Mrs Rusty Bucket

"Thank you" is my command for "spit whatever it is you have in your mouth - out, now". So I use it a lot for tennis balls, especially ones that are not hers. And sometimes for strapping tape and base balls. And often for shoes that she fetches. She frequently gets a treat in trade - especially at the park. So she can be a strapping tape and baseball hunting fiend when she's hungry or I have especially good treats. And it matters not whose ball she has (nicked), she always brings it to me. Thank you! It doesn't work so well for take away food debris, but is not completely ineffective.

lovemesideways I'm surprised you don't have your local rangers on speed dial. And I'm also surprised you'd let your labs deal with an antisocial staffy. Eek. I'm so lucky I've got a grovel dog. Just her body language has headed off so many potential fights. She does like to do the farm dog lie down and ambush, but she's selective. It depends what the other dog does when it sees her doing it. If it comes up all bouncy like, she might rush it (obliquely) and invite play. If it doesn't she may continue to crawl slowly on her belly and invite a sniff session if the other dog is willing, but leaves it alone if it retreats. If the other dog is lunging aggressively at the end of a lead, I call her away. And the crawling on the belly thing has saved her from kamikaze collisions with loads of big clumsy charging dogs. Twas a dalmatian this morning. They did have a lovely time running together though. I pay more attention to doggy body language than what breed it is. And if the dog seems aggressive, I worry more if it is likely faster than my dog (eg the pharoah type hounds). My dog is breedist. She likes GRs, and farm dog bitsas. They're the most fun. But the worst behaved dogs we've met have been a whippet, a very badly managed rotti - owner in denial "it's only being playful" (so why is my dog limping), and a GR, who started attacking other dogs at our park, drawing blood and now we don't see it at all - also the owner's fault for never putting it on lead when it was misbehaving and never giving it any training, no recall, nothing not even a sit and always allowed to jump all over other dogs and people. But some of my dog's best mates are GR, Whippet and Rotti. So it's not a breed thing. I worry more about dogs I perceive as being able to do a lot of damage - depending on their attitude. And ones that don't back off if the other dog submits or grovels.

My Evil Hound is a big fan of the Turid Rugaas Calming signals video. And I swear she learned a lot watching some of the agility training videos. Ie she was better after that than I was. From time to time, she checks behind the telly, but mostly she snots it. Ie she uses her nose to check the reality of what she's looking at. Same with the full length mirrors I have in the house. Though she has started using mirrors, especially in the car, to check out what I'm doing / looking at.

I saw a lot more dog poo in Paris than Berlin last year. Maybe that was because in Paris we were usually out and about before the street cleaning people had been. And guess what they did with the stuff, hosed it straight into the drains. Yuck. And the Seine - OMG the stench. On Sunday morning it stank like one giant piss pot. It would be a nice place to walk if it wasn't for the almighty pong.

Sigh - can't vote, not enough options. I use johnsons and johnsons on me and the dog. And only as necessary. I do like the smell. I think she is ok with smelling like me, though after this morning's mud rolling - I'm not so sure. Why do I pick it? "No more tears". I can't be sure any of the others won't sting if they get in her eyes. And shampoo stinging eyes would make bath time impossible.

My neighbour's dog likes to pile up all her toys next to the bit of fence where my dog and her can touch noses under. Like gifts for my dog. That she can't quite reach. And aren't quiet good for her (eg lamb roast bones, and the giant rawhides). My dog will bring me a "shoe", and if I'm not paying attention she considers it fair game for chewing. But she's happy to hand it over if I am paying attention. Socks are not so lucky. I try to keep the door shut. She doesn't have a place she gathers things for me though.

YG Have you seen this. Chinese crested doing agility. Amazing.

I much prefer dog off lead areas to be unfenced or partially fenced. Fully fenced parks just invite owners who have not done a good job of recall training and/or don't pay a lot of attention to what their dog is doing. Some NSW council off lead spaces are great - eg Blainey is good - could do with more shade and dog bags and bins so people pick up. The one I went to in Bathurst, was unfenced - good but pretty much a small green patch inside four very busy roads. And my dog freaks out when it comes to busy roads. Not happy about that one. Prefered the area near the hockey fields which was probably not off lead but was relatively speeding traffic free. The nice cricket ovals next to the tourist info centre - there was a snake there. Not happy about that either tho dog was pretty excited. Fortunately she was on lead at the time. No, evil hound, we do not get to play with the wriggling hissing stick.

As far as I know in SA and most other states, it is now illegal to tie a dog up and leave it unattended in a public place. Some little old lady visiting the Darwin markets last year or the year before got a big fine for doing it. I'm not sure I was doing the right thing when I put my dog inside a crate in the shade of a tree, while I had lunch with inconsiderate rellies (why couldn't we have an outside table?), but I could see her from the window. I don't know if that's a rule in QLD but it's the dog ranger I'd be calling. Or I would definitely be taking the dog for a walk. It did look like a nice dog. As for "it's my guide dog" - I tend to write those kind of people off as mentally or socially handicapped, ie they're entitled to take the handicap spot because their brain doesn't function. Then again the rules in Europe are much better for dog owners, you can take them most anywhere as long as they behave. And all of the dogs I saw there including one that peed in the pet supplies shop (Mon Dieu!) probably not the first hound to annoint that pole)... were better behaved than most of the children.

Snook The one that came after my neighbour was dressed casual too. I dunno where the papers were. Some have had them inside a jacket pocket. It's usually just a few pages of A4 so easy to hide inside a jacket. I've never seen one in uniform or dressed in a business suit. Maybe that scares off the people they're looking for - like rattling off a full name wouldn't. I keep asking questions about why and what kind of documents... and then they have to tell you. At least they've all told me. Never mind I might not have been entirely honest with them but after Terminator "Are you Sarah Conner" who would be? But it could have been something else.

This one I've heard described as pavlov beating skinner. Ie the conditioned response or the one they do without thinking - beats the trained response ie the one by operant conditioning. So - it is extremely difficult (tho not impossible) to train a dog to go against its instinct. Ie for a greyhound, chasing the rabbit thing is going to win over any training to stay inside a fence. Or maybe just more training is required? I had a horse, that learned from another horse - how to test an electric fence with one's whiskers, but also that a quick zap from the fence was well worth the payoff of long grass on the other side. So both of these horses would put their heads under the fence strap and run.

Snook asking for someone by their full name is what sheriffs with summons documents do. And maybe police with arrest warrants but definitely court summons. So it can happen if person hasn't updated their electoral roll when they moved and their name comes up for jury duty. And it can happen if they're wanted in court for something else and they gave a false address or incomplete address, or they used to have your address and haven't been caught for x years. I have had the experience several times of someone coming to the door and rattling off a full name. One time it was to summons a witness for a court case. Another was for my neighbour, I think, but I'd never heard his full name before. And he'd moved out. That summons guy asked me to pass on the documents and I refused. Yikes. And I've had it a couple of times for jury duty. I just find it's best when someone rattles off lots of names, that the person isn't home, and no I can't pass on the documents either. If it was something you wanted to do, they wouldn't need a summons.

I don't think a punishment that has never been experienced has any effect on the rate of desired response. The drug courier does the behaviour because they have experienced the reward of lots of money or drugs. The punishment has to be applied consistently, every time they do the behaviour to have effect in reducing the rate of the undesired response (eg transporting drugs). In the case of death being the punishment - it will completely reduce the undesired response but have little to no effect on other couriers. And yes based on learning science, most of our prison system is counter productive. As far as the mother correcting the puppy. Hopefully she gives some warning (cue) first and follows that up with the correction - which may only be to limit the puppy's opportunity to behave undesirably (eg bite mum). So puppy learns to back off if it hears the growl ie there will be no reward for continued approach. And it learns that if there is no growl on approach, the opportunity for the reward of a feed is there. But the lesson that lasts longest - is the one of reward for approach (for feed).

Sometimes the burglars take the time to drug a big dog or worse. But a nice scary dog would stop the opportunists.

Given that the fallout from the same punishment can be unpredictable - ie it depends on how the dog perceives things and that depends on each individual dog and its life experiences - seems enough of a good reason to avoid it. If it's hard to control, manage and measure in a laboratory, consider how much harder it is to control in a normal training environment. While I hate referencing wiki, this seems to explain all the techinical terms and the science really well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement In particular

In South Australia, it is legal for a dog to defend its family and property. And ancient pensioners have been aquitted of wrong doing when they shot their intruders with shot gun. A shot gun might be more effective than a dog, but you'd have to be angry enough to actually use it.

But if you start at Agility SA... then you can usually join up at SAODC without doing grades 1 through 5 heelwork with them.

My ACDx was desexed at 8 weeks. She's 2.5 years old now, and I've not noticed any issues. But I'm just one anecdote - not a scientific study.

there's one at our club who runs at a lower height, who has a damaged front paw. She's not obviously lame though. Not sure if full on competition agility would be good for a dog with three legs. Dogs with four legs manage to injure themselves. So you might want to check with a vet for an opinion. Ideally one that does agility comps themselves. Of course there is always club training, where you can probably choose the jumping height and mock trials - same. So that would probably cover the mental stimulation. or why not doggy dancing?

I think - no that I'm going to be a breeder - but if I felt the dog was not suitable for breeding (eg genetic problems) I would only allow her to be rehomed desexed. If I felt the dog was suitable for breeding but I didn't want to keep then I'd negotiate with the buyer. Maybe sell with a surcharge that could be refunded on proof of desex (eg ear tattoo and vet letter). And I'd definitely provide written and verbal information on managing an entire dog/bitch. Ie that there is the pill available. What do do if the dog comes in season. How to manage for dogs balls problems (cancer) and costs and mess involved with breeding. And if I wanted to be in good with ANKC, I guess I'd expect the buyer to join an affiliate (Eg SACA) before buying the puppy.

Fall out - think nuclear fallout from a-bombs. Ie the bomb flattens this spot here but then contaminates with radioactive dust fallout everywhere downwind. So I'm curious - JoeK - what strategies would you use with the aggressive dog? Would you take an aggressive dog like this to a park with other dogs without retraining it somewhere else first?

I agree with this, Joe. It's my opinion that it is harder for a hander to get the punishment/correction method right. To get the timing right. That's why it is spectacular when you watch some of the top trainers, because their timing is so good for all types of reward and punishment combinations. But I'm not that good so I keep the corrections to a minimum. And I don't want scolding my dog to be a first option (because some of the training seminars I go to don't allow), so I try to practice other things. I have been known to say "Uh" at my dog when she goes to lick toast crumbs off my plate without permission. Sigh. It does stop her. LOL. Nope. No Way. If dog distracted and unhappy about other dogs in the park, I'd work at a distance where the dog was paying attention to me and not the scary dogs he wants to fight, and reward him paying attention to me. And then gradually I'd work on the edge of his distraction level ie moving closer to the distracting dogs then away then closer bit by bit... And we wouldn't go in the park until he could reliably pay attention to me, without being distracted or upset by the other dogs at all. Ideally I'd do some training with a grovel dog like mine, as distraction dog - to get the aggressive dog used to the idea that he doesn't need to attack all other dogs. Ie I wouldn't ignore him attacking. I'd limit his opportunity to do so - to zero. And I wouldn't scold him for showing upset, because that's good feedback for the trainer. Even the dogs that have been trained not to growl before they attack, first show tiny signs of discomfort. They fidget, their hackles go, they fixate on the other dog (ie get distracted). All this you want to pay attention and it means you're working too close. If dog wanted to eat me, I'd invite an expert in people aggressive dogs to help. That's way beyond anything I want to deal with.

It's supposed to make it easier for little dogs. Ie they can get all the way to the top before the things start to shift. Though I would have thought that had to do with the balance of the see saw. But you don't want them tilting themselves if it's a bit windy that day either.

The trouble with fallout - is that it suppresses the good behaviour. Ie it's what you didn't intend to train, by the dog associating the wrong behaviour with the correction. And given the potentially traumatic nature of correction - it maybe more difficult to fix the wrong association made using punishers, that it is to fix a wrong association made using rewards. If you're using adversives to stop a bad behaviour and that works - then it isn't "fallout". It's a semantics/word definition thing. Egs of fallout (ie what dog learns is not what owner intended): Scolding the dog for barking. Dog thinks owner is joining in and barks more. Scolding and hitting a dog for growling at another dog. Dog learns to stop growling, but will attack directly instead. Ie teaches the dog to attack with no warning. Scolding and rubbing a dogs nose in it for toiletting inside the house. Dog learns to hide when it goes to the toilet. So owner doesn't find it. And dog may just learn to hide from owner. Alpha rolling a dog. Dog learns to fear handler and may opt for the direct attack without warning especially if alpha rolled for growling. Scolding and jerking by the neck, a dog that barks at something unusual in the park. Dog learns to associate pain with the something unusual. And may attempt to attack the something in order chase it off to avoid the pain.

I love border terriers. Very chatty and very enthusiastic about life ie not laid back about anything. I think Chewbacca's voice is based on the border terrier chat. And you won't have any rodents in your back yard. I met a cairn x border (breeder breeds both and had an oops). And it was over the top excitable. But um, I used to make it worse by super enthusiastic greetings. Eventually the owner rehomed it because she couldn't cope. Unlike my dog, you couldn't leave that one alone in the car without it ripping the seats to bits. PS all the borders I've met are friendly with other dogs. But they all bark - unless you train them not to.