Mrs Rusty Bucket

Check out the time of this post!! Still had half an hour to go on SA time... 10:41 and I'm wondering why you're excited. Oh - Sydney time... more exciting.

Any news, Jacqui835 ?

I think the idea of following up a reprimand with an immediate opportunity for reward and praise is good but, I think it would be better if the reprimand wasn't needed. So, Susan Garrett has largely given up reprimands and non-reward-markers (NRM) even as simple as oops. I confess I still use the NRM or a zzt sound or something low key to let my dog know she's not going to be allowed to steal the treat or whatever. If she ignores - I cover the treat up. (its yer choice game). So my version with what I know now and didn't when my puppy was 12 weeks, of that instruction would be to take puppy and put it on the mat - and reward for being on the mat - and ideally - reward at a high rate with high value treats for staying on the mat. But as soon as you stop rewarding a 12 week old puppy is going to get up and wander. So I would put it back on the mat - without saying anything. And count to three - if its still on the mat - praise and treats. But you don't get to cook dinner doing that. Hence - the crate time. Eventually the puppy has sufficient value for the mat - that it will stay there. But 12 week old puppies are very easily distracted. And the kitchen is full of distracting things - boss and food included. I'm sure that Val Bonney would have updates to her book - same as SG has updates to hers. Would be very interesting to go to her school anyway.

when my dog was 12 weeks - I put her in a crate when I was cooking or washing up. Otherwise she surely would have had boiling water or a chopping knife dropped on her. Now she will stay on a mat. I make her do a stay on the mat before she gets permission to eat her dinner and the mat is next to her dinner bowl so she likes the mat spot a lot. Not quite as much as right under my feet in the kitchen but she gets the message about "Mat!". She barks at me out of frustration if she doesn't know what she needs to do to get the treat or make me happy or whatever. If I ask her to do something and she doesn't get it, or doesn't understand the point - she barks. When she does this I sometimes give her the "bark" command. Which ironically - shuts her up - ie to get the treat for the bark command - only requires a pre-bark growl. And it makes her think which also shuts her up. So I agree with the others - for a 12 week old puppy's safety - use a barrier for the kitchen. And for your own peace of mind - teach bark on command. I've got a lot of respect for Val Bonney but I wouldn't use that method on a puppy.

It's helped me and my evil hound a lot. The course itself is very intense with a new training task every day and not many days off, and a few of the tasks involve stuff I don't have - like willing partners and long hallways that cookies won't get lost in when you chuck them down. So that can get a bit frustrating. But there are lots of fun things to do with your dog and I've learned a lot and my dog is much better behaved as a result - but her recall could still be better. I think it's better as a result of the course than without it but for me - perhaps because of my own limitations - dog's recall is not always reliable. We failed to get her out of the coffee club and bikkie rewards this morning, and she won't recall off the treat lady or the bbq surrounded by abandoned fresh cooked sausage at the other oval. Those are big asks tho. She will recall off doggy play - which is good and she's stopped tracking possums (without permission) at club.

Pet Plan are with Allianz and if they still offer 100% then nothing changes there. Most of the others are with Hollards - and Hollards have changed their offering to retailers to 80% cover so I guess Medibank Pet Insurance renewals will be for 80%. Definitely check that. On my renewal reminder it was buried in the text of the letter while the auto renew bit was in big print at the top. I've signed up for two things online - one was my Pet Insurance Australia and the other was choice magazine online. Both of them automatically deduct from my credit card - though I don't recollect giving either of them permission to do that once the first time span had expired. PIA send me a notice to say they're going to make the deduction and how much - which is nice - so long as I'm paying attention to my mail but I'd much rather they sent an invoice and I paid it. I wonder if I can get that changed. Choice - just take some money off my account. I don't get an email or letter from them. I really should check about that. It would be nice to get a reminder email when they're going to do it. It's possible they have been sending one and my spam filter has been eating it.

Update Bad news and good news. Bad news - medibank insurance more expensive for less cover Good news - the age limit - is an entry age limit. I think I must have been having a fit of discalcula or something - ie medibank pet insurance when I run the quote thingy is now $380 - a hundred more than I thought - oops. That's full price, for members it's 342 (per annum) and the cover is 12,000 max pa, and excess $200. And all the other stuff is pretty much the same for all pet insurance backed by Hollards. The age limit of 9 years - is an entry limit so if your dog is older than 9 years they won't offer insurance for it but if it's 8 years old - they will and as long as cover is continous when the dog turns 9 etc it will still be covered. Ie its an entry limit. I suspect all the Hollards are the same on that one. I did point out the discrepancy on the website - ie the cover option page just says age limit but the quote page says age entry limit. Nice indian call centre girl said she'd pass that message on. But she couldn't match my PIA offer. So I'm going to stick with Pet Insurance Australia - which is offering me $317.48 (for a year), $200 excees with a max $15,000 cover and will slug my credit card unless they get a written letter from me telling them not to. I hate that but I think they're all the same. I also wrote to Choice magazine and pointed out the changes in pet insurance. ie suddenly it's only 80%. sigh. They said they'd pass that on too, not sure if anything useful will happen. Dealing with this stuff is very frustrating.

I think the "beware of the dog" sign = dangerous dog sign is a myth. Especially as all the specific law about containing dangerous dogs or restricted breeds - requires the "dangerous dog" sign, not "beware the dog" To me "beware" is short for "be aware" ie "be alert not alarmed". My mum has one on her gate - and it stops most people who don't know her. People who do know her are very surprised to occasionally encounter one of the visiting grand furkids. If anyone can find any link to any law case that found someone guilty of something bad for having "beware the dog" on the gate - I'd like to see it. It's bad when law enforcement people perpetrate the myth but if you ask them how they know that - you're likely to get some back pedaling.

An evil beagle taught my dog how to jump up on the beagle's home's picnic table - argh. They both started using it as part of the doggy obstacle course in their games of chase-me. Evil hound has transfered that info to all outdoor brown wooden tables. Especially ones that smell like years of BBQ. She has not figured out / tried - to jump on the kitchen counters - though there's not much stopping her really. I do occasionally line the edges of the kitchen counter with pecariously stacked emtpy tin cans...

Right now I would seriously consider getting my dog's ears cosmetically stickied up. Then there would be almost no chance the victorians would mistake her for APBTx and I could safely take her with me. Right now I'm looking for boarding somewhere on the plains with no fire risk for the middle of summer which sucks the big one.

weather's currently forecast to be 29 on Sunday - here's hoping it turns out a bit cooler. What time would our run be if it's all good? ie the earlier the better in terms of coolness. For that I would do the insane early start from far away.

If I'd known how to tape a dog's ears I'd have had a go. I so wanted my dog to have proper pointy up ears like an ACD or Kelpie should. Sigh. She's got semi erect ears. Taping for pointy ears - I now know - would have involved strapping tape - like physios use on footballers, and toilet paper rolls - ie shape the ear around the cardboard - or piece of it and strap it on. I'm not sure that just strapping with no "frame" would help.

I dunno about the dog getting bored - but I know I do with ordinary heel work. So in our "fun class" - we mix in a lot of other stuff - at the moment - a lot of dances with dogs moves. Ie heel work on the right, dog spins as you spin, dog and you forwards, backwards, sideways in many combinations, leg weaves - moving or standing still etc. We're currently working on heeling backwards with dog on the right - she can do it well on the left, but not the right for some reason. And we're working on SG's "sit pretty" ie a classic beg pose. When we get that we will work on "stand pretty". I really didn't think my dog would be able to do either ever, but we're getting there. Working on her balance at the moment. She's not like a jack russell that can do it without any muscle work up at all. I think the less predictable the class is, and the more opportunities to earn a reward the better. One more thing - for keeping a dog excited about training - balance breaks (SG idea too) - like a coffee break - some mindless frustration free fun for you and the dog - eg tug or just running around and playing chase me (dog chases handler ideally).

Koolies and Shelties seem to do well here. Is the dominance of the BC - because the best handlers over there prefer them and haven't tried anything else or because they really are the fastest and cleanest and most reliable round a course? Personally I've seen a few farm dog bitsas that are much faster and tigher on the turns that the BCs they run with - maybe in the hands of a skilled trainer - they'd beat all the BCs. And I'm not talking about my dog - she's slower than your average kelpie and many BCs in a straight line.

commonwealth bank is currently offering something called a 'goal saver' - at the moment if you deposit $200 per month and make only one withdrawal (for me that's the tax withheld from the interest payment) - anyway essentially no withdrawals - it's 6% if you do make an extra withdrawal its still 3%. 6% is better than my Net bank saver with CBA so not really impressed with that - I'm going to stick all the money out of that into the goal saver with the "emergency fund" in the NBS instead. Sigh. Anyway it currently pays more than their term deposits too. A couple of other banks are offering up to about 6.5% but not sure I want to bank with bank west or city bank or anz. I don't know who pays for info choice but they do make finding the best interest rates easy. http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/online-savings.aspx I'm wondering if the medibank 9 year limit - is for joining - not for claiming. The PDS says it's for joining and they will pay out so long as cover has been continous since the dog turned 9. But the website suggests it's a cover limit. There's a few places where websites and PDS don't match. I think I will phone and ask and post here what I find out - but might not be till Monday.

Tormented? I'm trying to leave a dog off lead area and have just put my dog on lead - and some big slobbery clumbsy over enthusiastic hefalump of an out of control dog comes and invites my dog to play - and she pretend she wants to cos that used to get her released until I wised up (she goes and sniffs and ignores the annoying dog). The hefalump jumps all over us, gets tangled up in the lead, tries to eat my treat bag, slobbers all over me and my dog (yuck). It's heavy and it hurts when it jumps on us and even my dog objects now and starts to give back off signals - which it ignores. I yell at the owner to get their dog off us and nothing happens. I get my spare lead out and tie their dog up. Usually gets some sort of "oh I'm sorry I didn't notice". By now I'm ANGRY. It's not my job to control your obnoxious dog. Fortunately for us - once the hefalumps get like this - it's made clear by everyone who uses the dog park that they're not welcome. Though one particularily persistant and stupid owner failed to notice her dog attacking another dog and when she finally came and got it it and pulled it away - she let it go again and it repeated the attack. Drew blood - got blood all over its face - the other dog was in a submit position having its butt savaged by this truly ruined Golden Retriever. The dog being attacked required stiches. And the GR and owner haven't been back and I blame the owner entirely - she blamed us for not getting her dog off the other dog. Urm. I was too busy saving my own dog - who had gone into "cheer squad mode". I don't have the strength to deal with her dog which probably weighed as much as I do. And this was the third time that GR had attacked dogs at that park. Some owners are slow learners.

From the PIA PDS Pets over 9 years of age will not qualify for illness cover where there has been a break, lapse or change in the level of cover *after* reaching the age of 9. From the Medibank PDS Pets over 9 years of age will not qualify for Illness Cover where there has been a break, lapse or change in the level of Cover after reaching the age of 9 I can't tell the difference. I'm not sure, given they're both hollards if one company will provide "continuous cover" if you swap - I'd want that in writing / email from them before switching. But I don't see why one would not.

@nekhbet I wish there was a like button. Too many wankers loose in dog parks.

AlaniMatic - that's your Opening Post. Sure looks like it's a recurring behaviour - not "once two days ago". Humping is fun. Like wanking is fun. It's not acceptable in an off lead dog park so stop your dog even trying it. If you've got no recall when your dog is excited and distracted by other dogs - don't let him off lead in a dog park full of distracting exciting dogs. It is possible to train better manners. Good advice has been given in this thread. Work at a distance where your dog still has some self control - and reward that. Do not reward his excitement and rude behaviour by letting him go hump (attempt or actual). And if he's prone to having a go at everyone - it looks like he's had plenty of reward for doing it - so it will take a while to train him to be more polite.

The dog was on lead and muzzled, and it isn't a restricted breed. But was it registered? But I didn't think they could automatically confiscate a dog for being unregistered - all they could do is fine the owner. And people wonder why I don't want to bring my dog to Victoria for training seminars. So I think that council acted improperly. But you really need state politicians and media to lean on this one. We've got Leon Viner in SA (radio broadcaster), who is the equivalent in Victoria?

Tempus Fugit http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-the-RSPCAs-view-on-dominance-dog-training_475.html And we all know how well that shock and awe thing worked out. It's no way to build long term good will or change behaviour.

I can't tell the difference between bow wow meow and pet insurance australia - ie both business names are on the bow wow meow website - and it's all Hollards. The $40 per month is almost double what I would be looking at paying with Medibank for accident and illness. So you'd want to be getting more for that. Prosure is underwritten by Hollards - and it's 80% cover of the vet bills. And it's got the same condition limitations eg bilateral, chronic etc. And the PDS doesn't mention "wellness", they mention "routine care" ie the PDS doesn't exactly match the website offering. Ie some lovely PR person has renamed the Hollard terms on the website but not updated the PDS to match. There's more than one Hollards underwritten PDS like that out there. And Prosure's equivalent level of cover for what I'm looking at - costs almost double what the medibank offering does. I cannot see the value in that.

I checked Medibank - it's underwritten by Hollards too - so it's only offering 80% cover, and essentially the same pds. But given I'm already a medibank member - I'd get a discount of around 10% - maybe more if I can find a "product promotion code". So for me, it's the cheapest of the Hollards offerings. I won't do pet plan because they're underwritten by Allianz and I've had a expensive bad experience with them.

All the trials - obedience and agility in SA that I've been to - there's usually lots of people wearing their favourite club t-shirts including in the ring. I never heard of any rule saying you can't. Nobody from my club wears a club tshirt - because they're ugly yellow and about as comfy as a plastic bag to wear. Hoping to fix that sometime in the near future.

Frosty used to "go sniff" without permission. Now I try to get her doing it with permission. Ie if I catch her at it and I haven't given her permission - I get her attention back, get her to do some basic moves or tricks and then tell her to "go sniff". Since putting "go sniff", "go say hello", "go play" all on command / give verbal permission - she hasn't done nearly as much nicking off to go-sniff in the middle of runs. And I use high high value treats that are saved especially and only for agility. We're still having problems with the table. I think it's because she doesn't like to stop, but she stops on the far side of it and barks at me. We cracked everyone up last night because when she stopped and started yelling at me instead of jumping on the table, I crouched behind it so she jumped on it to see where I went. Even though she could have just looked under it.