ParadiserowsPointer

She doesn't react at all

Thanks Papillon Kisses, Funny you mention Chiara Perri of Point Cook Dog Training, she is our puppy school teacher , speaking of which we have a class with her tonight, what is the support group for anxious dogs you part of? And thanks again for the article, very interesting..., i really appreciate it.

Thanks Nekhbet i have sent you a PM

Hi all doggy lovers, Ah, where do i start..., my partner and i have a 19 week old German Shorthaired Pointer puppy named Heidi, she came into our lives when she was 11 weeks old. Over the period of the last month we have noticed she is extremely timid and lacking confidence when around humans to the point where she barks and growls at people who either approach her or who are in her vicinity when taking her for walks to our local shopping centre, the beach or the Obedience Club. We know this is her saying to "stay away as i am unsure", so we do not force her to have any interactions with people when she is like this, we reward her with treats when she does not react and is calm. We are working on loose leash walking which she has not quite mastered yet to a) stop the tension on a tight lead when she does react to humans, b) teach her to follow/focus on my partner. She has been attending our local puppy school in the western suburbs of Melbourne and the Werribee Obedience Club for well over the last month, i have reached a point where im stumped in terms of what course of action to take as her lack of confidence or either negative association with strangers is starting to take a toll on my partner and myself. During puppy school she has developed from being extremely unsure of other dogs to being the ring leader getting other dogs to chase and follow her through the agility tunnel but she seems to have hit a wall and i can see a negative response to humans becoming a problem in the future if we do not address this issue whilst she is still young. We are working on training and obedience to build her confidence and our bond, but her reacting in such a fearful way has me thinking i should halt all training such as the obedience club until we can get to the bottom of the fear of stangers/people issue as we dont want to be enforcing a behaviour that will stick for her life. This is where i am stuck, do i consult a qualified behaviourist or work with a trainer to get to the root cause of this issue, being such a young dog i know if i can take the right course of action there is hope to overcome this issue but finding the right course of action is overwhelming as we have had negative experiences with a particular dog whisperer when dealing with separation anxiety with our other dog which was nothing but a waste of some serious coin and a serious learning lesson that there are qualified trainers, university qualified behaviourist and unqualified so called dog whisperers. Does anyone have any experience with behaviourist and or trainers in the Melbourne region who specialise in dogs with fear/lack of confidence with people? Also has anyone had a puppy who has had a fear of humans and reacts by barking?

Half way though his first day on the range he was already sniffing trees and just pondering beside the cage without flinching at the shot or seeming distressed by the noise while mum and the squad shot clays, slowly but steady does the trick..

The inseparable two!, taking Hunter away from his play mate Maya after a walk is no where near the as intolerable as separating these two, all pro's don't come without con's, with a tightly bonding dog comes a dog's anxiety and barking becoming a major noise issue, having tried everything in the book, never did i think anxiety in dogs would be such a slow gradual progress to undo a bad habit on our behalf by not teaching Hunter to amuse himself outside instead of always being with us or inside without crying blue murder for the block to hear. First time at the clay target club at 1 year old to begin gunfire conditioning, all went without a hitch but still has a long way to go, but now he can join mum at the club on shooting days,

Thanks to Dr Bruces Vets All Natural, i don't look at heat cooked processed dry and wet dog food regardless of the $ or if it is only available in pet stores. As a younger puppy around 6 months i thought i had him glowing in the sun till i took this photo recently at 12 months old and being fed food on the all natural principal.....forever changing the way I see dog food and feed my dog The shiny liquid coat was just the beginning of the benefits,

Having fun chasing each other till one gave up chase...

I was lucky enough to get this shot, i thought i could relate to how Hunter looked he was feeling while being chased by this girl who looks hungry to catch him if she can. Dogs expressions captured unintentionally turn out to be gold!

more photos to come if only the size limit was larger

Here are some of the better photos taken on our weekend park run.... With both dogs being completely opposite's in size and personality but who's to say opposites don't attract, Maya the Rottweiler & Hunter the Maltese Hunting Dog.

Forever a true loyal companion,where ever she goes he is by her side, whever she waits so does he..

such a unique, unreocniseable expressive face is slowly emerging

These were those days when you could put him in your pocket.....not so possible anymore

This is how he is now, still growing

Mita it is because of owners like Andrew who realize the importance of the breed to Malta, as an icon, companion and working dog unique to Malta faced with the very real threat of extinction due to no standard pedigree plus cross breeding and lack of owners registering their dogs. It is the FKNK with the KRPE(Public Relations & Educational Commission) established the Maltese Hunting Dog club, enabling owners to now register their dogs allowing research and information to be collected. "The Kummissjoni Relazzjonijiet Publiċi u Edukattiva – KRPE (Public Relations & Educational Commission) is a sub-committee set-up within the FKNK that deals mainly as its title implies, that is with public relations and educational events and activities, mostly with environment conservation issues. The Committee’s chairmanship is under the guidance of FKNK’s Public Relations Officer, and its secretariat is undertaken by another FKNK Council Member. The Committee’s members are mostly composed of youths, hunters and trappers, but also some non-hunting volunteers. Some of the KRPE’s calendar of events include the annual clay-pigeon shooting competition for teams and publicity Stands at Mnarja and Malta’s International Trade Fair. Other ad hoc events and participation include clay-pigeon shooting occasions, conservation efforts by ‘putting back into the wild’, FKNK Members District Meetings, Dinner Outings, Stands in various villages on special occasions, etc. The KRPE is also responsible for recruitment of members and events’ organisation for CUBS (children’s Club) and the Maltese Hunting Dog Club."

Kelb Tal-Fenek aka "The Pharaoh Hound" is one of the oldest domesticated dog breeds in the world. The breed is estimated to have originated around 4000 to 3000 BC. The breed's exact origin is unknown, but one belief is it began in Ancient Egypt. Numerous Egyptian artifacts and writings show a dog that is undeniably a direct ancestor of the Pharaoh Hound. The dogs were used to chase and hunt small ...game and were also a loyal companion of the royal pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. It is believed that the Phoenicians brought the dogs from Egypt to the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo. The dogs are now the national dog of Malta, declared in 1974. For 2000 years the people of Malta were exclusively responsible for developing and preserving the breed into the Pharaoh Hound we know today. In Malta the hound is known as the Kelb Tal-Fenek, which literally translated means "Dog of the rabbit", which was the dogs main task. Just like his Mediterranean cousins, the Ibizan Hound, the Cirneco Dell Etna, the Portuguese Podengo, and the Podenco Canario, the Pharaoh Hound is both a sight hound as well as a scent hound, using its sense of smell to a marked degree when searching for its prey. When the prey bolts, its sight hound instincts come into play and the hound is in full flight in strong pursuit. The breed is also a good guard dog. It has been used to accompany goats and sheep on their way to the pasture and as a gundog to flush and retrieve quail and woodcock. Maltese Lira coins were minted in 1977 depicting the Pharaoh Hound on the back side. During the 1960's Pharaoh Hounds were imported to England and to the United States. The breed was recognized by the AKC in 1983.

Here is a perfect example of the Kelb Tal-Fenek hunting in Malta along the stone walls, as you can see the environment they must adapt to in the background of the photo. The Kelb Tal-Fenek is rumoured to be able to run as fast if not faster than a whippet.

Well here is the very FIRST photo i ever took of a full grown adult male dog, "chester" , as you can see he is extremely well built with real clear cut markings, with dam large ears and one unique expressive face He is Hunters uncle, "Chester" one of the 2 first males here in Victoria.

Quite right so over many decades the Kelb Tal-Fenek & Italiano Bracco (Italian Pointer), it is most definitely the Italian Bracco,

WOW!, you found my post on the Maltese Hunting Forum! , those are some of Hunters photo as a pup around 12 weeks showing his natural ability to quickly learn to retrieve, as you can see the purple knotted dumbell is almost as big as his head! Well here is Hunter and his Master jen, he was 12-13 weeks in this photo. Here is a link to the Maltese Hunting Dog Club in Malta overseen by the FKNK Federation for Hunting & Conservation Malta who is pushing and working to do the research to obtain international pedigree recognition once getting enough information through maltese owners registering their dogs. aswell as entering them into dog shows as "Kelb Tal -kacca" is now eligble to enter shows run by the Maltese Canine Federation which has no ascociation with FKNK or its ascociated club KRPE http://www.huntinginmalta.org.mt/index.pl/MalteseHuntingDogClub

Here is a photo of one of the Twins, her name is il-Lily, She is a working hunting dog and family companion not to mention prized member of her family. The "Keib Tal-Kacca ta Malta" having rumoured to come from the hybrid crossing, of two breeds from different families, The Kelb Tal-Fenek from the sight hound family and the Italiano Bracco from the Scent Hound family, over time eventually leading to a breed in its own right with highly tuned eye sight and sense of smell. The combination of traits,abilities,charateristics and personality with a unique temperment but having said that the breed is not without its own problems. As a run down comparison of the breed aginst a known breed used for the primary purpose of hunting with the ability to function as compaion and member of the family. Compared to a German Short-haired pointer:The "Klieb Tal-Kacca ta Malta" Physically, "klieb tal kacca" is half the size of a pointer height wise with similar length but with a more noticeable elongated body, thus is combined with a deep chested upperbody with powerful muscular fore and hind legs their chest joining a slender neck. The head is pronounced and set gently giving the breed its expressive looking face, coupled with amber eyes with pink to flesh coloured eye lids and tear ducts, large hound ears, flesh coloured to pink nose in a medium well pronounced snout. They are a short haired breed, with long expressive "pointing" white tipped to whole white tails almost looking like a beacon flag for the dog in tall grass. As mention they only comes in one colour with no variation, Orange & White, with a orange face and white highlights with the maltese cross on the forehead, solid patching on the body of white and orange almost like cammo, with all white to lightly orange spotted legs, front and back. They have a well defined bite being a even scissor bite. As for charateristics and traits, they are head down sniffers, always following the scent but they change between their good eye sight and hearing to work in conjuction with each other, if they cannot find the scent they shall use their eye to guide themselves to a stronger scent for their nose to take over and vice versa. Being small but wel built, they posses large amount of stamina and endurance, as puppies they are seen learning their unique charateristics of "pacing" themselves when working/walking, rare is the dog seen going full throttle until its exhausted, this combined with their climatization to the hot and humid weather of Malta giving them the unique ability to work in the heat and sun for long durations with ease. Their adaptation to the environment of Malta and Gozo consiting of rocky,hilly ever changing terrain of the countryside to the rocky costal area's, requiring the dog to be able to navigate uneven rough terrain often having to reach places higher than the dog leading to an excellent ability to climb over rough uneven terrain with an ability to jump to heights greater than itself to access certain places. Malta and Gozo being island surrounded by water gives them their love for swimming and unique ability to float in deep water instead of treading water, having webbed feet they make proficent and confident powerful swimmers. Being a short-haired, muscular dog used to heat means they are vulnerable to the cold, suffering hypotermia easily in extended period in extreme cold and cold weather. As for personality,charater,temperment and abilties.... They are a true non-aggressive soft mouthed gun dog thriving for the bond with the human master/compaion always willing to be apart of a pack(family), rarely be able to be hunted or worked with in groups any larger than 2 because of their tendency to get jealous and compete with other dogs of the breed for attention, they will comepete to be able to "work" often bickering with siblings when hunted in a group as to who does the "hunting" when being picked. They have a voice that is just as expressive as their face, with their deep chest they can let a almight unmistable hound like bark go to being able to mumble and waaa waaa waaa like dogs do to talk. Often when hearing the dogs bark before seing the dogs size many have had the cliche small dog big bark moment of surprize. When impropperly trained or neglected they can turn into problematic barker and howlers with volume!, also being of the "pack dog" type when not trained correctly can become awful barkers and become extremely nevous when left alone. Having said that, they will be your loyal ppocket rocket compaion just like a 2nd shadow till the day they pass on driven by the desire to work and please it's master. They love to work and be kept busy using their highly tuned sense's to hone their abilities and define their hunting skills...means with little to no activity they will become bored, vocal, extremely hyperactive eventually becoming unmanageable combined with their extremely loyalty to its owner as part of a pack, more often than not like most gundogs breeds rehoming at mature ages can be extremely difficult, aswell as re-establishing a bond with a master to provide a hierachy essential for obedience and the dogs social behavior. They have a tendency to be "1 Master" only dogs, but they are more than willing to obey commands of obdeience for social reasons from stangers consiting of children to the elderly IF commanded consistanly like that with the Master, they have less of a tendency to hunt for anyone other than their "master". From an early age as puppies they show a natural drive to retrieve objects with their mouth, use their eyes and smell for "Pointing in their unique way" at all things birds and that flys or runs very fast. Their "Pointing" is not that of a German Short-Haried Pointer, nose down,tail up and erect with their body staunch and erect with a sense of immense concentration, moving methodically often stopping raising a front paw...it is hard to put in words as it must be seen. Their ability to jump gives them the useful trait of being able to flush. combined with their soft mouth,love for water and ability to tackle rough varyign terrain, they posses the ability to Point,Track,Flush,Retrieve,Hunt making them a allrounder for a hunting dog. They bond extremely well with chdilren, exhibiting great gentleness when propperly trained and with a child who know and will be firm but gentle if having to correct or command them. Being sight hounds they respond extremely well to hand commands aswell as audible commands. They are not good guard dogs nor do they make good agressive dogs, as they can become extremely flinchy,nervous and traumatized by extreme physical punishment, rough handling and such, they respond best to a gentle but firm consistant hand often guiding the dog at first, also they often learning quick from observing others hunting/training in a group. They will often try outmsart you by taking short-cuts which must be kept ontop of. They will become "Doers" meaning provide them with endless amount of food all day and they will become obese and eat all day!, they are also prone to excess weight from impropper feeding and weight managment also requiring omega 3 fatty acids to matain the oil in their coat that gives it that softness and shine. They can become extremely muscular when walked and run reguarly combined with monitored supplementation. They have fine fair skin prone to sunburn when young on their underbody on their exposed tummy. They will die from the cold if exposed to it for too long. They have a supposed immunity from a large variety of canine ascociated virsuses and diseases. They can be tail chasers and biters with such a long pointy tail, often leading to docking after chewing their tail causing infection, also their tails are docked for hunting purposes as it tends to bend when "Pointing" creating a undesired look in their tail and loss ability for the master to read the dogs body language by their tail. They drink alot of water!!, I will add more as soon as possible.

No, he is one of many puppies from the 2nd litter from the only 4 KNOWN "kelb tal-kacca's" in australia, The breeder here has imported 4 dogs 2 male and 2 female all from different lines to start up here, but now we are getting to the point where we need more blood from Malta as we run the risk of crossing lines due to limited numbers here. So having said that it has been agreeded with the breeder to maintain immaculate standards for the dog so any cross or inter breeding is absolutely a NO NO and shall not be done, leaving us with the expensive option of importation! yay! lol. We look at importing more pups if the litters go to plan in Malta towards the end of the year/start of next year. OK, So there photos, the single puppy is from a contact of mine in Malta, this little beautiful girl is one of a set of rare twins. The green tub is a past litter in Malta, i am using it to show that the breed has NO colour variation they are all orange and white with blue turning to amber eyes with the white maltese cross on the forehead, webbed feet, pink around the eye with a flesh to pink coloured nose, white tail, deep chest, eye colour Amber, The last photo is of a adult male named "Justin" who works in Customs doing drug detection work for the Maltese Customs and Border Protection.

This beautiful girl is called Il-Lily she lives in Malta, as you can see this is a full grown female. The begining, "Klieb Tal-Kacca ta' Malta" (translates to "The hunting dog of Malta" rumoured until confirmed,Kelb Tal-Fenek mixed with the Italian Pointer "Bracco Italiano" adapting to Malta eventually evolving into "Klieb Tal-Kacca" a breed on its own, exhibiting its own unique triats, abilities, temperment,drive and hunting instincts. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.409983175691438.95827.100000392771515&type=3&l=6d73eee744

Yes, they are slender like the beagle but they are a deep chested dog, well built for stamina and endurance in a hot climate.