Mrs Rusty Bucket

You gotta love the law. How is a dog supposed to decide what is "excessive force". If it has previous bad experiences with trespassers, it's more likely to be extra aggressive with good reason. Ark No problems with "investigative" reporters and don't want any. So I think it's helpful to know how to get rid of them ASAP. You never know when you're going to be dropped right in it through no fault of your own.

If you get a 4 cylinder magna, make sure you get the manual one, or test the automatic for power. I found the automatics were nice but a bit gutless, ie hard to over take even on the hay plains, but no worries with a manual. The newer ones might be better, mine was a 1991, with electric windows and cruise control and A/C. I've got a landcruiser now. They're more tippy (prone to rollover and wobbling in strong winds) than your normal station wagons, but they can do those desert roads with two wheel ruts with big hump between. My brother had a forrester and loved it. Decided a VW Golf was better value for money (in terms of holding re-sale value). And there's a lady at dog club who has two GSD in the back of a triton twin cab ute (in the ute tray with a canopy).

I have a "beware of dog" on my gate. The meter readers are supposed to knock on the door to check the dog is secure before they check the meter, though not all of them do this. My dog likes some of the meter readers, and hates some of them, so it's better if they knock. And SA legislation says she's allowed to defend her yard / property. I have yet to find any real law case where someone was held liable for dog bites because of a "beware the dog" sign. I wonder if this "don't put the sign up" is a myth. I really think the meter readers would have a case if you didn't have a sign up and your dog surprised them. Though I haven't looked for or found any legal cases about this either. I imagine if kiddie was at side gate, kiddie was trespassing on the front yard to get there? That makes the parent liable. Though it's generally only enforced if trespassers refuse to leave when asked. Ie to get rid of current affair type reporters, you say "you are trespassing on private property, please leave now". It won't get them off the footpath though. PS the parent in this case needs to be taught what an aggressive dog can look like ie signs that a dog is not friendly...

I dunno about the rest of you but I've been trodden on by a horse - who was just moving from one foot to the other, not jumping around like a spring chicken. And it BLOODY HURT and there were MANY SWEAR WORDS. And I was wearing boots. Not steel capped but more protected than your average bit of dog. There is a lot of mass in a horse, so even slow moving, will deliver a lot of energy to an impact. The chance of that dog having a bad crush injury of some sort are pretty high. Although if you can inspect the general area with a firm squeeze with the dog co-operating, I'd be less concerned. Not as good as an xray but a start. My dog got bitten on the paw by a rottweiler who was "only playing". My dog limped for the next fifteen minutes, but eventually put her paw down and was fine, full weight bearing, no further sign of being chomped. Including still wanting to greet that particular rottweiler. I'm pretty sure she still mistakes it for a puppyhood friend. If my dog was still limping DAYS later - I'd be off to the vet. And based on my own personal injury time, I wouldn't be herding unless it was the hockey grand final (last game of season, plenty of time to recover later) and my team would be short without me. And even then I'd be trying to get out of it on the basis I'd just aggravate the injury and not help the team. If your vet charges so much you'd be reluctant to visit, maybe consider a different vet. Or you could ring the vet up and discuss with him/her, but I bet I know what the answer would be and I'd put money on nothing like "you're an idiot" unless it was "you're an idiot, why didn't you bring the dog sooner?"

Frosty has killed her wubba and I don't even leave it with her. She is in the process of killing a red kong. I plan to get a black one if I ever find the right one in the shops instead of emtpy shelf. She has not yet managed to kill an "everlasting fun ball", and that has been with her since puppy. And she does chomp on it, especially if I load it with treats or peanut. http://aboutdogtraining.sitestreet.com/177...ng_Fun_Ball.htm I've heard bad cuz toys are good but haven't yet got her one. She had a lacrosse ball briefly on Saturday and didn't destroy it in that time. Same with a slazenger training (cricket) ball. It has a kind of cotton weave coating with a seam sort of but isn't leather. But I don't leave these things with her. All the same, the kong wubba did not survive the same attention.

I like the home vaccuum pack thingy like this http://www.productreview.com.au/showitem.php?item_id=54366 We used it to store left over christmas ham in freezer. The plastic is stronger than normal freezer bags, much less likely to tear or puncture. I tried using freezer bags for my dog casserole but had massive problems, it rips too easily and then gets stuck inside the food so you can't get the food separate to the plastic until it's thawed. I use those little plastic takeway type containers for the casserole now. I use the size that fits one serving. And I can re use those much more often than plastic bags - which makes me feel warm and green inside. And they don't block up the freezer circulation fan. If you get the rectangular ones, you can actually stack more stuff than you can with plastic bags. If you can afford it - get the tupperware, and feel really green as that stuff has a life time guarantee - ie if it breaks - you get a replacement one free of charge in exchange for the broken bit.

Add to that - shadow handling, targetting ie if you can get puppy to go left/right/out etc. and games that involve rewards like tug/fetch. Training in drive ie (very simple version) getting the dog excited and then doing lessons... But what you can do will depend on the dog. Previous family kelpie/heeler cross was doing great fetch as soon as it got home ie 8 weeks or so. current ACDx NFI, random fetch. Sometimes very happy to play fetch, other times, got better things to do.

I walk EH with a flat collar and sometimes a front-attach harnesss (what is a front "leading" harness). I use the sensible softouch concepts one. http://www.softouchconcepts.com/ but I'm pretty sure the easy walk would work. I tried a gentle leader - it worked but we both hated it. I've ditched the slip collar - where do you put the rego tag anyway. And I thought about getting a retractable lead, but my dog is the speed demon lead chomper cutter so only a horse rope lead will do. And they do seem dangerous if people don't shut them off when they're not paying attention. Really dangerous with a big dog, even if they have the webbing ribbon sort.

I have had that happen to me. I always take my dog away if the other owner can't handle the level of play. My dog lets the other dog be of her own accord, if it can't handle the level of play. But if the other dog still approaches my dog after its owner has expressed fear, I put mine on lead, and ask the other owner to control their dog. At this point the owner has no right to complain because their dog is then harrasing yours - and breaking the law in most states. You could call the ranger if you need to. I do feel very sorry for puppies whose owners have no clue about dog behaviour or how to teach even a basic recall. As for the obedience class - I think the woman with the out of control mastiff would have been kicked out of our classes. In our club, it is expected that dog owners get permission from other owners before allowing their dog to "greet" another. They should be at least apologetic if things go pear shaped or their dog breaks the collar or whatever.

EH and I got promoted from beginners to intermediate last night - woo hoo! Same course Ness was talking about. Our first time in intermediate - straight after beginners so why EH paid any attention at all I have no idea. Anyway first time - I stuffed it up because I forgot where I was going. Second time I thought KISS (keep it simple Stupid), and did the course N' suggested (he there to train/judge the judge), and was doing so well but I was too slow at the end of the dog walk so she jumped off at me instead of making contact, argh. I think if I'd kept moving she'd have gone down to the end like she was supposed to. We don't get to practice that one much so she's got no idea what she's supposed to do but does the right thing so often it's hard to correct the wrong thing. Like teaching a dog to walk. I guess that's good really. Did the weaves properly but slowly which is ok given we're still doing only two poles at home. I felt we did really well for our first time around intermediate. I did have to pull out uber treat during the first round though. Right now someone is going to destroy my jacket if we don't go for a perambulation. Bye

I wished I'd seen Susan Garrett's DVDs before I got my puppy. Especially the Crate Games one, and the one I still don't have - Greg Derrett Foundation Handling skills or something. And Lesley Nelson's "really reliable recall". And I wished I knew more about training in drive before I got my puppy too. When I first got her - she wouldn't take food treats, she is still intermittant about fetch/retrieve, and tug games, and a whole bunch of other things that can actually be taught or improved with the right training. I got the toilet training down. I was a bit stupid when it came to what's allowed to be chewed. And it would have been good if I'd trained TOT with tie out from the beginning, in summer when being outside is pleasant not freezing.

I got my puppy from Animal Welfare League. Both AWL and RSPCA stress the importantance of bringing the whole family - including partner, children, other dogs and cats to meet the potential new family member to make sure they all get along and like each other. Ie you take a car load of everybody out to the shelter and meet the new puppy there. But you seem to have skipped this step - so I have no idea. If I'm bringing my dog around to to another dog's house - we try to greet out the front, both on lead with plenty of room to move. And if home dog is happy then we proceed into house and back yard, remaining on lead, for some carefully supervised play time. If home dog is not happy, my dog goes back in my giant crate (car).

Targetting? Ie get dog to touch you or your hand with various bits of it's body eg head on knee, paw on foot, kissy face? I need a nice indoor game that burns heaps of energy without damaging the wooden floor boards. http://www.caninehorizons.com/Body_Targets.html http://home.netcom.com/~joiris/index.html

You need to check the country of origin on the pack. A lot of these foods including Nutro natural choice and Advance (Mars) are made under licence in Australia from (mostly) Australian ingredients. But if you want info on recalls for the USA made stuff there are these two websites. http://www.dogfoodproject.com/ http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/

When I first got my dog, I took her round all the neighbours including some less than dog friendly ones (who had written letters to the local newspaper mentioning poisoning dogs that bark all day). There's quite a few barking dogs around here. Mine likes to bark too. But only when I'm home - go figure. Anyway I told everybody to come and talk to me or drop me a note if they had a problem with my dog barking too much. So far so good. But that doesn't mean some dog hating stranger couldn't walk down my back lane and toss something over the fence. So I don't like to leave her in the back yard when I'm out. When she was a puppy I would put her in a crate and she would sleep all day. It's better than the risk of dog being poisoned. Again - you have to weigh up how likely it is. Maybe phone the police and ask them if they have a record of dogs being poisioned. Sometimes people make stories up like this or import them from far away places.

ValleyCBR In my club, you're supposed to get grade 5 obedience before you can start agility training. ie dog must have a good "stay/wait" and a good recall or it's going to nick off in agility. So Ness, Rivsky and myself all do obedience and agility. But I don't compete yet. Might never compete in obedience. We've got "stay" but not in one position at the moment. We tend to lie down part way through. And I'm not sure she'd willingly do a whole obedience routine without a dripfeed of treats the whole way round. She will do the agility run without a treat till the end.

I've got a fleecy I paid $15 for from Coles I think... Zebra stripes black and white camoflage for dog. Anyway so far no static zaps for either of us and not when we rub it either. I'm sure you can get anti static spray or something? There is also something you can put in the wash that is supposed to reduce it. I do admit all the bedding in her bed, that sometimes gets carried off when she stands up in it is cotton and not prone to static zaps. Not all polyester is created equal.

My dog got speyed at 8 weeks, so I've got no clue if her personality changed. My (untested scientifically) theory, is that a dog that gets desexed before adolesence - will remain more puppy like in behaviour - mine certainly has. Though she's not two years old yet. We managed to persuade a guy down our local park that getting his dog desexed was a good idea but I think he actually did it because all the humping was embarrasing. And it did reduce the humping. I think the dog was around 6 months old when it got done and a SWF so borderline whether it had hit "puberty" yet. I know some entire male dogs that are complete sooks with everybody and every dog. So they don't always become snarling female hunting balls of excessive testosterone.

I've put a bit of old sailing mainsheet (soft on hands and very durable) through the middle of an "everlasting fun ball". Bonus - if EH is losing interest - I can stuff a treat inside it. PS Ruby Star - do you need a new accountant?

I'd be worried about the next gen. Ie the puppies could be enormous. Here's hoping all this generation get desexed.

Tah for that Tassie and Agility Dogs I really need to review the dvd again for what's next and when to go there and what to make sure is right before I start on the next bit, though I do get impatient. Sometimes I just do retrieves and sometimes I do weave/retrieve. So now I will make sure I move when she weaves so the retrieve line is not near the poles. I'm getting faster recalls by doing the run away thing more. And she's really enjoying it. And I'm mixing that with the retrieves to get a faster retrieve. I find if I call her - she drops the toy and comes, but if I run, she brings the toy with. Really need some work on the retreives and play generally. I'm thinking the food paired with tug/retrieve might help plus the chase me game - as long as it's chase the handler, not handler chase the dog game that my evil hound is so fond of.

I like this http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/digit...aining-textbook and spefically this - ie lecture about how a dog goes from a cute puppy to unwanted on death row. http://www.dogstardaily.com/video-cck/thic...0/field_video_0

Just wondering how Perdy is going to get a Great Dane through the tunnel? We had a deer hound in our class and it couldn't do it.

So how come it wasn't slippery underfoot, Ness? I rang Eddie and he said he wasn't going, so, um, we didn't. I went out back door and bits of me went numb so I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic. Tonight - I think was just as cold but not so wet, and yet I still took dog for walk and did some tug fetch.

Perdy I'm using some bamboo stakes from bunnings with some white spots painted on them for visibility. I make a hole with a ginormous tent peg and then put the stakes in the holes. Total cost about $15. I take the stakes out when we're not training and put geranium flowers in the holes, cos leaving the stakes in risks them being eaten before the next training session. When we get several poles close together I may have to upgrade to something much sturdier. I think there is an agility shop listed in the dol traders page that sells the weave pole set. I think I was addicted before I got the dog.