Ciara

I use it on my dogs, it always smells horrible like that. I do it before I go to bed, and then keep them outside for the next day, after that the smell fades away.

Farewell, Shelley. You can run now, free of pain... waiting to see your family again someday, knowing in your heart that they did their very best to love you and give you a wonderful and long life. Another Sheltie angel to watch over the world.

Anne: You know how I treat my kids Anne, I'm sure you know what state I'm in also. :D *grabs flyspray*

gawd didnt mean to make this thread dramatic, was just showing my appreciation in my original posts, and it was just my opinion. Not like I speak for the entire nation of Australia, now is it? :D Anne: What qualifies you to comment on what I have or have not seen? :D Cheers for bringing the thread back to the top for me though Anne.

Ahh I can just imagine. :D While its always good to know you have trainers locally that are able to help, remember there's always K9 Force to help you out when others fail... :D

He is very highly regarded and IMHO he knows his stuff better than anyone else i've spoken to, and because he has techniques that work and do solve (on a daily basis at his work) difficult dog problems that others have failed at. The amount of dogs that were due to be put to sleep, but were subsequently rehabilitated by him are numerous and he deserves any credit he gets via this forum and elsewhere in the dog world. edited to say: sorry if my opinion is offensive, I have edited out some of the over the top praise due to Anne taking offense. :D :D

Hi ;) PM me your email address and I'll put you on the list, details will follow soon.

Awwww.. Makin me cry here, he was a beautiful and greatly amusing character. We'll miss you Roadie.

Steve, you cheap floosie!

Can anyone interested please PM or email me their email address so that I can keep you all updated with details. Thanks! ;)

Well, that's what I was genuinely wondering.. I mean.. I'd be very happy to practise practise practise all the training, and re-inforce learnt behaviours so that the dog understand what I'm asking. ;) Some methods must be faster than others I guess.

;) I don't want to spend 6-12mths training my next dog a reliable recall. I'd like the dog to understand what I meant the first few times I showed it, and then re-inforce it as we go along, to get a reliable response. As my next dog will be going out in public alot, I need a reliable recall and would like to be able to let the dog off leash without fear of it running off if something distracted it. I can understand for some breeds of dogs like Beagles, that this may be a harder task than for others. (depending on methods used) How would one get a fast and reliable recall with a pup, without taking 6mths to teach it?

Oh no! sorry, I made yet another mistake. This will be my last poll.

Third time lucky *crosses fingers* It might be interesting to know how many people now feed their dogs BARF as a result of knowledge gained by all the informative DOL members? Seems that alot of newbies to the forum ask about it, and I was just wondering how many dogs are now thriving on BARF as a result of the information gained from this forum.

*bump* Thanks for the big interest received so far, down to sorting final details now. :D So if there are any other interested people ~ here's your last chance to get in on the action! Please email or PM me asap so you can get your chance to see K9 Force when he comes to Victoria. cheers Salli

Be interested to hear how it goes, Anna. :D Btw (sorry slightly off topic) your GSP is so beautiful she has made me want one as my next dog. (along with a Rottweiler, GSD and BSD )

Optimum isnt replacing Principal, is it? In the cat food variety, it replaced T.O.P which is a Whiskas brand of premium cat food. Is Optimum replacing Principal in the dog variety of premium PAL? Natures gift rocks. I used to get TOP and Purina (diff brand) for my cats, but now have switched them to Supercoat cat food for half the price. $10 for a 4kg bag instead of $10 for a 2kg back. Supermarket brand premium is fine, I cuoldnt justify spending more on my pets food than my kids.

Praise from her? Are you training him or is she?

Hasn't she noticed your dog barking at you for attention during the classes? My dog was rather blatant and did it alot. :D

Well I tried, unfortunately the world is full of useless advisors and unless you have an expert (which none exist in S.A) it makes it rather difficult to go it alone and fix serious problems when you're a newbie. Seeing as he is old, I don't intend on fixing him. He is happy and I am home most of the time, and when I go out for more than half an hour, I leave him with a bone, which means he doesnt bark when I go out, too busy munching that to worry about me for the moment. Yes I'd like a double choc icecream with flake thanks. :D Yes, but as my dog is *senior*, it wouldnt be fair to stress the dog further by flying him with me, and putting him through training. :D ;) Thanks for answering my question though.

So what I read about dogs displaying separation anxiety out of dominance isn't possible? Just wondering because I've never read that before. Number 1. Find me a behaviour consultant in Adelaide that knows wtf he is doing and I'd use it. Number 2. The separation anxiety symptoms eased after I did a behavioural program that was intended to stop separatian anxiety... Number 3. What the hell does this mean:

Yep, youre the reason I started this thread. :D I wondered the same thing, and then started wondering about what I was told about my dog. It's very frustrating when you're told different thigns and then find out ~ years later ~ that you were told the wrong information. I mean, everyone has to start somewhere and it'd be nice to be able to trust and believe a dog trainer when you first get your dog and try to do the right thing. My dog used to do the same thing as yours, but now he isnt so bad... but I did put alot of work into training him when he was younger, only when I had kids that the training and any ideas of competitive obedience went out the window. It'd be very interesting to hear what the reasons for this barking are, and if it is related to separation anxiety, or not. Until today, I never knew taht there could be a dominance aspect to separation anxiety... where the hell have I been?

I've read up alot about separation anxiety, and today when looking for something for a 'friend' I found something I've never read before...the underlined section. Just a question for the trainers here.. How often do you think the latter applies in dogs that are symptomatic of separation anxiety? My dog whines/barks and cries whenever I leave the house, and stops once he can't see me or hear the car anymore etc... (I know about the car because I've tried it with someone else driving same car and dog thinks i've gone out.) When I get home, he will bark until the keys go in the front door and he hears footsteps in the house... He sets off my Chihuahua now too! I was told he had separation anxiety, and that I needed to do a de-sensitization program with him. This was 8-9years ago, and although I did the program, had good success ~ to a degree ~ he still shows these behaviours and he is now 10years old. Now obviously he is stressed when I go somewhere without him. He is however, alot better with the company of another dog. The only time he never displayed this behaviour was when he lived with a Staffy that was dominant over him, and would not allow him to bark when I left the house. :D But I'm sure he would have still been stressed inside, just did not bark as a result. He has never destroyed anything, never chewed anything other than his bones or toys, he has never had any toileting accidents inside the house when left alone, and has never hurt himself or damaged anything as a result of his stressing over my leaving. So whatever type of sep anx he has, it must be mild, yes? How do I determine if his separation anxiety is a result of him being dominant or passive? He has good basic obedience, he doesn't display any obvious dominance gestures towards me, (other than craving my attention and trying to demand it).. I've basically given up on his barking when I leave/get home situation... not much I can do now that he has the habit and is 10years old. But, how do I figure out the exact cause of this behaviour? Why does he do this? As a side note ~ he used to bark incessantly whenever I tethered him... cry and whine and fidget if tied at the front of a shop etc. Since re-training, he will sit or lay down and just wait, but keep an intent eye on me to see where I went. Thankfully he no longer barks like an idiot when he is tied up. Was his barking when tethered related to separation anxiety, or was it related to him being dominant and demanding my return? I've had so much different information about dog training that I have to question everything now before I believe what I'm told. ;) I was told his barking was related to separation anxiety, now I'm not entirely sure. Any ideas? :D

L.B and Akitaowner, my parents do the same thing, come home once a fortnight with a shopping bag full of home-brand sardines and tuna. Not for them, but for the dogs and cats! Ahh some dogs get spoilt, that's all I can say, I eat that tuna for myself... :p

The only reason, I might add... that I don't feed my dogs or cats pet-grade roo mince, is because of the preservatives that are in it. Not all companies use filler in their pet meat either, the place I get my human grade roo meat from recently stopped putting filler into their pet meat. Particles of plastic in it would be no different to your average pet dog who lays on the back lawn/dirt/verandah and eats a crusty old bone that might have been in contact with any of the same material. Quite harmless, I'd say. My dogs are sensitive to preservatives, and so I'd never give them meat containing sulpher dioxide.. nasty chemical. The gross thing was, that people don't like the thought of eating meat off the floor. Fact is, dogs don't care. :p It's not an issue for them, and its only human sensibilities that sway us in favour of feeding human-grade meat to our dogs. If there was no preservative in pet-grade mince, I'd be saving my money and feeding that to my dogs instead.