valby

Hi Ruthless. Does Chopper carry on by making all sorts of strange howling,warbling and general alien like noises? Cause Halston does. We have him at work at the moment because he escaped out of the yard. I too am trying to decide whether its general "I want attention" or true separation anxiety. Will keep tuned in to see if you work something out.....

Hi All. Just an update. I can't believe it but I have actually purchased and used a Halti on Halston today. It was getting to the point where I was concerned with taking him out walking because when he wanted he could pull me to the other side of street with ease. We had an incident where there was a little dog up the street off lead and Halston was carrying on and trying to get to it, treats, walking the other way (more like dragging Halston up the street) etc did not work. And despite the fact I have been diligently working on proper loose lead training, using treats and praise which worked well I just did not feel safe walking him. He was not being aggressive but I was not in control. I could stop him but only just and it took all of my strength, he is only 5 months old We went out today with the Halti on and apart from some occasional pawing, which he did with his collar he was good. We even went past a dog and I could get his attention and reward him. He did very well. We shall see how it goes. So we are still learning to walk but the halti i believe gives me the control back while he learns he doesn't need to play with every dog. More walks we go on the better he will be. At least for now we are back out walking by ourselves, so its got to be a start! Still haven't made it to obedience *sigh*. Life is crazy busy but I am determined to get there, it will be fun!

Thanks for the suggestions guys!! I agree that Halston needs to meet some more friendly big dogs. He did just finish puppy preschool which was great with on-lead interaction only. But unfortunately was all dogs smaller than him. Now I probably just need to get my butt to obedience school with him.

<< Blue Fawns are awesome ;) I feed Halston Orijen puppy (just started this) along with sardines, chicken necks, roo mince. He has a sensitive tummy so anything else makes him a smelly bum

My 5 month AMstaff has no problems holding it all night, has done for ages!! In fact you open the door sometimes at 7:30am and he is still sleeping. Its bliss! My 1 year old Lhasa on the other hand often likes to go out at 3am, then 7am Think its a bit dog dependent.

I wonder if there could be some irritation near the head so that it hurts when the lead is being put on?

May I pretty please swap my Staffords for yours? Mine LOVE the water! To the point where I have one that continually sits in my horse troughs in ALL weather and another who gets his head stuck in the tyres of my round yard because he would prefer to drink out of those than from a water bucket! Er yep mine hops in the shower with me and just sits under the stream of water. Then when its time to get out just sits there Oh damn there goes that idea!!

Staffy's love people!! And I mean love So make sure the pup has enough time inside with you--preferably on the couch a staffy's fave spot, other fave spots are next to the heater or under the doona I would see the vet about the pooing because he may not be able to control it-seems odd. I know dogs go through fear phases so you need to be aware of this (and read the K9 calender it helped me heaps with Halston <<). Try having some favourite treats and go to the window, touch it, give a treat if the pup is being relaxed etc. So basically as suggested desensitise. This is a slow process but be aware that the puppy is genuinely scared like you or I are of say spiders so don't push it I have heard some "interesting" things about the dog tech training. I would try and get to some kind of training class. Maybe people on the board could suggest a good one for you ??

My 5 month old American Staffy cries and carries on when he sees other dogs. We have been working on "watch" which does help and he has just finished puppy preschool. The thing that concerns me is a couple of times when we have been walking and Halston has met other dogs he is really scared (i think). For instance the first walk we went on we saw a JRT walking along (by itself) up the walking path and Halston stopped and started peeing as the dog approached. Another time we were on the beach and a large GSD came running at as and snarled. I stood very still, arms folded etc and Halston sat right on my feet right up against my body he didn't move (and I think this is good?). The other day we were walking by the river when two Golden Retrievers were walking by. Halston did his usual whinging and the guy brought the retrievers over (which I wasn't entirely happy about) they were friendly but there was two of them. Halston sat right at my feet again and pee'd he then moved to be in between my legs!! Even as the dogs walked off he stayed in between my legs. Does this mean anything? I don't want to him to become scared of other dogs but just to ignore them. Unfortunately he doesn't have a lot of contact with big dogs. So he only has play time with my smaller dogs. I am hoping to take him to obedience class so he can get used to other dogs being around but not necessarily playing with them. I know AST can be dog aggressive so I want to do the right thing. Any suggestions?

OMG I have a house at West Dapto and have lost the roof tiles three times there!! No way I'm going whilst its so windy, sounds like a warm weather activity to me

Settrlvr-(sorry to hijack) but you could point me to resources on the best way to teach a big dog to "play nice" with the smaller ones. Do you just stop any behaviour that is to boisterous??

Is Dapto training inside?

Hope your puppy is ok PittyLover!! Thank goodness we have lovely vets. I took Halston in on Monday and he got hugs and gave kisses to the vet LOL. He was great about getting an injection as well as gunk stuffed up his nose. I can see why vets would like to treat these guys cause they have a high pain thershold!! Halston's main priority at the time was to get to the bulldog pup in the waiting room

Great to hear it went down well So are you getting out of bed early for training tomorrow Hmm peeks outside at cold windy day...erm.... Actually I am looking into a local school. If I don't hear back from the trainer or the classes don't sound right I will be up at Dapto, but the thought of driving the extra day right now is killing me :p

My three have been eating Orijen for a couple of days now and seem to love it!! And the best bit is no ill side effects from swapping them over. And for an AMstaff with a smelly butt that is a big deal!! Think we will be ordering some bigger bags soon Julie!!

ooh love the idea of the chewy corners!! Plastic containers are the best aren't they...mine love a good empty ice cream container LOL Upside down plastic bowls are fun too, you can zoom them around with your nose!! Meh my AMstaff has been fine (although only 5 months) it was my bloody Lhasa that chewed everything, including about 5 pairs of good shoes, 2 pairs of thongs (not destroyed but de-plugged so you don't realise till you were walking down the street!!), book spines, corner of the lounge. You can't put stuff out of her way either because she is a cat-dog and gets up on the dining table etc. She is getting much better now that she has turned 1.

I have never taken my dogs dinner from them whilst eating. I have done the triangle of temptation with them though. Then they are left to eat in peace, separately. I believe dogs need this so they learn they don't have to fight for food. MY SIL has been feeding her chihuahua next to her staffy and the chi is becoming quite aggressive over food because he believes he needs to fight for it. This TOT seems to work wonders. I can take bones off any of my dogs with no growling or any reactions.

My late Maltese x was the funniest. She did what we call handstand wees. She would literally lift both back legs off the ground and walk along weeing For the males, does it depend on what age they are desexed? i.e. the earlier the less likely to cock their legs.

I told DH about this and a few days ago I heard all this yelling going on. I raced out to tell OH off for yelling at the dog for going inside and he said I wasn't I was yelling at the pee, like you told me. Oh I got a good giggle out of that..very funny indeed!!!

My two young pups are shockers. There favourite thing at the moment is the roots of plants. Yep you guessed it, they go around pulling them out of the garden and proceed to chew on them They have also pulled some interesting root veges out of the veg garden

Hope your doggy is ok. I spent a great night with MJ who had gotten into the bin and pulled out and eaten an avocado skin. She was up pooin' and spewin' all night *ew* She's right as rain today, apart from the grass seed she had to have removed from her foot :cool:

We live in an area full of paralysis ticks and have lost two dogs and a cat to them :cool: We have frontline or advantix on them all the time, with reapplication every fortnight. But no topical is a replacement for checking the dogs over, especially around their head. The vet told us that's where they find the majority and we have always found them on the dogs head (because of the blood supply I think). We clip our long haired dogs right back in summer otherwise its impossible to find any ticks. When you find one make sure you get the entire tick out, especially the head which will be buried. Paralysis ticks are a bluey/grey colour and are usually engorged with the dog's blood--you can tell how long it has been in by how big it is. You need to be careful about washing the dogs when you have applied the topicals too. If you catch it quick enough the dog can be saved and we have had two dogs saved with the antidote. In summer especially if our dogs seem a little off i.e. vomiting, walking a little weird or very lethargic we ring the vet in-case. They usually dunk them straight in a tick bath because wet they are easier to see. I lost my little Maltese x last December to a tick whilst I was overseas. I still feel terrible because I am sure I would have noticed her behaviour. Poor mum was watching her and my other dogs and had her hands too full. I have thought of using more heavy duty insecticides and tick collars but because my dogs are inside dogs and sleep with us I worry about touching them with all that junk on all the time. Frontline is bad enough but doesn't sit on their skin. However when we are going into heavy bush areas in summer I might start putting tick collars on them.

That sounds promising!! Can I ask what the Mega oil is? An omega combo? I have a Lhasa who is a poor itchy girl

Hehe I was looking at the tuna treats!! I'm sure they would love it. They go psycho for sardines, but I am not (repeat am not) using sardines as treats :D How does Orijen do with dogs that have sensitive tummies and skin? I am thinking pretty well considering the ingredients.

I've been doing alot of watch with my AmStaff. It seems to work well. He is very responsive to the treats. As soon as I see another dog approaching I ask Halston to watch and he sits and watches me (well the food held near my eyes). I keep his attention as long as I can, sometimes this means giving him the treat and asking for another watch, until the dog/person/thing has passed. I'm trying to teach him that he doesn't get to stop and play with every dog going past.