only licked once before totally stopping!

Lol - i know the groomer i used to take Zero to uses one and doesn't have a problem with it. I use a double k air max but it's one of those ones that would put more stuff on your floor - so totally not what you want! I also don't groom professionally so I have no idea how my dryer would stand up to heavy duty use!

I was always told only to bath my husky every few months or it would ruin his coat - it doesn't if you're careful about what you use. During winter I pretty much don't bath him - only if he gets staining to his coat towards the end of winter (the "old" coat stains easily - aka right before the coat blow) but when he is blowing coat - it's about every 2 weeks for a couple of months just because i know he's uncomfortable during this time (he itches when he's blowing coat) so I bath (to loosen up the dead coat) and then blow dry (to blow the dead coat out) before i give him a massive going over with the furminator. I think it's different for everyone. I've heard of a few show people who bath weekly and don't have a problem (but all use good quality shampoo like aloveen or plush puppy) and then i know others who bath every couple of weeks or monthly without a problem too. My advice is find what works for you and your dog! The same way people all wash their hair at different intervals, smoe dogs might stand up to weekly baths, whereas some might not.

I know Zero does things to satisfy himself. He will work for my praise - but if he doing it because it pleases me? No! He's doing it because it satisfies something he needs. For example - I wave a toy in Zero's face and give him the command to "sit". He's not going to sit because it'll make me happy - he is going to offer the learned behaviour of "sit" to get what he wants, which is the toy!

Nekhbet has just taken the words out of my mouth. Pups are hard work, any new dog is. You seem to have an expectation of the new pup that, i personally think, is a little unfair. Your pup has been taken away from the only place it's ever known, put in a place on it's own with a strange family and a strange dog and then had expectations placed on it that it doesn't understand. Try some training - and get some advice from people who own labradors if you don't know the specific training needs of the breed to see what works for them. The way I've worked with Zero (my sibe) and the way I've worked with Jude (my friend's hyperactive rescue lab) are totally different and I've had to work out what works best for the two different dogs. You have to do the same. Crying and getting upset about it aren't going to make it any better - in fact, they'll make it worse because you'll react out of emotion rather than logic and likely make the wrong training choice.

A friend of mine uses manuka honey on her lab's hot spots. It works really well and since she's also started feeding a mix of raw and orijen, the hot spots are nearly completely gone.

Mmm well is fostering several dogs of varying breeds and behaviours, including a large dog that pulled like a frieght train, as well as my own dog who drove alot of people to give up on him good enough for me to comment on the use of check chains? You may have had many different dogs. I had a dobe that never needed anything but a flat collar - but Danika was very very different from Zero. You seem to be saying that you can train any dog without the use of training tools (i would like to point out that a flat collar is also a training tool) - I'm trying to tell you that I tried and failed with everything but a prong and my training methods haven't changed that much. Zero was a fear aggressive, rank aggressive, dog aggressive, unsocialised, teenaged monster who spent the formative early years of his life being physically abused by his former owners, before being dumped on the streets to wander for 8 weeks - other tools didn't work for him. You said that "there have been some people claiming their dog does such and such, but sorry words over the internet arent going to change my mind" - the same is true for us. You claim that you have had a difficult dog to deal with - I don't believe that you have run into a dog that has needed a prong collar. I had never run into one until i met Zero and it's only since having a dog that needed such a tool that i have run into other dogs that need it because i have been to training days and aggression workshops to help me deal with Zero's problems, where i have seen them. Words over the internet won't change my mind to that fact either. I would happily invite you to come and watch me work with Zero so i can show you what he's like on different collars. The point of a prong collar isn't for me to correct him by popping the leash - it's for him to teach himself by working out the rules. He gets a warning before the correction happens by me saying "arrr". If he pulls after that, yes he does get a correction but what has he learned? Stay close to me and listen when i warn you and you don't give yourself a correction. He does that a few times and he gets the message - pull on a walk and you give yourself a correction. I'm not pulling on his collar, he's doing it to himself because he's pulling on the collar. All he sees is me walking calmly and offering calm advice to him. Put him on a flat collar, same deal. He gets a warning and if he pulls he starts to feel the pressure of the leash then remembers that last time he felt that pressure, he pulled a little more and gave himself a correction for it - lesson learned: Listen to the warning before you start to pull so yon't even start to feel the pressure of the leash because if you take a step a little bit faster than me, you will give yourself a correction.

Totally! They don't shed or dig either - and so submissive! Not a dominant bone in their body! Oh and when they're off chasing something, all you have to do is whisper a recall command and they're back with you in an instant.

I hope you do never have to use one tollersowned - but not all dogs respond to all training tools and I have one of those dogs. Of all the training tools i have used (flat collar, martingale, check chain, gentle leader, normal harness, no-pull harness), the prong was the only one that worked, and i only had to use it for a small amount of time. Now i use it when we go for a walk in a place where neither Zero nor i have been before - because he hasn't been tested in all situations (i'm trying to socialise him to most situations) and i want to know that i have complete control over him should something happen. Have you owned many different breeds of dog from different situations? Zero is an exception in that he was abused by his previous owner (and he is a husky, a notoriously stubborn and independent breed) but because of the good experience i have had with the prong collar - should i ever have another dog that needs it, i wouldn't hesitate to use the prong collar again.

I have a rescue dog that came to me dog aggressive and a chronic leash puller - took him out to see steve at k9 force, was taught how to use a prong collar properly (we failed with a check chain because Zero was abused with one so was totally immune to it) and given a program to work with Zero on. I went to see Steve on july 12th and then back out to see him at the dog aggression workshop he held in sydney in september (about 8 weeks between visits). He's no longer dog aggressive, doesn't pull on leash anymore and he listens to me when i give him a command. He can have a dog lunge at him snarling and he doesn't even react anymore whereas before he would have exploded the second he saw the other dog, let alone when it was close to him. At training (i can now take him to obedience and have him around other dogs with them jumping on his face and licking him without a problem), i'm not allowed to have him on his prong collar - so i use a flat collar or a martingale depending on how much time i have when i'm leaving home. He acts exactly the same on all 3 collars to the point where i now mostly just walk him on his flat collar. As Midol said, purely positive methods don't work with all dogs - Zero just didn't listen to me on a walk. The prong collar turned his focus back to me - it wasn't about correcting, it was about focus. When i had his focus, he was able to be taught whereas before i couldn't hold his focus, no matter what. I could've had the best toy, food, game or anything he would usually go crazy for and if he wanted to pull, he would've done it. Now if he even thinks about it (to chase a possum), all i have to say is "slow" and he knows to listen. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have! If you're in sydney, you can even come and see us in action if you like. ETA: Just read back over the last few posts - i now use positive reinforcement to train, but to use positive reinforcement you have to have the dog's focus to begin with so in a way, i can use it only because of the prong collar, if that makes sense.

You could try calling your local groomers and see which ones actually do hand strip - many groomers around my area (i live in sydney - but used to live in perth, in greenwood too actually ) simply won't hand strip because it is very time consuming. Good luck with your search!

I think it's when he's fully grown - I'm not sure what age this is for an amstaff but your breeder should be able to tell you.

Woah! 500grams is the recommended weight loss rate per week for a human so 600 grams for a dog is massive! My dog has been on a diet since last year - and he's only lost about 8kgs - with about 6-9 more to go (he was 43kgs at his heaviest because of the poor diet his old owners gave him). Our vet said that was a good rate of loss for him because he had no muscle on him when i got him (dumped in a backyard). Zero is a sibe though and some lines have notoriously slow metabolisms!

It's been a long time since it happened because Zero now looks at me when there's a situation he's not familiar with (you missed it on sunday morning but he and mistral didn't get along to start off with - Mist barked, Zero growled but there was no lunging, snapping or biting - couple of quick corrections when the growling started told Zero that it was not a welcome behaviour) but once he knows i don't have a problem with something, he doesn't have a problem with something (you would have seen them together happily later on in the day with mistral trying to edge closer to Zero when they were lying down and Zero happily letting him cuddle up to his side). The times when i haven't been able to control Zero's interactions with dogs are the times when we've been rushed by off leash dogs on the street (quite a long time ago now) and Zero's gone to bite or lunge at them. Fortunately Zero never had the opportunity to bite one and as a result, we went out to see K9Force so now if Zero sees a strange dog on the street, I have him sit down and watch me, or i give him a command to walk in heel, turn in the other direction and walk away. If the other dog follows, I ignore it and keep Zero's attention on me - thankfully we know enough people in my area that there is always somewhere we can go behind a gate or a fence till the other dog goes away but if Zero ignores, the other dog tends not to follow.

With the pen tool, do you have to use a continuous line or can you do it in bits? I'm trying to work out a lot of the tools in CS3 at the moment and without having a great knowledge of the program, I'm finding it a little difficult. Since i suck at using my mouse to draw anything I mostly use my graphics tablet when I'm editing and because the draw space is so small (it's a graphire 4) it's really difficult to be able to trace around one thing without taking the pen off the tablet.

Run free Cindy

Zero does this too - he has stomach problems though (he's allergic to colourings, flavourings and preservatives) and can't eat a lot of things so when he can't eat them, he throws them up. His usually is bile and slobber with a whole lot of grass and water in it. Vet told me not to worry - it's essentially how the body gets rid of the things he can't eat.

Zero has a lot of signs before he even starts to growl. His eyes get a funny look to them (fixation) and then his ears flatten. He is allowed to look, he is allowed to flatten his ears but the first sign of outward aggression is the growl which he is not allowed to do. The eyes and the ears are enough to give another dog a warning before the growl starts - which is why i allow them. The growling, lunging and snarling is not. Luckily Zero knows what he is and isn't allowed to do and usually his growls are only a warning when he doesn't like what another dog is doing to him (generally licking his face or jumping up on him, trying to get him to play with them). I didn't see anything wrong with Penny's behaviour on the weekend - as you said, she is older, in some pain and unless she saw the other dog as a threat (Zero and Lestat weren't about to jump on her so she didn't have a problem with them, even though they were bigger than the other, playful dogs there) she didn't show signs of aggression. In fact, she didn't care when Zero sniffed her, or looked her straight in the face. Zero doesn't like other dogs jumping on him and he doesn't have problems health-wise - totally understandable in my opinion!

I used a prong collar with Zero after going out to see Steve at K9 Force. He's gone from being so dog aggressive he would drag me onto the street if he saw another dog to sitting down next to me, watching me when he sees another dog to see how I'm going to react to it first. I can take him to training and he's actually started playing with other dogs now and he has doggie friends! He still has the occasional growl but can have a dog lunge at him aggressively without a reaction. If i stay calm, he stays calm. Don't give up! The number of times I was depressed about Zero was incredible - now i'm so proud of my boy!

Run free Duke. My deepest sympathies to your family TB - hope your dad recovers from this blow quickly and can remember all the good times.