Two Best Dogs!

Good luck!

oh wow!! He looks like he's doing really well! Is it a park you go to often? I find that while if it's our obedience class park or our best friends store, she'll go into a chilling-drop but if it's a park we don't go to very often (like the diamond creek park) she's less likely to be that relaxed? I haven't been going as much lately because I think it stresses her out too much, but it might be the sheer amount of dogs. You have a couple and ours has a disturbing amount of 15+ at a time. But he looks so chill there! Except for his little worried eyebrows which are adorable. You must be so proud, I'm so happy and envious of you guys :D it really does sound like he's drawing on his old experience/memories. With our dog attack I think she did try to defend herself, there was 2 seconds of it being an even scuffle but then the other one managed to grab hold and after that it was just Thistle screaming and trying to get away But my thinking here is, since her reflex when being surprised by a dog is to nip at it/the air (getting better though!) - I never know which "friendly dog" will take offence to that and go from "over enthusiastic friendly" to something like our previous experience :c which I imagine most dogs won't be as serious as the previous one, so she may try to fight back and I reckon it'd be easier to break it up if only one can fight back. She's big enough I reckon she could get away with minimal injuries in most cases unlike if she was a SWF or something (god owners with SWF are so brave). But mostly I appreciate that people (hypothetically, I'm not 'socially confident' yet to wear it outside of the vet...which also hasn't been necessary yet but I don't want to take chances we have an emergency on a crowded day) will see the muzzle from afar and call their dog. Although I'm sure there's exceptions as usual...just like those people who ignore her very visible yellow jacket in a dog obedience class that has an entire rule and info sheet dedicated to "yellow" dogs -_- But I think mostly...it is me...I am the one who gets stressed that she may nip that surprise offlead dog and that dog may take offence and she'll get in trouble cause she's big or it was "just being friendly" or whatever (( IDK I think I'm having one of those "worried over my dog and comparing her to other dogs who have never been attacked and therefore are not scared of other dogs" days I'll try to take inspiration from Justice's progress before and current progress! It's a long weekend this week, I'm thinking on saturday while everyone is at the beach/AFL we're gonna go up to Yan Yean Reservoir and if no-one is around I'll pop her on that long lead and we'll play some games and probably roll in something dead.

For encouraging/continuing a behaviour a drawn out "goooood girl" and our alternative "reward" marker is: - yeah! - hell yeah! - awesome - yay! Our release word is sometimes a release and reward? "Okay!"

Nothing of note going on with us although she flipped our 101 box onto herself last night and had a bit of a skitter panic. I made sure to just act like nothing of note happened and she returned to beating the box up after a shake. This was posted in my obedience classes group today and this paragraph really ringed with me? https://paws4udogs.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/good-dogs-wear-muzzles-too/ I'm still training her not to hate it but figure it is good for those more challenging events where we are both stressed like busy vet and someone letting their dog all over the place.

Awww I love their little pink noses!

Quibbling over a few hundred years, when other species of domesticated animal have been around humans for THOUSANDS of years is absurd. They are one of the most recently domesticated animals and this is simply fact. The fact that you don't know why rabbits might need appropriate surfaces (which has nothing to do with nails) suggests you are ignorant of certain issues that they are prone to- issues which are exacerbated by being kept indoors. But yes, go home to your indoor rabbits and feel superior about shutting down the "weird" discussion. Never mind what ethology says on the matter or that you've perfectly illustrated my point for me. Yeah you can respond with out insults because I realised I'm wasting my time. How am I meant to respond in detail if your objections are so vague? You could be talking about anything ranging from nails to dirt to inappropriate chicken wire floors to the dangers of tiles but I can't read your mind and understand which scenario you're referring to based on "inappropriate surfaces". If you paid attention you'll see my bunnies are indoor-outdoor because there are benefits and risks to both sides. It's not "feeling superior" to realise I'm wasting my time. So yes, this is a weird discussion and you're kind of an ass so I'm not wasting anymore of my time with you. Have a good day. Edit: I googled around in case there was a study/blog you were misunderstanding that would be useful to know of and I can't find anything. You're completely lying out of your ass and that makes this 10x weirder. Misrepresenting any species is not cool

I wish this wasn't true but unfortunately, it's very, very accurate. Like rabbit welfare groups who believe rabbits should live entirely indoors. Human is comfy indoors, therefore bunny must be more comfortable indoors? Despite the fact they're a relatively recently domesticated animal and not at all suited to that sort of life. You wouldn't keep a sheep locked indoors around people- having humans constantly within its flight zone would be incredibly stressful- but because rabbits are smaller, despite the fact they are also herbivorous prey animals, it's somehow okay. And that, funnily enough, is actually a perfect example of anthropomorphism- assigning human wants/needs to other animals, even to the detriment of the animals concerned. Despite the more heart-tugging 'reasons' the bunny societies would restrict them to indoors only (imo either indoors or outdoors is fine as long as bunny is cared for) bunnies are entirely capable of living happily inside stress free. Not all bunnies for sure, depends on that bunny, but they are capable of thriving inside as house pets and most can be suited to it. Obviously grabbing an unsocialised outdoor bunny who is unused to people and shoving indoors won't work anymore than an unsocialised dog (both could potentially be trained) but a bunny who likes people will do just fine and isn't going to spend its life in terror just because people are around. Bit misleading to state otherwise. They are suited and they are not recently domesticated o-O been domesticated since the Middle Ages? Certainly not 'detrimental' to live indoors? And it is the better option imo if your yard is a myxie hotspot or overloaded with predators /back to dogs The reasons rabbits don't belong indoors are more than just sharing space with humans. Rabbits are hindgut fermenters and need constant access to appropriate forage (not vegetables, bunny pellets or other junk food), sufficient vitamin D, appropriate surfaces to move around on and most importantly, to be afforded a lifestyle suitable to their species. Myxo and RHD are only preventable to a point, regardless of whether the rabbit lives inside or out. Coming up with excuses to explain away less than ideal welfare sort of proves my point there. Also, the middles ages only ended 700 years ago so yes, an incredibly recent domestication, besides being almost entirely limited to meat/fur production. By comparison, goats (which most people would never consider inside pets) have been domesticated for around 10,000 years. You can see the difference, yes? No. The domestication of rabbits started around 600ad and was firmly established by 1100 (and they do have more frequent generations which speed it up a bit). They are pretty far removed from their wild cousins. None of those are good reasons to say they are unsuitable to living indoors? Rabbits get their vitamin d from their food and everywhere says they should have constant access to roughage ie hay in addition to greens and the supplementary junk food of your choice. In winter I would say indoor bunnies need a vitamin d boost. If we went with blanket assumptions, a diet of pure grass is not ideal either. Variety works best. I'm not even sure what you're getting at with appropriate surfaces. Like dogs, if a bunnies nails are not getting sufficient reasons to wear down naturally you can clip them. The point you're missing or we are forever going to disagree on is that you seem to think the indoor lifestyle is unsuitable for bunnies. When it is no more unsuitable for them than it is for dogs or cats. If you don't give them toys they'll get bored and destroy stuff. If you leave them outside they can still get bored and destroy stuff. It's not an excuse to acknowledge that some areas it is safer to have your bunnies indoors? O-o my suburb is absolutely riddled with large feral cats. Ergo I don't put them in the outdoor pen when I'm not home because those cats are vicious and at minimum harass them. But you seem really stuck on this weird idea that rabbits are not able to be happy healthy pets indoors so I'm ending this here, as it is a dog forum. And tonight I'll get home to two semi-indoor bunnies and an indoor dog, all of which will run up to say hello for pats/chin rubs ;)

I wish this wasn't true but unfortunately, it's very, very accurate. Like rabbit welfare groups who believe rabbits should live entirely indoors. Human is comfy indoors, therefore bunny must be more comfortable indoors? Despite the fact they're a relatively recently domesticated animal and not at all suited to that sort of life. You wouldn't keep a sheep locked indoors around people- having humans constantly within its flight zone would be incredibly stressful- but because rabbits are smaller, despite the fact they are also herbivorous prey animals, it's somehow okay. And that, funnily enough, is actually a perfect example of anthropomorphism- assigning human wants/needs to other animals, even to the detriment of the animals concerned. Despite the more heart-tugging 'reasons' the bunny societies would restrict them to indoors only (imo either indoors or outdoors is fine as long as bunny is cared for) bunnies are entirely capable of living happily inside stress free. Not all bunnies for sure, depends on that bunny, but they are capable of thriving inside as house pets and most can be suited to it. Obviously grabbing an unsocialised outdoor bunny who is unused to people and shoving indoors won't work anymore than an unsocialised dog (both could potentially be trained) but a bunny who likes people will do just fine and isn't going to spend its life in terror just because people are around. Bit misleading to state otherwise. They are suited and they are not recently domesticated o-O been domesticated since the Middle Ages? Certainly not 'detrimental' to live indoors? And it is the better option imo if your yard is a myxie hotspot or overloaded with predators /back to dogs

I keep thinking about it and sighing in frustration. So a quick hijack/tangent that it slightly related to this thread but doesn't warrant its own thread. Was in the Royal Botanical Gardens yesterday. Strictly dogs on-lead. In the first 30 minutes I saw many lovely people walking dogs in varying sizes, ages and obedience levels (one guy with 2 very young huskies being dragged along at almost comedic levels). In that 30 minutes I also saw 4 separate people with off lead dogs. 3 of the dogs appear to have alright recall, the 4th was running around like a headless chook. All 4 owners are bad dog owners and I so hope the PSOs spotted them and fined them. Way to ruin the park for everyone else with your selfishness. If it becomes a no-dogs-at-all-zone I can't imagine why *sarcasm* (Might just start reporting these people myself, as I suspect they're probably lax locals...I would like to take my dog here for a nice walk around different scenery/surfaces/trick proofing without your dog ruining our fun, thanks.)

A lovely gradient!

Yea, ok so you can't post that and not say where I can get one with an Aussie on it? :laugh: I made it through spreadshirt, this link should take you to what I did, just change your text and look for a picture of an Aussie, or remove the picture entirely ;) Spreadshirt link Yoink, I need that and so do many friends ;p

I'm not keen on the novel. Much prefer they just state her background, any issues, her personality, any training, dog/cat issues or not, what to expect...what kind of dog this is cause otherwise she may just end up back in the system because the ppl didn't know she was "protective" of her owners or something :/ Then maybe at the end a couple of throw away lines about how "I'm looking forward to being in your family" or something.

First question is confusing. I prefer my dogs company to others but that doesn't mean that we are attached 24/7 or anytging

These particular no pull harnesses are one of the worst on the market, they are known to do damage, the vets where I worked refused to stock them and warned clients not to use them due to injuries they had seen, including what I would call holes in the sides of the chest near the armpit where the harness had continually compressed and rubbed. I personally wouldn't use a Halti either since they have been proven to damage the sinuses and neck. A martingale is a much better option. What do you mean "holes"? Like burns from rubbing or on too tight or the dog spent the whole time pulling and rubbed self raw? We don't use it often anymore, been a whole month now as haven't anticipated a need for it, but I was always careful when putting it on to make sure it's not too tight, for the padding to be where it should be (it seems to ride up?) but not so loose as to wiggle out if it. I haven't noticed any damage there or even redness. It'd be obvious as quite hairless under her elbows and the like. I think the halti could work for some and it certainly improves eye contact but yeah I don't like how it whips her head around I've got one that attaches under the chin and one that attaches at the back of the head (slightly more preferable). I'm sure they work for some dogs but not for us it turns out :s I much prefer the martingale. I've got one with a buckle side release on the way because my one beef if that I have no way to quickly get it off! A pain to put on and emergencies :/ and an all fabric fancy one for those fashion days :p and a regular old one mostly used for training/walks. But I really like how they only go so tight then stop instead of constantly tightening. So it stops her doing a bolt, but doesn't choke her out. Still a bit more whiplash on the neck than I'd like :/

Poor little bugger. Glad everyone came together to catch him!

I have been known to eat things that Dozer has licked, apart from when he learnt to counter surf; he'd licked the remaining fluffernutter cookies until they were soaked, in the bin they went. I do also do the nothing in my hands move, but he still has to check the floor and where we were sitting I can't do that ;-( I'd try and then think of how loudly she licks her bits every night and urgh! Took me long enough to let her lick my face, thankfully not a big licker. XD Her bits-licking haunts my dreams it's so loud. And she eats cat poop. When we go hiking though, I'll relax the rules on ppl food but it's still be after I've eaten and provided she waited politely.

Aww look at him go!

Yeah I've seen that. I believe the homeless man now has a lawyer? I hope he gets his dog back. If the activists were so "concerned" they should have called the proper authorities rather than stealing the dog. There's some speculation racism was involved because the activists CEO hates romani and the man is roma? And I think their police posted on their Facebook page to be looking into it. So sad

I still reckon topless man in chokehold is the random angry passerby and the person I'm brown shirt appears to be holding a lead so might be the dog walker? I hope he got a fine for that. If it's on lead zone, obey the rules! Especially if the Rangers come up and ask you to. The dude in chokehold, without context of what his aggression behaviour was idk if that was necessary. The car was just stupid.

She'll offer some tricks then sigh and go lay on her bed, staring at me. Sometimes she drools. I've never given her food from my plate and don't intend to start or she'll never leave me alone XD She tried to take a sandwitch from my hand once, that I was eating. I threw it out so she doesn't think discreetly licking it = hers now. Nope!

We're not up to out of sight stays yet, but I cannot imagine doing this outside of classes (controlled) for situations in the future where it may be needed (i.e. Tying Thistle to a pole while I walk up to a car stopped in the middle of the road and help push it, with frequent glances to make sure she's still sitting calmly/being left alone) This though, just sounds like irresponsible

It reads like the person who was arrested was not the dog owner, but a different angry man? http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-28/council-ute-swamped-by-waves-responding-to-unleashed-dog-on-saw/6503944

But if your reactive is just tied up and left on its own, how will you reinforce good behaviour and discourage negative behaviour? Not to mention prevent it being triggered or any number of bad situations. Other dogs running up to it, people, children....major liability for that dog class...

I have a no pull harness for situations I anticipate to be more stressful than usual and I don't want to drag her around by her neck/head. Either because I have to drag her (frozen in fear) or she's going to panic/bolt and I don't want her to injure her neck (i usually walk on a martingale) (the harness is not used as much anymore now that she's getting better, but for new locations where she might get startled and try to run i will use it until she seems calmer. And for "bad days".). It's not the kind in the above pictures, it looks like this? It tightens around the body when the lead goes tight. So she can't get out of it when panicking. But when she's walking loose lead it's also loose (not so much as to trip her over or anything) We also have doggie backpacks which I would think would also change the gait a bit but wouldn't think would cause harm if properly balanced and appropriate weight?

Never!!! Even if I wanted to I'd be kicked out of my school, we have a very explicit rule on it. And I would never do that - not safe at all! If I DID have to leave her at some point in the school I'd ask a trainer to hold her for me - on the chain (we train with nylon) so she can't chew through it and follow me. But I even take her into the bathroom with me (which is a stressful experience because she won't go in the cubical so I've got to go with the door open repeatedly saying in a loud voice "don't enter the bathroom, i'm in here with a scared dog, please wait outside"). Much better to take back to your car??? D: Regarding our dog school today: Nothing bad happened, although none of the class passed to the next level. Thistle was an absolute ratbag *exasperated face*. I'd tell her to drop - she'd drop....then roll around all over the grass. Wouldn't sit, was getting up and walking around, not looking at me. All minor rat-bag annoyances that we will work on this week. The concentrated heel was introduced toward the end. She nearly bumped into another dog while we were loose lead walking but she just looked at him then continued following me :D (she has politely sniffed this fella once before and we started training the same week so she's used to him. But he's a typical in your face happy staffie) Homework this week is concentrated heel...and back to reinforcing her looking at me because it's my fault, I've been so lax the past fortnight while classes were off. *ashamed*