The Spotted Devil

There's certainly a number of foxes that live on the beaches in Brighton - I used to see them walking my Dally there at about 5am. The local papers have had photos of foxes in suburbia drinking out of water fountains and reports of cats being killed in their own yards.

I only just saw this and I'm so very sorry for your loss, Sheridan I loved hearing about the escapades of Grumpy and I had a picture of this grizzled, whiskery old dog who liked everything just so and woe betide anyone who got in his way. If he was human he would have enjoyed a nip of single malt whiskey I suspect. Run free old boy.

I lived with my ACD for 17 years (originally the family dog) so when it came to sourcing my Dalmatian I was in another state with no dog contacts at all. I wasn't even looking for a Dalmatian but got chatting with a nurse during my ADF medical who had 2 Dallies and was raving about them. Gave me her breeder's details and I gave them a call. Absolutely I got the 3rd degree and was happy that they cared so much about where the puppies went. I waited 2 years for a pup from them because I was so impressed with their ethics. They were in another state but prospective owners HAD to visit their property and meet them and their dogs. I was a full time student so I wasn't exactly rolling in $$$ (hang on - I'm still a full time student :D ). Mr TSD was in the area for work one time so borrowed a car and drove out to their property to have dinner with them. When the puppies were 5 weeks old I flew up and was their guest for several nights - they picked me up from the airport and were incredibly hospitable. Maybe they just liked my choice in wine but they were more than happy to give me pick of the litter and fly him down when the time came and have never ceased to be delighted with all his achievements. I have similar respect for Em's breeder and we spend many hours discussing pedigrees and what we like in a dog. I have an entire dog and an entire bitch, both on mains register. I was given the 3rd degree and have 2 exceptionally well bred dogs (in my slightly biased opinion) that are perfect for me. Neither have been bred but may be in the future, but only after a lot of research and in consultation with their respective breeders. I know I'm not the average dog owner though....or so I keep getting told.

Yes, definitely try to bring in other breeders - I can think of some in the ACT and VIC who might be interested. Also worthwhile looking at dogs and offspring in the flesh if you can - nice holiday for you From my last trip to the US, the agility fraternity were gobsmacked that I ran a Dally in agility and obedience. And not necessarily from the "difficult to train" aspect either - they have a reputation over there for being human aggressive which is awfully sad although that may be a hangover from the 101/102 Dalmatian days. Also they allow blue eyes (which is highly associated with deafness) and their "type" appears to me to be quite different from the UK dogs so there will be a lot of homework to do - but plenty of time for that! Did you see the Dally bitch who won BOB at Crufts last year? Not LUA but my dream in terms of moderation

is it easy to test for LUA? Dogs are either born LUA (low uric acid) or not. Until the pointer backcross many years ago, all dallies were high uric acid and this leads to stones. The only boys I could use would have to be descendents of the backcross project. As far as I know (happy to be corrected) all offspring from a LUA dog will be LUA. (That's what I get out of this study anyway, from a quick skim read http://www.thedca.org/LUA/InheritanceHUA1938Trimble.pdf ) I'm not 100% on this (and also happy to be corrected!) but I think LUA is a simple dominant gene so it depends whether the sire is LL or Ll. In the former case (which would be unusual I think at this early stage) all offspring with HUA Dals would be Ll and therefore LUA. If the sire is Ll then mating with HUA bitch (ll) would theoretically result in 50% Ll (LUA) and 50% ll (HUA). I would think genetic testing wouldn't be too hard though.

you could get approx 3 different lots of semen from 3 different dogs for the price of importing one dog. It's why I think a bitch would be best. There are risks either way. Sorry - I meant semen not actual dogs!

Also, importing semen is bloody expensive so it's worthwhile in the long run to bring in several studs (maybe UK an option also?) When you're trying to eliminate a genetic problem common to the entire breed you don't want to fall into the popular sire syndrome trap if you can help it. I can't see myself ever breeding Dals but would love an LUA one day. So pleased this is being discussed!

Definitely worth asking on the Dally list. I know Zig's breeders have multiple bitches who get along fine - they always separate when away from the house and at night and provide strong leadership when they are home. Fights can happen due to bad management eg protective bitch with puppies and a nosy one who can't resist a look! They have had many rescue Dals in the past (with no manners!) who slot in really well simply because the pack structure is well balanced. Male Dallies that I have come across (including mine) are much happier with a harem of ladies :D Huge kudos to you for considering importing LUA semen. A great progression for the breed :)

I'm doing behavioural research across 4 different shelters and it's amazing the difference in dog types (I won't say breeds!) depending on the socio-economic area. I see very few dogs that look like pedigreed dogs even though many are listed as breeds. I will certainly be pointing that out when I write up.

There were one or two movies that prompted that in one of my breeds. Absolute disaster and their reputation is still recovering.

I just read that out to him and he went pale and said "bloody hell!"

We are enjoying ourselves way too much to call this training :D As I had Mr TSD to assist we worked on marking drills. Firstly we did an X marking drill with 6 dummies a good distance down the oval. First pick up (angle back left) was not the best line but the rest were great. Em ran through old ground and ran the short marks so much better than previously. Then we worked on the double as previously. Both thrown to the left and walking to the right in between. Ran it as two singles first. Probably the marks were a bit close for my liking and she had a good sticky beak at the memory mark on the way back. No swapping though and much improved on the memory mark. Another break followed by a session in the hide. Sit-stay in the hide. Reward. Sit-stay in the hide plus Mr TSD yelling "hey, hey, hey!" and, as I suspected it was too much for her :laugh: Mr TSD was laughing so hard at the look on her face as she poked her head out of the hide. Non reward marker - she was bouncing out of her skin - and I set her up again. Wasn't going to fool her this time though - yelling, throwing dummies, firing the cap gun but she didn't budge. Whistled her in, rewarded with an easy mark and then sent her for a sighted blind.

I have a new training challenge! I've convinced Mr TSD to let me teach him the agility basics with Zig. So...in between training Em tonight we worked with Zig on some tugging, start line stays and circle work. It was so much fun - Zig was really focussed and Mr TSD started to relax and enjoy himself. His coordination and timing are not his strong points so the big challenge was getting him not to worry when he mucked up. Ziggy is so resilient now that a few stuffed up commands don't phase him - really interesting to watch him take more notice of the physical cues than the verbal ones. Mr TSD couldn't work out why he wouldn't return to heel on the right until I realised his hand signal was pulling him left. Mr TSD has the dogs for a month whilst I go overseas again so hopefully this will keep them ALL entertained!

I've been hanging out in the retrieving thread - very lonely in there :laugh: but I'm working on lots of handling drills with Em. Zig is having a bit of break after a very full on few months. Just tightening up heel work - duration heeling, turns and focus at the starting peg.

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

Just a light training session tonight at the oval. Started with left and right backs. So, so much better! I really mixed it up and even sent her right back when she was sitting crookedly to the left - just to test her understanding - and she nailed it. Very pleased. After a break we moved on to 3 leg lining blind using the whole oval. I had planned to send her to the back pile, then send her again but stop and cast right and then pick up the rest. However, as she was running to the back pile for the first retrieve she got sucked in by the black dummy on the left and started to veer off. Must have picked up a sniff on the light breeze. Stopped her and cast back, which she took. As she had been sucked in by the left pile I then sent her to the right pile, followed by the back pile before getting her to pick up the dummy on the left. She did all that very well and was much better at lining up at heel - she's quite sure she doesn't need me at all sometimes :laugh: It was getting a bit warm so I had her using her brain more than her body after another rest. Started with a sit stay behind a "hide". No problems - reward. Sit-stay plus throwing dummies so she could hear them fall. No problems - reward. Sit-stay plus yelling "hey, hey, hey". I saw her shadow shuffle the slightest bit so I gave her a non-reward marker and set her up again. She was so excited and seemed to realise her mistake. Sit-stay plus yelling "hey, hey, hey". No problems - reward. Sit-stay plus fired cap gun (it's loud!) No problems - reward. Sit-stay plus yelling "hey, hey, hey" plus throw dummy plus fire cap gun. Not a muscle moved. Returned and rewarded again. Walked away and whistled her to come to heel and sent her on an easy sighted blind. Oh and Ziggy "yelling" in frustration 2 metres away was a nice distraction :D

Babies are doing well - mum not so - she is hot and today doesn't want to eat - can't say I blame her. Poor girl - completely understand. Sh!t. The reports sounded very scary. I've got a written fire plan here but thankfully haven't had to use it. I'll be overseas for at least the whole of January and Mr TSD will be under strict instructions to just get the heck out.

A few ideas of the top of my head to increase food motivation: Mix up your treats - type and value (try getting some blood sausage, cutting it into tiny pieces and microwaving it. Smells disgusting but have not seen a dog refuse it :D ) Mix up how you deliver them - I find throwing food is brilliant but also running to a "bait plate" with the dog also great. Positive isn't permissive - reward frequently with tiny pieces but be conscious of what you are rewarding. Increase criteria and expectations as the dog improves and decrease criteria when distractions increase Don't "lump" behaviours. Split them down into their tiny parts - also allows you to reward frequently. Try some shaping - change the dog's perspective on earning rewards - engage the brain! Nearly forgot - if your Kelpie loves herding the soccer ball you can incorporate that. So, ask for something simple - e.g. a sit - reward with food then release to play with the soccer ball for a brief period. Remove the soccer ball if you have to and ask for a behaviour and repeat. I did this with Zig initially - but marking his territory was his reward. Not only did Zig start to offer behaviours (rather than be called back) he started to associate the food with being released to sniff so it was a win-win. Eventually I back chained the tug to food as well - a well known agility trainer (Susan Garrett) doesn't like this idea but I'm not sure why as it has worked well for us. I think she commented that it requires very good timing. I do have good timing so not sure how difficult it would be for someone with bad timing. But then all training is difficult without good timing!!!

You guys are having a shocker - how are your baby puppies coping Ptolomy? I was listening to news of the fires last night too - hope everyone is ok. I can't believe how mild it is here. So nice to enjoy Christmas without worrying about high fire danger. Just need to get rid of the in-laws....... :D Love your Christmas pic RS

No that's not my Dally but she did very well at our recent Dalmatian Nationals! Just goes to show what you can do. Ziggy blew his retrieve over the jump in CDX (took the dumbbell to the judge, bless him :laugh: ) but won ADM, JDM, ADO, JDO, Best in jumping trial and Best in agility trial. Ziggy's favourite thing is/was marking his territory. He still gets to do that as a reward for a job well done :D Zig and Em videos (not all brilliant :laugh:): http://m.youtube.com/user/TheSpottedDevil?feature=guide

You can build motivation for food and tug and social rewards. Anyone who sees my food obsessed, tug obsessed and praise obsessed Dalmatian compete in obedience and agility has trouble believing what a turd he was for the first few years :laugh: ZERO interest in anything I offered him - it takes time and patience. I used to work on the behaviour at home with impressive rewards and then downgrade the rewards until he was training at home with super enthusiasm with average rewards (eg dry food instead of cheese, rope tug instead of fur tug) - it gives you somewhere to move. You have to teach them to take the reward you choose. My working ESS had to learn to accept food in the face of game - a similar stickiness to a kelpie I expect and it really helps them "switch" their brain on.

You can start agility foundation work with puppies of any age - much more important than jumps/weaves which we don't ask for until at least 12 months. I waited 2 years for my Dalmatian. Same issues - specific breeder, bitch had a silent season, missed matings etc. Tough to wait but THE best decision :) For a period my home was devoid of cats and dogs so I fostered kittens for a while. Really helped to keep the at bay.

Jed, I'm no AR nutter but there are quite a number of HSUS shelters in the States. The ones I have dealt with are extremely committed to animals in their care, fostering, rescue networks and adoption. Some of them even have special training/adoption programs for pit bull types where the legislation banning them has been repealed. Let's not make the same mistake of tarring everyone with the same brush.

Good luck! Do let us know you get on :)

Yes, it could be a fear period. It's so hard to diagnose over the internet - a mild reaction for one person can be a severe reaction for another. It's all about perception. I do like LAT - but you need to train for it specifically and keep the dog under threshold. Timing is important and this is where a good trainer might be worth while. I have noticed that the reserved dogs are the ones the humans often want to rush up to and cuddle! And visitors generally don't listen to your instructions to just ignore them *insert rolly eye man* So - when visitors come I would put Em in her crate - she was so much happier not be set upon by all these crazy people! When the peole settled on the lounge I'd let her out and she'd walk straight up to everyone for a cuddle. The crate is away now but the in-laws arrived on Christmas night - now Em knows them but MIL can't help rushing up and standing over her which can be intimidating for a dog that wants to go through polite sniffing protocol first. So - the dogs were locked out on the deck - got to see everyone arrive at a distance, recognise them and then be let in the house to say hello.