Grey

thanks guys, almost exactly what the trainer i just spoke to recommended (this trainer has worked my dog and been to my house before) i appreciate the advice

Hi dolers I'm back again asking for advice! *deep breath* my dog (3 yo female desexed gsd) can be classed as dog aggressive, although the majority of the problem begins with her manners and progresses as other dogs respond unfavourably. We have never had to deal with living next door to other dogs so far, and we attend dog school every week and are currently dealing with her approach to other dogs - slowly but surely. For the last month or so the neighbour behind us (whose backyard corner backs onto a portion of back fence) has had a small jack russell. initially this has been no problem, they have barked and snuffled through the fence at eachother, but no great issues. A cpl of weeks ago his dog escaped down the driveway and rushed my dog (totally in a friendly way, but rudely rushing nonetheless) while we were starting our walk. Skylla (my dog) was very unhappy about this and the bloke finally came over to get his dog and offered for the two to meet while holding it out at head level towards my girl and I frantically corrected her and tried to explain simultaneously this was not a good idea. Within the last week this bloke has had a friend move in with another jack russell, and now his dog (aside from barking constantly when they are out which i really am not that worried about, dogs bark, and i know skylla prob does as well from time to time if a possum appears) is at the fenceline digging, so of course skylla is at the fenceline digging and barking at eachother. We are in the process of blocking off the bottom of the fence so they cannot get to eachother, but this morning, whilst other half was putting tiles down to block the 2-3 cm gap created the new neighbour launches in with how he will 'neck' my dog if she digs through to his dog. I can understand being protective of your dog, but where do I stand if his dog gets into our yard and something horrible happens - if we are not home or fast enough to stop it? I have contacted a trainer to discuss how to get Skylla to stop barking and scrabbling, will ask at dog school this week and also am looking into an ecollar. I am beside myself at the thought of her hurting another animal. The neighbour is also shoring up his fence, but of course the mind runs rampant with scenarios. Currently we are keeping Skylla mainly inside to prevent any incident, but do any of you guys have any suggestions? thanks so much in advance

hey there just wondering if anyone can recommend any good in-house pet sitting services, I have heard of free services that are registered etc in exchange for members not having to rent (ie they simply go from job to job looking after homes and other people's pets) is this too good to be true? I am going away in late feb for a fortnight and would much rather have the cats and dog looked after in home rather than in a kennel - although they are currently booked in for this time in a kennel just in case. any advice or recommendations would be appreciated, i found 'happy house sitters' on the net, but quite reluctant to trust such a thing without finding out other people's opinions and experiences first? The whole entrusting of animals and home to a stranger thing heheh thanks heaps in advance for your time dolers!

ooh the ultimate question haha I did trial runs - after of course, blocking off all rooms that were risky and removing EVERYTHING from dog reach or that was dangerous or that i valued in any way whatsoever. then it was hope for the best! I had some issues with chewing of bench corners, but once i learned the appropriate exercise and training routine, and also what treat toys actually amused we were home free. good luck, i know this wasnt much help, i just winged it and hoped for the best, taking care of every eventuality i could think of, and then learning of a few others i hadn't

i must say tho shelle, and i may just have had a weird pup, skylla bonded very strongly to me, but when she was very young i noticed that she although she greeted and played enthusiastically, she was at least 6 months before i saw her actively wagging her tail when i spoke to her or looked at her etc. was just something i noticed, but by the time i started worrying about it i saw the behaviour presenting itself..

thankyou mokha - i agree, but then i am biased she is about 8 months older than that pic now, but it is still my fave of her, the first time i could see the adult she is destined to be lol and I know!! the cats would eat an entire bag of rc in a week if i allowed free feeding, but skylla is totally 'meh' about it all. which is good, cause i get credit for having a beautifully weighted gsd with little or no work involved *edit* to say your labs are just gorgeous!! you can't go past a good looking lab

LoL shelle - skylla was so impressed that there was a bbq with a heap of ppl that did not conform to 'on your bed' before treating that the thunder was the least of her concerns.. there were far more pats and tidbits of sausage to be concerned over - we are v v lucky to have animals that are not bothered by storms or fireworks! we all stood out the front watching the lightning before the rain started, had skylla with us on the leash at the naturestrip and i even had one woman walk/run past telling me that i should take the poor dog inside she must be so scared with the thunder.. obviously she paid no attention to the fact the 'scared poor puppy' in question was chasing flies and eyeing off the guests looking for a random bit of bread, chip or meat...

not tshirts, but i bought some cool bumper stickers from there.. took a while to arrive, but totally happy with them when they did!

oh wow - i swear by my furminator - i even use it on the cats! the video on the website i thought was a joke, but it actually happens like that lol i used to vacc the house everyday with my shepherd, but when i use the furminator for a few mins each day after our walk, i vac maybe every 3 or 4 now

just a quick thanks again - we appear to have hit the jackpot! although she is certainly not eating anywhere near the recommended guide, she is quite happily chowing down about 2 cups of royal canin a day, and approx 90% of toilet trips end in a nice firm manner lol yay!! thanks again for the suggestions

I grew up with my grandparents raving about the gsd's they used to own, my friends raved about the shepherds they owned. My girl is 18 months old now, and, as the first dog i have owned by myself and having to go through an extremely steep learning curve regarding training, dealing with prey drive, exercise and consistency, i could never ask for another breed of dog - i am officially in love with shepherds. I will never breed, i will never show her (unless maybe local agility shows etc) and i will only ever expect her to work in our training sessions or maybe in the house and personal protection she provides naturally, but she is content. I know this, not from how many snuggles we share, how often i move my foot to feel her by my feet or how often she pops into a room to see what i am up to if she has just woken up, but from her demeanor. There are posts in this thread however that do more than infer a gsd should not be owned as a pet, that as a breed, they should simply be working dogs. I could not, off the top of my head name a breed that is not owned as a pet these days and to continue to argue that such a use is not what the breed is for can almost be described as naive - they ARE being owned as pets, and despite this lack of traditional work, many (not all, i am not that naive lol) are content and bring joy to the lives they enrich. The point of this thread is to advise potential owners, not jump on the soapbox and give an almighty and powerful opinion. I would like to thank those that responded in a relevant and fitting way to this thread , however, as with Raz, if anyone i ever know asks about shepherds (and seeing my girl and how happy i am, a few do) i would never direct them here. Unfortunately, most threads where a question is asked regarding shepherds (anyone remember that almost informative thread re back slope months ago?) becomes a mud slinging match where those that are genuinely after information feel unwelcome and walk away with a bad taste in their mouth. maybe we can cut and paste the helpful parts of this thread and lock it? meh. *dons flame suit*

only issue i can see is that if you are to stop using dimmitrol during the year at any point (ie non mozzie season etc) then you will need to retest for heartworm before you can start using again. i have always been taught that heartworms will generally only show up after 6 months of presence, so once the initial test has been done another is recommended (not enforced, always owner discretion) in 6 months time. This is half the reason we recommend ppl stay on dimmitrol all year, simply to avoid the cost and hassle of testing.. but that's just from what i have read and been taught.. if there's medical ppl here who know better feel free to enlighten me :D

i wouldn't feed a cooked bone to any animal - they tend to splinter a lot more easily and then you can have issues (among others) of intestinal/bowel/stomach perforations and lots and lots of pain (to both animal and your wallet!).

Oh - it was Monday. Do'h! This week is getting away from me! My excuse is that i've gone from couch potato to GSD handler for 2hrs of walking and running a day so my mind is melting, hehe. i am there with you Nic, when my partner asked if i wanted a border collie like i grew up with and i responded with no no, thats a working dog, i really dont have to time nor energy level to accommodate one of those, and he then came home with a german shepherd (obviously not noticing the whole shepherd bit of the name) i suddenly went from computer nerd to walking, running and intense training every day regardless of weather and sickness especially since i am currently classed as a single mother for another few months! in relation to the topic however, we did the whole turning around and ignoring, and that reduced issue, but what turned the tables for us was as soon as she jumped we put her in her crate (still in same room, but confined) and let her out later, if she jumped, back in the crate for a few mins etc etc.

yay dvd arrived today, now just waiting on the other books i ordered. i wonder if we all ended up going through the same us company and if they are looking at this sudden influx of australian addresses lol

no way! i am so jealous lol i am slightly happy though, 'click to calm' arrived for me today, so that is something for me to concentrate on in the meantime that the rest of the books and this dvd arrives tomorrow!

same here! i am very excited about it arriving - i keep checking the letterbox excitedly, even though i know i only ordered it a few days ago lol good luck

i couldnt find one and ended up biting the bullet and ordering from the us shop listed above - was actually quite cheap, approx $40, including postage. now just hanging out for it to arrive lol I'm planning to convert the dvd using dvdshrink and some burning software so that i can then play in the loungeroom - although now that ps3 has been mentioned i will first be testing it through the 360 :D

thanks so much for taking the time to reply - i really appreciate it! i ended up scoring reaching the animal mind and click to calm on ebay nice and cheap with free postage, and feisty fido through thenile.com still hunting for really reliable recall though - i cannot seem to find it in stock anywhere! ah well.. we had our last dog school class today for the summer break so i am hanging to get these books and start mucking around :D *edit* nvm, i actually opened my eyes and read a related post on here and will order it now through a us site

thanks!

Hi guys I live out ringwood way in melbourne, vic, and i am looking for some dog training books and would prefer not to have to buy them off amazon and pay for shipping.. let alone wait ALL that time for them to arrive the ones i am interested in are: -Reaching the animal mind - clicker training and what it teaches us about all animals : Karen Pryor - Feisty Fido - help for the leash aggressive dog : Patricia McConnell - Click to calm : Karen Pryor - 100 ways to train a perfect dog : Sarah Fisher - Really reliable recall : Lelsie Nelson If anyone knows where i can pick these up from i would be much appreciative, all i can find is amazon references when i google them.

Hhmm sounds to me like her current diet suits her just fine. Not every dog is a guts over food or has consistently hard poops. With the miriad of problems GSDs have I would count myself lucky at having such a healthy dog. true k9katz - that did cross my mind, but it's just getting a tad embarrassing on walks when you can pick the first offering up, but if there is a second, that's not an option and, this may be anthropomorphizing a tad cause i do realise most of the human issue may be the toilet paper addition.. but i feel sry for her in case she has a ring of fire.. sometimes she just looks so damn uncomfy trying to get it all out!

budget is fine - especially as i am pretty sure i can find the food at cost price + 10% which always helps! i have accepted the fact she doesnt need to eat much, its not like she is a working dog, and she would in no way eat the recommended amount, she is a tad skinny, but only cause i am used to seeing fatty boombah shepherds hehe, perfect weight according to last vet check. I feed her twice a day, but generally the morning meal gets picked up (unless we have been a walk in am rather than pm) and picked at at dinner. so.. thanks to everyone for your answers, i decided to try the royal canin german shep one, (how could i resist when it has a picture of a shepherd on the front? , yes i am also banned from watching telemarketing heheh) she ate last nights portion of it, and has not touched breakfast or dinner as yet, but she wont starve herself, i heard her sneaking some last night just before i went to bed and took it away, so hopes are high I felt guilty and bought the cats some royal canin as well - i have never seen them eat something that wasn't hills oral care so ravenously *edit for general not-making-sense-sentences*

thanks so much :D

hi there guys - i'm back to tap into the vast wealth of knowledge that is dol.. i have a 17mo gsd, who looks great, her coat is great, her weight is perfect, no skin probs perfect bill of health from vet etc. Two things i do notice is that a) she is never excited over meal times, unless there is a can of wet food involved, (teeth and mouth are fine i had them checked) and b) that 2 out of 3 poops are not all that firm - not liquid (unless there has been raw lamb involved the day before) but certainly not firm. The first thing i want to try is a different brand of dry food and if that does not improve then onto a more restrictive diet to ensure it isnt a food allergy. I am not in a position to effectively and healthily feed a barf diet or anything similar, and ideally i would like her to be on a mainly dry food diet with raw meaty bones thrown in once or twice a week for 'while mum is at work treats'. Currently she is fed supercoat, but we have in the past tried hills large breed puppy and optimum. The only way i can get her to eat each night a regular amount is if i mix a small can of tuna through the supercoat. I am leaning towards trying evo or proplan - is there either of these, or anything else you guys would suggest i try for her? At first i assumed it was her being lazy and not wanting to chew dry food so i have soaked it in warm water, gravy or even mixed wet food through - she licks the additions off and leaves the dry lol thanks in advance for the advice :D