furballs

I have a pure border collie and she was an absolute b*&%$# for the first few months. She used to bite my face, made my lip bleed a few times. I tried everything under the sun that you are supposed to do. In the end, I bit her on the snout until she yelped when she did it to me, she never did it again. Every now and again she snaps but she is very obedient now and all I have to do is growl at her. I presently have a kelpie x pup (10 weeks old) which I'm fostering (she looks just like yours) and she is very jumpy. I won't open the door until she sits and stays. When she does this I lavish her with praise. I have tried ignoring her jumping up at me and it doesn't work. Now I growl like a dog and she immediately stops. I pretty much don't pay her any attention unless she's behaving how I want her to and give her heaps of pats, kisses, playing when she's doing the acceptable thing. Working dogs do have instinct, but we need to direct them in how and when to use that instinct. I always mix my dog training by using discipline and reward.....I have always ended up with great dogs doing this. Good luck

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think :D Thank you for your response Black Bronson I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults. My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for HER. I thinks it's more about teaching the adult dog to behave with the puppy. Our 3 year old had never interacted with a puppy before and is reactive towards aggressive dogs.........so we had to play this one by ear a bit. What we did was have controlled interactions in the back yard intially with the 3 year old on leash. He did switch into prey drive and try and chase the puppy and barked and had to give him a couple of leash corrections during the "be gentle" phase. The puppy is fairly confident and whilst in his crate, they began to kiss each other through the mesh with wagging tails. We don't have aggression, but knowingly the 3 year old is a hard player we controlled him on leash to settle him down, "gentle" command and praise when he got it right. We had them all out in the back yard together today with us with only the puppy on leash so he didn't start biting the others legs and swinging off tails etc to fire them up......he's at the biting stage with needle sharp teeth Our 8 year old couldn't be bothered and layed down on the lawn, the 3 year old followed us around with the puppy for a while then layed with the old boy and watched. It's all working well, but I wouldn't let them all out together unsupervised just yet in case full play mode kicks in. It appears our 3 year old is liking the puppy and wants to play as he has been offering his ball to the puppy in his crate and are interacting well through the safety of the crate mesh. The puppy is our dog and there to stay, so it's perhaps a bit different to a foster situation with different puppies if they interact and accept all puppies the same way or getting to know a permanent family member could have a different outcome. We haven't tested our boisterious boy with another puppy yet to see if his "gentle" approach works across the board or if it's working with acceptance of our new puppy being a permanent addition If the pups were mine and were going to live here with my dogs it would be completely different. My Rotti really does seem to like other dogs/puppies Maybe I'm too protective of the pups. I just couldn't stand the thought of a little pup becoming dog aggressive down the track because I can't read my own dog's behaviour.

yes... I am hoping that her brain will have subconsciously done some sorting/assimilating and so it will be not quite such a fearsome blow.More candles and prayers .... ha pers, you have said in a short sentence what took me paragraphs to say... clever girl. I think there is definitely some truth in what you say... but then I am a spiritual person. My feeling is Jane is currently doing the initial stages of healing her soul... I hope that does not offend anyone. That's beautiful, I hope you're right, I couldn't imagine losing one of my dogs let alone what Jed has lost

She's 12 months so she's a big puppy herself. Its ok when they are play biting each other, the pups little head disappears in her mouth . It's just when the Rottie starts jumping around that I cringe because she ways over 30kg.

Personally, I think a 10 week old is too small to play with a boisterious adult. I have a 12 week old GSD puppy, a 3 year old and an 8 year old. Our 8 year old is quite but plays hard with the 3 year old and the same thing, will try to play with the puppy in the same manner when excited. We only have them interact under supervision until the puppy is a bit bigger as it doesn't take much to hurt or scare a small puppy when playing with a large rough playing dog. Mine are purely in play mode, but the size difference at the moment is too great to be safe I think :p Thank you for your response Black Bronson I have been keeping the pup separate from my girl (they mostly kiss through playpen) I agree with you about the age of the pup and keeping it separate from adults. My query is more about my Rottie's behaviour towards the pup because I will continue to foster pups in the future if she is happy with the situation, I would just like to know whether her behaviour is normal and healthy for HER.

I didn't actually know what Mdba Pacers was until today when I googled it because everybody on here is talking about it. If I died tomorrow all I would care about is that my dogs are taken care of, ie loved the way that I love them. I have always been worried about this. I am going to join Pacers network now that I know about them

Hi, I posted a couple of weeks ago about my girl salivating around a couple of new foster pups I had. She has now fully stopped that and wants to play with the remaining pup, but she tries to play with her like she's an adult dog and sometimes seems like she will squish her with her paws. The pup hasn't yelped and actually runs around her in the play position and my girl is always wagging her tail, I'm just worried because she has a dominant nature and I don't know whether she is playing or being dominant. She has played with the pups before and been very gentle but when she's excited she jumps and wrestles (pup is 10 weeks old). I would appreciate some advice

Sorry to hear about your family life Puppy Sniffer. I am in a similar situation and made the choice not to have children for similar reasons. I have always had dogs in my life and to be honest my family dog (border collie x) when I was growing up was probably the only thing that got me through my childhood. She would come to the park with me and we would sit for hours just to get away from my parents. I love my dogs and have such a close relationship with them that when one of them is sick I will stay with them and nurse them constantly until they are well. In return, they care for me when I am unwell, they give absolute unconditional love, they are so excited to see me, they sit with me on the couch and watch TV with me, they are everything to me, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them. People say that it is different with children, but I think it all comes down to what you care about most in your life. If I had children, maybe my dogs wouldn't play as much of a part in my life. Fact is though, I don't and won't have children so my dogs ARE my children, only people who are in the same position could understand that. I also never take my babies for granted, they are special every day in many ways

I have read a lot of negative posts about the RSPCA too so hopefully this will change some minds. Good on you Julie for posting this Hi Furballs. I don't know that it will change minds, as it doesn't undo some of the other things that have and do occur to animals and people at the hands of the RSPCA when they should not have. But this does serve as an expression of fairness of attitude and an acknowledgement when some appreciation is deserved and hopefully will show the RSPCA that when disapproval is expressed of them, it's not just because we have a 'thing' that prevents us from acknowledging good deeds. Totally agree, but hopefully some people who were really against the RSPCA as a whole will now realise that they are not ALL bad. I understand where you're coming from though.

I have read a lot of negative posts about the RSPCA too so hopefully this will change some minds. Good on you Julie for posting this

I haven't been on this forum very long but have been reading all the responses in the "Jed" threads. I would like to say that you are all very special people for what you are doing and the care you are showing to someone that a lot of you don't even know. All my best wishes to Jed and her surviving dogs

Meile Cat & Dog vacuum cleaner is fantastic

Why are you no longer with Greenpeace or WSPA?

There are always going to be idiots unfortunately, and all of us decent dog owners end up suffering because of them in the end. People, please introduce yourselves to large and extra large dog breeds, they are usually the sookiest, loveliest dogs you will ever encounter. That's why I love big dogs so much :D

I agree with what Jed is saying It's usually from lack of socialisation or a bogan owner who gets a "tough" breed and encourages it to be vicious. I have a Border Collie and a Rottweiler and when I have new dog visitors I have to lock the border collie away because she is DA. The Rottweiler is friendly and welcoming to all new dogs and people. Having said this, the BC was socialised with new dogs at least 5 times a week for the first 3 years of her life and developed an aggression problem at about 18 months. It turned out that this was due to an underactive thyroid so it wouldn't have mattered what breed she was.

I've only owned 1 German Shephard but she made me absolutely love the breed. She was the most beautiful natured dog, didn't want much affection but was always near me. She would have protected me no matter what (and vice versa). She would sort of snatch toys from adults, but somehow she knew that she couldn't do that with children, she was so gentle with them and wouldn't even try to take toys out of their hands, without ever having been told. She always accepted other dogs, even though she was attacked by 3 dogs when she was a pup. She lived to be nearly 16 years old even though they have a life expectancy of 10-12 years. I wouldn't hesitate to have another GS when the time is right. I have never owned a Doberman, nor do I know anyone who has one. As per previous posts, it's about the upbringing with most dogs. Lots of love and training = good dog

I have an AH Astra, quite a bit bigger than most hatches. It easily fits my two large dogs with the back seats down. Always full of dog hair though :D

And also very good for the vets when they visit That's very cute that they open their mouth on command.

I have two females, one desexed and one not. The desexed one has so many health problems which I have recently discovered are most likely caused by her being desexed at 6 months. All previous dogs of mine have been desexed.

Maybe try getting the pup to like being in the bath with no water in it, throw some toys and treats in then slowly get her used to the water. My dog jumps in the bath while I'm having a shower and gets soaked because she sees the bath as a fun place to be, I can't keep her out of there...lol

Everything persephone said First time I put food down for my pup she had to sit and wait and I didn't put the food down until she did. She was smart enough to figure it out pretty quickly and from then on she has done exactly that. Never let them chew ANYTHING that they shouldn't, take it from them and replace it with a toy. My Rottweiler is 12 months old and I am leaving her in the house all day at the moment while I'm at work and she hasn't destroyed anything (yet)...lol Dogs need guidance and rules to be happy.

OP you may want to have a read of the "Desexing Debate" thread in the general section, there is quite a bit of useful information regarding pros and cons of desexing.

It is also one of the most treatable forms of cancer and is rarely inoperable... so if you have a diligent owner who actually check their bitch regularly.. a tumour is more likely to be picked up when small and cut out easily.. Depends on the type of tumour. Benign mammary cancer is often very operable, if the owners can or will pay for it. But I have one review saved on my desktop that puts the risk of malignant mammary carcinoma metastasising at about 77%. That's not generally operable - dogs need their lungs. Not to mention the fact that cancer is only operable if people are prepared to pay to have it treated. Many owners will euth a cancer dog on diagnosis. I can't find any useful info on this right now, so does anyone know whether mammary cancer is hereditary? I'm just wondering, if the bitches line has no history of it is the risk decreased?

whatever, I love my dogs

I'm sure many dog owners barely have time to walk their dogs let alone get in touch with their dogs. ummmm, don't have a dog then. Contrary to what some people seem to think, dogs are not an accessory.