megan_

There is no rule that you need to be a citizen - you need to permanently reside I. Australia though (ie not be on a visa). This is to prevent dogs being dumped when people realize that'll need to pay many thousands of dollars to take the dog OS (not saying this is what you'd do, but this is why they have the policy. She was rude and could have explained the policy politely and informed you of alternatives (eg fostering). This policy is not racist as some have implied - it has nothing to do with race but rather is a response to a significant cause of dog dumpage (moving OS).

To me, pedigreed purebred means dog with papers (not necessarily ANKC papers either). I consider my mini schnauzer rescue to be a mini schnauzer, and so did the Schnauzer Club that rescued her (which includes lots of pedigree breeders). I think it would be silly to call her "small dog of unknown origin".

I have asked the question before and was told there was NO assumption of feeding bones (even though Dr Bruce recommends it). If they assume you feed bones they need to change the packaging because it says the mix + meat provides a dog with all its nutrients.

My long line is made of soft leather-like material. I bought it from Erny and it is great because you don't get rope burn. I have found that a telling off rarely helps. In fact, with Lucy it just made things worse (I assume she thought I was cross at the thing that was scaring her, therefore validating her fear). It has been a lot of work to keep her below her arousal level, but it has paid huge dividends. Not only is it more relaxing for me, her and the community, but she isn't getting conditioned to respond aggressively. If you start a thread asking for recommendations for a behaviourist in your area I'm sure people will be able to recommend someone. Oh, and I have often wanted to make Lucy a "big, scary dog" suit so that people give her space. I have found that if I say she is fearful, people actually move closer, try to pat her and talk in a baby voice! Of course that makes things worse. I now do a subtle body block, say "She needs space" and then add that she has been abused and attention makes her feel unsafe. For some people I actually hold my hand up as a stop sign - it is surprisingly effective, even though I feel silly doing this.

I have asked for advice on DOL before. Some of it I have followed and some of it I have rejected. There is no rule that you have to take on board every bit of advice from internet randoms. The dog is most likely a JS. She has the dogs now, why can't you let it go? She needs to focus on giving the dog the best life possible. She's made it hard on herself by getting two puppies (that is my biggest concern), but she's got to step up and make it work.

Yip - I agree with Snook. I'd see someone else. Even if other dogs don't fight back, she is reinforcing the behaviour every time she does it (I bail up other dogs, they submit, bailing up other dogs is the way to go).

Can they both pee outside? The Jap Spitz will smell the poms wee indoors and that will encourage him to pee in the same spot.

We all know this. It has been done to death in her other threads.

Are you able to get some professional help? Personally, if she was my dog, she wouldn't be offleash until this issue is worked through. Luckily the other dogs backed down - not all will though.

But then the puppy school is being run by a trainer s&t.

I'm so sorry that you're having to go through this. A lot of people will say "your dog will let you know". I, however, think it is often very hard to listen to them and we miss the message as we so desperately want them to stay with us. My two are still young and I've never had to make that call. I have promised them that I will never let them suffer unless the suffering is temporary and there is a very, very good chance that they'll fully recover. I'd rather they go a day too soon with no pain than a day too late. But that is easy to write, but very hard to do. My only advice is to try to look objectively at him and ask if he is enjoying life.

I use their normal food for training. Small kibble is good high frequency rewards. I feed a combo of raw and good quality dry. I also like the idea of them working for their food, rather than it being laid out in a bowl for them.

Bit of drama for us this morning, but both Lucy and I handled it relatively well. I have a regular morning walking route that is relatively safe but still provides us with SAFE opportunities to practice LAT and push Miss Lucy (eg we walk past a petrol station that has lots of people coming and going). I know the dogs on our route and all are contained - until today. We were happily walking along when I noticed a woman on her porch with an off leash, uncontained dog. Sigh. Of course out it came running. I managed to handle myself well and call in a firm but calm voice "Get your dog now!". At the same time - and this is hard for me because I'm so unco-ordinated and bad under pressure - but I grabbed a hand full of food from my pocket, threw it on the ground and did a U-turn. By this time the dog was 2m away from us, and decided to eat the food instead of coming to say hello (very lucky it wasn't territorial). Lucy was alert, but not overreacting. Her tail was a wee bit up, but still in a relatively relaxed wag. Both Fergus and Lucy looked up and me and I remembered to actually praise them as we were doing the u-turn and walking in the other direction. I decided not to play LAT at that point because I needed to keep moving and I didn't want he dog to follow us. Both of mine love praise anyway. By this time the owner - who had been yelling at her dog to come all this time - caught up to her dog and took it inside. I managed to keep my cool and avoid the urge to tell her that her dog wasn't allowed to be off leash and uncontained, even on her property. Instead, I just kept on focusing on my dogs and we completed our walk without incident. Things didn't go exactly according to script as I would have liked to have remained more calm and praised Lucy much earlier on, but we both reacted relatively well in the situation - her more so than me. Very proud of my little girl. I also caught up with an ex-wrok colleague who is doing the delta course that is a fantastic trainer. She is someone who is interested in the psychology of dogs and people. She has been doing a fair bit of BAT with dogs so I'm interested in pursuing that with her further. ETA: Welcome Miz J. It sounds like you're seeing the same trainer as Snook?

I don't know the scientific term for it, but a similar thing happens with humans too. John Cleese (yes, the comedian) has tours and speaks about this as he has an interest in psychology. It is based off a book called Hare Brain and Tortoise Mind. In a nutshell, a break, with the pressure off, gives time for your subconscious mind to solve a problem. I wonder what is happening in our dogs' heads? I have noticed this a few times with Fergus, especially training the weavers and 2o2o. Originally I was told to "practice, practice, practice" but after a break of over a week he nailed the weavers and the nose touch, no problems.

One more thing: not all puppy schools are equal. Some take shy dogs and set the foundations for the dog becoming aggressive ("just let them sort it out!"). If your dog is shy you need to go to a puppy school that is run by a qualified trainer who will match suitable pups with yours. I'd never go to a puppy school run by a franchise or by a vet nurse.

Contact Cosmolo - she runs a good puppy school. She also has 5 of the most well behaved dogs that I've ever met and they can be a good intro to meeting big dogs (if your dog only socialises with puppies, it might struggle with big dogs). Remember that socialisation doesn't just mean playing. It means being comfortable and relaxed around other dogs and not needing to meet every dog it sees.

Foundations start the day you bring them home - that doesn't involve any equipment. I wouldn't put a dog on equipment until it was at least 1. There are a few threads here that detail foundations

I saw a pap but didn't know if it was you! Edit; scooter is sooooooo cute

What breed is he? Does he have hair around his face? It could be bacteria growing there.

won't that mean a break-away in working and family/show lines though? A feisty terrier temperament wouldn't be suitable in most households, so there are either fewer bred in total, or some are bred "softer".

Yay Spartan. I love it when the unusual breeds do well, especially those that the ignorant call stupid.

That's why I have suggested a behaviourist C&S - there hasn't been an issue yet but as K9 explained there is more chance of something happened once he has settled in. If something does happen, the resident dog could land up hurt, your parents could be hurt for trying to break up a fight, the foster could be hurt and would most probably be classed as unrehomable because no ethical rescue that I can think of would rehome a dog that had attacked. There would be fewer issues with dogs if people involved behaviourists before things blow up.

Where does she get most of her food? As SK points out, any living dog is food driven - they need food to live. The problem is that most owners give their dog food for free so there is no incentive to work for their food (hey, if my boss paid me for no work I wouldn't want to work either!). My dogs work for every little bit of food. They never, ever get food for nothing. As a consequence they love training and love their treat toys (they still need to do some training before getting these).

While I don't think it was an accident I do think you might be humanising (which I do all the time). It is very hard to say without being there and knowing your dogs, but my guess is that Roscoe's temperament is more "quick to anger" (not in a bad way, but doesn't tolerate nonsense) than Riddick. I could imagine a similar situation with my two (except Lucy is never off leash). Fergus is very well mannered, reads dogs really well and is a lover-not-a-fighter. If a dog carries on he looks at them with a WTF? expression and comes to me. He isn't interested in correcting other dogs. Lucy is the fun police and will tell any cheeky dog just where they can go.

I believe a professional is needed before things escalate - it is resource guarding.