Mrs Rusty Bucket

I organised lots of play dates with dogs I knew had been vaccinated for my puppy. I agree with the rule of thumb for the length of a dog walk - eg 5 mins per month of age is enough in one session so you don't need to go far. Dog schools usually require all the dogs there are vaccinated. But if it's on public land there is a risk of unvaccinated dogs being there. I would also consider places that are naturally cleaned every day, like the beach and show up just after high tide and walk on the damp bit. And I'd stay away from dog off lead areas - ie they can be wall to wall dog crap. Sporting venues that allow dogs on lead can be good. Your puppy would meet a lot of people that way and dog crap would be regularily cleaned up. It may also be worth chatting with your vet about locations / hot spots for disease outbreaks. Sometimes the outer city suburbs or lower value areas have outbreaks - maybe there is an overlap of people who live there with people who don't vaccinate/worm/flea treat their dogs.

I have to agree with K&P A twat like that, doesn't respond to any kind of fact based logical argument. They will only wake up when it affects unfairly something in their own life.

Is Mia Skogster's dog a malinois? I'm not sure if it is walking nicely or walking with obsession... Is very impressive all the same.

Here is a UK victim of the BSL... http://www.ilovedogs.com/2011/10/time-running-out-for-belfast-bsl-victim-lennox/

If the Stafford club don't start their gig until 10am ish - and we arrived at 8am ish - could we have our own run before they start? Or is one event per day enough?

This would be a puppy farm profit with unknown long term health concerns. Hope you got lucky.

i think I would question every sentence - how do you know that? where is the research and data to back that up? How does getting rid of a particular looking dog make a difference? Are rottweilers next? Then GSD, then Airedales then ACD then Dingos then .... where does it stop? And for what gain? If you're talking about reducing human death - aren't there other things we should be more focussed on - eg quad bikes - killed 17 people this year (and the year isn't even over) including 4 children, way more than dogs have. In reality dog attacks are proportional to the number of dogs owned - ie getting rid of the most popular breed might have an effect on reducing death tolls, as would getting rid of the most popular car brand. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/10/05/3333153.htm?site=melbourne Lemme see - brick wall, quadbike and train - no dog.

I think I can do 16th - 8am Park Road Left/West off Port Wakefield road before Tozer St... Do we need to PM you contact details, Jacqui835? Is it worth bringing shade and chairs? And at what point does the forecast be too hot for an 8am start? My evil hound loves everybody - so I will be the one stopping her from crawling around everywhere to say hello.

My dog won't always take food. Most of the time she's really keen to take it and these days are much better than when we started. She's still very uncomfortable next to busy roads - won't take anything. Possums were way more interesting than I could be. I had to learn a lot about dog training. I put a lot of things "on permission". "go sniff", "go play", "go say hello". Otherwise she would make her own decisions about when she was going to do these things. Now I tell her when she can and when she can't. We're not 100% reliable about it but we can get around the whole agility course without stopping to track possums, greet the instructor and all the other dogs in the class. And we don't have to check the tunnel for treats. Wasn't always like that. If I wanted her to work with other handlers - we'd need to start again with the basics with few distractions or opportunity for self-reward. And the first distraction we'd have to counter - would be me. So essentially you are a "high level distraction" and also a "high level reward". If your dog is distracted by you when he's supposed to be working with Dan - Dan and dog are too close to you, or you're too close to them. May help if you refuse to make eye contact with your dog eg look at Dan instead like you find Dan the most fascinating thing in the room, or just get a bit further away - if dog is distracted by you. Again - you may need to take Dan back to baby steps with your dog. Ie at lure coursing there's a lot going on, high level distractions, without the foundation training with Dan - Dan's going to get nothing. Start with things that are easy for Dan and Sammy to get right, and build up the distractions (you get closer or noisier etc), and get Dan to ask for five easy tasks (eg "watch me") and then after at least five attempts - release Dan to you for play. Then start over. Don't expect too much too soon, and don't assume because it doesn't happen all the time that you can't improve gradually towards where you want to be. I don't get it about the club member, I can't imagine any club putting up with that level of crap. Maybe operant conditioning would work on him, ie notice the tiny weeny things he does right and compliment those. Ignore or cut off all the crap (prevent / stop re-inforcement). And I agree - keep your dog away from them.

Doesn't help me and my dog - a cross breed of uncertain parentage from AWL. The only dogs safe in Victoria are ANKC pedigree dogs or dogs a vet can say with certainty are "a particular breed". No cross breed is entirely safe from being declared by a grumpy or uneducated council ranger or policeman or other authorised officer.

Susan Garrett would call this a classic case of the "don't wanna don't hafta" on the part of the dog, and she'd "work through it" ie stop the dog from finding his own fun (you) until he'd done what Dan wanted. Ie remove all re-inforcement. So you and Dan would need to work together until the dog understands that he's required to do what Dan asks. It would be important that you were no fun at all if the dog leaves work with Dan to be with you. A dog can be trained out of it. And you could be the reward, ie he works with Dan, he gets to play with you for a bit, the he works with Dan again etc. ie "Premack" time with you, make it conditional on working with Dan. As for having nasty people over when you don't want them, this can be a down side of being in a club and hosting social events, and something you might want to discuss with your club president. It is not ok for club members to come around and be disrespectful of you and your place and your dog, so I would think it fine to exclude particular members on this basis. Or you can have social events with invited club members - ie stop inviting everyone and just invite the specific people whose company you enjoy. It won't be a club event and you can ask people you didn't invite to leave. I belong to several clubs that have social functions - and sometimes people are invited individually when certain members make the event no fun. And sometimes respected club members have a quiet word in the ear of the misbehaving member and send them home or tell them not to show up. Club members can be expelled from the club if they are consistently bringing the club into disrepute or generally being so obnoxious nobody wants them there. Keeping people like that in a club can find the club reduced to a membership of 1 person.

jacqui835 It's clear you know how to train your dog to do what you want, so consider what you have been training your dog to do (inadvertantly?) in these situations. Consider training your dog to do something that is more socially acceptable instead. Your dog could also be in danger from the frightened someone. It's nice that you're confident he won't hurt them, but there's no guarantee they won't hurt him if they're frightened. There might not be any warning. Freeze, Run, or Fight. Same for humans as for dogs. But the experienced people here are telling you that the kind of behaviour your dog is showing around other people can escalate to something really nasty. It's up to you to set safer boundaries. I get the impression you'd rather he didn't do this. So get him to do something else. If you're in the kitchen, have a mat nearby that he can stay on while you have guests and you're in the kitchen. Will probably make him feel better too, that you don't want or need him watching the (nasty) guests for you. This can be fixed by generalisnig your training. Ie you teach the dog a bunch of stuff with you, you need to repeat the training with anyone else the dog is expected to obey - in the same kind of way, starting with the low distraction environment building up to high distraction over multiple training sessions. It should go faster with each new person but will need to be done with each new person. My dog is completely deaf to anything my mum commands, it's up to me to train my mum to train the dog. Which is not easy. I dunno that scolding the dog or correcting it will be as effective as giving him something else to do and rewarding that - like staying on a mat near you. It's hard for dogs to understand what you're scolding them for, especially if it's after the scold worthy event. It's possible that your dog will connect the scolding with your unpleasant guests and blame them for it and take out his frustration on them. I have the most insane neighbour who makes squeally noises at my dog and waves her arms and calls my dog's name with great enthusiasm - as she's leaving. My dog goes nuts. And slowly slowly I'm teaching my dog to be calm around her. At the moment instead of jumping all over my neighbour, its sneaky licking and then rolling over for belly rubs, which is an improvement but we still have a ways to go before she does a nice calm sit for the duration of squealing and hand flapping. Have the same problem with some little children. It's a high level distraction and training challenge but not an excuse for bad behaviour from my dog. So what I'm aiming for is my dog only says hello when she's calm and well behaved and the person she wants to say hello to is willing. And she only eats or begs with permission, this one is hard because so many people like giving dogs treats, but at family bbqs I'm terrified she's going to get food that is bad for a dog, so I make sure she doesn't get the opportunity.

I agree with the others. Your clever dobe is being rewarded for naughty behaviour and it's up to you to make sure he has something else to do when there are people around you or he don't like. I don't like thinking about what would happen if one of the people panics when he's being frightening. You really need to get him behaving appropriately and keeping a comfortable (for your invited guests) distance. He will still be protective of you when you need, but you might like to get that working more on a permission basis. Treat these people and their things a bit like any other distraction, eg possums or cats, and train him to do something more appropriate instead.

I use "through" for "go through my legs". I try not to use the same word for different things but dogs do seem to get the context. My dog is beginning to understand what "out-over" means. But is starting to forget what "out the kitchen" means. Sigh.

I would get bicarb soda and sprinkle that over and then use a cloth soaked in vinegar to clean up. I would do a test bit of carpet where people couldn't see it before put vinegar on the carpet. Bicarb is ok to shake over carpet (I use an icing sugar shaker but a sieve would probably work), and brush in then vaccuum off. I would sprinkle bicarb in the space under the floor if I could access it, and then mist with vinegar and maybe lavendar oil (one teaspoon in one litre of water). And if you can get a UV light (eg thinkgeek.com) you can find the pee spots in the dark - circle with chalk, turn light on and target cleanup in the right places. As long as pee spots remain, pee smell will remain too. Vinegar doesn't smell once it's dry but I would sponge it out. I use a mist of 1cup vinegar, 1tsp lavendar oil in 1 litre of water over bicarb when I'm cleaning floors and that doesn't smell of anything in particular - not to me anyway.

And if we're talking about saving children's lives - banning quad bikes would save more. I heard on the radio that there have been 17 deaths by quadbike this year alone. And about 4 of those were children under the age of 16 including one 4yo. http://theconversation.edu.au/its-time-for-quad-bike-manufacturers-to-rollover-on-safety-3421

Zara Why don't you copy the article already published in the Australian. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/dog-fight-brews-over-tough-laws/story-e6frg6z6-1226131681378 Dog attack is not the main cause of injury or death in children. You'd be better off targetting swimming pools or cars. And BSL has not worked in the UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/13/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation under the current victorian law I cannot bring my dog from SA for training seminars, because she has a short coat and musclely build and is sometimes mistaken for a "staffy cross". She is registered in SA, but not Victoria and I would have difficulty registering her in Victoria because she is a cross breed, and I don't live in Victoria. The way the legislation is currently worded - I have to prove she's an Amstaff with ANKC pedigree papers, or get a note from a vet to say she is "a particular breed". Do I make up a cute name for a three way crossbreed? And I can't even be sure what breed she is, and neither can the AWL. What I do know is she's great with kids. She gets mobbed when I walk on the council land next to our nearest primary school. She's also very friendly with all other dogs and will roll over by way of greeting. She's hardly a child killer. But because she's no particular breed, I risk her being confiscated and pts if I go to Victoria with her. Theoretically a grumpy ranger could lock up the PM's new dog should it ever set foot in Victoria and there would be no way to get the dog back because it is not an Amstaff, and it is not a particular breed for a vet to certify that it is. Incredibly shoddy legislation. We learned that it's not the way we should do things with humans so why is it ok to do it with dogs.

And I don't have to worry about helping out. Oops.

I have a feeling next week is SAODC obedience comp and I usually help out, but not sure what they're doing this year, nobody's talked to me about it.

Me too. What about tomorrow - is looking much less rain, I was definitely going to do west beach. Tho have to be early too - cos daylight savings starts and its dogs on lead after 10. Hmm no sleep in, that's going to hurt for a while.

front attach harness works for me and my pulling dog. The clip on the front on her chest rotates her chest around to face away from where she's trying to go if she pulls. I don't need it most places because she will do a nice loose lead walk. But not on footpaths next to busy roads (more than two cars according to her). We have a sensible but there are other variations and brands around. http://www.softouchconcepts.com/ If you decide to go the prong collar option, make sure you get trained in how to use it and learn about "escape training" which is not the same as training a dog to be Houdini. I recommend Steve Courtney at k9pro.com.au or would ask him to recommend someone local. Bull terriers can be trained to loose lead walk with just a flat collar if you are willing to put a little bit of time in. They can even earn obedience titles.

Snakecatcher I'm sure it would be quite easy to get a crowd to back off if you bring some of your day job with you. My uncle had a blue tongue eating his strawberries, so he took it up the road about 3km. About a week later a very similar looking blue tongue was eating his strawberries so he got his wife's nail polish and daubed a bit on its head and took it up the road a bit further. About a week or so later... blue tongue with pretty pink dab on its head - was eating the strawberries. They can travel. I can't remember what happened after that.

I looked in Semaphore when I was shopping for a house, there are some gorgeous old villas there. I got told to avoid Hall street. It has a lot of group housing for people that are not all that people friendly. I don't know if it has changed since I was there last but a walk from one end to the other and back should give you a feel for if you can handle it or not. Houses around there are probably 10% cheaper tho. The other thing that concerned me, call me paranoid, is that most of Semaphore is or is close to under sealevel ie maxes out at about 1m or 2m over sea level so if there are any big storms the whole area could flood. On the up side, Sempahore road has great shops and Sotos is my fave fish and chip shop in the whole of Adelaide, with a 45 minute wait some days, it pays to ask how long and go for a walk up the beach and back while your order works to the front of the queue.

I think you could argue giving all the breed id power to ANKC and affiliates is a restraint of trade. That would make the state law a breach of the federal constitution but you'd need a lawyer and several doggy life times to prove it. That would be helpful - to find ways in which this state law breaches the federal law. According to discussions I've been having via email with DPI in Vic, you need the ANKC affiliate pedigree papers, or a letter from the vet saying your dog is "a particular breed". Too bad if your dog is mixed breed not one breed. Though as I wrote somewhere else, I'm thinking of inventing a new breed "heelolliepie" for mine. You won't get ANKC papers for an APBT, and if a vet declares your dog one of these - it will still need to be registered and restricted. Nothing protects the BYB staffy unless you get a note from a vet. Theoretically (tho unlikely), a grumpy council ranger could confiscate an unregistered poodle cross by declaring the other half a "pitbull". Whether it looks like a pitbull is subjective. My dog - while clearly cattle dog cross to anyone familiar with that breed, could be anything in the other half, and given I'm not prepared to register it in Vic for a week training seminar, it could be declared an unregistered pitbull cross - and confiscated and then I've got dog life times in a legal battle to get her out. Not worth the risk and the DPI guy recommended not bringing her. I think I need to meet my local state rep and have a discussion about it, so emotional knee jerk laws don't get enacted here. I'm all for treating the owner of a savage dog the same as one who kills someone with a car or gun, or leaves a loaded gun lying around where other people can access it. I really can't fix the Vic laws but they will get less money for dog training camps and certain grey nomads are going to avoid them too.

According to my discussion with a staff member from DPI... You must have pedigree paper stating the breed from ANKC or the affiliated body, they had three different ways of saying the same thing ie ANKC, state version of ANKC or ANKC affiliated breed club. Or you can have a letter from your vet stating your dog is "a particular breed". I'm not how to make my dog "a particular breed". A designer name incorporating three ANKC breeds? catbordpie? Kelderttle dog? heelolliepie? My dog is a heelolliepie. Nope - not going to work I think.