Cosmolo

Wow- now i really am excited!!

We picked up our puppy yesterday and have been in contact with our breeder since June/July last year when we made the initial enquiry. We received photos monthly before pups were born (of te adult dogs) and weekly once pups were born plus we saw them once a fortnight from 2 weeks of age. I would expect better communication- especially when a deposit has been paid and the pup is interstate.

Are there any other problems with Buffy? Could be a wide range of causes from boredom to anxiety to OCD. What kind of exercise, stimulation and training does she get?

Its not barbaric- its reality! It is awful, truly awful for any dog to be attacked- i have been there and i know the feeling- sickening. But responsibility lies with the owner of the dog who was not contained or under control if the attack occurs in a public place. I have a solid rendered front fence next to the driveway, along the length of my front yard. My dogs have never left the property without a lead or in the car-ever. I was out the back of my property one day with my 4 dogs when they walked with me around the front to go through the front door. So they were all off lead and technically in my unsecured driveway. In my driveway were two on lead staffies with their owner, one of which had dog aggression issues. My dogs startled, i asked them to drop, they all did- while i went to speak to the owner. If my dogs had engaged in a fight with these dogs- whose fault would that have been? My dogs were supervised and contained on their own property. Mum to Emma- do you really think big dog owners should behave differently to small dog owners? Could you define big please- my cattle dog crosses are 19-22kg while my other 2 are 32-37kg. My friends danes are heavier again- what do you define as big?

What I have a front yard with a solid fence and my dogs often sit out there with me while i garden. It is my property- my dogs are contained on my property. If other dog owners do the same there is NO issue. So based on your theory of dogs will be dogs and the small dog will be the victim- should my big dogs be allowed anywhere? If they're not okay on my own property, where would it be okay for them to be? I agree that dogs can do damage and some dogs can do alot of damage- size is NOT the only factor here though. Where do you draw the line- what is big?

I don't know how this story conjures the thoughts and situations you decribe mum to emma? These dogs were on their own property- they were contained. Serious question- what more should the owner of the large dogs have done to prevent this incident? As i said before, i have big dogs, medium size dogs and soon to have a small dog- i expect the same from all of my dogs and i do not expect anything different from the big guys because they are heavier! What do you want large dog owners to do? What do you want small dog owners to do? My answer would be the same for both- whats yours?

We have just finished some new discount vouchers for registered breeders as well as receiving specific When Freddy Meets Fido brochures which you might like to have a peek at. If anyone would like me to post some to you, please send an email to [email protected] with your postal address and i will get some to you.

Fingers crossed for your puppy. ;) I thought it sounded familiar to the thread in breeders

I wish i could teach my big boy to bark on command I have tried every kind of frustration under the sun and while he gets very excited and frustrated, not a sound comes from his mouth!! ;)

I met a small dog recently that came very close to killing another dog and have met others that would have if given the chance. Mum to Emma- the puppy i mentioned earlier put significant holes in my OHs arm- 7 cm is actually not that big and can definitely be caused by any size dog. I have seen it a number of times. ALL dog owners NEED to be responsible. Not just big dog owners, not just small dog owners. I have 2 big dogs, 2 medium size dogs and tomorrow will have a small dog added to our family- i will expect NO less from the small dog than what i expect from the others in terms of behaviour, being contained etc. Its not a hard concept- ALL dog owners should contain train and socialise. If that was done incidents like this would be far less frequent. Why do we expect dogs to be toys?? Dog are dogs, dogs can be territorial, dogs can bite when frightened. ETA I have had 2 dogs try to kill one of my dogs Mum to Emma- i know how that feels and i still hold the view that i do.

Accidents like this have been happening every day for years- its just that now they are being reported. Mum to Emma, i am really shocked at your comments.. Small dogs can and do alot of damage too- the most significant scars on my OH's arm were from a 12 week old puppy- not a large dog!!

Crate training inside with you nearby would be a good in between step. Where does the pup currently sleep over night?

I too have a dog like that Diva- in a state of absolute panic, and cornered- she never tried to bite. Really quite incredible. (and sad )

Sorry i didn't mean it to sound like that JMO

Poor little dog Sounds very uncomfortable- have you tried a raw only diet? What is the shampoo you use- i woudl be going for soothing rather than anti bacterial unless there is a secondary infection?

Predatory bites will often be hard as you are dealing with an instinctual part of the dog, not a 'thinking one'. A dog can have a high prey drive, hard prey driven bites AND a soft mouth. I have one on the couch with me right now- his prey bites are hard (on a tug toy- and once on my hand by accident- where he then immediately let go as soon as he realised it was me so actually didn't break skin) but he has an amazing soft mouth when playing- he is very oral so uses his mouth alot but remains soft.

That depends Odin genie- would need to know alot about the training that was done and the dog etc to explain it. I know a number of pups who mouthed badly as puppies and developed to have softer mouths through young interaction with other dogs/ pups although much will depend on the dogs the pup is playing with once past the littermate stage. Teaching not to bite is different to a human trying to teach the pup to bite soft- we teach all pups not to bite and let them test out their mouthing on other things which i think can enhance skills that are already there. Just because a dog chooses to bite or mouth hard does not always mean they don't have bite inhibition- some pups have been rewarded for biting harder through incorrect extinction training where the receiver of the mouthing pays attention to the stronger bite that occurs when the dog goes through an extinction burst. So therefore they bite harder because it gets a better result- doesn't mean they are not capable of biting soft, and if mouthing hard then starts to not work, i can see that mouthing softly could then result- but i think the bite inhibition was always there, not that the softer mouthing was directly taught by the person.

Fixed

What does the dog do if you were to put them in another room in the house instead of outside- this may be a good in between step. Otherwise- you do have to ignore the puppy. And given that it has worked a number of times you could be talking about a couple of hours to start with. The older the dog gets, the more stamina is gained and the longer the pup will be able to go for physically, let alone mentally. You need to either break it down into steps- crate training, using other rooms etc or ignore, ignore and ignore.

Where was it Smoothie and do you have details for the next one in March?

Interesting. I am one who doesn't believe you can teach reliable bite inhibition in an adult dog- you can teach them not to use their mouth on people but this is different. A fearful dog may have a lower bite threshold, but may not. You can increase bite threshold more easily than you can teach/ change bite inhibition. Increasing bite thresholds is really a foundation to dealing with aggression- it would rarely if ever impact bite inhibition though. I agree with Corvus I think bite inhibition is learnt with Mum and littermates. And i think humans are AWFUL teachers of bite inhibition and never recommend any of my clients try to 'teach bite inhibition'. They provide other opportunities for the pup through socialisation, toys and games but not puppy being permitted to put their mouth on someone.

You've lost me corvus

I have read a few posts on here of late that lead me to ask how everyone defines bite inhibition. Do you think a dog with bite inhibition will always inhinit their bite and therefore, if said dog attacks/ bites won't do as much damage? Or do you think a dog with bite inhibition has the ability to modify their bite but can still choose not to and therefore can still bite hard and do damage? Or something else? Opinions from novices and those more experienced welcome!

Thankyou HR

Yes- get dog to target object/ hand, reward in drive.