cavNrott

Evidently the video has been removed by the owner so I can't see it. If the dog is passing out I would have it's heart checked.

Typically, East, West feet are the result of bones and ligaments not growing at the same rate. If your puppy is on a high quality diet this should right itself in time.

The Melbourne Veterinary Specialist Centre in two locations. One is in Mt Waverley and the other in Essendon. Their specialists are excellent and they have all imaging equipment and machines you would expect of a specialist centre. It really depends on where you will be located in Melbourne.

People who take handfulls of the bags provided by the Council really piss me off. The bags are provided for the use of everyone who needs one to pick up their dog's crap. They're not provided for just a few people to take the lot. The bags are cheap enough to buy FFS, why not leave some for other dog owners. Because of greedy people our Council no longer provides bags. All the bags were gone within a couple of hours of the dispenser being filled. Thanks very much to the people who took the lot.

Skip, I think if your friend feels confident that one on one training sessions will work for her, she'll go with it. She needs a good, experienced trainer and she'll realise fairly quickly that it's she who isn't quite getting it. Dogs catch on quickly, we humans take a little longer. Once she 'gets' this she'll probably be motivated and will pay close attention to what the trainer is talking about. It doesn't matter which training tool is used. I chose a trainer who was very experienced with a Halti. I am 4ft 9" and weigh 44kg and I had a young exuberant, very strong, pulling Rottweiler who weighed more than I did. I thought the Halti would allow me the control to prevent my dog from pulling because I couldn't train her if I couldn't control her. I wanted a training tool that would convince her that pulling was not in her best interests and would get her nowhere. It worked out well and I ended up with a very well trained dog who walked on a flat (Martingale) collar.

I'm wary of them eating dirt. Someone posted on here some time back about a dog needing surgery because the dirt had caused a blockage in the intestines. I don't recall if this was her dog or someone else's dog. edited to add: LOL at VizslaMomma.

I also live alone and talk to my dogs all the time. Bronson, my boy Cavalier, is very polite and gives me his undivided attention. Dana, my girl Cavalier, is stone deaf and couldn't give a rats what I'm rattling on about. If she's looking at me and can see I'm speaking she wags her tail.

I don't mind at all if my dogs eat grass. I do mind if they eat dirt.

Sorry Perse, I thought you knew her but it's Skip who knows her and Skip is in NSW....So, I recommend K9Pro in NSW. This pup will be walking nicely and behaving itself after a session or two with K9Pro.

Which makes me wonder what is missing if this pup is still lunging and pulling with the owner after attending training and having a behaviourist consult ... Hope they can get it sorted soon. If the dog is just untrained she doesn't need a behaviourist, she needs a trainer. If she's attending group training sessions she's not getting the drift and is just confusing and frustrating herself and her dog. It would be best for her to stop the group training sessions immediately and find a competent trainer to work one on one with her and the dog. Pers, as you know her perhaps post the general area of where she lives and maybe someone can recommend a good trainer.

I would definitely had the dog assessed by a specialist vet who deals with spinal issues. Ask your vet for a referral. My dog had spinal surgery done by a specialist veterinary surgeon. My dog became paralysed from the shoulders down and he now walks and runs normally. He had a ruptured disk so his problem was not the same as your dog's issues but I would still see a specialist surgeon.

Reasonably calm dogs can be trained with a normal collar but this is not so with the more difficult dogs. If it was there would be no need for head collars and choke chains. The magic bullet for pulling is, and has always been, T R A I N I N G Totally agree. Use the training tool that is best for your dog and for you. But the analogy with a horse halter isn't accurate. They don't work the same way at all This ^ quote was in reference to Halti's and other head collars. I agree there is no similarity to a horse halter apart from the fact that they're worn on the head.

They are only as good as the person using them sadly. Some people seem to think they are a magic bullet for pulling. I've seen plenty of dogs who have learned to lean into them and pull. The magic bullet for pulling is, and has always been, T R A I N I N G. If a halti helps you achieve that, it all good. However, in my experience, a dog once fitted with a halti will wear it for life. Given the sensitivity of a dog's muzzle, that's really sad IMO. Pulling or not, the halti is tightly fitted over highly sensitive nerves. The number of dogs that claw their faces trying to get them off on first fitting is not small. I was just about to go and do something constructive but wow, I need to correct something here. A Halti is not tightly fitted over sensitive nerves. It is fitted around the neck like an ordinary flat collar. It has a loose loop around the muzzle which tightens when the dog pulls on the lead. The loop falls loose when the dog stops pulling which releases the pressure on the lead. Really, a dog will claw at their face to pull anything off it, especially a piece of food. Put a small piece of soft cloth on your dog's face and see if it doesn't try to get it off. Have you had personal experience with the Halti? I ask because you're posting things that may be the case with some head halters but definitely not with the Halti. It is also NOT the case that if a dog is once fitted with a Halti (I'm assuming here you mean trained or wears rather than fitted) it will wear it for life. My dedicated puller who weighed a bit more than I do was trained on a Halti and once she understood and complied with commands she went onto a cloth Martingale with a chain loop which she wore for life because it saved me having to buckle on a collar every time we went out. She never again wore the Halti, it wasn't necessary because she was a very obedient and well behaved dog.

Bit of an oxymoron there. You correctly state that you cannot effectively control a dog if you do not have control of it's head. You then go on to recommend a check chain which gives you no control whatsoever of the dog's head. A lunging dog is not what anyone wants to meet irrespective of whichever training tool the handler is using.

That would depend on the type head collar being used. A dog cannot pull strongly or as said in another post, 'drag a person forward for 100m' unless the dog's head is pointing forward. Not all head collars are the same nor are they equal. It was a Labrador in a gentle leader, just powered on and didn't care one bit! I don't know much about Gentle Leaders, I only know about the Halti. I'd be a bit disappointed in any head collar that allowed the dog to pull.

Stormy, your dog needs to be seen by a specialist. I'm surprised your vet didn't refer you at the first sign of a spinal issue. I wouldn't consider physio, chiro or anything else until the dog was assessed by a specialist.

Correct I agree entirely. Again when I said a Halti will teach a dog manners it was in the context of my whole post in which I stressed the need for training. Find a reputable, experienced, damn good trainer and the dog will learn manners be it on a Halti or a piece of string.

That would depend on the type head collar being used. A dog cannot pull strongly or as said in another post, 'drag a person forward for 100m' unless the dog's head is pointing forward. Not all head collars are the same nor are they equal.

Not really The handler's knowledge of the dog's body language , and how to react will teach the dog 'manners'....whether on a strong flat collar , or something else. I . M . O - if you don't know WHY your dog is doing what it's doing ..and what to replace it with ....AND how to communicate this to your dog ... no beneficial teaching /training will happen . My comment that a Halti will teach the dog manners was in the context of my whole post, not as a stand alone comment. Dogs are not such complicated creatures that they're almost beyond our understanding. My dedicated puller was pulling because she wanted to get there faster than I did. There were no deeply hidden psychological issues. She turned out to be the most cooperative dog I could have wished for. She was open and so easy to communicate with, though she read me more easily and quickly than I read her. She was a special girl. She walked beside me (not in heel) on a loose lead with a flat collar.

Yes, yes and yes. Again, as long as the handler is trained in the proper used of a prong.

You're not getting it It is about training. This is what an experienced trainer is all about. A dog wearing a Halti will not hit the end of the lead, even once, when a handler knows what they're doing. A lunging, pulling dog can suffer serious injuries to the trachea on a choker/check chain in the hands of the inexperienced. Also a dog can very easily back out of a choker chain. It's a lot more difficult for a dog to get out of a Halti when used in conjuction with a choker chain. I believe neither a Halti nor a choker chain should be used by untrained handlers. Both training tools carry the possibility of causing injury if used incorrectly. There is no way in hell I would recommend or use a choker on a lunging, pulling dog. Chances are the handler could be dragged onto the road. I see people being dragged along the street by dogs wearing choker chains. I don't see people being dragged along the street by dogs wearing a Halti. The only answer is to find a reputable, experienced trainer and to use the tools that trainer recommends, with the ultimate aim of the dog eventually walking nicely without lunging, on an ordinary collar or perhaps a martingale. I'm talking about training the dog out of it's issues, not continuing on without any training while the dog continues to pull and lunge. You seem to be talking about the dog continuing on with all of its current issues. Training is the key to this whole issue.

Agree with the bolded part above. This is exactly why a head harness can help, though the only one I would use is a genuine Halti. A Halti does control the head and will stop the dog from lunging if used correctly because dog will self correct on a Halti. This is a training tool and should be used along with commands so the dog knows what is expected of it. A Halti should never be used unless under the supervision of an expert trainer who is experienced in the use of a Halti. Putting a head collar on a dog without being instructed on how to properly use it will teach dog and handler nothing. A dog wearing a Halti should not be able to pull/lunge at all, not even once. A dog wearing a Halti will self correct if the Halti is used correctly. A check chain will not teach a dog not to pull or lunge if the dog is a dedicated puller. All the dogs I have owned have been obedience trained but my last large breed dog was a dedicated puller and my years of training experience didn't help a jot. It was a whole new ball game. A Halti used correctly will teach the dog manners. I believe in using a check chain together with a Halti. The ultimate aim is to use these tools to train the dog so he can be walked on a regular collar without lunging or pulling.

:laugh: We got these awesome black ones that smell like tutti-frutti in the Royal Canin puppy packs but I can't work out where they're from. Emailed the rep but she never answered, probably thought I was crazy. That would be good to find out SnT. Some of those scented ones smell worse than their contents.

A good trainer should help with not only the choice of head harness but the fitting of it.

I like the black doggy poop bags because I can't see what's in there. I know what it is but I don't want to see it.