Diva

'Predatory drift' as I know the term is a pretty specific concept. As per one of the OP's links, it's a sudden, and drastic change in a dog's demeanor that is characterized by behaviors associated with hunting small prey.....most often used to describe a medium to large dog who has suddenly and uncharacteristically targeted a smaller dog as prey . I guess it's inevitable that this thread will just become about prey drive in all it's manifestations. But I think the interesting thing about predatory drift is that it does occur uncharacteristically. It's not just the high-drive dogs you see it in.

The dog I mentioned didn't seem to know how to kill either, which was probably a good thing. But then I don't think that all dogs do complete the prey sequence when they are in drive, in some the chase is all, or they grab but don't shake, kill, dissect or eat. Even my rabbit catchers have often brought them back to me alive. But it is significant that this wasn't a case of the dog getting overexcited and me having time to respond and put him back on leash. Even though I was watching very closely, this instance was too quick a switch for that. Something suddenly switched over in his mind, there was no build up to it that was observable and the play sequence leading up to it was relatively mild. I think maybe it was a sound that triggered him, a sound I didn't hear, but I will never know. No harm done, but I knew what I had seen all the same. I should add, that was the one time I have really seen clear predatory drift in an otherwise very dog-safe dog in all the dogs I have owned or watched over many years. I don't think anyone needs to get paranoid over it, just sensible.

It's an accepted theory as far as I know, and I don't see why it shouldn't be discussed I have only seen anything I would class as predatory drift once with one of my dogs over the years, and funnily enough never at all with the sighthounds. The incidence where it was the only explanation that I could see that fitted was with a fairly placid working breed (the individual dog was placid, not the whole breed) playing with a smaller dog he didn't know very well. He had excellent bite inhibition and a good conditioned recall, so no harm came of it, but the switch from play to prey behaviour was so sudden, stark and out of character for this dog that it made me look at the issue a bit more. He wasn't a dog who thought small dogs were prey, and for those dogs who do I don't think it's satisfactory to call it 'drift'. Drift to me is the dog that normally thinks little dogs (or all other dogs) are OK and normally has good social skills with them, but then something happens in a social encounter that switches him into a prey sequence. It only happened once in this dog's entire life, and I never figured out what the trigger was in that instance. But since seeing that happen predatory drift is the possibility that ensures I never leave my big dogs running unsupervised with much smaller dogs, even when they get on well.

Yeah I look at them first. The last one was OK for many visits, dogs came out in reasonable shape and when I picked them up, even if I was a day earlier than planned, I went down into the kennels and they were in the extra, extra large pen where I had left them or a free run area. But I think they have had a change of management and the last few times I have used them have been quite different. Would love to fiind a kennel I could trust to care about their welfare.

If you do a search you should find previous threads on this. Most people recommend one in Queanbeyan called Canberra Pet Care. One of mine hated the place and came out of it very stressed out so I don't recommend it, but many have had good experiences with it. I have used 3 other kennels closer to Canberra, and I couldn't give a strong recommendation to any of them.

My dogs went off it too, and I stopped trying when they turned their noses up at the rabbit blend - rabbit is their favourite meat of all time. I'll have to see if Big Dog is sold in the ACT.

It's not the first time I've seen that scenario played out in the forums. First vet wants to rush to hip surgery on a young pup. Second vet can't find anything wrong. Makes a second opinion essential it seems.

That one made me cry too. When that kid turns up at the end......

I travel a lot for work too, so I already get too much time away from them for my preference. And a cocktails by the pool type holiday would seriously bore me to tears. I've taken overseas holidays without them, and travelled interstate for family reasons without them, but mostly if I am travelling and it's not for work they come along.

Good point, but which of the several hundred distinct Aboriginal languages did you have in mind?

No, you are not penalised for just using a hand signal. Under the rules, a 'command' is a verbal word and/or a hand signal unless stipulated otherwise. There are a couple of exercises where you can't use both, but none I can think of where you must use a verbal command. The closest to that I can think of is that you may say the dog's name at the start of a heel to get it's attention, but it's not obligatory. And you should read out the number of the scent article to the judge.

I don't think you understoood my point. Why would anyone sign a command at all when there are hand signals already? The command under the rules is a word and/or a signal. You don't have to use a verbal cue at all and if you can't use a verbal cue you don't have to replace it with sign language. Using a hand signal but expecting the dog to wait before complying for a second visual clue like a sign that means the same thing does not make sense.

If you use a hand signal with the stay command check that it doesn't look like a down signal to the dog. Sometimes a dog that responds quickly will get it confused initially.

People do sometimes blame the wrong dogs. It happened to me a few years ago and I turned myself inside out tryng to find out when they were barking and trying to stop it but the anon notes kept coming. The dogs already slept inside and no matter when I snuck home during the day I couldn't catch them barking. Even my cleaner said they never barked at her and she never heard them bark at anything else either. No neighbour admitted to hearing them. I went through enormous angst trying solve it. Then one long weekend I went away and boarded them - and came back to a particularly threatening note about barking when the dogs had been miles away. This time I revisited the neighbours and was very direct - it wasn't my dogs barking, I had proof of their absence inkennels that weekend despite the note and if anyone hurt them I would not only call in the police I'd spend every penny I had to identify and legally pursue whoever harmed them. If the notes didn't stop I'd hire a PI to try and find out who had sent them. The notes stopped.

Huh? A seriously hearing impaired person would surely just use signals. That is not against the rules, you don't have to use a verbal command. The bigger issue for someone with that substantial a hearing impediment would be hearing the judge's instructions! In a training sense, I actually think it would be advantageous for the commands used in formal competition to be in a different language to that spoken in the house. In a non-English speaking house there would be less risk of those English commands being devalued by casual and imprecise usage. But I don't care about the rule one way or another.

I show and don't volunteer there, apart from a couple of committees that don't take much time. I haven't trialled for years but still steward at obedience trials - it's easy, takes not much more than a half a day usually, and because I am not an active participant in the sport any politics is lost on me. I don't instruct any more though, regular committents like that clash too often with work. I have no desire to steward at shows, but could do more of the background work. As long as it didn't involve too many committee meetings. Most dog clubs (not yours ssm!) run meetings very poorly, and I just haven't the patience.

Heike is the only one I have heard of locally too. A couple of DoLers are clients of hers and I haven't heard anything negative back from them.

Does she feel muscular, rather than just boney? Are her energy levels good? Is her coat in good condition? It's hard to tell if she is lean/fit, or lean/skinny, from just one photo. But lean is better than fat, and she may well not need any more if all the other indicators are good. efs

No, but I am pretty sure your princess poodle fits the small dog with basic obedience who can run around the house bill! She'd be perfect.

Well Borzoi aren't a herding breed, and they do it at my place. But they do work together when they hunt.

The only mirroring I see here is in the position at rest of dogs within the 'family' group. Often if one dog is lying down on it's left side, or in the sphinx position, or curled up, or whatever, the others will lie down near them in exactly the same position and orientation. If one changes position either the others do too or they get up and move to a different spot. The 'first' dog is variable, so if it's a pack order thing it's a highly situational and dynamic order they have going. I have viewed it as a sort of bonding behaviour for lack of another explanation, but it's intriguing. :D

Same with dogs. Desexed dogs can have later closing growth plates - so taller, often weedier. None of the 4 male dogs I have owned have been desexed. All have been very manageable. I doubt it would have been possible for them to be any easier really. No problems with marking. No dominance. No aggression. No roaming. I'm not against desexing, just desexing too early. But I haven't found any behaviour issues with keeping entires, not at all.

That made my day.

Rescues are balancing the whole picture - reducing the chance of unwanted litters against the possible impacts on an individual dog. Looked at that way, early desexing makes sense. But as an owner whose only interest and responsibility is the individual dog I am responsible for, and who knows they can avoid unwanted litters, I make the opposite choice. I'd never desex early unless I moved to an environment where I could no longer guarantee their security. Early for my very tall breed would be anything before 18 months. Your dog probably matures earlier then that.

Despite their reputation as being difficult to train, sighthounds can be very good problem solvers. There was a youtube vid of some pranksters setting up dogs with a disappearing food bowl circulating a few months ago, not sure if anyone remembers it. Most dogs just look puzzled or wandered off but the only sighthound, an Italian greyhound I think, knew exactly what had happened and went straight to solve the problem. Very funny to watch.