Mrs Rusty Bucket

How about one of these... http://www.litterkwitter.com/en/index.php I have to put rocks and things where the sand is in my garden to stop the neighbour's cat crapping in it. Cos my dog loves it.

Thanks Greytmate I keep telling people who tell their dogs off - "but it's being a DOG" And being told off for greeting can back fire - ie that dog can blame the dog it was trying to greet for the sudden pain and grief it gets from the owner. And that could progress to "I'll get the other dog (to back off) before it can get me". I do love the charts.

I second Turid Rugaas stuff. My dog likes watching the Calming Sigals DVD. A polite dog greeting, involves a slow indirect circular approach, with some ground sniffing, some lip licking, much avoiding direct eye contact - ie looking anywhere but the dog they want to greet, and generally getting lower to the ground - to some this looks like an ambush stalk but if it's not a direct approach - its actually an attempt to appear small and non threatening. My dog goes the whole hog, and will start crawling and roll over - ie the most friendly non threating invitation a dog can make. If the sniffing goes well, she may offer a play bow and invitation to play chasey or wrestle. Depends what the other dog says. Unfortunately some dogs never learn body language - not enough time spent with other dogs when they were puppies is my guess. Sometimes it's the breeding ie some breeds do the direct bouncy full on play greeting no matter what they're looking at. So they may approach directly but not be agressive. But anxious dogs will not understand this because it looks aggressive. Some dogs do the stand over tactic to see if the other dog will submit (roll over or turn their head away). If the other dog submits, it's all good but if not, there can be a fight, which is no fun for anyone. It's not polite dog behaviour and I would not let my dog do the stand over tactic and I avoid owners who let their dogs do it. My dog sometimes submits to this, and sometmies she tells them off. Especially if they stomp on her while she's rolled over. It is possible for owners to teach their dogs to be more polite. You start by preventing any direct approach for greeting. If your dog likes doing that - put it on lead when you see a new dog, and supervise the greeting. Get your dog to drop and show some self control before it can sniff tails. Some dogs just want to tear the other dog apart and that kind of shows in their teeth - lips back, ears up, hackles up, very upright and very direct approach. If you see that, your best chance of saving your dog is to block the aggressive dog with your body, but you have a good chance of being bitten too. It's up to you. Humans are taller than most dogs, if you stand up tall and walk forward and get very loud, some aggressive dogs will back off. Playful direct approach dogs will slow up. For some direct approaches from other dogs I get my dog to go in a drop. I also do this when talking to an owner of a fearful dog, We both get low we stay a safe distance and we let the fearful dog decide if they want to say hello or not and we don't force it, ie they have plenty of opportunity to stay away if that's what they want, but me and my dog show them zero threat. I don't know how I tell the aggressive dogs from the rude ones exactly. But I would be unlikely to let my dog off lead to run and save herself because that sometimes triggers more prey/kill drive in the aggressive dog. I go for the loud shouting blocking myself and I tend to grab the other dog and push it away. And we stay away from dogs that are lunging, barking and snapping at the end of their lead. There is a reason dogs like that are on lead.

I guess I have the RSPCA for my view on it. Not that I agree with them on everything. Because they say to avoid classified ads... etc. http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-a-responsible-companion-animal-breeder_327.html and http://kb.rspca.org.au/How-do-I-avoid-supporting-puppy-farms_325.html and http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-a-puppy-farm_322.html So you can see how those of us who do some research before getting a dog can be put off by classifieds. But I think maybe things are changing now as more and more people do their research and shopping on the net and maybe these RSPCA pages should be updated. When people ask me where to get a dog or puppy - I say petrescue.com.au or find the breed club in your state and visit one of their events, or go to a dog show and talk to people. So that would rule out breeders that are not in the breed club or don't show. I got mine from AWL. Farm dog bitsa. Dogs that end up at the pounds, don't usually bring their papers with them. I don't know if the microchip databases link up their pedigrees either. As best I can tell - all sorts of dogs end up at the pound, though there does seem to be a lot of staffy types and bitsas and farm dog bitsas.

Wow - this has been educational for me. I guess the classfied is just a tool and isn't a direct reflection on who uses it or why. A bit like computers and the internet generally. The reason (in answer to someone's question) to breed to meet demand - is so that there will be less unwanted dogs in the pounds. But I guess it's impossible to get that right all the time. I was just thinking if would-be dog owners had to do a little bit of work to get their dog - then they would value the dog more and be more thoughtful about its future welfare. The classifieds and pet shops just seem too easy. But I guess as long as advertising pets on the classifieds is ok for anyone then everyone should be able to.

Hi all Just wondering if given the ANKC code of ethics says this Is advertising the puppies in online classifieds - like the trading post or gumtree ok or not? if not - why not? if ok - when is it ok? Personally I'm not big on it. I thought breeders were supposed to meet demand ie have buyers lined up before the puppies arrived - so they'd never need to advertise on classifieds. But there are huge numbers of people who want an "instant puppy", and classifieds or pet shops is where they go to look. Should we be providing quality dogs for these people or leaving them to the breeders with no code of ethics?

My dog gets almost the same breakfast as me - yoghurt. I add fruit and walnuts to mine tho. For some reason it looks much better in my bowl than the dog's bowl.

I don't mind kids, I quite like animals I don't like rude pushy badly trained varieties of either. And sometimes rude pushy and badly behaved describes me quite well. I really don't like parents or dog owners that make no effort to get their pride and joy off me or my dog when I ask them to. I'd prefer the uninvited encounter never happened in the first place. It's different if they ask but some have to be prepared to accept - you're too big for me to give you a piggy back and you're to slobbery for me to give you a pat or treat. At least one dog owner has started bringing a towel to the park for his extra slobbery wolf hound cross. I told him I was very happy about that. I never felt the desire to have kids of my own. You can't leave them alone when you need a break. The job might not be particularily intellectually challenging all the time but it can be relentless. And putting a child in a boarding kennel when you go on holidays is generally frowned upon. I think there are more examples of rude dogs and children because positive punishment (eg hitting or scolding) is generally frowned upon but these people don't know what to do instead. You don't have to scold or hit to stop the naughty behaviour.

I agree with the others, dogs' noses are being used to detect a multitude of human diseases. Also the drug you mention is a cortico steroid and steroids can have an effect on mood among other side effects. So the dog may not be feeling the best either. Get them both checkups with the appropriate physicians.

I'd rather the media use terms like "dogs breakfast" or even "dog vomit" to describe the political suituaton than terms like "war" and related terms. It's not like the loser gets taken out and shot. Though I suspect if the labor party is to survive they may have to expell the Rudd. Kind of remindes me of when the democrats were stuck with a choice of a leader popularily elected but one their elected reps couldn't work with for reasons of their own. And nobody put the interests of the country or the party first. That's what I don't like about K Rudd, he has always put his own interests ahead of anything else. Starting with the world need for pollution control. If the big polluters don't do it - why should Australia? Erm. 1. because the whole world needs it including Australia 2. because if we go first - we get the jump on technical innovation - and we can sell that to everyone else. But no, Kevin can't do it because it would make Kevin unpopular. Of course not doing it (and all the other stuff he promised) also made him very unpopular but he seems to have forgotten why he was rolled in the first place. And that most Australians do not get to vote for him (or Julia) anyway.

TW I use a few things - 1. I teach my dog to bark on cue, which gives it value to the dog, ie not to be wasted on unimportant things like the wily wagtail. I teach quiet in between but mostly just asking her to "speak" - shuts her up because she only gets rewarded for the quietest noise. 2. Collar grab and hold. Had to start doing this because a certain evil hound decided the 2am freight trains, 1km away, should be barked at. At first I would let her out to see what she was barking at but when I figured it out, I would hold her collar until she was quiet and then release. You could argue that's an aversive. But it's not the same level as an e-collar or citronella collar. I have been known to use a squirty bottle by way of distraction too, but given I don't aim to squirt the dog - and she likes the water anyway - I don't know if you could argue it was aversive or just stopping the reinforcement/fun of the barking by way of distraction. anti-bark collars work on some dogs and not others. It depends if they can figure out what they're supposed to do to make it stop. One famous dog, would just bark continously until the citronella collar was emtpy... And if they know what they're supposed to do to make it stop - do you really need the collar anyway? Definitely putting the dog inside is removing the problem for the neighbours. Yelling at the dog for barking - most dogs take that as approval - cos you joined in with the barking. efs

I wish there was a like button for Noishe's story. The story is sad but I think it sums up emergency situations for the public very well.

Most important, my dog likes the people and acts pleased to see them - usually notice this when I go back to get her. I don't see the people yanking dogs by the neck with the lead, no scolding or hitting dogs. they feed what I provide - I provided one extra days worth of food just in case - and I think they fed her a double ration on the last day and wondered why she wasn't very hungry when the second lot went out. Oops. The shelters are sheltered - ie heated / air con, mozzie proofed would be nice (or mozzie zapper), and space where dogs can get away from the other dogs - not open to being bullied or intimidated. Ie a solid partition at one end so the dog can get some peace from the other dogs when it wants. And maybe open at the other end so it can interact if it wants - though this might be risky depending on the neighbouring dog's excitement levels. Exercise with a matched dog. For mine I'd like her to be with a run-alot dog. But she matches with every dog (except rough players), so sometimes she gets more exercise times because she goes in with the old dogs and puppies as well as the boisterous ones. Grooming eg a daily brush for 5-10 minutes or so would be nice. Would pay extra for this. Clean environment ie no build up of dog crap. Hydrobath before return - dogs can get a bit doggy in a boarding kennel environment. Though quick trip to beach and hose off fixed it. If I mention a tummy rash and grass - that they check this even if she doesn't get to go on the grass. I found out for the first time - mine will get tummy rash from concrete only. If I say "don't let her do any commando crawling greetings" I mean it for a reason. Ie all greetings should be supervised and she shouldn't crawl. Drop is ok, crawling = rash. secure runs. I'm pretty sure my dog can jump 6' (1.8m) if she wants to. 2m of corrogated iron does not look impossible. If I'm not there, she might want to. So runs with lids or very high fences (3m) - at least at the boundary - or a double fence at the boundary so she can't get a run up. Or one of those fall inwards floppy cat and fox proof fences. Probably need to be dig proof too. I'd like grass exercise areas but the tummy rash would need to be managed. Nice to have access to vet and administration of medication (eg for the tummy rash) if needed. Last place had this but failed to notice the tummy rash cos she wasn't chewing or scratching at it. Both boarding kennels I have used, allowed me to provide some bedding and toys and kept them clean. I provided a couple of tshirts and jumpers in zip lock bags that smelled like me to add to the bed as needed. I would like dog to get a treat or meal in the kennel area after exercise. One boarding place did this, the other said - can't do that cos of bloat. Not even a treat. I'm not sure about that. Especially if the food is packed in a squirrel dude so she can't eat it all at once. I like the plastic basket bed. One place had one of these in the more sheltered end of the kennel and a hammock bed in the more open end. I prefer someone on site with the dogs all the time. And I would prefer to be able to drop off or pick up any time between 8am ish and 6pm ish. Given the way I travel, I would probably be able to give notice of when would be likely especially for drop off, but it's annoying to be restricted to 1 hour in the morning and one in the afternoon - when the time to get there can vary by half an hour or more, or to be restricted to a couple of hours in the afternoon for drop off, and in the morning for pick up - and be closed (no pick up or drop off) for a whole day !!! Last place, I had to pay for extra time and be apart from my dog longer than needed at both ends of the trip because of this. Pretty sure my dog spent a lot of time at the last boarding kennel acting like a yoyo at the fence. Boing boing boing... but she seemed happy enough and liked the workers there. Got a good claw trim out of it - as well as a scary tummy rash. If the kennel is in a fire prone area - full fire fighting facilities and protected kennels - or an evacuation plan if there is a fire nearby or a catastrophic forecast (eg if a fire does break out they can't protect anyone). A boarding kennel (I think it was greyhounds) got burned near Canberra a few years back - but after their really big fires. Some dogs were saved but many were killed.

I know some people who keep something they call "thunder bones" in the fridge or freezer - but the dog has to like bones, be safe to have a bone (mine isn't), and you have to hand the bone over before the dog notices the thunderstorm ie when the storm are forecast or approaching (use the rain radar) but before they arrive. I've read that the thunder shirts work too. And it helps if the owner puts on a good show of being "not bothered". When I first got my puppy - it was fire works season (new years and australia day and etc) and I'd sit inside with her with the doors and windows shut and watch telly and act like it was nothing important. Same with thunderstorms. She's less freaked about those than I am. I go round unplugging all my stuff when they're around. My brother's dog goes bonkers, but she learned it from his previous dog (they overlapped). She's ok as long as she can be inside with her people and they're not bothered. Of course my brother has a hard time pretending to be not bothered, because his first dog nearly strangled herself trying to get over a fence when she was tied up during a thunderstorm. My dog freaked one time when there was an extremely loud thunderclap directly over her kennel shed - she was boarding at the time. She shredded all her bedding. Which seemed like good therapy to me.

I think I like the first one better as a photo in terms of colour and composition but I don't like the tongue either. I like the second one for subject. But that would be the "conservative" option if it was a photo competition / club in my opinion. There's nothing like being slightly confronting to stand out in a photo competition. One that is for arts sake not some pet food marketing company promotion. If it's for something the child is involved in, I like the second one. Toss a coin. If you like the way the coin lands - that's your choice. If you don't like the way the coin lands, choose the other photo. Eg Heads for Blue, Tails for Tongue. My two cents - Tails, Heads, Heads. Ie I didn't like the first toss. But I can be a bit risk adverse.

so back to the opening post... That child placed itself in danger in many different ways - but I suspect if OP had touched the child at all to help the (unwilling and pushy) child to safety, the mother and the child would have screamed blue murder and the OP would have been in trouble - not the mother for letting her child play in the car park and harass unfamilar dogs and people. So if you take the burning building out of it, there is nothing much the OP could have done in this situation apart from keep an eye out for children and make sure she kept her distance - which in my situation at our local park - would have required sprinting from the area. If you put the burning building back in - again - you can't help a child that won't listen to you when you say "don't touch" and then gets physical. The why of it - doesn't matter. I wouldn't make assumptions about the child being autistic or otherwise. Badly trained - definitely.

I can't feed my dog bones, including raw chicken wings - cos she vomits them up. Usually at 3am. Or has trouble at the other end. Also at 3am. Not fun for either of us, so she doesn't get bones except very very rarely when she visits some other dog's house and they have some lying around. If you ever want all the bones at your place cleaned up, my dog is excellent at finding every last one. I do occasionally feed dentastix. They come in different sizes. They're not perfect as far as content goes, and I don't know how great they are vs the claims on the packet but my dog likes them a lot and we don't have the early morning problems with them. I also feed her carrots. She can have about half a day without any problems. And the occasional rawhide chip - which is made out of the same stuff as those rawhide bones but in a smaller piece. If I give her a rawhide bone - she takes about five minutes to make the biggest one (which is 30cm across) disappear - and then we have problems later. It used to take her days to eat one of these, but now - all I get is five minutes. In fact we tried the dried slice of pork trotter - just the once, after I watched a JRT and a Tenterfield terrier take over an hour to make almost no impression on the ones they had. My dog. Less than 3 minutes to demolish it. Fortunately no ill effects but not real keen to repeat the experiment. And she likes sticks. Some dogs have trouble with sticks but my dog seems to be fine. You have to supervise to know which your dog is. As far as dry goes - it's nutro and soon it will be Black Hawk holistic. If the first product listed is some grain product or filler like cornmeal or wheat meal or rice or beet pulp then it's not a great dog food. The first ingredient listed should be some sort of meat or meat product. I think this dog you met at the park's main problem is maybe not what food, but how much. I had one friend whose dog got quite fat because she did a lot of rewards based training but couldn't bear to reduce his dinner accordingly. So she switched to a diet dinner food which helped a lot. Feeding carrot after dinner might have the same effect. Ie fill the dog up without adding many calories. I dunno about the my dog stuff. I expect like all commercial dog foods, it might make the dog quite stinky especially the farts. I make my own caserole for the dog. Does not pong like tinned dog food does. And my dog's farts do not smell nearly as bad as mine.

I go to SAODC in the South Parklands on Beaumont Road opposite Victoria Park. So it will be hard to get near it this week. It's not fenced but it is a long way from the really busy roads. The instructors tend to use old school methods but many of them prefer reward based training for their own dogs. It's like trying to turn the Queen Mary, getting change there. But you can "yes dear" the old school stuff and pick and choose what methods you use. Flat collar or choke collar are acceptable, and other stuff like front attach harness or head halters are ok with permission from the Chief Instructor who is fairly enlightened. Bully goes here too, and she also goes to Woodville - not entirely sure where that is. Dover Gardens is inside the intersection of Quick and Bradley streets. If I'm going South down South road, after Daws Road I turn right at Celtic Ave and follow it along, over the railway line and turn in at the club rooms (pays to be early for a park). The Rotti club also does obedience training which is open to all breeds. They train in the West Parklands near Adelaide High School, one of the Rotti ladies and a toy poodle owner who go to SAODC also go there. No idea about techniques. I've heard good things about the Noarlunga Southern Districts club too but don't know much more than that. It's almost all the way to Aldinga. And there are some more clubs North of Grand Junction Road. The one I know most about is Para Districts but I don't like the surfaces on their Agility gear much. They're nice people tho.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/boy-16-struck-and-killed-by-train-warreneip-near-ballarat/story-fn7x8me2-1226281598516 A variation on our theme of save the dog vs save the child has happenned. Personally I don't think all children are angels. A badly behaved child (doesn't matter why) - would be dangerous to try to save from most any situation, if you're in it, you'd have to decide quickly. I imagine the child's mum would probably try and an emergency worker would but it's not advisable for a member of the public to do it. I've done enough first aid courses to know that the first aider should not put themselves in danger - because it only makes things worse. And here's my judgemental bit - based on the opening post - I think it's most likely the child's mother that had the problem, not necessarily the child (though it often runs in families). This is based on how slow she was to react to a series of potentially dangerous situations the child was in. PS the train, dog, child thing is horrific and I make no judgement on who was at fault or what I would have done if I had been there. I don't think I would have jumped on the tracks in front of an oncoming train though. Raz - at least you'd make the call - some people don't even do that.

Back to the opening topic... Last Friday was little league baseball on our local oval. I took the dog out well after all the games had finished, and little children were running riot everywhere. And I swear someone told some of the kids to go chase and pat all the dogs at the park. It was not pretty. When confronted by too many children to avoid, I tell them, this is a dog not a toy! and if they want to pat - then one at a time, pat here, and gentlely. There was not a parent in sight. So I expect this thread will implode shortly but here is my burning building scenario based on the rude child and slow parent from the opening post. If a child set the building on fire to burn the dog in it, too right I'd save the dog first and let Darwin sort the child. Everything is relative. If it was well behaved child and my dog, I would try to save both, but I would save what was easiest first. Emergency Services workers aren't too pleased when untrained ill prepared people put their own lives in danger trying to save someone else (dog or human).

When my puppy was little (10 to 14 weeks) I took her out at 10:30pm, and again at 1am and again at 3:30am - I set an alarm. Over a period of days - I gradually increased the amount of time between wake up alarms until there was only one then none between 10:30pm and 6:30am. It was hard to persuade her that sparrow fart when the magpies started up was not an appropriate wake up time. When the alarm went off I took her out, acted boring until she peed/pooed then lots of praise and went back inside and put her back to bed. I tried the first night with her in the crate in the kitchen - and caved after four hours of screaming. Pathetic, I know. To this day, she sleeps in a bed next to my bed. Before she was house trained, I put a lead on her and under me and attached to the far side of the bed so she couldn't get up without me knowing about it, I'm such a light sleeper I always woke up when she sat up anyway. But with the alarm routine - I think extra wake ups only happened once or twice. I always intended for her to sleep inside. Fortunately she has a short coat and doesn't have any strong smell. And I did crate her inside when I was out. Not sure what difference that would have made.

Gawd if I knew then what I know now. 1st thing - toilet outside - with cue word 2nd - dog's name 3rd - to wait for permission to eat dinner. eventually evolved this into nice sit and drop stays. 4th - speak (and quiet) 5th - crate training - but it was more about preventing dog from being stepped on when I was cooking, and preventing furniture becoming chew toys when I was out. I also taught her ignore joggers, bikes, cars etc. We're still working on cats and horses and alpaccas. It's hard for an ACDx but not impossible - after all - they are supposed to stop when the farmer tells them to. 6th - loose lead walking - fail... I also failed at teaching/conditioning recall until she was about 14 months but it's still not perfect and requires regular maintenence - too much competing re-inforcement from the environment - especially the left over bbq from the sports club fund raisers. Sheesh. If I got an independent minded puppy now - I'd spend a lot more time *conditioning* the recall with UBER treats. games and shaping - a lot more of this and a lot more persistance from me about making sure I get what i want not her training me. Not to rip toys to pieces - would have been handy - but it is one of her great joys. Anyone got any old (clean) socks they don't want? Doesn't matter if they have holes in or not. Collar grab, crate games - so the crate is more fun to be - we are there now but her puppy hood could have been more fun for her. Loose lead walking with Reinforcement zone not teaching a finish.

Pretty sure this is not the best way but it does the job... I fry mine up - cut up enough to fit, in a pan like mum used to cook it for us, minus the onions, and then I chop the cooked stuff up into treat sized bits (I think last time they were too small as dog not particularily keen), and freeze into flat sheets that I can break off to thaw as I need. It all sticks together a bit so if you can bust it up to thaw out just what you want, that helps. Another person told me to cut it into thin slices and dry it in a slow oven (eg around the 80 to 100'C mark) for hours/overnight. But that's for the dried crunchy stuff. Thin slices of meat are easier to make if the meat is partially frozen before you start cutting - tricky to get it just right. I haven't done this. Can't imagine the smell would be good. But would like to try something similar with slices of roo since dog does go nuts for these.

Doesn't matter what the dog is or looks like, if it's harrassing people or animals whether or not harm done - it can be declared dangerous. Read the act. I linked it up the top. Keep reporting it, and demanding action and contact your elected rep if the dog is still out and scaring people.

The rule that says can't lead an animal while operating or a passenger in a vehicle (including bicycles) is in the Australian Road Rules, which the Federal Government required every state and territory to implement back in 2000? or 2001 - in order to get Federal Road Funding. There's lots of other scary rules in it - you sometimes see taxi drivers or P platers doing some of the things that the Australian Road Rules say you can (like turning right from the left lane at traffic lights) that no more experienced driver would EVER do. I'm pretty sure the ute driver was breaking a bunch of rules, and not just road rules doing what he was doing too. I've not yet heard of anyone being booked for the dog and bicycle thing. And it also includes "road related areas" ie footpaths and shared use public paths like bike tracks as well. So the only place you can now go with your dog and your bike - is private property and maybe very large dog off lead areas where you don't actually attach the dog to yourself on the bike or the bike directly. It's also illegal to hold a horse on lead from your bike or car and yes some very silly race horse trainers do this. The best race horse trainers pay some poor human to jogging with their young horses. I knew someone who used to do this job.