Simply Grand

Too gorgeous Happy special second birthday Odie! That cake looks delicious :laugh: I hope you ate it all and didn't give your little bro any :p

Fevah, you know apocalypsepwnie was agreeing with you right? Just checking as it's unclear from your response... I know where you're coming from, most people don't know what Aussie Shepherds are either, they're usually assumed to be a cross breed, I hear "oh she's very pretty, what's she crossed with?" all the time! And many people just think the Sheltie is a Collie puppy... Or occasionally a very small Lassie dog :laugh:

Hmm, tricky situation. It may be something to do with Jesse's desexing but I suspect it's more likely to be something else that's triggered this, neutering one entire male doesn't generally prompt another entire male to become aggressive towards it. Could be that Teddy was feeling very overwhelmed and Jesse was the easiest target to take it out on, could be that Teddy is feeling unwell, could be that Jesse inadvertently did something that you didn't see, could be that they have reached sexual maturity and their relationship is changing, which may or may not be affected by whether they are entire or not. I'd suggest next meeting be in a neutral place like a park they haven't been to before, and where it's pretty quiet so there are no overwhelming distractions or stimuli to affect their interaction, then start off walking alongside each other, gradually getting closer. Allow some brief greetings (on lead) at first and see how they go. If all goes well, continue managing interactions in busier situations, don't just assume that one ok interaction means everything is fine, but if it appears to have been a one off then I would look into the possibility that Teddy was/is affected by something I mentioned above (or something else). If they do have the same issue the next time they meet I'd suggest a behaviourist who can watch the interaction and see what actually happens, ask questions etc as there could be all sorts of things going on. Good luck with your boys :)

Wow, that's a great timeframe for results, and sounds like they give you a reasonable amount of feedback. Good news about the language, uni language can be a PITA. Thanks so much for the info :)

I agree with others who said it's probably a game, I doubt they were seriously trying to get him out to his kennel. Looked like a rehearsed routine to me :) ETA - I've watched it a couple of times and I think I can see what you were worried about sheena - sideways ears, facing away but looking back with eyes, a couple of head whip arounds - if that was an interaction between a dog and a person who didn't know each other well I would be concerned.

Do you have the name of the place DD? I think I did come across another UK place in my seatching but I wasn't sure it did distance ed.

Oh cool, thanks DobieMum. Are you finding it interesting? Have you had anythin assessed yet? If so do they seem fair and do they get things back to you in a reasonable time so you know if you're on the right track or not?

Oh it is? OMG they are stunning!

Beautiful photos :) and *swoon* at that dog!

Oh how exciting :) I think you may need something to hold the pen in place, maybe just some heavyish boxes or something around the outside as a BC pup may be heavy (and clever) enough to move it around. Looking forward to updates.

I can't comment on posts I haven't seen, they've obviously been deleted for a good reason and I can understand being upset about whatever was said. I still don't think that means that making sarcastic insulting statements about a whole lot of us should be accepted without response. As I said, I don't like double standards.

Dogmad do you not see the irony in what you said? How is the above post not derogatory to people who have a different view point? Personally I have no problem with people arguing their own point and I can deal with whatever is thrown at me on an Internet forum, but double standards and lack of logic frustrate me.

True, but it goes both ways. If you make a sweeping negative generalisation then go on to add qualifiers about what you actually meant then make other sweeping negative generalisations you can't really cry foul when other people respond negatively to you.

Following some unexpected and very generous Xmas money from my dad I find myself in a position to be able to do a dog behaviour/training course, yay! :D I've been looking into what course I want to do for a while (thinking it would be a long time before I could actually afford to do one). I feel like Delta and NDTF aren't really what I'm looking for, not that I know a huge amount about either but have read on here and have colleagues who have either done or are doing each of them. My concern is that they may not be quite in-depth enough for me to get what I really want out of them - I did undergrad psychology at uni which teaches you all about conditioning, association, reinforcement/punishment etc and am already working full time in the field with the guidance of an experienced behaviour trainer and am about to start teaching puppy classes. I'm more interested in learning more about the science and psychology of dog behaviour, learning and interaction than how to train them per se (although obviously they are closely related). So I'm looking at these two overseas distance education options - CASI in Canada http://www.casinstitute.com/dip.abst.html BCCS in the UK http://www.britishcollegeofcaninestudies.com/Dog%20Behaviour.html I'm leaning towards the CASI one as it appears a bit more in depth and professional and has some interesting extra electives. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about BCCS though, and thoughts on either? Thank you!

I agree that it is absolutely a breeders right to say I won't place one of my puppies in X situation, completely their call. However that's different to saying anyone who is in X situation shouldn't be getting a puppy at all as they can't possibly raise it right.

I like how you did the whole discussion yourself in the first post :laugh: It does sound like the time is not quite right yet, and it will make it that much more exciting when you do get to do it. Thinking about the age gap is a good point, and havent had dogs long enough to deal with oldies yet but there are only 2.5 years between the oldest and youngest of my three so they will all be oldies at once.

Ah, good news! Well done

So sad. I have heard through the grapevine (so can't confirm) that there are suspicions that the dog actually died and the salon didn't want to tell the family Suspicions are apparently based on the fact that there has been absolutely no trace of the little dog for so long.

I really can't understand how it proves your point. You said baby puppies shouldn't be left alone while people are at full time work, that dog isn't a baby puppy. You said visiting at lunchtime and pup going to other people's houses during the day is included in the special assistance you believe people need, both of which were apparently done in that case. You made clear you were not talking about cases where there was another dog for company, the owner says she borrowed another dog for company. Plus the new owner didn't have the dog as a baby puppy to work full time or not, with or without special assistance, and again you specifically said it was babies who shouldn't go to full time workers. So no, I can't understand how that situation proves your point. I suppose I will have to keep getting puppies, having them play up, not know what to do so send them back, if that's what everyone who can't understand how it proves your point does :confused:

I recently heard about a similar but completely unintentional situation where a dog managed to jump the fence to the neighbour's yard and got tangled up in something on a hot day. As both the owner and the neighbours were out at work all day no one found him until it was too late The owner was devastated.

Purely because BC's are such a physical breed I would want to keep them entire until 12-18 months just to make sure they develop structurally as well as they possibly can. I don't know how much desexing affects their mental development, it's a hard thing to judge as obviously you can't compare development with or without desexing in the same dog! But if you have a good training regime in place you should be able to manage his behavior as he develops.

I like that differentiation RP. I see no issue at all with breeders saying they have puppies for adoption The definition of adoption is something like "bringing into you family through legal means to raise as your own", which is what puppy buyers are doing. I do see the point people are making about it being an AR term meant to say that people shouldn't buy from breeders, only from shelters etc. I wonder whether the general public are even aware of that though and how much it influences them (I genuinely don't know).

My dogs do not fear me in the slightest, and the idea that anyone would want to be feared is horrifying to me. Do people seriously think they need their dogs to "fear" them? Far out. Poor dogs. How dangerous would it be if my WL GSD feared me, no doubt there would one day be a post going "and then my dog ALL OF A SUDDEN attacked me for no reason...." Exactly LMSW, and yet Amax-1 specifically used the words that that instigator must fear the leader in order to avoid fights. I'm sure most would agree that respect and trust between dog and handler are far more important and effective than fear.

Skyefool, you have nothing the be ashamed or embarrassed about. You have an illness, many of us do, it is not your fault! I expect the thought of us worrying about you puts more pressure on you but the thing is we are not your responsibility. We care about you but we are in charge of how we feel and how it affects us so do not feel that you have negatively impacted on us. It's completely up to you whether you move on from DOL or not, stay here, leave, take a break, come back, do whatever works for you. The most important thing is PLEASE keep talking to your doctor/psychologist/psychiatrist, and if you need meds, keep up with them. ETA - as mentioned, DOLers are always here :)

Strawman argument. Not really because you didn't include your actual concern until you edited.