CALB

My Akita X was obsessed by our chickens when we first got them. He killed one when it flew out of the enclosure. I was worried he'd have a taste for killing too. We built a much higher and more secure pen and haven't had a problem since. And he's still best friends with our free range bunny rabbit, small dogs and visiting children. I think it's the fluttering that excites the dogs. Maybe if you block his line of sight to the chooks, he might lose interest like mine did. I like keeping dogs with chooks - no neighbourhood cats come calling!

Monsterpup - have PM'd you for some advice. Hope that's okay..

Why don't you just teach your dog to run next to your bike and not bother with the lead at all? 1. Because he doesn't have a reliable recall; 2. because it's illegal; and 3. because he's somewhat dog aggressive I don't want to take that sort of a risk. surely it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to extend it to a ride on the bike. I wish training this dog were that easy!! I used to tie 2 greyhounds to the handle bars of my BMX twice a day as a kid until they spotted a rabbit one afternoon. Never tied a dog to a bike again. Bet that's the fastest you've ever gone on two wheels!

I have found it pretty easy to keep my balance when he pulls. In fact if I stick a harness on him, I barely even have to pedal. He does lunge out ocassionally, but I haven't felt much except resistance (ie it's harder to pedal if he's pulling away from the bike). We slow down, I try to regain his attention and off we go. My dog seems to instinctively stay away from the wheels. He definitely can't run under the front wheel as the leash doesn't stretch that far. When we see other dogs, he loses focus, and slows down to trotting behind the bike. Sometimes even trying to turn around as we pass them. We're still training to overcome this problem. For the moment we stick to quiet streets. At least until he's better trained. The one I got is mounted close to the back wheel (ie lower to the centre of gravity). According to some reviews, if the attachment is designed to go higher (higher than the centre of gravity) it becomes more unstable and harder to control. That's why I got the bikerdog anyway. IMO the springer also looks pretty good for this purpose. Just my thoughts and experiences...

This is true. Thanks Sway :D I made my decision after reading some reviews of all the products I could find. This one seemed the best for my requirements, but by all means do your own research. My biggest testimonial is that my kelpie is crashed out on a beanbag and it's only 8:30...

I am so glad you posted this. I have been considering a similar thing for a while but had my doubts. How is it going? Did you get it in OZ? where from and how much? I couldn't find it in Oz unfortunately, so I ordered it from the US. It was expensive, but I got two (one for my other half so we can take both dogs out together). It will be about $US90 for one (incl postage). I think it was worth it because he just wasn't getting enough exercise with 2x 40min walks. Now he gets a 30 min run in the morning, and a walk at night. He's less destructive, and I think a bit more relaxed. He took to it straight away, but for the moment we're sticking to quiet streets while we do some training. He lunged a few times at other dogs we passed, but it's easy to keep your balance. I just need to work on keeping his attention. Although it says it can go either on the left or right of the bike, the contraption is American, so it is designed to go on the right hand side. On the left it sits too low, and your foot would hit it on the way around. When I told the seller, he sent me out a modified one, which I'm yet to try. Will let you know...

What do you guys think of this bicycle attachment? http://www.bikerdog.com/stills.html I just got one for my kelpie x and he absolutely loves it. I never jogged fast enough for him, and now he can sprint alongside my bike without me worrying he's going to run off or get under my wheels. Just wondered if anyone else had used something similar and what you think of it.

I'm pretty sure Canberra to Kurrajong would be at least 4 hours. Steve Austin seems to be in Dural, which is a similar distance (perhaps a little it less). I guess it depends on the number sessions I need - a trip up to Sydney one weekend would be feasible, but not multiple. Thanks for the suggestion though - I had not heard of this one before. Perhaps they will be able to give me a referral.

Well, this is the thing. I've tried getting his attention by calling in an upbeat happy tone. He's not interested. He does the backflip thing as well, which is quite a spectacle, considering that he's about 25kgs now. I've tried turning and walking the other way. He twists himself around and walks backwards! I've tried completely ignoring him and walking confidently, placing myself ahead of him and between him and the other dog. He will try to bowl me over to get to it. Erny, I agree with you, and as the problem evidently lies with me not being able to anticipate this behaviour and prevent it, I cannot leave it to chance. Being in Canberra, I simply cannot get to see Steve in Kurrajong. I am saving up for professional help for this problem, but so far no one has been able to recommend anyone here. A trainer is something I also do not want to leave to chance. At home I can bring any person or dog into the yard without a problem. His favourite playmate used to be a 2kg chihuahua for goodness sakes! For the time being, I take advantage of the fact that no one else wants to walk at night time in Canberra because it's too cold, and take my two out after 6pm when I'm not likely to see any other dog walkers.

Interesting website. Certainly has some good testimonials. I suppose it might be a possibility, though not immediately. Will talk to my other half. Might be worth taking my other dog along too. I started both my dogs on the 'triangle of temptation' yesterday. Both are very food driven. My older dog didn't take his eyes off me, and it didn't take puppy long at all. We also had a very positive experience this morning on our walk, as an offleash (friendly looking) lab came bounding up to us (from the front, not behind). I saw him coming, but this time I took a calming breath and allowed the leash to stay loose, thinking that perhaps he wouldn't feel so trapped, and puppy actually had a game! Not even so much as a growl. Needless to say I lavished praise on him. Since he didn't react negatively, I like to think this is a good tactic - what do you think? I don't know what will happen next time, or if this will work when we're passing another dog on lead, but I will try to stay relaxed, and if things don't improve, I will try one on one help.

Interesting website. Certainly has some good testimonials. I suppose it might be a possibility, though not immediately. Will talk to my other half. Might be worth taking my other dog along too.

Private consultation had crossed my mind, but at first I was hoping the obedience classes would help. However, perhaps you are right, I think it would lessen the stress on both of us. Do you know of anyone reputable in the Canberra area?

Yes, i have - the first one told me that I should just avoid all dogs. Kinda hard when you're out on a walk, and not really a solution. After pressing the issue he gave me a book called "Toolbox - tips for managing your problem dog" which just goes through the general stuff about being alpha in the pack, etc etc. Nothing I didn;t already know from my other dog. The other trainer suggested I stand back from the group at school, so he feels more secure, which is working (sometimes) at training, but not when I'm out on a walk. Another one suggested spraying him in the mouth with mint breath sprayas a deterrent and strong distraction at the point when he went to lunge at the other dog. But I don't want him to associate my hand coming towards him as a negative experience. He's such a beautiful little pup in all other respects, I just wish I could figure this behaviour out and get some strategies for combatting it.

Also curious to hear the result of this as it sounds like I have exactly the same problem. My dog was rescued at 5 months old and is (now) reasonably well behaved at home. He is now 9 months old. Outside, he never shows any aggression towards people (even on leash), and is great at walking on a loose leash when there aren't any dogs (or cyclists, or joggers) around. The second he spies another dog, he becomes tense and goes into 'attack' mode. He is 22kgs, so I have to stand still to physically control him or he goes bananas and trips me up or practically wrenches my shoulder from its socket. He is spayed, and we are attending obedience classes. However, the problem is exacerbated there because he is on leash along with 10 other dogs! If I stand a little further away and warn others not to come too close, he is generally okay, but hell breaks loose if his 'personal space' is broken. I have tried distracting and rewarding when his attention is on me when another dog comes near... the problem is that I usually cannot get his attention away from the other dog in order to reward him. He plays happily with any dog I bring into the yard (even my friend's chihuahua). We also have another older male dog, and I tried walking them together so maybe he'd feel more secure, but it made no difference. I am trying to appear relaxed when we approach another dog so that he doesn't get the idea that there's anything to worry about, but I'm obviously tensing up and communicating a different message. I'm trying so hard, but don't know what to do.