jacqui835

Yes they say it's supposed to be good for your health... This didn't happen while walking, it actually happened whilst swimming at the beach. I called him to me, he came, and his paw/claws got the inside of my calf like behind my knee as he was doing doggy paddle - totally unintentional. I had the most disgusting lumpy bruise that took weeks to heal completely, and family and friends kept saying I needed to go to a doctor because they thought there must be something wrong with me to have a bruise that big. It hurt so much at the time though, I had about 30 seconds of just being paralysed by pain.

You are definitely not the only one. For my new job I have to be sent to Sydney for training for a whole week. I don't know how I'm going to cope.

yes, I can't help it, and he likes it lol. I think it's weird, and I try not to do it in public, it happens automatically before I can stop it.

Ugh me too and I'm 3 days into a new job. I wanted him to save the first Sam

Where did anyone mention your dog was dangerous? I personally dont agree with any dog putting part of a person in their mouth. I have seen it go wrong too many times. If you want to do it, that is your perogative I just personally will not condone it as the way to go with all pups. I too own working breed dogs, we play tug but they will never go for my hands because I worked on bite targeting. I can also put my hands in their mouths, down their throats at times and they will sit there happily with slack jaws. Did I say you had to be mean or cruel? No. Firm but fair - you hurt me, I show you it's an unwanted and unpleasant thing to do. I dont like walking around with arms covered in scratches and bruises. Trust me when a dog bites another too hard you can see it turn around and give it the telling off of a lifetime, even pups do. Saying that the times my dogs have been in extreme pain they have not lashed out at me or mouthed me. I get the vocalisation and the normal range of behaviours but I dont worry about a lash out, and neither will the veterinarian/chiro - when you have 50+ kg of muscled male at the end of the leash it's a comfort for all. The working Mal pups I had here I redirected onto toys if they started mouthing me as I didnt want to kill the workability, but I still didnt allow teeth on me (because they're bloody sharp and they bloody hurt a lot!) They were taught toys and sleeves were a heck of a lot better then putting teeth to human skin. I know some people that have encouraged mouthing in working dogs, and to walk around with your arms covered in bruises and cuts to me is rediculous. For the bolded bit ... so your dog has never ever ever mouthed that little bit too hard, or taken a bite of your hand instead of the toy in over excitement? In this thread, people listed several factors - breed, gender, whether entire or not etc as specifics typically associated with dogs involved in attacks. Misuse of statistics and what not. My dog doesn't mouth me or anyone excessively, but I suppose it's a personal thing for how much you're willing to tolerate. I figure, he has no hands, if he wants to interact with something, he only has his mouth. I was thinking about it, and it's really not something he does often, but I actually posted a photo here a while ago of him mouthing me And well I just have no problem with this sort of thing... My dog has never ever hurt me, any other human or animal with his teeth. That's not true to be fair, he did when he was 8-9 weeks old, we had plenty of scratches then but we were extremely firm with his training and showed him it was ineffective (by not drawing back or doing anything else exciting) and worse, resulted in him being ignored. He plays with a kitten and mouths him too, the kitten likes it lol. He can be very excited, pupils fully dilated, leaping off the ground as we swing the toy around, in the middle of a 2+ min game of tug of war, if I say drop, he drops it instantly and sits. This is what we train for, I would not and have never tolerated anything else. I check his teeth thoroughly every day, I stuff worming tablets down his throat and remove bits of fluff from his toys from half way down his throat, I pounce on him when he's not looking and hug him. He is unphased, he asks questions first then bites. I just think you can know your dog. Most of these attacks labeled as random annoy us so much because the owners are always like, oh they've done that before but I thought they'd be fine now etc. Or they just don't spend enough time with their dogs and have no idea what's going on so everything the dog does is pretty random to them. And then there's disease and mental illness. To be honest, I don't think there's a whole lot more to it. If I see a dog at the park or on the street (and I take my dog everywhere with me, so he's out a lot), I quickly check the owner. If they have the dog under control, walking at their side, they don't look phased etc and they're not freaking out at the sight of my dog, well I keep my eye on the other dog but I find you can almost always predict what the dog will be like from the owner.

I was kind of offended when I read a lot of the material in this thread. I own a large, high prey drive, entire male doberman. I hate the thought that people automatically assume he's more likely to be dangerous than other breeds, and cop it all the time when people meet him for the first time. I did not expect to get that here though. As for the, you should train a dog to find biting (or mouthing humans) unpleasant, that sounds ridiculous to me. Typically I really respect what a lot of the behaviouralists have to say on these threads and try to apply what I can. But I would like to know what information they have to support the crazy notion that a mouthy dog (who doesn't have unpleasant associations towards having humans in their mouths) is a dog less likely to bite under the wrong circumstances. What about all of the retrievers who are by nature mouthy? Or is that different and ok.. My dog has a huge mouth, huge teeth and can destroy huge bones and kong toys very quickly. He also often mouths me and my partner and a kitten. None of us have a single mark on us, and I have not had to correct him for biting too hard since he was about 10 weeks old. I play tug of war with this dog, get him riled up until his pupils take up his whole eye and yet I can happily and without any fear stick my hand in his mouth at any time. It's called bite inhibition, and it's something dogs understand. When a dog decides to bite a human, decides to inflict damage to another creature with their mouth, in my mind at least this is a dog that is at a point where previous unpleasant experiences won't stop it from doing so. This is a desperate animal. Why do dogs 'randomly' attack? These are dogs that don't have another way to communicate, who feel that their other warnings were ignored, and who probably didn't know how to express discomfort to a different species in the first place from lack of a relationship with humans. Frustrated, mentally unstable, too much energy and no known outlets. Bad habits, fears, all the rest of it. But you can know your dog, and your dog can know you. This is why I buy puppies from good breeders so you don't have worry as much about that sort of thing. But please don't spread anymore propagnada. Statistically certain factors may make a dog more likely to be involved in an attack, but think about the other factors involved - who wants those breeds normally and who doesn't desex their dog.

I would highly recommend it, it's amazingly useful for both draining energy and also making the dog feel like they have a job and are contributing. I use mine a couple of times a week. If we're going on a walk and it's more about the walk rather than playing with other dogs, I make him carry his backpack with everything in it - saves me carrying anything. (so water, snacks, phones etc). Also if I need a few things from down the road, I take the dog and get him to help carry the groceries home. I hate carrying stuff and he doesn't seem to notice so works out well lol

Would have thought the same thing...

My two US field labradors look horrendous? What is your experience observing or handling US field labradors, in any countries field bred lab? My experience is seeing countless online pictures of what is known as a "field bred labrador" in America. Some examples here. http://labtails.blogspot.com/ I don't need to handle them to know that they don't fit the breed standard. They probably retreive and work like demons, however they don't fit the breed standard and to someone who has spent some time observing and striving for a breed standard they look terrible. Whether your dogs fit the breed standard or not is not my concern. If you'd like an opinion on how they look then your local show will have a judge ready and willing to critique them. I have a labrador here who is from well known working lines in Australia. He is my heart dog, he has a wonderful working drive and would retrieve until his legs gave out. But he's a terrible example of a labrador and it took me 6 months of showing him (my first labrador) before I realised just how bad his conformation was. I still love him and he's a great old man to have around the place. Wow they look totally different from what I expected. I have seen maybe 2 beautiful thin sleek and fit looking labs in my life, and I always just assumed the working ones would look like them. These ones in the link look fat to me lol.

Thanks heaps, I ran a search before I started but didn't find anything. I'll have a read through that now.

Thanks, I will try and get him some of those today. Would anyone recommend using some sort of brush and toothpaste to clean their teeth? And is there anything I can do about the existing plaque/tartar?

Completely agree. Additionally, aside from health and hygiene reasons, dogs with upright ears can hear better than dogs with eternally floppy ears, as the ears are meant to be mobile and able to finely point the direction from which a sound originates. We selectively bred for cuteness and forced most dogs today to live with floppy ears, constantly bashing against the sides of their heads and getting itchy. I've had dogs with floppy ears and dogs with erect ears, and despite regularly cleaning the floppy eared ones, they still always noticeably scratch their ears more than the ones with upright ears. They also tend to get a funky smell if you don't clean them. Floppy ears are unnatural, you won't see any adult wild animal with them... As a doberman lover, I too plan to one day import a dog with cropped ears. Sure I think they look beautiful, but I also think my floppy eared current dobe is the most beautiful dog out there. I want a dog with upright ears for the health and functional reasons. I like his long tail because he seems to use it. That said, now that dogs are no longer being docked, hopefully more focus will go into producing dogs with proper tails that aren't so liable to damage from every day activities. The current boxer tail is pretty shocking - I've seen so many broken. bleeding ones, so at this point in time I would argue that it's probably a lot kinder to the animals to have them removed before they can feel pain.

Zeph looks great Half the time people avoid my dog when he has his backpack on, because they think he's a working dog lol. He too loves to go in the water, but fortunately, when he has his pack on, though he will still play with other dogs and chase his ball, he seems to recognise that he has a job to do, and adopts a more serious demeanor. In that photo he looks particularly excited because I had been telling him to wait at my side whilst Dan walked away from us to set up the shot. When you release him from a wait and one of the 'pack' members has continued moving forward, he blasts out like a race horse. He is indeed for the most part a doberman, and here he is looking more dobelicious and with less baggage (and a bit more like the mummy's boy that he is). You have to excuse me in this photo, it was when I wasn't well and had been up all night. Poochy was very affectionate and giving me lots of hugs. And here he is looking a bit cute on one of the rare occasions he was invited up onto the bed... (oh who are we kidding)

Well just today I have noticed that my dog has some plaque or tartar build up on the big half canine/half molar type teeth towards the back of his mouth. This is a very recent thing as I check his mouth regularly, and I have also noticed very recently that he has a bit of bad breath, whereas up until a week or so ago, he had no breath at all. I'm confident this is the cause, but what can I do about it? He eats raw chicken bones several times a week and always has, and until now, this was what we gave him to clean his teeth and it seemed to be effective. He is not even 2 years old yet, so I really want to make sure his teeth are in good condition. What does everyone else do to maintain their dogs?

Don't look anything like labs to me, except maybe for the 3rd one. To be fair though, I get the impression that the general public doesn't know a whole lot about dog breeds. I couldn't find anywhere to rent when I admitted my dog was a doberman. He has now been on 2 leases as a labrador cross and we have no problems

Lol yeah he's a wild child. If you've seen some of the other photos I've posted of him though, he can also look incredibly sensitive and calm. He just loves being out and about. Thanks to everyone who said it was a good shot, my partner really loves taking photos and the dog is his main subject.

My poor dog tolerating some annoying little grey fluffy thing - a supposed giant schnauzer cross maltese according to the owner but I have my doubts...

A while ago there were a couple of threads on backpacks for dogs, and several people were kind enough to give me advice on which one to get. Well we decided on the Ruffwear Palisades Pack and it's been an awesome investment. When I go to the shops now, I bring the dog and his backpack and he helps me carry the groceries home. We also go on weekly bush walks and he is now the only one carrying anything - he carries water for all of us, 2L for himself and 2 600ml bottles for me and my partner, snacks for everyone, doggy bags, his leash, sunscreen, insect repellent, phones, wallets etc. He loves wearing his pack, no chafing whatsoever and I don't understand it but although we have steadily increased the weight he carries, he shows no sign of strain. When I pull his pack out he gets very excited, and quickly positions himself to be saddled up. In fact he still charges up the hills, steep embankments etc, and the other day when we found a German Shepherd, he ran along playing with her, with the pack on for about 2 hours. She tired out before he did... It's amazing because without the pack, I'm not sure how much exercise he would need to tire out, but I imagine it's more than what I would have time to give him. He is now carrying about 8kg and getting pretty muscly - he may not get tired but he is certainly wanting more to eat! Here is a photo of him just after we had climbed up a bushing steep hill and walking for about an hour, and as you can see, he seems un-phased and overjoyed

Same thing happens to my red doberman from time to time. I think it happens to him for two reasons, bleaching from the sun, as we've only seen it on the top parts of him that would be most exposed, and also when he is changing over his coat - ie they're dead hairs. I typically find that I can pull strands of the lighter fur out very easily, but not so easily that a brush would remove them. I've heard that it can also be a copper or some mineral deficiency but if you know he has a full diet I wouldn't worry about that.

It must also depend on activity level. When my dog was about 9 months old, he was about 28kg and I had to feed him ALOT more than that. Even so, he was and still is a very thin, very fit dog. He does at least 1-2 hours of running a day, and today for example went for a 3 hour mountain hiking session with me, carrying about 8kg in his backpack. He has access to dry biscuits at all time (puppy ones because he refuses to eat any variety of adult), but also eats a whole chicken once every 2 days, about 750g of beef 3star mince from coles (half of the 1.5kg pack) once every 2 days, a tin of sardines in olive oil every day, a serving of lamb fry or kidney twice a week, and 2-3 eggs a week. When we make it out the awesome butcher, he gets like some special rabbit, chicken and kangaroo loaves. When he was 9 months old, he had slightly less mince and only the chicken carcass, but more eggs and I'm positive it would have been more than 560g. He used to also have a lot of kangaroo, but we don't live near a reliable source of that anymore. He also gets a lot of leftovers from us, a bit of spag bol and the fatty bits we don't want when we have steak etc. He is at least 35kg now (that's how much he weighed at his 12 month checkup which was the last time he went to the vet), probably more, but there is not an ounce of fat on him. He's not desexed, and I can barely get him to not look skinny let alone make him fat so my approach has always been to just feed him as much as he'll eat. He eats very little dry food. How active is your dog, and how much do they weigh now? ie are you just trying to maintain weight or gain or reduce?

Just read this which again to me suggests longevity was determined in the development of the breed, so by man. # Size of dog. Generally, small dogs live much longer than large dogs. On average, small dogs have a life span 1.5 times that of a large dog. The following table illustrates this. # Breed. The breed of dog is a strong indicator of its life expectancy. In part this is related to the above factor; large breeds generally have a shorter lifespan than small breeds. However, even within the same weight category, some breeds live longer than others. For example, a Doberman Pinscher can easily reach 15 years of age and sometimes 20 despite the fact that it is a large dog (about 35 kg. or 77 pounds) whereas the smaller Boxer is shorter-lived and often does not reach 10 years of age. Now unfortunately it seems we don't have any of these long living dobermans in Australia, but statistically, they seem to be one of the longer living medium to large breeds. To create the special features of the boxer (squashed face etc) they probably used more inbreeding in the beginning, whereas the doberman was created through combining several breeds quite recently. I've read a few articles on 'inbreeding depression' which would serve as one potential explanation. For anyone who's interested, wikipedia does a pretty good job of summing it up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbreeding_depression

Makes me feel like there's hope for pedigree dogs after all...

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it has something to do with their organs etc working harder due to their size? Being the 'extreme' of their species, things wear out quicker? They start of small and grow rapidly to a size much bigger than they started - perhaps that's somehow relevant? But then with that theory, it doesn't make sense as to why larger parrots live longer than smaller parrots. It is weird, because typically in mammals it's the other way around. Smaller mammals have shorter lifespans, and it has to do with a faster metabolism. Though there's no causal relationship between size and lifespan in mammals, there are direct correlations. (The mammals with the shortest lifespan are also the smallest). From a brief search, I was unable to find any information about why big dogs seem to have shorter lifespans, with the only theories being that the increased strain on their organs and joints leads to an early grave. This doesn't make sense to me, because wild dogs in captivity can live just as long, and they tend to be large. To me this suggests that it had something to do with the development of the breeds by man. This is probably totally out there but... Perhaps because typically larger dogs were kept for working and smaller dogs were kept for companionship, and younger dogs (1-6) were more useful working dogs than the older ones (7+) they never worried about how long they lived after that, or it was a lesser factor?

Certainly sounds interesting. It was a huge factor for me. I had my last dog until he was 15 (a medium sized mixed breed) and that felt too short, so when I decided to get a large breed, I was determined to find one that would hopefully see well past their 10th b'day. I spent 3 years looking for a doberman and visiting breeders, and I was very upset to find several breeders who claimed anything over 7 in a doberman was excellent. I had nearly given up, when I found my breeder (to be fair I didn't know of this site back then and finding breeders wasn't easy). She had dogs that were 11 and still running around and combined with the fact that she bred true to the standard in temperament as well as looks (many of the dobe breeders also told me that their dobes were merely labradors in dobe clothing), this made her the perfect breeder for me. I am not a puppy person. I buy puppies so I can raise them they way I want, but I enjoy my dogs most after they're at least 1-2 years old, maybe even older, so longevity is very important to me.

That post was not solely for you, but I didn't mean to lecture at any rate. I would agree that keeping an open mind (within reason) is the way to go, we'd be nowhere without that. That's why I was talking about the presence of many other factors that would need to be taken into consideration if you wanted to accurately be able to predict how smoking or second hand smoking would affect an individual (or animal). Many people had made points that they knew someone who had been afflicted with lung cancer who hadn't smoked, or that humans and/or animals exposed were apparently unaffected - I was merely trying to make the point that statistics can be tricky and I guess I ended up lecturing people a bit trying to warn them to not take too many inferences from these case studies out of context. I've been tutoring at uni for too long lol.