Mrs Rusty Bucket

Maybe some of the excess is caused by people hoping the next dog will be the winner... Like people who play the pokies all day when they cannot afford it. Except some of these people are gambling with the lives of their dogs. It just doesn't seem right whatever way you look at it. And if the greyhound (and other racing industries) can't feel that pressure, and change the way they do things, the outside majority will shut them down. Of course they could move to some country where the value of an animal's life and empathy for it is much less than here.

Seems to me like you're on the right track. I would try adding more trick training especially the impulse / self control games. I have something I call the "hat" game - cos the reward is the hat off my head which my dog then whips in to shape... and if I'm really lucky (at the beach) carries out to sea and drops it in the water... It's a variation of "start line stays" for agility competition. So I get the dog in a sit stay and then I try to fake her out any way I can. If she steps off the spot - I collar grab and put her back on the starting spot (or near enough) and try again. If she manages to keep her paws all in place - I release her to run after me and get the hat (or toy or ball). Sometimes I run, sometimes I don't, sometimes, as she blasts past me with the hat, I run the other way... cos she really likes a game of chasey so that works as a reward. And it develops good self control while being excited at the same time. That's what you want, ultimately, a dog who can control themselves when they're excited. But yours is a 1yo boxer - ie adolescent teenager, so be patient, build up slowly. Pay attention to what distracts him and use those as rewards or to fake him out as you need. I'd never heard of HA NR OB before you mentioned. Did you try them or have you other reasons (best not mentioned here) for not wanting to try them?

I'm not sure I'm winning. The ratio of rude to polite in the curly coats around here is about 10 to 1.

I guess there must be parts of Israel where they're not dodging bombs, that they can collect dog bombs... Maybe that's where the mossad apprentices start?

I like "shaping success" by Susan Garrett, I found it easy and quick to read and it has some detailed trouble shooting sections. Eg if your timing is late - this happens, early - this happens... when to use a cue and when not to... https://www.clickerdogs.com/shapingsuccess.php if you want to get the book from Australia (Chuwar near Brisbane) it's available here http://www.agilityclick.com/prod121.htm and there are whole lot of other clicker training books available there too. And you can use the word "yes" instead of a clicker for many things. Another one I'm meaning to read - and a friend has the most well behaved bull terrier - based on the content is Jane Killion's "When pigs fly" http://www.whenpigsflydogtraining.com/#/When%20Pigs%20Fly%20-%20The%20Book/When%20Pigs%20Fly%20-%20The%20Book/1/ Note - my friend has had trouble with the website recommended on that page for buying stuff. Like unauthorised charges on the account. So you might get it somewhere else at the moment.

There's been a few. She's pretty good at the moment. Our worst times are on lead on the footpaths before we get to the park(s). She's even made some new curly coat friends. And there's a few curly coat dogs that think about greeting her and change their minds (good readers and respecters of dog body language). I'm currently reading Alexandra Horowitz's book "inside of a dog" - which describes a lot of what goes on really well. http://insideofadog.com/ There's also a few curly coat dogs that she has told to back off, on previous encounters, but lately has been quite civil with. They've been a lot more respectful of her too. Note I say curly coat dogs because evil hound lumps curly coat retrievers in with the clipped poodle crosses - shame on her.

These are some suggestions for counters to these. He's clearly easily distracted so any games you can play to improve his self control will help. There's stuff about these on youtube... Eg crate games (DVD by Susan Garrett) collar grab - paired with a treat - play five grabs and treats. and then play some other game. Do once or twice a day. You work up to you reach for his neck/collar and he puts his neck in your hand... this you can use to prevent jumping. Along with a really nice sit stay. I train this in front of dinner and then I move to the back yard, and then I do everything I can to distract the dog out of the stay - build up little by little. If the dog is holding the stay for five attempts - you can increase the difficulty in one aspect eg duration or distance or waving flappy thing over there but not all those at once. So if your dog loves the sit stay game - it's easier to stop him from jumping because you can't sit stay and jump... This comes from boredom, lack of exercise (or too much) and not enough mental work eg trick training is mental work and can wear a dog out more for less time commitment than a long fast walk. If the dog gets an hour of running next to a bike every day - you get a super fit bored dog which can excavate a back yard in a day... Ooh this was so my dog as a puppy when we visited my brother's place and she was supposed to stay outside when we were eating - no way. Unfortunately I had two choices here... put her somewhere safe she couldn't see me - like the car (in winter) or a crate under the verandah on the other side of the house. Ie the immediate consequence of jumping on the glass was going in the car or crate. Note I did crate train her first so she was pretty comfortable in the crate, she just couldn't jump on the glass. So her choice was be nice outside, or jump on glass = car time. the main thing is not to reward the jumping on the glass with "attention'. Which is hard because I don't want the door broken. So crate/car it is. Ie remove the opportunity without giving the dog what it wants. No need to scold the dog either. I'm copping a bit of this right now. Cos it's walk time - in her head (never mind daylight savings). Tricky. I could shut her outside for while but that would be hell for my neighbours. I can't be bothered setting up a crate and sticking her in it... she's now fetching one bit of walking equipment after another - shoes, socks... really only one answer. Even a walk around the block would be enough. I could put a ball under a blanky and tell her to fetch (mental exercise). Licking the keyboard and my hands - vicks vapour rub fixes that (has to be reapplied daily or as needed). So does a nice stay on the mat over there... You also want to look up a self control game called "its yer choice" and anything by kikopup on youtube. Hopefully that will give you a start. Main thing to be thinking about - for each behaviour you don't want - what would you like instead and how might you train that instead. Something that your dog can't do at the same time as the unwanted behaviour. edit to fix quote tag

The trouble with gambling is that it is mostly done by people who can't afford it. Pokie money mostly comes from pensioners. And the TAB near where I lived was always full of old men - even during working hours. They all moved outside when they banned smoking inside but they still stayed there all day. They didn't look "wealthy" to me. It's one thing to buy an occasional lotto ticket (also sold to mostly poor people) but to be in the TAB all day every day - can't be good for the bottom line unless you're the TAB. And online betting makes it way too easy. Don't even have to go sit with the smelly blokes to make a bet any more.

I think they're at work. The flag raising happens during school hours, which as best I can tell allows the children to do what ever they like in the park from beating each other up, to digging holes in the oval and litter everywhere. But much as I'd like to sit and take notes or video as evidence to report to get something done about it - I think that would go down like a lead balloon. (reading from "the rosie effect" - starts at about 2:15 minutes in) So in order to get our council's attention - I do things like email the council ward reps (the people you vote for) and ask for what I want and why, and then maybe put counter arguments for the usual excuses. but if I can keep an email short and to the point I do. I've also been and given short deputations (we're only allowed three minutes to talk each - so if you need to say more than this - break the speech up into 3 minute pieces and bring friends to read the rest of it). I haven't ever needed more than three minutes, and I do read what I want to say before I go to the meeting so I've got an idea of how long it will take to read in the meeting. It's a freaky experience (talking into a microphone to a group of people) but it is the best way of making a point to all the councillors in front of the CEO (who manages the council and all requests from councillors are funnelled through him - they can't go to other staff directly). But a resident can pester anyone in the council structure. The trick is finding the right person. If you've made your argument at a council meeting - they can't actually pretend the request is not there. Our council also has things called "ward forums" and I go to those and put requests in. Again - most of my requests have eventually been met... sometimes it's taken a couple of years for the thing I asked for to get to the top of the queue and they don't usually tell me when they start work on it but it does get done. Like the drains that were becoming sink holes were replaced. But I'm going to have to hassle again because dodgy kerb work has broken some of the drains. The bin thing was fairly straight forward but I didn't go through the guy who is supposed to look after our park. He would not even take my calls in the end. And he's since retired but there is something very dodgy going on in the asset management part of the council - ie the local government act in SA says - they're to provide for the council's rate payers and they seem more interested in providing for sports clubs that are not paying any rates and actually suck money with grants. But that's a whole nother story.

There has been a major restructure of the horse racing industry too. Two of Adelaide's city tracks Cheltenham and Victoria Park have closed and been turned to new uses. Cheltenham - was just too valuable for real estate. The State Govt would do the same to Vic Park if they could get away with it. All the betting went online and the market for that was mostly in Asia and our races were not at a useful time of day for them (too early?). I think Morphettville is hanging on by the skin of it's teeth and most, if not all, the trotting tracks in urban areas are gone too. Most would be a long way to go for a night out for most city dwellers. And that's the biggest local market. But I think banning racing and betting - would just mean more illegal racing and betting, and then there would be nobody watching out for animal welfare. Or human welfare either.

There is a sophisticated greeting ritual that well brought up dogs know but lots of puppy mill specials do not know and lots of gun dog retreivers ignore. It involves paying attention to whether the other dog wants to say hello and acting accoridngly. My dog - having spent the first few weeks of her life - with her litter and at the AWL - with other dogs and she's a herding mix - is a master at it. She will run up indirectly in an arc or just not quite at but nearer to the dog she wants to greet and she watches it. If it starts looking away and licking, she does too, she slows down, sniffs the ground wanders off in an arc around them or she might drop and crawl if she thinks she can encourage it to change it's mind about saying hello. With the really timid dogs - she will also roll over. But it's a completely different story with the curly coat poodle crosses. They barge straight up to her and get right in her face no matter what she says about wanting or not wanting to greet - and she chomps them for their trouble. She's a wee bit better off lead but it depends on the dog. If it's on lead and pulling at her and staring at her - I don't let her say hello because it's going to be painful - for the other dog. She was taught that to repell a giant poodle x that will bite your bum if not repelled, that you have to growl a lot and nip quite hard on the bum. By my brother's rude dog. Unfortunately I find that behaviour unacceptable by both dogs but my brother thinks I should let them sort it out. Bad idea - because every dog at the park suffers for the next 6 months while I try to explain to her they're not all like my brother's dog. Which isn't helped by the fact that a lot of them are exactly like his dog. No manners. Rough uninvited play. If the rude dog was a human - it would be arrested. Rude dogs. Here's two links that explain it very well. why herding dogs hate labs https://sarahwilsondogexpert.com/why-does-my-herding-dog-seem-to-hate-labs/ he just wants to say hi http://www.suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/he-just-wants-say-hi I try not to let her greet on lead dogs at the park and the beach. She's gotten away with it at the beach a few times. And there's been a few where she's agreed with me - that it's a really bad idea and come back to me instead of attempting a grovelly greeting. If I see the dog first, I call her back and put her on lead until we're welll past. Same with people walking with no dog, or women with headscarfs (most of them are terrified of dogs), and curly coat dogs. Bizarrely she is fine with all the curly coat dogs she met before she was 2yo, and sometimes I see her look at a curly coat dog that looks like one of her friends and then go off when she works out it isn't.

I routinely pester email my council and councillors about bins around my area. I actually persuaded them to put a new bin and bag dispenser well away from the playground and area shared by the local primary school because those kids think it's great fun to unroll all the bags and string them round like black flags. I also tried to get them to switch to the bag pads like Brisbane council has (near goldcreek?) because those can't be unrolled - you have to take one at a time which would also reduce the numbers taken by people for use at home not the park. I countered all their arguments about bins being used by people who don't want to take their stuff to the dump and the ridiculous idea that people would take their rubbish home. You need to make doing the right thing easy for everyone... So if I see someone watch their dog take a dump, if they're close enough - I will offer them a bag - here - do you need a bag. Sometimes they refuse to pick up but those ones also don't come back to the park. If they're a long way off, I will pick up the dump for them and then chase them down and give them the poop. "Did you realise your dog pooped back there, and how important it is that we pick up because.... council will ban dogs from here if we don't do the right thing... and hand them the crap... Which most of them are - these days - at least pretend to be grateful because they mean to pick up and they just missed it. If they say that - I say you have to watch the dog for at least the first five minutes... because that's when most of them go. Often in the same spot, and I suggest they pick up a Kharma crap - ie the next crap they see - pick that up so 1. they don't step in it on their next lap (does often seem to be runners) 2. they owe the oval a crap. The ones that are rude and still refuse to pick up - if I can, I get some identifying detail about them, their car rego or their dog rego or both, and report, and I tell everyone else at the park that "That person refuses to pick up" and we all yell at them. They don't come back. I figure it's kind of a social engineering. They're given every opportunity to pick up and if they don't want to do that - don't come here. The oval does get disgusting if the bags run out - usually Christmas time. The bins also get disgusting because nobody wants prawns in their home bin. And the council often skips the Christmas pickup at the ovals because - all the drivers are on holidays. But pestering the council, and getting more than one person to do it - really helps. Might take a while but eventually - they go - we want to be able to say we're pleasing our rate payers and if it doesn't cost a lot... they do it.

I think this is probably natural. I get upset when I'm accused of something I didn't do. I probably look exactly like every dog in the "Guilty dog" videos. It's like what did I do, please don't hit me. And they "hit" you verbally anyway. And it's worse if it's someone you care about and want to like you. Or just get along. It's strange how some people expect you to just know how they want you to behave. As if you're telepathic. Sometimes I have to tell them, "I am not telepathic and I am not your toy, to do your every bidding". Fortunately there's not many of those people left in my life. And I am deeply surprised and upset if I encounter one unexpectedly. I don't usually think of any witty come backs under the immediate onslaught of their imperative rudeness. It's later when I have a chance to safely engage my brain again. Ie people under attack tend to do the exact opposite of what you want (note to corporate managers).

Gunner85 By boarding and training - do you want to send your dog away for a couple of weeks, and pick it up all obedient and trained? I don't think there is much point in doing that if you don't get trained to train your dog. That's where the need really is. If you understand how to train your dog - then you can get your dog to behave how you want. The problem with sending the dog away is it will be all obedient and trained for the staff at the boarding centre but not for you. My dog is highly trained but won't do anything my mum or my brother ask her to. There are some "military style" places that have returned a happy dog as a quivering wreck - because they use a lot of aversives and punishment to train. And they will just say the dog was not a suitable candidate for the training. ARGH. What is it you want your dog to do better than it currently does?

Are you sure it was "asked" and not "Told". The standard response to someone who says "Don't tell me what to do" should be "right back at you". Ie look who's talking. But you can't reason with people in that state. ignornant and impaired - run away... I do always have a crate in the car, so if I go to a family outing that gets too much for my dog or I want to sit down and eat without worrying about her foraging in the kitchen when I'm not paying attention... she goes in the crate in a shady safe spot. If the car is in a safe shady spot in winter, sometimes she goes back in there. Evil hound was really good yesterday (or completely overwhelmed) - we went to the semaphore kite festival (thought it might be a crap day for it today), and there were big kites and lots of people everywhere, and she was uncomfortable (would not take a treat) but very well behaved. If she'd started having a go at the kites or anything else I would have taken her away the situation.

I watched a kid let his dog poop at one of our local parks, I beeped at him while the dog was crapping, he turned and looked but didn't pickup, then I spoke to him, and he said he'd get the poop... but he didn't. I picked it up. It was exactly where I said it would be so how he missed it is beyond me but I know where he lives and if I see that again, the poop is going in his letterbox with a note to say it will be unwrapped the next time. I couldn't get the dog rego because it wasn't wearing the collar but I guess I can write down the address for reporting later. The dog is a GSD so big poop. Not good. I think you need two dna samples tho - one from the dog, and one from the poop. I heard of community labobratories being set up in some cities - UK I think, and one enterprising resident used the lab to DNA test the poop that kept appearing on his lawn, and DNA dog samples collected using brand new tennis balls to find the culprit.

I'm not sure about that. There's trainers and there's trainers. Yes the dogs get a lot of attention - but it's not always good. I've seen the greyhounds brought out to run the lure coursing track at Viriginia and some look great and others look like Arnold Schwartzenegger in his time competing Mr Universe - ugly much? Certainly not in their long term health interests. I also think if the dogs had better living environments (their minds were engaged more often) that they might run better. Rather than keeping them in small grey prison cells where they get to sleep all day because there is nothing else to do. I guess there is a balance there. My dog does a fair bit of sleeping on the couch. I also think that there is a balance between unrestricted breeding and euthanasia the way humans live - and the way we think is best for our pets - ie planned breeding and euthanasia when there is no quality of life left. There are some who think we should never kill any living creature but you have to draw a line somewhere - we can't live without killing plants and bacteria, and a lot of insects (I refuse to be the personal bloodbank of the local mozzies, well I try). Personally I think we should not be wasteful. And the greyhound industry as it is - is horribly wasteful of perfectly healthy friendly living dogs.

Aren't breeders in NSW supposed to comply with the code of practice http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/animal-welfare/codes/breeding-dogs-and-cats Is it in the best interests of the puppy to be kept alive? What about all the other basic welfare issues that seem to be missing from this puppy's life which I imagine include the vaccinations and worming and microchipping. So the most interesting one is 9.1.1.5 saying can't sell an unhealthy puppy but nothing about giving it away. But the breeder and the neighbour seem to have failed on 9.1.1.3 9.1.1.4 9.1.1.6 9.1.1.7

Some humans are idiots, drunk or sober. I don't like to reward demanding behaviour from my dog. I don't reward it from humans, if I can avoid it, either. A critique of my training methods which do involve treats - would go down like a lead ballon because the old school stuff the drunk person was talking about - doesn't work with my dog. Tho she would only respond to cue words from other people if the other people actually "retrains" them. Ie she has to know that "come" from someone else means good things. And demanding drunk lady would not be able to achieve that. So I avoid letting my dog meet people like that. It doesn't end well. I do try to pay attention to what people are around - mostly it's people frightened of dogs, rather than drunk people, and keep my dog away from them. Scared the crap out of a mum and child today trying to get off the beach at the Semaphore kite festival. They had sat in the path of the only way off the beach near the jetty. They would have been fine if they'd stayed where they were but OMG DOG!!! RUN... Fortunately for me - evil hound ignored them.

I think there's probably a lot more room for greyhounds on couches... I vaguely remember hearing number like 200,000 for the number of dogs purchased each year by pet owners. And quite a few of those would be from puppy mills / pet shops. There are still heaps of people of the "general public" (not the dog obsessed), who think that you go to a pet shop to get a puppy. And they don't understand the downside of it. Even friends I have - who have puppy mill specials "they got from a good (back yard) breeder" don't understand that all the expensive trouble the dog has with its mouth, teeth, spine, and hips are something to do with the breeder and could have been prevented or avoided. And then there are all the dogs who can't go out for a walk because they freak out at everything, because they never got any people or dog time at that crucial stage of their puppyhood. I'm thinking maybe the greyhound "industry" could fund independent health and welfare inspectors who can do random spot checks, from a levy on each bet placed with the TAB or betting agency. There's already an admin fee. Eg if you bet $10 and win $20 - you get $20 less the agency fee. So there can be a welfare fee too. Same for horse racing, and drug testing football players. And there could be a levy on all puppies sold, for random inspection of breeding facilities. Maybe on the council rego fee? But so many states in Australia - they just need to keep track of all puppies - the same as they do for other livestock and then put some sort of fee. $2 per dog should fund quite a few inspections. It could be administered a bit like car rego or other livestock rego systems.

Sure they love running/racing but you can't convince me that trainers or owners have the dogs enjoyment of running at heart. If there was no money involved, you think many trainers would do it? Most other dog sports COST the owners money, not make it. I have previously stated I like dog sport. Also greyhound racing is an industry, not a hobby. Not all trainers are the same. Some (many) see their greyhounds as part of their family. The same as most of us who train and compete in agility sports. There are also lure coursing clubs that are for not-greyhounds but any kind of dog that wants to run. There's no money to be made doing that, no TAB betting, and the participants pay for the equipment and ground hire and there's some risk of vet expenses if the dog injures themselves making a bad turn. So it's not about profit. My dog loves to run flat out and chase things (usually me), total joy and can we do it again please... eg if we're practicing start line stays the only thing she wants is permission to run. It trumps even food treats. She's sorely disappointed if she gets a treat for her stay instead of to run and chase. You make a sweeping generalisation saying all greyhound trainers are in it only for the money. It might be true of the horrible person who dumped 55 dead dogs in the park (they should get done for toxic waste dumping if nothing else). But if every slow greyhound was dealt with this way - there would be a lot more. I think I remember a couple of years ago - some NSW dog pound officer got into trouble for taking the unwanted dogs to the nearest country rubbish tip and shooting them dead there and dumping them. That was cruel and stupid too, and he saved money in vet and green dream drug costs but he didn't actually get to pocket any of that saving. Cruel treatment of animals is not always about profit. And making money from animals is not always about cruelty. I think if greyhound racing got banned, then so might agility, obedience (I actually see people beating up their dogs at obedience competiions and training - it's horrible), and lure coursing, earth dog, tracking... And then there would be more bored barking dogs because we're not allowed to train the dogs to do what they were bred to do - or an approximation of it?

Aren't the greyhounds up for adoption - usually ones that have failed at what they were bred for. They don't chase or not fast enough... Yes it's hard to train against instinctive drift... but not impossible and not every dog or human is "typical". It would have to be a speshull greyhound and not "Stan" speshull. Would be easier to work with a farm dog or a gun dog probably.

Keeshond are always more fun in pairs (you will have to show / send them the brace video link)...

I wasn't talking about a greyhound's ability to injure itself. I was talking about a dog's ability to injure stock on a farm (or the neighbours farm or wildlife in the national park...) I've seen staffies, cattle dogs, and labs with broken legs from self inflicted injuries usually from bad landings after jumping off or over stuff. My point is - it doesn't matter what dog they get, there could be trouble. If your point is that you'd never let a greyhound off lead on a farm unless it was a dedicated race track with appropriate fencing - I would argue - it depends on the dog. I've seen my cousin's greyhound having an absolute ball with two whippets, a kelpie and a cattle dog in a snake infested environment around a dam with plenty of stock and roos around. The Bedlington terriers decided they weren't interested.

All a dog has to do to kill stock is chase the animals at speed (not all that fast) - into a fence or gully or even across a bit of concrete drain (break a leg). Any dog could do it. It's not always about how fast they go.