Mrs Rusty Bucket

The skinnier the (choke) chain the more likely it is to do serious damage to a dog's neck. I can't believe these things are allowed in show rings or on a dog at all. You know what a wire garrott is? Why do you want to do that to your dog? Wire or fine chain can be used to cut through flesh or cheese - why would you risk doing that to your dog?

That is exactly what my dog does with them. Except when it makes a break for safety, she gently picks it up and puts it back - in the middle of the lawn again, and again and by then it's shocked enough I can catch and dispatch. Sigh. It's got to the point where I just dispatch them first. And I want my friend's border terriers to come visit. She has zero mice or rats in her back yard.

Hi LizT I don't think any dog would confuse rubber squirrel dude with the furry things however... the skinneeez complete with squeakies... might be a different matter. squirrel dude http://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs...ude/description hyde park squirrel http://www.flickr.com/photos/mlhs/1905756/ skinneeez http://www.dogsandthecity.com.au/Skinneeez...gless-Dog-Toys/ Somehow my dog will happily rip up a soft dog toy but completely refuse to dispatch a mouse for me. She just picks it up like a mum with her puppy and licks it. Dogs know the difference between their shoe and yours.

Might help to ask the owner if they really want to give that bad groomer the opportunity to cut up other people's pets???

Most plastic gives off fumes which some dogs don't like and I don't like. I wouldn't like to live in a plastic box. However a wood kennel must not be made of "treated pine" or wood that's been treated for termites - because the fumes off that are toxic too. I've been "building" a kennel for my dog for ages, but somehow have failed to finish it. Sigh. I like the wine barrel idea - although the smell of wine in a used one can be pretty strong for a long time.

Corvus The collar grab is about revving the dog up and also about lining him up and about "resetting" or "refocussing" between repeats. Ie if you don't put a bit of time into placing the dog before sending again, they get confused about where the exercise begins and ends. Similar effect with "charging a clicker" eg you need to click before you treat for it to be effective but if you string the repetitions too close is the click before or after the treat ie treat click treat click doesn't work. So same deal with the 2x2 weaving. You need to reset the dog's position between each run or failed run. And especially with a failed run or it will be confused about what is good and what isn't. So my ACDx isn't very fond of collar grab either and is shaping me not to do it. But I am trying to counter shape ie every treat comes after a collar grab, and I try to do the collar grab slowly as much as possible but she's much better and it is handy especially if a nasty dog or toddler (assume sensitive protective parent) comes on the scene. But I don't always reset with a collar grab. Sometimes I just make her heel a circle around me so we finish lined up and sometimes I physically pick her up and line her up the way I want her pointing. When you get to working the arc - it's not so much which way the dog points as how you point ie with your arm nearest the dog point towards the end you want her/him going in... and then s/he needs to figure out which way correctly ie always have the poles the same way and reward on the same side while there are only two poles. I found this very confusing but it helps if you have seen Greg Derrett's Agility foundation CD (and maybe the next one) to explain how you signal the dog. SG assumes this knowledge for 2x2 weaving. And I've been doing loads and loads of wait release runs for tug toy which has helped immensely with recall. Last time she stopped to sniff possum poo I put my arm up in the ready position and got her attention and said go and ran away and she came right off the possum poo...hooray. I haven't got a good send away yet. Still haven't really figured that one out. I have made some jumps finally out of 10 litre cardboard water cask boxes and broom poles. Seem to work well. Hmm, time to go to agility class already.

How does Paul not know we "proof" our dog training? Weird.

Obedience competition was invented by a poodle owner. YAY for the success in avoiding the gr x Here's hoping she gives it lots to do - every day. And that her place is escape proof, my uncle owned a black toy houdini poodle. So Sis - now for the doggy enrichment toys for home. My fave is a squirrel dude.

My ancient horse did well on coprice. I'd probably try that ahead of supercoat, and I'd feed supercoat ahead of hills science diet. Hills has really good marketing but their ingredient list shows them up for sawdust merchants (in my opininon). Mostly I feed nutro natural choice because I can afford it (in bulk) and she does well on it like she doesn't on advance. If I changed I'd look at something like Artemis or an Australian made equivalent. I also make my own dog food casserole, stew of mince + vege + rice + bran + oats. The brown rice means I always know which dog turd belongs to my dog.

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~jmerenski1/d...mel/dremel.html I followed the instructions on this website to desensitise my dog to the clipper - I actually used it like a clicker with treat ie click the clippers and treat, and gradually get dog to lie upside down in my lap. Only one problem - the clippers - pinch the claw and hurt - not matter how far away from the quick you are, so dog while happy to have the clipper placed over the claw, leaps for the sky as soon as you clip. So only get one claw done. Ever. Sigh. So I went out and got myself a cheap version of a dremmel - dunno how good it is yet. Meanwhile we go to the beach and dig a lot in the sand when her claws are soft from being in the water, or we go for long walks on the bitumen footpaths, both seem to help. Lots of fetch at the beach also helps sand the claws down a bit.

I used bayswater car hire in Perth recently They were great. Apart from having a policy returning the car with not full tank (which means you drive away with one with a not full tank - bleah). They didn't ask about what I wanted to put in the car - apparently that's my business. I didn't have a dog, but I did let my brother sit in the car...

http://www.pantonepoodles.com/doodles.htm was trying to write a reply ie about alternatives to the cross breeds. if sister really wants a hybrid vigor dog, with a special rare unique breed quality, she could go to one of the rescues or shelters or pounds and adopt. I went looking for the UK equivalent of petrescue and got attacked by some virus thing in the alldogsrescue or all dogs something else so beware... above website has a really nice short list of alternatives to the cross breeds that are popular now. Eg Hungarian Puli, Hungarian Pumi or Lowchen. The only spaniel x poodle I've met was a nut case of a dog and not popular with anybody. Plays too rough with the smaller dogs and screams in fear at the dogs the same size or bigger. Typical of being taken away from its puppy mill siblings too young.

My vet does classes for puppies up to 4 months old. After the vaccinations are effective, there is a puppy class at our dog club - to 6 months old then they go to grade 1. We got lots of vendor freebies from the vet.

My dog likes it. But she likes maccas and KFC too.

I just spent a whole weekend at Paul McGreevy seminar. I learned enough about "learning theory" (or the science of learning?) to make my head explode. Some of it made me wonder if Paul was familiar with this website - I think not. And if any of his students were hanging out here - hey look. And if he was familiar with the word "Drive" being used to describe "motivation" or "revved up" almost interchangeably or if he was familiar with Jaak Pankeep's work. He had so much info to try and impart, we didn't get to ask a lot of questions. I plan to send him an email for him to read or ignore at his leisure. PS Had a go at the survey. Some questions were difficult to answer - because I don't know if her response is fearful or not. And some responses were not covered by the options or she will do everything on the range and I don't usually know which in advance. Ie I can't predict which stranger she will like and which one she will bark at. And when I finished the survey - it didn't go to a "you're done thank you page" it went back to the beginning and refused to exit. The exit button needs to go somewhere else like back to the project page maybe. Some of the questions I wasn't sure about... I think she is extremely sensitive to attempts to punish but sometimes it's hard to tell She doesn't always react in a useful way (eg doesn't always stop doing the naughty thing). and she doesn't always view my attempted adversives as adversive... eg really enjoyed catching and eating the rolled up newspaper. Regards yelling as chat/attention. Does not always respond the same way to unfamiliar adults. Sometimes she greets them and lets them pat her like they're long lost friends Sometimes she sniffs them and then keeps her distance Sometimes she barks her head off them and runs circles around them. Keeps out of reach. Sometimes if they look at her and reach out to pat her, she goes from keeping her distance to barking in circles... And sometimes she pokes them in the bottom with her nose, especially if she thinks they look familiar or have a treat, or a ball and a throwing stick (though she's much better at chase and eat ball than fetch). She pokes me in the bottom too and I'm trying not to reward it (by ignoring instead of giving attention). Sigh. Some things in the survey I have reduced by training. Ie she used to go for every fast moving object, but now ignores most of them. She likes the bath and water generally, hates the nail clippers (they actually hurt). And she dislikes being separated from me, but regards "line of sight" as being "with me", so across a footy oval or paddock - is fine with her. Me behind a tree - not so good. However she will go sunbake in the yard without me. As long as I leave the door open. If I shut the door, she hangs around it waiting for me to open it.

IBS or Irritable Bowl Syndrome is doctors' (and maybe vets') name for upset tummy with unknown cause. Ie it's not a specific treatable disease. It just means that the patient has a very sensitve stomach and needs to be careful about what they eat. Finding out what triggers the upsets goes a long way towards fixing it. For me, giardia is really really bad. Some people can have that and show no symptoms or hardly any at all. I drink water with that in it and I can kiss 2kg good bye instantly as I am glued to the White China Bus and scared to fart for days or weeks until I get the treatment for it. My dog is not affected by that particular parasite. I wonder what happened to all the dogs with cast iron eat anything stomachs? Did they rust away? How did I get a farm dog bitsa with a sensitive stomach?

My dog and I did puppy pre-school with a "Groodle" GR x Poodle. It was HUGE at 2 months old. The owner kept saying she was told it was a GR crossed with a small poodle but it looked to the rest of us like GR x Standard Poodle and was showing every sign of being every bit as big as a big GR. It went from being "boss puppy" in a previous group of puppies, to hiding under the owner's (or anybody else's) chair during most of the puppy classes with my ACDx puppy (who was the smallest) and a malamute puppy (who was the naughtiset). And I'm pretty sure it shed fur just like a GR.

I expect the more rural councils would be more ok about multiple dog house holds. Most of the city plains councils have a limit of two, but are fairly easy to get a permit for three, if they're all small, the neighbours have no objections (eg they don't keep them awake all night), and there is a big secure back yard.

Susan Garrett calls it "relationship building" At the seminar in November she worked with some of our dogs, with varying success. The ones that were more friendly and tug or food orientated were easier for her to work with than the ones that only cared about their owner. My dog wasn't one of the ones she worked with, but is a good example of a dog that is a tad obsessed with her owner. However she will (eventually) work for anyone with a treat. It's a matter of establishing the relationship ie charging up the "yes"/"clicker" with a new person. Except - with our agility instructor - if I'm there, she won't work for him at all even though she loves him to bits and he gives her treats. She has worked for him when I wasn't there. And loads of people offer to give her a new home or even just a walk and sometimes I hand over the lead and say off you go... and she just pulls with all four paws after me. Once she notices I'm not going with her. But she is ok at the boarding kennels, and works for the staff there ie when I'm not around.

Unley has lots of places dogs can be - on lead when sport is on the ovals and off lead when not - so long as you can stop the dog leaving the oval and going onto the road. A kind of natural selection way of enforcing "effective control". Ie the ovals do not have dog proof fencing. And I like it that way. Linear park is great for walking dogs, but you do have to watch out for bicycles - dogs on or off lead and bikes do not always mix well. And the beaches are bliss. But unlike Europe, you can't take your dog on public transport. Unless you're blind and it's a guide dog or similar.

You could send Sandra777 a PM, she's bound to know someone in WA who would know someone good. Or go through the WA ANKC branch and find the SBT club and breeders that way. Maybe avoid the breeders that select for "blue" because it's prone to genetic problems. There was a huge and sad thread in here recently on that where someone got an SBT puppy from interstate with all sorts of health problems she wasn't expecting.

Nobody, especially not Pele, could mistake Banshee for a roast chook. LoL. Frosty, however, would find chasing her fun. But do no deliberate damage. She failed to kill another mouse this morning. Just sort of licks them. Sigh.

Hi Rileys Mum My dog would not take any treat on the footpath out the front of my house - too busy freaking out. And there were plenty of other times when no treat would get her attention. Like you said - better things to do/sniff. This seems to be especially common with the farm dog types and the hounds that often have something better to do than eat. Of course you may be feeding your dog a bit too much. Mine is much much more attentive at the moment because she's on a diet. I've cut her food back about 10%. Still can't feel her ribs easily. But she's much more interested in food. So SG would recommend a halti or gentle leader - to get control of his head so he can't sniff unless you give permission. And she would also recommend a strict NILIF (Nothing in Life Is Free) program, ie dog doesn't get off lead outside the house until he can show some self control. And you hand feed his whole meal every night... she outlines it in "ruff love". Meantime - I think you are experiencing lack of "generalisation" for training. And I find the smarter the dog, the more this applies... Each new environment has a whole new set of rules, and you have to train all the basics from scratch as if your dog doesn't know anything. So it's good once the dog has it all under control in the house, to go again on the verandah or in the garage, then the backyard, then the front yard, then a friend's place. Nothing more embarrasing than the dog that is perfectly house trained at your place and hasn't learned the same rules apply at Mum's place. Oops. Then you train again - the basics, at the park, at the beach, at the other park... without dogs (or far away) and then close to dogs... and if a horse should show up - you have to start again. Or an old lady who has an umbrella up and walks funny. And the jogger who hisses as he runs. Sheesh - the dog thinks - nope - rules I knew before don't apply now, chase jogger when previously ignored a whole football team of joggers - cos she's had practice with the football teams. Sigh. The one that sounds like an excited possum - must be hiding a possum down his shirt or something... So, for my evil hound - sometimes the treat is just not going to do it. But sometimes the new squeaky toy will. Eg the ones with a bit of rabbit fur, or look like a big rat... http://search.vetproductsdirect.com.au/vet/Skinneeez My dog went crabbing at the beach today. But she did trade for small bits of ham. However eventually I had to put the ex blue swimmer in a dog poo bag and the bin because she was going to eat all of it if I didn't want it. Blech. We have practiced/trained a lot at the beach and so she has a basic understanding of the rules there. Ie if we see a toddler - she's going on lead, but it's ok because when we're past the toddler - she can go off lead again. Getting her on lead at the beach used to involve sprinting up and down stairs (narrow space where she's easy to catch) or getting other people to help. So we've come a long way.

I use those little zip lock snack bags to hold my treats - the gooey ones. My dog is a bit meh about cheese. The pieces I use are about half a cm cubes. Ie there shouldn't be enough to be fattening but if you're worried, cut down on the dinner/brekky ration. So what the others said... and I do use chicken breast - chopped into 1/2 cm cubes, I freeze the excess for use later. I've cooked a sheep liver and chopped that up, and frozen the excess - using freezer separator so I can get just enough out for training treats... Metwurst is a fave with my dog (like german salami) but it's not that healthy I have also used bits of steak and occasionally I pot roast a bit of cheap top side until its tender (eg slow cook in water or stock for 4 hours or so), chop that all up into tiny cubes... eat some for lunch in sandwiches... And my dog loves promite on wholemeal bread - so sometimes I just make a sandwich of that and chop that up into little cubes and stuff the snack bag with that. Most dogs love peanut butter too, though with a puppy - I'd start with the smooth stuff. One of my friends uses the four legs? meat ball things and breaks them up into little pieces for treats. Our puppy preschool - used cheese and kitten biscuits (dry kitten food has higher fat content so is "yummier") for dog treats and the quantity was around one film container. Although I think I went through 2 or 3 film containers worth of treats. Hadn't learned to "up the criteria" if dog got it right three times in a row. Also hadn't learned the difference between luring (dog follows treat around into position and gets treat) and reward (dog gets position first, then sees and eats treat).

I make my own dog casserole. I used to feed advanced dry food (the chicken based one), and about once a fortnight my dog would get the runs that would take a few days on boiled chicken and rice to clear up. PITA. I changed to nutro natural chicken and rice and oats - and no more runs every fortnight. WOO HOO. Dunno why. They're made by the same company, nutro is supposed to have slightly better quality ingredients. All I can say is that the advance on a regular basis was fundamentally incompatitble with my dog's gut. Have you tried feeding different brand of dog food? And don't go with Hills Science diet - it's full of crap ingredients.