Mrs Rusty Bucket

Mellymoo just curious - what have you done with your dog since July and did you find what you wanted?

So Im guessing that a dog forum would be about discussions on dogs in all areas, I think its very appropriate to discuss online, unless they have something to hide. Mellymoo It's not about something to hide, it's about lawsuits. hence we can discuss what makes a good trainer in our opinion but ideally not a specific company - unless they've made the news and been convicted or something that's already out in the open eg techniques used in a tv broadcast. If you want to discuss the pros and cons of a specific trainer or company - maybe you could also provide the legal fees for defending what you say?

I had this problem with my dog. it was the slip chain and the way I was using it. She'd pull and pull and I'd let her and then she'd shut down. Not good. I fixed it by changing to a flat collar and retraining the heel using treat rewards, and also not moving unless the lead was loose. So if she charged to the end of it, I would stop. I also used a front attach harness for a while - but that's not a good long term thing to do if you're not dedicated to training the loose lead heel and then you don't need it. With a bull mastiff - cos their neck can be so thick compared to their head - you might need a limited slip collar - which is like a flat collar with a short chain - so if they do happen to pull back - they can't slip out of it, but at the same time - it can't choke them. Now she's pretty keen on going for walks but it took a very long time to get over the damage I'd done with the slip chain collar. Pay attention to what she really loves - roast chicken, fresh cooked sausage, dry cat food, little bits of cheddar, ear rubs, pats under the chin or above her tail... and pair those with behaviours you do want. If she's really anxious - she won't eat anything. If she's only a little bit worried and still takes the food - the food releases all sorts of happy warm feelings for the dog which it then connects with whatever activity you're trying to achieve like recall, loose lead walks etc. Ear rubs and long stroking pats are also soothing to most dogs.

I find "Do you need a bag for that?" works really well. Certainly sorts out the willing pooper scooper people from the ones who would rather step in it than pick it up. A bit harder to deal with the "my dog's friendly" attack. "Bad Idea" - said nice and friendly - works for me. If I see their "friendly dog" coming. Otherwise my dog tells their dog, in a much less friendly way.

Hi Alphabet - is there a facebook thing that the Victorians could share. We need to be getting not-dog-savvy people aware. Tho there is one hazard to teaching people better skills and the rules in this area. They get pissed off when they see other people not following them.

The ad is back, we should all report it for breach of gumtree policy.

Quite a few of the caravan parks are so close to major truck routes, eg Balranald, Ouyen, Tooleybuc - there's no way anyone was going to hear the dog.

I think for me and my dog - I'm much less permissive in a training environment - because I have more to lose (esteem, respect). So I'm much likely to go get my dog if she nicks off and end the session. In my back yard - I'm much more likely to let her go sniff when she wants. Tho if I am in the middle of a training session with her - I do realise I've trained at least one attempt too many - best to quit when the dog (and yourself) still want more. Hard as that is for a hedonist (both of us). She thinks she owns the yard, street out the front of my house etc. And will try to drive off other dogs and strangers. She's a bit apologetic? or grovelly when she realises that the dog she was just yelling at is actually a dog she's friends with. That happens. I don't want to find out how far she'd chase a cat given the opportunity.

Not exactly. The visitor-dog-trainer had food in her hand - that the dog liked better than jumping up, so kept his face down and focussed on the visitor-trainer's hands. The dog only got the yummy food from his owner. Ie the person at the other end of the lead - when he checked back in with her. This method was specified for dogs who are completely overwhelmed by needing to greet people. So it was a type of "its yer choice game" where the dog gets the treat by backing off from the treat in the visitor-trainer's hand. The dog makes the choice of its own accord and hence gets the strongest kind of impulse control ie from within. But it was pointed out in the article that you'd need to repeat the training with at least 6 other visitor-trainers. And maybe in 6 more different places. I always think the different number of environments needs to be up around 18 or so - for the dog to generalise the training to all places. So the owner would need to explain the game to each trainer and then have them be the visitor with a hand full of yummy food - that they hold in the dog's face but never hand over. The ideal source of trainers (in my opinion) would be agility club instructors or masters level handlers - who are friendly with people and dogs and have time. And again - keep the sessions short. I'd set a timer for 2 minutes and five treats (from the owner) and then put the dog away (end the training, have a play, put the dog in a crate or somewhere they can't keep interacting with the visitor - trainer). The distance threshold method - is also a form of "its yer choice" Ie dog can approach as long as it chooses to remain calm. Which would probably work better with my dog who is quite good at chaining unacceptable behaviour (over enthusiastic greeting) with good behaviour (checking in with the owner) to get the treat. Ie she would see "harassing the visitor" as a required behaviour to get the treat. She's less likely to do this if there is no treat - just pats and praise.

I found most of the caravan parks would accept "well behaved dogs" on lead. Some (eg Highlander) would allow dogs in certain cabins. Some would allow dogs in certain cabins as long as there was no mess left, and you didn't tell them. Ie don't ask, don't tell. And every medium sized country town has a caravan park. Most would let you have a dog in your own tent or caravan. Sometimes my dog slept in my car. Or a crate next to a cabin.

I agree willem it's not a technique I'd use - I'd rather work the distance threshold too. But it does nicely show the sort of process - of several repeat attempts at the task and then a break and then train a bit more and then stop... I went to a seminar last night with a Karen Pryor Acadamy trainer and she talked about "counting out five to ten treats" and when they were all gone - session over. She didn't play with her dog between sessions like I would have tho.

Ok the mandatory spay neuter has been tried in (parts of?) the USA and in the ACT and it didn't work there. It's a good point that you suddenly make poor people into criminals for not desexing their dog and having puppies deliberately or accidentally. For some reason we don't impose rules like that on the humans. At least not so far. Can you imagine what would happen if we stopped people who couldn't afford to raise their babies or had no idea how to do a good job or just not capable, from having them? At the same time - we could make birth control a lot easier and cheaper to get - but we don't do that either. So something that some areas have done (tho I don't know where) is - to get your dog out of the pound - is the same cost as the rego fee. Instead of what happens some places where the rego fee piles on the boarding fees and the fine for wandering dog... And when you register the dog - you get a voucher for free desex and microchip? Might end up with fewer animals in the pounds that way. I still think all dogs should be microchipped before they can be rehomed (for a price or for free). It just makes finding who they belong to so much easier if they get lost.

Maybe you could pick the puppy up from Sydney airport - tho I know driving from one side of Sydney to the other can seem like as long as Mackay to Newcastle...

If you want a say in what they pass - legislation wise - you have to act now - before it's passed. Waiting - is like saying - I'll let them pour the concrete and then see if it's in the right place - after it sets. The government has really put a lot of effort into this but then allowed decisions to be made by people who don't have access to the right science. There was a citizen jury member in here - and we pointed out the problems with early desex there and yet they only had two exceptions made (breeders and farmers) - WTF. Not ok. So many unwanted farm dogs out there too - why should there be an exception for them - it allows them to become puppy farms I they want to. Glad to see that the minor version of a desex can be done on 8 week old. got a couple of questions - anyone know which vets in SA do that and will a bitch still have seasons if they've had their "tubes tied".

That's why I said ask the breeder. It's a bit more difficult when the puppy is 8 weeks old than when the puppy is 6 months old. It's best for a very young puppy to have lots of small meals often but you're definitely going to increase the risk of an up chuck if you do that. I make my own dog's food a sort of mince and rice casserole with veges and that tended to stay down but the kibble came back up. So it does also depend what you feed. I'd feed as little fibre (kibble) and as much fast digest as possible. I would avoid the pacific highway if you can. Google says The Leichart and Newell highways then New England are easy options after Rockhampton. There are lots of lovely ovals along the New England. Armidale has a really nice parkland in the centre of town along the river. I stay at the Highlander Village inn when I'm going from Briz to Newcastle - I don't know if that's convenient. Ok probably not. You might want to avoid that bit. Armidale to Tamworth and Glenn Innis - there's some serious hills along that bit that my car really objected to climbing. And some ripper thunderstorms. Not fun driving when a storm dumps on you and there's nowhere to pull off. I really like Murrarindi as a stop - but it wasn't so good the week they top dressed the oval with pig manure. There's a really nice café across the road from it too. There's lots of bakeries at the northern end of the New England but not so many after Murrarindi. Singleton has a really nice bakery on John st between York and Gowrie - opposite a big shopping centre, the other side of the shopping centre is something called rose park - with lots of sports ovals near the hunter river. Can't really advise north of Murrarindi because I go Tamworth, Armidale to Brisbane from there. Try to avoid Maitland, tho the road as much improved going around it.

I don't think they can do a vasectomy or a tube cut on an 8 week old puppy That's the problem. I don't mind getting my dog desexed - I just don't want it done until she's 18 months old and done growing properly.

Someone on my FB just shared a really nice Denise Fenzi link about training a dog to be calm when greeting... And about how you can't train a dog that is way too excited... It also nicely showed short training sessions < 5 minutes with a break between. http://denisefenzipetdogs.com/2015/09/14/hyper-greeters-jumping-up-extreme/

If you're driving, take something you can cover the crate with. My puppy got horribly car sick and reliably threw up everything. By the time she was six months old she figured out if she kept her head down and her eyes shut - it wasn't so bad. So I would not feed kibble during the journey. And I'd feed the night before. and not the morning or day of travel. Well maybe some yogurt water or watered down tinned food (ask the breeder). It's important the dog stays hydrated and mine wouldn't drink water. She would drink vegemite water or yogurt water - you only need a smidge like 1.4 teaspoon or less vegemite in a cup of water. Or maybe a stock cube. Make sure the water is cool before you let puppy drink it. Take lots of newspaper that you can put down in the up chuck zones - and then you can just fold up the vomit and put it in the bin. If puppy sits up and is drooling - emergency stop - imminent upchuck. Unfortunately some places there's no shoulder and I wasn't fast enough. But covering the crate should help. You can't use a fold up crate for flying. You can fly a fold up crate (without the dog in it) if you wrap it up in glad wrap or you have a crate bag for it (duct tape down the straps, if they're very long). Stop every couple of hours and do laps around the area or just stand around with dog on lead being boring until you get something. Don't be fooled into putting the puppy back in the car without getting something out of it. Well ok more newspaper and some paper towel and some clean up stuff. 1/4 teaspoon lavender oil in 1 litre of water in a spray bottle is good. Look up all the town football ovals - there's usually well watered grass on and around those, it's cooler. And not so many dogs as at the road side stops. There's really nice ones at Ouyen, Lammaroo, etc If you tell us the start and end towns we can suggest football/cricket ovals.

I sent an email to these guys: Paul Ciaica <[email protected]> environment minister of irresponsible comments <[email protected]> Martin Hamilton Smith <[email protected]> The more different people who write the better, with individually crafted emails - not just form letters - the better. State what you want. State why you're writing. Provide your argument and support Try to keep it short. (me fail) Keep it calm and polite (it's easier to understand the message). So what I want is no mandatory desexing. Or exemptions for people who want to do dog sports or have a large breed dog (until 18 months old) and I want Government subsidy of desexing - make it cheap and easy for people to do the right thing. I want better education around desexing and factors leading to dog bites eg leaving visiting children unsupervised with your dog - bad idea. why Health problems for large breed dogs and sport dogs. the dog bite stuff is just fear mongering with out context and I cited a bunch of factors that lead to dog bites and that it's possible to own a well behaved entire dog. That France and Germany can have entire dogs in the city without everyone being terrified of being bitten. I also provided a bunch of information supporting the health benefits of owning a dog. Martin Hamilton-Smith (Waite) is quite keen to reduce the health budget - cos SA can't afford it. Especially with the increasing cost of health problems related to obesity and aging. Walking a dog keeps you younger and fitter longer. I put Paul Ciaca on the list - cos he regularily walks his Cavs on Tennyson beach. this is the list of ministers with contact info https://www.sa.gov.au/directories/government This is a list of elected reps. If you poke around in there - you can find stuff about electorates - to figure out which one is the right one for you. http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/Members/HouseofAssembly/Pages/List%20of%20Members.aspx PS here is a bit of help for finding your electorate http://www.ecsa.sa.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/find-my-electoral-district and you can write to anyone in the SA Senate aka LC Legislative council - they all represent all of us. Eg Kelly Vincent represents disabled people and some of them need dogs. And an early desex on a Labrador is bad.

Ok here's a nice bit of BS http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-15/new-pet-desexing-laws-will-put-puppies-at-risk/6855352 Desexing to combat rising dog attacks: Environment Minister New figures show a rise in the number of people hospitalised for dog attacks in SA. Dangerous dog Photo: The number of people hospitalised by severe dog attacks in SA has increased significantly in the past four years. (Website: Tekkaus.com) In the past financial year some 299 people were admitted to hospital for severe attacks, an increase of more than 100 on figures four years ago. Environment Minister Ian Hunter said more than 1,300 dog attacks were reported to councils last financial year. "It's a small increase on last year but unfortunately the number of attacks that are leading to hospital admission is on the rise," he said. "It's another very strong case for mandatory desexing of animals. "Desexing dogs is known to be an important modifiable risk factor for dog attacks as it usually makes dogs less aggressive and less likely to attack." Mr Hunter said the majority of dog attacks that led to death were linked to dogs that had not been desexed. He said 56 children under the age of nine were among those hospitalised with dog bites in 2014-15.

Steve - have you got any "evidence" or studies or links about what does and doesn't work that I could send to my rep. Already sent him an email, including a link to the RSPCA KB pdf about desexing - which outlines the problem I have with it - ie malformed limbs and joints. So I asked for additional exemptions. Some of the aims I like - eg if you want to breed - you have to get registered and keep records and do health testing and stuff like that. So hopefully the breeders who just want to churn out poor quality puppies can be stopped. But early desex - not so keen on that - even tho my current dog was desexed early. It's not without problems. It was easy to find links to the BSL results in Italy - ie banning 95 different dog breeds did not stop people getting bitten.

yes, they haven't passed it yet. exceptions for breeders and working dogs Not good enough - gotta write my local rep and the RSPCA http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-14/desexing-pets-compulsory-dogs-cats-in-south-australia/6853240

In the chart... What is "undocumented paperwork"? (the row about genetic health tests). Fakes? Unofficial? Unverifiable? Sometimes there's no changing people's minds on the day. A bit like discussing vaccination with an anti-vaxer. But you could say why you got what dog you did. I got a dog from the AWL because I didn't know about pet rescue or working dog rescue or dog forums (Duh, why didn't I think of that) when I got the dog. And the AWL had cattle dog (x) puppies. Why would I get a pedigree? because I want something more predictable in temperament and build and health and ability. So I would seek out a breeder who has dogs that are like what I want, does health testing, dogs have proven ability, and I can check temperament and build for myself. Why I would not go near a cross breed breeder, a bit like the chart... you don't know what size the dog will be you don't know what temperament the dog is likely to have you don't know what health problems the dog will have you do know you will get zero after sales support You don't know much about puppy from AWL either - the staff can tell you a bit about the dog's personality sometimes but you're not rewarding a breeder who is dodgy and doing the wrong things by the dogs and their customers. AWL and RSPCA do provide after sales support and they also ask you questions about where the puppy is going and how you're going to look after it. And provide you with what you need to do that eg a short instruction book!

This can happen when you have a much clearer picture of what you want from your dog and how to communicate that to her. :) This is a good article on different dog social abilities. http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance My dog was dog social but she's more like dog selective now. but it is habitat (place) selective ie she's much more social at the beach - tho much choosier about who she thinks is appropriate to greet. Doesn't greet all the willing greeters. Certainly doesn't greet the intolerant leave me alone dogs.

So that would mean that by gumtree policy they couldn't ask more than $500 sheesh. Did you report the ad?