Greytmate

Hi Linda, I don't think your expectations are unreasonable at all. Dogs are not "good" or "bad" in the moral sense of the word. They either have behaviour that is desirable or undesirable. This dog is not jealous, rather it seems to be displaying dominant aggression. If the dog is displaying undesirable or dangerous behaviour (and it obviously is, or your friend would not have rung the trainer and you would not be posting) then you can and should do something about it. I find it a little unusual that the trainer would find this behaviour desirable, and personally, I would not be contacting him again. To correct this sort of behaviour she will need help from an experienced trainer who understands her need to have a dog that is not aggressive. She will need assistance to ensure that she is handling the dog correctly, and the dog will need training to discourage it from it being aggressive. I would not recommend that your friend gets another dog, until the problems with her current dog are sorted out. I feel that she has to really want another dog, rather than just buying one to be a companion to the first dog. You are right to keep your whippets away from the dog while it is behaving in this dangerous way. Good luck with this.

A little bit of swimming will help build up muscle tone without putting stress on the bones. But I wouldn't go for more than 5 minutes or so at a time. Mel, don't worry too much about your puppy classes. Most puppy classes are structured to allow for plenty of rest between exersizes. While classes do go for around 45 minutes, a lot of the time is spent talking and socialising. If a puppy is looking too tired in one of my classes, I will ask the handler to allow the dog to rest. When training at home, puppies only need 5 minute training sessions. Discuss the issue with the instructors at your school to see what they have to say about it. As you are learning to instruct, it is topics like this that you will find interesting and helpful. When you enrol in the Delta course, let them know the age of your puppy. Whether or not the dog, or the breed of dog is prone to hip or elbow problems, the guidelines for not over exersizing still apply. All dogs have growth plates that can be damaged, and the larger the breed, the longer it takes for the bones to fully form.