Mrs Rusty Bucket

Maybe what the neighbour was trying to say is the dog is very very sick. Ie close to death. Unfortunately when you're all stressed out because your dog is close to death... jokes on the subject or even a misguided show of concern don't go down well. My brother said his dog would not work for food. Not even roast chicken. I didn't believe him... I have found out that 1. the dog will work / learn based on attention and pats... you don't even need food at all but 2. he loves dried roo... and will do anything you ask for the possibility of bits of dried roo...

One time I found a large round brown moist lump in the door way to a sports store. It looked for all the world like a turd. Pretty sure it was icecream but I didn't have a dog poop bag - cos it was in a shopping centre... I told the store keeper so they could ring the management to get it cleaned up or do it themselves - it was keeping customers out... they were avoiding the doorway like it had a real crap in it (maybe it was a real crap...). One lady whose dog crapped in the middle of our hockey field... she put her dog's lead on the ground so it was out straight and pointing back at it, and sprinted for where the dog bags were. I asked her what she was doing (and offered her a bag)... neat trick tho - using the lead to mark the spot if you have to run for a bag. Kharma at our park works - if you forget or run out of bags and have to go get one 1. you can't find the crap when you get back or 2. there are no bags in the dispenser. or any other dispenser at the park.

Yeah - hard to share that with the garden minding crazy lady over the fence. Sigh. What I need is a great long list of all the dogs that have died because they had Homeopathic vax.

My dog has crapped in the surf - after two waves there was nothing big enough to pick up... so I figure fish food. And I'm sure I've missed the occasional crap. I try to make up for it by picking up "Kharma craps" ie the ones you will step in later if you don't pick them up now. There was one at the bottom of the stairs this morning - freshly laid as the tide went out. Can't think of any reason why the owner would have missed that one. It's the people who watch their dog crap - and then say they're not going to pick it up when you offer them a bag - or worse - they do put it in a plastic bag then dump that into the waves when they think you can't see them. But lots of people who planned to get one of the council supplied bags or their dog (or dogs) has done five craps and they had four bags... - they're really grateful when I offer a bag. I always say - just ask the nearest person with a dog if they have one spare. I usually have lots spare... I did watch one bloke use the council supplied dog bag like a serviette instead of a glove when his dog did the poop and walk... would have been much easier if he'd made a glove of the bag but he didn't think of that (even tho it's written on the bag). At least he picked up of his own accord.

If he likes roo jerky, maybe he would also like roo steak or roo mince. My dog does go a little bit spastic for roo... but I do cook it - she seems a bit hesitant about raw mince but she will eat it. And then she will run across the road from the park to the source of the raw mince if she hears him in his garden (ARGH). I make a dinner casserole for her out of roo mince and veg (including sweet potato or pumpkin)... PS I think I'd cook the fish first - but Frosty has shown a keen interest in raw oyster... so she'd probably eat raw fish too. And she sometimes mings on crabs at the beach. And I had to explain to her - but I don't think she understood - that messing with a live crab is a very bad idea.

In Adelaide - most of the beaches are off lead between 8pm and 10am all year round... which encourages good people to walk their dogs in the mornings - but there are still lots of dog owners who bring their dogs and don't pick up. On Sunday I met an owner of two sharpei - one of which had come down and promptly crapped well above the high tide line but where the owner didn't see it. I don't let my dog off lead before I'm ready to follow and keep her in sight because she likes to crap on arrival too. So she's bitching to someone else about having to put her dogs on lead at 10am... and she picks up after one dog but won't pick up after the other dog "I'll pick it up on the way back" - yup nobody who says that ever keeps that promise. At Sellicks - which is dogs off lead all the time - just south of the boat ramp, people put their dog craps into plastic bags and then leave it "to pick up on the way back" but they don't so I can arrive to an empty beach and a row of full dog bags. They all got fined this year and good on the council - but the rangers aren't there often enough to stop it. And at Tennyson - they've been down once this year and told people to put their dogs on lead in the car park and on the beach after 10... but again - last weekend - 10am happened and all the dogs were still off lead. People were still showing up at lunch time and letting their dogs off lead. Grr. We're pretty lucky - there are whole slabs of Sydney beaches - where you not only pay $10 or more to park, but the beaches are no dogs allowed at all. I will yell at people who don't pick up. The first thing I do - is offer them a bag but if they refuse - I yell at them - with the idea of encouraging them not to come back ever.

I met some fat vegan dogs at the beach last Sunday - they get a diet of mostly lentils and beans. The farts must be astonishing. But they were energetic and healthy looking (apart from a bit fat). I haven't read the whole thread either - it's very rare that my dog won't eat everything available and a few things she's not meant to have (like sox or balloons). She's moderately crappy at drinking enough tho so I mix yogurt and water until it's milky consistency and then put the kibble into that. She's going to eat the kibble anyway but this means she drinks enough water to go with it. She loves sardines too. And I read somewhere you can get salmon oil which might help. And peanut paste - I can't eat that but the dog will. She's not overly keen on raw egg. Unless it has a lot of cheese mixed in. I think she thinks it's not food. She will eat boiled egg which is funny to watch when I give it to her still in the shell. Will your dog eat mashed pumpkin or sweet potato - that has something in it that is supposed to help. What about rice and chicken that's been boiled together? You could probably put a stick blender in and mi it to baby food consistency. And then stir some yogurt into that. I know when some people get old - their sense of taste and smell goes bad - and everything smells horrible. Happened to my dad when he got cancer. But he still liked the smell of cooking salmon steak.

when I visited a friend who lives near wyong, we went to a "beach" that was on "the lake" but the tide was in and the wind on shore... so where there was supposed to be a bridge over a small creek... - the path just disappeared under water - and my dog failed to notice until she was all wet and swimming - bit of a surprise to her - it kind of looked like it was still the path but it wasn't. Something to do with a lot of leaf litter on top of the water or something - the water was black. So we didn't go to "the beach" that day. The next day we went to a really nice beach but most of it (all of it? was dogs on lead. There was a bloke out surfing and his dog spent the entire time running around where the rocks met the surf (not dangerous at all) fretting. I was worried that my dog would think the water was the same as home (no rips) and jump in when she got hot so I wasn't very relaxed. The way the surf was I didn't think I'd be able to get her out. She's got good recall most of the time but there is a kind of threshold distance to a distraction where she stops listening. So it helps if I practice lots of recall games when we first get to the beach with good treats... but none for slightly crappy recalls. And then I know how far she can go (depending on the distraction) before recall will fail. I'm pretty lucky she not interested in seagulls unlike some dogs who will chase them to the next suburb or swim across the gulf trying to get the seagull.

Ok what would I have done... First I panic and my brain goes to mush when people are abusing me - which makes it very hard to catch the dog. Fortunately the easiest way to get my dog away from situations like that is to run away screaming... and she chases me. (just great)... Last time she had invaded some private property on the beach front that was entirely unfenced and undifferentiated from all the other beach front property where there is public access. My dog wanted to say hello to some giant hound that lived there and the owner would not stop yelling at me. The dog was fine, wanted to play. Poor thing. So eventually I caught my dog but it would have been quicker if the owner had shut up and also if she had not talked to my dog. My dog was entirely in the wrong - but she was there because the neighbours had thrown food rubbish into the dunes - I have a food detection dog - will find roast chicken 100m up wind. But you can't train random people on the beach. So warning signs of people that aren't going to like being greeted by a dog - especially a big one. 1. people with no dog of their own. 2. people with their dog but it's on lead and pulling like mad. or starts pulling if your dog approaches - easier to catch my dog before she reaches "I must greet" threshold. 3. people having food picnics on the ground. 4. drunk people - but don't see these very often. 5. people with small children. other things I have to keep her away from - joggers, fishermen with bait buckets (covered or not), beach towels with dog treats underneath... But - these idiot girls who were screaming... I would have called the police after I'd backed off a safe distance. 1. drunk and disorderly is an offence 2. abusing people is an offence. calling them obscene names is an offence. pretty sure these girls would have abused the cops too so would have been easy for the cops to decide where the problem was. And most beaches are no alcohol. So I may have escaped that encounter - because they had no dog of their own... and possibly because they were clearly wobbly and drunk - weird people my dog finds very exciting eg women with umbrellas - so I catch her before she spots them if I can.

So my next question is... I know the breeder (or a friend does) that she wants to get a puppy from - do I tell the breeder? Best I could do is tell the breeder to check what the vaccination plans are... I know where this woman works but not her name.

I think it depends... My dog's puppy licence with other dogs expired when she was about 6 to 8 months old. She's six now - and people out and about still think she's a puppy. Mostly because of her manner. She's most often a grovelly crawl and roll over dog... and that wiggle bum bandy legged low to the ground greeting - she gets called a puppy... a lot. So when I say she's 6 - people think I mean months... But she's not as playful now as she was at that age and she likes to leave pee-mails everywhere - which didn't really start until she was about 2 yo.

Lablover I love how she held her stay... and barked. It's a lot easier to "explain" stay to a dog than quiet I guess. But that's where teaching bark on cue can help. And once that's learned only reward the bark if you cued it. So if that was my dog - I'd wait for her to take a breath and then tell her to "Speak" and reward that. And play that game for a couple of treats/rewards - saying "yes" for the quieter pre-bark and rewarding. And then wait... if she barked again - she'd get turned in a small circle and "reset" but no treat. Cos I didn't cue it. I'd also try the crate games thing. It might take a few sessions for your dog to understand that barking means not being able to see out and no attention. I used to treat barking like owner repellent... if she did a little bark to check whether I'd forgotten her - then I'd say "in a minute" or "later" ie I'd acknowledge so she'd know I hadn't forgotten her but I wasn't getting her out yet either. But if she barked like in the video - I'd march over without making eye contact and cover her up... and I'd wait to see if she stopped, then I'd uncover a bit... then I'd leave to finish what I was doing - if she barked as I started to approach - I'd turn and go the other way. She was pretty good at being quiet when she couldn't see me (she'd figured that was pointless), but she used to bark a lot when she could see me. So I used to play approach while quiet - one bark = turn and start walking away (out of sight if necessary). I'd also play a variation of the game standing next to the crate. This morning she had a bit of a barking fit because I went to the neighbours place (for apricots / house check), without her. But I just ignored it. I didn't go back until she was quiet. She does your dog's bark with a much higher pitched note in it. Nasty. But not quite as bad as a beagle howl.

I don't have a partner so no problems with what he thinks. But my mum and my brother - ugh. So we visit mum occasionally - but she's being more and more negative about me showing up with or without dog so I'm going to have to have a discussion (confrontation) about that. It's hard cos she's getting older and in our family, older tends to mean grumpier. Tho I've always been grumpy. I worry that something else might be going on despite no family history of dementia. And with my brother - I leave the dog at home. But I still have to deal with his shit about how to train a dog.

Yeah, I'm thinking what dee lee says - all the exciting fast moving threads get removed before I find them. I like forums better than facebook but one of my friends who won't buy a new computer before she buys a new house (and it's been over 7 years of not buying a house so far because the house she wants doesn't exist)... so she uses her phone to FB and doesn't visit the forums any more. One of my other friends from DOL meetups - also uses FB a lot more now and doesn't post so often here. And we stopped doing the dol meetups because not all the dogs got along so not all the owners got along.

If you click on the link it says this

The key thing about bee stings is you have to get the sting and the poison sack out immediately. Ideally by grabbing the sack from underneath - not by squeezing it at the top and emptying the remaining poison into the wound... My mum tells this horrible tale of how my (romantic) dad tried to save a bee that stung mum but was still attached. Failed. And mum got the worst dose of bee sting poison ever. My dog sometimes confuses bees and blowflies. It's not pretty, and even so she still forgets what happened last time. She shoved a bee up the bum and turned herself into a Bull Terrier on one occasion. Her nose was very swollen because the sting stayed in for a long time but she was ok.

My dog went through puppies and obedience classes with a Vonelka Rottie The most gorgeous friendly bomb proof rottie I've ever met. If I ever got one - I'd want one just like that. http://www.dogzonline.com.au/breeds/member.asp?name=VONELKA But she's in SA. I'd rate as worth the trip or finding out if she's planning a visit to Vic with any of her dogs.

I like raineth's method for things like cats. Calm is good. For agility comp - you want the dog to be excited about it, but still paying attention, and you can train that too. So you can train the dog to be calm (on command) or you can train the dog to tolerate higher levels of excitement and still pay attention. Both methods require training on the edge of "way too excited" (or TAR). But with calm - you really want to progress away from the "edge" towards calm and for work - you want the dog to push the edge further out so TAR is less likely. Some rewards will calm the dog, and some rewards will keep the dog excited or build the excitement.

Thanks for the update Lorello - hope she keeps improving.

good to know Rappie That's much clearer than your average google search. I hope my dog never gets any of those problems.

we're pretty good at its yer choice but there are some stimulus that are just way too much... like the lawnmower man... he's way too exciting for her to show any self control and I can't get enough distance. Bizarrely - my cousin the architect - same effect. Other blokes - fine.

pardon my complete ignorance... how do they tell these diseases (bleeding) apart from things like rat poison?

My LAT training was a massive fail... because my dog gets really excited about food - so there was no calm to reward...

what is IMT?

Erm... what my friend did. got into trouble for it... she lured the cats over a period of weeks into her home where she could trap them in a confined area (the laundry - eventually). Then she got me to borrow some crates from the vet... and we set one that was most covered as a sort of bolt hole from one side of the washing machine (they'd gone behind it), and encouraged them to bolt by saying hello from the other side - and four kittens piled into a tiny crate. We spent ages looking for the fourth kitten and eventually gave up - but it was in the crate under the other kittens. My friend drove the kittens to the AWL who took them - but scolded her for feeding them - apparently if you feed the cats you own the cats... according to them (AWL wingfield SA). Keep the cats/kittens covered up as much as possible... The neighbour obviously doesn't care. And she'd have a hard time claiming ownership without being done for neglect and animal cruelty. Good luck. You can't lure cats directly into traps - I've tried that. You might be able to set up small crates or boxes in a shed and then put food in the shed and eventually if the cats go in the shed for food and you surprise them - they might bolt for cover (ie crates and boxes) and then you just need to close the crates up (with a stick and leather rigging gloves) - might work. Don't forget the rigger gloves.