Bull Arab

This!!!! I agree the velcro method works well. What type of box are you using? Some of the newer ones have a 'shelf' above the trigger plate and just below the shooters that you can ballance the ball on. Can also work if you put the velcro lower down on the box and gradually work it up to the height of the shooter. Also try playing catch, where you ask hte dog to catch a ball tossed to him from a few cm away. Helps them to get used to the action of the ball when the box triggers and to catch a moving ball directly rather than pick one up from the ground.

Ok seeing as we are dreaming, how about 1. Never needs a vet 2. Sub 4 second flyball 3. Clean run every time 4. Knows how to pour a cold beer 5. Can pick the right 6 numbers for sat lotto!!

Started typing then discovered someone had already done it for me here http://www.akc.org/breeds/australian_shepherd/

For the record All but 1 Aussie are desexed Dog 1 = BC Male - outside dog, crated at night Dog 2 = BC Female - outside dog crated at night Dog 3 = Aussie Male - Inside dog sleeps on our feet in the lounge and on the bed at night. Is kept in the AC bedroom during the day. Dog 4 = Aussie Male (entire 4 months old soon for the snip) -inside in a puppy pen Dog 5 = Lab Female - Outside dog crated at night Dog 6 = GDX Female - Inside dog, is 4year olds best friend, sleeps on adults bed at night Dog 1 and 2 are soulmates and crate, drive, play, live together and share a tuggie (no one can share or be near 1 with food) Dog 2 and 3 are good mates will play together Dog 1 and 3 are like two teenage boys together and play rough Dog 3 gets on with EVERYONE has the best attitude and sleeps on the bed is a goofball but gets away with more than you could imagine. Dog 4 is still using his puppy licence but is pushing it with 1 and 2 Dog 5 is a fossil and is dominated badly by 2 and 6 she has a few new holes in her ear and neck from 2. Dog 6 and 1 have a kill on sight agreement and have to be kept separated or the vet bills are amazing!!! Dog 6 and 2 have had a few blues can be together but supervised Dog 2 is a bitch (in the true sense of the word) she will take cheep shots at 5 when she gets the chance. Dog 6 sleeps on the bed as well.

2 BC's one m and one f 2 Aussies both m 1 Lab F 1 Great Dane Cross F oh and 4 horses a couple of chooks and some ducks

OK I recognize the amazing looking red dogs, the doonah and the sheets!!! Seems there are 2 Aussies on the bed now........ Guess I need to get comfy on the couch!!! Me the Great Dane Cross and what room is left !!!! MEN Beware, Aussies will move in and take your side of the bed when you least expect it!!!!!

Having worked in shelters and been involved in at least one of those rescues I could not agree more! IMO There are a LOT more people looking to get out of ACD's BC's and SWF's. Why? No fault of the dog or the breed just there are more of them around and there are a lot of folks that don't do their homework before committing to a dog! I agree an Aussie is not for everyone, if you have a small yard, no time and don't like goof balls then they are probably not the one for you, I have also commented from time to time that they would probably not be that well suited to a first time dog owner unless they were willing to commit to puppy class and then follow on owner education, I think they would just get away with too much otherwise!! As far as pets go I am looking one of ours sitting on the bed head tilted looking at me quizzically as we had lunch and didn't share and the young one asleep in his puppy pen passed out beside his kong!! On the other hand our 2 BC's prefer to be outside doing BC stuff!!

The guys at Spring Loaded Flyball (in the US) make an excellent range of how to, and how to fix, flyball videos. Check out their website http://www.flyballtrainingvideos.com/ I can recommend Building Better Box turns, Dogs Eye View and Puppy Foundations they are awesome training tools but very cheesy american accents these guys are great trainers but average actors!!!

Just need to warn everyone who doesn't own one that Aussies are a lot like potato chips.... It is impossible to stop at one!!!!!!

We live on a cattle property so there isn't much our dogs have not rolled in. But the absolute worst is ................. Cow afterbirth!!!!!!!!!! It took ages to work out what it was, she was covered in it!! Had a ball I guess!!!

Oh and I forgot. One of our BC's ate a coke can!! Yep she was just 12 months old picked it up and started chewing it!!! When we got all of the pieces and tried putting it back together 1/2 of it was missing. Yep a panicked call to the vet!! Did you know a dogs stomach can dissolve aluminium as thin as that on a coke can????? Neither did we…

Oh we had that happen too- smart alec kids pony learnt to barge through the tape and break it and let everyone out I had a pony that learned if she leaned on the tape with a rug on she could push it over and not get zapped. That was until i wrapped tape around the front of her rug (where it does up) so when it came into contact wiht the fence it zapped her!!!

Our Lab is well known for her coprophagia (horses and dogs), she literally follows the others around in the morning waiting for it............. We have learned to live with is as we cant stop it just don't let her lick you. Well the other day after doing her version of poo patrol she picked up a cake of Sard Wonder soap we had been using to whiten a horses tail. She managed to eat most of it before we could get it back. What to do? We rang the poisons info line (they will give animal poison info if they have it) and they said the human treatment for sard is to induce vomiting. Into the crate goes the lab and out comes the washing soda crystals. After about 6 handfuls the lab vomits. What came out had a smell all of it's own and a texture that has no words to describe!!!! I had to leave the laundry and get the OH to clean out the crate I just could not do it!!!

My point was more from a community education and dog socialization point of view. I do respect your insight but without all of the info I don't think I am comfortable commenting on the incident or all of the circumstances that lead up to it.

G'day all I very rarely post to the general page but this is such an informative blog I thought it should be read by as many people as possible! http://www.dogstardaily.com/blogs/lessons-learn-tragedy Forward it to the politicians and people making decisions on aggressive breeds if you like, the message from a very respected trainer is straight forward is simple any dog regardless of breed (this has nothing at all to do with BSL) can do this if the circumstances are right!! Forward it to the parents you know with dogs the message is really simple there as well!! Kids and dogs are great together if they are supervised!!!

Isnt' that funny!? CK, Wizza and Andy (his sister who went back to Tag's breeder) are all exactly the same. Wikki (same Dad) is very similar as well. Some people say it is a lack of drive, I think the drive is there, I've come to the conclusion that its just a matter of 'letting' them display it in their own time and manner. It's taken a long time, but CK is almost at the point where he is going ot overtake Xena in agility ability. Ha, you would love my PhD project. I basically leave dogs with a machine that trains them for me and just watch how they learn. It's really interesting. Every dog seems to have a different way of going about it, but they all get there in about the same amount of time. I reckon the fastest are actually the ones that are the most pessimistic. They are less willing to try things and as a result, they make fewer mistakes. Some dogs patiently wait between cues and others spend most of their inter-trial intervals throwing behaviours at the machine to try to make it give them a cue. Some of them seem a wee bit anxious when they get it wrong and have to go and sniff the ground or get some distance and look away from the machine for a bit. It's fascinating. Would love to read that when you are finished!!!

There ya go trying to confuse the kids again!!!! Surely CK and X have done it a few more times than the Wooomonster so it would be a much more conditioned response for them than the new guy who has not done it as often or for as many years? Have you ever driven a European car? How many times did you turn the wipers on to go round a corner? Might it be a bit the same with these guys? That plus the improving training skills mentioned above!

Ok Deejay this is not a laughing matter. Several people here have picked up om the same thing. Dog aggressive dogs have no place in public unleashed. I am sorry if it gets your nose out of place BUT. I have several dogs they are well trained, we spend A LOT of time on them, they compete regularly, they are NEVER off leash in public. Why? I don't trust other dogs and with respect your attitude is exactly why. I have seen it happen and in the dim past I investigated stuff like this for a living. A lot of good dogs have needed a lot of fixing through bad experiences in dog parks that was no fault of theirs or their owner and a lot of owners suffered badly because of what their dog did. In the extreme (yes this is the extreme) I know of at least one park that was closed due to it having Too many issues. In that case the community and dogs in general lost out due to a few irresponsible dog owners. Get help yes but until then keep them home and safe and let others enjoy their right to be safe in the park!!

I really must agree with the above. For your sanity and the dog's sake stop taking this dog out in public right now. Imagine if an incident occurs, you are going to have a heck of a job convincing a grieving owner or the council that you thought it was ok. In the end your dog will either be declared dangerous or seized. From your dogs point of view i doubt these walks are very pleasant anyway, can i assume he would prefer to be at home than in an uncomfortable muzzle in a stressful environment with a handler that is stressed and not helping him relax at all? I know many feel your pain and I believe Ian Dunbar refers to this as the hardest problem to work on as there is no safe way to treat it or to know if you have resolved it and it takes a very very long time to resolve. Good on you for asking for suggestions go and find a good trainer (I don't think it necessarily has to be a vet behaviourist but it definitely needs to be someone with a lot of experience that comes with recommendations) and listen to them. But please for everyone's sake leave the aggressive / stressed dog at home and enjoy the park with your other dogs.

We use Gallagher stuff on the property to look after the cattle / horses. I also have a small portable for the float that will get about 2 weeks work out of a 12v car battery and will run of 4 d cells if need be when strip grazing. That energizer cost less than $200 a few years ago. Have a look at the 'Power Fence Manual' on this page http://www.gallagher.com.au/electric-fence-manuals.aspx really aimed at livestock but has lots of good info in there for you.

Just remember if you are going to invest in the under the ground stuff it may do an amazing job in keeping your dog in but it does bugger all to keep other dogs out!!!! And once they are in your dog cant run out to get away from them.... So you will still need an adequate fence anyway.

2 thoughts for what they are worth. 1. Have you been to the vet / chiro / acupuncturist (I don't know how to spell it) lately? Has something changed for he better inside CK? You know how when a behaviour changes rapidly for the worse one of the first things you look for is an injury or similar could this be happening in reverse? Has a pain (physical or perceived) gone away and he is able to concentrate more on working and being a dog? 2. Have you been spending more time in your training with Z and W at the things CK loves doing as you prep for bigger and better things? I do know of other dogs that have had a change in mood as they thought someone else was getting all of the attention, could this be happening on a grander scale and he is hell bent on working for you to get your attention and praise?? and a 3rd I always thought CK was a pretty damned good dog perhaps someone really did steal him and replace him with a look alike???

As I said just an observation and not based on anything other than watching a lot of dogs do a lot of running. But I think you are right about the dog being rewarded (all be it mid behavior) by running to a ball. My point is dogs always seem more 'hyped' when working to a tuggie than for food reward alone and if they are warmed up using one I think they run better. Of course you can always use a combo of rewards cant you as there is more than one way to skin a stuffed plush toy cat!! Will watch what happens with the new (16 week old) who plays tuggie like he is possessed. Just about to start using it as a reward for behaviors and fading some of the treats out.

From what i have observed in my limited experience, dogs that play sports where they need to drive away from the handler (e.g. Flyball) seem to (generally speaking) do the away part faster and with more drive if they are working for a tuggie than a food reward. Food rewarded dogs certainly come back faster than they drive away (again generally). Perhaps it has to do with the energy and hype that goes into the tuggie reward? I can atest to how hyped some dogs get on the end of a tuggie (so can my other half when they nearly pull her arm out) and in a point and shoot sport I would think this would be a big help when you want the dog to run away from you? Of course horses for courses I have one dog that plays tuggie at home, plays with the other dogs but will always prefer food rewards and works very well for them. If I show her a tuggie in public (especially around other dogs) she could not give a damn about it. On the other hand we have one older dog that does not care what happens in the world around him if he has his tuggie!!

Firstly I am very sad to hear your story I feel for. We had a tic issue on the weekend ourselves, but it was due to lack of protection on a young puppy fortunately with a much much better outcome. I cant comment on advantix collars but we live on a cattle property in South East QLD, we have cattle literally in the yard next to our dogs (really big bull this week actually)and I have seen para tics on them and on the horses many times. All of our dogs have preventic collars on them which are changed on the 1st of each month(except the little guy) and I have never (touch wood) had a tic problem so I would recommend them. My only other suggestion would be to use frontline spray on the bedding (it smells like the stuff we use to keep the tics off the horses but it works). I believe nymph stage tics can live quite happily in the dirt so prevention may be your best option!!