corie

Off topic (just quickly cos I'm on phone) - Corvus I remember reading about your toaster move, and the other day I was walking Butch and couldn't get enough distance between us in time. I randomly thought of what you did with Erik and it worked! His heart rate was still rapid but he stopped pulling so hard and he just watched the other dog walk past.

He certainly did Impatiens :D I agree with hankdog, I love that last photo of Harvey, the pink seems to make him seem more blue too.

Clay is growing up beautifully!

Jake seems to not care a whit about the cold! We have a small pond out the back but can't risk Butch with the fish hehe. Had a clam shell pool too but it somehow managed to develop a crack right down the middle of it.

Well here's two shots from me - a 'can we go out NOW?' And a steam train that came down the tracks. I saw a couple of parents with their kids hanging around the tracks before it came and I remember thinking what a strange place to be having a play date :p

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Edit: images are big! Changed to link until I get on a proper computer.

That's awesome! I hardly get to see a platypus even when I go to the zoo :p

I am already working on raiden :) feel free to send me your picture whenever (my stressful june has passed!)

Corie, I have to leave Zig from time to time (I am lucky enough to work from home) but when I do, I find things like stuffed kongs, hidden treats and squeaky toys, bones etc are all things that will keep him occupied for ages.. But mostly he seems to sleep when I am not home.

In summer time, I freeze chicken stock in containers and let him have the frozen container (dilute it a bit and add chicken necks or turkey necks or chicken wings).

Great progress with the SWF and Jack Russell Corie!

The only thing I leave my two are big marrow bones. I used to leave Kongs and that sort of thing but I found it wasn't sending the right message: after Del would finish with the entertainment she would just keep looking for more instead of settling down. I think she had thought that the lesson was that outside time meant treasure-hunting and problem solving. I stopped providing those things and she learned to have a chew on her bone or go to sleep on her bed.

Having said that, they seem to love things hidden in big cardboard boxes.

Thank you! It was the first time I tried using my voice to keep him calm as well - worked far better than I thought it would. Under threshold dog is an amazing dog. He got a bit of cheese after that, smart boy. Haven't got it down pat yet, there's a walking trail where everyone in the area usually passes through with their dogs and unless we power walk through it he loses his head a bit.

My guy usually sleeps 70% of the time he's outside too. I leave him toys, but he only seems to play with them, even just by himself, when a person's around. Sometimes I catch him looking at the birds (our neighbour has a pigeon coop) and just sniffing around being a dog. He would love it if I left him a bone, but when I give him one he'll be at it for an hour before he even gets up to take a drink then goes looking for it again (I've taken it away by now). Then the other day when he was working away at bone I noticed that one of his bottom canines had a chip in it. Not sure if he came to us like that, or it was because a bit of it chipped off after his hour long gnawing sessions. Am I worrying too much? As in, could it be bad for a dog to chew on a bone for too long? I give big knuckle bones, so I'm worrying more about him possibly damaging his teeth if left alone with it for too long rather than him swallowing a chunk down.

That photo of Koda with your hand - NOM!

Spirit has such bright eyes Gertrude, and that ear Is it folded back or does he have that end bit missing?

I'm lagging behind, but have been super busy this week! /excuses :p

His left ear has been eaten away a bit from fly strike It is healed over and will grow the hair back in time but the missing flesh will never grow back. Luckily his is not as bad as a lot of the rescue dogs I see.

Wow, that's the first time I've even heard of that. The sheltered life I lead! He looks very healthy now.

This isn't new, but since I'm falling behind a little... a friend was over the other day, and I took pictures while she poked Butch's head :D

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teddy dog :laugh:

A week ago several dogs in my area all went missing around about the same time. But they weren't typical 'fighting dog' breeds either. I haven't heard of marking or anything, but the only person who's gotten their dog back had been offering quite a huge reward and 'no questions asked'. Makes me sick.

Just an update - he's been picking up a trick a day, but I also noticed (belatedly) that he was doing a lot of skidding around on the carpet indoors - can dogs get carpet burn? Either way, put a stop to that, and with the addition of the tricks, the paw licking has decreased greatly.

I often think that the fact we are paying really close attention to the things that upset our dogs, and then taking proactive control is very noticeable to dogs, and they appreciate our attention to the source of their distress. They are so aware of little body language nuances we aren't consciously aware that we are displaying. They know we've noticed the trigger, and they know we aren't freaked by it and they know we are responding to minimise their distress.

I agree! Mainly because I think if we manage to notice it first, it doesn't get to surprise us in the first place, which gives us time to think about what to do next. I know one of the times it took me the longest to get my boy under threshold again was when an off lead dog came running up to us during a quick nighttime stroll - and I didn't see him coming at all, so my surprise built on his surprise and so on and so forth...

In other news, B walked past a SWF and jack russel the other day, staring but on loose lead, so I'm really liking our progress. I have problems with him whenever we go off the suburban and onto walking trails (where most people in our area take their dogs) though so we're still working on it.

I also find that if I've stopped walking to chat to someone for an extended period of time, he'll be hyper and pulling every which way once we get going again. Probably just an energy thing, although just something else I'd be working on...

Also... does anyone have dogs here they have to leave alone during working hours? What do you do for them while you're away?

It's not so much if I am still taking names or not as it is how long you guys are willing to wait :p I will always be looking for something to doodle, just probably not consistently as I am now! (Yes, a week for a single sketch is consistent for me :laugh:)

That said, if I do continue with this indefinitely, I will PM whoever is next on 'the list' :)

That photo of Koda with your hand - NOM!

Spirit has such bright eyes Gertrude, and that ear Is it folded back or does he have that end bit missing?

I'm lagging behind, but have been super busy this week! /excuses :p

Do you need a better shot of my girl or is her photo ok?

Your photo's fine :) but feel free to swap with another if you'd like a different angle.

You can definitely do that :) lovely of you both to offer. I'm on my phone right now so can't check - but I think GoldenGirl posted first stans mum, so I'll swap you with her. And noted for Lhok as well!

I'm basically working my way down the thread - only up to Aussie3 right now, but will hopefully, eventually get around to everyone who's posted :)

Also Oso, because I'm evidently atrocious, I'm afraid you'll have to wait even longer for a picture of your furry four legged - otherwise I won't ever get up to anyone else :p the kitties are definitely in line though

I love it!

You captured his smile and happy expression perfectly

So happy you like it!! I fiddled with his smile for ages, he spent some time looking like he had something evil planned hehe.

And we have Dante! This boy was so fun, mountain of fluff

Original

My dog has been through a very similar situation raineth, although for some reason despite being a mix of two working breeds I can say he is still fairy laid back 70% of the time. We've had some progress with him already, he used to be quite fear aggressive and try to check out the other dog before it could do anything to him first, but now he will sit easily when I think pulling on the lead will hurt his neck (he does the crying thing when we sit, soft whining I can usually break him out of when I have food with me), otherwise we can walk past another dog with only a couple of corrections. The biggest improvement I've seen so far with him is that we walked past a ridgeback yesterday, who lunged and barked at him, but we managed to keep going with just a tug on the leash. I've noticed that after we see a dog he will suddenly have too much energy to just walk beside me, so I tend to make him wait and work for some food to burn off that energy before we keep going. Keeps everyone happy.

We are seeing a behaviourist soon, she was the one who suggested to me it might be fear aggression, and the pointer has really helped give me something to work with. Avoidance is key until my session with her. We do the whole walk in the early morning, or by busy roads around 2pm when everyone who lives in the area is at work or just about to pick up their kids. Keeping a sharp eye out for dogs and crossing to the other side before he sees the dog is always a must. I bring bits of cheese, .5cm x .5cm, and when a few tugs on the leash won't do it I stick it in front of his face and feed it to him after he puts a few steps again in the right direction. Rinse and repeat, until it's out of sight. The big difference in your situation is that in my area we have two primary schools, so the dogs must be on lead rule seems to be obeyed more rigorously, the only off lead dog I've encountered is a well trained bully who has great recall.

I'd also recommend LAT if you have a chance to try it. We haven't been working on LAT because the only dogs I personally know is an under exercised, untrained husky, a hyper maltese, and the other a friendly labrador - was the breed that according to the foster was the one to attack him, and in a vet room with an adult great dane, an adolescent lab, and an adult poodle cross, it was the lab he chose to make a fuss about and growl at!

Another good pointer I forgot where I got is that dogs understand your body language more than your voice. So body blocking, a poke to get his attention, etc. Although I realise that a medium sized dog would have different considerations than a great dane :p

My pug went through a really annoying paw licking phase, I used canesten on them for a few weeks and she's pretty much stopped now.

The noise would drive me nuts! If I put my hand over her paws she would lick my hand, then just carry on licking her paws when I moved my hand lol

He's not too loud about it, most of the time I feel like I'm actually the one interrupting his 'alone time' :p

Did you use canesten for the yeast, or for it to act as a soother? It's okay for dogs to ingest small quantities?

Will still see a vet before I try applying anything, but thanks for all the feedback!

We do have to work on the fine line between 'it is okay to take from the hand when human says so' and 'don't grab things from a hand whenever I feel like it'.

But yes, will try that. Even though I've got Shirley Chong's method saved on my computer, backchaining still hadn't occurred to me

So Butch has no problem loving his ball - but he used to always drop it 3 meters away from me! We've gotten to the point where he'll drop it much closer, but only in certain conditions: if I throw it while standing on the grassy patch of our backyard, onto grass, and if I stand at one end of the patio and throw the ball to the opposite end of the patio. If he's dropped it too far away, I can say 'bring it!' and he'll pick it up and sort of 'throw' it to me. When we're outdoors, he's pretty good with tossing it near me as well.

The problem is if I throw it from the patio, onto the grass. He refuses to set foot on the patio again, will drop it on the grass and just look at me, even if I say 'bring it'. If I pretend to go inside, he will pick up the ball and drop it right on the door mat, but that makes for a very interrupted game of fetch. When we put his ball away, it's on one of the tables on the patio, so I think he's made the association that ball near patio = possible chance of game ending, whereas it will always be okay to give me the ball when I'm on grass.

Any advice to train/shape so he brings it to me regardless of where I stand? I could always just throw it out on the grass, but that would just be like giving up right :p

Thanks in advance!!

Only a little cute, hey :D I'm really liking the pink and purple (blue?) of those towels too.

Corie, Cookie and Oreo don't *need* heaps of exercise but they absolutely love walkies so they get lots of them :). In the morning on weekdays they get about 30-45min depending on the day, then on weekends they get bigger walks. This weekend we took all 4 for just over 6km's on Sunday and I think they had maybe a slightly shorter walk on the Saturday. My two can go for wayyyy longer, 6kms doesn't tire them in the slightest and they get between 6-10km daily but we have to be careful with Oreo as she has a deformed paw and it can cause her to limp sometimes. I think the winter is affecting her paw more so we have put her on catrophen injections so hopefully they will help with the stiffness in the mornings.

We don't take them to any off lead parks for a few reasons, mainly because Cookie is still quite afraid of people (although she has progressed soooo far in that area already), it would have to be gated so they wouldn't run away and also their doggie interaction skills aren't the best. They are very doggie social/friendly but their manerisms are a bit wierd, like Cookie likes to great other dogs by likcing them on the face which most dogs don't appreciate, and Oreo will be overtly dominant to begin with to test the other dogs dominance, she will happily submit but the way she walks up to other dogs for the first time could cause an issue depending on the other dog (she has taught Athena bad habbits ). Sometimes they come out to the kennels where the dogs without foster carers are boarded and we give them a run around in the paddocks there as that is a safe environment for them, and they can meet other dogs which we already now the temperament of.

Makes sense, I also read that many huskies don't have the best recall at the best of times. I have a neighbour with a 3 year old husky, a dog her daughter got her, and she doesn't walk him *at all*. I used to give him hour long walks, but he's quite the dominant dog (towards other dogs, not people), and when my dog came along (with his own dog issues, so not possible to walk them together at this time) I've had to stop offering her my time. He's the sweetest husky, he seems to know his basic training but is just too bursting with energy to hold still enough to register any of it. I really don't know what to do

One of the breeders I've met before had a conure that would try to fight her border collie. It would bob up and down and side to side when the border collie got her stare on, as if egging her on :laugh:

Yes dogs certainly do get hiccups - nothing to worry about. He may have some inflammation by the sound of it. You could get the vet to have a look and in the meantime try some Curash (baby cream) on the red areas between his pads if he is OK with you touching his paws.

Curash, got it. :) I've read about inflammations, it was a worry when I saw that the skin was red too.

My partners ACD does the exact same thing! She has dry paws as well but apart from that the vet says they are fine. When they are very dry we rub some sorbolene cream into them and it helps. Apparently she has ALWAYS licked her paws, especially at night. We try to discourage it, but it doesn't always help.

I personally think my partner doesn't work her brain enough, so that may be related to it. She is worse on particularly 'boring' days.

I've have had some success with teaching her new tricks, it seems to help for maybe one night. Currently attempting to train him to do it though

That's good to hear! Well, not the being bored part :D I haven't been able to spend as much time with him lately, definitely could be why. Shall try some more tricks more often then, before I move completely onto the cream. I might try and snip some of the hair growing out between his pads as well as an extra precaution.

One dog I owned in the past licked his paws heaps because of allergy issues. He had to have treatment for it.

When our current dogs (Cavaliers) do it, it mostly means they need their anal glands cleaned

It can be because of a few different reasons including boredom or because theres a sore or grass seed stuck in them..

:laugh: We're feeding VAN at the moment, so I hope it's got nothing to do with his anal glands! Probably deserves a mention also next time we head to the vet's though.

I thought about the grass seeds/a sore, but I thought that since he didn't flinch at all when I went inspecting that it might not be it?

tlc, which doggy is the white one? Pulls focus so much :laugh: I haven't even started fiddling around with flash yet, I figured I should muddle my way through exposure first

Butt whorls, haha. Jake looks like he prefers a different angle!

Cookie and Oreo <3 One day I shall own all the dog breeds on my list. How much exercise do you give them Gertrude? Do you go anywhere to let the fosters off leash?

I'll line up with the others and coo at that first picture of Koda. What a cheeky face

I think I'm a week behind with mine! We've had about a total of 30 minutes of actual sunshine for the past couple of days though. Love Melbourne winter. *goes to snap*

How's Zig been doing Staffyluv?

We've still got a few more days before our session with the behaviourist, but all I need to do is to wave a bit of cheese in front of my boy's face and his focus gets diverted. A bit of food distraction seems to be all we need at the moment to tide us over. Thank god for his food drive!

We also had a 90% successful meeting with another ACD x at an oval the other day. The other dog was quite timid, and their first meeting was through a fence before the other owner led him back around, where they both had a vigorous sniff on lead. Butch was only intense during the sniffing at the fence, but when we met on the oval I got him to lay down with his back to the other dog while we talked with the owner. He wasn't really interested in playing with the other dog. Just before we left though I saw the other dog's butt sniffing turned into a bit of a sniff and then nibble at the base of his tail - which got mine barking at him. My bad for not stopping that as soon as I saw it, but it really just looked like the other dog being playful.