Staffyluv

I have a question about physical training compared to mental training. Do you think that mental training wears them out more than physical training? I have noticed with Zig, that if we do lots of mental stuff - where he has to think and react, that he becomes very tired for the rest of the day. Where as a good couple of hour run somewhere, he will come home and dunk in his pool and then sleep for a couple of hours but then he is back up and into it again. Yesterday we did 45 minutes at the park of just walking on loose lead and focusing on me instead of everything else around him and he slept nearly all day. This morning, I hit the snooze button at 5am but it turns out it was the off button, so we both slept in. I got up at 7am and I went back in and he was still asleep at 9am. Could yesterday have really worn him out so much? He got up and at half a frozen turkey neck and now he is back to sleep again

My old stafford was about 12 or so before he started to exhibit staring at nothing, growling at 'nothing' most of the time.. He used to get lost and I found him in the bottom of the wardrobe a couple of times.. I think they become a little confused when they can't see and hear as well as they could - I think most of it is defensive to protect themselves. I just made sure that everyone knew not to just go up and pat him from behind or when he was sleeping, so it didn't startle him.

On one of the local buy, swap, sell facebook pages here, there were 'purebred english cross american staffys for sale' mostly blue, that is why they were over $2K a pup - so rare.. I so wanted to ask how it can be pure when it is crossed but then all the numpties would have just come in and as so many have said - you can't educate those that don't want to be.

Of course I have.. I would never put something like this up if I hadn't asked first if she would be prepared to come down if I could gather enough to make it worth her time. :) Yes it is and I had an email from her this morning and told her as at last night I had 5 people that were interested. Looks like we have a few more as of this morning. I am still liaising with Ruth about this and will let everyone know when we have a time that suits her and how much it will cost.

Yep sure will..

Well that is 5 of us.. I wonder how many she can do in a day, she may have to come for the weekend.. :laugh:

Awe double figure birthday.. I remember Ollie dogs 10th Birthday - he wore 2 birthday hats Ollies 10th birthday by Jodie Moore Photos, on Flickr

Ask them about the Irish Staffordshire Terrier - not a recognised breed (I don't think).. I am not a breeder but I have had staffords for years. SBT = Staffordshire Bull Terrier AST = American Staffordshire Terrier.. I agree with Nek - get her to scan her pedigree papers so you can see it.. I bet she can't. 'English Staffy' is one of my pet peeves. I prefer to hear them called Staffords or SBTs or their full name (when they are a purebred or are pedigree dogs) My husband is Irish and they call Stafford, Pit Bull mixes Irish Staffys, it's just slang for a common cross breed. He had a Stafford x Pit Bull back which looked just like an Amstaff to me. , Yeah, I had heard that many years ago. So off I went to google it and it has just stuck in the back of my head.

I am thinking Ruth would be booked a few weeks or so in advance - so maybe a month away or a bit more.. I will ask her when she emails what her availability is. I am sure we can work something that suits everyone.

Ah yes, I agree - no water and no mud.. Zig resorts to laying in puddles of water on the footpath now when there is no other water on our walks.

I think she is very talented..

That is what I was thinking and with Zigs colouring, he is definitely an autumn :) Ruth is going to email me the price list, so I can email it on if you want me to. Ruthless Photos

I was just saying to Ruthless that we should get her down here if we can get enough people interested in a photo shoot. I thought Yarralumla dog park or the Cotter would be a good place to have it (if we do). I think we would need to get a few to make it worth her while travelling down. And we may get to meet Bruno and the other Ruthless pups (Angel, Trix and Chop).. To boot we end up with some awesome shots of our dogs.. So, would anyone be interested in having a session? Edited to add who is interested. So that is 6 definitely interested and 3 maybe's Staffyluv Vehs Alyosha - maybe Burkes miss2 - maybe kaywoamn68 - maybe Cleo's Corgwyn FHRP Perry's Mum If you want to PM me your email addresses I will send you the price she sent me. If you are still interested, then I can work out a time with her that she is available and we can go from there. Looking at Ruth's availability - she is unavailable from late March for a month. We could aim for mid March or the end of April, early May for a day for her to come down? What would be the most suitable? I can and am happy to do any date (if we can't organise it for down here, I think I will take Zig to her anyway).

Ask them about the Irish Staffordshire Terrier - not a recognised breed (I don't think).. I am not a breeder but I have had staffords for years. SBT = Staffordshire Bull Terrier AST = American Staffordshire Terrier.. I agree with Nek - get her to scan her pedigree papers so you can see it.. I bet she can't. 'English Staffy' is one of my pet peeves. I prefer to hear them called Staffords or SBTs or their full name (when they are a purebred or are pedigree dogs)

I am so sorry.. It is never easy to say goodbye to them. RIP Inka

Snook thanks for the offer to borrow one of Justice's thunder shirts - just wondering if it would fit Zig? Zig is 26kg this morning (but he fluctuates, depending on how much running he does between 26-27kg, so not a lot). I would really appreciate it if you think one would fit him. Wobbly, Zig sounds a lot like your girl. Thanks for the tips - I will try anything if I think it will work. This morning we went down to the park at 5.45am. There was no one there but he was still 'on guard'. We spent 45 minutes at the park. So I tried this: On lead, I was running backwards and calling him and when he got to me and sat I threw his ball.. I was calling come, come, to me and he was really excited to do it and get his ball. We did this in between practicing walking on loose leash - every time he got in front I did the come, come, to me and he came and I threw his ball. The park started to get busier (still not a lot of distraction), so we moved down near the pond and I made him wait to go in. Then we went back to just me running backwards and calling him and giving him the ball. Here is where I started to substitute the ball for treats. So I would say ready and then he would sit, look at me and I would throw him a treat to catch instead of the ball. At first he spat them out but after a few goes if he at the treat, I threw his ball and he finally seemed to get that a treat is a good thing.. At the end this morning we finished with another pond dunk and look at me all the way back to the car with ball catching and treat catching. I am solely working on getting him to focus on me and not pull on lead.. I am not working on his sits and stays (he just did them automatically because that is what we do at home).. All the running and jumping he is now sound asleep under my desk.. This was an incredibly good morning for us. The park was quite busy by the time we left and I didn't want to leave on a bad note, so as soon as he was seeing other dogs and losing focus I knew it was time to go.

I am thinking about getting one as I can always on sell it or give it to rescue if it doesn't work. I just have one question from those that use them.. Do your dogs get hot in them? Zig gets hot really quickly. He can chase a ball for 5 minutes and he is looking for a puddle, clam shell or any water to get in. His excitement does increase and he is always looking around and doesn't focus on anything until he sees another dog. then he is like a steam train trying to get to the other dog. sometimes I can say leave it and we go on our merry way, other times I change direction and that works and then there are the times when nothing I do or say makes any difference

Happy to help. Palladia has had really good results from everything I read about it when they were doing the testing. It has been a long time since Ollie was treated now but I am more than happy to offer advice from our experience.

It is, thanks - I don't think that Zig's issue is anxiety but hey, anything is worth a try if it is going to make life easier for both of us. My son pointed out today that Zig acts like this when we don't have another dog at home.. He only gets over the top excited when he is home alone, so when I take him out he is always looking for another dog. I never even thought about that.. So he suggested getting another foster dog.. To see if that was the case (helps a dog, tests a theory and the dog will eventually be rehomed if the it doesn't work out).. It means 2 lots of training and walking again but I have done that a few times now. Something else to thing about. I am going to try Cos's idea of the front attaching harness and he has had no dinner and only half a breakfast today. Tomorrow, I am going to try the early walk (5am ish) with no distractions around and see how we go. No play time on this walk, just walking and walking. ETA I have another 'treat' that he goes nuts for.. Getting to drink water from a pop top water bottle.. Every time he sees my water bottle (he has one as well) he wants it.. He only wants to drink the water from it..

That is great news Anne.. My vet was more against it at first but then he saw how well Ollie was doing through it all and agreed that if that is what I wanted to spend my money on he would support it :) Our oncologist was in Brisbane - Rob Straw (one of the best in the country IMO). The only vet we actually saw, was our local vet (who did heaps of research when Ollie was dxd). Ollie wasn't his first case but it was the first one who opted to treat. The others just let it take its course. He used to send all our results to the oncologist and the holistic vet - I used to sit in on the oncologist telephone calls but dealt with the holistic vet myself. Is the newer drug Palladia? There has been a lot of success with it for MCT. Sadly it was only in testing stages when Ollie was being treated. Good luck Friday - it really isn't as bad as one would think. They don't give dogs as much chemo as they give humans, so most don't tend to get sick and they don't lose all their fur. Ollie had a few flat days (usually a couple of days after some of the treatments - he would just sleep in, not eat much, drink more and just seem flat). The fur on his legs (where they used to shave it for the drip) didn't grow back for a while after the chemo finished - but he didn't 'lose' his fur at all. I used to make him chook stock ice blocks and as a treat I used to buy lemonade icy poles on the days he was flat as a pick me up.

Sorry Snook, I missed that... I don't know - he has no issue with storms, thunder or any loud noises like fire works or anything. It is definitely more excitement from what I can tell. The fool sits in his clam shell in the middle of thunder storms. I wonder if it could be? Maybe he is stressed because it is often a 'fight' to walk around and meet others - it's not the relaxing, nice walk it should be. I was thinking with my arm sore, not making it all about training - just concentrating on his walking on lead. Going to the park at 5am when there is no one there and just walking around (no ball, no treats, just lots of praise and talking)... Just walk..

Not sure, I will have a look because he loves swimming - I let him swim every morning in the pond at the park. That's a great idea, especially while my elbow is healing. ETA - I just had a google and there was one but it is closed now. Maybe I should buy a pool deep enough for him to swim in..

Thanks, I will get one and see how I go. I have just sent Underdog a message.

I would love to come to one if you come to Canberra. I know I haven't failed (that would mean giving up and I won't do that), just feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself after today. Do you have a brand of front attaching harness that you recommend? I will get one (we have all the other stuff, we may as well have one of those too:)) and give it a try. I think I can still walk him (as I tend to use my left hand anyway and it is my right elbow that is hurt). We will be doing lots of focus work at home while I am recovering and my son said he would handle Zig at dog training if I can't.

We have tried a halti but he scratched his face so badly that it bled). I have a lupi harness a sporn harness as well and they both work for a limited time. Admittedly he doesn't pull as much in these but there is also less control of him because he can spin around a lot easier. At the moment I am using a martingale and it has been the most successful in getting him to stop. I hope so to Cos. We have seen a behaviourist who suggested we do her classes. We have done 2 lots but he is so focused on the other dogs that we end up 50+ metres away from the class, I can't hear anything and I end up working on my own, just copying what they were doing in the class. I don't want to keep spending $175 for a few classes that don't help us. I am happy to pay for one on one tuition because I really don't think the classes help either but I am at the end of what I know as a pet owner, even with the great advice I have got from here. I am not going to be able to do a whole lot with him - I have torn tendons in my elbow. I have had cortisone this morning for it and am on anti-inflam and pain meds now.. I love him to bits and he can be so very good. But I am sitting here in tears today and feeling like a total failure..