raineth

aww this thread makes me happy. I've noticed how buff Sid looks and now he has a qualification to prove it too :D You and his breeder must be so proud :)

Do you have a crate? If you have a crate and he is crate trained you can make it a habit that everytime someone knocks on the door he goes to his crate. This gives him something to do other than barking and lets him know you are in control. For the dog next door I'd work on rewarding him for ignoring it. But definitely ask your trainer for help in fixing the problem as she knows you and him :)

nawww he's such a special boy <3

Sometimes I see dogs who are called and they turn straight away, and start to come back to their owner, then they have a moment where they pause and the owner has to call them again to get them to fully come back. Although that wouldn't be my ideal, I don't think I would be too harsh on a pet-dog owner whose dog has that sort of recall. But recently what I've been finding is owners on their front lawns with their dog loose. They are not paying any attention and their dog begins to rush us and I have to call out to the owner to ask them to call their dog. Once they actually call their dog, their dog does actually come (much to my surprise)! Or course having a dog with reliable recall is only good insofar as you are paying attention to what it is doing!

Lisa, I recognise that background on your siggy. If I see you at the uni with him I'll definitely be coming over for some puppy cuddles!

Oh dear! I bet she is! Well its certainly a tricky situation. Poor girl feeling nauseous out on walks not fun at all. When I first came on here everyone recommended BAT by Grisha Stewart and Control unleashed. And that was fantastic advice because these are both really good You don't need treats to train BAT. And Control unleashed has some really good exercises for getting your dog to calm down through massage. That could be really good for Odie. Does she love attention and pats at all, or are they not worth so much to her when she's outside? I guess also if she's feeling nauseous she's probably not that much into playing?

Hi Hankodie Aww what cuties they are! As Corvus said, I think BAT could be a really useful option for you with Odie's dietary restrictions. You can get it as an ebook if that help you :) If her protein need to be restricted can you maybe use something with very little protein in it that she may like? I know some dogs do like fruit and vegetables. My Del loves banana and our friend's Lab salivates for watermelon. Would something like that be an option for Odie? Or could you maybe only feed her her meals in training? Sorry I obviously don't know much about the problem so I hope these suggestions aren't frustratingly impossible! What a good girl she was with that Lab! You obviously have a good foundation with her :)

I'm really glad to hear of everyone's successes! I am also guilty of being like that with treats! And it's actually really silly of me as Del is very fond of praise. Since starting BAT I have been taking her on walks sometimes without even taking treats with me I know! Crazy huh!? Mostly I do still take some with me in case of emergencies but I've been using less and rewarding much more with praise. She is a good girl, I wish she had a less unco owner.

Like this by any chance? I hope you said she looked intelligent... and friendly... and deadly cute... lol! T. Certainly was T! And I certainly found her friendly, deadly cute, and intelligent! She's such a pretty girl! Are her eyes still slightly different colours?

I saw a rosella sitting beside its mate on the side of the road, just sitting there. On the way back it flew into my car and killed itself. It was very romeo and Juliette. Did the 'dead' one then sit up only to find its mate despatched by your car? 'Cause that would very, very Romeo and Juliette! But quite seriously that is quite sad that that happened MUP

Oh I'm so sorry

Far out! So every time I see a bird hanging around a dead bird on the side of the road and looking desperate, it's not because it's in a state of grief?

I saw a very distinctive looking Dane cross.

hey I think I had a Doler's dog! I didn't mind the survey. When I saw the photo I felt an emotional reaction to the dog and most of my responses on that :)

Again I just think it would be better to actually fine people who have their dogs loose. People so rarely get fined for having their dogs loose where they shouldn't and so they just do it. They also need to actually police their registration and micro-chipping laws. Loose dogs often have a much greater opportunity and propensity to attack other people or dogs than dogs in the home. So leash laws need to be enforced and not just some vague memory in people's minds.

Priceless Persephone I have sent her that link Raineth, thanks for that. She says she has read everything I have sent her and I will go and see her next week. Problem is, I'm not a trainer so I do not have confidence in my abilities to help all that much, just to point her in the right direction. No problem teekay, I hope she finds it helpful :) Hopefully she'll try a different way and have no more broken bones! Pass on the "be a tree" method if you remember it, it is really good for those hyper dogs and doesn't require much co-ordination or anything :)

lol that's a cracker Persephone :laugh:

I have a couple of things in mind teekay :) It would be obviously work best if she can come to the conclusion herself that what that trained recommended is not right, or at the very least, not working. Great Dane Rescue and Rehoming has a really good downloadable pdf that contains lots of excellent info on Danes including (if I remember correctly) on teaching loose leash walking. here is the link: http://www.greatdanerescue.com.au/Docs/Love%20is%20a%20Great%20Dane.pdf download it on her computer :) Ok hang on I couldn't find the bit about loose-leash walking but it has lots of other good info in there including bits on hyper dogs and on NILIF. I find the 'be a tree' method works better for the large excitable dogs. Every time tension is put on the leash the human stops dead and dog doesn't get to move forward. I wait to the count of twelve before moving on. It is very simple and seems to make excitable dogs calmer, whereas methods involving treats can keep them quite excited. You have to be consistent obviously, and stop every time they pull on that leash for it to work. I thought that if you have some time, and if you are spending some time with this dog anyway (if the owner is laid up with a broken ankle) you could perhaps start this just in your backyard to begin with? Then you can tell her you had a go with that method and hey presto! You think you see some improvement! And Myabe she'd like to give it a go when she's back on her feet. In the meantime while she's laid up, she has plenty of time to read the pdf :)

Wow those Borzoi puppies are so leggy already!

Oh Prag, I wish you lived close to me as I have two kids who are so good with dogs (calm and not over-the-top) and who would be so happy to help you out :) It can be really hard if you don't have access to many kids you actually know. I can only think of just seeing if you can encounter as many as possible on walks. Have you tried and heard of "Look at That". If she's already a tad unsure about kids, this could be a really good way to go about it. It also might mean that you can get her to focus on the kids in the busy environment, at the football, where she didn't notice them so much.

Have you tried a children's playground? Early-ish on a weekend morning they won't be packed full of kids, should just be one or two. You can also probably do sports ovals on the weekend, just around the edges. You'll probably end up with one or two who want to say hello to pup, so just remember that kids respond well to firm, clear instructions as well :)

Peace, quiet and sun - sounds great! And I bet you both really appreciate it after the last couple of days! :)

We tried to do that at our place but because that particular fence line is surrounded by 3.5 metres of concrete we had to set it that distance back from the fence and Del just jumped over it. But it is certainly the easiest option if you can do it.

My feelings exactly. I have a cousin that was terrified of dogs as a child. Whenever she came to visit us she'd cry lock up the dog. Mum would say no he won't hurt you & he never did. Even if she saw a dog at 1 or 2 bus stops away she'd start screaming. Was very surprised when she left home to teach that she had a house dog that was very spoilt. I met up with her years later at our mutual obedience club to do agility when she had her 1st Lab. She said she's still wary of strange dogs but is ok with dogs she knows. I'm glad she largely overcame the problem :) But as your story illustrates, having such unfounded fear interferes with normal functioning; it's just not healthy. Why would you want that for your child!?

I feel like the crux of the problem is that it is so easy for your dog to learn not to react when you are around, but that he can react when you're not there. If you use an aversive try to remain hidden to prevent him learning that he can do it when you're not around. It might even be worth it to pretend to leave if you can and then apply the aversive. You do have to be really careful about your timing as well or you can create big problems. The problem with an air horn is ofcourse that it will be aversive for all the animals. Especially for your other dogs they might end up developing superstitions about what caused it. My dogs have no problems with the dogs on two sides, but one of my dogs has a problem with the dog on the third side. We have spent hundreds of dollars and much effort trying to fix the problem but all we have achieved is a reduction, not a complete cure. She has about one fence fighting incident with that dog a week now (and that's with a ping fence in between her and the other dog *sigh*. she is very persistent though. When we first brought home Digby he also didn't like that particular dog and had a reaction to her and I told him "no!" and then praised him for being relaxed in that part of the yard and he never repeated the behaviour!