Mrs Rusty Bucket

I'd been having a problem with my dog lying down during a sit stay and rolling over (dead dog) during a down stay. The rolling over - was usually on hot days, she was just trying to cool off, so if I scooped a bucket of water over her beforehand, she was ok. I have largely sorted the dropping during a sit stay by working on a nice stay before she gets her meal. I think the main problem was she didn't understand it is important to stay sitting. So for dinner, I'd put her in a sit stay, and put the dinner down in front of her and then make her stay, start with short times. And when she achieves time - release for dinner. If she fails to achieve time, I shorten the subsequent time she needs to stay, to something a little bit less than she achieved before she broke, and then release for dinner. The idea is for her to get it right so she knows what right is. If you make her stay too long - is your mistake. If she drops, I physically catch her or pick her up, and then repeat as if she got up and wandered off. Ie shorter stay and then release. I don't work on being far away (distance) until she's getting the time and pose right. But stuff she has to master in order to get dinner - seems to have a better retention for my dog. Variety is good too. Different lengths of time, and I'm doing recalls as well. Ie a "wait", "recall", "remote drop", "recall", sit stay, down stay. And I get her to stay on her mat while I make dinner too. If she breaks that stay, I stop making dinner and reset her. Making dog dinner is slower if dog isn't doing what I ask. She is gradually getting that. Making dog work for dinner, is part of Triangle of Temptation - find it and have a read.

“This is the best dog I’ve ever had. I love my dog. I believe my dog has the right to experience motherhood" This guy is definitely missing a few brain cells or is extremely uninformed about the doggy risks associated with pregnacy and parenthood. It's a SWF. Sheesh. I also think it's a bit over the top for council to require mandatory desexing. They should just up the cost of rego to reflect the price of homing/PTS 8 to 12 puppies a year, or the price of desexing. Ie you can desex the dog or you can pay rego plus the average price vets charge to desex a dog of that gender.

My fur quotient was cut when I got a major haircut. Now my fur is the same length as the dogs and the vaccuum cleaner doesn't get clagged either. Sabco flat mop dry fluffy is great for dealing with it. Not so good with dealing with the shredded duna fluff though. That just seems to get bigger and bigger.

The guy should try the breeder he got the whippet from, he should also try any whippet breeder. And he should also try crating the dog when he's not home. It's not cruel. And if it saves the whippet and protects his house it would be worth it. If the whippet is a particularily nasty dog aggressive whippet named Monty - he's on his own. But the dog would need rehoming because problem is mostly caused (rewarded) by the owners.

what does a titre test involve and how much do you pay for it? There have been several outbreaks of Parvo round here, and my dog likes to sniff dog poo, so it's either limit walks for a farm dog - so wrong, or get vaccinated. But if there is an optimum level and annual isn't it, I'd like to know more.

There was a guy on our morning garden show a while back who said that talon has the worst rat poison active ingredient as far as killing the things that eat the mice. But he said a dog - depending on its weight,ate two or three rats that had eaten talon - the dog is in trouble. at around minute 41 he talked about a slower acting mouse poison - that a dog can eat two or three whole mice that have died or eaten this without getting dangerously ill. He called it "racumen, with active ingredient kumatetral", scuse spelling is phonetic - he didn't spell it for us and I can't find either with google. He said a dog can eat the stuff directly and you have plenty of time to get the dog to the vet for treatment, or the dog can eat rats that have eaten it and there is almost no chance of the dog dieing from it. But it's not a quick way of getting rid of the rats or mice. The original was broadcast on 30th January 2010, on Adelaide 891 talk back gardening. Don't think it would still be on the web. I take no responsibility for use of this info. I use the grey mouse traps with peanut butter and was contemplating borrowing a couple of boston terriers to deal with my problem. My dog won't kill the mice for me even if she catches one.

Kiesha09 I don't personally know anything about The Dog House, except that it's near Hahndorf. It's where my uncle boards his Bedlington Terriers when he's away. And they come back healthy and don't get upset when he goes back there with them. It is in the Adelaide Hills - which is an area I'd avoid for summer - given the bush fire risk. Similar for Top Spot in Mylor - I've heard good things from people who have boarded their dalmations there. Theres a place on south road, near Willunga that belongs to a friend of a friend... dunno what it's called, I just have a phone number. They'd probably be safe in fire season. And I've heard mixed things - mostly good and some bad (dogs coming home with kennel cough), about the RSPCA at Lonsdale - they'd probably be safe in fire season. Which ever place I'd chose I'd want to visit it ahead of time and maybe board dog overnight and see how she feels about it. If they let her play with other dogs, that would be great, so long as it was reasonably supervised - ie no nasty fighting. My dog is quite the groveller so isn't usually a fight starter but does get freaked if another dog "plays" too hard.

does the dog still need annual vaccination with this system? I'd have thought that would still be the case.

Hyde Park is an inner southern suburb, Aldinga is a Southern Suburb, sigh. I live a couple of suburbs further south. Dog exercise areas - note these aren't fully fenced - I don't like those. So I walk my dog at Victoria Park (ex Racecourse), East Terrace Adelaide and Unley Oval (Cambridge Tce, Malvern), can't use when sport is on and the beaches eg West Beach and sometimes Bailey Oval, Cumberland Park - few dogs there, can't use when sport is on. and Goodwood oval, Fairfax St, Forestville, There is also Heywood Park, on Northgate street - though Northgate street is busy where King William Road goes through to Victoria Tce, so I wouldn't walk my dog there. Not sure if it is dog off lead allowed anyway. Shopping, for Hyde Park - I'd use Unley shops, I like the fruit and veg and the woolies there. There is also the Central Markets, which has a Coles supermarket. But you will find an excellent range of human food, fruit, meat etc, at Central Markets, I've been recommended to park in the Bus station car park (Franklin Street) cos it's cheaper and there is more room for big cars and there is more likely to be a car park. Market is Tues, Thurs, Friday and Saturday. There are other markets, like Sunday morning on Leader Street, Wayville. I don't go there much, prices are high and there can be big crowds, pays to be very early, but the food quality is excellent. For the best supermarket meat prices, you can't beat the Foodland supermarkets. Their meat (for humans) is usually half the price of the coles/woolies combo. But I've been meaning to check out the butcher on Springbank road near the pedestrian crossing - because he's been recommended as having grass fed (free range) beef which I prefer to grain fed (battery farm) beef. I also like the rural pet supplies on South Road, OHalloran Hill - it's a long way from Hyde Park though. They've got stuff like roo jerky per kilo cheap. But I get great deals from Mitcham Pet supplies, though they don't do Artemis - must check out Fullarton road. Vets - I like Pin Needham, Glenside Vets, Greenhill road near L'Estrange Street, Glenside and I like Colonel Light Gardens Vets on Springbank Road CLG, and there is an Animal Emergency Centre near the corner of South Road and Anzac Highway - the North West side I think number 119. http://www.vetonwheels.com.au/emergency.htm - has links The pet library for the Magill Road one is excellent, but I have no idea if either that or vet on wheels is any good. Pin does emergency too. And has a small boarding area for regular customers and a doggy swimming pool and hydrotherapy set up. And he's president of SAODC - my favourite dog club which meets in South Parklands. I know zero about doggy day care. Sorry. I'm considering using The Dog House kennels at Hahndorf, or Top Spot at Mylor in not fire season or there's a boarding kennel near Aldinga but I'd allow at least an hour to get there from Hyde Park. I haven't actually checked any of them out yet.

I think I'm going to put the snail bait I have left from before I got dog, in the bin on bin night. That's so sad.

I think you could pay attention to how your dog is going. This is a trainer Ness gave me the link for. It won't address Kenz's problem but it might help some dogs that fade out on competition days. http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/08/...rs-debacle.html I only know about my own physiology - I have to maintain hydration, salt and electrolytes (if I've drunk amounts approaching 2 litres or so - has happened), and sometimes food. I've got more than enough body fat to keep me going for several days of solid exercise but it's more the fluids and electrolytes that make your blood work. So bananas and cordial are great, and maybe the occasional pack of salty crisps (bad I know but I blame the cravings). Gatorade and salvital and staminade are ok but not necessarily better than water, depending what you're doing. Milk is great for electrolytes but not great before hard physical exercise like 1.5 hours of running hockey in the sun. Something I save for afterwards. Same with beer. Lots of electolytes but the alcohol packs a wallop on sport depleted body. Dog physiology and horse physiology are different to human physiology and require different management strategies. It also depends a lot on the type of exercise being done ie agilty sprints vs endurance running. If you're moving over long distances and time, there are calories being burnt and water being lost and that requires management either before or after, or during if possible though running with a belly full of water is not fun. Not sure, given that dogs don't sweat like humans do - how much salt / electrolytes they use, unless they pee a lot during the run.

I had a shower head with little rubber like plastic nipple things like the picture molasseslass has - and Adelaide water has killed it inside about three years. So i've got one with no plastic on it now. For the dog, I fill several buckets up with warm water and wash her on the lawn, and then set up a towel for her to roll on and another to dry her with, along with doggy zoomies around the back yard. So much fun. But no room for that in the bathroom. Mum used to shower with her dog. And then it would do zoomies in her back yard. But she had an enormous bathroom and someone else paid to clean it.

give treat from random hand. I sometimes practice drop on recall and my dog lines up towards the usual treat hand, so I have a treat in both hands when I make the X drop signal, and treat from the hand she's pointing away from. If you can rig a treat bag at your back / behind you that you can reach into - so much the better. Thought that does seem to make my dog go searching behind me and jump up from behind me, not so great. I really shouldn't type when I'm tired, my fingers keep typing not what I want. Sigh. click for eye contact on "watch me" and then start upping the standard, he has to make eye contact for longer to get the click and the treat. Start with tiny increases in time though. Wave the treat round for "proofing" distraction.

My dog thinks "leave it" means come and get a treat. For joggers and cyclists and cars - "leave it" is very important with a herding dog. So I started with mine on lead, and "leave it" and when she looked at me - I waved the treat for her to come get. Loads of repetition, no heeling joggers. Excellent. Important too. Though I still have a hard time stopping her from chasing joggers who carry treats for their dogs and have given her some too. We're getting there. But you can't let her off lead until she knows not to chase these things or she will be a squished flat herding dog or declared dangerous for harrassing a dog phobic jogger. For the vacumming and sweeping, I stop the movement if the dog shows an interest and only start up again when she leaves it. If I really need to get the work done, I crate her or shut her out from where I'm working. We're still working on this one. Then again I don't clean often enough for her to get the required practice. I sometimes use it as proofing for "sit stays" too. Ie I give her something else to do, like a sit stay. She's crap at fetching so that doesn't work. The water pistol is great at home but less usefull where there is a lot of space. I only use water, and I usually aim near but not at her. It's good when I'm doing floor cleaning as I use sabco flat mop and it uses water to clean. Not so good for carpet vaccuuming. Water pistol not so useful at the dog park or beach.

Have you got any spare bath mats? I get mine to do hers on a tramp bed or the bath mat. Outside I practice stays by chucking treats around while she stays, and on release she gets to go eat the treats. So she knows even when she's surrounded by yummy possum poo at our dog club - she needs to stay. The TOT has gotten heaps of improvement for me. Worth a shot.

First time instructing you - she might not know if you were having an off day. All dogs in my agility class had an off day last week and we had a new instructor who wondered how we'd passed grade 5 - our recalls had gone to hell... Well not as bad as they were when they started but not great. But competition has loads of extra distractions. If you actually go watch one - you will see dogs you thought were reliable have "off days" and dogs that have never done a proper heel in competition and you wonder why they got entered at all. You do need to be able to do a recall off lead and a sit and down stay off lead for CCD. All the heel work is on lead. It also helps if your dog will stay in the stay when other dogs run off, or run over and greet and sit on your dog.

I use a variation of the TOT method and a bit of close supervision. Ie when I'm working on that - and I've just noticed she's gone back to dropping in the middle of the sit stay and I've been slack about correcting it... Prepare dinner while dog is in a sit stay. Each time dog breaks - go fix it up with a minimum of fuss. Dog hopefully figures out that doing something different to what is asked is going to delay dinner. Put dinner down in front of dog and use a stop watch to get a sit stay of whatever length you want extra. If dog drops, fix it up immediately and make it do a shorter sit stay and release - cos you want the dog to get it right so you can praise. Then work on extending the time for each new practice session (ie dinner).

release words Maybe you want to "do weave" instead of "go weave"? I use "weave weave" and some times "in, out, in..." but I'm such a gumby I often use them back to front. I use "go" for "go play" release Maybe "play" or "playtime" would work for one of the releases. And some people use "free" It does take some practice to say the right thing at the right time. My current gumby act is waving both arms when I run, instead of making a steady guide with one and tying the other to my waist or something.

bedlington terrier http://dogtime.com/matchup/start what do they score on that, it gives a list of whys and why nots too. enter [email protected] if you don't want to hand over your email, you see the results in the browser anyway.

So the rise in popularity of "designer breeds" which are excluded except from trialing - would have nothing to do with it?

http://www.ndn.org.au/ My female dog was desexed at approx 8 weeks of age - so far no ill effects and she's a year and eight months old now. I think - and I am not a dog scientist - that desexing after maturity will make not much difference to a dog's behaviour (eg humping or marking). My desexed female does neither though she will sniff where other dogs have been. I think the package deals you've been offered are rip off, but I live in Adelaide where things tend to be cheaper than Vic.

I'm pretty sure they do dances with dogs too. Theres a few SA based DOL regulars that do that, and some from my club that also go to the Aldinga club to do doggy dancing.

oops, double post. Slow computer fast clicker.

If he already knows to stop biting when there is food to be had, use that to your advantage. In the same way you train sit and stay, train "gentle" ie when he bites, tell him gentle, when he stops give him a treat, tell him gentle. Clickering will help. It would be similar to how you teach "quiet", ie first you teach dog to speak, and treat for that, and then treat the bark free times for quiet. So he's biting. you tell him "gentle" he stops biting while he tries to figure out what you want him to do, count to three, keeping very still and then say "gentle" or click or both and treat. You also need to be much more persistant. Ie dog bites, on the floor no reward. And you may want to think about whether you really want something that is going to be as big as a kelpie/bc in your lap. Start as you mean to go on. There would be one exception - claw trimming, best done with dog calm upside down in your lap. I found clicker training great for this. Although I started using the guillotine clipper as the clicker. Break it down into little steps and reward each one. You sit on the floor dog jumps all over you. Good but not great, it's not running away but it's not calm. A first step. you tell dog to drop in your lap - click (with clipper) and treat. I usually lean against the wall or couch and have the treats behind me. from the drop position, you tell the dog to "roll over" - guide with treat, click and treat. You might want to reach roll over when you're not on the floor at first. and then you teach the dog to "relax" or be "calm" ie only treat for roll over with mimimum wriggling. And then you hold each paw and click and treat for calm no pulling away, start with tiny steps ie short short time and build up. and then while you hold the paw, you touch a claw with the clicker... this takes quite a while, weeks, one session, one target behaviour, and thirty treats (count them out ahead of time - when you run out of treats, session is over) and will get you plenty of close cuddle time with your puppy. If he bites, tell him "gentle" and treat when he lets go, make sure there is about three seconds between letting go and good dog/click and treat, so he associates not biting with the treat instead of biting with the treat - timing is everything. Use a neutral toned "no" or "bah" to let him know when he's not going to get a treat - like playing the game of hot and cold, - "bah" is "cold", "good"/"yes"/"click" is "hot". Have you taught him "leave it"? is also very handy for getting him to stop biting the lead, another dog, yourself, barking at the neighbours. I guess for my dog it just means stop whatever and come and get a treat. Although the timing of "good dog" (click) means she also knows it means let go that other dog's collar but you can keep playing if you want. Ie the play can be the reward. Failing to let go collar means she's going to get the lead on, which she likes to avoid (unfortunately). And remember any kind of attention is a reward for the puppy. The louder and more energetic the better. And any kind of tug/chase game is a reward too. Use this for you not against you. If any behaviour is continuing or getting worse, think very carefully about what you're doing during/immediately after that is being seen as encouragement by the puppy. It might not be your idea of encouragement.

Mason's mum I'm no expert but I suspect to the dog, you and your hubby speak a different language anyway, ie you can teach the dog "come" but your hubby will need to teach again for dog to recall to him. So if he uses a different word, it doesn't matter much. The reading I've been going says clickers are good for training because they always sound the same. So when you say "Sit" when you're calm or excited or angry - it's going to sound like different commands to the dog anyway. The other stuff I've learned is if you have (accidentally) taught the dog to avoid you when you ask it to return using the word "come", then changing your training technique and the recall word are both needed to sort the problem. Your dog will figure it out. Be consistent with what you do and don't worry about what others are doing.