Tazar

Hi,

Ok, sorry I misunderstood. Good Luck finding a home :)

Hi,

Do you want to keep her? If yes, have you considered remote fencing?

Beautiful picture

I was reading something on FB yesterday that talked about using Cinnamon and Garlic to keep them away ?

Snake Repellers

Don't know if it works though...

I witnessed a women run across the street away from a dog (who was walking on a lead), and start yelling and pointing at the dog say "vicious dog, killer dog, it's a pit bull, it's a pit bull".

The dog in questions was an old Chocolate Labrador!

Pit Bulls don't stand a chance....

"He (12 week old puppy) went to the toilet inside, so I rubbed his face in it, that'll teach him"

:banghead:

yes and we will never know what breed or how big the dog actually was.... just further damage to the reputation of AB, SBT and bull breeds in general I guess.....

Terrible thing to have happened all the same.

This follow up article gives a little more insight in to the way the dog was kept. Unsurprisingly, the dog was a 'resident' dog as opposed to a family dog, which is one of the biggest and most common factors in serious and fatal dog attacks.

"Dog put down after savage attack in Como"

Terrible that a man that relies on his hands so much will take another two years to recover fully.

Must have been a tiny back yard as I would not call a Staffy a big dog. Shame the facts on how it lived don't come out until a month later, if ever. Hope the guy recovers quickly.

A dogs home is a place it may well be territorial.

One of my boys is the biggest softie, smoocher and anyone can pat him but if I am not home, you would not enter due to the snarling, growling, barking and lunging at you through the fence.

If I was going to some ones house I would check for signs and read the body language of the dog. I would never assume :)

The kids JulesP, clearly the kids

Don't know Corvus, I see owners saying sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, sit. That is not effective control, that is the dogs saying yeah, maybe, when I am ready and you have said it 8 times....

Oh and in my experience, often other dogs will go inside after one does - kind of like free for all

14 years is getting on so maybe a check for UTI like Aussie3 said.

I am not aware of the history e.g. age, etc of your dogs so this may not be appropriate, but can you put them out, lock the dog door? For a couple of weeks till they get use to going outside consistently.

Mixture of vinegar 75% and 25% water, let it soak in before washing off.

Effective voice control is a dog who responds to the given command, first time, every time.

To the average pet owner, to be honest, I don't think they have any idea what effective voice control even means.

I would also say that many of the DOLers are not average pet owners..... :)

Bonza looks pretty relaxed :)

Maybe it is meant to be........

I had two (one has since passed) and then 3, then 4 and now I have 5. :D

I'm with dragonwomen, my carpets and rugs are being clean on Thursday and WILL stay clean till March next year.....

Deutsches Demokratische Republik Dogs. It is an old working line.

http://www.ddrlegends.com/index.html

:)

The American and German lines are way to low for my liking. The American especially

My fantasy dog would actually be my heart dog only he would be the size of a bear or one of the big werewolves in Twilight. Everything else about him was perfect.

The dog next door had puppies many moons ago and I was lucky enough to watch, I still remember it clearly and I was under 10 years old. Don't think many people would get that experience now.

I find it a bit strange that a vet hasn't seen it though? It is a pretty significant component of animal care, especially since generally vets cover all things.

'Sometimes it only takes one exposure'.... that is the whole point of aversion training, you only need to do it a minimal amount of times and bingo....dog avoids snakes all together.

Not quite true, and I do worry that this is the idea that people have of aversion training. A dog can't "unlearn" something, the behaviour is always there but under effective punishment it is suppressed for some amount of time. Punished responses can and do spontaneously re-appear.

What if the dog has never seen a snake before? Is it 'unlearning'?

Tazar, I think that's a bit unfair to say that if you don't chose to use an ecollar to create snake aversion then you would rather your dog die from snake bite.Its really not like its one or the other.

Sorry if you think I was generalising to all people, as I was not.

I was responding directly to the OP who thinks that +R is the best way to train a dog to stay away from snakes. I think aversion training is far more effective with whatever tool you want to use, e collar or not.

I certainly do not believe that every one needs to do snake training on their dog, in fact the percentage would be very low. :)

So you believe in +R training only then??

Yes. I've only seen negative outcomes from dogs that are struck, screamed at, intimidated, collar corrected, and/or electrocuted. Short term interruptions of unwanted behaviour, yep absolutely belting or similar will stop a dog doing what its doing. Long term outcomes, a resounding no and more often than not a modification in the animal's behaviour that results in the next step in the aggression continuum being taken. We should all know on here that a canine will pair negative environmental stimuli a lot easier than that of positive, unfortunately. Sometimes it only takes one exposure.I agree with what LBD says above, in that, the only basis for the argument against aversive techniques should not be 'ZOMG CRUEL' - there are actual real risks and negatives to this training as outlined in said post and my previous arguments.

WOW....... 'result in the next step in the aggression continuum being taken'.... not sure where you have been hanging out or what you did to dogs when you used an e collar, check chain, etc to come to the THAT conclusion.

'Sometimes it only takes one exposure'.... that is the whole point of aversion training, you only need to do it a minimal amount of times and bingo....dog avoids snakes all together. The result of that is a dog who does not endure horrendous pain, suffering and maybe even lives.

But hey, you obviously would rather use your +R only .... other people want to do everything they can to prevent that.... who is more cruel or inhumane......

Edited for clarification purpose.

You appear to base your e collar experience on a neighbour, who, from what you say, wrecked his dogs with an e collar. If this was the case then your neighbour clearly did not know how to use one. Keeping a dog away from a random snake, if you live or walk your dogs in an area they are prone, is not inhumane, it is common sense. My experience with snakes is if you leave them alone, they leave you alone, so teaching your dog to stay well clear is best for all. The type of stim used for general training is so low it cannot be felt by us and causes the dog no pain. Certainly more humane than a jerk on check chain, for example.

That's not at all what I base my theory on, its simply one piece of tangible evidence that these devices ARE misused EVERYDAY. I don't care how 'properly' you use your e-collar; the principle remains the same. It's aversive, just like a check chain and we now know, thanks to scientific literature, that these devices are no longer required in modern canine training. Anything you can do with an e-collar you can do utilising correct positive/progressive reinforcement techniques - without risking the side effects of aversive training

So you believe in +R training only then??