Jigsaw

Yep I had a look and already have a wishlist! Spent money already this morning on Amazon. Nice to have something more local though!

In the general scheme of things regarding this particular dog, for it to drop wasn’t important but owner thought it would be good if the dog could drop properly when asked. But after trying luring for a while with nil result I recommended that if the owner wanted a drop we would have to go with capturing the behaviour. This was very early on in this dog’s training and it was actually after this session with regard to the dog’s overall behaviour during that session that I recommended that the dog have a vet check and be put on some pain meds given some of the dog’s physical problems.

You've got to work with the dog you've got. I've had a dog that couldn't be lured recently, he liked food but would not go into a down position, couldn't be guided either (due to physical problems causing pain - he had a tendency to bite!) so when he lays down of his own choice he is marked and rewarded. Slow process and makes it inconsistent but we're making progress, even more now he's on pain meds. I have certain things I like to do but whether that works for the dog and the owner is another thing, so I assess each dog as it comes and work out what's best for this dog. But any method you use should be able to be understood and used by the owner as well.

This was for dog owning participants.

You have no idea how hard it is to get her to say still!

I found the handbook they gave me! It goes through what they do each week. Contents for the booklet inclue How Dogs Learn, Seven Dog Groups, Respect and Trust, You Success in reaching your Whole of Life Goals, Motivational Training and Appropriate Motivator, Rules of Learning, Weekly Goals, Care for you Dog, First Aid for your Dog, Heat Stress, Parasites, Diet in Dogs, Barking, No Sticks Please, Chocolate a Deadly Treat, Dog Ownership Responsibility. There is a short assessment and evaluation towards the end of the course that you have to fill out but it's all based on the notes and pretty easy.

You can lookout for us! This is Paxy relaxing after a morning at obedience. Be careful you might end up with a GSP and a koolie to take home.

CGC is Canine Good Citizen!! I'll pm you the contact details. Hey Fiona C - I know who you are now!!! We're in the same class! I have the lovely Miss Paxy who has decided that your Mort is a very good buddy to play with methinks!

Leerburg talks of choking a dog until it passes out when dealing with a dominant dog who is possessive of toys. http://leerburg.com/pdf/dealingwithdominantdog.pdf page 19 and on. So this method is out there but I think I would use alternative methods first which maybe take a bit longer but wouldn't allow the dog to rehearse this level of aggressive behaviour in the first place.

I go to Hillsborough but I didn't do beginners there. I did most of the beginning stuff myself and then went on to a private trainer and have just started at Hillsborough about two months ago. I did do the CGC pet course on a Thursday night though. Two of the motivational instructors I know are Delta trainers and lovely ladies. When I joined up a couple of months ago I had to start in beginners class (multiple trainers). I think there were about 50 enrolments that day so the class was huge. They did split it into two but it was still a large class. We were moved up into another class the next week after speaking to a senior instructor. Classes are around 1/2 hour with a 10 minute break between. Personally I would lean to the motivational classes for the smaller class size and consistent instructors, they get to know your dog. All the instructors at Hillsborough are nice people and very knowledgeable too but it is a big club with lots of dogs. My dog is very social and in the early stages of training, even the motivational training around all the other dogs was too much for her and she went over the top in her reactions (leash tugging, rolling, jumping, tugging on my clothes) and I decided I would train at home and then have some private lessons until she learnt some self control! We're getting there although she still does the leash tugging when over stimulated. I don't go every Sunday, other things happen in life. I think most people realise this. But I do think it is important to make the committment to go as often as you can so you can learn as much as possible so you can teach your dog at home. When you get to a certain level there are also Wednesday night classes.

What Rappie said!! Sometimes you have start with any behaviour that's not naughty behaviour is good behaviour!!! Clicker training is a very clear way to communicate with the dog what behaviour you're after. So even without training a sit if you've loaded the clicker when he puts four paws on the ground after table surfing you could click and reward him or any time he puts his bottom on the ground he gets clicked and rewarded. It sounds like he is crying out for direction and stability. Don't forget to handle him too. You said he's spent a lot of time on his own so it's possible he hasn't had a lot of physical handling so massage, rubbing ears, holding paws, etc would be good for him too - you might have to suffer through a few nips though.

I think I would be worried about the volunteer person or dog in these scenarios too. Having an aggressing dog coming towards you (if correction/abandonment mistimed) would be quite unpleasant. You might start with a stable dog and end up with a fearful dog with problems itself. I have heard of dogs ending up fear aggressive themselves when used in CAT scenarios as the volunteer dog. I think the 2nd leash is to control the dog perhaps rather than give an "almighty correction" so that the dog can't reach the other dog/person when the owner abandons it, the idea being the dog should ideally follow the owner.

It sounds a bit like Constructional Aggression Treatment (CAT) except in reverse ie the aggressing dog is moved away in the Abandonment training whereas in CAT the "perceived threat" (other dog or person) is removed if the dog behaves well. I think in both of these methods timing and reading of dog's body language would be paramount. Would be interested in hearing if anyone has used CAT or the Abandonment method.

I've found that most of the distractions have come from other owners who have become frustrated with their dogs and start shouting "no" at their dog or just raising their voice at their dog to emphasise their command. I don't shout at my dog and rarely use the word no. Some of the instructors at the club are very good and chastise people for doing this, others let it go. Most of the time this happens during stays so I find I have stay close to my girl (she has a pretty soft temp) and get her focus back and reinforce frequently while this handler disturbance is happening.

She's so cute!! Sigh!!!

No it's dry. No scratching, well no more than I would consider normal! And no licking. Just to add the hair doesn't clump out either. Will be keeping an eye on it for the next few weeks.

Standing or sitting directly in front of the pup blocking forward motion but still using a lure has worked for me. Although I do think it takes a while for the dog to realise exactly what you're after and if you're standing in front of the dog it makes it difficult if you want to guide the dog into position. Sometimes it takes a while for backend awareness to kick in for some dogs too.

Just been to the vet. He did a scraping for demodetic mange which was negative. He has ruled out ringworm as there is no crust on the skin. He has at the moment ruled out thyroid or any other more nasty type things due to her age (18mths) and the fact that the hair loss is concentrated in one area at the moment. Vet said it could be an immune response to something that happened a few months ago. I did tell him that I thought it had worsened slightly since her bee sting two weeks ago (which entailed an emergency rush to vet). So at the moment rather than dose her up with drugs that may have no affect we are waiting to see whether any more symptoms arise in the next three weeks or it resolves itself and the hair regrows. It's been put down as a bit of a mystery at the moment as the skin is not inflammed nor is it itchy or scabby. Just motheaten!!!

Thanks everyone for replying. It is a bit of a mystery and I guess we'll only know when I take her to the vet! I just hope it's something very easy to fix. Poodlefan - no harness and she's only been wearing a dog coat at night for the last couple of weeks and spots were there before the coat! There is an indentation in her fur on her neck from where her collar sits (can be seen on photo) but no hair off there.

My girl over the past two months has been having small hairless spots appear. At first I thought they tied in with where the tag on her collar might rub on her chest. Her hair is naturally a little thin here anyway so I thought it wouldn't take much to rub it off. I did leave her collar off for a couple of weeks and it seemed to improve. However I have since put the collar back on and now noticed bare spots appear in places the tags could never rub enough to wear hair off. Most of the hairless spots are quite small, only a few mm x mm others are slightly larger. They don't appear to irritate her. She's not scratching at them. I will be taking her to the vets this week to get them to look at it. I have a photo I took from my phone, so not the best quality. She's almost 18 mths, fed mostly raw, Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken & Rice, sardines. Just trying to get an angle on it and find some questions I can fire at the vet before I go there. The photos make the area look very pink but this is not really the case.

I've not had to have this done but I would suggest trying Hamilton vets as they are quite a popular large practice or ask them if they know a vet who does it regularly. Maybe some of the other locals might pop in and let you know where they go!

I was told the other day that if the dog is looking at you and paying attention you don't need to use their name just "come". If the dog's attention has wandered you can use their name to refocus them to you and then use the command "come".

Where did she urinate with her previous owners? Outside? Inside? Surface preferance for toileting is formed very early in a dog's life so there is the possibility that the fabric is the closest thing to whatever she used previously. Was she toilet trained when you got her and what have to done to teach her where to toilet since you got her? I'd suggest going back to basics with her and toileting her every hour when you're home. Have you had a vet check that she has no UTI or incontinence problem as that could be another reason why she is wetting on her bed. Stress of being left alone if she's not used to that could also cause her to urinate on her bedding. But after discounting any medical reasons I would first be looking at your toilet training.

OT - My dog doesn't like honey - she turns her nose up at it! Maybe because she's allergic to bees!!! (I know there shouldn't be a correllation between the two, she just won't go near the honey. Wish she'd stay away from bees)

Sometimes bitches don't like to urinate off their territory and it does become a worry especially if you're wanting to do any trialling. I'm not really sure why but it does happen. My girl was like this until she was about 14mths old. She very rarely wee'd when we were out walking but come home absolutley busting and running through the back door. When she did wee when we were out I really praised her up and probably looked like an idiot for rewarding a wee but I really didn't care. She had been taught the wee on command too, although she's still very stubborn about it if the grass is wet. I ran into a lady the other day who had the same problem with her 5 mth old GSD bitch. I've also known another bitch that wouldn't wee when on lead!