Jigsaw

Was she a rescue? Good to know both are now safe and hope the future will be so too for them.

Susan Garrett spoke about transfering the value of one reward to another at her seminar on the weekend. She suggests say if the dog is not toy driven presenting the toy first and if the dog interacts with it then it gets the food. If the dog is overly distracted by the presence of food move away from the food and when the dog interacts (this could be from looking at it to smelling it) you run back to the place with the food. If need be the food could be in another room.

That's fantastic. Well done Delta!!!

Your boy sounds pretty extreme. I hope you've both had some decent sleep. If the increased dosage of Endep doesn't help have you thought of a vet specialising in neurology? They're probably not that common but I'm sure there are a few around.

It's a type of arousal displacement. The activity of putting something in the mouth is out of context with what is happening! The dog uses it as a substitute behaviour when it feels in conflict, it can reduce the anxiety the dog feels in the moment and then becomes a habit. Also can be reinforced by us laughing at the dog. My girl does it often when she's at the kennels with strange dogs, she grabs leaves, sticks, anything in her mouth and then proceeds to try and herd the other dogs. They all look at her as if she's mad! Although the good thing is it muffles her barking!

There are several Yahoo groups for service dog training. Some for owner trained dogs. If you go to the Yahoo site and search for assistance dogs a list comes up. I'm not sure if they would be able to be specifically helpful or not but might be worth looking at if your friend has the internet. DVD here http://www.woofandwordpress.com/ again I don't know it's contents. YouTube and these videos have captions. Hope this is of some help!

I saw part of his show last night on Foxtel and I think he's changing some of his methods. There was a JRT who reacted (running into kitchen and barking) to the dishwasher going, CM initially used a collar to check his reaction, but I missed the next couple of minutes when I came back in he was giving the dog food when the dishwasher was going. The next dog after that was a lab with a fear of shiny lino floors. The dog was allowed to go at its own pace following the owner and when the dog stopped moving and started to shut down, he (CM) put his fingers under the collar and just moved the dog forward a step or two. The dog was rewarded with his toy when he got through the house. Very different to what I saw a few years ago with a dog with similar fear that was flooded.

Most dogs behaviour towards other dogs changes somewhat as they reach 12 to 18 months. As sexual maturity comes on the interest in juvenile play lessens and the play behaviour exhibited may be inclined more toward mating behaviour. The dog may also find with training that other behaviours are more rewarding than playing with strange dogs.

Yay for Charlie!! Good news indeed. Hope he continues to live pain free.

I'm in Newcastle. I've sent you a PM.

What a sweet little face she has!

I would recommend she seek out a clinical psychologist who is familiar with dealing with this type of trauma and phobias. It needs to be handled sensitively and in a manner that she finds non-threatening and able to cope with.

YES!!! More bell ringing please! You are also more likely to hear if someone is following behind you as well. I like to know who is around me when I'm walking!

That was really great! He just looks so happy to be doing and sounds it too with his barking!! Cockers have a special place in my heart - I grew up with them!

Decide what is your criteria. :p Do you want him to just keep bumping on your palm wherever for longer or do you want him to stay in one spot on your palm for longer? And if one spot does it have to be a particular spot or just pretty much anywhere on your palm? Break it down - initially when targetting close enough is good enough (so to speak) to get the click and reward, you need to build on that to get a specific behaviour. Persist and don't click/reward when he bumps, you may have to allow some frustration on his part to come in so you get variation on his targetting attempts and you may need to decide (beforehand) if you'll reward say a harder bump rather than repeated bumps. Sometimes your click has to be pretty quick to stop the repeated bumps. If you want him to target a particular spot on your palm try drawing a spot with texta on there so he has something to aim for! That makes sense in my head but I think I'm half asleep - sorry!

I'd certainly consider taking up some sort of activity with her. There's a wide choice of sports available from obedience, agility, flyball, herding, dog dancing just to name the obvious. Find some local clubs and have a look at what's available in your area. You may get more replies if you ask for this to be transferred to the Training/Obedience part. There are also any number of tricks you can teach her in the meantime that will help occupy her mind. If her separation anxiety is severe you may need to seek assistance from a behaviourist.

So many fantastic different breeds. There is so much variation, something to please us all. Just wish there were some of these breeds in Australia so we could get to know them better.

If the dog's normal response would be aggression in that same situation, then I will reward the hell out of "just standing there" because that's exactly what I want them to do. We do a lot of that because it works, but it's well planned with appropriate criteria that advances as the dog learns. It's a very active process but to anyone who came across my class without knowing the dogs were aggressive, they would think we were mad and just rewarding the dogs for "doing nothing" or "hanging out". In general when I'm asked about dog training outside of a more formal training environment I first try to find out how interested the person is in the answer.

I've got a dog book with all the FCI recognised breeds. I like quite a few of the rarer European hunting dogs. I wish we had Picardy Spaniels here. Great thread! The Picardy Spaniel looks a nice dog. Off to google them.

I will be going as an auditor but for the weekend only. Will have my dog with me though.

Your dog might be fond of metwurst but does she LOVE metwurst? Will she jump through hoops to get metwurst or is there something else that she may find even more highly rewarding. I think I would be going back to the first stage again and building more value for the crate. Stand outside the crate and throw the food into the crate. If necessary hold your dog by the collar and throw the food in and then release your dog. I wouldn't be shutting the crate door until you have a successful drive into the crate. Once your dog will go into the crate more willingly I would then start rewarding only once she's in the crate and then working on the crate games.

For crate games SG recommends using a treat of the highest value to the dog eg raw meat. Crate games is something I've ummed and ahhed over doing for the same reasons as mentioned above. I do want the dog to relax in the crate and I don't necessarily want her to be over the top when she gets out either. I still haven't watched all the DVD but have done up to stage 3 with my dog but not in other environments to home. She's not too bad in her soft crate when we travel. I'll also be at the SG seminar as an auditor, will have my girl with me and hoping to get into some Treiball there with her.

Not had it happen personally, but a client had to throw her two crossbreed bitches in the pool and hold them under water to separate them. She rehomed the non-aggressor.

Glad you are on the improve. Phoenix is lovely, I have a soft spot for brindles, any breed!

That dog has such a look of long suffering on its face! Just hope that balloon doesn't burst!!