wuffles

not always fool proof. I worked in a pound/shelter and we had one dog come in. I scanned it, no chip. 3 days later the owner sauntered in and went ballastic at me cause I hadn't rang her to tell her dog was in cause he's chipped you know. I scanned the dog again in front of her, no chip. She insisted there was a chip so nearly 10 minutes later we found it. Scanner was working fine, before and after this dog, no idea why finding that chip was so hard. At least the next time he came in I recognised him and didn't even bother scanning him, just rang his owner who was none to happy to come and get him again! Two of my dogs chips have moved. One after 4 years has migrated, the other was only in a couple of week before it moved, very disappointing when they were supposed to be fixed years ago to stop the movement. And yes, the amount of owners who had no idea what their dog actually looked like when asked to describe it My girl's chip has moved down to her leg, so I worry about this

I consider myself very lucky as I noticed my girl (Aussie Shepherd) losing her puppy insanity around 8 months! She's just turned 2 years old and is really good, although will still do things like pull washing off the line. She rearranges the yard much less often these days. I wouldn't say she has any less energy though

My girl has eaten three. The newest one is a different design, edges are kind of folded over if that makes sense, and she has yet to destroy it Edit: And she's turned 2 years old now so I'm hoping that kind of behaviour will go away

A bit quiet in this thread lately! Just thought I'd post this here in hope that someone might understand We've just been promoted to a higher agility level at club training and last night was our first class. Not having trained agility for nearly a month, Ava was a monster Crashing into bars, making up her own course, not listening... anyway, I tried to stay positive but found it difficult. So on the way home I stopped at the local oval and did 10 minutes of obedience training... heelwork, figure of 8s, recall, Hansel and Gretel game, fast drops... all this just to make sure we both ended on a high note I know most people tend to find agility more fun but obedience is definitely the less stressful activity for us!!!

Yes. Why? Maybe they like slow, unmotivated, old, American heelwork rounds, actually see plenty just like it at some dog clubs:p :D :D

I do competitive obedience with my dog because I find it fun, and she finds it fun. I guess if you have a different reason for competing (proving something?) you might train in a different way.

As a very general rule Gundogs don't chase live prey much but retrieve it once it has been killed. Some are used to flush out prey but not catch it live. This means they are more inclined to follow orders closely. Gundogs are also supposed to have soft mouths to avoid damaging the game they retrieve so they have strong bite inhibition. Working dogs have to herd live animals so have more of a chase instinct but again should not kill anything. They will defintiely nip if needed to move a stubborn animal or defend themselves so have less bite inhibition than Gundogs but a lot more than Terriers or Hounds that kill their prey. Their need to deal with live animals that move fast means they are more inclined to think for themselves. They are biddable and easy to train but if they think something would be better done a different way they will try it. The two breeds used most for obedience are BCs and Goldies. The Borders are faster to train but like to add their own "variations" to the exercises to spice things up when they get bored. You need a sense of humour to trial a BC. The Goldies tend to be more steady and reliable trial after trial. Thanks My Aussie tends to be quite "different" to the BCs I know but what you have said definitely makes sense.

FHRP, what would you say the main differences between Gundogs and Working Dogs are in terms of temperament? I don't have that much to do with gundogs so really have no clue!

I like cats, but I don't have any. I like dogs MUCH more. OH doesn't like cats at all but he loves dogs.

So it's not ok for trainers to insist on positive only methods, but it IS ok if they want to use correction and punishment and not consider positive? I'm not sure what you're arguing with me about as I am all for the right method for the individual dog.

That's what she is doing from my interpretation of her post, looking for trainers who do the full monte, not the one's restrictive in methods and tools, she's been there and done that with the worse result possible. The Koehler method is VERY restrictive from what I understand.

For competition obedience behaviours, no, never, ever. I have used a martingale with corrections to teach loose leash walking. Can't think of anything else. I don't have a problem with people using corrections but I don't think it's right to push the line between corrections and abuse. I realise this is different for everyone so I'm fighting a losing battle even posting in this thread. I don't think you are understanding the OP's situation, she had a dog with aggression issues that was under a behaviourist and a couple of trainers, they couldn't fix the dog. The OP obviously was researching for herself understandable given things weren't working for her dog and makes some suggestion about different training tools and they tell her they don't use those tools and the dog ends up PTS. Can you understand the OP wondering if perhaps someone had have fried her dog on an Ecollar a couple of times just maybe it may have improved the behaviour and her dog could be still alive? Understand it, yes. That's why we are trying to help educate.

For competition obedience behaviours, no, never, ever. I have used a martingale with corrections to teach loose leash walking. Can't think of anything else. I don't have a problem with people using corrections but I don't think it's right to push the line between corrections and abuse. I realise this is different for everyone so I'm fighting a losing battle even posting in this thread.

Depends how you define welfare. My dog is dead, how does that fit in? I guess we have a different view of welfare. I can tell you that my dog would have a miserable existance if I hit her with a belt even once.

You think it's better to PTS than subject the dog to aversion and let live? A puppy crying in its crate isn't a life or death situation, neither is whether a dog will heel nicely. But in certain situations then yes, I would think PTS is a better option. Not saying anything about the OP's situation as I don't know them or their dog an I'm not an expert

A dog's welfare is more important than "getting results".

The second my dog knows a storm is coming he is too stressed to take treats My boy is now 7 and he is getting worse as he gets older, getting to the point where we may consider medicating. I'd say just try to find what works for your dog. His favourite place to go is under the computer desk, so when a storm is coming we set up his "hovel" so that it's nice and cosy and turn on the fan which drowns out some of the noise. We put the radio on if it's day time as well. Then on goes his Thundershirt, he's led to his spot, comforted for a few minutes until his eyes stop glazing over and he relaxes slightly, then we leave him there and continue with our business. If the storms are huge and nasty we need to comfort him the whole time. Much harder when we're not home Edit: Mine is only frightened by the thunder too. If I play a tape of thunder he doesn't care. When we're not home obviously the Thundershirt doesn't go on, as far as we know he hides in his kennel with our other dog.

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A few of us are coming up to Sydney from Canberra for at least one of the trials in Jan, so I'm assuming we will see a few of you there!

Aw, they are such good doggies :D

Just measured Ava, she is just under 25" so both your boys should be fine in the M You can see in the pic below that it's on the tightest setting. *wink wink*

Mine just went "oh this guy is odd... but he's patting me... so... yep, I can deal with this."

When we were on holidays we stayed in a pub/B&B and were sitting in the beer garden with the dogs. A very, very drunk man approached and proceeded to lean over our dogs and yell at them in a "friendly" manner I got the pup out of the way, as she was most likely to be affected by it, and our older boy just looked at him like he was weird and accepted the pats Sometimes you just can't escape so at least I know he can deal with it.

I have an M and it just fits my Aussie girl on the tightest setting, an S/M probably would fit her better.

I guess a lot of it depends on the temperament of the individual dog. There does seem to be a big range in Aussie temperaments ranging from lounge lizard to completely insane. You've met Ava and from my point of view she's somewhere in the middle of the road.