Mrs Rusty Bucket

Hi YG I must have arrived after that one happened.

Munsterlander ? (small I think) One of the last dog trials I went to - this was the most laid back and successful dog. Burkes Backyard fact sheet declares them "nervous" and prone to dog aggression - so based on those fact sheets being all wrong as usual... they'd be calm and laid back and not interested in other dogs - which is what I observed. Have also seen this with Brittany spaniels.

What kind of professional A dog (owner) trainer with good knowledge of dog behaviour and motivation, who can figure out what is triggering your dog, how he is being rewarded for his behaviour (do you yell at him when he goes off?), and what to do to change the behaviour to something more acceptable. Particularily what the owners can do to help the dog behave appropriately. Personally, I'm working on being consistent with my dog when she pulls on the lead too hard, I stop and then I call her back to me and she must return before I can move on. I know if I keep walking while she is pulling my arm off, I might as well invest in a cart for me so she can tow me to the park.

That's a worry. We had fenced off a corner, less than a quarter of the total park. There were at least three other groups including another one with dogs in the park that day - was a bit crowded. Eventually when there was only three or four dogs left (Frosty being one) from our group, we packed the fence up but several BBQ loving dogs had to go check the far side out. Not sure how many of us have recall in the face of a dropped sausage. I'm not there yet. Close but not quite. So Frosty went on lead and stayed on lead after that. She spent a fair bit of time on lead during the main bit of the party too. Mostly so she couldn't crap somewhere when I wasn't looking. There wasn't any altercation that was more than "get away from my stuff" warning - as best I could tell. Not sure there was enough in it for others to call it a "disturbance" though we were definitely the biggest gathering. Anyway I think we do a reasonable job of considering others who want to use the park. We were not the ones who stuffed four garbage bags full of trash into the only bin at the park.

blue.amstaff I'd take the dog ahead of the SIL. I take it she's your partner's sister, not (ex) partner of your brother?. You can retrain the puppy, but I doubt you'd be successful training her to be a good house companion. Eg if she paid attention to what you said the puppy would already be desexed. Gary Wilkes says you're not a successful or good dog trainer until you've trained lots and lots of dogs. Training one dog makes a good dog trainer is a bit like saying the dog that does a nice recall at home - will do it at the park.

I think your staffy has just hit the age of doggy adolescence. At this time they can become more fearful of stuff that didn't bother them before, or just push boundaries. I agree with the others, block his access to the tight spaces - I take it he's not stuck. If you have a crate - put it where he can easily get to it and cover the sides of it so he can go there when he's feeling insecure instead of behind the couch. Also if you tell him off for doing this - you act big and scary and threatening and just re-inforce his need for a safe place. Much better to act really exciting, friendly and attractive (roast chicken and games here), to encourage him to come out. Play without him like you're having the best fun ever. Don't talk to him or tell him off unless he comes out, and then loads of praise. Don't coddle him or talk to him if he acts scared of something that is not scary (to you). Is there anything on the telly - eg an advert - that is triggering the behaviour? Consider having him on lead while relaxing so you can control where he can go. Though I think it's better to let him go and let him figure out for himself there was nothing to be worried about. If you just want him to be quiet when he's behind the couch or whatever, teach him to speak then quiet between barking - and do this while he's happy and relaxed. Also if you must get him out from where he's at, consider hooking a lead on and using that to drag him out not your hand. Or use a water pistol. But you risk bad "fall out" from doing this ie he will start some new undesirable behaviour.

I took my evil hound to Glenside vet, Greenhill road, Glenside. Classes are usually small - 4 or 5 puppies under 4 months old roughly, in the reception area - which is closed for puppy school, and there is usually the vet (Pin Needham) and a vet nurse present. Pin is president of SAODC (my dog club) and they run puppy classs for puppies to 6 months approximately. We had a Groodle, a Malamute and a ACDx (Evil Hound) in my class. Groodle started as biggest puppy but also most scaredy cat, Malamute ended up biggest, but as best I could tell ACDx - the smallest, ended up boss. There was free puppy play time where the malamute and ACDx chased each other around the space, and the Groodle hid under a chair (weird because she was boss dog in her first class), eventually Groodle got braver but was never forced to join in. There was no doggy fighting and the briefing at the start of the first class explained how fights should be broken up, so no fighting would have been allowed either. There was some basic obedience and doggy socialisation done as well and heaps of general info on doggy care and training. Ie it was probably more useful for the doggy owners than the puppies. And there were quite a few freebies and show bags from various companies trying to sell you stuff, including flea treatments, dog treats, toys etc. Payneham Vet Clinic on Portrush Rd might also be worth checking out, they do puppy pre-school. Also Animal Welfare League do puppy preschool or can provide you with a list of puppy preschools in Adelaide. PS there is a dog club at Woodville which is close to Croydon. I'm not sure if they do puppy pre-school but they should be able to recommend ones in your area. Bully takes her dog there. I don't know a lot about it myself but you could PM her if she doesn't post here.

Would it be wrong to go to a small dog day and keep your bigger dog on lead? I do know a couple of small dogs that like to play with Frosty as long as she's on lead, and as soon as I let her off, it's like "who me? play? nah" - how rude. So I let her off and it's all back to walking and sniffing.

My policy went up more than 60% over the previous year. I've made no claims at all on it. WTF. I rang them up and they said it was the underwriter. Unfortunately the renewal came in a month that I was not home for long enough to shop around for another company or even verify what they said about the underwriter. They do try to discriminate. They're recently been allowed to discriminate based on age - when the government first allowed that in they set a 30 year old age limit thing - eg if you had insurance and you maintained it continuously they couldn't charge you more than what they charge a 30yo. I've also noticed some variation for the same type of cover - the price varies between states. I don't know if it's more dangerous to live in some states or that health care is just more expensive. And I think they would like to discriminate based on lifestyle and whether you're male or female (able to get pregnant) but I'm not sure if Australian law allows this. Most of the discrimination based on health risk - which is done in the USA - is not legally allowed on Oz.

I think half our trouble is nobody wants to be the policeman and some of us don't know which dog belongs with which person, so it's hard to tap someone on the shoulder and tell them - can you keep your dog on lead for now? I feel like if I had to tell someone to put their dog on lead or put the ball or treats away etc that for starters they should have figured that out for themselves so having to tell them is like telling them they're a bad "dog mum" and I don't want to do that and sometimes - in the general scheme of things (ie not at the dol meetup) it's not true at all. And I know I felt like I'd been hit over the head with a wet fish by the fun police at the dog day at the beach when one of the council rangers asked me to put the evil hound back on lead - just for today - when it would normally be an ok time and place for dog to be off lead and she wasn't even looking at another dog or human let alone trying to cadge treats off them. It's funny about my dog, I'd rather she didn't cadge treats off most people. And it's not because I mind her getting treats from other people (though maybe I should), it's because they usually give her treats when she's jumping on them ie making her naughty behaviour worse. Some of them I ask them to only give her a treat if she can hold a drop for them. Ie if she starts in a drop and then leaps to the treat hand, then she shouldn't get the treat. But it does take time to teach people good timing and resolve. I usually ask an owner if it's ok before I hand out a treat to their dog , and the dog doesn't get a treat unless they can hold a nice sit. But I know some owners don't like their dogs getting treats from other people or just asking/begging. And some dogs have allergies. And I don't always remember who I have and haven't asked. Trouble with dogs, is that it is all or nothing. Either it's ok to go to people for treats or it isn't and I'm not sure I'm being a good mum for my dog by letting her go to other people for treats, especially if she jumps on them. And she frequently finds herself back on lead if she does start nose bumping the treat pocket.

You can donate it to RSPCA / AWL / Rescue (find one in WA on pet rescue) if nobody else puts their hand up for it.

Meh, as long as the BITSA results show not a pitbull then I'd be happy with "significant chiuaua". RIPHERO Was your dog registered with your local (NSW) council? Microchipped? Dogs that are not registered with council and microchipped with up to date owner contact details have much shorter life expectancies at the pound than other dogs. However if the dog was registered and microchipped and all that, then the NOI should have happened. And you need to throw the book at the council until they get rid of this dog killing man. http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/con...8174/index.html

Where would Trish's small energetic poodle fit on a split meeting? We could just do what they do at every other really big dog meetup I've been to, all dogs on lead, all the time. Wouldn't have to worry so much about protecting the food either. We could probably make exceptions on the day for certain dogs like Banshee - but I don't think being on lead would bother her. That way everyone would see which dogs got along well together and they can organise separate play dates if they want to. And if it wasn't a big meet up we could decide on the day.

How many "reputable" breeders sell their pets in petshops anyway? I thought selling puppies to or through a petshop makes the breeder disreputable.

Will a dog get lonely or bored. Depends on the dog. A kelpie or labrador - very likely get bored. SBT - definitely get lonely. Mini Schauzers - all the ones I know are only dogs, and tend to play by themselves when they're out walking on the oval with the rest of us. So I would think those ones would not get lonely. Bored perhaps. I second the idea of asking the breeder. Pros - they might be good company for each other Cons - they might hate each other - the first one will teach the second one all the bad habits it knows - they may no longer be interested in pleasing people because they have each other (no need to look to humans for all the good things in life eg the opposite of NILIF). - twice as much crap. If the first one is reasonably well behaved, and you can take her with you to choose the next one - and the other stuff doesn't bother you, then it might work really well.

Bigdogg I think you would have been flamed if you felt good about killing the dogs. I can't help wondering if these neighbours are really slow learners (dog hit on highway - hello?) and you did the dogs a favour PTS. I'd have flamed you if the dog was not on your property and hadn't looked at any of your stock. Our first family dog was shot by neighbouring farmer - when the dog wasn't even on his farm. Not right.

Dig proof the fence lines. Indestructable chew toys. Fence off any bit of the garden you care about. I was lucky - mine doesn't chew garden hoses, but quite a few electrical cables copped it when I wasn't paying attention. And the ugg boots.

Susan Garrett has a kitchen, the cupboard system incorporates about four or five dog crates, with sort of pull out drop down doors, that are mainly used for new arrivals. She's also modified her house to provide training areas. I would like a dog door. That the dog can use that doesn't interfere with a screen door / normal door. Several people I know have a dog door entirely separate to the human door(s). One house has a dog door into the tiled area of the laundry so the laundry is like a dog kennel - shut off from the rest of the house with the dog door in it to let the dog out. Except this is a PITA because the laundry is separate to the main living area of the house, which is usually closed to the rest of the house (door on a hall way) so if the dog is hanging out with the humans in the kitchen/dining/lounge room - it cannot let itself out the dog door when it needs unless the door to the bedrooms and long hall way is also open. Oops. Could be fixed by a second dog door in the kitchen but this has not been done. Another home - the dog has pretty much eaten her own dog door from the sun room to the back yard. Big oops. It's really easy to fix a dog door into a glass window frame - they could have done that. But again - the main kitchen dining area hasn't got access directly to the back yard so if the dog is hanging out with the humans - it can't let itself out. So I think your average house - needs to be able to close off access to the bedrooms from the dog (eg by shutting a hallway door), but needs a separate access to outside from the living / kitchen area where the humans usually hang out. And it's nice to have an area that is easy clean that the dog can hang out when it's new eg a puppy day zone. Eg the laundry - so long as all the laundry equipment is safe inside cupboards. I don't know about floor plans.

I think the bungee leads can be a bit easier on an owner's shoulders if they have a pulling dog. But better to teach the dog not to pull. I don't think they stretch very much - depends on how they're made I suppose. Not nearly as scary as an out of control dog with a retractable lead (one of those things that coils into a handle). I'm not sure that a bungee lead would be as useful for giving "pop pop pop" type lead corrections - because the "pop" would be reduced by the shock absorber effect. So martingale would not be as useful. I don't do pops with a front-attach harness, can't see the point of a bungee with a harness either.

Rule of thirds, or golden ratios. ie imagine a grid over the picture that divides it into three horizontally and three vertically. so your focal point is almost exaclty in the middle of the picture eg the dog's nose. left to right, the head is in the centre. This, for reasons I don't understand well, is not considered "pleasing to the eye", as much as if you arranged your composition so that your dog's head was in the left third of the picture ie crop more off the left side. So I would crop so that the dog's ears were fairly close to the top of the picture and to the left side and have an equal amount of background on the left and right side of the dog, but this would bring the dog's face into the left top of the picture, and you possibly don't need as much of the foreground grass either. If the dog's eyes and picture horizon roughly co-incide with the top third horizontal line of the picture - bonus. and when you get really good at that look - you break the rule. however looking at that crop - the dynamic lines of the edge of the bush and the line of the dark bit of the dog's coat, tend to point to the dog's front feet. Which is not really where you want the viewer to be drawn to look. So a completely different crop with a line towards the dog's face would to crop close to the dogs ears, and left and right side of its face and then draw down and include enough of the rest of the picture to put the face in the top third of the picture - so down to the start of the foreground grass roughly. This gives a line made by the dog's right leg (the leg on the left in our view) towards the dog's face. Now if I could just figure out how to attach my versions to see if you see what I see... without loading into flikr And that is my completely subjective opinion - feel free to ignore.

I think my dog takes after me when it comes to having her photo taken. However the tongue on nose one is quite common - eg she has camera, you have treat, mmm treat (LICK). She's got lots of cute expressions but getting a camera out would make them all disappear.

Patience Chellz Your first click worked.

Snook I can't really tell from that photo but it looks like a wolf spider. I could be wrong. I have those in my back yard and I wish they'd eat the redbacks. I sure as hell would not be standing in the flood water - raw sewerage - eek. I'm a bit worried - if it gets really bad - and people are forced to evacuate - they won't let you take your pets. You'd want to get them out early. Trouble is - where do you take them and when will it stop raining? I feel really sorry for Dalby - this is the second flood in a month - yes? And I just heard - Toowoomba has copped it.

I used to put my puppy in a crate when I needed to go out. So that nothing would be chewed or messed on. Puppy used to shred the paper I put in there but never made a mess. Eventually she would just sleep while I was out - no shredding. And now I can leave her free run of the house and she doesn't chew anything she shouldn't. I have a crate she can use like an indoor kennel at the moment, I don't shut the door but I want her to feel like it's a good place to be - if I need to put her somewhere safe at competitions or friends houses or on holidays etc. I think if you have no secure place in the house to leave a tiny puppy while you're at work, then a crate is a good option. As long as you have a decent walk/play session before work and after work. Rule of thumb - 5 minutes exercise per month of age. So yours would max out on 10 minutes at the moment, if that. I mostly work from home so I don't need to leave her on her own for 10 hours at a time.

You can't expect a puppy to last all night with out a toilet trip till they're around 14 to 18 weeks. So if she's up, take her out, be boring while she does her thing (say a word that you'd like to associate with the act eg train her to go on command) and then take her back in and put her back in the crate. I think at 6 weeks old - leaving her in the lounge room will just stress her and she will present you with a horrible mess every morning and she will be harder to house train over all because she would be forced to pee in her own bedroom.