Erny

No, MRB is correct AFAIK. Play bows are to put behaviour in context. Like a wink or a friendly nudge to let a friend know you are just kidding around. They can be either, depending on context. An invitation to play or, as Corvus say, like a "wink". Dogs will often throw back to a play bow during play if/when the play starts to become a bit rough.

I disagree and still think your response to me was rude and unwarranted. I did not dispute that you asked a question, Sheridan ..... I was wondering why you asked it and what the connection was to the "Humanising Dogs" topic. Was there intended to be a connection? Or was it off topic?

Are you suggesting that talking to dogs is "anthropomorphising" ? I don't think it is. Yes - I talk to my dog. I do it because I want to and acknowledge that I'm human and sometimes even need to. After all, if companionship wasn't part of a shared relationship with our dogs, why would most of have one (or two or three or four etc). It was a question not a suggestion. Oh drop the rolled eyes Sheridan. I asked the question so that you would understand why I was writing the rest of what I wrote. And given the thread title, why wouldn't I be led to believe that you raising talking to dogs as a question didn't relate to you thinking it was about humanising dogs? Maybe you should have explained that you were going OT by asking that question. Would have saved me from putting in my response in the first place.

Are you suggesting that talking to dogs is "anthropomorphising" ? I don't think it is. Yes - I talk to my dog. I do it because I want to and acknowledge that I'm human and sometimes even need to. After all, if companionship wasn't part of a shared relationship with our dogs, why would most of have one (or two or three or four etc). From Wiki : So, do I believe that my dog understands what I say? Do I believe that my dog needs me to talk to him? Apart from when I'm giving known commands and giving feedback in training (use of voice), no.

Nothing to say that's of any help. But gosh ..... I hope your dogs come through ok. Leaving the bait anywhere remotely possible for dogs to get at is a silly thing to do, but your Dad must be feeling wretched about it right now and I feel for him too.

Lol .... that's funny. Did it help, though? PM me, maybe .... as I'm being too rude to the OP for taking this OT too much .

That's dependent on the situation and I guess what you might think as valuable. I don't regard stupidity or lack of common sense and courtesy as valuable. But I'm sure you could argue this until the cows come home.

What cattle did you show??? our school never tied it around tails thats like an accident waiting to happen, if they were really quiet we would tie it around there bellies if not it was there neck. OT (and apologies to the OP) - Why is that like an accident waiting to happen? Don't know about cows, but I'm a horsey from way back and yes, it was about tying a RED ribbon in the tail hair at the top of the horse's dock. Everyone knew this was a "kicker" warning. It just meant that we gave even more room than we might. I never walked close behind horses I didn't know.

Lol .... you mean my "Calendula Tea" one?

Hi Westiemum .... I know Andisa and in all my contact with her, food and its quality is very high on her agenda.

Thank you, Andisa (and ). I did mention "inexplicable" but agree that I didn't make it clear. You're right of course - coat dullness/fading could well just be old coat.

I realise you are "explaining" Corvus, but even doing that seems to give some value to simple stupidity and selfishness.

If you think her weight gain and coat dullness is inexplicable, you might do well to get her thryoid checked. As everyone knows, I always recommend having the bloods drawn and sent to Dr Jean Dodds in the USA, simply for their better testing facilities and analysis technique which are likely to pick up thryoid issues in the early outset where ours might not. But if your dog's weight and coat issues are the result of thyroid it might indicate the thyroid issue is more advanced in which case our Aussie labs might well be sufficient. Just a thought.

Just be careful about the attitude that I have seen evolve at another with a similar "colour code" system. What happened there regardless of how much and how often instructors reminded the members of their respective classes was that those with dogs with "issues" and who used the colour coding to assist tended to adapt an attitude of "I have my colour code so everyone else needs to give me space" and with that, they themselves both stopped being vigilant and keeping their own space away from other dogs and also blamed anyone else for coming near them, even if it were accidentally. It's a good idea. I'm not condemning it. But the Club need to be aware of this possibility and so do the Club members.

Lol .... don't "Nellie" me, Corvus. Apart from the other points and questions posed by posters following your post Corvus, I would suggest to you that no tool is "something to play around with". But please don't let my comment here get in the way of the points that PF and Huski have both raised, each of which is also very valid. I have seen far better responses with far less correction from a PPCollar than I have seen from any other such as head collar, which the RSPCA very much support.

There's a good deal of good advice here, CRandK. Raw, natural diet is generally speaking the best way to go. I fed my previous (avatar) girl (bhcs) raw food + the VAN Complete mix. I didn't find this expensive at all because I found that I needed to feed her far less than what was suggested on the VAN packet and I know that I am not alone in that experience. It might have felt expensive to purchase (I bought the honey tubs of it at a time as this worked out the cheapest over all) but it lasted me so long that it worked out cheap. Not every dog does well on it (but that's the same for any food) but when they do, I tend to find the VAN provides excellent results. Sadly, I'm unable to feed my dog RMB and raw diet - at least for now ..... I'm working on it, but if I could I would. One thing I'm making a note of and I hope that you will forgive me as it is not what you've asked about. And perhaps things have changed or perhaps the pictures are misleading. But I'm looking at the photos in your signature and I'm thinking that perhaps your dogs are overweight? Difficult to tell properly because of the positions they are in. But my point in this is to suggest you look at that because it might be that you are feeding more than you need to. If you could adjust that by getting some better quality food and feed less, you may find there is no difference in the price, if it doesn't prove to be cheaper .

I didn't quote the lot of what you've been saying, but IMO all of that is just an excuse for people being lazy minded. My apologies if that sounds blunt but it is the clearest way I can put it. A lot of people these days talk themselves into reasons for not taking the responsibility of thinking of others first before they think of themselves, or for not thinking at all.

Hi All Creatures. Please don't judge a book by its cover (or in this case, by its name). The PPCollar (aka "pinch" or "prong" collar) is most likely not as you imagine it (although even on first glance it does look awful). In fact it is a training collar more kind than most of the others which are freely available and used more comfortably by most people. It is unfortunately banned for use in Victoria - the only place in the world where its use is banned. Even the Government who banned it here acknowledged in writing that there is no reported evidence of harm from the use of this collar. I very strongly suspect that it being banned relates more to political rather than practical reasoning. And no - the RSPCA do not support the PPCollar. In fact it is the RSPCA who pushed for the ban. But this is another area that I believe the RSPCA are wrong in and did it for no reason other than to win browny points from the unknowing public. Otherwise, why would you push to ban something from whence there is no reported evidence of harm yet support something where there is sufficient at least anecdotal evidence of harm. This is what the RSPCA have done. I definitely do NOT condone the earlier DOLer's advice to pair fear with the baby - regardless of which training collar one might use in the process. That was extremely poor and dangerous advice and something I hope that anyone reading here would wholeheartedly reject.

It's good that you posted, Man - it does help other people to know that it is worth trying and that there is definitely hope for successful management. Glad that Dida is going so well and may she be blessed with many happy years in front of her .

Stay there, Staranais!!! We'll all come to you (added bonus : no snakes) and then your job opportunities will increase and so you won't have to think about leaving there :D.

I think you get more muscle tone/build up by walking your dog in chest height water (chest height to the dog, not yourself) more than you would for the same swim time. This form of exercise was recommended for Mandela as he was developing. The side benefits to that was that I felt it giving me a good work out as well. The difficulty with this is that it requires a beach and that's a fair amount of travel for some (including me).

I have experienced the exact same circumstance. In this instance the vehicle was parked under the filtered shade of a gum tree, but the day was very hot with a northerly wind, so shade or no shade, the air in the car would have been quite warm. Also too, just like the OP, the dog in the car was panting but not stressfully so. I notified the Bunnings staff and asked them to keep an eye on the dog and to even break into the vehicle in the event the owner didn't return soon (I had waited for about 5 minutes or so but was pressed by a commitment to move on). It could have been that the owner was literally only going to be in and out very quickly and if that were the case the dog, on this particular day, would have coped. But all the same I didn't like it. The staff member said he would look out for the dog. As I walked away I heard Bunnings announcing the vehicle's registration plate number and asking the owner to return to their car. They seemed to be taking it very seriously and I had no second doubts with leaving it in their hands to look after.

Have a look at the OP. Is that what you mean by "see" ? It goes from nine to fifteen?? Huh? In the first post, it starts at Category 1 and the Nominees are numbered 1 >

Have a look at the OP. Is that what you mean by "see" ?

I agree. I would have liked to have thought he'd run these tests as well as a skeletal exam before medicating.