Aussienot

I don't think there is a yes or no answer. Really depends on the dog(s) and the personalities. I had a 13 year old dog, wanted a puppy of the same breed, decided to wait until first dog had passed so that she could live out her senior years peacefully. Three years later, tired of waiting, and decided I want a puppy now! Old dog did a great job of mothering the new puppy. It did give her a new lease on life. She became more energetic, showed more interest in life and seemed happier with company. Of course, I watched their intereactions, and made sure puppy did not pester or push the old dog. We two were partners in raising the puppy. Could have gone pear shaped, but it didn't. Probably the best thing I ever did for her. She lived to the age of 22!.

When Cody was going thru the "i don't want to" months, I would do one of two things. If he was focused on another dog or person, the only way he got to meet and greet was to give me attention first, and maintain that attention until I told him otherwise. If he couldn't (or didn't choose to) give me attention close to the distraction, we moved away to the point where he could. We then tried again closer and closer until the decision for him to go meet was MINE, not his. If the loss of focus was caused by something environmental (birds, movement, noises) then I would give him his cue to go into drive, and have a really good game of tug or fetch. If I didn't have a toy handy, we would play a "naked" game like shadow chase or hand touch. We would either play our way away from the distraction, or after the game I would release him to go check it out, depending on what the distracting thing was. Usually by that time he was pushing me to go back to training and had forgotten his earlier fascination. Yes, I could have given him a hard correction, and forced him to watch me rather than X. I could correct a lot of things. It's heaps easier to correct a dog than to think of a way to get the dog to choose. I'd rather have a dog that reflexively performs learned behaviours on cue instead of a dog that avoids making mistakes.

Unless someone has seen this dog behead another dog, emotional conjecture about what 'could' happen in various situations have no factual basis. We can assume the owner wanted other dogs to stay away, but his choice of words "it will rip your dog's head off" seem just a tad exagerated to me. Said for effect of keeping people away, rather than a literal description of the dog's social behaviour. In this case the dog did not aggress, the owner did. A. All dog parks are risky - with rude, undersocialised, under exercised, and boisterous dogs who just want to say Hi B. A lot of dog owners who frequent dog parks do not have effective control of their dogs C. A lot of people who frequent dog parks do not consider the needs of others If you don't like A, B and C stay in your own yard with your dog. There you can make all the rules that you want. If you go choose to a public dog park, you take your chances with the public and their dogs.

I vote for Let it Go. He called out to you to keep away. People with DA dogs need to exercise them, too. Owner may have been rude and was trying to have private use of a public space, but I can't see that he was being irresponsible. There is no temperament test required to use the dog park. (for dog or owner)

As in many things, adopting out a dog responsibly is a balancing act. You want to find the best forever home for each dog, so you put criteria and restrictions in place, and you question potential adoptors about their expectations and life situation. At the same time, you want to encourage people to consider adopting, so you try very hard to make your criteria reasonable and justified. And you try to explain courtesly and pleasantly when the fit is not right. When emotions are envolved, it's always hard to be professional and pleasant to someone who is upset about not getting their way. Some people in rescue are great with dogs, but not so great on the people skills. Rescue is a hard and mostly thankless job. I think it's a bit unfair to label the rescue's practices bizarre just because you would have liked it done differently. I am sorry you had a bad experience and you didn't end up with the dog. I hope that you would consider rescuing a flatcoat again in future, because wanting to give a dog a home is a good deed.

I kind of have a bet each way. I'll confess to being a weather wimp, and occasionally I am secretly glad when the oval is closed due to downpour if I'm feeling fragile. But I have trained twice with broken ribs, (the first time got up off the ground after having a rib broken, and continued the class). Once did agility when it was below freezing and I was the only student who show up, and have achieved an obedience pass during a thunder storm. So I think qualify for an award of merit. My dogs prefer to stay in if it's cold, wet and windy. We are very compatible that way.

If you mate a smoking dog with one of those "pure bread" ones, do you get toast? Just wondering . . .

Image removed by Troy due to copyright. One like this? Found this one at leerburg.com. Think it is made by Jolly Ball company, just different model from the handle one. My dogs used to have one, they loved it. The ropes are very strong

Yep, a family that briefly came to my dog training club most recently had a "miniature Aussie Bulldog" puppy (sourced from QLD if I remember right). They paid quite a lot and believed it was pedigreed and came from good lines. A couple of people tried to tell them it was a cross breed, and the family insisted it was a new breed. About two years ago, I remember the same family being excited about their new "champion" American Bulldog, which they had paid thousands for and imported as an adult from the US. That dog was seriously badly bred, crooked legs, swayed back, uneven hips, underbite, breathing problems . . . they were so ripped off. I enquired what had happened to their other bulldog, and they didn't answer, just shrugged and said they liked the new puppy better. A sucker born every minute. With both dogs they only came to training for a few weeks. Sure we will see them again in future with something else.

I have done obedience and agility at the same time with my last three dogs, and have found that after starting agility, interest and performance in obedience actually improves. The issue of the dog wanting to be on the left is common, and was called "the obedience problem"" at the agility club.

Not sure why we keep dogs, but cleanliness is definitely NOT on the list. Yuck. Never want to be the recipient of rancid meat remains myself.

I got dog backpacks for use as "energy expender" for some of the crazier dogs at daycare. I use them for dogs on the treadmill, and sometimes on walks. Did a fair bit of research on various suppliers in a number of countries. Eventually settled for Wolf Packs in the US. Good value for money, depending on the exchange rate. Postage was not excessive. I splashed out on the expensive Banzai models for the small, medium and large sizes (thinking these would get the most use) and went with the cheaper Reflector for xSmall and XLarge. To be honest, the Relector fits more dogs better than the Banzai. It fits more generally while the Banzai needs more fiddling to get a good fit. So save some money unless you want the extra features of the Banzai. If you were just using it on you own dog, you'd take some time adjusting the straps and bags for an exact custom fit and leave it at that. Dogs who are extremely slim for their height and length can be harder to fit (thinking Malinois here!) and extremely hairy dogs (ie, Samoyeds). The heavy coat make the bag ride out, but the straps need to hug the body. So you put it on, cinch it up, wait, let it settle, then cinch it up again. Very happy with the quality and durability of the bags I bought, but they are only a year old now. Also have found a couple of dogs who absolutely hate wearing them, but most dogs easily accept them as part of the walking gear. Training good pack walking hasn't been an issue. It might be worth finding some that you could try on your dog to see if various feature help or hurt the fit? Some fit further up the back then others. Not saying you have to buy one locally, but it would give you a better idea of what to buy.

Is there any difference in the handling of lost animal who are identified? (i.e. registered with council) Can they, and will they, be held any longer than non registered dogs? And what happens to dogs who are identified, but wander across council boundaries? Is there a central state register? Disappointing the blurring of 'lost dog' versus 'dangerous dog' ideas in this legislation.

My advice to consult a behaviourist was not to rehabilitate or train the dog. It was to simply get an objective, experienced view on whether or not there was a reason to fear. If there is, she can think about making other living arrangements; if not, she might have some idea how to approach the dog. No one should handle a strange dog if there is the thought in your head that the dog might aggress. This dog is under some stress, and should not be approached by someone acting hesitantly and non-confidently.

I was mortified to find out one night that my Labrador had learned to open the fridge. She had achieved a blurring of the species. The only superiority we humans have over dogs is opposable thumbs and the ability to open the fridge. No more unsupervised house privileges for her.

If this dog is causing you to feel fear, listen to that inner voice and get some professional help before you do anything else. If I've learned nothing else about dogs, I know unless you feel 100% confident in your own mind that a dog is trustworthy, you walk away. He may be a big softie who you are misjudging, or he could be an aggression problem that's more than you can handle and you will be hurt. Until someone else can come in and get a read on the situation, any blind attemps to forge a relationship will probably end badly. Please, get a professional behaviourist to consult with you.

If someone in the house has compromised immune system (chemo therapy, newborns, aids patients, etc) then a concern about zoological transmission is valid. Delta Therapy dogs that visit hospitals are tested regularly and can't visit if salmonella is present in the stool sample. Apart from these situations, for most dog owners who practice normal hygiene, the risk of salmonella transmission from dog to human is extremely low, very very low, and the "danger" of an infection in a healthy individual is very, very small, as well. So while it could happen, it rarely does.

Some dogs have a very low tolerance for repetition, so barking could have been in frustration, Hey, I've already sat and dropped, why do I have to do it again? While she is still young and learning self control, doing things once and doing a few different things quickly might imrove her enjoyment. My dog Tarot will bark at me if I'm being boring and not training her. She'll get that crazy intense herding dog look in her eyes, lower her front end into a play bow, and bark. Ask her for a sit, a drop, a hand touch, or a jump into my arms and she's happy. She has me well trained.

Not knowing the words 'sire' or 'dam' or 'championship' mean the person does not understand anything about dogs and does not care to. Don't care if English is second language or poor literacy skills, the ad shows absolutely no effort to get things right, no attention to detail; and by the way, the person is selling dogs through Gumtree. If that doesn't say a) backyard breeder and b) possible scam, I don't know what does. It was not just a few forgivable misspellings and grammatical errors. It was a completely cobbled together form of garbage. I would not click on an email constructed that way, let alone do any form of business transaction or accept responsibility for a life that they have created.

As soon as possible with training, I try to get the treats out of my hand and off my body. So I will put the treats elsewhere, and after the dog does something treatworthy we run together to get the treat. I make going to get the treat as rewarding as the treat. Of couse, you have to make sure the dog can't get into the treats without you. No self-rewarding. Move around where you put the treat container, too, so the dog does not come to expect them to be in a certain place. That way, the dog thinks a treat may be available, even if he can't immediately see or smell it.

I wonder if it was HIS dogs that he wanted to socialise and he was disappointed that his needs were not met. I once had someone argue at me for about ten minutes because he wanted my puppy to play with his puppy after training. I politely listed my reasons for not wanting Cody to play at that moment, but the guy just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer and wouldn't shut up about it. He even tried to grab the leash out of my hands. So no matter how serious you are, not everyone respects what you are doing, or at least they consider what THEY are tying to do heaps more important.

Wow, that sucks. I'm glad Cody's pedigree is already issued. Really shortsighted in my opinion.

An injury fight 'every few months' is far outside my tolerance for peaceful living. Separate the dogs now, and get professional help. The separation may or may not be permanent, but leaving them alone to sort it out as you are doing is a receipe for disaster. You also think Bossington is happy living with Razor. My guess is that he has a different opinion.

The dogs got out once- Accident. The dogs got out repeatedly - Bad owner. Couldn't be bothered to pay the pound fees - uncaring owner. So while I think 3 days is far too soon and would like to see that lengthened, I don't blame the pound.

Labradors can be good with cats . . . .