Staff'n'Toller

I love in the first one "How many dogs do you have?" "Only six."

Oh ok. I've used a treat n train and my dogs are quite mesmerised by it. Will sit in front of it for ages even if it's not dishing out any reinforcement.

I have one video, and he can do six poles, however we will have to go back and retrain the extreme entries as me holding the collar and moving forward has become part of the cue unfortunately. He's also had a bit of brain erased and decided well into it that the first two poles are optional. Might see how I go videoing in the driveway now I have my base plates. ;)

Loved your weave training videos Terranik. It's helped me out a bit with a couple of things we are stuck on.

What apparatus are you using?

I'm about halfway through the book now, have to read it in breaks at work during the day while my brain is at it's best. Am almost up the training schedule now I think, so my tracking friend will be reading her copy soon and we can start when it cools off a bit.

Thank you soooo much for that illustration...it's a keeper! :D My dog is much the same as yours, being on lead heightens his responses though so I am the same in that there's not many (any) off lead places we can go. It's super stressful, and doesn't help when you get called nasty names because you've had to ask three times for the other person to recall their dog.

We had a client with a similar problem and they spent 6-12mths getting a handle on it guided by the Dermatologist. It included medications and topical creams & ointments depending on how the dog was going. The dog is going well now, but it took more than anti-biotics and cortisone.

They barrel up and get right in other dog's faces.. not good dog ettiquette for meeting strangers. They also tend to be fairly physical with other dogs - a Lab putting the shoulder into or a foot on a smaller dog can do a fair bit of damage with not one ounce of aggression intended. And their owners often seem to think that their dogs' "friendliness" to other dogs should be appreciated by everyone. Ah, nope. Not any more than I appreciated being jumped on by a friendly Lab that "just wants to say hi". I have to take issue with this - THEY implies all Labs and that is NOT the case. It shits me that people make comments that imply all Labs are "in your face rude dogs and/or rough" with small dogs or other dogs. This is simply NOT the case and it infuriates me that ALL Labs youngsters particularly, are made out to be out of control, in your face, rude dogs. ;) BULLSH*T is what I say Some Labs are awesome but IME it takes quite a bit of work on the owners behalf to ensure they learn nice approaches etc. I had an episode only yesterday on a training walk where the Lagotto with me was giving extremely clear signals like a neon sign that it was unhappy with the approach of a young Lab and it was me who managed to grab the dog before the owner. Unfortunately it's the rule rather than the exception that Labs don't read other dogs very well because they're just over joyed with life, but the responsibility lies more with the owners to learn to read other dogs and their own dogs. My dog is ruined from a Lab that rushed him out of nowhere, encroached on his personal space, put his head over my dog's shoulders - he gave my dog NO WHERE TO GO and now my dog generalises to all dogs larger than him. Until you have an experience like that and have to deal with a lifelong issue you'll never understand - I certainly didn't.

good point, which heartwormers aren't flavoured? Milbemax tablets. Valuheart? Maybe someone can confirm this? I haven't seen them IRL.

The permanent ID overrides all else.

Yeah they usually issue the actual fine in a few weeks.

At any rate...I think these sorts of things influence choice of Trainer/School: Price. Location. Availability of class times vs their current schedule. Relevance of class exercises vs what they think they need to learn. How good your website looks. Recommendations from friends.

Expect another bill from the council too.

My understanding is that being a Vet is not the only way in to behaviour, so yes if you had the relevant quallies in animal behaviour then you can, however that is only my take on the situation. You'd be able to get an answer by emailing AVA Behaviour Special Interest Group though.

Of course, but if you neglect to refer where you should have, you may be in more trouble. That's my understanding. Edited for grammar...too early!

So, you're saying that anyone who calls themselves a "behaviourist" is implying that they're a Veterinary Behaviourist (i.e. a registered veterinarian with a further registered speciality in animal behaviour)? So all those people in the thread who said they were behaviourists, were implying they were actually veterinarians? I'd very much like to see the AVA's policy statement on that, since I've never heard anything similar from anyone else before (not in the dog training or Veterinary communities). No, I'm saying that the law would be asking for your qualifications and if you have no degree +/- post grad studies in animal behaviour you could be in lots of hot water dealing with a behaviour problem that they would consider to be out of your area of knowledge. This is from Veterinary Behaviourists practicing in Australia.

It doesn't really matter, until you are hauled up in court asking why you felt your level of qualification was adequate to deal with a behaviour problem that you should have referred on....it's not a problem until it's a problem IYKWIM? :D

I think 4paws is alluding to this sort of thing that happens very frequently here: link none of the trainers replied with "well I'm a Trainer actually, but feel free to contact me" it was "who is a good behavourist in Melbourne?" and any Trainers who put their hand up in such threads but do not correct the OP or the posters making the suggestions, in a sense by not saying anything, they are taking ownership of that title. We covered this in Cert IV actually, in that 5 years ago it was starting to become endemic then for those trainers who've done some Cert IV level studies. The general consensus was that it's a bit of a hollow advertisement. Should you be a qualified Trainer with a Cert III or Cert IV, and you stuff up for whatever reason and end up in court, a Veterinary Behaviourist will be called to provide expert opinion against you and that you would be taken to task if you were advertising as a Behaviourist without the relevant studies to back you up. The point is that anyone can get away with it, but it might bite you later if you end up getting sued for whatever reason.

Are you sure it's not the beef/chicken flavouring?

I would buy it!! I've never met Aidan btw... I've put in a request to the publishers for a Kindle format though.

Thunderstorm phobia tends to surface in mid to old age in dogs and it's because of brain ageing. There are some things to try, they can include bach flower essences for dogs specially made up for phobias, DAP or dog appeasing pheromone, and medications from your Vet. They can give valium to use in single doses before a storm when you know one will happen that day and you are home in the 2 hrs prior to the storm arriving. In areas where storms happen everyday and dogs are suffering they may need a constant anti-anxiety medication. Valium helps them feel cruisy and if given at the right time they won't have much memory of the storm even if they are a bit frightened. We used to use ACE or Acepromazine/Acetylpromazine which comes in tablets, but it is not recommended anymore due to the fact that we know dogs are tranquilised but it does nothing for their anxiety- so they still feel the terror but they can't act it out.

I've done Best Friends with two dogs, and recently Phillip Island with three- but I had other human help! Our dogs were great though, they didn't need a lot of management.

And there's a market for you - audio book all three volumes.

Yap, if you joined when this first happened, in September, and you still feel there is no way out of your grief and it is no better, please see your Doctor, you may need to see a professional higher up than a counsellor.