Mrs Rusty Bucket

Can someone please explain to my ACDx that it's ok for her to assist with the quick dispatch of mice that the trap caught but didn't kill. My brother's staffy has no trouble dispatching things like chooks and rats. To the OP, dogs are in the moment creatures. Smacking the dog and putting it out will not save any future guinea pigs from the exact same fate, because the dog has no connection between its act and yours. Random punishment of dog can have unexpected fallout - like the dog hiding from your OH or attacking your OH.

My dog does that to get the warm place on my bed. She says - gotta get up, let me out, busting... And so I open the door, let her out and I go to the loo, and she keeps my bed warm. I've learned to pull up the bed spread so she's not in my bed. And I've learned to check the back steps for wet paw prints ie if dry steps - dog needs to go out again and be supervised.

Yes, dog must enter at the end you indicate with the first pole on their left shoulder. Which makes working with just two poles a bit arbitary, ie there is no set direction unless you set one, and you must set one and be consistent. With four poles it gets more obvious. And what 2x2 does is teach you to "work the arc" ie sending your dog from various positions around the "entry" so the dog learns to find the right entry by itself so you don't always have to supervise the run and you can be on either side of the poles or going somewhere else and the dog will complete the weaves properly. Do get the dvd set. It helps so much.

I'm doing it and a few others from my dog club are. And quite a few that when to the Susan Garrett seminar last November are as well. There is so much stuff. Selling point is 5 minutes training a day - but I think I'm doing hours and hours of study to go with it. Sigh.

My mum described the Aussie Terrier as a "self exercising house dog". Ours would do high speed laps up the lounge, through the dining room, up the hall back to the lounge room door and around and around, for about three laps, that was usually enough. I'd recommend a bedlington terrier. Medium, non/low shedding (would need clipping), happy to go for a walk around the paddocks or be a couch potato.

If I was trying to take notes at a meeting and the pen clagged out and I had no other pen, I'd stop "writing" meeting notes I guess. I thought the definition of a re-inforcement was something that "encouraged" the behaviour ie increased it. I also thought that talking to a dog was attention on the dog, and the dog tends to find that encouraging, hence ignoring it and saying nothing when you don't want to encourage a behaviour like jumping on you. (they're now recommending this technique for training children - go figure). Sorry - what was the question again? PS, I imagine there would be a limit on how far a behaviour could be increased. Eg you can't make dog run faster than that dog can run. You can train it to run flat out on command but not faster than its own max speed.

It's sad you can't do anything about noisy children or petrol heads. I just found out that my neighbour across the road thought my dog was barking - when it was dog belonging to the neighbour next to me. That dog barks a lot, the neighbour has no idea how to train it not to, I've made some suggestions about training it to come (use a happy voice always) and giving it something else to do like a squirrel dude. And bringing it over for play dates so it's more interested in sleeping than barking. But he just yells at it. How's that working for you, mate? But the dog doesn't bark all night which is good. Have had experience of an SWF that barked all the time I was in my back yard and when I went into my bedroom or out of it, and at possums. It would bark at the possums all night. No kidding. So I just talked the neighbour directly. A few times but eventually he sorted the problem. Not sure how tho, again - they had no idea how to train the dog not to bark. They had another dog that I trained not to bark (with the hose) but SWF wasn't as smart as the first dog.

LoL I expect my dog to do that to stuffed toys / socks / pillow slips. At least your duna survived intact. Evil Hound shredded her duna. Not getting another one any time soon.

I've got mixed feelings about RSPCA, but I'm considering donating some money towards "Shelley's Cats" since they finally came to the party and agreed to look after them. Not sure about the walk date. Got a squillion other things on in winter once the hockey season starts. At least there is no dog obedience/agility comp on in town that weekend.

I have a meter in my back yard and a sign "beware the dog" on my gate. Most of the meter readers knock on my door to make sure the dog is secure before entering. One did not - and while my dog barked a lot at him, she kept her distance. I've tried to find evidence on the legal database of the "beware the dog" sign being an addmission of liability. I have found none. I think it's a myth or the law has been changed so it's ok for a dog to defend it's property. SA has the same exemption for dog bite ie uninvited stranger in the back yard is fair game. If you do have a dangerous dog, I believe you have to put a sign saying "Dangerous dog" (and have it secured in an escape proof run). If you're not going to lock the meter reader out, it helps to have a sign so they're not surpised by the dog, or peg the gate open and let it out. I always take "beware" to mean "caution" or "be aware" or "take heed" the same as you might for a step or pot hole. Which are only dangerous if you're not paying attention.

I think you could teach it like 2x2 weaving, starting with "two poles" and having an arbitary reward line so the dog enters where you want and gets rewarded along the imaginary line where the jump would be, at right angles to an imaginary string line joining the two poles. And then you add two more poles to make the square and only reward when the dog goes in where you want and out where you want. And set it up so it looks like the competition. Reward along the line the dog should be travelling when they get it correct. Always practice the setup as it is in competition - ie you're standing square to the jump and the dog must jump from your left to your right. And once the dog is jumping the direction you want, try to reward for enthusiasm and speed, ie a dog going fast, is less likely to walk on the planks. If you're doing agility, only reward when the dog goes in at the end that you point and jumps correctly. I guess it will be up to the dog to notice the alignment of the planks. I try to set my dog so she's running towards the jump and reward for jumping the jump as it is in front of her, straight. Ie I have to travel in a straight line past the jump and I can't turn (to signal her to change direction) until she's landed. I have seen the occasional dog do some very strange things to the broad jump, including tippy toeing between the planks.

I really like the one of the black lab with the green blurry backgound. I am a little distracted by the bright collar - which I like but I suspect isn't the main focus of the photo. As balance goes I like to break the photo up into thirds ie nine boxes and aim to get what you want the viewer to be drawn to on the third lines and not so much in the middle or on the half way lines. I think you've done this fairly well with this green photo. And the tiger photo. I love that one. I like the shape of it and the contrast that draws you to the tiger's eyes and I like how well defined the whole face is. The lab with the funny hat photos. I like the funny hat. Not sure if the lab likes it or would rather eat it. I like the self control that this shows. In both photos, I think I'd like the face to be more defined... Or maybe a creative horizontal crop on the first one. That just has the toy along the top third, and the eyes along the bottom third, at least that's the part of the photo that grabs my attention the most. It might look better on a Mac ie the nose and jaw might stand out better from the dog's chest, PCs can be annoying like that. I like the shape / composition and colours of the GSD pic but his nose seems blurry and I think I'd like it better if the eyes and nose were both in focus. I dunno how you fix that.

A person must not set at large any vermin. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/con...000186/s17.html I think you will find it's illegal to release a rat, mouse, rabbit, cat, goldfish (carp) and other vermin into the wild in Australia. If you really care for its welfare, either leave it be, or trap it in a smooth sided cage trap and take it to the vet for humane dispatch. Personally, I live with the fact I have to kill some things to live. Where do you draw the line between bacteria, weeds, flies, ants, snails, mice, rabbits, goats, camels etc. Mice and rats are bad, but the worst spreader of disease among humans is - other humans - so you really should get mad at the person who comes to work sick or lets their sick kids go to school or ride public transport etc.

You need to tell the new council the micro chip number and the dog's new address. And it's probably a good idea to tell the old council you and the dog are moving - even if you were renting - so nobody tries to return the dog to the wrong home. You need to tell the apropriate microchip register your new details. There was a website that would tell you which register your microchip was with, but I can't find it. You can list with more than one microchip register. This usually involves visiting a vet to get the microchip (and ownership hopefully) verified. It's probably a good idea to have your pet's microchip on the register the vet uses. I went in to get mine checked, it wasn't on the one my vet uses (because AWL used a different register), and the link was broken so the vet couldn't check the other registry either. So for every register the dog is with, the details need to be updated. Probably the most important one is the mobile phone number.

Susan Garrett says as part of her game "itsyerchoice" that just looking at a handfull of food is "reinforcing" to a dog. Or encourages it. So you flash the handful of food when the dog is doing what you want, and the dog will do more of that behaviour it connects with the sight of the food. So it's being rewarded by the sight of the food and encouraged by it but doesn't actually get to eat anything. I think the ink example assumes a lot of things about what people find rewarding. Some people will write even when they have no reader as far as they know. And some people will write with a shell or their finger in the sand - something totally transient. And some people will scratch up a wall with the nib even when the ink or paint from their pen has run out. Some people will draw with their finger in the air. Not even a transient mark. It's like if the tree falls in the wood and nobody is there to hear it, does it make any noise? reinforcement - increases a behaviour. I would associate the good or bad of it with the resulting behaviour - is that a behaviour you want to encourage (ie good) or discourage (bad). Is a bit like a forum post. Lots of views is usually re-inforcing (if the writer notices), lots of responses may or may not be depending on how the poster receives them. Does the poster want friendly reaction, or a big drama?

There was an election and labor in NSW got the boot. By a very long way. But I don't see how that's going to help the puppy farmers. I'd like Wran gone too but he's doing a really good job pretending to be a liberal while the libs run around like headless chooks. Ie any chook that sticks its head up gets it promptly chopped off.

Looks like kelpie x staffy (x) to me. I would also recommend a head halter or *front* attach harness to aid with control.

A whole bunch of half truthes does not make a fact. Sigh. There are some scary problems with some of the registered pure bred breeders and some scary stuff in the breed standards eg bulldog "the larger the head the better" WTF? http://www.ankc.org.au/Breed_Details.aspx?bid=183 But random cross breeding won't fix the problems. Neither will assuming the problem (eg poodles high strung and snappy?) is in the breed and not the lack of training skill the owner has. Most pet poodles seem smarter than most of their owners. In my experience, the owner is being successfully trained, not the dog... However I think that most puppy buyers (the market) want that cute puppy they see in the window. Which has been bred for profit and to look insanely cute and not much else. And many of them come with loads of health problems ie the healthy dog is not here either. I do think if the ANKC and similar bodies around the world don't pull their collective fingers out, and start requiring breed standards that produce healthy dogs of sound temperment (appropriate to the breed), and encouraging breeders who do the right thing (what is that anyway) to breed for the average puppy buyer (but not pet shop) that they (ANKC) may die a slow death of a thousand independent unaffiliated "breed" clubs. A lot of people like poodle crosses - they imagine they don't shed and they're somehow easier to manage.

Thanks Steve (K9Pro) - that's what I've been saying since my first post in this thread - we don't know why the GR attacked, and there is something off about the people that live with it. I think that one reason (apart from the violence between humans in the house) that this dog could get a second chance, is not because it is a GR, but because it showed no aggression towards the camera crew that filmed it in the back yard (and there's no way my grovel dog would do that, she'd be all bark and growl, ferocious), and the dog was able to be removed without showing any aggression to the council staff. I'm not sure some other dogs that had just been in a fight like that, would be able to be removed without being first netted and sedated.

If you want to be really scared about marketing, listen to this (or read it after wednesday 30th) http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stor...011/3170235.htm All in the mind - article about neuro marketing or how messing with our heads sells stuff.

My EH was desexed when I got her, but if a vet did something like this to me for non-urgent surgery, I would say "that's an awful lot to think about, I think I'll go home with my dog now". Ie b*gger the surgery appointment. I think it's best for vets to be upfront about costs. It would be nice if they were a bit more consistent on price, but I guess none of them have the same rent or expenses either and it's up to us to shop around. I think I'd be more angry if I went to pick EH up from surgery and the vet said it will cost $XYZ more than we quoted you because we did all this extra stuff without asking you first and for which we charge way more than anyone else in the area. For emergency surgery I would expect an estimate on price range ie reasonably expected lower range if all goes well and upper range if it doesn't, and an estimate on doggy quality of life post surgery. Some people are ok with spending what ever it takes, no matter what, and some are not.

What if one of the house mates attacked another with a knife, and the dog got excited, barked a lot and got blood from the stab wound on it. The road worker guy said that he saw somebody with a cut on his hand - not a dog bite. And I read somewhere that there was some more info on the 7pm report to the effect that there had recently been some non dog related violence at that house. So we all could be completely wrong about the GR. Having said that, I have met a few savage GRs. Scary big aggressive untrained monsters.

I'm not fond of blurry photos. And I'm way over sunsets with black silouettes in the front. I kind of like sunset photographed looking away from the sun tho. I love that purple grey colour it gets.

My dog would behave somewhat worse than that GR was, facing a camera crew. She'd put on the fiercest barking killer attack dog keep-out-of-my-yard display. There would be no way she'd back off and nick around the corner where she couldn't see the camera crew either. But with her it's all bluff, she keeps her distance. Even the latest gas meter reader ignores it. Sigh. The GR looked like the caged tigers in pens too small at the zoo - all that back and forth.

The caravan parks at Tooleybuck, Ouyen and Balranald will let you stay with a dog. Not sure about Nerandera and Hay but I expect there is similar. You can have a dog on lead (subject to owner's consent but it would have to be an obnoxious dog or owner or both), and in your tent. One of them was ok with dog in cabin (They had a dedicated doggy cabin - I think that was Balranald). There is a free camping ground (with ants) at Hay on the river. You turn north at the roundabout and drive over the bridge and take the first? left and follow the signs to the "boat ramp". I found all the places along the rivers including Hay, Tooleybuck and Neranderra in November populated by the biggest nastiest stingingest mozzies ever. The size of flying golf balls, with a sting like a bee. And they like dogs too. I was lucky my stuff was soaked in Permethrym but the dog was only safe in the car. They stung her something special. I stopped at Tooleybuck one night (2008?) and was kept awake all night by the harvest trucks going around the corner that the caravan park is on. And on the way back Ouyen - kept awake by the road workers camping there but they were gone in November 2010. Ouyen had no lawn for camping on and an awful lot of prickles and ants and it's right next door to horse trainers (and horses) who seem to be up all night. There was a sort of free pull up area (with toilets) next to the football oval on the railway line side, but I felt safer in the caravan park. If you're feeling really sneaky you could probably get away with camping the other side of the football oval (not on a weekend). in November 2010, I camped on the way over at Ouyen having failed to make Balranald. Ouyen mozzies were not too bad (by comparison). And on the way back I camped in Canberra with friends, and skipped stopping on the way back. Once I get past Ouyen I feel like I'm almost home. Which is crap but I feel driving into darkness isn't so bad when you hit the dual lane highway the other side of Tailem Bend. I don't like doing Sydney Adelaide via Mildura - too many stops, slow points (towns) and tourists in caravans, although the road on the North side of the river was pretty good. I got my dog friendly places to stay out of the RAA / NRMA dog friendly holiday places book. Suggest you take every mozzie repellant system you have if you're planning on camping at any spot near water. Which is um, everywhere (except southern WA), but along the Murrumbidgee and Murray is particularily bad at the moment.