Mrs Rusty Bucket

Does / did neighbour have iron chelates too? The colour descriptions remind me of chemistry experiments we did using iron compounds - one would be bright yellow and turn green on contact with acid or alcohol or something like that, we used one iron compound for doing a "breathalyzer" test, which involved one teacher and one student consuming an large amount of alcohol (port) and then blowing through a straw into a solution of stuff. Might have been more efficient and less "inappropriate" if they'd just dripped ethanol into the solution but they had fun. Iron chelates are used to restore green colour to yellow leaves on lemon trees and the like.

Apparently you can depend on these to help out in awkward situations... http://www.depend.com.au/incontinence-aids/new/ Never mind "incontinence" - what about "can't disturb the furkid inence"

Nope a flat collar will not provide you with correction other than preventing a dog from running away and giving you the opportunity to reel it in to re-inforce a recall command for instance. I prefer a front attach harness to a check chain. It doesn't exactly do corrections but a dog that pulls is unbalanced by it and stops pulling. No choking or neck damage involved. Flat collars are handy for carrying council tags and your contact details - should your dog escape or be let out accidentally or on purpose - anyone who can read - can ring you up. Flat collars - without the tags are also handy for dog sports like agility, where check chains are not allowed.

Feed more carrots and toilet paper rolls (the empty ones). Use vicks vapour rub in tiny smears on things she must not eat like remotes, and around the edges of kitchen counters. I also stack tin cans pecariously balanced around the edges of my kitchen counters - I put them on old cream tub lids to stop any moisture induced rust getting to the counter top. I need more tin cans but it does protect quite a bit. I'm thinking about introducing a line in the kitchen that shall not be crossed to protect the counters better. Ie she knows if she's not actually up - I can't/won't scold her. So she's quick. this problem had been gone for ages and has suddenly returned. So I have to return to keeping very clean counter tops. Sigh. I think maybe because it's winter and cold she might be more hungry too. Not that my dog needs any more food either. A desexed dog needs less food overall than an undesexed one. About a third less than the kibble packet says, but I don't know how you translate that to chicken frames. Things with bones - don't put weight on my dog cos she upchucks them. Usually at some handy hour like 3am. Or just before my dinner time.

so how do these backpacks go if your dog likes to roll over alot to greet everybody or just scent up with the latest dead fish perfume at the beach?

I think 4 raw onions would make me explode too. And the farts - you could power a small town with onion farts. Frosty got a few bits of cooked onion from the local footy club bbq and survived ok, I had to catch her to stop her from cleaning up completely, she'd have been very happy if I'd just "watched". we used to put dog pills inside a raisin. And our aussie terrier ate 3/4 of a football chocolate filled iwth choc truffles and then - fortunately for her - she sickked it up every where. It did put her off chocolate somewhat. There's lists of things that dogs must not have that we used to feed in small amounts in left overs and I wouldn't do that now. A lot of nuts are on that list. Not peanut but macadamias - not that I'm willing to share macadamias with anybody, and walnuts. She'd really like some date and walnut slice and "bad for dogs" is a good excuse to eat it all myself.

I try to explain to joggers at our local football ovals that putting their drink bottles on the ground next to footy goal posts or the floodlight poles is a really really bad idea, but they don't learn. I watched one ACD bitch - pee and drink out of the gutter next to a football oval as she ran through the long puddle in it. And then come back and roll in it and then drink some more. So that dog had no trouble peeing on its own reflection. Menky water tastes best - especially the stuff in the saucer under the pot plant with mozzie larvae and algae in it.

website I recommended has returned to life... http://www.heartless-bitches.com/rants/man...tor/manip.shtml She has to figure it out for herself. You're allowed to be worried about her and say so, you're her mum. You could ask her if she wants you to let her know how you feel about her staying with Mr control Freak, or if it would be better if you keep it to yourself. Sometimes if you push - they push back but don't do or see what needs doing. My whole family had a problem with my brother smoking - and nagging him about it or even discussing it aside from the "we're worried about you" comment - did not help.

Yeah, I got lucky, a friend with a weimerana - her dog was wearing one, she met the lady (delta dog trainer) that sells them (the brand I have - though I don't think it matters which one much), in a coffee shop. And they got talking about dogs and control. My dog club "doesn't believe in them". I've met heaps of trainers who just "poo poo" them without even looking at them or trying them. I make it really really easy for people to try. I have flat collar on my dog and harness. I clip the lead on the collar and walk away from my dog, who pulls after me, and then I go back and swap the clip to the harness. The difference is dramatic. That's how I tried the first one I saw out - on the weimerana. He's one powerful dog. He ate his first one and is now on his second. Silly kids took him for a walk and left it on when they got back. The way I correct my dog at the moment if she gets to the end of the lead, is to call her back. And she comes. It's good practice for both of us. Not sure about whether you can do the quick "pop pop" style of correction, but if it's working for you, why not. nicolatu - I have same problem with my dog - when we're on the footpaths she won't take anything, and doesn't seem to be able to hear me. She's getting better as she gets older and more familiar or comfortable with our local streets, I can give her a couple of treats close to the park as we leave, and a couple more close to my house when we leave or return. I guess all you can do is build up from the back yard, to the nearest bit of footpath and then step by step out the gate. I haven't bothered, but you could spend the first couple of minutes of each walk practicing basic sit-heel work from the door/back gate to the front gate and out onto the footpath - really close to the house. I always make her sit before we cross a road. And I give her a pat and praise for doing that. If she doesn't, we just don't move forward until she does. So "sit when we stop" is very ingrained. Do you know if your dog is acting scared and won't take a treat or just very excited and pleased and carried away. I've been told what you do is the same either way. Fear is hard though because stopping the walk - gives the dog what it wants, but continuing can increase the fear. Where as with excitement - you just stop till the dog calms down, and then continue when the dog is calm, and then stop again if it gets excited again. And you can change direction to calm a dog if the cause of the excitement is that way. If the dog is scared of everything, it won't matter which way you go. Of course, you need to be able to stop the dog first - hence my (front attach) harness recommendation for lanabanana.

Hi Lanabanana My fave thing about the harness - after the control factor - is you get it with no doggy choking. The harness I use is a little bit loose across the front. When the dog is in a sit position, the strap under the chest should be not loose but not tight either. You should be able to get a finger under it. I think I have mine a little bit too loose here as my dog can slip an elbow out of it when she rolls upside down, but so far - she's always rolled back into it. She got a bit porky and then I put her on a diet so I need to take it back in again. Fit is extremely important. Do put a tape measure around your dog's chest to check the measurement and compare that to the recommended size for that chest measurement. If the one you have is working - it may already be the correct size and fit, but if the chest measurement suggests the next size down - then do try that. So glad you're getting back out there.

What does the owner do when she goes out the back door (if there's no dog fight). Does she immediately greet each dog or does she ignore them until they settle? If it was me - I wouldn't open the back door until all dogs were politely sitting. And I'd shut it with me on the far side of it if any of them took a step towards me when I opened it. It's been drilled into me for years, not to make a fuss of the dog (or dogs) when leaving or returning home. It may be safer for the old dog to have his own secure run while the owners are out. I've known quite a few older dogs to get beaten up by the younger one as they get stronger and no owner present to trigger or break up the fights.

I think that clicker training and shaping encourages a dog to think and problem solve. I think I've kind of undone some of the initiative in my dog but she's really really quick on some things. Like for a long time it was really difficult to get her back on lead at the end of a walk - especially if she was tired enough to have what I call brain fade, but I could catch, treat and release as much as I liked for the first thirty minutes, and after that it would get harder and harder. Each trick I tried to catch her would work only once. A few that would work on some dogs, like going in the bike cage at school, never worked, she could see that was a trap from the outset. There are a few tricks now that she knows but accepts because she likes the reward - eg going up stairs onto balconies. The stairs are narrow, and it's hard for her to go down them enough I can always catch her on the stairs, but she goes up, because she likes the view. Go figure. She's extremely good at getting treats out of balls and hiding places. And she's got me well trained - like when to open the back door for her, and when she wants a play - and what with - not that I always reward that. And she's worked out how to cadge treats, and who has some, anywhere we go. And she's currently working on pocket raiding (kleenex - yum, why do I bother with beef chips?). as far as the maze mentioned, there are partial fences around some of the ovals I go to. Frosty knows how to go around these, or where the holes are to go through. I watch other dogs who are there just as often as she is, completely unable to get "go round", and stay on the wrong side of the fence nearest where they want to go. In an ultimate problem solve / desperate act, my dog has been known to go *over* the fence and that was before I started agility training with her. Then again, she's part ACD and ACD are part dingo. I think there is a lot of problem solving that is encouraged or squashed in a domestic dog, especially a well fed one.

Minet Good on you for trying. Corrective collar -> if she's ignoring that, you might want to try a front attach training harness (one that clips on the front of the chest not the middle of the back) instead. There are other types of corrective collars around but I would only recommend trying those under supervision of a professional experienced (ideally qualified) dog trainer. Also try arriving early like 15 to 30 minutes early - the guys that run our dog club usually arrive half an hour early, and discuss your problems with them. Our club has "graduation" at the end of each month, so on that day - dogs are usually on their best behaviour and have had a whole month of practice, in class and ideally - at home or the local walking places. I've seen heaps of dogs do the bouncy bouncy thing and learn to behave, but your dog won't if you avoid class. A smaller session with a one on one or small group trainer would probably help. I found the many dogs at dog club fantastic for socialising my dog. Cattle dogs can be quite grumpy if not taught how to behave nicely, tho mine has always been a grovel dog - she's had to learn there's some dogs you MUST leave alone... Couldn't have done that without the close supervison and well publicised greeting rules at dog club either.

One of my friends sent a freaked out email to his mum, who freaked out and called the police - who couldn't get him to answer the door, so the police woman went through his dog door. Friend spent three weeks in hospital. So you never know who, besides the dogs, will use those things.

Just FYI That oval is known as Mitchell Park, in Mitchell Park, on Quick Road. Home of the Mitchell Park Lions Football Club.

The dog is young, would heal relatively fast. I know I was going nuts without surgery I needed when I buggered my ACL (knee). Getting it fixed has gone a long way towards getting my life back. The trick for a dog would be managing the rehab. Until the wound healed you wouldn't be able to do much of anything, but after that, water therapy would be great, is that available to you for your dog and can you afford it? For me, three to five sessions a week was enough to keep everything working and build up the muscles around the affected knee. I did do some compensating damage - but that was mainly before the reconstruction. I know that would be different if all the joints are buggered. So fifteen minutes of walking against water - is worth an hour of walking on dry land - or something like that. Same for swimming - so that could go a long way to preventing the stir crazy desire to run like mad for the rest of the time. My brother's staffy broke her leg and was stuck in a crate for, I think it was, 6 weeks. She coped without going nuts. And she is a very active dog. So write down what your expecations for improvement of quality of life for the dog would be, and how much you can afford to spend. Investigate alternate therapies. Investigate rehab therapies (eg the water walking / swimming) Ask the vet lots of questions. If you don't ask - most of them won't tell you. Key question - ask the vet if it was his dog - what would he do? Will surgery really (reliably) improve quality of life for this dog? for how long? how well understood is the "stem cell" therapy - how long does that last? I've seen a human who had cartilage grown from her cells to put into her knee, but the surgeons I described that to laughed and said it doesn't last very long, isn't very durable or strong (yet). And she hasn't returned to her sport - so not sure how much quality of life improvement there, though I can understand her trying.

I love it. The technique is different to the one I used. I just rewarded my dog when she offered the paw anyway (she does that to grab your hand and she tries to put your hand on her belly for a rub - she's got me well trained). Added the "shake command" after I was getting successful shaking happening. And used a clicker and loads of yummy treats. But your way works too. I love the video edits and captions. Makes it look professional and is certainly way beyond my video editing ability / software. And the cat tail at the end. Very cute.

lovemesideways re the tug games I've just watched a tonne of Sue Garrett DVDs. She trains all her agility dogs with tug toys. And food. And they love doing what they're told. I just refer the alpha roll people to this http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/alpha-fallacy and the american vet association has put out something similar with some scientific study stuff in it.

how is bf going to stop the JR battle with snakes? You could try emailing her this link http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...=en&ct=clnk Sorry about the cache link but the main one seems broken today. Happens occasionally. Being with a control freak - is a bit like alcohol addiction - even when the person in it can see how destructive it is, they have trouble stopping themselves, and it's hard for anyone else to help. And pointing out the truth doesn't always help. She knows how you feel about him, all you can do is not-help ie no looking after the JRT or anything else of his. And no giving them money or help, unless things change for the better.

couldn't be any worse than the poo catchers

all dogs at the rescue / shelter / pound have something wrong with them or bad temperment. (it was never something wrong with their owner). you can't get puppies at a shelter (you get them from a pet shop) designer breeds have all the best qualities of their parents. blue heelers are more aggressive than red heelers Any dog with a "split" or groove on its head is part (or all) staffy Any dog that can do frog legs must be part or all staffy If you let your dog take a tug toy from you - you will lose alpha / leader status in that dog's eyes. (even if the dog brings it straight back?) If you play tug with a dog - you encourage aggression and dominance behaviour in the dog. check chain collars are good and training (front attach) harnesses are bad, a crutch for the handler - sadly the instructors in charge of my dog club believe this, I think it has something to do with competition obedience rules. An older taller dog will not roll over for a shorter younger puppy.

That alpha rolling or yelling at a dog that eventually comes back after you've been calling it for ages, will make it come back quicker next time. That hitting a dog on the nose or with a rolled up newspaper will show it who is boss and make it behave better. That rubbing a dog's nose in its poo or wee will make it stop pooing or weeing in that spot.

Terriers are hard or impossible to train. (and that's why you never see any cute terriers on TV, the movies or agility comps - NOT).

Labradors are good with kids (with no effort on the owner's part).

can't wait, scared to look...