Mrs Rusty Bucket

chase, play fight and rumble during play times Is there anything else? That's what my dog loves (ACDx). There is an adolescent phase where they won't want to do what you tell them. Not sure how long that lasts in Staffies. I think my brother's Staffy has grown out of it now, she's about 10 years old. Chasing your dog in circles around another dog - is really bad. Because you're rewarding him for being naughty. Ie can't get game with dog, get game with Boss. Sigh. My dog does this too. And I am not happy. But I try to turn it into a game of chase the boss. If another dog is doing it to me and my dog I ask the owner to take it away and I help the owner catch it by stepping to block its path or catching it (If I don't think it will bite). I'd be avoiding situations where it is likely to happen or leashing him up before it can happen (eg when you see one of the ball obsessed dogs) until you've got better recall happening. I often have uber treats (eg rawhide beef chips) to distract my dog and get her behaving when she's being really naughty.

Make it all more fun. Aussie lover she looks like the kind of dog that might enjoy a tug toy. Walk a bit, reward with tug game. Walk a bit more, a bit more tug. Oh are we at the car already? Or a front attach harness - that's what I ended up doing. Mine wasn't interested in anything going home. Drag, pull - she did both.

For me, leaving the park with the other dogs, is the end of fun time. She doesn't like the walk home much, even when she feels ok enough to sniff. It would depend on your dog, but I have some on lead time at the park just before I go home because that works for me. Sometimes I put my dog on lead in the middle of park time. Especially if there has been a bbq at the clubrooms recently, or she's been showing excessive interest in the hedge (coming out with cooked lamb bones).

I agree with the "remove him" comments - and give him something else to do that's fun. Because you want him to be ok with dogs that don't want to play and leave them alone. My dog does leave other dogs alone that are not interested - sometimes after an initial invitation to play - it depends a bit on how she reads the other dog, sometimes she doesn't even bother with the play invites, and she's 2 years old now, and sometimes ignores (turns down) play invites from other dogs herself. Usually from little dogs she doesn't know. So what do you want your dog to do - get him to do that. Even if it means putting him on lead the second you see a ball obsessed dog. You don't want it to get to the point where he's so excited he ignores you. Consider building a "conditioned recall" as well as your regular one that he feels free to ignore when he's busy. I also agree with find him dogs that like to play and organise play dates. But you do need to teach him what is and isn't acceptable behaviour with other dogs if he can't figure it out for himself.

I try not to clip after a recall, or only to unclip and release again as soon as possible. I tend to clip up about five to ten minutes before we need to go, or the other side of the oval and work on some heel work or stand for exams on lead or whatever comes into my head because I don't want her to associate recall with being clipped up and going home. So even if you can do a bit of chasey or heel work with loads of pats and praise or a game of tug with the end of the lead (it is possible to teach the dog when it's ok to play tug with lead and when it isn't) before you go home, that helps disassociate the clip up from the recall - I hope. I always feel bad if I clip up after a recall no matter how much good stuff I have for reward. We have gotten loads better because we're doing agility training which is release, run, clip up, reward, rest, release, run, clip up, reward, rest etc. Ie the best reward for a recall - clip up for my dog - is a release to play. So if you can get her back while she has a dog to play with - recall, clip her up, treat, do 5 seconds of heel work, treat and release to play - that will get it in her head that it's ok to come back during play.

LoL That's the look that usually triggers the game. Ie it's her signal I must catch her cos I want to go somewhere like agility training, so I will chase her. I had to learn not to - the hard way. She does the same when I put on my dog walking accessories (bum bag with dog treats and poo bags, shoes, hat, coat etc).

You know you're a crazy dog person when you buy toys for a dog you don't have yet?

I say "shutting the door now" and shut the door. I might open it again in 10 minutes to see if she's changed her mind. I have a dog that adores the game of chase me and no amount of food or exciting toys will get her to give it up. And even if I get her to chase me - she still stops - just out of reach. I find the fastest way to get her is to put my hand on the door knob and say "in or out?" or "Shutting the door now", and she usually comes straight in. Even if she knows I'm just going to put the lead on her so we can go out, or I'm going out without her - neither of which are as much fun as "chase me" games. If she doesn't come in. I shut the door and do something else for five to ten minutes. It does mean planning ahead when the times she MUST come in.

Meh. for Dec 31st 1999, and 1st Jan 2000, I went and stayed on a remote country farm where there was no mobile phone reception. My cousins were very happy. They went to the local coastal holiday town and partied, while I fed all their animials for them. Win win. Mostly I did that so the bosses couldn't find me if they wanted bugs fixed up. There's no reason to fix financial bugs before the second week in January. However people don't need much excuse to run riot, and you can't always predict when it's going to happen. Rarely has anything to do with anything rational. So I don't blame the ABC for building a bunker. They probably need one to protect media broadcasts for a variety of possibilities. For instance - in Canberra when they had those bad bushfires - one of the first things to get destroyed was the communication links in and out of the Disaster Management Headquarters.

Can anyone recommend where to get Proban - I doubt many Adelaide Vets are going to carry it and does that funny green tick removal stick work? Every time I've tried to get a tick out of something - its head would not come out and I've had to cut it out. http://search.vetproductsdirect.com.au/vet/Tick%20Remover By the way I haven't used this particular website - would like to know if anyone else has used it ok.

I spent about two years removing real live Y2K errors from programs that calculate payroll and super, paid bills and sent invoices for things charged on hourly, weekly, monthly rates ie using time calculations. The trouble was the powers that be kept asking us techies to promise that there would be no bugs left, and everything would work perfectly. But no techie would make that promise. The closest you'd get is that it's "highly unlikely". And things did break for about six months afterwards - but mostly financial things that were easy to fix. No planes dropped out of the sky - but how many of them have engines that shut off if the date is wrong? Highly unlikely. All the media could hear though was "it might happen". The money spent on cleaning up the bugs had to be done anyway. And it probably couldn't have been done much sooner because back then - two extra digits of data cost a lot to keep and process. So no money wasted there. And For the last 30 years, Perth has had one third the rainfall it averaged in the previous 70 years or since records were kept. They know about climate change.

Would have had a pain free night's sleep...

When I pick up, I usually get a small amount of dirt on the scoop and shake that over the fresh poop before I pick it up, like a flour coating. My lawn desperately needs top dressing so anything sandy or gypsum is good, but dirt works. Maybe that helps clean up the smell faster. I don't get dirt from where poop has been. I do sometimes put poop into holes she's dug where she should not, and dirt over the top. As for the concrete - probably likes it because it is clean? Or need to clean up with bicab and vinegar not bleach?

My local coles never has Kongs or Wubbas. Half price of nothing is still nothing. Petstock had some wubbas in their clearance bin for close to half price. They don't last very long with my dog though.

I clean up my dog's poo as I see them - so usually once or twice a day. I hate the idea of accidentally stepping in something when we're having a play or her jumping in something when she's doing cat-patrol (zoomies). She never seems to go in the same spot twice, though most of the time she will go around the edge of the lawn. She did have a stay in a boarding kennel recently and did a couple on the concrete after that but mostly she does them on the edge of the lawn or down the very back in the long grass where nobody walks. You can train these things though. You have a cue/command word you use when the dog goes, and if it goes where you prefer - then give a treat and loads of praise. If the dog thinks the backyard is too yuk to use - does that mean you're not picking up often enough?

I agree about the confusion with ending the recall with return to dog or finish. Though I've heard some dogs anticipate the finish and don't do the sit in front. I know my dog has started sitting crooked in anticipation of something. Not sure what. If I don't reward the sit, she offers up a heel flip. Sigh.

You know that trick where dog leaps up and barks at the door and when the other dog gets up to see what the fuss is about, the first one goes and nicks the other dog's bed? My dog has been doing that to me. about 30 minutes *before* the sun comes up, the magpies go off, and wakes the dog up who comes and wakes me up... Sometimes I get up and let her out - this morning she was busting. After one quick cat patrol she did number 1s and 2s. And sometimes I don't. I try to be careful to reward only the behaviour I want from her. Eg a soft bark at the back door, followed by a louder one if necessary - I reward - because I want her to ask politely and she usually only does it when she's BUSTING. If she's not busting, and continues to patrol the back yard without coming back - I shut the door with her outside. Which she doesn't like much. If she runs around the house BARKING her head off at 3am and I can't hear burglars or cats - I ignore it until she shuts up. If she goes back to bed - it's all good. Otherwise I might get up and let her out, especially if her dinner was later than normal - she's usually busting. I wish I had a dog door. But I don't reward running around the house BARKING at 3am for no reason. Because she likes the attention - and that means she's more likely to do it every time she wakes up. Worst thing about the 5:30am wake ups? It makes it really difficult to get up when I'm supposed to at 7am... and I then feel like sleepy-crap all day.

OMG, I always thought I had and ACDx in blue heeler colours, and it's really a savage pitbull. (Let me lick you to death).

Shell Can you turn the shutter sound off? With most digital devices (eg my phone), the sound is completely artificial and for your benefit only. Then again my phone isn't an SLR so maybe they're different. I thought incense sticks looked much the same as bird perches... defintely nuts. Or maybe if there were nuts stuck to it, he'd be more interested?

My dog gives the neighbour's cat a stare and she wags her tail... You don't want that kind of stare. But the herding - invitation to play stare - is a different deal.

Most councils in SA don't require a dog to be registered in their area unless the dog is staying there for a certain period of time. Eg two weeks or more. But what you want is if the dog escapes and is found by someone - that you can get it back before the dog is PTS by the council-pound-shelter system. An unregistered, unmicrochipped, old or grumpy dog - has about 3 days to a week tops to live. But what address do you put on the microchip registration? I would definitely get the dog microchipped and registered on all four Australian databases with your mobile phone number(s) as contact for starters. What do you put for address for electoral roll? Tax? Medicare? Drivers licence? Do you have family or friend you'd trust with your dog if something happened? Maybe get it registered there? Or make a deal with the RSPCA or AWL in exchange for an appropriate sized donation to board your dog and contact you if it's found somewhere? Ie register the dog to their address?

Megan I reckon I will be ready when I can get my dog round a full set of obstacles (ie something of everything in beginner / novice agility) without a lure or a toy (until the end) and without stopping to sniff possum poo or greet friends. We had it at the start of August and then I went on holidays, and now we're back to doing the first run on lead, and the second run with a treat/lure in my opposite (to the dog) hand. Drat. I've demoted myself back to beginners. Ideally I'd like a good "go out" to that obstacle over there - without me leading you the whole way, and a "go on" - ie jump everything in front of you without me leading you the whole way... and good reliable contacts instead of taking a high leap from excitement. And no jumping all over me in the middle of the course either. We've got good lead outs (except when the possum poo calls), and we like all the obstacles - usually get good contacts - though I don't think she understands what she needs to do, she just does it if I'm in the right place going the right speed. And I'd like her to find her own weave entry... but she's pretty good - loads of room for improvement but we can do them. Without the lure or lead. PS we've done a mock trial agility and jumping course at another club, and a few practice games and trails at training. Have you done any mock trials? And I have to join SACA first and it's only good from January to January so I can't be bothered paying a full year for a month or so of trials.

There are probably copyright rules that are meant to prevent cross posting from other websites to here and vice versa. It might be ok if you got his permission to use his words to open a discussion on the subject here. But like the others said, is he really interested? Purebred vs Crossbred is well covered in the RSPCA knowledge base. http://kb.rspca.org.au/Are-purebreed-breed...eeders_329.html RSPCA don't object to cross breeds as such but there are a lot of myths about inheriting the best characteristics vs the worst. The movie "Twins" is an extreme expression of the possibilities of genetic mixing of the parents. Dogs from backyard breeders seem to be over-represented in the pounds where many of them end up PTS. That would be my main objection. The main worry with this particular dog is not its ancestry - but the fact that it is pregnant and it has a closed minded philistine (the OH) in charge of it and its puppies' welfare. EEK. The dogs might turn out great - but they need to be raised in a friendly environment and get plenty of positive socialisation with other dogs, people and children. I don't think the "OH" is likely to provide this based on what you've said so far. In the mean time - if your friend decides she doesn't want any more puppies, this website would be worth investigating. http://www.ndn.org.au/

Lol at iltby Makes me want to have one of these cameras. For the eyedropper one - I think I'd want to drop onto something like a rain substitute, first drops into dust, or on a rose or other pretty flower or spider web ideally with pretty spider included. Or I'd drop colours into clear water in a vase or something and photograph that - but it would look similar to their incense one. Not sure about the bubble gum one. I think I'd have a picture of someone sitting on a chair so you can see the bubble gum stuck to the bottom of the chair... Or someone walking with bubble gum stuck between their shoe and the pavement. Really not sure about the incense one. If you could get a dog to blow smoke rings through it? NFI really. No idea about the confetti or sound ones. I've seen their drops on the speakers pix. Confetti goes with celebrations I suppose. Or I'd just open the hole punch in the office so it goes everywhere and try to capture that at high speed. Like a rebellion against the formality of the office cubical farm. If you could get more than one hole punch going at once (when the boss isn't looking...)

When I first started with my dog, she needed constant checks to keep her attention, and yummy treats held in front of her face. Wish I'd known a bit more about clicker training for heel - though I am extremely unco when it comes to working a clicker, lead and treats all at once. If you don't feel comfortable with this trainer or group, you could have a chat with them about attitude and see if they can sort something out, otherwise, you may have to find another way or club. The flyball won't help unless she is already ball obsessed and has great recall. Maybe if you post in here, in the training forum bit, each thing you want to teach the dog eg recall, or loose lead walking (ie no pulling) we can help with training techniques and links to videos and you can work at home, in five minute sessions. And just use dog club for socialisation - eg meeting lots of new dogs (alway ask owner's permission first). I recommend Lesley Nelson's Really Reliable Recall DVD for recall. And Susan Garrett's Crate Games DVD for getting a dog to work for you and be happy in a crate - which is very handy for a variety of reasons. Fun things for beagles to - dog sport wise include Tracking and maybe Earthdog (depending on whether the club is open to all dogs the right size). But I've also seen Beagles doing obedience. Not yet seen one doing agility but I guess if you can train one to heel off lead and recall - you could train agility.