Mrs Rusty Bucket

I'd say one dog was more persistant with a broken vending machine than the other. How long would you keep putting in the money for a drink when you didn't get the drink. Some people let it eat their money once, and some people try more times (eg maybe only once today and again tomorrow and one more time the day after). My dog was getting a pretty reliable payout at the bottom of the dog walk even if I wasn't there that she started checking the end of the dog walk before she would do any of the rest of the course. Sigh. I've stopped the treat when I'm not there completely but she still goes and checks occasionally. I guess I'd still check the chocolate shelf at my mum's place if I wanted a chocolate... tho that's a pretty reliable place for chocolate.

random jackpot payouts are supposed to be more effective at increasing a behaviour and maintaining it in the absence of any reward than reliable vending machine payouts. Ie the dog that is used to a vending machine payout will quit trying / responding sooner than one accustomed to random payouts. The trick is figuring out and planning the transition from a vending machine to pokie machine. I had a link for that somewhere. Hmm. Sorry for the non-geekness of the explanation. Is that what you are talking about? I thought you were the learning theory/science nerd around here.

I heard that pacing is a sign of dodgy joints - but I don't know if that's true and can't point you at any published studies. It doesn't apply to pacing horses - I think they're trained that way.

I think many dogs know when you're mad at them (or just generally angry at anything), and may anticipate punishment. But most dogs - hours or even minutes after the event - would have no idea why you're mad at them or what they need to do to avoid you being mad at them next time. For instance if you get mad at the dog when it doesnt come when you called, and you punish it when it eventually comes near enough for you to catch it... Is the dog going to come quicker next time you call? Personally I don't know any dogs that respond to this by coming quicker the next time. Most of them just become completely deaf as best I can tell.

I was just listening to a Susan Garrett podcast, and she said if your dog doesn't tug, then you have to run with your dog, ie to get your dog's heart rate up. She uses tug to increase a dog's excitement or drive, and food to calm it down. So it would be really important with some of her more easily over the top excited dogs, that they would take food, and for some of the more difficult to fire up dogs, that they would take tug. But ideally she could work with whatever suited the task. I can play tug with my dog lead and I've seen some people use their hat as a tug toy. I don't think I have a hat that would last very long used as a tug toy but it's a thought. With the weaves or any obstacle on the agility course, I find my dog does much better if I tell her when she's doing what I want, so I run round the course going "yes yes yes out out over out yes yes up up yes yes... and the weaves are yes yes yes yes, the more I say yes, the faster she goes. If she pops out early - I don't say "yes", I might say oops. If I can get her back into it, I will, otherwise back to the obstacle before at a walk, and into the weaves again... she usually gets it the second time. For her, going fast is fun, closely followed by being up high, so getting weaves done means we can run again and a shot at something high like the scramble. So far she doesn't seem to want to stuff up for the fun of it, but sometimes she likes to run through the middle like she thinks I want that. That was my dodgy training ie when we started - I didn't block her from doing that. And I didn't do a good enough "reset" (eg collar grab, turn a circle) before repeating a weave run attempt. She's extremely crap at fetch the tug toy back so sometimes weave training is a PITA. I know I should work on that more but I want to keep the joy for us.

http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2011/04/a-glimpse-at-guilty/ I cringe and get all hot and red when accused of doing stuff I didn't. It's harder to deal with a false accusation than being accused of something I did do. And sometimes I get yelled at for doing something I think is just fine. And i get angry at the person doing the yelling for being so hypocritical.

I think it's good to have both. Having good tug, you don't run out of tug and the dog doesn't get full on tug, though she might get tired. I find rewarding some things with food problematic ie my dog stops to eat the food and then search for crumbs and eat those, and it slows down something I want to be done fast. Where as the tug encourages her to run and stay energised. But for some things where I do want her to slow down, food is great.

They picked the same Saturday approximately - last year. Maybe you could get the beauty contest dates changed? There were a couple of mock trials at the start of the season too - March like. One at Gawler and one at West Beach. And SAODC did a mock games trial though not very many people came. Apparently the other club that was supposed to be running a real trial decided to run a mock obedience trial instead. Those of us that came enjoyed ourselves.

My dog can use a mirror to find me, but I'm not sure about food... But I'm a bit too far away to participate in the study.

I guess it would help if I could convince my mum to go through the basics ie call dog when already coming and give a treat when it arrives and then gradually change that over to random and jackpot rewards for recall... Mum thinks a certain TV hiss and yank dog trainer is the best. So I don't leave my dog alone with her. Mum used to have a dog that was extremely well trained by my dad and extremely willing to please ie very people focussed looking for the next command to be issued. My dog is much more of an independent thinker ie if I'm not exciting enough - she will entertain herself - which is what I originally wanted. I am finding the balance between getting my dog focussed on me for stuff like walking at the park or agility training, and having an off switch when I'm working in the office - not always easy. I guess my dog is going to ignore my family unless I can train them better too.

I reckon NWWB's just want a litter enquiry and ZugZug's no race cars here (or health compatibility testing) breeder would be a good match for each other. At least NWWB and ZugZug have shown they have the health and best interests of their puppies at heart.

I get the brunswick sardines in olive oil for my dog - although sometimes I eat them. I like olive oil - it's really good for everyone including dogs. I like sardines over tuna - they grow faster, are more sustainable and I trust Canadian health standards more than Thailand and places like that. The current availability of tinned tuna - is either crappy tasting tuna from Asia eg skipjack and who knows what ocean pollutants, or unsustainably managed blue fin from our southern oceans - that's the best stuff but we're over harvesting and it doesn't end up in tins anyway. Bring on the tuna hatcheries.

I'm going to para districts mock agility trial on Saturday - everyone is welcome to come and look and even join in if you think you can keep your dog's attention. They're doing a dancing with dogs demo at 12:30pm ish and I think they're having Rally O again ie you put your dog on lead and do a bunch of heelwork stuff according to a sign posted course. Could do a walk on Sunday. Sigh.

You could get a cool mat and put it under the crate with something like a towel or newspaper over it to protect it. But I like the frozen water option. Or you could make a wheat bag and freeze that but he might still eat it.

Cosmolo and Erny How do you generalise the training you do to the owner? My dog gets a bit of training from the boarding kennel staff where she stays when I'm on holidays, but it's mostly about being rewarded for being quiet and and the general kennel routine ie in the mornings we go here, and then there etc. I imagine if you had a go at training recall for my dog, she'd be fine with you but still not come when my mum calls her.

I like this, but I would add why desexing pets is important, eg helps reduce the chance of being stolen for puppy mills and reduces the chances of diseases of the reproductive systems.

What's the deal if you and your dog are visiting from interstate or even another council area? This is really sad.

I wouldn't send my dog away to be trained by someone else. It's pointless, my dog won't do what my mum asks her to, and she's been trained lots by me. I have to get my mum to run through the basic training drills and reward for my dog to understand she's supposed to pay attention. I have been to a training seminar, i took my dog and camped there and we had an overseas trainer teach us owners and some owners who had "handling spots" ran drills under her supervision. I didn't do much training there because the whole place was underwater most of the time, we had so much rain. And my dog pretty much decided recall was optional because there were so many fun other things to do. But I learned a lot and her recall is much better now. Even at brand new fun smelling places like my cousins' farms.

I've got a grovelly dog and it's saved many a tense situation. As she's grown up, she's become slightly more assertive, ie if she grovels and the other dog is still rude eg jumps on her, she will stand up and tell it off. Last time it was a rottweiler adolescent ie bigger than her but not full grown and it backed off at full speed. Phew. I'd much rather have a grovelly dog than a fighter. If you back off from a rude dog, they will take that as an invitation to step up. But you can diffuse a situation "I'm not a threat and not worth bothering with" by making your own calming signals ie don't make direct eye contact with the dogs, turn your head away slightly and watch them from sideways - look at their paws or tail or mouth, not eyes and lick your lips or yawn. Ie calming signals. Your dog is already doing the right thing by them. And if they act the least bit friendly, I usually say "good dog" in a bright chirpy voice, totally unravells most of them, eg they get warm fuzzy feelings instead of fight feelings. Note: wagging tail is an excitement thing not a friendly thing. Backing up, turning head away and polite bum sniffing greetings without teeth are good dog things. And I would report stray threatening dogs to council, with photos if you can get them, and with rego details or home address if you can get them. I've heard a lot of scary looking dogs are being dumped in Victoria at the moment because owners do not want to pay to have them PTS and don't want the risk of being held responsible for any damage the dog might do.

The boarding kennels I use don't smell like pee. I've had my dog there for long stays and short stays, she gets a bath before she comes home on the long stays, but not the short stays (eg a weekend), and she smells fine. I have seen lots of dogs get peed on by other dogs because they all smell the same good smell and then they all pee on it and some don't wait for the sniffers to get out the way before they start peeing. Not great but it happens. And it can happen through a fence or the mesh side walls of the kennels. When you've got plenty of time, organise to visit the kennels, ideally as close to first thing or pick up time as they will let you, and see how it smells generally. Also ask the person who recommended the boarding kennel if they'd noticed the pee smell.

NuggyWWB I think your emails have served their purpose. Blunt or not, I wouldn't want an undesexed puppy to go to this family. They clearly don't think long term about the welfare of their dog or potenial puppies. I would have ignored the "judgemental" email. Personally I like blunt and direct. If I still wanted to breed from one of your puppies I would be asking myself and you what it would take, not calling you "judgemental". Actually when it comes to who gets a puppy, we could use a lot more judgemental. However, you could possibly offer a more open conversation with a view to converting them. Ie the questions about breeding need to be redone or phrased as an invite for further discussion at a dog show or similar. And you could blame your state kennel club ethics and the RSPCA responsible dog breeder list for excluding them unless they're willing to learn more about your breed and responsible breeding generally. http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-a-responsible-companion-animal-breeder_327.html I'm not very good at diplomatic or tactful either, maybe it's better not to pretend. Or maybe the more thoughtful DOLERs could help reword the original set of questions or response so it allows the potential owner to think about whether they can offer the right stuff and save face (not appear completely ignorant about responsible breeding). Ie maybe an invite to the next dog show so you can talk about what goes into breeding a quality dog and choosing (and educating) potential puppy owners about the care requirements specific to your breed so your beautiful puppy won't end up at the pound. If they choose not to come then your owner selection process has served its purpose again. It may also help to have a collection of links to send about responsible ownership/breeding, the dog star digital training text book, getting a dog or puppy from rescue if they don't care what they get, and links to the code of ethics for breeders and some stuff about puppy farms and where pound dogs come from and something about the myth of having a litter from a veterinary association. But only send if you ask them if they'd be interested in further info and they say yes. So I think I would ask why they have chosen your breed - first. But I would also put in the general care and training requirements and the whys and ask if they are prepared to do that. And also mention puppy bad habits eg chewing and digging everything and ask if they can tolerate that for the first however long it takes your breed to grow up, or forever for some breeds. And I think if they answered yes to want to breed - then you need to invite them to have a face to face conversation with you or a breeder you trust in their state (who doesn't have any puppies available right now). If they say no to breeding then say the cost is x plus the cost of desexing which will be refunded when they provide a letter from their vet saying it's done or as someone else said - desex before you adopt them depending on what else they want the dog for. Eg dog sports - there is some evidence to suggest that desexing after 18 months or so is best for allowing normal bone development. My dog was desexed at 8 weeks by AWL and so far so good, she does agility well with no injury, touch wood.

sometimes. A lot of breeders get tyre kickers so they want some sort of committment from you that you won't change your mind and refuse to take the dog. I'd want something in writing that states what the deposit is for. Eg fair enough you forfeit it if you change your mind. But what if there is something wrong at the breeder's end ie the puppy isn't healthy? And what happens if something dramatic happens like your house burns down and you can't take the puppy at the appointed time - do you give up the puppy and the deposit or do you ask the breeder to hold the puppy until you have a new place? There's probably something standard for it. I imagine a sensible deposit would be around 10% or 20% of the final price but I've seen some as high as 60% or two thirds. If I was the breeder and I thought it took that much to hold a buyer to their committment - I'd be questioning if I really wanted them as a puppy owner. The other way of looking at it, is how much extra would you pay for a puppy at 8 to 12 weeks - that's how much the breeder loses if you decide you don't want the puppy.

I don't know if he will become gentler as he gets older. I'm sure he won't unless you intervene as you have been doing. I call mine away or put her on lead but she was always extremely gentle with some dogs from when she was a puppy. She would give the old or scaredy cat dogs a quick grovelly lick on the chin and then leave them alone. I never had to teach her that. I do have to teach her that not all dogs are friendly - she's so optimistic with some and sometimes she's so wrong.

jibwa You could probably get Steve Courtney at K9pro.com.au to put together a distance learning package for you, you can put up videos of your training and he can give you personal feedback that way. Or you can ask him if he can recommend anyone who lives a bit closer to where you are or can visit (ie anyone in "town"). If the dog is looking to you for approval, he's probably trainable. Not sure what the deal is with the other dog. Sometimes a dog or group of dogs will attack one they perceive to be weak or diseased or crazy or all of those things. Or sometimes they have a bad experience with one particular dog and will attack or get very excited when they see that dog or one that looks like it.

I did one trip out into the APY lands in 2001 and we visited about four townships and stayed overnight in one of them and visited several times to another one. The place where we stayed overnight - had a pack of about 20 dogs that wandered around together and were generally left to their own devices. Among these were several dogs known as "cheeky pappa" for biting people. So you were warned not to go near or talk to the "cheeky pappa". Some dogs were adopted and looked after and fed by indiviuals in the community. Most dogs were left to fend for themselves. As best I could tell most of the dogs in the pack weren't "owned" by anyone. And could be adopted by anyone. But I wouldn't know for sure. There was one white woman who was up there for work on her own (no partner) but had a big gorgeous bull terrier cross that was generally known as "cheeky pappa" for her own security. Though I never saw it even growl at anyone or any dog. He was desexed - the (cultural?) rules are different for the white fellas in those communites than for the black fellas (men and women). So a white person (especially a single woman) with a cheeky pappa would be seen as a good thing as far as I know. But you could ask the local elders about it if you want to be sure. I guess if was me - I'd be upset about him attacking other dogs and take whatever steps necessary to make that stop. Desexing might help. Be worth a try. As would be managing him when he has the opportunity to interact with other dogs and teaching him what you do want ie a calm ignore. I teach my dog to calm ignore cats on lead at the moment, by the "look at that" technique and blocking and reward/praise for attention back on me.