raineth

Because it's blood, and it's a yummy smell to them. Smells like meat or dead stuff. Gross, but true.

oh my gosh that's terrible

That is very scary! I hope Bunter recovers well, and that your nerves have calmed a little. I'm glad there were people right there to help you too!

Yeah I guess it depends on what you consider reasonably priced :) If you're thinking under $100 per 15kgs then I don't think there's anything appropriate in that category. However, I don't know for sure as it's been a long time since I've needed to look into kibbles for raising a Dane puppy

Might also help to have him a little further away from what's distracting him. See if you can find a sweet spot where its not so challenging for him to focus on you :)

One of my friends had a great dane as a family dog when he was growing up. They got burgled - couldn't find the dog anywhere. Panic. The dog was under one of the kids beds... really good sense of self preservation. Zero guard dog. hahaha!

I would never have even considered the more open third eye option! :laugh: I don't think Del is too discerning though. She didn't so much as bark when people smashed our car windows, and broke into our car and shed! The only person she's ever brushed off was a very drunk man on the main street who was shouting her name. So she does have some standards.

There are definitely some wins there Terri good on you and Didi. As you found out, one of the hardest things is dealing with people who think they know better! I think it's natural to feel a bit down. It's a lot of work, and not exactly what you hoped and dreamed dog ownership would be like! I get down about it too sometimes.

I have had this happen to me several times with fountains HD! Digby liked a swim and if I wasn't careful would hop in to fountains. Once we went to this place that had a pond covered in water weed, I was with Digby at the edge looking at some ducks. Then Digby took a step forward and fell in! He hadn't realised it was a pond because of the water weed! He came out looking like some special sort of river monster, covered in mud and draped with green water weed :laugh: What a good boy Jake is :)

That is so special and lovely :) Oh Jake you funny boy! I wonder if it's her perfume or something?

Haha, I love the idea that she is using some innate capacity that once would have allowed her to select the prey she would be most likely to catch to identify dog loving humans that will give her love and cuddles :laugh:

ahhh Frosty does it too, but with a grovelly tummy rub! They are so clever at getting what they want. Yeah I didn't mean Del was being mysterious in a paranormal sort of way. Just that it is a mystery why she selects some people, and how she has such a good success rate. She doesn't do it all that often, about once a month she will see people who she selects to be patted by :)

Del loves the attention from humans. Being large and spotted she gets a lot of it, luckily for her :) Most of the time when we pass people she stays by my side with just a wistful glance at the people we are passing. But every now and then she 'selects' people. She might spot them from afar, or from close and she decides she really must be patted by these people so she faces them and sits, looks at them, and she will not be moved. This nearly always works and they come to pat her. Today we walked past a whole heap of people at the botanic gardens and she was only mildly interested in them. But as we were leaving she spied a mother and son about 50 metres away and decided she must have pats from them. And she did much to her happiness. Anyway I just can't help but wonder what she sees in these people who she selects for patting, it is a mystery! Or how these people always seem quite happy to pat her. So tell me, does your dog do anything mysterious?

actually, there comes a point where increasing the sample size doesn't really contribute much at all :) The statistical analysis also takes into account the size of the sample. When something is found to be 'statistically significant' it means that there is less than 5% chance that the findings were a result of chance. Sometimes it is less than a 1% chance, or even less than that. Smaller samples require there to be larger differences in order to be found statistically significant. There is a lot to critically examining a research article, and sample size is only one factor :) Other things to look at is the study design, the effect size, how they chose to measure their variables and the representativeness of the sample. So if I was happy with these things listed above, I wouldn't disregard the findings just because they didn't have a massive sample.

that's wonderful BC Crazy! :)

He doesn't need to play with other dogs, he just needs to be able to behave around them :) I probably wouldn't go for a play date with your friend's labradoodle, but instead go for an onlead walk together. This way the dogs can get to know each other in a much less exciting (and potentially problematic) way.

That sounds like an excellent plan Terri, and something that suits what you want :) yeah it's all about letting them know where their responsibility ends :) Oh Terri, I was just going to say that you don't even need to invite people over to practice at first. Just have one of you sneak out and knock on the door a few minutes later :)

eta: sorry! had a brain malfunction :)

awww poor Didi it does sound as though she was very scared. I think separating her for the party may be a very good idea. The other thing I think you should consider doing based on this behaviour is train Didi to go to a certain area when you get a knock at the door. In my experience of breeds that have guarding heritage (which Danes and msatiffs do) they often feel like they must make the decision about who is allowed in the house. This is highly stressful for them, as they are big softy-pants compared to what they once were, and they know that often people are allowed in so they are really unsure. We had this with Digby, when we first got him. We instigated a contingency that was go to the crate when there is a knock at the door. This let him know that he didn't need to potentially protect the house, and that the humans would decide who came in or not. This took so much stress off him and he was much happier for it. After a bit of time it didn't matter any more. He would never bark when someone came to the door (unless it was the Jehovah's Witness and he would give one bark from the window and they would run back down the drive) and would stand behind me relaxed and interested to see who had come to the door. This was the protocol I instigated straight away with Del, and she also never even barks when someone comes to the door but sits and waits, as she understands it's not up to her to make the decision about whether someone should be allowed in or not. But anyway, talk to Judy about it ofcourse, as she is the one working with you and Didi. But that's just what I have found about owning dogs with guarding heritage.

Grumpette, that is a beautiful photo <3

:laugh: sorry I just realised what I did! When I said SG, I was referring to Susan Garrett (MRB has been doing recallers)! But that was a bit silly of me considering Simply Grand had just posted :laugh: Sorry for the confusions BC Crazy! In case you re interested, Susan Garrett doesn't like saying 'leave it' because commands in themselves are often reinforcing (we have paired them with reinforcement so often) so in effect you may be rewarding the dog getting distracted by saying 'leave it'. Some dogs learn these behaviour chain very. very quickly. It was why I asked you whether you might be recalling Stella when she is rushing towards another dog, as if you do this Stella might be deliberately running towards a dog so that you can recall her and she gets a treat.

Ok I'm not an expert, and I know SG is very against this idea, but I have a feeling that Frosty might really benefit from the 'leave it" command. It just might work as a really clear signal to her that she doesn't need to make the decisions about whether a particular dog should be sent off or not. I think it would be really important for you to get in with the leave it before she's had any sort of negative display. But it could be a really useful tool to tell her not to worry.

How funny, my husband and I have made jokes before about gluten detection dogs, but I never knew they existed! Unless they can detect it to 3ppm I don't know if I really see much point. Although could be very handy for someone who is blind and has coeliac disease. Or I suppose it could be handy when you eat out. A lot of restaurants and cafe's are pretty terrible when it comes to cross contamination. But still unless you have trouble reading or are blind I think it's perhaps a bit unnecessary and not really that helpful considering all the time, money and effort it takes to train a dog to be a service dog.

Ugh... This makes me groan so much! Oh wow what a hero he is hitting his dog.... In reality he was just trying to make himself feel better by making you feel worse. Good on Jake though

To the OP, As far as I can see, you have two options. Euthanasia is one of them, but as you have stated you are not keen on this. The only other option is to find a really good behaviourist to help you. I feel for you very much, aggression is difficult problem to deal with and can be incredibly stressful for the owners and the dog. I think it is especially hard when this involves both people and dogs. If you let us know whereabout you are someone may be able to suggest a good behaviourist for you :)