Mrs Rusty Bucket

I think she's telling me I didn't feed her, which is not true. I might not have fed her as much as she'd like - that's probably true.

You let the dogs in and make the visitors stay outside? tempting, very tempting...

Frosty started digging two specific places in the floor - turned out to be mouse holes go figure. Mice were duly dispatched, no help from her apart from identifying the best spot to put a peanut paste baited trap.

results https://www.facebook.com/groups/1399559963621860/1650410971870090/ hey woody... And those greyhound breeders obviously know what they're doing (5 seconds) and then next fastest whippet lurchers? and some border collies were right up there. I don't think my dog would rate as a fastest mixed breed (unregistered?).

my neighbours are having a small party. I'm pretty sure my dog wants to join in or at least be able to sit out the back (and I have to come too) and listen... And I don't want to cos it's too cold but she keeps asking to be let out and she won't stay outside without me. Brrrr Please let me out, in out in out in outin oin outinwoiseomfsf NOPE. Not opening the door again. Smells like pork crackling but that's not my fault.

rylst I do love an update thank you. Hope you have a great time at puppy preschool. And remember to ask lots of questions especially if you think something is wrong or you're missing something that seems "obvious" ie ask the "stupid questions" - everyone else will be grateful. And if you and your puppy love it, let them know that too. :)

wants to go for a walk doesn't want to go out in the cold. wants me to fix that for her.

that thistle dog video - I have "sing" on cue... and "paddle", "spin", "speak" (louder)...

Scott and Jag He's 7 months old - just hitting the dog version of "teenage angst and rebellion" also the age most puppies get dumped because the owners can't handle this stage. But it is possible to train a dog to be more focussed (on you) and less distracted (by everything else) bit by bit. Especially a GSD.

Mine is not at all subtle. I ignore subtle - so this is what I get when it's dinner time. Otherwise I might not notice.

Love it grumpette. I gave evil hound the near empty cream container to "pre-rinse" and she shredded it. Ah well.

Well done team Kenz. I bet it was the freezing weather that helped. Did you get snowed on?

Lol @Westiemum My dog just gives up and uses the bed under the computer desk.

OMG Please please join Susan Garrett's Freecallers - ie the foundation games of recallers for free... (or for the price of your email) https://www.brilliantrecalls.com/ The program will teach you "collar grab" (catch your dog with ease), "its yer choice" (aka impulse control), restrained recall (dog come back when called with enthusiasm) and crate games (I hope - hasn't said what the last critical core game will be). One of the things included is to make a list of distractions and then rank them from - barely distracting - dog will train with you and ignore, to OMG LOOK I CAN'T LEARN ANYTHING THATS WAY TOO EXCITING. so he's obviously getting plenty of fun from everywhere but you. You need to make his time at the dog park entirely conditional on listening to you. So I agree - for now - don't go in the dog park or let him off lead around other exciting things. Practice training - on lead - at a distance far enough away from distractions that he can still pay attention to you. If he's all focussed on the dog over there - you're too close. And just interrupt any behaviour you don't like with a collar grab, ask for attention, and see what his choice is when you release... if he chooses to repeat the undesirable behaviour - put him on lead until he can pay attention to you again. The first part of the collar grab video explains why we train the way we do and what you need to do (or not do) for it to be successful - it's worth handing over your email just for that. And note the actuall collar grab game - starts with the dog on lead - so you have control - you don't drag his collar into your hand but you do stop him from nicking off...

There was a news story last night about a lady being arrested for (alleged) fraud for taking nearly $10K off two people who bought (imaginary) French bulldog puppies from her and never received them. Ie fraud. I don't know how many different ways to say dumb here. That the lady selling thought she was anonymous, that the buyers thought they would get what they paid for (and it was over $4K each). That the buyers did no research to verify they would get what they paid for or how you buy a good quality puppy.. http://www.cootamundraherald.com.au/story/3202272/puppy-fraud/

having to wait for her dinner to defrost. At least she has the smarts to come and tell me when it's done.

I'm not surprised though that is projecting human feelings onto the poor dog. Important bits are sore for sure. (no wonder blokes cross their legs and are reluctant to take their dog to be desexed). Hopefully the meds will help some. Thank you for the update.

reminds me of this. beagle moves chair to steal food... I have dealt with it in a few ways. Like an advanced game of its yer choice. Strangely - interrupting my dog mid slurp - or even just sniffing the air ie having the thought - helps. 1. I put tins along the edge of the counter that fall off if she tries to check stuff out there. But doesn't work if you don't put them. Vicks vapour rub too. works but needs reapplying. very inconvenient. 2. take dog out of the room with me. I'm a messy cook - there's crumbs and stuff everywhere. So best thing I can do is make sure she doesn't clean up in the kitchen without my permission - including the floor. So I grab my dinner - I take her with me and shut the door to the kitchen. I can't leave the door shut because her water is in there but it does seem to break the habit of checking all surfaces for dinner remnants. 3. IYC with a bowl of brekky porridge. I've got no idea why this one has stuck so well but I can leave a bowl of porridge where she can reach it for ages - 10 minutes I've timed once (and I don't want to eat it then)... and she will just act not interested. When I've finished the bowl of porridge - different story. I stop eating and put the bowl down, and she will LOULDLY tell me that she wants it but not steal it. I have to be careful not to reward the loud telling. Ie get in before she starts or wait her out until well after she stops or not give it to her at all. So she's allowed to decide for herself whether she wants to sniff the bowl of porridge. If she tries to sniff it, I block access... if she backs off - I give her a treat from another source ie a bit of roast chicken or something. I'm not entirely sure how I progressed this game (and not the food on the ground at the park one)... but she does not steal the porridge. I'm fairly sure if I went to the shops and left the bowl with porridge on the coffee table she might decide it's fair game but I could be wrong. I've left her with it and forgotten before (but I was still home) and she didn't nick it.

evil hound... has to wait for permission to eat dinner and it doesn't come until after I've put ointment on her leg wound... Oh the stress. has to fetch rope toy before I will throw a ball. Sometimes has to jump something and run around the clothesline too. not allowed to lick bits in the middle of the night. not when she's in my room. staying on lead at the park when other dogs are off lead... so she can't abuse the poodle x over there or clean up the food in the playground. losing her personal slave to the evil computer for hours on end. I think that's the worst one.

It is possible to train contacts so it makes it easy for the judge to get the decision right. Running or stopped. If you have a dog that is prone to leaping off the contact - it's much harder for a judge to get that right. And they're only human. As for angles - it's also possible to train a dog to make good approaches ie work it out for itself - but I don't think this is something a novice handler would be good at. And that's where things get a bit interesting ie a novice dog with an experienced trainer / handler may make this look easy. But I've seen a judge when asked by the competitors about angles - change them to make them safer, more flowing - especially in the novice sections. If nobody speaks up - judges are not telepathic. And there's a few judges that just set horrible courses week after week - and you can choose not to enter when those judges are listed for that event. However, given that there is a big gap between novice and excellent standard at the moment - I like when judges set something that complies but is a bit more challenging... it lets you know what you need to work on. And if you don't work on it - sooner or later - some other judge somewhere is going to put that challenge in. Judges are human. They're usually consistent in the way they do their courses - so you can choose whether or not to enter. I've butchered some lovely flowing courses, and done much better at some I thought there is no way my dog will do that. I can't blame the judge for that.

yes that seemed like the other good idea. But the class I'd split up is "masters" because there are just so many people in that and so much variation in skill both dog and handler. Some of the people who helped start up agility here - were completely overwhelmed by the new handling and training systems and pretty much quit competing tho only 10 years ago they won trophies. I also thought it might be interesting to have a sort of handicap system where there is a sort of ratio worked out based on the winning dog time - for all the dogs that go clear... and anyone who has a significantly lower ratio (closer to the winning dog time) than they normally do (their average ratio) might win something for "personal best" performance. So they get some value out of competing against their own score / average. Eg someone might normally be 2% slower than the fastest dog - and this time - they're only half a percent slower... which is much better than their normal rating...

I've heard the thing about more qualies for novice and I thought it was a good idea. Quite a few people found that they were way out of their depth with the Excellent level. And could have done with more practice at the novice level. Experienced trainers are less likely to have this problem and will only take a few double trials to get through but beginners new to agility - they're the ones that need a bit of extra time in novice level.

a few things aren't adding up for me. I could be wrong but I think debarking involves piercing or cutting membranes in a dog's mouth... So if this dog was aggressive and/or debarked - the NSW people would not be able to show it anyway. And then the breeder to allow / encourage litters from a dog that is aggressive to other dogs - not good either. So now you have a dog that is fine with people and with her home pack (dog selective peacefulness) but not with other dogs. Retraining that is difficult, and it really helps to know what kind of aggression it is... eg fear aggression or just hates dogs. And it helps to get a professional in who has really good timing with delivering rewards for good behaviour so that you counter condition successfully instead of rewarding the bad behaviour and making it worse ie timing is absolutely critical with this. http://www.badrap.org/dogdog-tolerance Or you keep her away from other dogs. Which is really hard to do.

That reads like my dog when she doesn't get her walks like she wants. Or if I skip a day - stir crazy dog. He could also be in pain. Was there follow up post op pain killer for him? You could try some sedentary trick training to wear his brain out a bit and encourage him to sleep but if his (missing) bits are irritating him that might not help. How long before you can take him for short on lead walks?

Lol Persephone Now you know how to get revenge. I've nearly had my head taken off after calling up a mopoke owl - oops. Fortunately I was under a car port roof so she or he couldn't finish the swoop... And I had a chat with a crow yesterday. It looked lost so I erm arked it up... it came back to look for the chatty crow... Evil hound was fascinated. She HATES crows...