megan_

You're right Sheila - I got a bit carried away trying to test if it was an agility thing or not. We're seeing Ray Ferguson on Tuesday morning so I'll (hopefully) know more then.

I think you'll have a hard time finding casserole recipes for dogs - waaay to rich and processed. Why not feed a raw balanced diet or a good quality dry food? Much better nutritionally.

Silly question from a non show person - how could I find out if any Giant Schnauzers were going to attend?

I wouldn't buy froma breeder that put every dog on the main register. I'd much rather pet dogs get put on the limited register (ie this doe isn't going to be shown or bred, says nothing about the quality of the dog) and if it turns out to be a stunner and the breeder wants to use it for stud or the owner wants to breed it the right way then they can put it on the main register.

Unfortunately I have to work. And I'd take the spinone home with me too....

A little update: I've got some recommendations for a vet and I'm seeing Deb on Thursday. I took him to the local park last night once it had cooled down (9pm) and I used the chuckit to fling his ball. He ran like a demon. We played a bit and I occasionally threw in an obedience command (eg sit stay, drop stay heel) and then threw the ball/gave him a treat/played a game as a reward and he was on FIRE. He was so engaged and responsive, which leads me to think it is definitely related to agility, and jumps in particular (loves the contacts with a passion. Occasionally throws in an extra dog walk for good measure).

thanks all - I'll give Monash a call. I hve heard of Charles Kunz too, but I thought he was a specialist that you get referred to?

FRom the website Mita linked to, this would be the clincher for me: TMs are highly protective of their family and their property. Your friends may not be able to walk into the house. Your children's friends may not be able to come to play. Many TMs will not permit anyone other than a very few, very well-known and accepted people, to walk into their house. Your TM may not listen to you when you tell him or her that it is "OK". They know better than you do. Although TMs are extremely independent, they are also extremely sensitive to your moods and to the moods and emotions of any of the family members. TMs may not wish to be present when you are disciplining your children. Do not fight in front of your TM - they will become very upset.

sometimes, but for a dog to bite it's owner is a big deal IMO. I have a very reactive and fear aggressive dog and she has never bitten or growled at me, even when I've given her a fright. Today's dogs do need a pretty high standard applied as most are living in high density areas surrounded by lots of strangers.

You need written permission from a vet, and they can only do that once all avenues have failed.

The dog world is very small :)

Thanks everyone - cfs - your post all makes sense!

Can you recommend anyone? Megan - talk to Deb (Bowen). She only treats clients' dogs and has been fabulous with Ziggy. Doh! I should have thought of that. I'm seeing her again on Thursday so I'll ask if I can bring Fergs too. I'll still pursue the vet angle in case it is the tummy or something else.

I'm seeing one myself! Do you remember their name? Maybe they're one and the same. I also want to see a vet because I want the tummy angle explored too.

Can you recommend anyone?

Hi All, I'm after a recommendation for a vet that is used to dealing with sports dogs and possible, very well hidden, low grade pain issues. As per my thread in training, something isn't 100% with Fergus and I want to find out what. I've taken him to our normal vets and everything appears to be fine. He is VERY stoic and doesn's show pain (when he has severe gastro 2 years ago and the vet scrunched his tummy, he simply closed his eyes a bit. The vet was shocked when he saw the xray and said most dogs would have bitten him for inflicing that sort of pain). So I'm after a vet who: * knows about skeletal stuff * is a problem solver, not "he's eating, playing, stools are normal so he's okay" kind of vet. I know there are lots of great vets out there, but I'm looking for one who has a LOT of experience in dealing with sporting dogs. Thanks, Megan

Thanks. This is what I thought I was doing. When I say we have a 2 min training session, only about 30 seconds of that is actually doing agility stuff. We spend most of the time tugging, playing around on the ground etc.I have always focused on having fun, playing etc. However, sometimes he avoids playing all together, which is very unlike him (he has always been very focused on me). The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that he has some low grade pain and he is avoiding doing certain things (esp jumps). He isn't being naughty and I'm 90% sure he knows what he's meant to do he's just avoiding it. Yesterday after some tugging I did a little lead out and said "go" he just sat there. I said it again, and he just looked away.

yes. The daily training has only been for the last week and a half. Before that there was never any agility training at home at all (I had no yard) and only training once to twice a week

For some other breeds colour does seem to influence temperament (eg bloack pugs, black mini schnauzers)?

Bear in mind though that if you get a working line looks you'll most probably get a working line temperament too - so you'll need to put in a lot of training and exercise.

Fergus has done agility for about 2 years now. He is a fit, active, intelligent little dog. He has always looooooved agility and loved working for me. He has decent drive from an early age, knew to drive ahead without me running next to him (eg I can set up jumps and he can go ahead without me having to run all of them). Something has changed though, and he seems to have lost his love of it and I'm puzzled as to what to do next. I have taken him to the vet for a full check up and everything is normal (altough I'm sure the vet thinks I'm nuts: he's eating well, stools are normal, he's playing normally). Firstly a bit of background on how I train: I use positive methods only, we play lots of tug and games. He loves the tug and has a great prey drive. I'm happy to squeal and celebrate with my dog (Erny can attest to this!). I have set up some equipment in the last 2 weeks and do 2 mins a day max with him (so I don't think I'm over training him). We have trained at 3 different places, but not at the same time. The pattern seems to be that, when we start at a new place, he works really hard for 6 months then he just seems over it? Before the Christmas break, at Action Dogs he would just go off for a sniff when doing a jump sequence (my handling isn't great but I know that we were doing stuff that he knows how to do, so I don't think it was "calming signal" sniffing). If he did something it was a bit like he was going through the motions. I can get out the tug, try to entice him, play a game, even offer up food and he just sniffs the ground (engagement avoidance). He doesn't have a big attention span so I try to keep things snappy and keep him engaged. He used to get really despondant and shut off if he got something wrong (sigh, some instructor told me to slump my sholders and act dissapointed in him if he did something wrong - unfortunately I thought she was the expert so I listened to her which made this 100x worse. I haven't done this for a good 18 months though and now I do a "woopsie, let's try again!" in a happy, "this is just a game" voice). So....what should I do next? I do agility because my dogs love it and I love doing thing with them. I don't want it to be a form of torture. I was thinking of giving him a break for a few months with no training at all (doing something else instead, maybe flyball but then it might be too much like agility with all the jumps). I also thought of Ruff Love, but there is no way on earth that I'm locking my dog in a crate for 13 hours a day when I'm at work. ETA: Feeling guilty about taking some a promising little boy and "ruining" him doesn't make me feel great either

A dog can't wear a muzzle 24/7. Muzzles are great for when out on walks though. I would suggest crating the dog when guests are over.

I love my dogs, and love/like a few others (normally well trained, well behaced dogs), but I don't consider myself a dog lover. I don't see a dog and go all mushy. I don't actively dislike other dogs, I just don't like them, if that makes sense. I don't want to turn this into another nature vs nuture argument, but a dogs' breeding has a lot of input into how a dog will turn out. Just because a dog is aggressive doesn't mean that the owner is bad. Genetics is a very powerful factor in how a dog turns out. It really, really bugs me when people adopt the simplistic "there are no such things as bad dogs, jut bad owners" argument. I agree that there are no "bad" dogs, because "bad" implies some sort of moral judgement. Dogs don't have this. But there are dogs that aren't suited to life in the 'burbs with people. I have an aggressive dog. I am a good owner. Sick of being bashed on this forum.

No reputable rescue group would ever rehome a human aggressive dog. Ever.