Diva

Someone else should take my turn, I won't be here enough.

Silken Windhound, or maybe longhaired whippet? (either way the ears look big)

Me either, it's hard to shrug off the people who just want to take out their issues on strangers, but feeling sorry for their sad lives helps a bit some people call it a coupler http://www.k9pro.com.au/products/Leather-two-dog-coupler-leash.html

Kerry Beagle WAS a guess for 408, lol. So many regional scent hounds - how about the Tyrolean?

Kerry beagle?

I still think you need a second vet opinion. This doesn't sound like a training issue at all, it sounds medical. Being relaxed isn't being lazy, she is just physically relaxing her muscles to rest. And of course she tenses up again when you lift her tail. If you read all the posts in the link Pers posted, several people talk about the condition improving with medication, going off the tablets, and then recurring some time later. Maybe you haven't found the medication that works best for her yet, maybe it's not hormonal but has one of the other possible medical causes - but it really sounds like you need better veterinary advice. Some dogs do develop the habit of peeing on their beds - but it is a deliberate peeing, not this dribbling.

Good lord, stop calling her lazy and spanking her, it sounds like a typical presentation of incontinence that she would have no control over, she relaxes, so do the muscles controlling her bladder and she dribbles some urine. It is quite common in desexed bitches and is often very responsive to medication. Unless you've already tried such medication without success, the first thing I'd do is ditch the vet who claimed it was behavioural and get a second opinion from someone more useful. It is not pleasant for the dog to sleep in her own pee, it could be scalding her skin too.

looks a bit like a blue tick coon hound, but maybe too much tan?

There is no formal functional competition for my sighthound breed in Australia, although there are several different forms in overseas countries. There is some informal lure coursing here. Lure coursing is not a 'real' test of original purpose, but if the course is set out appropriately for the breed it is a whole lot better than no functional test at all. The original country of origin standard holds up pretty well when compared against a top coursing dog, not so much when compared to some - not all - top winning show dogs. Coursing can show speed, agility, soundness, flexibility of the loin, and a whole lot of other stuff that is very useful and debunks a lot of myths and excuses. Good photograghy and video makes it even more useful - you can really see how the dog is using its body, does it really flex that topline compared to the how others of its breed do, does it have the burst of acceleration called for by its original purpose. Almost any coursing shot looks pretty, but if you learn how to interpet them they can contain lot of information. I don't care if they want to catch the prey or not, but if they can't run the way they are supposed to, they aren't built the way they are supposed to be built. I wouldn't judge a dog solely on how it courses - as someone else said some dogs just won't chase plastic, and there are lot of fine breed points coursing just doesn't test - but I feel on much stronger ground looking at how they course than I do just looking at how they show. I don't need all the fingers on one hand to count how many in my breed in this country feel the same, and I can understand that as they see them only as show dogs, but plenty in the overseas breed community look for both.

Nope, but it is a European toy breed.

Love the rough haired shepherds. I haven't tracked the whole thread, hope this one hasn't been done already

they look like the rough haired version of the Dutch Shepherd

I like the bodpave, I should probably look at it for the heavy traffic ares of my yard.

I feel redundant after Pav's post, but I have bandages, gauze pads, neocort, syringe, saline, betadine cream, antihistamine, non-medicated eye drops, de-gas, rapigel, tick remover thingy, thermometer, aspirin, soda crystals to induce vomiting, some electrolyte sachets, a towel and stingose. I've never had to use any of it except the rapigel for me, and the stingose for other exhibitors. I'd like to carry some of the things Pav has, but my vet wouldn't issue them just for a first aid kit, damn it.

You can't google for an answer unless you have some idea of what you're looking at. Hang out with purebred dog nerds long enough and take a look at their bookshelves and you'll find that most have a pretty good feel for rare breeds, particuarly in the Group they exhibit in. Yep, I'm pretty good on sighthounds. Not so much the rest as I don't have the same level of interest.

See main title of thread :D Haha yes, but I mean how do you learn them all so you can identify them just off a picture. I mean, wow I'm a cheat. I had no idea and googled my answer. The truth comes out...you should be ashamed, as should I and most of the people playing this game :laugh: Possibly not most of the people - I know the sighthounds nerds in person, and they are really that good.

Yep. I just politely ask them to take their dog away, and if they don't do it I get firmer and louder or turn my back and walk off with my dog. I've even had an obedience instructor send a whole class of unruly beginners over to my dog, sitting quietly on leash, because 'it would be good for them to socialise with a big dog'. Tough luck, unless I know you or you get my specifc permission beforehand, my dog isn't available for your training.

So sad, poor woman. In the ACT all dogs are required to be leashed in public areas, unless it is a designated off lead area or fenced dog park. She paid a very high price for breaching a leash law, poor lady. I feel for the driver of the car too.

I assume some people over confine /crate their dogs, although I don't know of any personally. I can't think of a management tool that can't be abused, even if unwittinlgy, so staying thoughtful about how we use them is sensible. Mine are only crated at shows, trials and the like, but that is mostly because I just don't need to at home. I feel sorriest for the backyard dogs no-one ever thinks about, and that see people only when fed. That makes me very sad. Probably. My sighthounds spend most of their day moving from bed to different bed and back again. They seem pretty happy about it though.

I've been tripped up, by a puppy chasing a leaf. Had a few fingers bruised by leashes. Had a bruised nose from a head bump, and a few scratches from nails. Nothing else really. That's not bad for thiry or so years with large dogs. Sprained an ankle once steppping in a hole on a walk, but hard to blame that on the dogs.

I can't speak for Whippets, but most sighthounds don't have required health tests and there are very few DNA tests available for diseases in the sighthound breeds. They are a pretty healthy group as a whole relatively speaking, especially the rarer breeds which haven't been bred in large numbers and aren't popular as pets or for commercial racing. I still prefer hearts, thryoid and eyes checked in my sighthound breed (not Whippets) as well as the sole available DNA test, for Degenerative Mylopathy, but many in Aust don't do it. Mostly they get away with no consequences because of the generally good genetic health of the breed population. The big killers - bloat, bone cancer - can't be tested for. But complacency is dangerous, and there are genetic health problems in the breed here and elsewhere which do need to be watched for. I'd run a mile from the breeder you quote though - anyone who says a breed is naturally immune from health problems is not someone I'd deal with.

I've seen confident, good-tempered dogs break up potentially hostile interactions like that, including two I've owned who would shoulder trouble makers apart with no fuss and in a way the other dogs just accepted. It's a good skill for a dog to have, I think it speaks of excellent social skills and a sound temperament.

If carelessly bred pups can't be sold for a profit the people who deliberately breed them will stop seeing them as an easy money making venture. Stopping demand like that doesn't happen overnight, so I have no fear of hords of current byb pups suddenly being unhomable and pts. Truly accidental litters will still happen - but at the scale they happen I don't think they are really the problem. Responsible breeders who know a mismating has occured usually intervene to prevent conception anyway.

What was the reason why you stopped training your dog? A combination of time pressures, other interests on the weekend, the quality and consistency of class trainers, and class curriculums that stressed behavours that I had no need for or interest in, such as trick training. Do you feel your dog is well trained enough?' They are well behaved. I think every interaction between us is 'training' in it's own way so we haven't every really stopped training. But I think they would benefit from the mental stimulation of further formal training, and the better trained they are the less effort it requires to manage multiple house dogs. Did you not get results from previous training attempts? I got results, but not enough 'value add' from going to classes vs just doing my own thing to make the extra effort or frustration worth-while. Is training too far away/ too often/ too expensive? Are you simply too busy? Did you find training boring? The best local classes are a bit far to travel on a weeknight, but mostly from the perspective of getting there on time, I don't finish work early enough to make it easy. I'm busy, but if I found it rewarding enough I'd find the time. I did find the classes a bit boring. What would prompt you to start training again or would you not start training again regardless? I would like to trial in Rally, if I could find a class focussed on competition exercises and the not other stuff I just don't want to spend time on, I'd return. Also I think the exposure to different dogs and people makes puppy classes valuable even if that's all they learn, so I'd return for those stages if I acquired a new puppy.

Exactly. If I want a dog to stay with and guard stock, I don't look at individuals within the Beagle breed. And while the occasional terrier may herd, it's not where I look for a yard dog.