Rusky

congratulations to you and Ruby

so glad you are ok kelpiechick. The stories are so heartbreaking that I had to stop watching TV so tuned to ABC radio which just had a good news story of finding someone everyone thought was lost. There are some amazing tales of survival. http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_em...appeal-2009.htm

kelipechic hasn't posted for a day or so. I am hoping that is due to an outage in the area.

This is hell, we have been out all day, no radio or TV, came home to the news of this devastating tragedy. Thinking of you all and praying all our DOL members and their animals stay safe. Thinking of you especially kelpiechick.

you need to link food with verbal and physical praise...was you I think who was talking about operant conditioning. Every praise should mean something to the dog. I had forgotten the saddle soap thing from the seminar ( it is in my notes though, I just found it)but one thing I found very interesting was the dogs being taught the gruff male voice praise. I have already started doing this with our own dog...husband..not me and have discussed it a lot with anyone who will listen. I use other stuff to link food...verbal praise like sqeaky toys and clickers but I loved the gruff voice.

the area with grass was exactly what he was talking about, he suggested sand too which makes sense here as we have a lot of sand in gardens. I have a mate who is a breeder and when anyone visits the kennels ( they board too) they are asked to play with the puppies in fact it is more like a command He has a safe massive boxed area and whenever I go there are always and I mean always children in the box playing with the pups. He picks a couple out and hands them to the adults for cuddles. I love going there. He doesn't do basic commands on purpose, it just happens as part of raising a pup to a new home. All the pups rae crate trained too, they all go to their new home with a crate. This was something else Ian Dunbar was big on...crate training a puppy.

so you must be the other one midol

I doubt that very much. He knew he was speaking to positive trainers in WA. He said exactly what the op said. There may be a place for an e collar but so far he has only met one or two people who need or know how to use them. The pet owner who visits a trainer for a single session or buys one online is a worry. He demonstated handlers listening abilities and suggested that trainers can get sucked into believing that they are doing stuff correctly. He told us a devastating story of his own class. We all know this, we all get frustrated sometimes but if people can get things wrong with a simple excercise they can mess up an e collar and do a lot more damage. He didn't dwell on it as he simply got agreement, he moved on quickly from any area he could see 'noddies' He may have talked about aids in the Sydney seminar a bit more. He is open to discussion with trainers, send him an email to get his thoughts, he will tell you. I have a lot to think about from the seminar and so far have been incredibly busy so not had time for discussion with other trainers. I will today, all organised and a lot needs talking about. He really was saying that if training started in the whelping box behaviour problems would not happen and aids not needed. I was a bit upset about his breed opinions, he feels that ACD should be socialised in uterus as they are the worst biters, that bite inhibition should be started at birth. I got the impression he didn't like them but I was probably wrong, he was simply trying to get the message out there. yes! This is the number one problem of all new puppy owners.

I attended the Perth 3 day seminar What Ian Dunbar said to us re the quadrants is this If trainers spent as much time helping people to train their dogs as they do discussing the quadrants on public forums we might have better informed owners. He is a very entertaining speaker, he is not travelling so much and will not visit Australia for seminars but will visit to see some of the country. There are heaps of free videos and also free book downloads on his dogstar daily site. http://www.dogstardaily.com/ He doesn't like any training device apart from a flat collar and a lead. He says every dog should have a kong and it is really our responsibility as trainers to try and make a mark on puppy socialisation. He is not popular with breeders. He believes every puppy should be potty trained, know how to do all basic commands by the age of 8 weeks and have met and been handled by at least 100 people to have met cats and other adult dogs/horses/sheep chickens or whatever. That this socialisations continues for the rest of their lives. He is big on bite inhibition and has some very interesting methods of desensitisation. All his books and DVDs are available on the web site. He met a chap at the airport who had just got or was just getting a puppy, he told him to buy a kong and download before and after you get a puppy from the website. He said these are the two best pieces of information any of us can give to a new puppy owner. He has a shelter now in his hometown. I loved his ideas for shelter dogs and I am sure that the many people from rescue who attended the seminar will have already or will be in the process of implementing his simple effective ideas. He has a book almost ready for press to assist in the education, training and activity of shelter dogs. Ian Dunbar has never been PP, he has always been just Ian Dunbar. He does not punish dogs, he sees no point in punishment. His demo is a little hard to explain but he talks constantly to a dog to praise and to advise that the puppy/dog is or is not doing the right thing. I loved his 'bully' puppy in a baby class demo. He uses a lot of 'choose to heel 'for adult dogs. His loose leash/heel demo was very good. I used it in class last night. He uses a lot of shaping behaviour and the loose leash is a mix of baby steps. choose to heel and perfectly timed rewards. He uses heaps of food when training any new move, for lure and for reward. The lure goes very quickly, the food reward can be substituted for anything which the dog enjoys. Ian Dunbar is the father of reward based training. He held the very first puppy classes anywhere in the world. His observations of dogs during his career as a vet and animal behaviourist and later as a trainer are absolutley fascinating.

Dear santa I want some of ptolomys drive , determination and hard work ethic :D Good luck with the kids...but it's in the bag merry Christmas

This interview is interesting and one I had in my dog links. http://www.workingdogweb.com/Coppinger.htm I call dogs a 'loose pack' in a class for example where dogs get used to seeing and training with the same dogs. I never agreed with the dominance theory, but that is the beauty of theory, if you don't like one then find one that you do I love that all the observations of wolves show kind leaders. Of course htere will always be an exception to the rule and they have their whipping boy...perhaps he or she first went off in search of food? I have watched many street dogs and though in villages they gather to warn and bark often they don't run together except in small family groups or 3 or 4. It is quite usual to see a dog running alone and joining his friends for the comparative safety of the group later in the day. Dogs follow people, even where they are treated badly in some countries. will think about this all day now.

great

my dog killed a kangaroo recently she ripped off the head and brought it to me, she didn't eat first. I thought that was very very sad but also very interesting. Domesticated dog remains have now been found much earlier than the neolithic period but the theory behind domestication would still stand I guess. I wonder though about packs of dogs who run down and eat sheep, they call them wild dogs, usually shot if seen but they run down and kill and eat. We can theorise that man became the pack by providing food to those wolves unable or unwilling to hunt. Woves and dogs can interbreed, therefore they are the same species. Dogs also still help man to hunt were nurtured and bred for that specific task, so did man see a pack of wolves hunting and with his tiny brain think that would be useful if I could get one of those wolves to help me. Did he think I will take a puppy and see how we get on ? who knows ...but it is an interesting topic.

a friend of mine is training a pig right now, the pig is pregnant and is at an agricultural school. She has taught the pig to turn on a shower to keep cool click and treat.. She is very impressed with the pigs and wonders of she could train it to CCD

so sad for you, Monster had a terrific smile, run free now sweetie

I bought a black dog treat pouch recently, I also got a liner for it and I really loved it. I popped it on the bonnet of the car after training and forgot to put it in the car I am so angry with myself.

I get told what people liked and disliked regularly. I will ask over the next few days, hold it in my brain and PM you. I dislike that many people who come to class with 14 month or older dogs didn't think there was anywhere else to go unless they signed up for more training costing a whole heap of cash. For that reason many just do PPS, their dog grows, gets out of control and then we have a problem. I wish all PPS would make alternative suggestions. A lot of vet clinics do, it is the franchise which don't and it gives me the whoopsies.

I have not been to obedience classes- but this doesn't sound very 'educational' JulesP, We also do this for a recall but not for stay. It is a great way to help with recalls, maybe the OP misunderstood the instructors criteria. yes a recall excercise not a stay, no stay command is given at all. You need to proof your stays.

I use a rope which is made by a chap here. If the headcollar fails there is safety collar. The guy I spoke of was not using it that way and the chain was very tight. He is coming along now, there is a language barrier. Just wondering does the e collar work in water? I never really thought about it before. I guesss they must as dogs love to run in rivers and the ocean. Point taken that the collar is just switched off.

There is something which causes me to get upset, it is people buying halters and no pull harness without anyone to assist them in the use and fitting. I know all about the DVD but is unheeded in most cases and not understood by the majority of people who can pop into any store and buy these things. I must watch it again see if anything has changed. I see a huge number of people rocking up with their dogs being abused on the end of a halti and similarly with no pull harness. The general thing they say is that they bought it and it doesn't work...well it did at first now they don't. So you see a poor dog with a super tight harness or a head collar too tight or too loose with a jumping pony lookalike on the end of the lead. The dogs are very grateful when I remove these things. My preferance is always a flat collar I do fit haltis and sporn, I demonstrate use,they aren't right for all dogs. I insist they are not used for socialisation and play, simply to assist the dog to learn the loose leash walking combined with a flat collar loose leash walking excercise.... To give the handler a breather and to be able to reward correctly for not pulling. One chap arrived first day at class with a sporn, headcollar and choker on his dog all tied to the same lead :D Walking down the street I see dogs being abused who are wearing head collars. They don't even fit all dogs. I am a fan of them but I wish their use was restricted. They should only be used very short term. The only comment I have about E or other types of collars that I don't use is that the objective should be to remove it as early as possible once the desired behaviour is trained.

do you notice any stiffness or slowness in his drop when he is not under command, does he 'flop' easily ? could he have some discomfort? if he doesn't and he is working beautifully in every other area he may simply not understand what you are asking of him. Reward consistantly for every drop no matter his postion and make sure your hand and voice signals are clear. Drop his treat between his paws when he drops then go down with him and massage him, make it fun for him and a pleasant experience.Once he is dropping consistantly then start the position reward. Sometimes it can take a while for the penny to drop.

http://www.claremiddle.com/ she has a great reputation, uses traditional and alternative therapy.

With sibes and mals I generally would not rehome to a same sex home. There are exceptions obviously and I wish you luck that your new girl is just settling in and that this is not a serious ongoing situation.I am Hoping that huski can help you with someone and the situation is quickly sorted.

I guess this is ref to Ernys play pen idea...why won't it work?

Will PM you. No website I don't think.