Mrs Rusty Bucket

So a couple of you are using the fenced dog parks because you don't have reliable recall yet. And this is where the trouble begins. Even a whippet can have a classically conditioned recall. I guess it's obvious that fully fenced dog parks are going to attract owners that don't quite have control over their dogs and may or may not be paying attention or close enough to intervene when something goes wrong. And the agility equipment - I'm not allowed to use the agility equipment at our club unless I'm "supervised" by an instructor for insurance reasons. And the jumps are designed to fall if a dog hits one, the tunnels are mostly made of soft stuff, so if the dog connects with their shoulder on entry they're not hurt and similar deal with the weave poles, they flex if a dog hits them. Not so the stuff they've put in at our local fully fenced dog park (dogs on lead are allowed too and children and families having picnics on the ground (ARRGGHHH)). And the benches they've put in there have dog paw traps ie just the right spacing of slats to catch and trap a dog paw should they jump up on the bench. And then there's the grass seeds, weeds, dirt, dust, mud, and taps for the water bowls that require superman to operate. I sent a very long detailed email to the man at our council who is responsible for sorting such things. I'm hoping council can get the contractor and consultant to give their money back or fix it.

My dog lies down and waits for the other dog to approach and sniff. If it invites her to play before sniffing, she will jump up and chase it. Some dogs respond well and some get a big fright - ie they didn't realise they made a "chase me" play invite. I call my dog away from the freaked out dogs. She doesn't bite other dogs on the back, but she will - with some dogs, bite their colloar or ears or cheeks - Ian Dunbar calls it the "bitey face" game. And with some dogs she growls, barks and roo-roos at them and with others she is quiet. It all depends. One airedale - I won't let her play with any more becuase he really chomps on her back, just ahead of her tail when he's "playing" and it clearly hurts her. Ie that move is no fun for her and he doesn't know how to back off the intensity like my dog will. But if owner or dog doesn't seem comfortable with her mode of play or if I'm not happy about the other dog's mode of play, I call her away. Dogs with thick coats (eg shaggy airedales) tend to play too rough in our experience.

http://homepages.udayton.edu/~jmerenski1/doberdawn/dremel/dremel.html I found the above site very useful though she says to link through this site www.DoberDawn.com She's made her webpage so you can't link the relevant bit. sigh. Anyway, the clippers guilotine - hurt the dog when you clip, even if you don't get the quick, the squeeze action makes the dog flinch. I had clicker trained my dog to lie perfectly still upside down in my lap, with a lot of little bits of roast lamb and several sessions over a few days, and so i could get a perfect shot at her nail and she still jumped when I clipped. So I got a $20 finger sander from a hardware store. And when I'm watching telly and she's on the couch with me I do a bit of sanding with an ordinary nail file too. She's pretty good about that. The sander does not squeeze the nail and hurt. You can cause a heat burn if you use the wrong attachment or hold it against the claw too long. Don't do that. And only do a little bit each time - becuase as the the nails get long, the quick gets long and if you hit that with any clipping/sanding system - it's going to hurt the dog. And I'm not sure how much clicker training it would take to make a dog happy about being hurt. Or if I even want to do that.

http://www.vetnpetdirect.com.au/Products/Beds Like this? Or these http://www.greatrugs.com.au/store/index.htm There's one link I'm having trouble finding and that's for a plastic raised dog hammock thingy which is expensive but has a good warranty and very durable.

I don't think I know what a "dog off leash only park" is. We have parks that are dedicated dog exercise areas where dogs are allowed off leash but * under effective control * ie owners stay reasonalby close and dogs come back when they're called. Just because it is a dogs allowed off leash - doesn't make the dogs or owners exempt from the dog and cat management law in that state. Ie most of them say something like dog must be on lead unless in a designated (has signs up) area for off lead exercise and then must be under effective control. I think one council states not more than 20m from owner - tho I'm a bit slack about this given my dog will recall from across a football oval. I don't like the fully fenced dog parks with double gates - because they just trap the nice dogs in with the nasty ones. And they're most popular with owners who cannot control their dogs. Most dog exercise areas I use - do not quite have complete fencing, so dog owners must pay attention to their dogs. Even so at my fav morning oval - I made a formal report to our council animal management officer about a husky that attacked and drew blood on two small dogs (neither owner has reported it yet) and in between it went after my dog and when I grabbed it by the collar it turned and put its teeth on me. No damage but completely unacceptable. After the second dog was attacked the owner finally came and got his dog and left. He hasn't been back and he won't be welcome unless he keeps that dog on lead and muzzled ie he may as well not bother with areas that allow dogs off lead (and under effective control). If I saw a situation like OP's, I'd be on to the council ranger (or police depending what time of day) very quickly. And if I was feeling really brave I'd get the rego tag numbers of the aggressive dogs (ie if they were human friendly) .

yes big clue to work of creative stirrer, the hit and run thread. they haven't been back for a while.

Deer antler, cows hoof, an squirrel dude loaded with kibble. Stuff loaded in kong and frozen. At least - one of those is what my dog gets. she can demolish those dried pigs trotters in about five minutes, but it takes my friend's jack russel and tenterfield over an hour to make a dent in one. If my dog doesn't eat what I put down straight away (she gets 10 minutes), I take it away until the next meal time. If it happens a few times - it's obviously too much food unless she starts losing weight. for a desexed dog you can reduce the recommended amount of kibble by 1/3. 1 cup of advance along with the other stuff, does seem like rather a lot of food. My dog is down to 3/4 tin mug of nutro if I give her nothing else but training treats. Mostly it's 1/4 tin mug of nutro (or as much as will fit in the squirrel dude) plus 450gm casserole (similar to tinned food but I make it myself so less stinky).

Hint - only water a cactus once a month. Yarracully - I beleive you've responded to a nasty work of fiction.

at our club grounds - there really are interesting things to stop and sniff all over the grounds. Possum poo, dead birds, duck poo, magpie poo, dog poo, scents of best friend dogs from the class before. My dog was a shocker for putting her nose down and making off on a scent trail, so its not just the calming signals. I had to learn so much and work dilligently on relationship building and timing of A grade treats for my evil hound. And making sure I knew where I was going and telling her where she was going before she decided I wasn't going fast enough and either tried to drive me to go faster or decided that sniffing a trail was more important. Now all I need to do is bring the balance back to me from the contact - she's started bee lining for the treat at the far side of of the scramble or dog walk - which isn't there until I get there now. But if I can keep her attention on a ground covered in yummy treats, I should be good to go most anywhere.

If you don't mind hairy - I second the vote for a sheltie. They're friendly, gorgeous and love learning new things and they will alert bark. They can be a bit chatty, but I find it depends how chatty the owner is ie if the owner is quiet the dog is chatty - but that's just an observation, it might not be a breed thing. They're small enough to manage easily, and they can be taught to get along with a cat, and 30 minute walk would be enough. Grooming is important or they get dreadlocks. And like pugs they can sucker you with those big brown eyes into over feeding them and get fat.

I think whippets can be fine around horses. My cousins and aunt all have some horses, whipppets, one greyhound. Another cousin has arab horses, an airedale and a huge kelpie x. I think it's about how you introduce them. I've known three cattle dogs from three different households that love to swing on horses tails, and bizarrely, most of the horses I know give up trying to kick them or just don't care if their tail is pulled out short. ACD are excellent at ducking a kick. Dalmations are supposed to be good around horses, but I'm not sure. Several horsey people I know had dalmations and then decided they weren't the breed for them. Not sure if the horses had anything to do with it or not. Cairn Terrier x are pretty stupid around horses. They don't attack the horses or chase them but they don't keep out the way either. My (late) horse picked his back foot up to take a step and the dog ended up on top of the hoof as it went forward and down and both animals kept walking their separate ways like nothing had happened.

tenterfield terrier? small but enthusiastic like a kelpie and will exercise itself in a back yard.

It is a national road rule, and all states and territories had to adopt their own version of it and a bunch of other rules like the child restraint rules, to get federal road maintenance funding. But like everyone said - the police have better things to do. Charles Sturt council seem to be very inconsistent about their knowledge of the rules. There would be no council rule that they have to enforce so they don't care. And they don't care about a lot of the council rules either (like making sure people pick up after their dogs). There is an endurance club that rides out of the club at West Beach (german shepherd/agility/endurance etc) off West Beach Road, and they have bikes and dogs being led from the bikes.

Sheena Susan Garrett always says the best response to this is to beat them at trials. And have more people admiring your wonderful well behaved enthusiastic dog. I get a quiet moment of glee when my old stick in the mud instructor has her dog lagging along behind, or running away when she calls it. It is obedient enough to complete competition trials but shows no enthusiasm or joy doing it. Whereas mine does a down stay with her tail wagging the whole time.

NSW is the only state to have mandatory bite reporting. Their statistics do not suggest that pitbulls are a major problem and their statistics suggest that Staffordshire Bull Terriers are one of the most popular dogs and accordingly have higher bite stats, same with farm dogs of all breeds and bitsas. Ie there's lots of them and some bite. http://www.dlg.nsw.gov.au/dlg/dlghome/dlg_generalindex.asp?sectionid=1&areaindex=DAIDATA&documenttype=8&mi=9&ml=10 The first annual report has the best info from a person who wants to keep their dog. And it looks like Airedales should be restricted based on the info. As best I can tell - there isn't a separate list for fatal injuries especially to humans. I think it happens not often enough to be significant. Children are way more likely to be killed by cars, and accidents at home including drowning in pools of water. Hope that helps. I thought the original stuff should be shared around as much as possible because we really need to fight back, call talk backs and plug the merits of dog ownership, especially on RUOk day.

If the dog looks at the treat instead of the distraction, that's a good start.

I agree with this. But I don't have a large reactive dog. I don't need the power or control of a prong either, I find I get enough control with the front attach harness - it works for me and my dog, tho I know that it doesn't work for some dogs. Best result with front attach harness that I know about was someone who couldn't take her rottweiler for a walk at all because it pulled her over, to her being able to hold the dog easily enough to roll cigarettes. Not that I think smoking is a good idea, but rolling cigarettes would be hard to do with strongly pulling or lunging dog.

You could try blocking your dog's view of the other dog, with your body and then watch for the inhale or just attention on you and mark and reward that. I can't always avoid cats, but we're getting better at behaving calmly. You could ask the other owner to help eg by stopping his dogs for a minute while you get your dog's attention back or change direction. Ignore your dog if he's going bunta while you have the conversation but keep him on short lead.

Some of the rope and string based tugs can cause problems for some dogs depending how they tug. A nice leather based tug, that a dog can grip but it doesn't grab around the dog's teeth might work better. And I find a bungee tug works well to limit the power of the tugging and provide some shock absorption. Sometimes it's not about how hard a dog can tug, but to encourage the enthusiasm not the power. Some tug methods are definitely healthier than others. I try to avoid side-side or bouncy bouncy on the front paws and regripping (because dog can miss and get my hands.

http://www.petrescue.com.au/search/?a=d&g=f&s=m&l=sa&a_id=target= They sometimes have puppies too - just change the size of the dog to "puppy/kitten". What about a Sharpei? Personally I'm completely biased towards cattle dogs and crosses of, but ideally they need more than 30 minutes a day walking and might not welcome an occasional male visitor (ie dad). It would be up to you to get the dog lots of practice meeting men, women, children and other dogs and cats. Or maybe a cavalier or other spaniel - the Welsh Spaniels in SA are gorgeous. And they're medium sized and not big pullers (tho again - up to you to train the behaviour you want). You may also want to go through the rescue directories - and follow up with ones that have dogs that you might like. Pet rescue and the foster system can give you a really good idea of how an adult dog would be with your cat, blokes, and other dogs etc. http://www.petrescue.com.au/rescue_directory/sa Staffordshire Bull Terriers are the most popular registered breed in NSW. If they can't stop the BSL then no dog is safe. I'm not sure they make the greatest guard dog, my brother's has survived their new kitten without harming it or even trying, doesn't bark when strangers arrive, and would only damage a burglar by the cannon ball->skittles effect.

Some of the instructors at my dog club like the choke chains because it's much harder for a dog to escape from. Ie they can't pull backwards and slip the thing over their head and escape. When my dog goes bunta at something - I only use treats to change the behaviour. There is a serious risk that any method that causes the dog discomfort will have the dog associate the discomfort with the object of its aggression. eg my dog and horses (or possums or cats or seagulls or dolphins...) If I "corrected" her for barking at the horse, I'm pretty sure she'd connect horses with bad things and maybe angry/frustrated boss. So I use roast chicken or metwurst or fritz or fresh cooked sausage ie the best treats, and I go sufficient distance she can start to think again, and reward any attention on me instead of the horse. She can now look at a horse, from a reasonable distance (haven't found a willing decoy for closer work recently), and stay calm and well behaved. Hasn't always been this way. Don't get me wrong - I think prong collars have their place and have worked "miracles" on some fear aggressive dogs I've seen. It starts by training the dog how to "escape" the pressure with no distractions and then builds from distant distractions and short exposures to closer and longer exposures to the stressor. But I didn't see the same dog worked with roast chicken instead. And I aslo acknowledge there are scary dogs, that have the potential to be retrained to more appropriate behaviour and it might take adversives to get their attention. But again, killer whales are usually not trained with punishment/adversives.

I think this person has lied about most of the details they have posted if not all, just to get a rise out of us.

Wilber is so CUTE

I never said it could. I'm sure there are some trainers who can or think they can. At least I know I can't. And I'm not any better with any of the more "reasonable examples" apart from non reward markers eg saying "oops" to a dog in a neutral tone. And even then I say "oops" when I stuff up, not just when the dog does something I don't want to reward. Oops.

Because "hitting a dog" is a really clear example of what "positive punishment" is. Sure there are increments of severity but you are basically trying to make the dog sufficiently uncomfortable doing something it likes - to stop it. And usually going this path will result in escalating the severity to get the same result. Especially if the trainer is the tiniest bit inconsistent.