hankdog

Between the passing of Hank and getting Jake I would have been happy to dog daysit, company without committnent. How do you access people like that, ads at the vet, dog park maybe? Well done Jelly, very happy to hear you got some timeout for human company.

Well I could care about the muddy paw prints.... meh more character for the house.

They get mentally fitter as well. When I started Jake was up for about a 2 minute clicker tricks session, now he can go longer than the treats last. Todays session I put out a big box , a paper serviette, a soft toy and a counter bell. Clicked for touching serviette, tipping box, shaking toy till it squeaked and ringing bell but since he doesn't like the toy he got 3 treats for that, one for bell ringing and 2 for tipping the box since that's new and hard work to get it right and funny to watch him do so bonus for me. I spread everything out so he has to make choices and walk around and back to me for his treat. He worked it out and finally chose box tipping as his primary payoff , maybe because he got a laugh for it as well. He kept playing till all his dinner and a bit extra was done and was trying to have a few bonus goes of targeting stuff as I packed away. It's also definitely helped him learn the link between action and reward.

Beautiful girl Roo and lovely person Nekhbet, hope this all works out.

I reckon there is, and an oppositional defiance and autistic and also BAS (being a $@it)! Some days Jakes got all of them. Somedays I feel like doing other things with a thunking great leg of lamb. One day you'll look back and be so proud if yourself and how well you've trained Zig, hang in there.

a boggle of bulldogs

Don't know if you have a south African shop near you but try get some biltong, it's dried salted beef stuff. Dogs can smell it a mile away,( and it survives the wash in your pockets). Bronsoon I have a chi owner in my street with the same attitude, he calls it the Anglo- Mexican war which is hilarious if you're not on the end of a lunging dogs lead. Jake has less than zero social skills unfortunately, but sometimes I get excited when I see a glimmer of normal dog behavior. My instinct would be to allow him to cross the road to avoid if he willl go quietly but I know there's also an argument to not encourage the fearful behavior. I guess it will depend on where you are in the process.

Had an interesting day. Out walking on a new route and big dog barks from behind a fence, so we settle and then keep walking to the gate. Two golden labs are wagging and wuffing at their side gate and since we've already settled Jake happily sits to look at them. Next thing he starts yipping in a funny high pitched way I've never heard before. Labs love it and one disappears and comes back witha toy that he starts tossing and catching. Lots of excitement and Jake starts little jumps and turns, everyone seems to be having fun but I move on because energy levels are rising and I don't want it to go south. When I get home the new neighbours poodle crosses are playing in their garden, my workroom has a balcony where Jake can sit and watch them and all week he's been running in to tell me about them and then we go watch them and I explain to Jake about how much fun it would be to play like they do. So we settle and in he comes to call me and while watching them I realise the yipping and capering he did earlier looks very similar to how these dogs behave. So I'm wondering if he's possibly been absorbing their play style and trying to model some pro social behaviour? Anybody had anything similar happen. You can bet we will be visiting those labs again.

Well Jakes a bit speshul

Love the quilt in Olivers dreadlocks pic and I can see the name Bella wold have been totally obvious, she's so very elegant. I've got to this week because I couldn't make up my mind. Sorting these cushions takes focus and energy, so exhausting. Jake and the pumpkin stalk- grown from compost this thing is taking over the garden. Week 5/52

Not sure if you've already tried a dog sport but since you're going to be with her anyway would getting into agility, obedience or flyball or one of the other sports be a way to socialise and also possibly boost Roos confidence?

I've been through this, people who have no fence and aggressive kelpie, apparently there's no point putting up a fence because she jumps! Council will only issue a fine if the dogs out when they check up but since the advent of mobile phones if you take a picture of the dog out and include a recognizable street marker. mailbox etc they can issue a warning. Unless the dog attacks, an attack for our council includes a dog rushing at you off leash. You have to fill out reports etc and you do get named to the owner and then council issues a $1000 fine. However given the class of these folks I haven't done it because they know where I live but someone else did and yes it's been very unpleasant. I do believe each council is different though. Good on you for looking after Charlie.

Oh no, just when it was all going so well. I agree if I was prioritizing I would get Rudy's eye surgery first. My vet has let me pay the big bills off over a few months so you could ask for that. Good luck, keep us updated.

I was walking today and spotted oncoming dog, wild looking for cover , calculate if I speed up I can get behind the car on the other side of the road. Oops other dog speeds up and makes for car.... turns out little terrier is reactive and so as I approach the owner calls out a warning and apology as the little guy starts furiously lunging and barking because he can see us under the car. Oh so that's what I look like to others, not so bad really. We passed a new dog on the block today, it barked ferociously from behind a solid fence and Jake didn't go straight to bark. Lots of staring and sniffing at the fence and then some wild eyed LAT and little bit of crying. I kept him loose leash and let him figure it out and after a bit he decided to take treats and then move on. It was really good because I could see him thinking which is great that he can slow down enough to use his brain. I know he has one in there somewhere. We have 2 new dogs moved in across the creek. Jake is very fastidious about were he toilets and has always gone off across the river to the wilds but since the newbies have arrived he won't go there and waits until we are on our walk. Poor dog they're 2 little poodle crosses but if they're barking he comes running inside all upset to tell me about it. Inside the big bulldog is a little pansy!

Thanks Snook I used to hang in last years thread checking out Justice. It's really strange but I see a lot of Jakes expressions in Harvey, wouldn't think there would be a lot in common between a spaniel and a bulldog.

Happy fifth birthday Fergus!

Good luck I feel very sad for you and Roo. I also occasionally have to ask myself the hard question. My boy has done well with mental stimulation, clicker training, tricks and it helps to see the positive, fun side of owning a dog. Be kind to yourself.

Great, well done Staffyluv. I feel like I lurch along in dog fog most days but every now and again the little breakthroughs shine a light in there. 27 kg is big and these bull breeds seem to be so strong and really do some serious pulling. I tried barf on my bullhoover and it is the only food he will not touch, triangle of temptation became triangle of disdain,

Not food motivated would be a big problem. Not sure but maybe two is the equivalent of dog teenager, grit your teeth and hang in there.

Staffyluv we started clicker training when Jake was being really off planet. Gives you something rewarding and fun to do at home. I always thought Jake was not too smart but he got clicker training very quickly. It also gave me a way of marking a look and somedays I don't use his training stuff but get the clicker and treats out and mark the first thing he looks at. Changing direction was of limited success for me and Vicki also told me to wait at least ten seconds if you stop when walking, I now wAit ten seconds but we only move off once he's given me a direct eye contact look. Brenda Aloff has a good training program for getting engagement and she outlines a step by step program. Good luck I hope this is just a little dip in the road.

Weibritty thats a gorgeous photo, would make a lovely greeting card. Jakes been swimming this week!

I don't think it's ever too late, Jake is 5 and only just learned to leash walk. Some days I think it's character building and other days I wonder if I was particularly evil on a prior life! I wonder if our dogs got together and decided to stage a joint regression ?

tlc can I ask what breed your dogs are? I met 2 today who look similar, very sweet pair of dogs. I call your dog second in the photo Gandalph because he looks wise and the third dog I call Dolly because she has a big smile just like Dolly Parton. They line up so beautifully must take forever to get 4 focused smiling dogs.

Panzer bragging is a good thing, encourages everyone. Sucks that Justice has taken a step back, I keep telling myself it will be like scar tissue and once recovered the dog will be stronger! Today we had a cattle dog jump off a ute to get to us, in 12 years of walking my beautiful bomb proof Hank I probably had 5 off leash incidents but Jake seems to be an off leash magnet. It was a youngish dog, we had done some nice calm looking and treating as he drove past and were walking off when suddenly there it was nose wedged in Jakes behind. I think it was really just being over enthusiastic rather than aggressive but suddenly found myself in the middle of two dogs going round and round my legs. Poor Jake, his eyes nearly popped out his head. What was interesting was how calm and quiet everything was, no barking or growling, I just grabbed jakes harness and used it to lift him up since the leashes were wrapping me up and then the owner turned up and picked up his dog, felt bad because he was angry and a bit nasty to the dog. So I started treating and patting Jake and we watched the dog being driven away and then found some fenced dogs down the street to look at. I actually think we may survive this one quite well.

I've owned rescue mutts and purebred rehomed ex breeding dogs and my present designer bulldog is the first with major problems. I am average person on the street who believes if you're prepared to recycle a dog you should and wouldn't buy a puppy although I wouldn't have negative feelings to those who did. For me everytime I read anything promoting the benefits of buying purebred it always seems to be phrased in terms if purebred versus crossbred and since I've owned lovely crossbreds I always feel like my own dogs are being criticized. Since I really do believe we should adopt the surplus dogs before making more and that's just a core belief that I have as I try recycle a lot of other things as well, I think it would be more helpful if discussions didnt try to make a case for one being better than the other since that's immediately going to separate out a lot of mutt owners but rather tried to make a case for controlled breeding as a way of reducing the flow of dogs into pounds. I think this is a valuable discussion.