Mrs Rusty Bucket

That's all good until you find the goatse one and can't find a button to report it. Ok it wasn't that bad but did include a whole bunch of profane comment you don't want to be reading at work.

There is a 13yo GSD that comes sometimes to one of the ovals I walk my dog at. And I've heard some people saying how awful it is that the dog is so badly bred - look at it's back end all wobbly. And then I point out how old it is. It's doing really well, and a lot better than some of the labradors and GRs half its age there. Frosty gets mistook for either much younger or much older than she is. She acts like a puppy (grovels for every greeting), but looks grey (ACD ticking). I don't care. I also don't care much if people get her name (or my name) wrong, her sex wrong, or her age wrong, or even her temperament wrong (that submissive shy thing is just a super friendly display - remember who did the approaching?). Some things just don't matter that much. I never cease to be amazed at how grown adults can give her a belly rub and get her sex wrong as she lies there like a complete trollop with all her paws in the air.

Kids - especially small boys are viscious creatures. You never know when they will just turn and savagely attack your dog. So I put my dog on lead when there are kids around. Just to keep her safe from them. Sigh. If only parents would do the same with their children. I'm being a bit facetious, not all children (or parents) are so rude but you can't tell from a distance what kind you're looking at so I tend to play it safe. I've seen some really stupid things though. Like small children running up to my dog and then running away screaming and shrieking. Fortunately for me, my dog freaked out and ran back to me and I put her on lead. And I went and explained to the parents - a different dog could reacted quite differently. And that was one of the reasons I make sure I put her on lead way before small children can get near her. They do move quick.

Cosmolo What a brilliant thread. I'm on a dog club committee - we get about 700 people join up every year but only about 100 if that rejoin - and it's mostly the same people. And of the newbies who just want a well behaved pet - a lot of them quit after not very long - because they're not getting what they want. But we've got no way to find out what they do want. And there are no follow up calls to ask. It's very very frustrating for people like me who want to improve things but meanwhile we're still doing boring yank and crank grades 1 through 5 and you can't start any of the fun stuff until you've passed grade 5... I think boring repetitive classes are a big problem and not using the best training methods (based on current learning science) are also a big problem.

Not just dogs. Children and drunks too. I have never left her unsupervised in a pool area covered or not - way too scary. she had another walking on water experience when she ran out over what she thought was solid ground to discover it was water weed over a very black mud stinky dam. Took a while to get that smell out. But at least she didn't run in again.

I found this thread entertaining in a schadenfreud kind of way - it's funny and you might learn from others' foobars. http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/194647-horrendous-handling-blunders/ Most threads I've read about getting into showing - recommend talking to your dog's breeder about it. And some dog clubs or dog breed clubs run show handling classes which might be helpful. But anything on how to train a puppy to do what you want under distraction - will be helpful.

When my dog was about 6 months old - she had an experience with walking on water - ran across a pool cover (the bubble wrap floaty sort - not attached to the sides) - immediately after we had discussed "she wouldn't do that". She wasn't keen to try it again tho.

So far so good. Poo smaller than normal this morning but that's cos she had less dinner. No sign of the contraband tho. She had a lovely time at the beach this morning - no sign of discomfort either. Ought to be going for a walk now but I suspect neither of us can be stuffed. She wouldn't be getting off lead this time either which does take the fun out of it for her.

I gave her the bread and she's sleeping. Previous bone eating has resulted in a 3am vomit that I did nothing to induce. She knows when I'm angry with her or myself - I don't think she can tell the difference. But that didn't stop her hoovering the bad stuff. I didn't yell at her or hit her, I only put her on lead and continued our walk, but so that she couldn't forage any more. She still got RZ (re-inforcement zone ie heel position) treats (kibble). I did kick myself for not spotting that package before she did. I'd cleaned up so much other crap. And she always goes on lead past the footy club bbq area. I just guess weekends after sport - she might was well stay on lead because there is so much trash everywhere - and give the local labradors time to hoover it instead.

She will love you lot. I have some bread I can soften up for her. I also have tonights serve of home made casserole which is like tinned food - without the mystery ingredients but includes a fair bit of bran too. So that and the bread should make her feel a whole lot better about life. Tho she has given up yelling at me - which is nice. I didn't think that was possible.

So we were down at our local park, the footy had just finished - I'd completed a lap of the ovals and picked up a large amount of strapping tape and other rubbish, met up with a couple of other dog walkers, was keeping an eye on my dog - cos she looked like she was about to crap in the hedge... but no. She was foraging - found a small paper bag of roast chicken bones - looked like the breast and maybe the wing. Hard to tell - she scoffed it so fast. The bits she dropped looked like breast/chest ridge bit. I wonder if would have been better if I'd let her chew her food more. She never chews it thoroughly tho. So tonight I've decided she can't have any dinner - because she's likely to up chuck it. I thought about giving her the salty water vomit treatment but I'm not sure what she ate or how safe that would be. And of course now she's complaining. Loudly and often. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping nothing goes wrong and contemplating never letting her off lead again. Though I probably will. Tomorrow at the beach. I also really really wanted to hit her. Hard. Very angry with evil hound. Sigh. Not used to feeling like that. Anyone got any suggestions. I'm hoping while she's whinging at me for food - that she's fine. I really don't want to take her to the vet on the weekend. Last time the vet got her to vomit up chicken bones for me - he wondered what I was fussing about - looking at a little bit of gravelly chicken bones stuff in the bottom of the bucket.

"established" does not mean the same as registered and registered - sometimes means with the local council not the ANKC. If the bitch and her owner are registered with the ANKC, they are only supposed to breed with another ANKC registerd dog of the same breed. It's good that some health checking has been done. As some of the others have pointed out "vax as per usual" excludes a 6 week old puppy going to a new home. So does the ANKC code of ethics. And good puppy raising - puppy should stay with the litter till at least 8 weeks. And "checks out ok" means checking with independent sources to the breeders - not just their websites and testimonials because - that's stuff they wrote and approved and it's not independent info. In my opinion - the best independent info comes from the breed club people, independent vets and maybe from owners at dog clubs. And maybe the LIDA database - to check that no bad genetics are associated with the parent dogs. A pretty website - doesn't cut it. Or I know a prince in Nigeria who would like to MAKE YOUR URGENT AQUAINTANCE.

Would a student at the roseworthy barossa campus help? - maybe ring Roseworthy up and ask if they can put a notice up for you. http://www.sciences.adelaide.edu.au/locations/roseworthy/

My dog can swim just fine - she even has webbed feet - and loves the water. My brother's dog sinks like a stone, and yet will still take a flying leap into the water and disappear under the surface. Never seen my brother get wet so fast - fully dressed... So he's pretty careful with her around water. She's an SBT - zero bouyancy or almost no body fat. I imagine an Amstaff could also have all muscle and almost no body fat too (sinks). Paddling helps a bit but imagine how you'd do paddling with 10kg of lead around your waist (and no wetsuit to add bouyancy) - I made that mistake once - doing rehab in the shallow end of the pool with a weight belt - and went a bit too far into the deep end. Fortunately I could jump off the bottom and catch the side and drag myself back 1 step to the shallow end... pS you can get buoyancy vests for dogs. Good for the sinkers or poor swimmers.

Teddy has found a new home so he's off the available list but another has been lost gone missing... Old Noarlunga area... Seven female SBT x Wolfhound - long legged and dark 6mo puppy. http://www.petrescue.com.au/view/152818#pic

cut and paste works so does f f f f f f f f f f etc. My first puppy photo had the puppy's head chopped off. argh.

That's interesting. So reporters are not following the AVA like they follow their favourite movie celebrities or opposition leaders. Sigh.

From the AVA news site 7th August... http://www.ava.com.au/newsarticle/dangerous-dogs-%E2%80%93-sensible-solution The AVA’s policy is firmly opposed to breed-specific legislation, so the association has invested in preparing a comprehensive report detailing its faults while also setting out an evidence-based alternative approach. A week later - it makes the ABC news. Wow. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3567764.htm Radio PM on 14th August 2012 Vets call for end to dangerous dog breed bans Interestingly - Hugh Wirth has changed his mind about BSL.

What I usually do is something like this... 1. Distract dog, check what she's barking at, if it's nothing - act bored and go back inside 2. if dog barks again, go put collar on her (she's usually naked at home). check, act bored, go back inside, or do some weeding (so I can keep an eye on what she's up to). 3. if she barks again (sheesh), put lead on and take her inside and shut the door. Number 3 is especially effective if what she's been doing is bouncing off the fence (at the neighbour's cat usually). I go straight to step three if that's the case. I don't call her or say anything to her when I do this, I just walk up to her, interrupt her by getting in the way and catching her, and relocate. I can just call her inside. Sometimes I do this. But it doesn't always stop the barking. She just barks inside. After step 3 - it's a very long time (months?) before she forgets and does it again. It's really important to stop it immediately if you don't want it happening or it becomes a fun habit - barking or fence bouncing. PS if you want a trainer - or someone good to recommend someone in your area - I've seen this one recommended for SE QLD. http://www.dogsontrack.com.au/index.htm Jane Harper Personally I don't know much about her apart from what other people have written in here.

You can "premack" anything. Ie do nice sit for me and I give you a blissful ear rub or cuddle... A lot of the drive or arousal stuff - is about getting a dog excited about learning. It's hard to train a sleeping dog or one that's just not interested in you. And some dog sports require some self control while running flat out (eg agility). But if your dog is learning anyway, and meets your needs - it's not something to worry about. I'd be quite happy sometimes if my dog had a better off switch or cuddle switch instead of her barking at me in the hope that I will do something exciting for her like run so she can chase me - or put some more food in the bob alot (second best).

Two things is my guess: 1. dog not hungry enough - do training before meals or skip a meal and then do training before the next meal. 2. treat not yummy enough. What's yummy is different for every dog. My dog's favourites are someone else's treats (doesn't matter what it is), roo ribbons, anything I eat (including wholemeal bread or carrot). For convenience, metwurst is probably the easiest soft treat, high value, and kibble for low value dry treat - but she often hacks these up and eats them again. We also use good o's broken into bits. Dunno why she loves these things but she does. It's also possible your dog will work happily for something that's not a treat like a game of tug, chase the ball (ie dog sits, you throw the ball by way of reward), pats, praise etc. Depending what you're training, different rewards suit different training ie if you want to train a long stay - throwing the ball is not ideal reward. So it helps if the dog finds lots of different things including food, rewarding.

Pet Rescue website has some good instructions on how to rehome your dog yourself. http://www.petrescue.com.au/rehoming_your_pet/ The first page asks do you really have to... the next pages address how you go about it. The main trick would be finding your ideal new owner - ie if they live on acreage (and you're sure your herding dog won't chase stock without permission - rotties are herders too) then you're going to need a way to alert people who live in the country...

Is he spitting the treat or inhaling it then coughing it up? squishy treats in extremely small doses work best. For my dog treats are usually about 1/4 the size of my little pinky finger nail. I'd consider breaking his meal up into smaller feeds more often, or doing something to it so he can't eat it so fast - like putting it in a kong or putting the dry stuff into a treat dispenser. Did you check how much the breeder was feeding him (weight not cups)? Are you feeding him the same or more?

mainly with each other - yes? hopefully they will find a dog that is both pretty and macho and well behaved that they can both be happy with. I'm trying to think of a human equivalent and failing.

I do like poms, apart from one icky episode where a friend's pom needed crutching... and he wouldn't do it. Blech. But that was more an owner specific thing, not a breed specific. I liked the dog though. I was just checking about the breed choice. Is interesting that wikipedia (which may or may not be reliable) says that a shipperke is similar to a spitz - specifically japanese spitz... So it might be a breed worth considering.