Erny

She has a bleeding tumour in her mouth. I wouldn't use anything caustic on the fur on her front legs to remove the blood as she might then lick it and that would have to be nasty if not at the least painful for her mouth. I'd just do the best I could with warm water and perhaps a little bit of velvet pure soap (rinsed off), if I was really worried about the stain.

Homeopathy works for me. Although I don't use wormers nor flea treatments. Been no need to. Haven't had a flea issue and instead of filling my dog with chemicals to get rid of worms that aren't there, I have had periodic faeces tests done. I haven't done a comparison but I'd suggest it's worked out the same price if not cost me less than it would have to purchase the worming medication every quarter. And, as it turns out, each worm burden count done on the faeces has proved negative, so I'm glad I haven't been filling his belly full of dog wormers. ETA: And the suggestion that we aren't harming our dogs? How do we know?

Hard to tell, B&J. Your dog could be picking up on a higher level of assertiveness than he is used to. He could be picking up on a similar smell (cigarettes, for example) along with the fact they are male. Beards? Mo's? There are so many things - some of which are not visible (scent, as aforementioned). However, we just have to deal with what we've got, in the absence of knowing :). I wonder about the instructor approaching "more directly from the front" although perhaps you don't mean straight on, as that could be a bit challenging for your dog. Also, going in more slowly could be perceived as a bit threatening, even though that's not what is intended. Casual/incidental approaches with your dog NOT in a commanded position might be worth exploring. Try having the instructor have his back turned and YOU walking your dog up to and past. You can lower intensity to begin with by using distance and you can also position your own body to 'split', as the criteria intensity is increased (as appropriate). YOU offer your dog a treat each time as you approach, reach and pass. As your dog improves/shows he's ok with this approach and you've increased the intensity by reducing distance as much as is possible, the intensity is increased again with the instructor standing (at ease, casual like) facing your dog (but not making eye contact) .... or even a little bit angled towards rather than straight on .... . You go back to adding distance and repeat the exercise/s from the beginning. And so it goes. Speak with your instructor about this suggestion first though - he is the one who sees your dog, not I, and it can be difficult to make suggestions that are appropriate for the dog, owner and situation without that advantage.

Do these crystals have a shelf life? Should stock up on some to have on hand if ever needed. SK - Hope your pooch is ok. I'm confident he will be. Amazing what dogs can swallow and poop out.

Danois - work on the dry weight. So, you would add 200ml of water to the 200gm of the dry mix.

What's your dog like with the male Instructor (or males in general) when he (your dog) is not in a stand for exam? Is this a general lack of socialisation in amongst male people? If so, I think that's where you need to do some work rather than asking your dog to not only stand for exam but get over male people as well. IOW, simply the exercise by reducing some load.

Thanks Kavik. For Pet School stuff, I think I'd like to have the reward coming from the handler from the get go - kind of simply a carry-on from what we already do, but having the successful scent-find just another thing the dog learns to do, to earn it. But I'll look at the video you've provided a bit later on - it will be interesting, thank you for linking it here. About to head out to an appointment. Check ya later :D.

I would think it is good for generalisation purposes. Badly worded, but what I mean is that it forms just one approach component to the dog's overall early training. As you say, it can help to take away the possible inadvertent human cues and help the dog work out EXACTLY what SINGLE thing gets him the reward. Just as we teach in obedience training : we generalise what we do. A very basic example would be changing the position of where we stand when we give a command, teaching the dog it is not about the word AND where or how we stand, but just about the word. Hope that makes sense. For Pet Dog training, I think it would be more versatile to not have the board, but start with boxes, particularly if it is something you have to drag to training each week. Unless people had the inclination to take their dogs way further to competition standard as Kavik's opening post introduced us to, I see the scent work as an additional bit of fun with which to build bond between owner and dog, not to mention to add yet another way in which owners can provide mental stimulation. I'm still not sure how I would intro it to class - I'm plotting that one out. A bit tough when grounds are subject to wind activity, especially in the beginning of teaching. Hhhhmmmmm .....

Funny how we miss the annoying stuff when they can't be had. I used to swear at all my clothes - even my going out ones, always having dog hair on them. Ate my words when I lost my girl and wished I could have had the problem back again instead of having her gone. I have the same hairy problem (although worse) now that I have my current boy, but there's no way I'm goin' to complain about it and mean it. We learn to be thankful. Congrats to the owner. What a blessing :D.

Fantastic. Hope he was found unharmed. Love to hear happy endings.

Snort .... you know me too well. Lol. Thanks for the info.

Lol ....I did a post (or 2 or 3) ages ago, giving a step by step guide. Must see if I can hunt the best of them down and ask for it to go as a sticky. But no problems, LC - glad you asked - it is not a dumb question :). There are alternatives as far as application is concerned. Which one you opt for is up to you (ie what you find the easiest for your dog). You can pour the tea liquid into a spray container and spray it through your dog's coat to the skin. This is sometimes the best for dogs with long or longish coats. You can saturate a flannel and sloush that through your dog's coat so that the tea liquid gets to the dog's skin. If you need the tea to treat your dog all over, make it into a bath. I have a large dog so what I do when I want to give him a good saturation all over is I run about 2 or 3 inches of the hottest water possible into the bath tub. I put quite a good sized fist full of the tea into the toe of a cut-off stocking and tie it off. I let that bob around in the hot water. When the water is tepid to cool, in goes dog and I use the tea-stocking like I would a sponge, to wet him all over, paying particular attention to under his arms, in between his hind legs/groin area, under his stomach and under his neck ..... and then of course every and anywhere else his skin is most troubled. I use a towel to mop up the excess from his coat, but not from the skin. I let it dry naturally. Hope that helps, LC. If I've left something out and you have a question about it, feel free to ask :).

Nor do I. How thin do you slice the liver to achieve the 'leather' effect, Oakway?

I'm glad you have, Sumosmum. This stuff makes me wanna cry. For the pups; for other innocents; and for the gross unfairness of law. "Come, hither thee unto us and we shall give you amnesty if you register before 30th September." Sure. Right. Hardly. Damned if you don't register. Damned if you do. Can it possibly be legal to have a law where you are penalised regardless of whether you abide by it or not? And do any of us feel all so much safer for these dogs being taken away? Hhhmmph ....

Health Food Store, LC. Get a brand that is organically grown, no artificial colourings. Make it as you would a tea (I use a single cup coffee plunger). Let it steep until it cools. I use about 2 or so tablespoons worth (thereabouts). Should cost about $10 for a 50 gram packet, which should give you quite a good number of treatments.

Hhhhhmmmm .... yep, definitely worth asking them to check that you are where you should be. I agree that working for good sits, drops and adjusting for good position is something to be worked for, but if you feel out of place, not sure and as though you should already know it but you don't, it indicates to me that there's some tuition/guidance that hasn't been given. And that could be an indication that indeed, you're in the wrong class.

It's up to you, of course, but I would first be using Calendula Tea as and when necessary. Any shampoo has a drying affect. Malaseb is effective but a bit harsh (IMO) for frequent use.

Agree.

I am sorry to hear you had to go through this and hope you are ok. I empathise - had surgery back in June. I'm all good though (*touch wood*) so I'm very lucky. Hope you are the same. Take it easy and give yourself time to heal. It takes a while, so listen to your body and don't push too hard. ETA: I wouldn't mix things up too much. That confuses things. If things go well, you don't know what did it. Worse - if things don't go well, you don't know what caused it.

In people, the difference between an intolerance and an allergy is pretty easy to tell apart. With, say for example, a food allergy - even a tiny bit of the thing you are allergic to will cause a reaction. With a food intolerance, you can eat the thing you are intolerant to, until your body reaches your threshold. When you cross that threshold, you will have a reaction. sometimes your threshold for something is low, sometimes it is high. Thank you, jr_inoz. That makes perfect sense and the "food intolerance" description fits my boy to a "T". Mind you, I think there would be a connection between Food Intolerance and Allergy, as I presume it is possible for the body to become allergic after having had an intolerance reaction to the particular protein source/s. ??? Just my guess, but it would make sense to me. Stand to be corrected though.

Speak with your instructor and let him/her know your thoughts/questions. From your post, I'm assuming there is another training level in between pups and the one you find yourself in now. Let the instructor explain to you why you are in the class you are in. Maybe it is a class where the expectations are too high. Or maybe not. If not, perhaps it is a bit like moving from primary school to high school. One moment you're doing really well - top of the school. Next minute you're right the way down. Maybe the others in the class have been going for some time. Or maybe an administration error has occurred and you're in the wrong class. Either way - check with the instructor. Out of anyone, s/he is the only one who can really answer your questions.

What didn't come up on the link via DOL was another "click the box to see more" which actually referred to Dur-a-brute but I had a squiz and there wasn't anything like what you described. Maybe contact the company though - check if what you have IS one of their toys and whether it is a case of them being out of production ????

These the ones?

I agree.

Bred for Doggy Dancing extraordinaire? (sp?) Great photo. Great breed lines. You have this girl,LL? Sorry to Kavik for the