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Wow, now that's a freaky kinda dog! Def. sighthound x! So how come you purchased from a pet store out of curiousty rather than buying a x-breed from a pound or a shelter? I was going to reccomend the Bitsa test but if the dog is x-bred through generations it can be hard to even get a secondary breed ping on them, mind you, you never know: http://www.gtglabs.com/bitsa/ depends if you have some money to burn I guess LOL mmm I don't see any staffy at all.

Well I find it interesting that no one has responded to this one. I personaly think it's disgusting, your priorities are %$%& I hope you got the ribbon you were after.

If you offer a treat whilst the dog is barking you're rewarding that behaviour and asking the dog to continue. You can either ignore the behaviour or stop the dog by distraction or correction. The dog could be in a fear period.

Here's the dossage rates for the Anti-histimines:

I wish Calendula worked for us, I've tried it on itchy foster dogs and my own very allergic without success, even sponge bathing them in it and trying it as a spray.

Someone who actually gets results regardless of their formal qualifications with methods I'm comfortable with. Lot's of word of mouth and then try for yourself, you won't know unless you actually try them.

No such law LOL I don't let my dogs toilet on well maintained nature strips.

We've had 4 meals on it now and all the dogs love it.

We are aiming for April. I organize an assessor to come down and just assess the dogs. The 1st time we did the full 8 weeks but last time we just did 1 day and already had the dogs trained so just did the assessment. PM me your email address and I will add you to the email list of interested people. How do you manage that, I was always advised by Delta that those wanting to do the assessment had to do the 8 week course first?

CGC is awesome if you can find someone to do it with you, we've tried for 3 years and cannot find an instructor as Delta has changed their criteria for CGC instructors so not many do it now. I tried contacting Gladesville Vets where the OP went for it but they wouldn't get back to me so I'm not sure for how many more years I should keep trying. I contacted Delta themselves to let them know the trouble I was having, even they couldn't find an instructor for us within an hours drive.

See ya precious.

Your comments are fine and from a trainer who uses the tool very worthwhile to hear and relevant to the topic.

I don't agree with your concept Cosmolo although I understand the angle you are coming from, but in my way of thinking from a training perspective it's wrong. Walking can be a great way to bond with a new dog providing the dog has some handler focus, if not, I see it as more conflict with a distracted dog interested in everything but the owner who is restraining the dog physically to prevent the dog rewarding itself by doing it's own thing. The owner gets angry because the dog won't respond and the dog misbehaves more to achieve it's goals, just a poor scenario that you see daily on the average suburban street. Some inexperienced owners do have trouble with timing which is true, but as a trainer I see the priority is to teach them timing and how it's done effectively because people are not as stupid as some trainers like to think they are, sure they may struggle initially, but in one lesson a good trainer should be able to teach the basics in loose leash walking and provide some education to make a difference IMHO. If a rescue dog has limited training especially a big dog all over the place, I will often use a prong collar straight up with treat rewards, handle the dog myself with the owner along side me for the dog to learn some basics which most learn quickly, dog and owner. I don't see that using a management contraption teaches anything of value long term and definitely doesn't teach a new dog owner how to train the required behaviours wanted of a general pet. Most pet owners want the same thing, a loose leash walk and a recall generally being the highest priority and working towards that goal from a training approach IMHO is what we should be working towards and the rest is of secondary importance. I'm a supporter of prong collars however I can not re-home a foster dog with one and I don't believe they are suited to all dogs, a very good trainer said to me, a dog chooses its' collar, start on a flat and then progress up until you come to the tool that works best for that dog. So, how about you do your thing and I'll do mine. You've actually rail roaded my thread and I politely ask you to step away from it now.

naww you got the ones I have for my Danes

Maybe you can let the building manager / strata know if you can't figure out the unit number as the owner probaby isn't aware the dog is acting like that.

How's it going I really like the design, it doesn't go anywhere near the eyes. She got a bit scared yesterday on her walked and pulled forwarded to get away from the scary thing but was very controlable, I'm using food based training with high frequency rewards and she's doing great. I'm happy with it for this particular dog.

LOL I didn't understand any of that. I'm using the Canny Collar at the moment and have retired the front clipping harness as it's not a suitable tool for this particular dog.

I'm just waiting to hear back about delivery and then we'll be part of the fan club too!

Sounds as though they were given more than enough opportunities to get themselves sorted. We love Rescuers but sometimes Rescuers do the wrong thing and we shouldn't protect them when they do, they need to copmply with the orders for the sake of the animals.

Got it today, gave it a go, loved it!

Can you stop contributing to this thread please.

My point was this dog was having trouble being walked. Now since you yourself admitted the owners will have trouble with the ability to walk the dog on a collar I simply said is this the right dog for them? My questioning was of their skill level with this size and power of dog, not check chains in general. This is not about competition heeling. This is about an owner being capable of handling a large strong dog and understanding its needs. Basic loose leash walking I teach to people in a lesson and I can tell you everyone of every skill level picks it up if taught right. Or why not give them a basic lesson yourself and include enrolement into a training school as part of the deal if the dog is a little bit more difficult then average. OK I came out a bit abrupt, sorry it's xmas and this time of year causes me great anguish but anyway not your problem. My point is instead of providing something that will not solve the problem of the families low level of training experience, help them get it. Loose leash walking is achievable in a lesson. As for sending a rescue dog to a home where the people can't fully handle it day they pick up the dog - maybe I'm one of the few who has the luxury of saying no when I have an animal I'm rehoming. There is NO new owner, the dog isn't even available for adoption, I'm actually being pro-active given my previous experience with re-homing foster dogs. The dog is an 8 kilo puppy, hardly a problem dog, you just decided to run with some bizare scenerio you had on your head. I'm not having problems walking to puppy in the method I use, however I know many people having problems with timing corrections which is exactly Yeah you did come across abrupt and franky for a professional trainer your comments were extremely dissapointing. Include training as part of the deal i.e. pay for it......ok so I charge $300 for a dog and usually they cost me $500, my last foster was re-homed to first time dog owners and I paid for 3 behavioural sessions for them because of this out of my own pocket. You've got the wrong end of the stick and just run with it. You really need to slow down and read threads properly because I truely believe you still don't 'get it'.

I don't train my own dogs on halters or front clipping harnesses or anything like that HOWEVER I totally support anyone wanting to use which ever tool is best for their dog and the tool / aid which allows them to control their dog effectively so they can walk it so it's not left in the backyard. I find heel training very simple and straight forward using a check chain / half check but I'm not ignorant enough to think everyone else should be able to, I've seen alot of people struggle with the timing in the initial stages and I see that as perfectly normal, they tend to master it down the track if they keep with it. Loads of people don't subscribe to check chains and prefer methods such as Susan Garrets Halter method or other positive trainers Front Clipping Harness methods - each to their own, whatever if right for the dog. I'm NOT going to NOT allow a rescue dog I've pulled out of the pound have a home because the new family may have not used the training tool / aid I use and are a bit clumsy with it to start with. I don't think there's one new adoptive family that haven't gone onto training clubs with their new dogs, I'm trying to make the transition as painless as possible, I could very well not even do any training with the foster dog and just send it off to a new family pulling like a crazy thing and leave the ball in their court but that would be irresponsible in my books, the least I can do is get the dog started and if there is a tool to make that transition easier for the new owners why not use it until they start to learn their own new skills at a training club. I want to make something really clear because this is what you and Nek don't seem to get...when a family comes to pick up a foster dog to take it home I run them through how to walk to the dog in the manner I have taught it - it is very reasonable that they don't pick it up straight away - the foster dog will usually sense their uncertainity and test them and I expect that.

I'm not going to say no to an awesome family because they have trouble picking up correct timing for a check chain or half check in one session. Wow, sorry but that comment was so rude and uneducated from someone whose meant to be fairly educated in training circles. I don't think very many foster carers even give training on a training aid/tool for the new families, I do because I think it's important. What you consider 'basic' others do not. Learning how to Heel a dog is the single hardest thing many dog owners have problems with so I think you need to take a step back with all your training savvy attitude and experience and remember what it's like for someone whose never trained a dog to heel - timing is not something that comes easy to alot of people - just the same as clicker training - it's a timing thing. How about you go and tell all those clients of yours who come to you to learn to heel their dog to re-home their dog because if they can't even grasp a 'basic' concept they shouldn't have the dog........sounds rather silly doesn't it.