Willem

Petplan is also the only dog insurance I could find that includes third party liability!

hm,...I'm not convinced that they don't feel 'guilt'. Our BC is not allowed to play with and / or chew on the door mat from the study room in the backyard, and she knows this (she has enough other toys). Sometimes when I come into the garden I can see from her look that she did it again. No chance that she would have this 'look' because I'm angry or whatsoever, I even don't know that she played with it as I don't check it, but then her look gives it away.

...some interesting reading about some negative side effects of spaying: Health Issues Linked to Spaying and Neutering Dogs

@ the OP: you might give these guys a call...

sorry to say, but considering the age and the breed, the diagnose and that the dog is struggling now for nearly 2 weeks, it is not likely that it will recover.

considering that there is usually only one bitch in a pack allowed to reproduce I guess without 24/7 supervision you wouldn't be able to use both for breeding, so this is IMO a very unique scenario. For sure you have a lot of experience with your dogs, nerveless I doubt that the dogs' knowledge about your expectations would prevent them from fighting to sort out the rank if left for some time without supervision. we are talking about dogs not wolves or other wild animals. And often in the wild the underlings do manage to breed; they might get killed for their efforts but they do breed. As for the rest well it's just dribble Thank you! The Domestic dog is not a wolf. There is very little genetic difference between a dog and a wolf, so little difference that actually nearly any domestic dog and a 'wild' wolf can interbreed. And how many kelpies have some dingo blood in their lines?...this thread is about dog fights, and most of those fights are somehow related to dogs' instincts which often are ignored by their owners.

considering that there is usually only one bitch in a pack allowed to reproduce I guess without 24/7 supervision you wouldn't be able to use both for breeding, so this is IMO a very unique scenario. For sure you have a lot of experience with your dogs, nerveless I doubt that the dogs' knowledge about your expectations would prevent them from fighting to sort out the rank if left for some time without supervision.

...wait till the next full moon :D ...My link

I did mention the situation would have been temporary didn't I yes, I recognized this...if it is only temporary IMO it doesn't make much sense to let the dogs establish their ranking - no matter whether one of them is handicapped or not - as it would change anyway again; hence in this case (temporary) I guess the best approach is to keep them separate.

hm,....could be a lot of sugar depending on the weight of your dog...

...might not be popular, but: If I would have more than 1 dog, and one of them would be heavily handicapped by loss of sight, loss of limps or other diseases that would negatively impact his 'normal' dog life while with other dogs I would consider to put the handicapped dog to sleep if he would be bullied by the other ones.

Over simplistic is right. Most of the more knowledgeable dog owner I know who've had scuffles in their home know what their pack order is. It's when that pack order is CHANGING that you can have issues. Dogs mature, dogs age.. it's a dynamic thing. Anyone with an ounce of dog knowledge knows dogs don't do democracy. I agree with the 'changes of the pack order'....but wrt 'don't do democracy' I believe you are tooooooooo optimistic :D

...might have to do something with the vision - dogs color vision is very limited...more black or white, hence a very bright lift will emphasize the skin color of different races and that might be confusing for the dog when the door opens. I would take some treats the dog likes and would do some 'lift training' ...

where the fighting is about dogs trying to sort out the rank this is an interesting article...here a quote that sums it up in a nutshell: ..."Usually, the owner is the cause. It is over-simplistic to say this; but, the reality is that the average dog owner will often completely ignore his dogs social hierarchy and attempt to impose what he believes to be equitable. This leads to tension between the dogs, which then leads to aggression when the owner is present"...

wrt ACV: it seems that it has an impact on the pH value of the urine, and knowing that forming of ammonia (NH3) respectively ammonium (NH4) depends on the pH there is at least some science that it could work (not saying that continuously manipulating the pH value of the urine is a good thing to do). Did someone noticed a change in smell of the urine when feeding ACV?...I read somewhere that the urine becomes smellier and attracts the dogs to pee at the same spot, so that could be another reason why it works respectively why there are less yellow spots.

the salt concentration in tap water / potable water is actually very little, the chlorine (there are thresholds anyway) doesn't change this. Chlorine has the advantage that most of it will be disappeared after 30 minutes in the bowl or in contact with open air. Some water provider will use chloramine instead of chlorine for disinfection - both treatment regimens have pro and cons, however, none of them will make your dog's urine so salty that it will cause yellow burns. The cause for the yellow burns are the nitrogen salts, nitrates etc. which cause over fertilization, like adding too much ammonium-nitrate = fertilizer at one spot. Actually, in tap water are only traces of nitrates, most bottled water have even higher concentrations. If the concentrations would be so high that it would cause damage to the lawn, your dog and we would have serious kidney problems. Also, ocean water (with high conc. of sodium chloride) won't cause yellow burns on lawn, so that also shows that the nitrates are the cause and not the chloride or chlorine. The reason, why the dry kibble is more likely to cause yellow burns is: because it's dry :) ....means less water, means higher conc. of the nitrates (as a result of the digestion of proteins). I add water to the kibble to keep the conc. low - not sure whether this has really an impact on my lawn. wrt dog rocks: the only plausible explanation why they could work (they don't!!!) would be that they would have a high salt conc. (NaCL); the salt would leach in the water, dog gets more thirsty, drinks more and at the end the nitrate conc. in the urine is diluted. However, that would cause serious health issues (kidney, blood pressure etc....) and would open the door for a lot of lawsuits....these 'smart' guys from dog rock wouldn't risk it. The rocks are just rocks, and they have no impact on the water (actually that is more or less what the guys from dog rocks are telling, so their 'only' lie is the general statement that they would prevent yellow burns (well, of course they don't give any warranties :D ).

I think Nakita is 8 now? She's always been quick but since Katie switched to H360 a few years ago they've excelled as a team. That's my instructor by the way. I'm very lucky! ...that gives me some time to catch up :) (our dog will be 1 year in December)...however, I shouldn't get too ambitious considering time and my work commitments, first goal is anyway fun for the dog and me. I believe one great thing regards agility is that you can see the fun a dog has during a run and training straight away...

wow!!!...that's fantastic teamwork....how many years of training (approx.) has this dog?...

holy cow...how do you get the dog at e.g. 0:53 to ignore the first tunnel and take the other one?

holy moly ...how many commands of this talking codes exist?...it might be easier just to teach the dog how to read the numbers assigned to the obstacles and let her find her own way :laugh:

hear, hear... but is it 'real biting' or 'nipping / nibbling'?...our dog - and I thought this is linked to the breed - liked to nip / nibble, it's more an 'attempted bite', definitely not meant to hurt or aggressive (still, you feel it :D and with no fur it also hurt kids hands) When she plays with her flower pot or with a ball, or when we play with the flirt pole tugging she uses a total different bite...this bite would definitely do a lot of damage if applied to a human limb.

ok...learned something new about sheep dogs, and yes it was confusing (@ Kavik) and thanks Mrs Rusted Bucket for the hint for 'RZ' ...saved me some time ...

Always a challenge when you don't know what you don't know. Popular depictions of dogs simply have them as the same animal in different sized and shaped suits. Of course, that's not the case. I see it as the role of pedigree dog breeders to educate them. :) With some of the more challenging breeds, you're not just buying a dog, you're choosing a lifestyle. I think if that message got better coverage the pounds would be a lot less full.

...but when it comes to instinct you can only correct respectively manage the behavior that results from this instinct, you can't correct the instinct as the cause for this behaviour? It's not about whether the way she exhibits frustration is instinctive, it is about why she is exhibiting frustration in the first place. I'm pretty sure that most of the time our dog tried starting mouthing it is not because she is frustrated ...a sheep dog doing a good job using all its breed specific skills when moving sheep doesn't do it because its frustrated?

...but when it comes to instinct you can only correct respectively manage the behavior that results from this instinct, you can't correct the instinct as the cause for this behaviour?