raineth

Wow, thanks for that explanation raineth and Aidan...raineth I hope you don't mind if I cut/paste it for future reference When you say the "connection can be weakened", this would be the dog regressing due to lack of regular exposure...because the brain no longer needs to fire the necessary neurons....is this correct? Hi Kelpie-i, uou can use it- but really its just my musings on the subject and should be taken with a grain of salt when i spoke about connections being weakened I was more talking about the original connection (associated with the presence of another dog = fear and aggressive beahviour). So what the training is doing is a kind of re-wiring of circuits. A desensitisation program should re-wire the brain so that (like Aidan said) the dog can feel safe in the presence of another dog; in doing this the circuit that says 'other dog = fear' is not active and can eventually go through "long term depression" (which is the opposite of long term potentiation). As far as I know it is similar because it is all about neuroplasticity. But the difference is that in a really young animal plasticity is going on throughout all regions in the brain. Once the animal is older plasticity mainly only occurs in the hippocampal formation. I can't quite remember but I think there might be a couple of other areas it can occur, but the hippocampal formation is the major one. the hippocampal formation plays a major role in learning and memory. I should also ass that when I say 'animal' I don't really kinow if that occurs in every animal - I'm only going off the animals that the researchers have used anyway, all of that above is still just my musings and should be taken witha grain of salt as well its just a topic I find really interesting!

yeah there is a dog up the road that roams around the street infront of her house (her owner is there too) and she will charge up to my dog's bottom and sniff it, and if he so much looks at her she bares her teeth at him and growls. So she sniffs him and he is not allowed to look at her, let alone sniff her back! Anyway i know that sounds off topic but that is the greatest annoyance of mine - having other people's off lead dogs charge up to my dog (who is leashed) when we are going for a walk. So don't let your un-leashed dog approach a leashed dog.

I'm really happy to hear this! So glad it is not the dreaful "c" And am really happy that she coped emotionall with her vet visit

Good point Aidan....certainly something that I am noticing more and more of. Also, I am not sure of the scientific terminology for this, but have noticed that once a breakthrough has been made with the dog, it just seems to keep going in leaps and bounds...almost as if the brain, once achieving the breakthrough, continues to mass-produce the neurotransmitters required to promote that particular learning....make sense?? During this time, the dog can still have minor set backs but I notice that these are short lived and the dog seems to reactive through habit rather than through emotion most times. I really enjoyed your post too Kelpie-i from my understanding, I think rather than the focus being on greater production of certain neurotransmitters; what would be occurring is a strengthening of the connections between certain neurons. With every repetition of the dog learning to have a different emotional reaction to dogs certain connections between neurons are strengthened. what can also occur is that the other connections that were resulting in a negative emotional (and behavioural response) can become weaker. As Aidan mentioned though it is not unlearned. But the connection can be weakened. Some research has found a certain number of repetitions (or really certain neurons always firing before other neurons) will always produce a strong connection (known as long-term potentiation). I guess this is why you can often see little progress, then suddenly its almost like a switch goes on in their head and you get much better progress

In Wagga the underground car park at the Market place has filled with water that went up to the escalators! Our shed flooded unfortunately. But otherwise no harm done

yep that's right Shyfig its exaclty the same principle Do you find that sort of thing works wioth your boys? my boy with ASD found it incredibly calming for going to the supermarket and places like that. You might be interested in reading Temple Grandin's book "Animals in translation" in which she talks about the similarities in the way animals and people with autism experience the world

I probably should have realised that I just got a more disturbing impression when reading that article ;)

that is very weird.

I find thundershirts work really well in a variety of situations with my dog. the only problem I find is that my other dog keeps taking it off! this limits the situations I can use it in. I had it on him during the big big storm the riverina experienced yesterday evening (it went for hours, with lightening, thunder and hail) and he was able to just lie on his bed and relax. if I didn't have it on he would have spent a lot more time hiding under my desk, or under the kitchen table.

Hi Fuzzy82, I hope you get some more replies. I think there may be a bit of a gap in his socialisation. Dogs don't generalise from situation to situation; so while he might understand what he needs to do in a puppy class environment, he doesn't understand how to behave in a street environment. Sounds like he also finds the street environment very scary. go to the puppy sections of this forum and check out the section on puppy development. I would also recommend you tell your puppy playschool instructor and see what he/she can tell you. I think one of the things I would do is to just sit in the driveway with him. Just sit and chill and let him watch the world go by. Ignore any behaviour you don't want and reward him for any relaxed behaviour. Just be prepared to sit out there for a long time while he habituates to that environment (take a cushion to sit on and drink bottle). Take it slowly and when he relaxes there you could move to the next driveway or footpath and do the same thing. With his extreme reactions you need to set him up for success. So you need to keep him at a distance (from things he's reacting to) in which he is not feeling threatened and scared. If you make him go to close you'll probably make the situation worse.

I know a psychologist (through uni, same school) who truly believes that all people who have tattoos and piercings are screaming out for attention and are very insecure, have to wonder how this affects her counsel to them, she already has formed an opinion of their personality before she has even met them well I have a son with a disability and he (and us) sees a psychologist who has helped us to teach him social skills and manage his behaviour. I honestly don't know where we would be without her; she has made our lives so much better and I am so glad that i made the decision to ask her for help. So isn't that amazing! I guess there are good psychologists and not-so-good psychologists! Who would have thought

happy anniversary Honey and family

I guess I'm lucky. My OH loves the dogs; he would never dream of having them outside. And they are both giant sized, and my mastiff cross can be a bit stinky at times. They are both molting at the moment and i am sweeping it up a couple of times a day. I don't think he has a problem with it. And like RSG said; why should he? when I'm the one who does most of the cleaning? the only thing he hates is walking the dogs. But he still does that sometimes too

love the photos tlc Corvus, it certainly didn't kill the fun for me; I found that very interesting I can really see how it would increase speed but decreas accuracy. But in Digby's case it doesn't do this. I don't know whether its because of him, or the way I do it. In a training session, the one not being trained has to wait on the bed. So Digby will wait on the bed while I train Delta and then when its his turn, del;ta is the one on the bed , so they are not kind there competing at the same time. Or it could just be that Digby is so super laid back that he couldn't sp[ped up to the point where accuracy is lost I think the funniest thing is that when Digby takes a piece of banana he actually looks like he finds it so disgusting that he sometimes actually dry retches eating it ;) yet he still wants to eat it because the only thing worse than eating a banana, is missing out on eating a banana

Hi Loungefly Mia is a cutie! I fostered a puppy whose mum was a kelpie x Huntaway and dad was a black labrador. He was such a trainable puppy! He had amazing ability to be so focussed and loved learning. here's a photo:

My Digby is a very sweet and placid soul ;) but he does have a tenderncy to get jealous. For instance he really doesn't care for having his nails clipped. But If I clip my other dog's nails infront of him, and give her lots of praise doing it, he is actually then pleased to have his nails done. Normally he would be miserable about it I can also get lots more enthusiasm from him if I train him second after he has watched me train the other dog. I am currently doing TOT with both of them and the only way I can get him into drive is if he goes second he also has not much interest in toys but if I play with my other dog with a toy I can then get enough enthusiasm from him to make him want to play. Its funny because I can still see that he's not enjoying it that much - its just that he doesn't want to miss out ;) He will even eat fruit (which he normally hates) if I offer it to the other dog. If she's not around he doesn't even bother to take it if I offer it to him. Anyway I was just wondering if other people use jealousy to their advantage when training?

that eveil Boz shot is hilarious and the nice Boz shot is so cute

oh Digby is not at all bracchy, sorry I think I missed that bit. I measured him anyway, incase its useful. i did circumference: 36 c.m. and diameter: 10 c.m. with the diameter I got it from looking above. I really hope it is useful because I got a big tongue kiss on the mouth from him and I know only half an hour ago he was licking his bottom I measured Delta (Dane) and she was 8.5 cm (diameter).

Corvus, would Digby be at all helpfu (he has a big big boofy head)? he is a mutt, so maybe he wouldn't be? if he is, can you tell me if you want the diameter at the widest point (i.e. where the snout joins the face) or more toward the nose?

wow I'm realising I have been so lucky! I've only had two injuries: concussion and a split lip, both from the same dog (my lovely Delta). the concussion incident also left me with a grazed back which hurt quite a bit actually.

well my goal is to actually attend obedience and agility with Digby. With obedience to get to level 2 in the first half of the year. Hang on I think I'm already in level two I've only been twice so I can't remeber. well anyway, I'm going to aim to go up a level in the first half of the year This year I have constantly had things get in the way of going. So I don't want that to keep happening!

I remember reading about Sasha's vet issues. I am wondering whether it would be possible to talk to your vet and see if if there is an injection (like a sedative) that you could give her. Then that way the Vet can examine her easily? Obviously it would need to be a intramuscular or subcutaneous injection (not intravenous). Even better maybe there is a tablet form of sedative that could be administered... its just maybe worth asking your vet about it. Especially if Sasha needs to be still enough to have a needle aspiration. I hope she doesn't have cancer :rolleyes:

oh thanks RuralPug I'll definitely have to check it out! I should update for anyone interested. Delta has had 100% success rate since her first alert. She has not missed one single hypo I find also I can ask her to check her out for me. She will sniff and then just lay back on the bed if all is well. She has been 100% accurate with that as well ;) Actually i will tell you the story of the last alert: Delta started alerting but when we checked Little Miss was low, but not quite hypo. So we just waited... and sure enough 10 minutes later she alerted again at .1 below the level of hypo I think the first time she may have been responding to a fast drop in glucose levels. She's such a good girl ;)

that's an excellent that he saved your fish twice My dog is of the hero variety since my daughter developed diabetes she has begun to alert us to low blood glucose levels. we are so proud of her; she is most definitely a canine hero ;)