poodlefan

Oops sorry MonElite.. I'd forgotten you'd changed your User Name.

You've got some good advice here. I'd be seeking professional help ASAP. Was Aubrey socialised with young children? I would not be allowing her offlead until this matter is resolved. She's doing enough already to get herself declared as a Dangerous Dog if a parent takes issue with her behaviour. There is no way I'd be using a young child as a training tool in the manner you're suggesting. Children are unpredictable and this could end in tears. Crate Aubrey and lock her away when you have young children visiting.

Ask your instructor if you are ready. Personally I'd not enter a dog that can't run an entire Novice course. That means confident execution of all obstacles. There is also the issue of your preparation. You need to be able to walk a course, devise a running strategy and execute it with confidence. If you expect to fail, you're not ready. Then your dog needs to be able to hold his start, change sides when directed and follow your cues. You won't do either of you any favours rushing to get into the ring. Take your time.

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I'm pretty sure that Myzska here has them. They are very nice dogs! I suggest you ask in the Dobe thread.

Next time someone posts here about wanting to breed their pet to experience the "thrill of birth" I shall link them to Sasha's thread. Maybe it might save some other poor girl from a similar fate.

Well I hope her former owners enjoyed their family experience of the "thrill of birth". Why the f#ck would you surrender her because she'd rejected puppies? I'd have thought a hysterectomy and a decent course of antibiotics would have fixed her up. She probably rejected the pups due to her ill health.

Coming from horses to dogs, I find it interesting that some dog folk still want to talk the language of dominance from a training perspective. Too many dog trainers confuse physical dominance with social dominance IMO. The fact that you can force your dog into positions of submission does not make you a "leader", it makes you a bully. If you have to get physical with a dog as a routine part of your relationship tells me that the relationship isn't healthy from the dogs point of few. Why must fear be part of the equation, especially in an animal bred for centuries to be biddable anyway?

Are you suggesting that human - dog communication is a one way street? You do all the "talking" and they tell you nothing? How can a human be part of a pack if the pack members can't communicate with them?

Diva: Yes, I've read that apart from breeding, "leadership" can be a somewhat fluid concept in a pack. The best hunter leads the hunt, the best defender leads territory defence and so on. Using a strict pack hierachy principle, you could never ask or expect your lower ranked dog to defend you. Of course all of this goes out the window if you work. Alphas don't leave the pack for 8 hours a day to do their own thing.

Leading the pack on hunting expeditions to the supermarket, butchers and Leonards would be good for ratings. Oh and the dust up defending pack rights to the local dog park.

Yes. It's about people who want to live with wild animals on the animals terms. I'm certainly not going to be dragging a roo carcass into my back yard and eating its liver first to ensure my dogs respect me. I don't see a direct comparison to establishing a bond of trust and respect with a domesticated dog. For a start, they don't want the wolves to function in their home or in society. I don't see them taking the wolves walking in public on a loose lead, expecting their wolves to tolerate the presence of strange people or wolves or obedience training them to recall on cue. well i think the principles are the same when it comes to you as the leader and your dog as the follower. JMO Those principles would see you as the alpha killing or driving off all human or canine visitors to your territory and constantly marking the boundaries with your urine and faeces.. how far do you want to go with this?

There was a dead roo just up the end of my street two nights ago.. I'm sure the dogs would have loved it. Roo offal carries hydatits though.. even cooked, I'd not eat it.

Yes. It's about people who want to live with wild animals on the animals terms. I'm certainly not going to be dragging a roo carcass into my back yard and eating its liver first to ensure my dogs respect me. I don't see a direct comparison to establishing a bond of trust and respect with a domesticated dog. For a start, they don't want the wolves to function in their home or in society. I don't see them taking the wolves walking in public on a loose lead, expecting their wolves to tolerate the presence of strange people or wolves or obedience training them to recall on cue.

Ok then you people totally disagree and think wolves are nothing like our dogs we have at home, they arnt born with the same instinct etc....they dont live in packs like wolves either, and they certainly dont communicate the same, they dont even insticivly know anything about pack hierarchy.....ooookkk Domestic: Canis lupis familiaris Wolf: Canis Lupis Why do their scientific names state they are in the same family/genus and they are the same species???? Obviously their is no reason to keep debating this topic, you dont agree with the way i do this, fair enough, BUT NOW you even come up with statements saying dogs communicate differently from wolves to try and back yourself up....either your just being stubborn or your uneducated No need for name calling Heidii just because people disagree with you. Maybe some of us we've read and watched and thought about it. There are lots of studies about the impact of domestication and selective breeding on the domestic dog. We've changed their appearance (that affects their ability to communicate like wolves) we've changed their structure AND we've changed their temperaments. We've selected for less dominance AND for people focus rather than own species focus in some breeds. Wolves tend to regard humans as either competiton, threats or prey. Witness the many issues that have been created by wolf hybrids as pets - they dont' behave like domesticated dogs. Domestic pets are not wild animals. I think it pays to keep that in mind. You can keep a wolf in captivity, even whelp and raise one in captivity but you will never domesticate it. I'm sure that point has been made many times on Animal Planet. How wolves and dogs relate to each other and the difference in how they relate to US does matter. If you have not read Patricia McConnells book The Other End of the Leash , I highly recommend it. She looks specifically at the canine - primate relationship and she is a very strong critic of the "dominance" techniques used by people such as Cesar Milan and yourself. She's hardly stubborn or uneducated on the issue either. Many behavioural issues arise when people treat dogs like humans. Personally I don't think humans behaving like dogs solves those issues.

Which wolf pack studies are you referring to? I'm interested in that too. You dont watch national geographic, animal plant or have even watched the "wolf man"......obviously not. here is a website on wolf communication - http://www.wolfweb.com/facts-communication.html "Wolves use body language and facial expressions to communicate with each other. Dominant wolves will freely look other animals directly in the eye, this declares and reinforces their superior rank." You tell me then, if this is not the case how do wolves communicate then???????? So where's all the muzzle grabbing and intimidatory physical confrontation in that statement?

You gave the advice without qualification in a thread where OP is having dominance issues with her dog and is asking for help. Intimidation works on the principle of the threat that back it up. If you aren't prepared to follow through it doesn't work. Looks like you are suggesting that social isolation and starvation are what you use if the dog doesn't "follow" you? Train your dog however you like Heidii but please be careful about how you advise others, especially those with dogs that are displaying threat behaviours. I also suggest you do some more homework on wolf behaviour. True alphas rarely need to display threat or intimidation.. they do it all with a look or a body posture. All the bluster tends to come from the alpha wannabes.

Most of those attributes aren't behaviours.. they influence them. Dogs do understand the "whats in it for me" principle.. the basis of all operant conditioning training. Desireable behaviours that are rewarded will increase in frequency. That's how 'reward' based training works. That's how recall training works.. you condition the dog to the point where it responds to the recall without thinking. I don't believe in confrontations with an animal capable of doing you serious damage. We got the allegedly bigger brain for a reason. We can think past the immediate behaviour and develop programs of training to modify the attitude that produced it. Heidi, I don't have loose skin, protective fur, a head that can take a direct kick from a buffalo and survive or huge canines. I'm hardly going to use inter species dominance techniques on another species when I can use safer ones. Put your face near a pissed off or very dominant dog and ask for battle and sometimes that's exactly what you're going to get. You will lose. Dominance and intimidation keeps many a facial reconstruction surgeon in new BMWs. Why confront and intimidate when we can train to establish bonds of trust and respect. Respect is the product of a training process. You don't have to assault a dog to gain its respect.. and that is what some of the recommendations here are IMO.

I really hope you don't see separating these two unless supervised and stopping Sarge from playing roughly as "mollycoddling" Tatsu. Nate runs a real risk of injury here and it may not be due to any ill intent on Sarge's part. One well placed foot in Nate's back in a few month's time would be enough to do serious injury. This can work, but not without a lot of management and intervention on your part. Consider also the degree of anxiety and stress you're prepared to have Nate live under on a day to day basis. Living as a giant pup's chew toy is no life for a small dog. As I said in my initial post, without a lot of careful management, Sarge has the capacity to make Nate's life a living hell. It will get worse as Sarge grows and may only really improve when Sarge settles down as a mature adult. Thats years of hard work ahead of you Tatsu. I hope for Nate's sake that you do the right thing by him. Nate deserves to be safe, have quality time with you without interference and not to be forced to defend himself from another family dog. That's not "mollycoddling" as I see it. You will not change Nate's nature. All you can do is work with your understanding of it. Unless you make space for Nate, I expect you'll see less and less of him. I've seen that happen before. Avoidance of you and Sarge may be the only coping mechanism Nate has without your help. Too many older dogs are pushed out into the shadows with the arrival of a new pup and the novelty it provides. Please don't make Nate one of them.

I'd recommend a vet check for Molly - it's possible she's hormonally incontinent or got a urinary tract infection. How much daily exercise do these two get outside the yard?

Dogs usually love cat food. Cats often don't like to drink water dogs drink because of the dog saliva in it. I'd be moving them.. and the cat litter box if the pup can get to it. Pups generally love to eat what cats leave in there.

Expect a similar interrogation process from the breeder's end. If you don't get asked a lot of questions that are aimed at establishing your suitability as a home for the pup, look elsewhere!

Red meat is fine for most dogs Ozstaff provided it is fed on the bone. Finding bones a pup can actually digest isn't all that easy. That's why a lot of people feed chicken wings, legs and frames. I suggest you ask your breeder exactly what they are feeding. A pup is better off on premium kibble and some chicken wings than on an unbalanced diet. Do your homework carefully on raw feeding or feed a prepared food. Your pup only has one chance to grow right.

Oh noes - you have hurted my feelins Tis OK, I have some pinking shears that I can use on Arki's feet Bugger that, just clip her up to her fetlocks.. she can have "culottes".

Baby oil works on dissolving gum... what the gum is on doesn't matter.