Mrs Rusty Bucket

They look ok except for the bit about basing their training methods on "common sense" and bagging the "all positive" trainers also known as rewards based training. Anyone who says they use all positive training methods - doesn't really understand learning theory/science. Because positive and negative are technical terms for adding or removing something so adding something the dog doesn't like - is technically "positive" ie hitting it. And taking something away that it does like is "negative" ie putting the dog back on lead (removing freedom). Hope I got that right this time (sigh). The thing that gets me is the price. For about $80, I get a whole year membership to my obedience dog club and as many classes as I can get to between Feb and November inclusive. They are supposedly half hour classes but often go longer, and you have the benefit of lots of volunteer instructors with varied training techniques and experience. There are many dog training clubs and they have many different approaches to training. Ie some use treats / choke chains / clickers, some don't, some are happy for owners to use whatever works. And if I want to compete, I'm half way there to having the right memberships (in SA also need to join the state organisation). For $250 for 8 weeks of one hour (1 hour exceeds the attention span of most owners let alone their dogs) you'd want to get your money's worth. And if you don't want to use punishment on your dog and they do, based on their "common sense" then what do you do?

Weirdest x breed I've met... ACD x Dalmation. Perfect ACD shape, perfect Dalmation spots, even not blurry, no ticking or blobby patches. Pointy ears and ACD coat. Was a lovely dog, with a slight tendency to ACD grumpiness, which my dog quickly defused. Also seen a brindle kelpie x corgi. Another really nice natured dog but slightly mutant around the feet unfortunately.

If you do a site search of gumtree.com.au - there are some husky x pommeranain puppies available. And yes - the pom was the mum. Apparently it was a bigger than standard pom and a smaller than standard husky. Can't tell you how wrong I think it is. The breeder thinks there should be more (tho not with those particular parents) because they're so cute. ARGH.

My dog always rolls over on her own... The other dog might "tell her" to do it but she always volunteers it. This is what Farley Mowat decribed. If one wolf volunteers this, the other wolf is not allowed to hurt him/her, though they will stand over the upside down ones' throat with their teeth barred. I have seen dogs volunteer this and the other dog continue to inflict damage and pain - because the other dog is broken by dog (and wolf) social rules. These are the worst dogs, the beserker ones. When my dog does the "kill the antelope hold" on another dog, it's always with that other dog's consent. For her, she's just playing.

Myth. Wolves do not "alpha roll" each other. And the lead wolf - usually female - stays in the middle of the pack and the scout wolf leads - as this is the most dangerous place to be. I've read Farley Mowat's book "never cry wolf" (movie is a joke). It is a story about his experiences studying wolves and the pack behaviour is nothing at all like what CM talks about. http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/ima...20statement.pdf What I dislike most about CMs programs is people do "try this at home" and it is horrible to watch. What I dislike next most is CM's completely flawed reasoning on why what he does works (if it really works at all - I see more frightened dogs than happy dogs at the end of his shows).

You have to add the dog further away... and then build the relationship from there. If the DA dog cannot pay attention, the distracting dog is too close. However I do believe there are some bonkers dogs out there for which a bucket of chicken and one training session will not do it. Some of those dogs have brain injuries or tumours, and it wouldn't matter what a trainer did, the dog could not think straight.

What Wazzat said. I think these breeds can be good for allergy sufferers - so might be a place to start... bedlington terrier, portuguese water dog, poodle. The man who bred the first labradoodles in search of a guide dog that didn't set off allergies, said that it took about 8 litters to get one puppy that was suitable. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/nov...ors-idea-regret Note - he used hair and saliva samples to test for allergy.

Henrietta25 If you don't think the breeder was aware, I would recommend phoning them or asking your vet (who might be calmer) to phone them and discuss the problem with them and how to test for it. I think even if they're unable or unwilling to compensate you (cost of puppy), maybe it would help them to know. It's possible they would be grateful for the info, or they might blow you off. Either way at least you tried to do the right thing by them. I would hope that they would be the sort of breeder who would want to know. All the best with your puppy now.

The response from one breeder who has two red flags in the response (deposit and offering no papers), I would not use to slam all breeders or give up trying. It's like a job interview or trying to get a book published... you could reasonably expect one response from 100 applications, and then you won't get so upset when you get one dodgy response from 5 applications. Also the best jobs (and dogs) come from word of mouth referral not internet ads or "breeder" websites. I got my ACDx as a 10 week old puppy from AWL. Several farmers I have met say she's pure ACD anyway. But they're farmers not dog show competitors. And her temperment as far as being a friendly dog goes, is brilliant. It did take some work in my part to train out her inclination to heel joggers, cars, bikes and tractor mowers but it's all good now. If you really want local (and I think that's a good thing), maybe ask the SA breeders to recommend someone in WA you could go meet. Or find out when the local agricultural shows are on in WA - every country town has one... and go meet some people and ask. ACD have not been a "show dog" for very long. I imagine most of the breeders would be cattle farmers, breeding for their own and friends' need for a good herding dog. And various cattle farmers would know who has the best dogs. If you do want an ACD for a city pet, you're going to need to put in some work training, and it would definitely help if the breeder knew that your dog was not going to be a mere backyard ornament which is what some people mean by "family pet".

Henrietta You could always ask the breeder to help. Unfortunately being listed on this site does not always mean the breeder is all that responsible by RSPCA standards. Or even by the ANKC code of ethics standards. Most are, some are not. http://kb.rspca.org.au/What-is-a-responsib...reeder_327.html In the meantime you can ask your vet to submit the info to this website. http://sydney.edu.au/vetscience/lida/ That way at least the problem is recorded and if there is a pattern of it, other people can be informed. Knowing something has happened, is much harder than proving it in a court of law. At this stage, the problem being "congenital" or hereditary may only be one vet's opinion. Could the breeder find another to state something different in a court of law. Do you have the funds to go to court - would it be worth it - ie would it cost you more or less than just stumping up for the vet bills. And at what point do you decide that the potential improved quality of life for the dog does not justify the interventions and opt for PTS. That's always a good question to ask the vet if it was their own dog - what would they do. Back in the "old days" nobody (no breeder?) would spend $5000 (or many times the cost of a puppy) on saving a deformed dog. They'd PTS. Having said that, my family spent thousands on hip operation for an aussie terrier who was not built right from birth. She had a good life without the hip joint tho. As much as an Aussie Terror can in a house full of teenagers.

I think if I can't get my dog to do what I want when I want, it's more a reflection on my lack of skill, not my lack of punishing the dog for doing something I don't want. With the right reward - you show the dog what you do want. With punishment - you don't show the dog what you do want. It might figure out that you don't want something but what to do instead - that behaviour you might like less. Eg you stop a dog from digging holes in the garden, it switches to digging holes in the lawn... But you could have taught the dog to dig holes in the doggy sand pit instead. I agree CM is fantastic at reading a dog, but I don't like many of his techniques he uses to train, or the end result in a lot of cases (ie one frightened dog - that he calls "submissive"). I started with a choke chain on my dog but have since learned a bunch of better techniques for training heel work and loose lead walking, so only use a flat collar or front attach harness now. It's hard to use reward based training when you want to train your dog not to do something like running down the street. But what I really needed was stuff like a much better recall, and giving my dog adversives was going to get me the opposite ie encourage her to run away.

look at that game, from control unleashed http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...amp;pid=3975300 Seems like just the thing to get my dog off the possum poo, and last wednesday it was a noisy minor on a very low tree branch, well within dog jumping range. Sigh. PS going to that thread, switched my thread display to "outline", can be fixed by going to the first post (top of page), clicking on options and selecting "standard" from the display mode (or whatever else you care to try out).

I was wondering what I would do if I found an injured dog by the road that was too big for me to lift, even if it was willing to let me. And what I would do if I didn't have a car, ie was walking my dog. I've tried to catch a couple of the local strays, with no success, they seem to know that being caught by not their boss is a bad thing. Others I've caught in my yard and called the council who have found the owners or collected the dog. But I couldn't do that with an injured dog.

There are some yankees trying to set up a register and a breed standard, and only breed lxp with lxp to get lxpxlxp (confused yet?) - so much for hybrid vigor there... Same deal for cocker spaniel x poodle. And there are a few other breeds trying to get ANKC (the Oz one) recognition / affiliation. Some make sense to me and some don't. I can't understand how a group can be anti ANKC because they're anti deliberate xbreeding, and then want to join the ANKC (USA for starters) and impose the same restrictions.

I think I would need someone who is just as good training people as dogs. Otherwise all the training my dog gets without me would be pointless.

Well there was the invisible hand signal that Ness did at the last competition... But there's probably some good ones on her youtube channel. I think I give mixed signals going by the dog's response (down, roll over, spin a circle, or finish around the back) for a "finish" but for a flip finish, I just slap my thigh on the side I want her.

I think the truth of how the dog felt about it would be when you tried to get the dog to go back in again. There is no way in hell I would ask my dog to go in one of those boxes. The second one - I can't see how it would soap up the dog's back and shoulders where the worst stinkiness my dog rolls in accumulates.

newbies to the show ring might find this entertaining and educational as well. "horrendous handling errors" http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...194647&st=0 it seems things can go wrong even to experienced show people.

Maybe a sheltie, but you'd need to train it to be good with kids. But they're smart dogs. Or a welsh springer spaniel - they're a bit like brittanies but slightly smaller and only come in chestnut and white. And very docile, good with kids. Or bedlington terrier? They don't shed much and cope fairly well with children - not snappy - just leave.

A friend used the bird netting - she put it near her dam where she'd seen a snake. It's not snake proofing, it just catches them, and they can't get out of it and so then the snake catcher has something to catch. I wouldn't put it everywhere, just strategic places you've seen snakes. Like where shed walls meet the floor or around water. The snake catcher guy was specific about the fold up method eg take a bit 6m long, fold in half (ie folded bit 3m long) then fold in thirds ie 1m long roll and then twist and scrunch up... The trouble with catching them - is that new snakes will move into the vacated territory. We used to live with a giant brown snake (3m+) in the feed shed where we agisted horses. There were dogs, children, horses but it never bothered anybody, we'd just make a lot of noise on approach to the shed and it would go in its hole under some pallets (ie the dogs could not get to it). It was one well fed snake too. We knew where it was, the snake catcher said removing it would just get us a new snake that didn't understand what to do when we were using the shed. Ie trouble. I used to wear knee high gum boots around that shed, and I would chuck a load of buckets through the door and wait a bit before I went in. Another friend used a snake equivalent to a rat trap to remove about 10 red belly black snakes from around her house. Not good but there were so many it was unsafe, they were coming inside the house.

My neighbour's dog barks at me and my dog when we're in the back yard. It's not an all the time thing. I think she mostly wants to play and I think if the neighbour brought her over, she'd do it less (cos she'd be knackered and sleep instead). I don't like going to his yard because he doesn't clean up after his dog, smokers, or fruit trees and it's an unhealthy mess. I am very slowly and sneakily training the neighbour's dog to not bark at me and my dog - by chucking a few treats over the fence when she's quiet. I have already trained my dog not to bark at her, that was pretty easy ie mine responded to the water pistol and being called. But mine doesn't get out there to self-reinforce when I'm not home. I have also mentioned to my neighbour my strategy for dealing with it, but he tends to join in (from the dog's Point of View), by barking and growling too. He doesn't get it (training an incompatible behaviour with reward).

I heard a snake catcher recommend a sort of six layer loose fold up and scrunch of some netting - the sort used to cover trees against birds and to put that where snakes had been seen or where you don't want them. It traps the snake, so it helps to check it regularily and call the snake catching guy to deal with it before it dies of starvation (oops).

Can you give us more information about the fence, and what's on the other side of it and what you've tried so far? And does it happen when you're home or only when you're out. When you're home you can distract your dogs (by calling them in happy voice, or using a water pistol aimed nearby), and then giving them treats when they come. Teach them to bark on command and reward for that, then teach them quiet/enough for in between. Having taught my dog to bark on command - she seems to realise barking's not for wasting. I keep her locked inside when I'm out.

JoeK I think you confuse an independent dog with dominant, but what you describe as dominant is not what I'd call a pack leader but the obnoxious wannabe - I've heard called a "beta" dog. This page describes different dog personalities fairly well but I don't think it's very scientific (or it needs some research studies to confirm). http://www.volhard.com/pages/pat.php Mostly 6’s - So independent that he doesn’t need you or other people Doesn’t care if he is trained or not - he is his own person Unlikely to bond to you, since he doesn’t need you. A great guard dog for gas stations! Do not take this puppy and think you can change him into a lovable bundle - you can’t, so leave well enough alone My dog actually scored mostly 1's and 2's (pack leader/wannabe) when she was little - ideally that's when you want to do the test - before the dog's personality is modified by training. I had to train out of her loads of chase and bite - which I put down to her being half (or so) heeler. I don't actually have aspirations for her to be a pack leader, I'm not bothered by labels like "dominant" or "omega" (uber submissive). I'm happy she doesn't start fights, she prefers not to finish them either and she occasinally shows peacekeeper attributes - ie breaking up other dogs that get too rough, or telling off a dog for being rude (and it was a much bigger dog and it defered to her).

future dog trainer As best I can tell the rules about dog and cat management vary from state to state, but in SA, WA, NSW they're almost identical - like they copied each other. QLD rules are getting tougher by the day - eg about breeding and dangerous dogs. VICs rules are a complete mystery to me. I've got no idea what is ok and what isn't from those. It may be that they leave it entirely up to each council area in which case the council regs would be what we need to look up. It is interesting that council authorising itself to trespass on private property is against the constitution argument. There is only one constitution in OZ as far as I know. I don't know much about Tas or NT rules. Except in Tas you cannot feed a dog Offal. This is a link to the rules in Casey Council = it does look like they have not followed their own procedures. http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/pets/article.asp?Item=3502 There's more stuff including a link to the state law (domestic animals act?) here http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/pets/ actually the domestic animals act for Vic is here, its a big pdf - sorry http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/domino/W...E/94-81a050.doc