Mrs Rusty Bucket

JoeK Learning theory is fact, and well proven by scientists. It's not just someone's opinion. It is confusing in the terminology but there are two sorts of training - classical conditioning (think Pavlov's dog) and Operant Conditioning (skinner box?) A re-inforcer - encourages a particular behaviour ie makes it more likely to occur in the future. So with a lot of dogs, food works well as a re-inforcer. But with some dogs, other things work better. And it depends on what frame of mind the dog is in. Ie depending where the dog is - stress and excitement wise - different things work as "re-inforcers" and if the dog is over the top excited/stressed - nothing much will work until you can calm it down. A punisher - is anything that discourages a particular behaviour or makes it less likely to occur in the future. The trouble with using punishers is that you can get harmful fall out eg, the electric collar zap is something most dogs want to avoid. If the dog does not know how to make the zap stop, or cannot think clearly enough to do what is required (it hasn't been conditioned), the dog is equally likely to run away from you at full speed as to you. http://www.dogmanners.com/conditioning.html

They played Paul Kelly "Good light in Broome" on the radio this arvo - I reckon that one would be good too along with a whole lot of his songs. But that one has a lot of stuff about dogs in it. And whistling for dogs, which could get interesting in a dog competition.

So you need something a bit more obscure but still good for a sing along. What about show tunes, or australian folk songs. good for singalong Happy talk - from South Pacific. Hair - from Hair the musical Aint got no - from Hair (I'm just a girl who) Caint say no - Oaklahoma Any dream will do (joseph technicolour coat) I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General - Pirates of Penzance (Gilbert and Sullivan) Walking songs: Footloose - Kenny Loggins Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles Hit the Road Jack - various Novelty songs? Alley Oop - I know George Thorogood did this one but not who wrote it Bad to the bone - George Thorogood Eagle Rock - Daddy Cool Crocodile Rock - Elton John My boomerang won't come back - various Tie me Kangaroo down sport - Rolf Harris Aus Folk songs: Queensland Drovers Click go the Shearers Botany Bay Bold Tommy Payne (now there's one with lyrics to crack you up). http://folkstream.com/108.html Women in Uniform - Skyhooks Boys Light Up - Australian Crawl Saturday Night - Cold Chisel Addicted to Love - Robert Palmer That don't impress me much - Shania Twain

fake statistics - yup. http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1194&bih=796&q=statistics+on+fake+statistics&aq=f&aqi=g-j1&aql=&oq= Leela17 about the pill thing. Try embedding the pill in a sardine (my dog and I like the Brunswich ones in olive oil). Or if you have some fatty bacon (from the butcher not supermarket), cook it up till it's crispy, spoon off the fat into a tin or china bowl, let cool until safe to touch (goes white again) and smear the tablet in that. It's hard enough to get off your fingers, let alone the tablet, and my dog just inhaled her last lot of bacon fat coated pink worming tablets. We didn't even get to the bowl of sardines. Is interesting what JoeK says about GSD being easy to fire up, and yet Leela17's doesn't seem interested. I think a bit of Premack - ie you need to do what I want so you can get what you want for the dog, and generalization. Ie dog club training starts when we get in the car, behave nicely - we proceed, start barking or jumping around - we stop. Get to car park, and get out nicely - we proceeed. Dog pulls - we stop until dog stops pulling and behaves nicely... I've let that slip a bit with my dog. Ie fine for obedience/heelwork class we can go on loose lead but for agility night - pulls like a train. And cos I'm carrying so much crap - I don't want to stop. Sigh. will have to sort that - or make two trips one for the crap and one for the dog (with only proceeding on loose lead not pulling lead). I also have a bit of generalisation of habitat problem with my dog. The only place she seems a bit vague about what "sit" means is at the back door. Ie I don't open the door until she sits. But she doesn't seem to understand the word. So I put her in a sit (one hand on back end, and one hand under chest) or praise like party if she sits on her own. But she's still S L O W. Unless she's really busting and then she's sitting and barking... sigh. So what does Leela17's dog get excited about? What does it choose to do when it's ignoring her?

I wish I could put my brother's video of his old staffy and the new kitten. You know the face hugging monster from Alien? That was the kitten, claws out and all. And the staffy just used her kitten wrapped face as a floor duster. No apparent damage to either of them. PS my dog got very upset with a horse that didn't seem to understand doggy for "BACK OFF". And she also was very worried by a sheep that didn't understand that it was supposed to run away from a dog, not approach and sniff ie I think the pet sheep thought it was a dog.

I stick aloe vera - direct from the cactus leaf on cuts and wounds, it's cool and soothing and tastes like the bitter end (not likely to be licked more than once). It's also supposed to reduce scaring. I second talking to the vet. The itches may also be an infection that is not being controlled by the antibiotic you have. Or it could just be the way that all scabs and wounds get itchy.

A supply of make-dog-vomit might be handy for getting a bait back. Very salty water will do, but it's hard to get the dose right, same with a crystal or two of washing soda. There must be something more reliable and less risky. Vomit treatment not so good for dealing with something spikey like squid jag that will do just as much damage coming back as it did going in. Sounds like fun. Spinifex or triodi? is no fun for dogs - the tips of the stuff breaks off and makes for little pus filled infections. And there are evil pandanas? palms in the Kimberley with fish hooks along the edges of the leaves - ground level and up. I'm sure a dog will learn to stay away from those. I wore leather gaiters (from equestrian shop - "chappettes") for our entire trip. My mum managed to collect two ticks, one on her ear lobe - looked like a ruby stud - oops. And another one down her shirt. Made me really paranoid. But I didn't go crawling over rocks following a "paint" trail that turned out to be splashes of white bird droppings. Oops again. Loads of people have dogs up there so it must be ok.

You could try a dog club though I'm not sure I'd take the dog for your first visit if he's too strong. Definitely use the ball obsession to get what you want. Ie dog does what you want, you reward him with a ball throw. Dog doesn't do what you want, you put the ball away. Google "premack principle" Dol Threads on perth trainers http://www.google.com.au/search?q=perth+trainers+site%3Awww.dolforums.com.au&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=&redir_esc=&ei=G8bcTYGAPJKesQOR0LWXBw or ones from the past year http://www.google.com.au/search?q=perth+trainers+site%3Awww.dolforums.com.au&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-au%3AIE-SearchBox&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=,qdr:y Also investigate clicker training. You probably could use the ball instead of a treat, but get him to take a treat and his reward for taking the treat is ... the ball. So you transfer some of the value he has for the ball to the treat and to working with you. http://www.clickandtreat.com/Clicker_Training/clicker_training.html And when you finally have the great recall and loose lead walking - investigate the sport of flyball...

She's been doing a good job on her own. Crossed a football oval last week to join in BBQ. Argh... So too wet for dog club tonight? I think so.

Anything Abba - except I suspect Dancing Queen has been done. If you leave me can I come too - Mental As Anything - good for clowns and you can do stuff with the lyrics eg follow each other and stays. These boots are made for walking - Nancy Sinatra Jump - Pointer Sisters Diamonds on the soles of her shoes - Paul Simon - lots of his stuff is good sing along Heart of Glass - Blondie Oh Lord its hard to be humble - Bette Midler Beast of Burden - Bette or Rolling Stones Boogie woogie bugle boy (somebody more recent did one of these harmony songs but I forget who) Release me - Deborah Conway Let me be (now) - Xavier Rudd Message to my girl - Split Enz My Mistake - Split Enz One Step Ahead - Split Enz Weather With you - Crowded house No Woman No Cry - Bob Marley? Stray Cat Strut - Stray Cats Baggy Trousers - Madness You are my sunshine - Old USA folk Song Pub with no beer - Slim dusty I get around - Beach Boys - ok you'll be walking fast but everyone will be singing.

I think I can make this one. No hockey that weekend and it's Sunday - bonus. I put it in the book anyway. I will be keeping my dog on lead until we've said hello and checked everybody out, and not let her off unless there are no other picnics (she's a chronic picnic raider now, sigh) and no trouble with other dogs.

How reliable would he be if a few dingos came through the camp looking for soap or scraps? Or the dogs associated with the property that you camp on? Or what about a few cows, donkeys or roos? I have opened the door of the tent and looked out to find the tent surrounded by cows. I've also had swag and tent thoroughly inspected by dingos. It's weird to wake up to a sniffing sound and pray it doesn't change to the sound of a cocked leg.

I get my dog fired up with games of chase me (not the dog), or tug. But she's a lot smaller than a GSD. I've been wondering how people fire up GSD because they're so big, a lot of the games that work with smaller dogs are not so good with GSD. I do know one who gets very excited about food. Nothing like skipping a meal and changing the treats to something more yummy like roast beef cut up into little pieces and hoping your hand doesn't disappear to the wrist when rewarding a GSD?

I won't get insurance with Allianz ever. Bad experience there. I do have PIA but they bumped my premium last time by more than 50% even though I'd had no claims at all and they blamed Hollards for the price hike and yet I saw that the other insurers reviewed by Choice at the same time did not have this problem. So I am looking to switch but not to Allianz. I'd rather have a flat excess than having to pay 20% of every bill, so probably not prosure either.

when we're out for a walk, and my evil hound detects a person carrying food (or dog treats) she will bark at them, do the paddle dance, if she gets any encouragement she sometimes jumps on them (tho she goes straight on lead if she does that), and then she goes through every trick she knows, drop, sit, drop, roll over, stand, sit, paddle, rooo rooo, etc. And the hand head butt, ie she head butts the hand holding the treat to get it. She doesn't do any of this to me. She does come and do a nice heel-sit, or a fast recall-drop for me. Paddle is when she tap dances with her front feet while in a sit or drop position.

I think I'd prefer other dogs not to approach my dog in the crate. I worry about dogs that pee on uprights ie the crate corners. If it's another dog from the house and it's a friendly approach and the dog in the crate was not upset or distracted or excited by it, then I don't see a huge problem. But if there are going to be times when it's not going to be ok (eg at shows or Susan Garrett style crate training stage 4+) - then I would not allow. Some dogs go in their crate specifically to get a break from puppies.

Treats At puppy school - we used kitten kibble (I like optimum) but I think the vet gave us Whiskers... because it has higher fat than dog food, so they like it better (now you know why your dog prefers the catfood). And they had cheese - which my dog would not work for. still not that thrilled with it. She loves any kind of meat, cooked is better. But raw mince is good if somewhat awkward for training. So cook a bit of extra steak and chop it tiny. Or roast chicken or boiled thigh fillets. She also works for promite on wholemeal bread, jatz, chicken biscuits, chippies (any sort), carrots, dried fish, liver, ham, metwurst especially garlic metwurst, fritz, rawhide strips, roo strips, dirty kleenex and anybody else's treats. Ie somebody else's treats - doesn't matter if it's super coat kibble is always better than the fresh cooked steak I have. Sigh. I buy zip lock snack bags and use those to stop my pockets or bum bag getting yukky. I have a friend who got herself a "fisherman's jacket" ie with lots of pockets which she uses to hold her treats. She thinks that helps stop her dog getting treatbag-wise. It is good to mix up where the treats are coming from. I sometimes use a tin mug for training - if it's not healwork and you can combine that with training the dog not to steal food. Ie dog can stop itself from trying to hoover out the mug of treats - it gets a treat for showing self control... (Freudian bread)

I suspect it still feels good. It's got not a lot to do with wanting to procreate.

For me, it means they like being in there, go in when you ask them or of their own accord, if you ask them to go in, they don't come out until you release them, and they sit in there calmly until you let them out, they don't scream and yell. If they go in of their own accord - they can let themselves out.

Susan Garrett mentioned one of her next online courses is going to be how to train contacts. She didn't say which sort. She didn't talk about running contacts at the last seminar in Australia either, except to say that the 2o 2o are more reliable, but if she's pushed for time, she takes the risk. The trouble with the running contact - is sometimes the judges call it wrong. Much harder for them to do that with a stopped/slow contact. Her immediate next online course is likely to be about puppy training. Can't think why. ;)

worse is "a dog that's wagging his tail is friendly" Yup, that's why my dog wags her tail when she spots a cat or a mouse. She wants to make friends. NOT.

I've seen people go into a blubbering mess at the sight crawling grovelling completely friendly dog. They're definitely out there. I agree the cyclist used unreasonable force and was a nutter. I find the people who start yelling at you and your dog, give you no chance to respond or call your dog or do anything helpful, they just go beserk. Yet another good reason to keep your dog away from strangers. And keep an eye on the strangers as well as your dog.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ipad/cyclist-stabs-man-and-dog-in-park/story-fn6bfm6w-1226052801852 ran / rushed how does someone who can't read dogs tell the difference? What do most dogs do when their favourite tennis ball is produced ready for throw? What happens to a bicycle when a big dog runs into or under the front wheel? No excuse for stabbing the dog - and given the photo in the second story - owner seems a bit prone to exaggeration - ie dog seems to have most of his head still there.

I think the one Secret Kei linked for search and rescue looks close to what you want. http://www.softouchconcepts.com/ I use the sensible front attach harness to stop the pulling. There is a more "up market" version - that has wider straps and stronger attach points - but I've never had a problem with the sensible. I can grab the strap that goes over the back of my dog if I want, but doing that can fire the "opposition reflex" in the dog, so the dog pulls harder towards what you are trying to stop them going for. If you let the pivot action of the front attach point do its job, the dog ends up facing you instead of the object of its distraction. You could maybe see if there is a way to fit a ring / attach point to the front of the harnesses you do like. If the dog is attached at the front and is still trying to pull, it's usually the bits near the shoulders and under the armpits that get a work out (rubbed), not the front of the chest.

I'm with poodlefan on this one. I think the guy doing the stabbing was possibly some kind of nutter. Anyone going for a walk could be some sort of dog phobic, non dog speaking nutter. And that's why you don't let your dog rush up to them. I'm lucky - for the most part - my dog crawls then rolls over and puts her paws in the air - 2m out from greeting - if I don't call her back because the person looks terrified or crazy or is a wheezing possum imitating jogger. If she doesn't come back when I call, I'm mortified and apologetic and extra vigilant about recall training and her being on lead where there are potential/new distractions. Eg she doesn't get to be off lead at all when there are toddlers around. Or picnics... Personally I've seen people seriously injured by rushing dogs who have crashed into them and knocked them over, or jumped on them. And I don't like being used as a slobber and mud towel for soggy labradors, or having big dogs sit on my dog when I'm trying to put her on lead so we can go home. Or having little dogs trying to hump my dog while the little dog owner yells blue murder at their dog for embarrasing them (as if the owner is not doing a perfectly good job of that on their own). I'm for having a discussion with other people about whether they want an interaction with my dog or not.