silentchild

I've heard that playing fetch is the biggest cause for ruptured cruciates, but I don't know how true it is. The last time I played fetch with my girl, she injured her hip and was MIA for about 2 months.... so now I will no longer play fetch with her and find other ways to exercise. We have taken on swimming instead, much to her dismay.

Oh no; don't you hate those moments Was she in a long-line silentchild? Not a long line, but she was on lead. We were walking in a public park so must be leashed (not that other people follow the rules /rant). To her credit she did give me some nice focus and heeling past the first group of ducks but as soon as she got rewarded her brain was gone, and when she saw the swans, well, not even a steak dancing naked in front of her would have gotten her attention in that moment.

There needs to be an official Zephyr fan club.

Wow, thanks for all your stories! It's really helping to remind me why we put in so much hard yards with our dogs. They are truly amazing creatures. LisaCC, that photo in the thread brought a tear to my eye... what a gorgeous dog and so full of love. How lucky you were to have a dog like that. Those photos are beautiful.... Before DOL I've never really paid much notice to Bassets but your stories about Josie always helps break my preconceptions of them. She is an amazing girl and a great ambassador for Bassets. I love this, isn't it just the greatest feeling in the world when they open up to you and realize they can finally depend on you. What a beautiful story and thank you for sharing. All the stories in this thread are amazing, please keep em coming!

I just wanted to commend you for thinking about your pup and coming here for advice. You sound like an owner who cares about your dog very much and that can only be a good thing. :) Plenty of dogs have been raised in much worse conditions than yours. Breath, relax, and enjoy your pup. You will find plenty of good advice in these forums.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, really helps... the distractions meant all her brains went out the window and caused a huge Don't wanna don't hafta moment. I don't know why I didn't think there would be that many ducks at the lake... stupid me.... even worse when she saw a swan I swear she was screaming in her head HOLY GEEBUZ THAT'S THE BIGGEST DUCK I'VE EVER SEEN!! Her mind was completely blown. LOL.... how can I compete with a swan! Going back to square one for a while and build up more value with me at home without distractions.

I had a major oversight today and accidentally exposed my dog to Level 10 distractions......... she lost a few brain cells I think and possibly set us back quite a bit. Completely kicking myself now.

I'm in need of a pick m up so I thought it would be good to read some lovely stories about your bonds and breakthroughs with your dog. What moments stand out the most in your memory about your relationship with your dog? Could be a training breakthrough, or a moment that made you feel more connected, anything that fills you with the warm fuzzies. Please share your stories! I have two that come to mind. One is a few weeks after I had just brought Breeze home for the first time. Due to her past she was a fearful, anxious, mistrusting little girl. From the day I took her home I tried hard to build her confidence but she was always very stoic and 'looking out for herself'. She did not have a 'happy face'. Anyway, right from the start she didn't trust me enough to do the things I asked her to that she deemed too scary. One of these was a very simple thing - getting in the car. She just would not get into the scary big machine that I was telling her to get into. I had to carry her into the car every time, where she would just lay shaking in the footwell, it didn't matter how much fun the places I drove her to were. It didn't even matter if I tried to lure her in with steak! There was no way she would ever get in the car of her own will. Anyway after several weeks of trying to get her in the car without me having to pick her up, I resigned myself to the fact that she would never come round to it, and it was just one of many disheartening things that made me begin to think maybe I should return her to the breeder if she could not gain enough confidence with me and probably needed a more competent owner. Anyway, one day I drove her to check out a new training class, and when we were ready to go home, as usual I opened the car door and told her to hop in, like I do every single time. I expected her to refuse and start shaking as usual and got ready to carry her in. I looked at her - and she stood there and looked at me for a few seconds, tilting her head slightly. She looked straight into my eyes with a piercing stare and I still remember a strange feeling coming over me that gave me chills. It was almost as if she was sizing me up, and had decided that she could trust me now. And lo and behold, she darted forward and leapt into the car like she had been doing it her entire life. I was so shell-shocked it took me a while to realize what had happened. I did not stop smiling the entire drive home. From that moment on, I knew immediately that she was 'my dog'. It may seem like such a small thing but it had a huge significance to me, and she has bravely done every scary thing I have asked her to since then and been my constant shadow at my side - she is now my entire world. I haven't ever had to carry her into any car since. :) Another small moment just this morning - she sleeps with me on my bed usually at my feet and will crawl up to my side by the morning with her back facing me, but will move away if I attempt to snuggle or touch her too much. This morning she came up to my back strangely, sort of like spooning me, and she rested her head ON my head LOL..... and let out a very loud relaxed sigh, gave my cheek a lick, and fell asleep. I of course could not move a muscle but it made me feel so warm and happy inside. :) Your turn to share your warm fuzzy moments!!

What a good idea!! I have a 'No Dogs' leash for when I don't want my dog to be approached but rarely use it because I worry people might misunderstand and think she is aggressive - 'In training' sounds much less alarming! I may have to consider getting a Julius now even tho I am seriously in love with my Comfortflex. Similiar to TSD my dog is also often collarless and harness-less especially for training which we spend the bulk of our time but I like to use a harness for casual walks. No problems at all with lead pulling for us - I just prefer never to have any pressure on the neck and throat.

I use the Comfort Flex sport harness with my Aussie and love it, but she is of course a much different shape to a Jack Russel. I have a review on a few harnesses including the Bergan Car Harness here

ohhhh gosh I may just have to join costco for this....!

So this story has been making the rounds on the internet this morning. It was originally posted on a photographer's blog but the site has gone down due to high volume of internet traffic. So a few other sites have published the story instead. I thought DOLers would definitely appreciate it. Warning : It *WILL* make you bawl. Also, perhaps graphic photos for some of euthanasia. http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/this-story-of-a-dogs-last-day-on-earth-is-beautiful-and-hear

Hahaha oh gosh, the black dog is priceless!

Smokers are being urged to look to their cat or dog for motivation to quit smoking as passive smoking can cause as many health issues for pets as it does for humans, researchers have found. Studies by Tufts University and Colorado State University in the US have shown that second-hand smoke can cause respiratory and allergy problems in cats and dogs, plus lung and nasal cancer in dogs and lymphoma in cats. There are no statistics for the number of animals that die as a result of passive smoking each year, but quit smoking charities have called for smokers to quit for the sake of their pet. "Second-hand smoke doesn't just affect people," said CEO of the American Legacy Foundation Dr Cheryl Healton. "While most [people] have been educated about the dangers of smoking to their own bodies, it is equally important that pet owners take action to protect their beloved domestic pets from the dangers of second-hand smoke." Cats are the most vulnerable to smoke, with Tufts University research showing that constant exposure to smoke doubles a cat's chances of lymphoma, which is one of the leading causes of feline cancer. Symptoms of animal cancer, which is the leading cause of dog and cat deaths, include bleeding, sneezing, coughing, difficulty eating or breathing, weight loss and drooling. Quit Policy Manager Kylie Lindorff, told ninemsn that thinking about pets could be the motivation some smokers need to quit. "The fact pets are very affected by second-hand smoke adds to the long list of reasons to quit," she said. "We would hope that the fact smoking has such a devastating effect on nearly every organ in the body would be enough motivation to quit, but if people need one more reason to stop smoking, maybe this will be it." Source: CBS Author: Kimberly Gillan; Approving Editor: Kristen Amiet.. Source : http://health.ninems...n-cats-and-dogs

Done.

Hahahahahaha raineth I laughed out loud, how gorgeous.

How's everyone going? Any advice on how to translate IYC to real-life situations - ie not running off to other dogs in off leash areas, or not going to go chase that duck floating on the lake, ignoring all distractions, etc etc? Breeze is great with the basic IYC and can easily leave any food I drop or throw at her as I've been working on that with her since the day I got her - now I can pile up to 10 hot dog slices on each paw and five on her head lol while she looks very tortured but I don't know how to translate it over to more real-life situations. Do I just stand with her at the park and if she makes a move to another dog I go home (take away resource)? If she sits quietly and focuses on me I reward and then release her to go play? Is that how it works? What if the other dogs off leash at the park run up to her instead? (do not want!) What if I don't want to allow her to go play with the strange dogs anyway? For example if we use IYC for not chasing ducks - I never want her to go chase a duck anyway, so does she just get food rewards instead of being "released"? Any advice?

I gave Breeze half a rabbit once and she threw it up three times. I'm guessing rabbit did not agree with her but I may try smaller pieces next time. Duck doesn't agree with her either, a real shame. Did Reggie like it?

Good luck CC and everyone else trialling! I had been considering entering but Breeze is not trial ready at the moment after a long break from training following a hip injury... CC I am sure your Mal will be AWESOME!

Oh god, ugh, poor Tyson, what a waste. RIP. When will we ever see the end of these outdated laws.

I just got home and worked on a little bit of Collar Grab game to see how Breeze would react to it. Started off gentle, on lead like you suggested TSD, thanks for sharing your advice. She's ok with it. Not very keen and I can definitely see she gets a bit uncomfortable, lip licking and all, a bit flat. So just did very little, will consider building on it a bit more very gradually, probably with higher value treats too. At the moment it's killing her drive a bit.

You are right Leah, it was very overwhelming seeing there is so much to do. Breeze has great whip-lash recall except when there is a duck to be chased LOL. I have been doing a lot of recall in drive work I learnt from K9Pro when they were in Melbourne so I'm hoping I can get away with less time spent on recalls and more time on the other games. Will still definitely work through the recall and distraction list to keep proofing her recall but I think I would like to place more emphasis on games that can help strengthen our bond - and from reading what all of you are saying the Crate Games is best for that so I will be working on that. We also already do some form of IYC in our everyday life anyway so I breathed a sigh of relief... still I have been working on it with her every day, especially sitting at the door in the mornings to go out. We tug every night as a routine too so another sigh of relief. Will just have to work on tugging through distractions. It's going to be tricky getting through everything in time for me as I am so strapped for time as it is, still I'll try my best. I've just looked through the site very carefully again and I think I understand what I need to do now, and I will get started on the games tonight. TSD I'm not sure if I want to do the Collar Grab game as she is an extremely soft dog and since she already has Fenzi's similiar "squishing" game down pat I'm not sure if I want to introduce something else which is more or less a similiar concept/result anyway but with the added stress of pulling her by the neck.

So much information. Thanks so much for the help, all of you. I will have to take another close look at the site tonight. One more stupid question, I see there is a Critical Core Assignment where you have to do like 15 to 20 recalls, and then there is the pre-course games and then there is the actual IYC, Collar Grab, Crate Games.... which ones are we supposed to do first?? I'm assuming the proper games are actually part of the course content, and is the Critical Core like an assignment to do at the end of the week? Do we have to do all the games or can we pick and choose which one we'd like to do? There are some games I'm not sure if I'll do. I wouldn't mind a Melbourne catch-up during the break too, although I suspect I will be very behind compared to everyone else in terms of games progress.

Yes, that is the whole point of Crate Games! That they will release from the crate straight to you and ready to work! What are you up to? If your dog chooses to stay in the crate when you release, you just need to look at the value. Release, wait to see their response, you can wait them out a bit, and if they don't release, close the door and try again. If they come out, have a party! This is where the changed my mind game comes in handy! I find keeping session short, fast and fun helps! I do YOYI, then release and collar grab, send back in, maybe repeat from other side or a different angle, then send them in and do changed my mind, do a few other fun fast games, send him in etc. Have you read the FAQs? Do you have the DVD? Oh good, thank you!! I guess I will do it then. I've read the guide, read the FAQ and watched a bit of the video. Didn't want to try it yet in case I got it wrong so glad I asked here for clarification! Don't have the DVD yet cause I think they mail it out at the end of the course? Patience! Did you watch the video with the dogs bursting out of the crate? I only watched the first 5 - 10 minutes or so and read the guide before I started feeling very dubious about it. I should've watched it all the way! Where is this printed booklet? Sorry I must be going blind! I spent an hour last night trying to navigate the site but it was all a bit confusing. I saw the bit about creating a distraction list in Excel so I've done that. Might try a bit of the Collar grab game tonight, although it seems somewhat similiar to Fenzi's 'squishing' and we've already got that down nicely. Hoping it won't confuse things!

Is there a point to the Crate Games other than getting the dog to enjoy being in the crate? My dog already naturally loves the crate and stays quietly inside wherever we go - but at trials I want her to be ready and bursting out the crate wanting to work with me, not choose to stay inside at the back of the crate? Have I got it wrong?