wuffles

We have one and it doesn't fit in our door frame.

Interesting - i would have thought submissive would help the situation!..... Will try to get owner to work on keeping her still. She does still act like a puppy - doesn't read other dogs well at all & doesn't understand their signals. In theory I would have thought this too but over the top submissiveness can really get them riled up!

Sorry, I found it a bit tough to find the humour as there was just so much potential for things to go completely pear shaped What happened with the GR?

My dogs have no problems with brachy dogs at all but both of them don't like over excited but submissive approaches. My girl used to do this when she was young and it was like she had a target printed on her backside... once she learnt to greet more appropriately (ie. stand still) she stopped getting picked on completely.

Just wanted to put in my vote for keeping them as dry as possible. I use a powder antiseptic (Medipulv) mainly but have also used Curash and Betadine/Iodine which are also good.

Mine are outside when it's hot. If it's going to get to mid 30s and above I fill their clam shell and give them a few bowls of water in different places. They find the coolest spots. Our house would be WAY too hot.

I'm still training my first trialling dog and to be honest, I wouldn't have had a clue if it wasn't for my local obedience club. I've pretty much used trial and error (my poor dog!) using advice from heaps of different sources - old school triallers, crossover trainers, positive trainers, brainstorming with newbies like myself, advice from DOL, online research and troubleshooting with trusted friends. Sorry that's not entirely helpful but I just don't know if I would have been able to do it with all that hands on help. It will be easier with my next dog.

Nearly all of mine was done with a phone book. I used it for perch work (elephant trick) and also targeting the back legs. You can even do a fair bit with no equipment - luring in a D shape to encourage movement of the back legs and for things like walking backwards you can just use walls or fences as barriers (or whatever is lying around like crates and water bottles!).

Ours destroyed the hood and it made the whole thing collapse so I can't see how they'd work either! Good luck getting a response.

Just to clarify (not sure if this is what you were saying or not, sorry if I'm wrong!) but we didn't have them removed. Just cut open (tiny cut) and flushed out.

From experience... they can turn nasty very quickly and to be honest if the vet couldn't empty them completely they may need to be surgically lanced and cleaned. It can be a one off but it can also become a chronic issue which you want to avoid by getting it right the first time. Our experience was 4 abscesses in about 6 months, appearing overnight. The fourth time she was sedated to have the wound lanced which actually helped a lot. Our dog is young, fit and well muscled. The vet could not give us a reason but suggested that removal of the glands was the only solution. I sought a second opinion from a vet chiro, who confirmed that her right hip was quite severely misaligned.They also gave us a long term course of antibiotics to ensure that there was no residual infection. She has been on a tablespoon of psyllium husk in her food since the first episode. We went back after the course of antibiotics (a month's worth). The glands were empty, and she was "out" again but not as badly as the first time. We went back then after 2 months. The glands were empty and she was sound. We're out to a 3 month appointment now. The theory with our girl is that she possibly had an old injury which failed to heal correctly, causing the persistent alignment issues, which in turn had loosened muscle/ligament which was affecting the function of the glands. If she had continued to constantly need adjusting, we would have done x-rays to check her hips. I didn't want to go the surgical route so crossing fingers this approach continues to work for us. Thanks to the recommendations of DOLers! Edit: My girl also has scar tissue there now that will always be there, so treating them as quickly and thoroughly as possible is important. Double edit: Although the lancing/flushing under sedation sounds horrible, it was good for us because it cleaned it completely and it healed within a few days, whereas if they just emptied and gave us antibiotics, it was messy and uncomfortable and we had to continue cleaning it for over a week.

Do the four days include the weekend? If so they can come to my place if you want. Or I could visit your place for feeds and walks. Let me know, I understand if you prefer kennels for peace of mind :)

Still waiting on mine too Jessca, shipped on 8 November.

The favourites at my place change every day. She goes to the toy pile, rummages around and specifically picks one that she fancies, then acts very proud that she's found it. One of the ultimate favourites is "leg". This is the leg of a toy that was pulled off ages ago. The bulk of the toy no longer holds any interest, but Leg is always high on the list.

Also just to add my dog never gets corrections, ever. So reinforcing her behaviour is particularly important to me :) (Don't want to get into the positive/negative debate, I don't care what other people want to do)

I am sorry in advance if I give offense, I'm really not meaning to, but I find the above to be rather confusing. A dog that loves retrieving is not the sort of dog that needs constant reward. If your dog is losing interest in retrieving once the reward rate starts to drop then I can't see how it is the retrieving that he loves. My own dog, a Kelpie to whom I have only informally trained the retrieve, would literally run himself into the ground before he stopped retrieving the ball, or any other object I threw. I have never rewarded this behavior at all - other than to throw the ball. This is not meant as a brag on my training skills or method - I actually did very little in the way of teaching the retrieve - it is simply a observation on the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic reward. For my own dog retrieving is intrinsically rewarding hence there is no need to reward the behavior other than throwing the ball. A dog that needs a constant rate of extrinsic reward in order maintain its behavior is not a dog that I would say "loves" what he is doing. Didn't see this until now :) You're right - my dog doesn't love retrieving in itself but I'm not sure why you would think that's what I meant. I admitted she's not a natural retriever. However, my dog DOES love training, she loves rewards, she loves working with me. The retrieve is a way for her to earn what she wants, so she does it. Not sure if that's too hard to understand? Others seem to have answered your questions anyway.

The turning point for me was when we found a way to get her to hold it long enough for me to click. All it took was light encouragement (pinky finger under her chin) and voila. So stick with it!!! :)

My dog is NOT a natural retriever at all :laugh: It took me 6 months to train her formal retrieve and TSD and others were telling me eventually she would learn to love it, and I didn't believe them... but she did :laugh: It is something she loves because it's been so highly rewarded, and once her reward rate for it drops she starts to lose interest again. I have to make sure I don't overdo the training (2-3 retrieves in one session is her limit) and still play lots of 'grab the dumbbell' games to build its value. Every time I teach her to retrieve a different object I need to go right back to the start and build its value before even attempting a retrieve. And she still doesn't have a reliable "informal" retrieve. She likes the chasing but not the bringing back part. Also TSD they can certainly still fling it if sitting still Or maybe Ava is just spethul in that regard. Those things HURT when they hit your shin at speed!!!

My girl flung it for aaaaaages too. To be honest though I don't remember how I fixed it If you hold it, let her grab it and reward before she flings (keep your hands on it). Then just lighten your grip and try again - if she tries to fling put a bit of pressure back on it, she should grab it again and click that. I think it's all in the timing - and if you keep control of it you should be able to stop her and instead get a longer hold. Then you can build up moving your hands away. Maybe? :D

I have picked my 18kg dog up a few times to avoid her getting bitten. I also stuck myself in front of a dog that wanted to attack her and copped a bite for my efforts. I'd protect my dogs at all costs. Very sad story

I also recommend a trainer, however, in the meantime I would at least stop trying to use physical manipulation with her as that is what seems to be causing the problem. I would also make sure she has a thorough vet check to ensure she is not sore as that could be part of what causes her to escalate.

Whats a GoDog Dragon wuffles? One of these: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2128&ParentCat=449

I still have a GoDog dragon from free shipping last year, it's still going strong and even went with them to kennels once! Mine don't chew it though, they just carry it around and occasionally play tug o war.

I have ones for my dogs which are very thin and light, they appear to be quite good even without being wet but mainly because of their colour - they are white. So they do keep my black dog in particular cooler than he would be without one. You can wet them also. They are from obedienceproducts.com My dogs' most effective way of keeping cool appears to be digging themselves a hole and lying in that.

One of the moments that I think showed Delilah's amazing resilience was when they had strangers coming into the house, one of whom whas a big, muscly, LOUD man with weights. He yelled in an aggressive manner and threw things around... and Delilah just pranced around him wanting to play :) I don't think many dogs would have reacted that way.