jaybeece

Same here

I'll be there on Sunday with my big brown fruitcake

This makes plenty of sense to me. My dog's only improved because I've slowly learned how to handle him better and not put up with any crap from him on walks. He's also learned that pulling is not on, but that has been hard when he's so powerful. He still has some way to go, but he's getting there.

Since this is reasonably on topic, I'll add in my 2 cents and they largely agree with this post. I found them to be very pushy about joining up under a pricey payment plan too and wasn't entirely comfortable. I joined up to get some assistance with a dog aggressive dog and to be honest, I was extremely dissapointed in the level of knowledge that the "behaviouralist" displayed and found it was difficult to get a great deal of time with them when everyone else wanted to ask their own questions. There was another issue as well that I won't go into here, but it wasn't a positive expereince and although I'm sure there are indeed some very good people working there, I think when a company employes that many trainers you're bound to get some bad eggs, of which I seemed to get at least a couple I ended up persuing a refund after a few weeks and only had a partial one granted along with a rather hefty amount of unpleasantness. This is just my opinion/experience on this particular school, other training schools have been critiqued before and I don't think that just because some people have worked/currently work there that ADT should be beyond criticism on this forum when it's appropriate. If anyone wants to argue with this, then PM is probably best, but I'm just giving my own experience with them in the most factual and unbiased way I can. I'd personally advise the OP to look elsewhere based on what I observed and would also be extremely iffy on the idea of sending a dog away to be trained. Afterall it's not just the dog that needs training, a huge part of it is teaching the owner appropriate techniques and responses to the behaviour as well as encouraging the dog to trust in their owner.

Yes to both. Mine pulled like a steam train when I first got him and would lose his head at other dogs in the street. I think that was primarily excitement, but it seemed to become more aggression than excitement as he got older. There were other factors involved there too (his aggression got worse offlead too), but I think that combination of excitement and being pulled back just tipped him over the edge a lot. Now he doesn't pull as much and is controllable when seeing other dogs, even to the point where I can verbally stop him from reacting in most cases. Any tension on the collar makes a huge difference still.

I think it's worth worrying about as if he lunges at someone they could make things difficult with the council, even if he doesn't touch them. Not to the point of letting him notice on walks though You still need to be happy and relaxed (easier said than done, I know!) Mine does the same at times, he doesn't like being approached head on especially if the person is staring at him or walking in a strange way. I keep him at a heel and keep talking to him to distract him and keep him walking straight if it looks like he'll take offence to someone's body language. I always keep myself between him and the approaching person and nudge him away from them if he's showing too much "interest" in them. He's not too bad generally though, but I don't want him harassing strangers if they're carrying something that smells good either. In my experience it does have a fair bit to do with lack of exposure to people, he'll usually only do it if we haven't been many people in public for a while. I take him to the local shops and used to walk up to the train station too so he could be exposed to plenty of people who'd all be ignoring him so he could relax about it a bit more. Obedience school helps as well. If you can contact your behaviourist about it I think it'd be a good thing to discuss with them as it really depends on what's upsetting him and how he's reacting to it. Exposing him to more people might help, but it also could make him worse.

Ok, he really outdid himself today. I saw an offlead lab at the local school (normally there are never other dogs there) and I'd generally just stay away, but this time I thought I'd take advantage of it. We were higher up near a railing and the lab was lower down so I knew it wouldn't be approaching us which was perfect. First walk past my boy barked and carried on a bit with his fur standing on end and very stiff, second pass he was still pretty excited, but no barking. And then 3rd pass...nothing Mild interest, but he was cool by then so we hung around just standing there watching the lab and his people while I had a little glee explosion complete with a silly amount of praise. I was almost tempted to take him down to say hi, but thought I'd keep it at baby steps for now, hopefully we'll see them there again some time. He also did some weaving around some poles and I swear he's already picked up "in" and "out". Freakin' smart arse.

It sounds like you just need to keep persisting She's still young and silly so sometimes things will take a little while to sink in, especially if she's excited. It could be good fun to for both of you to join up with an obedience club or school though, not to mention good for her manners and a great socialising experience. It's one thing to get physical exercise, but mental exercise like obedience is altogether different. If you can give her some good mental challenges every day you might find she's a little more settled and more eager to listen to you. There are also dog sports like agility she'd probably enjoy so that's worth looking into. You can build your own backyard agility equipment pretty easily which would give her a good reason to enjoy being out there (especially if you're there with her). You might also find clicker training to be a bit of fun for her, especially if her lab half gives her a love of food. Some dogs will do anything for a click/reward and it's a really positive and fun way to train them.

If you have floorboards is there any reason why the dog hair would be such a big problem? If you give her a good brush and vacuum/sweep a couple of times a week it'd be pretty minimal really. Do your house mates like having her around or is she seen as a nuisance? If so would it be possible to look at living somewhere else where you have a little more freedom with her? It'd be pretty rough owning a dog that was not liked much by the other inhabitants of the house. How much exercise does she get? Do you do any training or exercise with her that would challenge her mentally? How old is she? If you want her off the lounge it's best to have her associate a word with it. I used to just gently shove mine off while saying "OFF" sternly and then praising afterwards when he was off the couch. They pick it up pretty quickly, especially if you remember to praise for doing the right thing (in this case it's not getting up on the couch in the first place). I find it's easier to get mine to stick to a dog bed if it's comfier than the couch too. He picks the softest place to sleep so if the dog bed is it he'll be there. I've used a blanket on one of them just to give it extra padding and he adores it now. I'm not sure about the barking at the back door to be honest as I've never had to deal with it, but I guess now she knows what it's like being inside she wants more, especially since it's getting colder at night. I'd say it wouldn't be a bad idea to practise NILIF (Google Nothing In Life is Free and it'll give you a heap of results) as it can teach her that she only gets what she wants when she behaves herself. Mine knows that he will not get inside/fed/attention unless he's sitting and quiet so he's a saint even when he wants in or is excited over dinner. Hope some of that helps at least a little

I haven't checked out the legalities to be honest. I ride on the footpath with mine and I know bicycles aren't supposed to be on the footpath so it's probably a bit legally suss. I've ridden past police before though and they didn't even look concerned so I guess it'd need to be a slow day for them to bother fining me. I do ride slowly with him on the footpath, so he's just going at a light jog and dismount when passing pedestrians to make sure there's enough room. He only gets a good sprint if we're on an oval or wide path where I can see what's coming as I don't want to be pulled off if he sees another dog

I haven't checked as I probably wouldn't know what to look for I go mostly for socialising, but also to refine training. Most of what I need to know is behavioural and a lot of dog club instructors don't really have answers for those kind of questions, which is fine. I don't expect them to know everything or be behaviourists. Sometimes when they do try to give out behavioural advice it's either very generic and not useful or, in a couple of instances, downright stupid, so I'm picky about who I listen to. I'm pretty sure there'd be some form of course and the trainee instructors do seem to have to put in a lot of hours with another instructor before being allowed to take their own class. That's all I know so far I might look into what it takes to do it some day when my own dog doesn't need so much work. As far as handling the dogs are concerned instructors will take the dogs when appropriate, but they do prefer to either explain exercises or use their own dogs to demonstrate which I think works best. There's been 1 instructor at my school who I wouldn't have let take him no matter what as they had some weird ideas on how to help his aggression that I didn't want to even consider. Other than that they've all been very good and I don't mind them taking him. He was even handled by another person in class the other day (with his muzzle on) as part of a dog swapping exercise and it ended up being pretty fun.

I definitely know what you mean Whenever I tell someone who's met him that he's not so good with other dogs they don't understand the extent of it and don't really take it seriously. He's such a sooky boy so they just can't imagine how different he is when he goes off his head at another dog, needs to be seen to be believed I guess. He really does look terrifying when he arcs up and in some ways I'm relieved when people finally see it as they can stop thinking I'm making a big deal out of nothing! Also, I know how you feel about not getting any further, I've felt it many times and probably will feel it again if/when he has a bad day at school or in general. So don't lose hope As long as you keep working and keep trying to move forwards I think you will, even if it feels like it's 2 steps forwards and 10 back some days.

He's muzzled for offlead work, but onlead he's not. The club policy is if the dog is under control then they don't wear a muzzle, if they're not or they've attacked another dog then they must be muzzled at all times. I don't have any problems controlling him and he's never bitten another dog so it's not necessary. I'm comfortable leaving it off most of the time as it annoys the crap out of him, but when I find one that he's happier to wear I'll probably just leave it on him while we're training as it'll be easier to switch between onlead and offlead stuff. I don't know if I'll ever trust him enough to go unmuzzled when he's offlead, but that's not a big deal really. Better safe than sorry I thought prongs and e-collars are legal in NSW? Or is it just against the rules of the club? I train with a check collar since prongs are a no-go in Vic, but use his head halter too when we're around a few dogs. Really helps redirect him if needed so it might be worth trying one out to see if it helps in the absence of a prong and/or e-collar. That would be a bit rough having to forgo to tools you're confident using Kelpie-i : I'll definitely post an update after seeing K9 I'm really looking forward to learning more and finding new and improved ways of helping the large brown one behave himself.

Thanks Seita and Erny, I love how supporting people are here! And I'm really forward to the seminar Erny I'm sure Mr Muttface will be a right bloody suck up with everyone there, just like he always is.

I've mentioned my boy's dog aggression many, many, MANY times and wanted to post about how he's doing Which is.....bloody great! We're booked in for a visit to K9 Force soon and some days I hardly feel like we even need it any more (don't worry, we still do and are definitely still going!). He's gone from being no good around golden retrievers, staffies and boxers from any distance to actually sitting right next to them and accepting them approaching him with some coaching from me. He's even had sniff sessions with them and only tensed up a little rather than flying off the handle at them and scaring the crap out of everyone. Well ok, maybe not boxers quite yet, but we'll get there He had a dane walk 3 metres from him today and barely batted an eyelid which has never happened before. We started an advanced obedience class this week and he just did so well in a group of very excited dogs running around agility equipment, I don't think I've ever seen him that happy and, more importantly, confident! He's always been quite nervy, but as each week goes by he's getting just that little bit more comfortable being around all the other dogs. I cannot believe he picked up jumping through agility hoop thingys first go and while other dogs were shying away from the tunnel he was trying to duck through it as we walked past, I think this dog is just made for agility. Shame he's almost too big for some of the equipment! When we started back at obedience in Nov/Dec last year he was unreliable around most medium-large dogs, extremely reactive around dogs such as boxers, danes and rotties and I was so stressed out of my brain I just couldn't bring myself to let him go near other dogs half the time, I was so scared he'd hurt them and he honeslty probably would have most of the time if he had the chance. The instructors have managed to coax me into calming down a lot more which has been half the battle on it's own (seriously, I should have a stiff drink before training) and now I'm feeling a lot better about it all and am more willing to let him socialise with dogs I'd normally not even bother trying with as it's too stressful. It's been a very long and extremely rough past couple of years, but both of us have learned so much lately that it's all been worth while. I'm not expecting him to ever be 100% or adore every dog he meets, but he's becoming far more predictable and less intense when he does arc up over other dogs. We have a long way to go still, but it's getting more fun now to train him which is the way it should be. I am just so damn proud of my silly brown muttface. He's such a special pup and I'm so lucky to have him in my life Now I've told my mum, my boyfriend and DOL...who else can I gush to.....

Heheh you're definitely not the only one I got lucky though, there was a house near my old one that always had cats hanging around the front (I think they were feeding strays), so I had the opportunity to train like crazy outside that house. Even better when the cats would sometimes be moving around, sometimes lying right near the footpath and there were nearly always more than 2 so I had the opportunity to train him to ignore anything they did. I wouldn't say he's 100%, but he's certainly a hell of a lot better. Instead of going insane until they were gone, I can verbally deter him when he shows signs of going for them or I can correct him and carry on without having to drag the bugger I also feel safe enough to ride with him down streets as he won't go darting off to go kitty chasing. Funnily enough only a few doors down was the house that always had dogs barking at the fence so it was a damn good training street I think it's just like anything else, keep training, keep trying and never give up, especially when you've come so far

Congrats It's great exercise for them and gives them something a little different to look forward to so I take mine out for rides too.

My horrible, rotten, evil dog.... Passed up to the advanced obedience class on Sunday :rolleyes: We were close to this class before taking a break from obedience for a while so it's going to be the first class full of new stuff in over a year I can't wait! He also sniffed a golden retriever without losing his mind, first time in over 12 months. I'm so proud of the silly mutt.

My spidey sense is telling me this is possibly it: http://www.flyingdogpress.com/sayhi.html The other articles on FDP are really great too, well worth a read.

Thanks for all the work you've put into this Erny I can't wait! I've started crate training the big brown monster so he'll be able to come along too.

Wiltja Dog Obedience is mine, it's in Bundoora so not too far from Doncaster (20-30 mins). I'm a suburb away from you and couldn't find anything closer.

My boy hates it more than anything else he's had on his face unfortunately. I need to do more positive work with him while he's wearing it though so that will hopefully help a bit. I get the feeling that it doesn't fit as well as it could so I'm going to measure him up and have one ordered that's more suitable for his face. Surprisingly he's been ok with wearing it at obedience at least. At first he fights it, but once we get moving he seems to forget about it, especially when it means he can go offlead wearing it. Having him clonk me with it on over enthusiastic recalls isn't any fun I'm just glad I'm not male ;)

I use one that's pretty much identical to what DeltaCharlie posted. My dog hates it, but it allows him to pant better than any others I've tried.

I've been told that they need to be big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in. I bought a 42" inch one (106.5cm X 74cm X 82cm) of Ebay yesterday and it seems perfect size for my big leggy boof (37kg), so that might be too much for an amstaff. My boy's taken well to it, although I haven't officially started to crate train him yet. He slept in it last night with the door open and looked very content:

Wiltja Dog Obedience in Bundoora: http://www.wdoc.com.au/ I go there and it's been a really good club so far.