flame ryder

Weird I had this exact same thought today while walking the dogs. Was wondering if one could use a real live (non venomous) snake? My daughter has a Darwin Python who is young and can be quite snappy...it got me thinking. And yes I've thought about the rubber snake idea too. Eager to see others thoughts on this idea

Pretty simple here - love me love my dogs

Oh that's good...don't want people thinking I'm an irresponsible dog owner. Christine yes she does the death stare thing, I try and get her to concentrate on me with food and silly voices. Sometimes it works, sometimes she just wont listen. I do keep my distance and warn others...and yes I keep a tight/short lead but got told off for that by the instructor...oh well. Some instructors are better than others, at our club the instructors change classes every month, so we get different opinions and different instructors have different training methods. The good thing is she has improved and I've been told she will always have this problem and never be 100% trustworthy, but improvement is good. Funny though she doesn't give the usual indicators such as hackles up or growling...in-fact I've never heard her growl and she rarely barks. Attacks like the stealth!

MoJo has a rash on his tummy area and under his arms. It's bright pink, not raised or pimply and doesn't seem to bother him too much, but he sometimes licks it. It looks like it might be a heat rash...that's the only thing I can think of atm. He mostly stay's indoors. It's only been bad in the last coupla weeks. His skin in that area seems a bit dry. I use paw paw and baby lotion on him...sometimes it works but not lately for some reason. I bath him in Aveno baby wash, I have been using this all his life with no probs (he's almost 2). Not sure if I should try something like Curerash powder? He's a Chinese Crested....any ideas?

Just for the record as the OP I don't let my dog off the lead in public and due to her behavior I never will. Just making sure no-one gets confused with me and this Deejay. Thankyou

Snake catcher would snakes be more active at night or during the day?

In our local paper it said Kelpie cross. It also said the dog attacked while the 2 year old was in the house alone. Who leaves a 2 year old in a house alone!!! But then again don't always believe what you read

Oh yeah this reminds me of something that happened to me about 8 years ago at dog obedience classes. Different dog. She was an excellent dog, very well behaved, we were up in the higher class...class 4 or 5 from memory. We were all doing a drop stay, where you walk away quite a distance from your dogs and they have to stay for like 5 minutes. All was going well when a Belguim Shepard broke the drop stay, went over to my dog, passing 2 other dogs, and attacked her. It suprised the hell outta her and she yelped blue murder. All hell broke loose and our other dog who was training with my daughter in a lower class on the other side of the oval broke free to come and save her sister. The bloke who owned the Belguim Shepard felt horrible, he kept apologizing to me, he was almost in tears, he said his dog had never done that before...and it probably hadn't. Luckily my dog was mostly unhurt but for the loss of a bit of hair and a hell of a lot of confidence. After that she would never do a drop stay at obedience, she was always on edge.

Deejay seeing as you hi-jacked my post......does your mother's dog really even have a problem? Sounds like any other dog to me. I wont trust any dog. Even the quietest, friendliest and sweetest looking of dogs can just meet another dog they don't like and snap. Any dog can be having a bad day. It can happen to anyone. It's a risk we all take when we allow our dogs to sniff and play with other dogs. At the end of the day they are dogs and we can't read their minds. At least your mothers dog seems ok with other dogs some of the time. My dog on the other hand wants to lunge at all strange dogs all of the time.

but isn't that why we take them to obedience classes in the first place? I was never discouraged from going infact they've told me how much she has improved since starting. They tell me that she is just like that and I'll never completely get it out of her. And I don't let my dog off the leash, even with the muzzle. I always keep my distance from other dogs and warn people not to let their dogs play with her. I don't go to dog parks either (unless you count the obedience classes). I have considered stopping taking her to training. She's quite happy here, has plenty of space and we have plenty of places to walk her where we see no-one else as we are in the country. Her behaviour around here and walking in the forest or beach with us is excellent. It's only when we meet other dogs. Sooooooooo maybe I'll just quit taking her to the obedience classes, I'm pretty sure it wont bother her in the least. Thanks for the advice anyway.

If I ever go walking without my dogs (which is rare) I feel completely naked.

My German Shepard dog has a problem...she wants to kill other dogs. She has progressed to class 1, and ready to go to class 2. She really could be a very good obedience dog....I think I could go far with her if it wasn't for her issues. She came to us as a rescue dog at around 18 months of age so there could be reasons we don't know about for her behavior. I cant let my guard down even for a second, sneeze, swat a fly away, blow my nose...whatever she'll take the opportunity to lunge at other dogs and of course conversation with others is outta the question completely. I've started taking her out wearing a muzzle so as we don't intimidate others. It doesn't help as she still lunges at other dogs but least I know she can't bite them with the muzzle on so it gives me piece of mind there. She's completely fine with her own pack (our other dogs), even letting the Chinese Crested pinch food out of her bowl(I think he's the boss actually)and there's no aggression towards people. She knows I am pack leader and is mostly well behaved. People say this aggression is something she will always have. This will restrict me in classes as I'll never be able to have her off lead and agility is out of the question. Has anyone else ever tried to train a really aggressive dog?

For those of you who don't like building fences, opening and closing gates ect...I have one of those invisible dog containment systems. I am very pleased with it....cost me around $800 but it does up to 5 acres , imagine the costs involved in fencing an area of that size, this is way cheaper and if you are renting you can take it with you to the next place. .

I know what you mean...can you imagine comming home from a hard day at work to no doggie kisses! To me a home without a dog isn't a home. But then again I have no interest in babies (other than my own of course) and people, especially other women have a hard time believing I don't think sos n so's baby is cute. I say 'blah you've seen 1 baby you've seen em all' Puppies, kittens = cute, cute, cute!

Tobie I feel your pain. I too used to have a very stinky dog. She used to be an indoor dog and was very well behaved...but the whole house used to stink of her and we had to banish her to outside. Everything she came in contact with (including our other dogs) all her blankets ect used to really stink of her. I used to spray her with human type sprays such as impulse ect, tried baby powders, bi-carb, special dog deodorant...nothing worked. Her name was Anna and we used to call it AO as in Anna Odour. Bathing only improved matters for a day or so. We took her to the vet and the vet didn't find anything wrong, just said we have a very stinky dog. None of my other dogs have smelt so bad and they've all had the same diet. She was perfect in every other way. She died of cancer last year, I still miss her but not her smell. Some dogs are just skunks.

We don't live in suburbia, we moved away from the city years ago so my dogs have always enjoyed the country life and can bark as much as they like without upsetting anyone...well maybe me if they kept at it but I've never had a problem barker. I used to like it with our first ever German Shepard, I knew all his different barks such as dads home happy bark, there's a chook out bark, there's someone here aggressive bark. I think most dogs have their different barks. My previous Shepard used to stand there and bark like "muuuuuuuuum someones heeeeeeeere" then I'd tell her 'time to shut up now' and she'd walk off like 'yep that's my job done'. This current dog I have very occasionally barks at something weird like the cat or a bird. Once and only once she actually barked at our neighbour who came to the door and we both gave her heaps of praise for that but she has never done it again much to my disappointment. I thought maybe it was a confidence thing and she would in time establish here as her territory and guard it accordingly. Oh well I will wait and see if things change. Perhaps when I get another dog it will teach her to be a decent watch dog. I can only hope

Ok well you are right...watch dog or alert dog may have been better choice of words.

I want a good guard dog but my dog just doesn't bark. She is a German Shepard cross, we got her from the pound when she was approx 18 months to 2 years old. We've had her for nearly a year now. I just want her to announce the arrival of any visitors with a bit of barking, I've had people standing at the door and she doesn't bark, she just stands there! I think its weird she doesn't guard bark as all my other dogs have been excellent guard dogs. It was clear to us that she had suffered some type of abuse before coming to us...perhaps she was beaten for barking?? Just wondering if that is the reason is there any way of un-doing that? I have another small dog who never barks either. No I don't tell him off for barking, he just hardly ever barks. How nuts is that...a two dog household and no barking! Am I the only one with quiet dogs? What do you think makes a better guard dog...dog or bitch? Hoping to add dog number 3 soon, hoping that will eventually grow into a decent guard dog. I love them both but just wish they were better guard dogs.

OK well one of the vets here have heard of it. So it may be an option. Just wondering for all those already doing the provetlearning or any other distance/on-line type of course....would she qualify for the HECs loan?

Well whatever it's proper name is...jew or dew...wandering or wondering??? I actually don't mind it because yeah it is an easy going plant that doesn't ask for much, and looks good too, but it will overtake any other plants. We cleared one garden bed out of it completely, planted some nice new plants in there and then forgot to get back to it for a couple of months. When we did there was no evidence we had actually cleared it at all and all the other nice new plants were swamped by it and looking very sad. If I ever had a dog that reacted to it I think it would actually be easier to train the dog not to go in the gardens with Wandering Jew rather than try and remove the plant.

You can buy those gas flame thrower thingys. I've seen them at our local Bunnings store. I've always wanted one but to this day never got round to buying one. I've heard they work pretty well for a smaller area.

I use Paw Paw lotion on my Crestie if he gets any sort of rashes. I used it on my kids when they were babies too. I always have some in the bathroom cupboard, it's great stuff.

I have a question regarding Wandering Jew (Its a plant for those of you who don't know) I've heard that it's bad for dogs, it (supposedly) can cause all sorts of skin allergy's, but my German Shepard made herself a nest in it and sleeps in it, my previous dog did the same thing. My other two play in amongst it and one of them is a Chinese Hairless. Never had any problems. Going back a few years we had the purple version in another one of our house gardens...and again had dogs no problems. I have removed it from a few gardens as it takes over...it's a bugger to get rid of though, leave a tiny bit in and it will grow all over again. Has anyone had problems with this plant or is this just another old wives tale?

Thanks for that persephone...I wont be squeezing, I wont go anywhere near those glands. If it aint broke don't fix it I reckon!

Hi, Can someone please explain these anal glands thing to me. I've had dogs all my life and never once have I squeezed any anal glands. Why do it? Sounds yuk.