Sarah L

Midol I am at a loss to your last post Kavik did not claim she was a dog trainer and neither did Corvus.

My point Midol is your quick to presume and have a go at people who do not quickly pick up quadrants and treat them like they are stupid and that you worry about them. Please give us your understanding of quadrants. Instead of meaningless comments like you are making. That is why I made my meaningless comment. After all if someone is a zoologist I am guessing you have no where near the qualifications they have in animals.

Would that be the same as.... if you lose a dog you should not own another dog.

Midol that's a bit harsh to say what you did. Or am I mistaking what you said.

Now being the proud owner of a GSP I do not enforce the rule of always having my dog at my side or going through doorways after me. To a gun dog this is not a realistic situation and goes against their grain. I think it depends on the breed of dog you have. But still no matter what the breed some owners still enforce this situation on their dogs in some occasions even when the dog was not bread for that purpose. With the exception of true working herding dogs who naturally fall behind when occasions arise then if you think of it most of the common breads like GSD's Rottie's Husky's and Malamutes and so many others to long to mention on here then they simply were not bread to be behind or beside a human. Yes it is definetly over processed in my opinion. However if you live with up to 20 or more dogs at any one time like Cesar Milan does then it may be a necessary to do what he does. Other than that I think he may be misinterpreted.

I do admire Ian Dunbar very much and spent some time with him here many years ago. Wish I could of gone to this last seminar of his here but work got in the way as usual.

In the morning when i am getting ready for work, she does walk around the house from room to room with me sometimes, depends on whether she feels like gnawing on a nearby bone or playing ball. Every day it's something different. In the afternoon when i come home she wants to play for about 1/2 hr and then she settles down. She doesnt whine when i leave her or lock her in the backyard, she is used to it from age 8 weeks. she is obviously energetic when around new people but doesnt whine, even when she has been naughty: jumping up on people, running away from me when i call her etc. i put her in a crate to calm down (naughty corner). She is quiet and doesn't whine at all. She's also not phased about pats, only stands there and lets me pat her when i've gone straight for her tummy I dont think she has separation anxiety, more boredom is the problem. She associates that fence with the cat that torments her. Whether the cat is there or not, i suppose she barks at it when i am not there, when i am there, she can be seen at times running up and down the fenceline. The cat is locked inside the house at night i am lead to believe so at night there should be no cat to torment my pup. Thanks Kirsten44, I was only trying to find out the reason for her barking, which when someone complains that there is a lot of then there has to be a reason for it. I went straight for the most difficult on first because it can be hard to overcome. However with the training methods I use even if it was s.a giving you some tips on it certainly would not have hurt you or the dog. From what you have written, then there is a couple of things I would be working on Barking at the Cat and running up and down the Fence Line: This can escalate very easily into becoming a constant behaviour. Running away from you when you Call her: Your dog should come to you every time you call on her no matter what. Jumping up on people: This is a safety issue especially if the dog is ever around children. All of the above can escalate into constant behaviour very easily. Anyway I am not here to force my opinion onto you just looking ahead to possible problems arising from these behaviours. Please keep us informed how things go with your neighbour

Hi sidoney, I mean both, A pet cam is basically the same as cctv there are company's out there that hire them to people who are having trouble with there neighbours over their dogs. Because cctv is now classed as psychical evidence it is allowed in a court of law. Great in my opinion. Also just setting up a normal video camera is accepted as well. The major thing to back up the video physical evidence is the noise pollution experts who come out and monitor the actual noise level of the dog. This may be a bit expensive, but is very worthwhile in my opinion to back up the video evidence if things get to an escalated stage. Their evidence is irrefutable and will win a case every time so long as the noise is under the stated levels. Kirsten44, Ok saying your dog does bark when left alone do you think it could be a sign of separation anxiety, other symptoms can but not always be.... the dog will follow you from room to room all the time, whines to get back to you even in the company of others while you are there, will not readily accept being left with someone else. Constantly will want to be patted from you. Pants and salivates a lot of the time even when you are there. These are just some of the symptoms. Let me know if any of these are occurring because you may need some training advice on how to deal with it.

Kirsten44 I would set up a pet cam of your own. Put it towards where the neighbour looks over the fence. Some dogs are antagonised by neighbours and then blame you for the barking. A pet calm is now legal evidence in court. But lets hope it does not go that far. Sidoney you are right she should phone her local council and check there criteria for that area on barking dogs. Reddii what you have said is very good advice and I think most councils follow the same procedure. Last time I looked at the noise pollution stats, then barking dogs came second to aircarft noise which was the top of the list. Also kirsten44 you can get a noise pollution expert out to test the readings and determine the noise level of your dog if it is under the stated levels your neighbour does not have a leg to stand on.

What was their style of training that went against your grain. Unless you can specifically say what that was are you not in fact just someone who tried half the method instead of the full method. Not only that did you come away with I can do that without their help and I have watched so I now know all about you. No I am not backing up Craig A Murray because I may or may not know who he is. His name rings a bell but I can't remember from where. So unless someone that has actually taken lessons from him and said that he recommends that all dogs should be starved to death or cattle prodded then I am sorry I won't listen.

bouncey boxers thank you for answering my questions. I would try and control her excitement when she is out walking alone with you first. Even if she is not doing it to the extent she is when you walk the 2 together it may be causing the problem of her deferring that excitement onto your male. It depends on whether you have let her jump around and be silly when alone and she gets some reward from this. So when you try and stop the behavior when its the 2 of them she is being denied the reward of getting excited and jumping around. The frustration of this she is then venting on your mail. After all he is the only difference in the equation. I hope I am making sense to you. When you walk alone with her take food and a toy which ever motivates her to focus on you. Practice getting her to sit when a car passes a bike passes or other people and dogs. I know you said people take it as a sign to come and greet you but tell them before they get to you that she is in training and needs to stay still while they pass. Keep the food or toy in her sight and near her nose while she is in the sit, till the object/person passes and then reward straight away and walk on as normal. I would use food as the first step while in the street and then a toy reward later on when you get to the park. Once you can see she no longer gets excited about things passing then you can reintroduce your male to the walks, making the first time short even just to the end of the street and back then they both have to sit and wait and then reward both when the object/person passes. Build up the distance you walk them both gradually always making sure they are calm. I also would be doing the same thing with your male as I have given you for your female when you walk him alone in the meantime as well. You have to do this separately for now as this will give you control for bringing them together. It will make bringing them both back together a lot easier. Hope this helps you

Hi bouncey boxers, When you are walking your dogs is your female nearest your leg or you male? she may be the boss between the 2 dogs and so would want to be nearest you. Does she do this to him at any other time other than walking.... say when food is near them or when you are playing with them or giving then pats? When you walk them 1 at a time do they carry on and get to excited when seeing all the other distractions? Sorry I just need some more info to ascertain whats behind the behavior before trying to give you some advice.

What happens if you/anyone has to go away for any reason and you have never or will never let the dog play ball or games with anyone else. Have they to just sit in a box while you are gone? My dog and other very good trainers I know let their dogs play ball and games with other people it's never affected my/their "hierarchy" or "bonding thing". I am not trying to be rude but what you have written seems very black and white with no room for maneuver.

Glad to hear things went well when you were out. Can I ask if at anytime while playing ball with her in the garden you grabbed her collar or fur to get the ball from her at some point. People do this all the time not to hurt the dog but just to catch the dog from running away. If you have then again I would say it would bring back the memory of her past and make her unsure of you. Anyway when you try tomorrow to play ball in the garden you can try what Erny suggests and what I suggested with ignoring and reading a book a least it will be a couple of things for you to try neither will hurt the dog in the process.

Its not the noise factor I gave you the exercises for its the movemnt value of your feet and hands. I hope you catch this before you go out. If she won't give you the ball back try sitting on the ground and waiting take a book with you and pretend to read and ignore the fact she won't give you the ball. After a short time she should come up and drop the ball at your feet. Reward her and then throw it again. If this does not work try the 2 ball thing that erny said.

Perry's Mum I did not mean to offend you by asking if you had scolded or smacked your dog I was trying to find out why she would not trust your hands to take a treat from you. Now that you have explained the terrible past that Perry had before coming to you it makes things a lot clearer. Some things have changed like you working longer hours her favorite neighbors moving away. Unable to go to the sheep work or dog club as often as you did etc... all these things could not be helped but may have had the effect of unsettling Perry. I think she needs some reassurance from you right now. What I mean by this is doing some exercises with her that helps her cope with changes in your lifestyle now and in the future. Cringing from raised hands..... Part 1 I know you said she is not food motivated and I would definitely try what Vickie suggested about the different ways of giving food from your hand. But use a high value reward like cooked BBQ chicken or even raw steak and see what happens. Also when visitors come get them to give her a high value treat and get them to ask her to sit on greeting when they enter the house. Cringing from raised hands Part 2 This part has to be done gradually without scaring the dog. Once Perry is good at trusting hands and taking food from them you move onto sitting on the floor and clapping your hands gentle and then offer a reward to her for staying near you. Once she is comfortable with gentle and not to loud clapping you can start to build it up to more noise and faster clapping. Also mix it up with firstly gently banging your hand on the floor and offering a reward for staying near you. Then build it up to banging hard on the floor and reward for staying near you. I would certainly give Perry some things in life for free because she has been kicked so much in the past and stays away from feet and hands then this is not helping her to overcome this fear. When you are walking around the house I would leave a treat trail for her to follow. Also stand still and just drop a treat near your foot on the floor when she approaches to eat it say good girl. What we are doing is to get the dog to approach feet and hands and show the dog there is nothing to be frightened of. To me perry still has underlying fear issues that need to be addressed. What I have given you here is only the first couple of exercises in the program but they have to be done first before I can give you more. Any food you use in these exercises then that quantity must be removed from her feed bowl at meal time so say less bisquits because she has already had food in the exercises. This all may seem a bit of an odd thing to do but it does work very well to help a dog overcome fear of feet and hands. I hope you try it and let me know how you go.

K9 Fun Sports run by Lee Hammer and Keith Edwards has a very good cd it does have plane noises and lots of other noise's to. www.k9funsports.com.au

Perry's Mum can I ask if you have recently severely scolded or smacked your dog. Did something happen at sheep dog school did she get rammed against the fence or anything like that. I have bolded some of what you have said because it makes me think there is some sort of trust issue going on from your dog to you. I may be wrong but it was my first thought. Try and think if anything at all would have caused a breakdown in trust between you recently.

WinGus, put a whole in each of the cups at the bottom, put the treat to begin with in the cup furthest away from you and the pup. You show and point to the cup nearest you first and ask the puppy to find. Then do the same with the second cup not letting the pup spend to long on each cup smelling it. Then move to the last cup the pup will smell the treat and paw at the cup you say good puppy find it and it will. Next time put it in the middle cup and start again. You have to point to the cups initially, and never put it under the same cup twice. Once your puppy is good at this part you can start to send and find. This is a great game and I used to teach it in puppy classes when I did them.

Spanner can I suggest that you do get a couple of private lessons done at your home with all the family present. A 9 month old dog is starting to go through some major changes into adult hood and this needs to be explained to you in detail. More so because you have children in the household. Nothing you have told us at the moment is a major problem and very normal for your age of dog but know one on here knows the history of this dog or how you live with the dog day to day, so please be carful if you do the wrong thing now or use to much force on this dog it will end in desaster. GSP's can have weak nerves and be the fearful type if not handled wisely. You need a whole training program on how to fit this dog into your lifestyle not some quick advise on individual issues's.

Erny and Lill I totally agree with what you have both said, having missed a lot of my dogz on line recently due to work and computer problems I read this thread today and thought more information by the op is needed and also a very good behaviourist basically so that the op can be guided to the right person for a home lesson about the dogs problems. Lill you are so right by meddling and forcing a situation between dogs that are trying to establish an order between themselves is very dangerous and will lead to a major fight breaking out in the end. L&L many people think that the oldest dog they have should be pack leader in the dog to dog senario but this is not always the case, I would like to say just be careful in what you are doing in your dog to dog dinamics please, it may all end in tears.

Everything worked out ok, my neighbour is safe and he is getting better I've been told - he was trying to kill himself, which is what the whole situation was about the other night. The cops overreacted big time which made Will (my neighbour) overreacted and the whole thing blew out of propotion in a BIG way! But everyone is safe and the episode ended about 9pm (after 7 hours) on Sunday night. Cavnrott: Honesty I was never worried for my saftey, I know Will and knew that he would not do anything to anyone else Erny: I was never in any danger during the whole thing, nor was anyone else and because I never felt in any danger that's why I found the situation boring!! K9force: About the dog thing, I fully understand a handler asking for a dog to be put away for its and their dogs own safety. My main thoughts were more in regards to the dog being quite distracted by my dog, who was lying quietly in my yard for most of this. It wasn't until they moved the dog closer to my front gate that my dog started getting more excited and that was more from the police dog trying to go into my yard (gate was closed). The situation sparked my curiosity more than anything, what would the police do in a situation similar to this one but where the owner of the civilian dog was not home? The dog was very focussed once they started working with him, what I saw of him - 2 yards over and somewhat in the dark - he was really really focussed on the house and Will yelling at the police. I have no doubt that the dog was fully focussed on his job. Do you think they asked me to put my dog away more out of concern that she would try and get to their dog and just gave the excuse that they needed to focus him? Seita thanks for letting us know what happend. Your poor neigbhour must have a lot going on in their lives to think about killing themseleves. I am glad they are getting better. If the Police dog was trying to get into your yard because it saw your dog then this is not good. Was it off or on lead? If it was off lead it's poor timimg by the handler or the handler was new. If it was on lead still poor control by the handler and possabilly new to the job. But they all have to learn through experience on the job it the best way to learn. Who called the police in the first place? do you know what they told them. I don't see how someone trying to kill themselves would involve Police dogs in the response. It's all a bit funny unless they were told that drugs, bombs or protection dogs were needed. Edited because of my lousy spelling lol

Coming from an Army dog handling background in the Uk, I can understand why Seita's dog was asked to be put away. If not to be a distraction to the police dogs, just more a precuation for the dogs own saftey. However as someone else said said when a dog is in high drive it can actually be very easy for that dog to transfer it's drive onto someone or something that was not the origional aim. It all depends on the experience of the handler to control this. In the 15 years that I have been in this country the biggest percentage of handlers both in the Police and Army have been very good at their job but there is a small percentage who got into it for the glory and ego trip and thus their dogs where an extention of their d!#*s. So Seita what actually was the outcome from your seige the other day, do we get to know?

RLO1 I commend you for your hard work and dedication. I am sure you will have success. It is great to see someone so dedicated towards their dog as you are. No matter how many bad trainers you have gone through.

Very true Nekhbet police dogs have a hard enough work load and stressful environments to work in.