Simply Grand

Would soaking and mushing not be easier for a toothless oldie? Then mix with mince?

At least he's not doing what most teenage boys do alone in their bedrooms... Hehehe, true! Good on him for his passion

Wow, the "Pawfessor's" reasoning is totally specious and he is really cherry picking what Dr Mech says in his video. Unfortunately I think he is undermining the cause of modern science based training with that video =\

Yes, I think there are two different types of "loose dogs approaching" situations. Most of then time a good firm growly STOP or GET AWAY as you walk towards them and stomp your feet will work, at least to give you enough time to get away. Or sometimes if the dog is insecure but is being territorial you can get away with talking calmly to it as you walk your dog/s away as quickly and calmly as possible - I've had that work with a fearful but aggressive local dog who half wanted to attack my dogs to make them go away but wasn't quite brave enough and once we were past her house she wasn't interested in following us, just wanted us gone. A dog that's really intent on attacking probably won't be put off by much except physically stopping it. I've had a dog run out at full speed completely focused on getting at my smallest dog despite the fact that I saw it coming and started ROARING at it then kicking it while my bigger dog also kept charging and barking at it. Eventually I got hold of the dog's collar and a handful of scruff and twisted as hard as I could, lifting front feet off the ground and somehow got the lead of my little dog then got it around the attacking dog's neck in a slip lead and strangled it til it stopped. Eventually the owner came out and was a total jerk about it, I reported it to council because it was seriously intent on my dog. In any situation I think your best option is always to focus on intercepting the other dog before it can get at your dog. And don't be afraid to sound like a crazy person yelling and carrying on, it's better to be a crazy person with a safe dog than a polite one with an injured or worse dog! ETA an umbrella is a good idea, opening it to at least block the dog could help, or you could use it to hit the dog with, although I wouldn't have enough hands to juggle three dogs and an umbrella, and a carabiner on the lead is a good idea too if you are concerned about your dog running off. You could also carry a spare lead so you'd have it handy to slip lead the loose dog (notes to self should start doing that).

It is interesting! She sounds conflicted, maybe a mix of excited to have another dog around and not totally comfortable with sharing "her" things, including you. And maybe she's not (or hasn't been) confident enough to tell Cookie off so like you say, she is being a bit passive aggressive and making contact and pushing Cookie around but in a somewhat appeasing way.

Yes, looks like excitement in an appeasing though annoying sort of way to me. Has she settled down at all? I would think if you keep interrupting Thistle she will get the message, and hopefully the novelty will wear off. If she's really not giving up could you try tethering Thistle, either to you or to a fixed point? Then she can be around but Cookie can control the level of contact.

Or cheese, anything extra yummy and with a strong-ish smell. And to start with hold the extra yummy swap item at pup's nose when he has something not toooo exciting, like a toy, wait til he opens his mouth and as you take the toy (or whatever) THEN say "give/swap" then shove the yummy treat in. Start in a low distraction environment, like inside the house and get it solid there before you attempt it out in "real world" situations. Eventually you can condition the response so that when you say "give/swap" they automatically open their mouth so you can get in to grab even super high value things like dropped cooked bones or stuff they find out and about.

Lol you must be a very exciting belly rubber! I manage to rub my boys' tummies daily without lipsticks coming out :laugh: Having said that I do love patting the smooth little girl bellies :D

That's really cute (not for the intruder obviously!), good dog

Ah, I see, that makes more sense!

I can't see where you are located on my phone but if you are able to work with K9 Pro on your training, including protection work, that would be great, they are excellent at that stuff. TOT is great for impulse control, as is NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) and for relationship building. A constructive relationship with a dog, especially a strong willed OR an insecure one is more than just spending time together, it's establishing a language, a reward history and conditioned responses. You've said that you haven't had a Rott puppy before, have you had other puppies? A 10 week old puppy is still very much a baby. Absolutely you can begin conditioning behaviours but something reliable at 10 weeks is not necessarily reliable at 16 or 26 weeks. I personally find it concerning that a 10 week old pup would go "off his head" at a collar grab from an owner who he has been living with... But I don't know you or the pup in question so it is really just something I am flagging, if it's no concern to you then fine.

We went to a different dog park today, that we've checked out before when there were only one or two dogs there. It was busyish this arvo and we walked around the outside gradually getting closer to the fence line and ended up walking along quite happily with 3 or 4 other dogs walking alongside inside in the fence (like we were on a group walk, which I would love to do for real but don't have helpers). She also interacted with a small oodle, who was very interested in her and kept coming over to say hello. I wouldn't say Molly was wanting to play with him, more that she was focusing on doing what I've taught her (LAT and remaining calm) but she didn't do into super alert prey drive mode at all even when watching him chase a ball. She was getting excited watching the other dogs running and wrestling but happy excited, wanting to join in playing and when it was down to just two large young dogs left in the park I let her have slightly longer interaction through the fence still and she was play bowing. She was also barking and clearly quite aroused though so I want to get her arousal more under self control before she gets actual play. I feel like she has that level of excited play arousal that could tip over to aggression in a split second. I was right at the point of saying to the group she needs to be put to sleep but she seems to have started moving forward again so I'll give her some more time...

Hahahahah yes I was gonna say, don't dooooo it!! ETA she is gorgeous, and also you're doing better on your first groom than I've done in 7 years of stumbling around with Saxon :laugh:

yes. I have several friends who have done/do that Would you believe that an acquaintance who belongs to the GSDRescue group, is actually intending to get her GS pregnant BEFORE she gets her spayed? She's had dozens upon dozens of rescues go through her home & yet she still doesn't get it. Stupid is what stupid does & until we can clean up the human gene pool .......... I would think that your friend is within their rights to breed her dog if she wishes... doing so if the dog is not a registered pedigree, health tested, and is breeding a registered litter - is when you might be able to point the finger... T. Agree, if she's breeding and placing her puppies responsibly and offering ongoing support then she's not contributing to the problem, and she obviously does her bit for rescue dogs.

Sounds like an excitement behaviour to me, he has excited energy that he isn't sure what to do with. I'd be figuring out what precedes him doing and redirecting his energy into an incompatible behaviour when you see his excitement building - say a 'sit' then a 'shake' (paw). ETA - yep, also like Td says, grabbing gets your attention, so show him other, more appropriate ways to do that. Also, I assume you've already started on general self control start exercises like holding a sit, waiting for food, waiting at the door. For a baby puppy you will only be looking at very short duration of course, and keeping it fun with lots of praise but all that kind of stuff will help him learn to direct his energy and help build the relationship between the two of you :)

Rule 4: No denigration of pure bred dogs Speaks for itself. This is a primarily a pure bred dog forum (ANKC recognised breeds) and was created to promote and discuss these breeds. If you don't think pure bred dogs make the perfect pets, then maybe this forum is not for you. How does saying that some breeds shed a lot and smell doggy denigrade pure breds?? Because she said they shed/smell less than the purebred parent. Therefore the purebred is smelly and sheds. But lots of pure breeds DO shed and get smelly? That's not denigration, that's just a fact. I'm constantly vacuuming up hair from my two pure breeds and sometimes they smell... ETA - my mixed breed foster dog also sheds and sometimes smells doggy. It's just how it is, not a denigration of either

Rule 4: No denigration of pure bred dogs Speaks for itself. This is a primarily a pure bred dog forum (ANKC recognised breeds) and was created to promote and discuss these breeds. If you don't think pure bred dogs make the perfect pets, then maybe this forum is not for you. How does saying that some breeds shed a lot and smell doggy denigrade pure breds??

Good dog Buddy! Did they not have smoke alarms I wonder?

I have. This was what I got when I resigned from the organisation. It was a very unpleasant end to what had mostly been pleasant except for interactions with certain individuals. These were emails sent to me directly. Someone made a collage of the inconsistent legal threats here i.e. sometimes your dog can be seized, sometimes it can't be. More here: here. My link I have three friends who adopted dogs and were threatened with having their dog seized back well after adoption: - 2 for disagreeing with him - one because he criticised the photos and petrescue profile and she said: "Please refer to original write up already supplied if you don't like my updated version." The sad thing is that most people are frightened into silence because they think that the legal threats are real ... one of them was even a tough bloke who has no installed security cameras and motion detection sensors It's really, really sad ... It as the first group I ever fostered for - it was SUCH a huge relief to me when I finally left and volunteered for other groups to find out that they're not the same and that there are some great groups out there. I just properly read your email chain, had to enlarge it on my phone. This guy seems delusional! The privacy act does not cover details of pet ownership and fence height for goodness sake, and of course an adoption application can be shared with a member of the group in question who has a clear need to know the information as the custodian of the dog in question. So bizarre. ETA and just looking at the links, UNBELIEVABLE!

Above from Shel's blog. So why isn't rescue regulated? Does it not fall under state jurisdictional codes of practice? It's a very thin-almost non-existent layer of regulation that might as well not exist. Seems like anyone can set up a rescue ... You don't actually have to be a fit and proper person as people who have reported the conduct to the regulators have found out. It's very disappointing. I personally think there should be more accountability - and I am very, very pro-rescue. Especially because they are utilising donated funds, supplies, time, energy and good will, with very very limited accountability to the people providing those resources, let alone anyone else. ETA - that just made me think of something, do private rescue groups registered as charities have to provide annual reports to anyone?

That's brilliant KTB! I think you are the Gold standard of foster carers!! I wish all groups had a minimum standard at least. And I think it should be the responsibility of the group leaders to set those standards up, not the carers.

How common is it for rescue groups to require foster carers to assess their dogs for things like resource guarding against humans and/or other dogs, anxiety, reaction to children, reaction to strangers, reactions to other dogs etc? Do groups generally have a list of situations they require dogs to be tested in? Just thinking that a dog fostered in a home with adults and one or two other dogs, with a big yard could be perfect in that home, show no signs of aggression towards anyone in the home, be fed each day following a routine where food is presented however and the dog is left alone to eat, outside while humans eat (or all the time), not walked because they get plenty of stimulation playing with the other dogs in the yard... Perfect dog with no apparent issues BUT untested in a wide range of situations. There would be (are) plenty of lovely foster carers out there who know dogs, take great care of dogs, do the write ups and conduct meet and greets but who do not have the knowledge to do an actual behaviour assessment of a dog, and nor should they be expected to. Denny's foster carer was probably one of them. I'm sure the carer didn't lie in the write up of Denny, presumably Denny just hadn't been tested for resource guarding human food in the vicinity. I know you can't cover all scenarios, there is always risk, with any dog not just rescue dogs, but it concerns me that people are adopting dogs that have been in foster care based on the belief that have a good idea of what the dog is like from what they are told by the carer and group, when really the dog could be far from actually assessed.

That is absolutely appalling! Just disgusting. And what a load of crap, "you own the dog and it's your responsibility, nothing to do with us anymore BUT you can't return it to us and you have no right to surrender it to anyone else or euthanise it". No way would an "adoption contract" that says that be enforceable.

Thanks PK that's a really good article and explains threshold really clearly. I don't know that it was the case with the white dog, it was such a sudden and intense switch very specific to that dog. She certainly does show at times that the intensity is getting too much for her, you can see her body language change as her arousal levels increase. It can be quick but not like it was on that occasion. I had her outside the fence at the dog park again today and she was bloody perfect! Multiple greetings though the fence, nice sniffing, walking along together, no lunging or snapping, no overly night arousal watching the other dogs run and play, and even standing calmly watching three small dogs playing in the small dog side. I'm cutting back on the treats and feedback I'm giving her for doing LAT to some degree to gauge howshe is going making decisions for herself and the last few days she has been great. I've seen her progress then go backwards before though so we'll see. My next step is to get someone else to handle her without giving them too much direction, to test how she goes without me guiding her, because it's all well and good her being great with me but she has to be able to transfer it, not need to go through another six months work with someone else to get to where she is with me.

There's no point doing them for me (although I know it's only for fun!!) because I don't have preferences for things like size, coat type, grooming and exercise requirements (well I don't want super super high energy). I feel like if I want a particular breed I'll make the other things work. I suppose temperament is the main thing I look for...but right now I really don't want another dog (3 plus long term foster plus random other fosters) is plenty so I'd just want to be like "No" to all the questions :laugh: