Aidan

Not sure about the strongest, but I am pretty sure the Pug would have to have the absolute weakest prey drive. You've never heard the expression "like a Pug onto a cupcake?"

That depends who you talk to. Lately it has been common for people to describe aggressive dogs specifically as reactive, while others use it to describe any dog who barks, lunges and generally gets highly aroused by a certain stimuli, whether it be out of aggression or not. Terranik, I was afraid the answer to Whippetsmum's question would be just as you have said. Are dog owners now resorting to an "Emperor-has-no-Clothes" attitude by calling aggressive dogs something else ?????? "Reactive" really means the dog has "over-reactions". So an aggressive dog has what we would regard as an "over-reaction" to normal events compared to other dogs. But not all reactive dogs are going to continue to bark or lunge once they realise that they are not really under threat. And most reactive dogs don't have a bite history. Of course, not all dogs who bite, or bark, or lunge are having an over-reaction to normal events. When referring to actual dogs I prefer to simply describe what has actually happened, e.g the dog barks at other dogs when they are closer than 6' away, or what is likely to happen, e.g the dog is likely to bark at dogs who approach straining on a leash.

This is incorrect. A man of FEW words. Well Aiden........enlighten us all ! You already did.

This is incorrect.

Yes, but I am talking about probability. Repeat the test often enough and you will reveal regression to the mean. Your dog could come 50 times out of 100 but that doesn't tell us the probability. His probability might be 90% or it might be 10%, we don't really know from this test. All we know is that he scored 50% on that particular test. If a dog has a 99% recall probability and we do something off-leash with that dog each day, then we're looking at an average of 36.525 failures per decade. Some years we'll have 0 failures, some years we'll have more, with a mean of 3.6525 failures each year. One of my dogs took 8 years to fail a recall, but it was a doozy when it happened. Thankfully he is still with us today. I still walk him off-leash up in the hills where he was lost, those odds aren't too bad.

Hehe, you say that in jest, but I actually used to get my Golden to dig up weedy garden beds when he was a pup. I've just been looking at the massive array of permeable pavers available these days, I was thinking of the old concrete style ones that have been around for years, but this one (Netpave 25) locks together and it says it can be laid over existing lawn which would be a massive advantage: http://www.strathayr.com.au/html/home/car_parking.htm

One of my dogs would think that was the best fun ever! Then go back to digging.

A dog would LOVE digging in compost I would imagine - smelly and dirty and blergh! Sorry, this is something I disagree with. Many dogs that we see at the clinic are there because they dug in the compost and picked up a nasty bacteria or fungus infection, or injested something like a corn cob or other obstruction. fifi Yes, yes, leave out the corn cobs, onion, grapes, etc These are open piles of leaves, lawn clippings, weeds, straw, dog hair, dropped fruit and that sort of thing. But do you really see dogs who have caught bacterial or fungal infections from healthy compost piles, where that dog wasn't already of seriously compromised health? Short of substantial fencing I'm not sure how any dog is kept out of the compost heap.

There are concrete pavers you can get that are an open grid, you lay them, rake topsoil over, then plant out with lawn. They are designed for areas where you would like to park a car but still have a lawn, and would certainly prevent destructive digging. My girl has grown out of digging now, but when I would catch her I would encourage her to dig in the compost heap instead. She did have a sand-pit, but I liked the compost being turned. She caught on quickly and left the lawn alone. It was very messy though.

A very long time if you build resistance to extinction.

Hope your right, 'cause I was pretty freaking horrified by that! It's a fairly standard laboratory procedure, not universally recognised as necessary these days though.

Yes. Like she is possessed. Good times.

I don't sit there shoving rewards at my dogs all the time, yet they continue to emit responses. What is being punished when I don't reward them? And what am I taking away?

Some of the agricultural supply type places have the heavier wire muzzles for working stock dogs. I like the soft clear PVC muzzles made by Jafco, which I get from petexpertise.com, they hurt much less if the dog muzzle punches. A bit depends on whether you want the "Hannibal Lecter" look or the "Jason from Friday 13th" look.

When my two were pups the premiums were ridiculous because of their breeds. Then that changed a little bit, but then age was a problem. With the benefit of hindsight, one of them has cost us ridiculous amounts of cash in medical bills but the other has not. If I add up the premiums for both dogs I'm just a little under break-even. Take into account the work the money has done while it's been sitting there and I'm probably ahead a little. But you need to be a disciplined saver and to have access to emergency funds (e.g credit card) which you don't squander for this plan to work. If my dogs were more insurable, I'd take out insurance.

Are you a really disciplined saver?

I don't equate seriousness of the behaviour problem with preference for aversives in modifying it.

"On the evolutionary scale, this amount of time [14,000 years according to this article] does not allow for any drastic changes in the physiology and anatomy of a species" Do you think there is a strong argument in support of this statement? Not picking on anyone in particular, I just want to hear an argument in support of this statement (or against, for that matter).

Pretty much everyone has used punishment at some point, whether it be on purpose or accidentally.

Unless we have dingo or wolf-dog owners here, not a single one has the phenotype or genotype of a dog adapted to that environment. Our dogs are adapted through natural and artificial selection to live on the wide variety of foods WE eat or those parts we discard. This has been the case for more than long enough in evolutionary terms. In any case, my dogs are older and fitter than the expected age for any comparable wild canid. They eat raw meaty bones, table scraps, grains, offal and commercial dog food. I don't go to any particular trouble except to avoid the absolute worst of commercial dog foods and those that list "maize" as the main ingredient.

Maybe you're better off developing your critical thinking skills even further, then apply those skills to the things that you do read? I don't know if there is such a thing as an unbiased article, or if it would even be an illuminating read. You can teach a dog how to do things any number of ways, an article that explained every way to do something would be a bit of a drudgery to wade through and any core message would be hard to convey. If you have the time and money, the Steven Lindsay books are excellent. You can get a taste of them by searching on Google Books. Steven Lindsay is a highly developed critical thinker and his work demonstrates this, plus he has the luxury of space to present many alternative views in his thick, heavy books.

If you have to use a spray collar then use a bandanna to hold back the fur. Cowboy hat is optional.

Some references for heritability of aggressive behavioural traits, a bit off-topic but there was some interest earlier in the thread: E. Strandberg J. Jacobsson P. Saetre Direct genetic, maternal and litter affects on behaviour in German shepherd dogs in Sweden Livestock Production Science 93 2004 33 42 L. Van den Berg Genetics of aggressive behavior in golden retriever dogs [thesis] 2006 Utrecht University Utrecht (NL) A.L. Podberscek J.A. Serpell The English Cocker Spaniel: preliminary findings on aggressive behaviour Appl Anim Behav Sci 47 1996 75 89 I.R. Reisner K.A. Houpt F.S. Shofer National survey of owner-directed aggression in English Springer Spaniels J Am Vet Med Assoc 227 2005 1594 1603

Can't they? Do you think there is not a highly effective PP method for training this? Or is this just more divisive, one "side" spreading misinformation or misunderstanding about what the other does?