Pockets

but they are pretty good indicators of how well the person will cope and the level of maturity they will bring to the issue. So far Ash you have only appreciated those who defend, support or agree with you. That's natural I guess, but at least as far as I am concerned, what I posted was out of concern, not a desire to belittle or criticise. When I was 19, I was in diabolical difficulties on various fronts. The misjudgements of our youth often create the hardships that frame our character as adults. Good luck with the pup, the kids and the course. [ Its not a good indicator at all, you cant judge a book by its cover, therefore you can not judge a person by their age..... Just because you experience certain things in your life does not mean its the same for everyone else that age... Who cares if she has made mistakes in her past, that is her business and not anyones on here, personal circumstances should never have been brought into it, I would get defensive too if people had a go at me for my life decisions, especially when I came on here for some advice on dog behaviour! She is the only one that knows if she can handle two kids and two dogs, by the sounds of it she gets good help from family, she sounds like she is doing right by this dog and will continue to do right by this dog... However a puppy growling and nipping at that age is not on and I would definatly speak to someone professional about this, try ADT they come out and do home visits for around $80....well worth it to nip it in the butt now!

oh ok, thought that was a silly question.... so if say I go down to the park with one of my dogs and do something on the other side, she can get Libby to focus on her and when she does she gets the toy as praise for not reacting to the other dog and focusing on Rachelle? and would you then move into trying to work the dog? and reward with the toy? Sorry if these are silly questions but I am just interested

K9: Any training that invloves using a dogs drive is technically training in drive... Anything from having to do a search for the daily meal to training OB in drive.. There are a few that can teach you this or we have Distance Learning Packages that cover this... K9: I havent seen the dog so dont know what makes it driven, but something that is menatally challenging for the dog that will stimulate & exhaust the mind... Would something like trick training help?? Or maybe taking the dog out on her own without the pack?

Thats what I was talking about, no amount of running is going to solve the problem... Some people in here seem to suggest, shes a working dog, rehome her on a farm, that might put an end to the problem at one end, but it in no way helps the dog to solve the issue....I would imagine rehoming the dog would do more harm than good, an already anxious dog being taken out of its environment, its pack, its routine and forced into daily life as a working dog, I can only imagine what issues the dog would face then... K9 - you put forward a very good point, mental stimulation can do wonders more than any amount of running.... What sort of mental stimulation would you suggest?

But having her work all day is not an option and I beleive the problem lies deeper than that aswell, she is very reactive to other dogs on lead and looses focus easil as Rachelle stated.. Granted she is a highly driven dog, and she is good at herding (as Rachelle stated a bit overzealous at first) her problem is that she is high strung and reacts quite quickly to a certain situation not that she is lacking in physical and mental stimulation. At the same time as loosing focus she is also absolutly besotted with Rachelle

I too beleive that this person should not be discriminated against because of her age or personal situation. She is entitled to have 2 dogs jsut like anyone else. Like she said she saved for it, just because she is a single mother does not mean she doesnt have the right to save and spend stuff on herself! I think she has done the right thing by at least coming and trying to get some help... Leave age and personal situations out of it!

I know these dogs well, they are all beautiful dogs... Libby (the dog in question) does herding, goes for runs down the park on a daily basis and is heavily involved in all family ongoings...it seems that she is just highly strung...It also seems nothing you can do will wear her out (relax or calm her) at all, she goes swimming, chases the ball, goes for long walks, does herding and obedience... Believe me running is not the answer here, if thats all it was this dog would be perfect, yes she is a working breed, but Rachelle is quite knowledgable in working breeds and stimulates there dogs physically and mentally.....

Your absolutly right, I just didnt think it was my place to tell someone else dog off and I didnt want to punish Ruby by stopping the game, but after talking to someone afterwards, I decided if something happens involving my dog I will from now on step in..

I find this part difficult - as while you may be thinking you are 'rewarding' her for nice *calm* behaviour - are you really sure that you are? Just because she isn't reacting, doesn't mean that she may not be 'thinking' about it. Speaking from experience with another issue....... while you think you are doing the right thing, you may be inadvertently rewarding something else. No I can read her body language, when a dog comes up to her,she will go out and say hello, thats when I tell her shes a good girl and rewards her with lots of praise and encouragement, if I find she is getting under confident, I will call her away and take her for a walk, I think her main problem is that she either wants to chase a ball, or be swimming in the lagoon as she is only clingy to me when we are in the grassed yard. Maybe its just boredom? She doesnt react to another dog coming up to her, no growls, bite etc, she just prefers a gentle hello... Then it's great that you are taking action now. Trying to fix a 'small problem, which might not even be there'... is better than fixing a huge problem Yeah as I said, its only a minor problem that I am noticing atm, but I would rather try and fix it now than wait for it to get to big... Depends - you did say she had a few times there where she was un-nerved. Perhaps keep her out of the lagoon area/ area where the mad zoomies are happening (heightened excitement etc... as well as other dogs not thinking what they are doing)... or perhaps have her on lead there. I think that from what you have said - free reign at Kepala won't build up her confidence just yet. But that doesn't mean leave her at home - by her being 'there' but not interacting will not affect her but actually may be beneficial. When she is in the lagoon, she keeps to herself and swims after the toys etc, she doesnt pay attention to the other dogs at all, so thats not a problem at all. I think if she growls over toys, I will just take it off her, and walk off and ignore her.....If that doesnt work I will remove the toy and put her on lead... For the moment - you are her security blanket. If you can reward her for 'focus' while there are other dogs zooming around her - she will realise she won't be bothered when with you - you *will* look after her. I believe that when she begins to get confident again in that fact, she will be more willing to leave your side. As for toys - hard to do at Kepala but give her a few goes on her own and if Axle chases toys - then also hold her back while she watches him get it (praising her and telling her how good she is for doing so)... If she gets snitchy with ANY dog - game ends, toy goes away, lead goes on without a word and you LEAVE.... if at Kepala, maybe leave for a few mins and do NOTHING exciting.... why should she be 'rewarded' for that behaviour etc. Perhaps even bring a crate and set that up?! Axel tends to only chase the toys when Ruby does, but I will definatly give it a go Thanks for your help LP

I told Ruby off for having a nip at the other shepherd, only because I dont want her to think its okay to do that, it is the other owners job to tell the other dog off, not my dogs....But the other owner was telling her dog off, but her dog just wanted to play etc.. I take my dogs for a walk at 5am in the morning and they get an off lead run through the park on the way home, then they get another walk at night time. They also go to obedience and get to go and meet some of their friends down at the off lead park aswell...

I had a very similar problem with Bella who was attacked twice in the same fashion. She developed mild fear agression from these encounters. I agree with dogdude, by exposing her to other dogs off lead you are putting her under pressure not helping her to get over her fears. To get over her fears you need to introduce her to other dogs under controlled circumstances, eg, good, balanced dogs that you know. I went to see K9 Force to help fix this and I feel you need to get Ruby assessed professionally as well and work out a plan. I also agree with the advice of ignoring Ruby when she's stressed. Dogs don't think like human and they don't gain confidence from you comforing them. They gain confidence from doing things by themselves and some dogs don't like playing with other dogs. I brought Bruno up very differently from Bella. He has never been to an off lead park and never played with dogs except those of my friends. He is perfectly happy, well balanced and has not problems with meating dogs. Bella will always suffer from my not knowing all these things. If Ruby growls at another dog and then at you when you take the toy off her I would growl back. I would suggest taking the toys away at times and putting them in a box so they know that you own the toys. This should stop the growling at you. Good luck BellasPerson Oh No she doesnt growl at me only at the other dog, sorry if I insunuated that she growled at me! I take the toy off her and ignore her and usually walk off, or put her on lead and put her in a sit and wait till she is relaxed and then give her a release command. She doesnt do it all the time, only occasionally, most dogs dont get a chance she always has a toy in her mouth, when she is playing ball if another dog beats her to it she doesnt care, she just likes the chase..

She is fine at Kepala, I pat her and praise her when there are other dogs around, saying hello to her, so she knows it is a good thing, she is not being fearful at the time, she usually has a happy expression on her face and when I pat her and tell her she is a good girl she wags her tail and is relaxed around the other dog...I also do the same when she instigates the introduction with another dog.. I am probably making the issues sound worse than they actually are, they are only minor issues, I think she is just lacking confidence since the incident with the other dog ages ago... Kepala is a great place for socialisation as it is very calm and the dogs wander around at their own leisure..By not having her in these situations how can I combat these issues? By removing her from the situation I beleive is only masking the issues, I would rather solve them.... I have no problem with her thinking I am more interesting than the other dogs at all, I just dont want her to be so clingy, I want to boost her confidence, not so much so that she will go run rampid with the other dogs...

Ruby has two issues that we are trying to combat at the moment... 1) She has become very toy possessive and if another dog comes near her toy , she will growl, or quickly snap and pick it up, she got so worked up yesterday with Ranger coming near her toy that she actually bared her teeth as I was holding her...At the moment if she does it, she gets the toy taken off her and sometimes gets put back on lead and sort of a time out session. I think she learnt this behaviour with my Kelpie as he is very vocal when he plays with his toys, yet sometimes he will growl at her if she goes near him when he has one aswell.... 2) Ever since Ruby got attacked by the other GSD at training (for those who do not know when Ruby was sitting next to me at training a big male GSD ran up from behind her, lunged on her back and bit her - she got so scared she nipped and also was scared that she released her anal glands) she has become very very clingy and will not leave my side, she is very hesitant to play with other dogs, if a dog come up behind her she gets very nervous and will occasionally turn around and nip. An example of this is a white sheppie yesterday at Kepala kept nipping Ruby on the back as she ran to chase the ball (the white sheppie was doing this in play, not aggression or anything) Ruby eventually turned around and chased and nipped at the shepherd. It makes me so sad that she doesnt want to go and play with other dogs, I dont want her to be so clingy, does anybody suggest a way that I can combat this, it was made a suggestion that I should ignore her and turn away, but I would feel terrible, she is obviously nervous around other dogs and looks to me for protection and confidence, I dont want to ignore her as I would feel horrible. I do give her lots of praise, pats and cuddles when there is another dog sniffing her etc.

Some breeders do not reccommend you give a large breed dog dry food for large/giant breed puppies as in some rare cases it can make them grow too fast and has the potential to cause problems :p Plus GSD's are not a large breed dog, they are a medium sized dog

Very good point Ruby & Axel. Neglect is another form of cruelty/abuse. I find this all a bit loaded towards people that rescue as if there's something wrong with doing that. Tonymc - do you rescue dogs at all? I have fostered/rescued around 40 or 50 dogs in the last few years, not all have been abused but quite a few have problems that I don't believe they'd have been born with. How do I know that? Well you are right, I don't for sure. But what I do know is that after a certain period of time, certain foster dogs have no longer felt the need to hide under the sofa 24/7 or run away when I move my hands too fast. Those are just a couple of examples. The dogs I'm referring to have ranged in age from 12 months to 10 years. I strongly object when people suggest I'm a do gooder. Yes I thought it was a bit loaded too.. I dont think you are a do gooder at all, there is nothing wrong with rescuing dogs and of course you would know the difference between just a shy dog and one that has obviously suffered from abuse wether it be physical or mental... Some people just think they are experts on everything

I am sorry but I equate Lack of socialisation, poor training, and shoving a dog in the backyard and having nothing to do with it as "Abuse".......Abuse does not have to be just physical.....it can also be emotional and mental... A dog from the pound may not have been physically abused (hit, kicked or handled roughly etc) but that does not mean it wasnt abused in other ways...

When my family got our pomeranian he was advertsied as a Toy pomeranian, the lady told us they come in Toy, minature and standard?

You can just go to your vet nd get the booster for the C5, Some have a new nasal spray thing that works instantly within 48hours they are covered, but only some vets have it..

RIP Beautiful Zana Girl!!! Shepmax - Hope you and your family are doing ok, sending you lots of :p

Grotty Rotty - I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful boy, he was absolutly gorgeous and a bit of a stud I might say!! May you find peace in this difficult time.. Sending you lots of hugs RIP Sambucca :p

I am so sorry for you and your family, he was such a beautiful boy and I loved dropping in the big fluffy thread and seeing photos of his gorgeous face...How devastating for you, but he is in no pain now, you did the right thing, although just because it was right never means its easy... Sending you lots of hugs... RIP Oakley you beautiful boy :p

If she is not fllowing the food down and out towards you, try moving the food under her tummy along the floor instead, if she tries to get up you may need to keep your hand gently on her bottom, so she doesnt get the erge to stand up... If this fails to teach her the basics of what you want her to do, when saying drop, lift both her front legs and place them gently in the drop position and reward straight away! Another way to do it using the method you are currently using with treats is to start from her nose and lower the food directly to the floor, if you are in front of the dog make sure you are not moving the treat towards you at the same time as this will entice her to get up, always make sure you take the treat directly and slowly down to the floor, if she is not following you can gently put your hand on the puppys back and very gently push down as you take the treat down and say "Drop" then reward straight away.. Key to training puppy's is to make the sessions short and sweet (otherwise puppies get bored) I would suggest no more than 5 minutes for each session...

Just heard!!! RIP Girl!!! Sorry for your loss Prix

Thats ok, basically you have to do what suits both you and the dog...treats and keep walking past talking to my dogs, works well for me too... Good luck with it.......now you will be better prepared for next time

Its hard when you are put into that sort of situation....I would walk with treats in my pocket and keep his attention on you not the other dog, possible try and keep walking and keep a happy tone and talk to your dog, keep telling him that he is a "very good boy" and reward him with treats...You did the right thing by asking the lady to grab her dog and warning her that yours is not always friendly... Or you can walk with a stick??? No flaming for having your dog off lead, if he is under effective control then there is no problem