The Spotted Devil

Sorry - he very likely won't get over it Cat food tends to be much higher in protein.....probably why the poo tastes so good....to the pup I mean Best thing to do IMO is prevent puppy having access to the litter tray - put the litter tray up high or put a baby gate on the laundry door or use a couple of dining chairs so the cat can get through but the dog can't. When Zig was little, with less spots but much more mischievous intent, I put his crate across our bedroom door. Allowed the cats to come and go as they pleased and prevented him from every attempting to get on our bed.

Clicker training perhaps? What about this for a start....some more reading here.....and more here Baby steps and keep it light! Most of all....have fun

OMG ;) The little bu88er!!!!

Terrific footage I'm going to send the link to a friend who has been told it's "dangerous" to play tug with their non-food motivated dog

I knew a dog that would go straight through a working electric fence without blinking an eyelid. The kangaroos on the other side were just too tempting.

NRM = Non Reward Marker I just use "Oh well"" - however, it's really, really important to keep your voice calm and almost "whatever" - it keeps your body language neutral too which is really important because, from what I've observed, this is where so many people fall down. It means to Zig: "oh well, you've missed your opportunity to get a reward but you're not in trouble and you can have another go." I find it extremely useful when Zig almost has the exercise in his head.......then he starts to experiment to try and get the reward faster e.g. he might break his sit stay for the recall or move a foot in SFE. I just say "oh well" and walk back to where I originally left him. Without any cue he is heeling beautifully in desperation to correct his wrong Calmly ask for the position again and he nearly always gets it right Works for us anyway ;)

I found that using a NRM really helped cement the drop stay in Ziggy's spotted head. He was doing them beautifully for some time then decided to 'experiment' We don't get much of a chance to do them as a group exercise so when he was rock solid amongst a number of dogs that broke I knew he really 'got it'

I don't think this is true - a number of pet food companies have declared numerous times that their food is NOT irradiated, both on their websites and via email/phone. There was a thread about this recently in this section as a number of people were rightly concerned. As far as I am aware, what I posted previously is accurate (regarding appropriate heat treatment during the cooking process) - this has also been discussed extensively by the cat support forum. Sorry, the details are sketchy in my head but I remember Orijen saying they had not choice in the matter as part of their 'spin' but it was pointed out that testing should have been carried out on the food prior to sale. Certainly not having a go at you Quirkyhound - your source (Dr Dodds) is excellent

As far as I'm aware pet food has to be adequately heat treated at the time of manufacture OR irradiated. Many of the foods aren't irradiated because they are cooked at high temperatures - also makes the carbs much more digestible

We had all that and more at the Portarlington Mussel Festival last weekend......Zig's still sleeping it off

I just made a batch of these using Nature's Gift.....will pop back in 3 hours to let Ziggy tell you how they turned out Oh - a quick tip - 32oz cans ~ 900g. I just used a 700g tin and only 3/4 cup bran and oatmeal then balanced for consistency. And it's 3.5 hours @ 120C (i.e. 250F).

My cats each per day get......one quarter of a cup of dry food split between breakfast and a late supper (switching to Artemis Maximal grain free at the moment). For dinner they alternate between a large chunk of human grade, raw beef/chicken/lamb/occasional chicken liver etc mixed with a quarter of a tin of Friskies Feast OR a raw chicken neck/occasional pork rib.

I think it's the tomato seeds that are toxic to dogs and, while I can't imagine raw potato being much good for dogs, cooked should be ok. I managed to track down a small bag of Artemis Adult and fed half 'n' half last night. Today's "offerings" from Zig were much more compact so looking forward to when he's eating it all the time. Unfortunately, my local supplier also sells rabbits, guinea pigs etc and I was not impressed so will be buying it on line from now on. Fortunately I can get free delivery

Kepala is a boarding facility/training venue that some Melbourne DOLers use as a monthly meeting place. I haven't been out there but it looks great - PM i haz flava who organises the monthly meets for more details Apparently it has dog swimming pools, agility facilities, dog runs, bbqs etc. Miles from Albury BTW

I like Cosmolo's idea - I did the same with the broom when Zig was a pup as he went nuts for it. I took every opportunity to sweep outside with Zig present. I had spotlessly clean paths and, eventually, a pup who just didn't give two hoots To cope with the problem of giving your staffy a walk, perhaps you could hide a second lead at the front gate - a different 'environment' might just calm him down, especially if you snap the lead on and quickly start walking. The trick is to not be predictable....sometimes I pick up the lead from the cupboard before I'm ready to leave and either wander around the house carrying it, leave it somewhere on the ground or snap it on to Zig's collar. He clearly anticipates the walk but doesn't get over excited.

Thanks goldielover for the feedback

Just bumping this topic.....I'm thinking of trying the Artemis Fresh Mix Adult for Ziggy. He's currently on EP Holistic and his poos are very soft. Every 2nd night he gets a frame and they firm up a treat. I can't feed him the grain free version as it's way too high in protein for him, otherwise I'd try it based on the opinions so far. I'm also considering DVP organic. Anyone have any success with their dogs? Many thanks

Just did a quick Google and came up with this one, which looks very easy although a bit messy .....would be nice and healthy if you pick a good quality tinned food like Eagle Pack or Nature's Gift. Think I might do some baking 1 3/4 cups canned dog food (2 16 oz. cans) 1 cup unprocessed bran 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal 1/2 vegetable oil Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. In a medium bowl mash the dog food and remove all lumps. Mix in the bran and oatmeal. Slowly add the oil, mixing to a consistency that is easy to mold into patties or roll and cut into bone shapes. Add more oil if the mixture is too dry. Arrange biscuits on and ungreased baking sheet and bake for 3 1/2 hours, or until hard. cool; store in a covered canister. If refrigerated, the treats will keep for about 1 month. Makes 16 medium size biscuits.

Nekhbet: I did this with Zig - not for aggression, mind you, but for some serious "stuff you" attitude. The look on his face was priceless and we've never looked back

Gremlins.... :rolleyes:

And talked me into doing it with Ziggy Best thing I ever did :rolleyes: Agreed, though, for an older puppy/teenager/adult with no recall, a long line and cooked chicken works a treat.

Interesting. I, too, always click and treat....but I tend to use the clicker for new behaviours. However, if I want to teach a sequence I substitute verbal praise to indicate that he's on the right track and to hang in there for the jackpot. This is where I'm at with extended heeling at the moment - as his level of understanding increases I will start to drop the verbal praise. At the moment he still needs some encouragement on the turns to maintain focus. I only release when we've finished working but that is more because of the type of dog I have. With my ACD a release refreshed her and left her bouncing back to me for more. Zig just buggers off to p!ss on things ETA: LukeW - the reward needs to be tied to the behaviour not to the release...otherwise you are rewarding the dog for jumping up and running around. Thus I treat and then release - for Zig, the release is like a jackpot and sometimes that's ALL I use. Today I took Zig to the park for a quick run before he came out to breakfast with us. Instead of just letting him run riot, I asked him to "sit" and "wait" whilst I ran 50m away. Asked him to find "heel". He bolted too me (overshot actually) then raced in to my left hand side, sat and looked me straight in the eye. I told him he was a "good boy!". Still focussed. "Good boy". Still focussed. "OK". 200m away sniffing

Quickasyoucan - you raise a very good point and it is certainly something I'm aware of (hence why I prefaced my post with "Personally"). I particularly wanted a puppy of my choosing that I could shape and guide, taking all of the blame along the way and, hopefully, some of the credit With the older dogs full of bad habits (had one of those as well), I don't have a problem with resolving that behaviour as soon as possible for the comfort of both dog and owner....ultimately (and again, this is for my personal situation) I want a dog that learns how to learn, to think laterally for want of a better term - something a dog full of bad habits generally doesn't have and needs to be taught along side the appropriate behaviour. And, for the best effect, any negative reinforcement/punishment needs to be followed up immediately with positive reinforcement. Correct the dog by all means but I see a lot of people who completely forget to REWARD the dog when it behaves as required - I see it in the show ring, obedience, agility and the average person walking their dog on the street or at the dog park. A simple "good dog!" and loosening of the lead would suffice!!!! I think we often underestimate how difficult some exercises are for a dog to carry out and overestimate how good we are at communicating what we want the dogs to do!

Unfortunately, stress is just not that simple! I wish!!! Stress is about behaviour and physiology and the immune response and there are different ends of the spectrum for different individuals - acute stress and chronic stress are very difficult to compare although long-term chronic stress probably has more deleterious effects on the immune system/reproductive system etc. However, it's more about whether the animal can predict the response and control its environment that tends to lead to a chronic stress response. So, if the training is consistent and predictable I can't see it being a problem. In my opinion. Hell, even scientists can't agree on how to measure stress!!!

Personally I would consider an "easy way out" as sacrificing long term success for short term goals. It might take my dog longer to perform a particular exercise using my training method of choice (note, I am not specific about the training tool!) but, in the long term, he will have a more complete comprehension of the exercise and, if he performs it to only 95% of my expectation and is not rewarded, will understand what is required to gain the reward. Goodness knows if that makes sense in your head as well as it does in mine :D