Wobbly

Just a suggestion, but why not visit the Herpetology thread in the Off Topic subforum here and ask the snake owners themselves? You might even be lucky & find someone in your area willing and able to help. Either way you will get some knowledgeable advice from people who are concerned with the welfare of both dogs and snakes. Here's a link to said thread: http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/206902-herpers-in-here/page__st__1020

M-sass, Are you aware of the Dunning-Kruger effect? Your colossally inflated over-estimation of your own capabilities as a dog behaviour expert make you a text book example. Read about your affliction here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

I guess there's one positive lesson that Domandal (the OP) can take from M-Sass in this thread. And that's a very clear demonstration that all trainers are not created equal. There are plenty of trainers out there like M-Sass, labouring under the Dunning-Kreuger effect, absolutely convinced of their own proficiency, when in reality their grasp on dog behaviour is, at best, tenuous. Relying on someone with a shaky grasp on dog behaviour to help you diagnose & rehabilitate a serious behaviour problem like human directed aggression well.... best case scenario you've wasted your money and time, more likely they will lay the foundations for tragedy. Domandal, I believe you've been given a really good recommendation for a reputable, qualified and professional behaviourist earlier on the thread, which will make all the difference in the world to your outcome. Good luck, she is certainly a lovely looking dog, I hope it all goes well both with the vet visit and the behaviourist.

M-Sass you are just so incredibly misinformed about Bull Breeds I don't even know where to start. Happily enough, your opinion on the subject is so completely irrelevant I don't feel I need bother wasting my time correcting you. :D

There's no right way or wrong way to deal with grief, do what you think is best for you and your family. If he's only 6 days old, around about 49 sleeps to go till you have him home. I bet you can't wait! XD

If using Molly's stuff for Harry would be a bit too confronting for you emotionally, you could always donate Molly's beds and other equipment to rescue, that'd be a nice extra legacy for her - to know her stuff is making other dog's lives better. Harry's the cutest, when do you get to meet him?

Awww too cute! Love that little white chin. XD

I don't know about hierarchy, but I used to regularly get meaty marrow bones dumped in my lap in an effort to cajole me into a game of fetch. Slobbery, meaty marrow bone how on earth could anyone ever possibly resist the chance to play fetch with something so clearly wonderful? :/ I managed to convince her it wasn't going to happen and bones need to stay outside, so mercifully that hasn't happened in many years now.

Ooh, any chance of sharing a photo or 10 with us here? "D

Good to hear he's all happy & on the mend now. :D :D :D

I know, I actually found out about it by following your link to Cocoa's page. XD Should be a fun day, I am really looking forward to it. :D

What a horrific ordeal for little Orange. Poor little girl. I am so sorry Tashnchief, no pup, nno owner should have to endure that.

Thanks for the clarification Steve, I appreciate it.

I hope you can figure it out so you can give her the help she needs, it's so awful feeling powerless when our pets are hurting. Best wishes for getting her back in good form ASAP!

I didnt read it as that implication as in order to accomplish that it would need to be completely isolated and not even have contact or be socialised with the animals its charged with caring for all of its life though I do know people who take a LGD home and drop in a paddock and only revisit it every few weeks where for its entire life it has very limited human interaction .Some farmers make a point of not socialising them at all with humans in fear that it may break the bond it will have for the species it is bonded to. I read it the way Megan is reading it. I don't know much about LGDs (nothing in fact) but I would assume that the species it is charged with guarding becomes it's pack, in which case spending time with that species IS socialisation for the dog (correct me if I'm wrong). My interpretation of the Msass's post is that socialisation of all types (human, dog AND in the case of LGD's the species it will be caring for) should be avoided.

The post you agreed with.

That's bullshit. Lack of socialisation is the excuse given by breeders of especially guardian breeds for producing fear biters. A genetically stable dog of sound nerve doesn't need socialising. Dogs that react aggressively in non threatening passive environments are spooks. The one's who can't get over a bad experience and react from a learned behaviour are genetically weak in nerve strength. An unsocialsed dog will project it's true character unmasked by the effects of socialisation. There should be more breeders not socialising some of their breeding stock to be better informed of what they are actually producing in raw character and temperament IMHO. Id agree with that . me too. Me three Group thinking sheep. Denying a pack animal the opportunity to socialise is moronic and cruel.

Just found this & thought I'd pop the info in here in case anyone is interested. We will be there. Bully dog needs are a little different in some ways to other dogs, and certainly public perception of our dogs is hugely different, so it's nice to see a workshop designed especially for us. http://caninediem.eventbrite.com/ Proceeds go to: http://www.facebook.com/fetchingdogs

Me too. My home is so low potential I can't even tell how high potential my dog is. She is an intense little animal, and I sort of suspect that indicates she has the drive required for high level competition, but I am actually so clueless I could be wrong there. Anyway, she doesn't really care that we just play tug & fetch for fun instead of for srsbsns competition, she gets the exercise and stimulation she needs to be happy & fulfilled, so it's all the same to her. Are you dealing with an adolescent dog by any chance? My dog's adolescence was horrific, I'm not sure how I emerged from that with my sanity intact, maybe I didn't? But, by the time she hit about 2 and a half or so, she had matured into a really great little dog. Every so often I remind my husband "Remember how she used to be when we first got her?" and he kind of shudders with horror at the memory. I've spoken to a lot of people who found their dog's adolescence similarly trying. Give it some time though, once adolescence is over they mellow and settle to become the pet you always wanted. XD

Thanks Melz, Cocoa is stunning - such a pretty, pretty colour. Just lovely. Jarrah's age was assessed by various people as so many different ages, from anywhere between 9 and 15 months. I kind of go with 12 months as an average of all the numbers that got bandied around at the time and because it makes it easy to give an approx age now - I just add on a year from the date I got her. XD But you're right I think, she probably was a little younger than a year old.

It makes me sad I never knew my girl as a pup, so no puppy pics sadly. I do have her pound mug shot, poor girl looks so sad and lonely there. A month in that little cage must have been absolute murder for her, she was so high energy as a youngster. The first hour I got her home, she really does look so young there, almost a pup maybe? And a recent one: I guess the changes in her aren't so much physical because I never saw her as a pup, but psychological - from an unsocialised nutcase who really didn't have the first clue about how to interact with people (she really liked people but hadn't had enough interaction to know what was appropriate) to a happy, well adjusted family dog.

Wow, unbelievable she had the dog off leash. Not your fault at all, she is absolutely in the wrong. WTH was she thinking?? I'd never let my dog off leash around other dogs in that situation and she has been good with other dogs for more than 4 yrs now. Frankly I have no patience for people who will let a dog off leash when they know has any history of untoward aggression around other dogs. Did she expect you to be psychic and just somehow magically know you have to compensate for her irresponsible stupidity when you've never encountered her or her dog before? Incredible. I have to admit, I do like the yellow bandanna idea for myself because my dog is polite and friendly with other dogs these days and that gives people the mistaken idea that they can let their dog jump all over her. If I put a yellow bandanna on her on the street would other people understand it means she's not to be trusted with other dogs? Probably not, what a shame. The other day I took my dog to the beach (on leash ofc) and a little off leash fluffer pup (very cute) was just dying to play with her, prancing around doing it's utmost to cajole her into a game. I ended up scooping it up into my arms and bringing it back to it's owner. He was really appreciative that I was concerned for his dog, because judging by my dog's body language she seems really friendly to other dogs, so he couldn't know to call the pup back. The onus to make sure everything is safe is absolutely on me. I don't think she was any danger to his dog at all really, she's very predictable with her trigger being excessive excitement and she can't get to that level of over-stimulation on leash. But I prefer to err on the side of caution, it's the sensible, responsible way to act. And I guess that's what I don't understand about the lady in your class, surely if you know there's a potential for problems you would err on the side of absolute caution and do everything in your power to make sure nothing untoward can possibly happen? Does she not realise her dog attacking another can lead to her dog being declared dangerous? I'd be mentioning that to her if I were you, if she's not aware, she should be made aware. The woman is a fool. Definitely inform the instructors, she's a menace and needs to be made to understand her behaviour isn't acceptable.

Thanks Dogdude, that's a great idea. To think I've been ordering frisbees from the US at great expense. And these synthetic tuggies are way better in every way. I am such a dufus. We got various different synthetic firehose tugs from K9pro the other day, and they're great, I prefer the ones without handles I think. They'll be really easy to make too. The firehouse tugs are absolutely brilliant, finally I am in control of tug again. I've just been playing with them in the backyard so far, I don't want to play with them on our walks because I don't want her to be obsessed with them till I can get a good reliable out. Once we've got that I will endeavour to start making them the most desirable thing in the world. "D They're definitely my new favourite toy. :D I spoke to our trainer on the phone, and her advice was to forget about the frisbee completely for the moment. It's great I can use it for an emergency recall under intense distraction, so I will still always carry it for that, but otherwise don't worry about it. Maybe the time will come when i can transfer the out behaviour to the frisbee, but no biggie if i can't. That's a huge load of my mind, because really getting an out on the frisbee seemed the insurmountable barrier. I have been trying to apply all the advice given here (with a greater or lesser degree of success), especially Kavik's caution to not let her self satisfy by chewing. I hadn't really realised how much this was contributing to the issue, but of course it's a huge problem - I need her to need me as part of the game. We haven't been making an awful lot of progress tbh, she hurt her toe (infected toenail) and tug is so hard on her toes that we had to take it easy for a while. I think I mentioned it in another thread, but when I do "dead tug" she does "dead dog". She takes all her weight off her feet so I have to either hold her in the air by the tug or gently lower the tug to the ground so she can have a little lie down whilst still firmly attached to the tug. XD Still she does eventually let go of the tug and I'm making a huge happy song and dance about what a good girl she is while immediately offering it straight back to her and starting up another game. It's such a big gameplay change for us though she hasn't gotten it yet, she still thinks the object of the game is for her to keep the tug and me to try to get it off her. But she's enjoying the way we're doing it now, so I'm pretty confident we're on the right track and will get there. I am going to go ahead with having our trainer help me anyway, although it's probably not necessary, even if we do sort the tuggy demo stuff really fast there's a ton of other stuff I want help with, so a private lesson will be very worthwhile. I really appreciate everyone's advice, I will keep you posted on our progress.

I had a tooth removed from Jarrah a few months ago. It was cracked & I asked the vet if it was likely to be bothering her, the vet said it might be, so I got it removed. Toothaches are horrible, I wasn't going to take the chance she might be suffering, even if she shows no sign of pain. It was hideously expensive, not sure exactly, OH paid that one. I don't know what Jarrah's former owners let her chew, rocks or something, sandpaper maybe? Her teeth were terrible when i got her (at only age 1ish), so worn down, she hasn't got much in the way of teeth really. It's something I get worried about, good to know there are pet dental specialists in Sydney. I will be calling them in the not too distant future. IMO, better to have it removed than risk the dog being in agony and unable or unwilling to communicate his discomfort to you.

Awesome Huski, really looking forward to it!