Tilly

When we were young we used to get our easter eggs in a box at the end of our bed ... Easter morning I woke up to a very fat and sick looking dog laying on the mat beside my bed. Not only had he eaten all my easter eggs he had also polished off both of my brother's lot as well. He was rather sick for a few days and his poos had a nice sparkle to them (foil) and a nice rich chocolate colour. Thankfully he was ok. He never looked at anything chocolate again after that ... instead he started stealing the strawberrys from the garden.

Friend's of mine adopted a rescue dog about a week ago. Yesterday they rang me to say the dog was sick - given their description I thought it might have been kennel cough. Anyway the dog was taken to the vet today (to have his stitches removed) and was diagnosed with kennel cough (thankfully mild at this stage - his chest is clear). The friends have visited my house and my dog (a number of times in the last week) and I have visited their house (to help with some dog training) ... Should I worry about my GSD getting sick? We are getting a pup at the end of this month (in 24 days) - do I need to worry about him?

After some thinking and painting and some more thinking ... I started to think along the line of deelee and Jaxx'sBuddy. If the dog had a fear of a dog - the reaction would expect to be the same either at home or in the big bad world. When I had the thought of the outside world causing "more" fear aggression, I was thinking along the line of the outside world having more things that a "fear aggressive" dog would react too ... therefore more things to fear would expect to cause an increase in fear aggression. So therefore if the dog had a fear of dogs ... the likelihood of coming across multiple dogs would increase the FA dog's stress levels ... so therefore more instances of stress would increase the overall level of stress/fear (particularly if the dog didn't have a chance to relax and go back to neutral between each dog). A constant state of stress/fear may not really increase the levels of fear but should increase the chance or liklihood of fear aggression. Does that make any sense?

Not having a "fear agressive" dog ... I suppose I can't really answer from experience but I would have thought they would have been more fearfully in neutral or unknown areas as there is all this new stuff going on around them. I would assume they would be more relaxed in their own home environment .... Just my view ... to humour you

Many thanks for the PM huski - glad to get some feedback

I looked at link provided by luvsdogs - Take the Lead (www.takethelead.com.au) looks like it might have some potential. I like the idea of small classes (max of 5 puppies) and they don't have photo's of puppies playing together - they look like they are all seperated. And I like it is all positive training. I have emailed them to ask questions and will see if they get back to me - I put it all up front and asked them to contact me if they could assist. While I don't need all the info on worming, feeding, etc - it is the whole process of him being around others and the 5 x hour long sessions I think would give him enough time to settle and get used to it. Our previous dogs have been attacked by off-leash dogs when walked around our local area so I would be reluctant to walk our local streets as part of his socialisation. Dogs4Fun - I do the b!tch really well :rolleyes: Regarding shows and trials - I didn't think they allowed other dogs to visit. I am not involved in any of that sort of thing. Do they allow visitors? I am limited with visiting with friends dogs - I only have 2 friends with dogs - a greyhound and a labxkelpie. Eventually he will be walked and trained along side of the labxkelpie - but I plan on restricting that until he is full vaccinated as that dog was recently adopted and is walked in public. Also when he is full vaccinated he will be taken to a local market to be walked around (we want him comfortable with walking in crowds) - I normally take a number of friends and they sort of form a walking barrier around us (their job is to keep an eye out for "potential dangers" while I concentrate on the dog). Gets them used to the noise etc - but only when I am confident they will be able to handle it. I was extremely insulted by one "puppy school" place who told me: And this was purely because I didn't want a number of strangers (and usually inexperienced first time puppy owners) from handling my pup & allowing their pups to jump all over him.

Thanks Dogs4Fun - I was thinking it might be the way to go. There is a lot of dogs around our area but also a lot of parvo - so I have to be extremely careful.

Thanks Kavik - unfortunately I am even more particular about obedience classes ... and couldn't even find one of them for my last dog. I just wanted the pup exposed to difference people and pups (but without the interaction). We already have a GSD and most of the other dogs he will be exposed to as he gets older are also GSD's. We had an issue with our current GSD where it was hard work to neutralise him to small fluffy dogs ... because he had a bad experience with the first couple he came across. We were hoping to avoid this issue with the next one.

I am looking for recommendations for puppy classes for an 8 week old pup. I am most particular about what I want so I am having a great deal of trouble finding what I want... I want the classes to be held in a suitable building ... not part of a park where anyone or everyone has walked (and the area can't be cleaned). I don't want a puppy free-for-all where pups are allowed to wander all over the place - I don't want other pups jumping or playing with my boy. (This is a big sticking point with some organisations). I want knowledgeable instructors with an open mind - when some place are told the GSD will be a working Security dog they object (for God sake - he is a pup that needs positive and good solid socialisation). Would prefer the location as the southside of Brisbane but will travel for the right place. I am finding places have issues with my request not to allow others to handle my pup and for him not to play with other pups. Part of this reason is because we want the pup to see us as his source of fun. We don't want him to be more interested in playing with other dogs then he is in obeying us. We also know that one bad experience can cause a fear in a pup - so we don't want inexperienced people handling our dog - he will get handled by people we know and who understand this. We want puppy class to be a positive experience where he gets to see other dogs come in all difference shapes and sizes. Am I really asking too much?

I did hose the brats mouth out before locking him in the puppy pen. He is back to normal today and excited to be out of the puppy pen ... not happy about getting locked up. I don't normally see green tree frogs around the place but did see one for the first time out the front on Wednesday night. I didn't even think about the frog going into the back yard.

Mongrel dog ... he has just scared the hell out of me. He has now calmed down and back to breathing normally. He is spending the rest of the night in the puppy pen ...

There is definately a stinky smell where the encounter happened ... it smelt like a stinky poo.

My 6.5 year old GSD has just been playing with a Green Tree Frog ... the frog was making nasty ticked off sounds. I have removed the dog and locked him in the puppy pen and now he is making funny noisy breathing noises. Are green tree frogs dangerous to dogs? I can't find anything on line so far....

Hi Erny - I didn't see any tugs on their site. I am looking in the wrong spot or something

I am looking for some decent leather rags, tugs and bite pillows for our GSD pup's training. I need them to have a suitable range to cover from 8 weeks until he starts on the sleeve (he is being training to personal protection for work security). Is there anywhere in Queensland that actually sells them? I can only seem to find a decent range in the US. I am having trouble finding a puppy range as most seem to directed to adult dogs. Many Thanks

I have a book on training deaf dogs - I will try to email it to your tomorrow if you give me an email address.

Unfortunately there is no way to give him access to grass or even dirt. Basically we have set the yard up so that it floods during heavy rain (all the water stays in the yard) - which has never been a problem with the dogs before because they have full access to the concreted veranda and double garage. The fact the puppy can't have free run of the yard meant we had to decide to either build the puppy pen in the yard or the veranda - so we opted for the veranda because we know it will be high and dry if it rains. I was tossing up between newspaper or puppy pads - was thinking puppy pads might be a bit more absorbent but newspaper is something we have lots of... I was also thinking of kitty litter but was worried he might try eating the litter stuff.

In about 6 weeks we are getting a new GSD puppy. We are in the process of building a puppy pen on the back veranda to secure him when we can't be with him. The pen is about 1.7 by 1.8 metres. As we already have a almost 7 year old GSD who is around 60kg and a bit hyper ... the pup can't have free run of the yard as they can't spend unsupervised time together until the pup is much older/bigger. When the pup arrives I am hoping to taking about a week to 10 days off to assist him to settle in ... but what should we do about toileting him when I return to work. I can take him before work and when I get home and my brother can take him out when he gets up before work (about 2:30pm) - he works night shift. We can't expect him to hold it for about 8 hours so I do expect he will go in his pen (which will be on the concrete) ... should we look at putting down puppy pads or maybe newspaper for him to use? Or is there a better option? I didn't want to go to the expense of one of those fake grass toilets... Many thanks

I don't get my pup for 6 weeks - so can you please let know how you go ... if you end up going. I am particularly looking for a place that will allow my pup to see and be around other pups but not actually want his to play with them - we don't want him to see other dogs as "fun to play with" ... all his fun and play is to come from us. Some places I have come across are basically a puppy free-for-all with pups running all over the place.

Has anyone used Urban Dog Training - particular the puppy school for 8 week old pups? The run their classes at South Brisbane Softball Association - Preston Rd (off Meadowlands Rd), Carina... What do you think of them? You can PM me if you don't want to post your response. Many thanks

oops ... double post

Our GSD was anti-social for a period of time ... I found that I dreaded walking him because he could be so difficult. We had to get a prong collar for him so I had better control over him (he was too strong). After that when I was walking and if he showed the slightest bit of interest in another dog (before the growling stage), I would give an "Aah" and do a quick turn in the opposite direction and move off in a quick pace and talking in a praising/happy voice to get his attention. When I had his full attention again, I would praise him and then turn again and head towards the "threat". When his attention went back on the other dog then I repeated the turning away and then back again. It probably looked completely silly to anyone watching ... we did this numerous time over a period of time to the point when we saw another dog he would immediately look at me. We eventually got to the stage where he can walk past an off-leash area (fully fenced) full of dogs without giving them any attention ... it is all on me.

I had to smile at your description of both the cats Cannibalgoldfish - they certainly seemed like they were characters. May they both rest in peace and enjoy eternal life together ...

Not sure how we actually taught it but he does it when we ask "who farted" .....

I thought dogs donated on a "as needed" basis. If you wanted to look into it then contact your local or emergency vet and see what they need. Maybe you could be added as a contact and called if needed - that way they can do any blood type tests etc prior and keep that on record. I thought there was some dogs which are "universal" doggy donors but I can't remember the breed ... it is getting late and my brain is already asleep