zeebie

For the year prior to getting my new pup I introduced my now 8yr old dog to lots of friends puppies as we did obedience and agility trials, some he would not even look at others he was really playful with. this is a dog who has NEVER EVER tugged in his life or become reved up unless he was at home with one only favourite toy. when I first brought my 9 week old pup home I left her in her crate and allowed him to sniff and check her out for a couple hours downstairs in neutral territory, then she went into the laundry which is inside house downstairs and a baby gate was up he went down a few times and checked her out while she screeched and howled in protest with being seperated from her litter. Next step was bring her upstairs in a play pen in one room of house closer again and he spent lots of time for next 2 days laying outside watching her. Day 3 they got together in yard she peed on grass he peed on top and then it was game on and she dominates him and the two have never looked back he is feircly protective of her if she whimpers he is there to check her out. Now their favourite past time is TUGGING and it makes me so happy to see them both having this game and he actually brings toys to her and encourages her to play. Every dog is different and you will find yours will come to an agreement sooner or later and there may be the odd spat but that is just the way they work out who is going to be the Alpha dog in the pack. Lots of treats and pats and good dogs for good interaction and I also do lots of "trick" work with my older dog and also teach the now 4month old at same time, this seems to help as well.

Sorry but this is not a great analogy. Yep probably not the best analogy in the situation but difficult when as pointed out by myself and by another poster, hard to evaluate when sight unseen! Most people however can relate to the "patterning" program in humans, hence the reason I used this, perhaps it is not as well known as I thought. We use a similar program to positively reinforce learning with our dogs and never use the word 'training'. Having come from a rural background with a large pack of working dogs, as well as having shown dogs who were not even closely related to a working breed, competed in obedience and agility with a 'muttly',and been involved with service dogs for past 8years, I know only too well how a dogs temperament and abilities are closely related, I also know that like dogs there are different styles and beliefs regarding handling and outcome, and most of all a dog is definately a reflection of its handler. Therefore I hope that Woodbyne takes everything on this forum with a grain of salt and uses what she/he feels best suits the dog, and has many hours of fun and enjoyment with this new life adventure.

Yep lots of nods on this one and doesn't need to be anyone coming over I come home that is enough excitement and worst part is if I do manage to get in door leap up the stairs and pick her up (too little to get down stairs) and she will promptly pee on me!!! Better the floor then me I say She has a litter mat upstairs and is excellent at using it, but still same old same old I come in older dog runs down stairs to greet leaving her at top and hey presto pressie on carpet. My only solution so far has been to leave her downstairs in a gated area so as soon as I walk into foyer I can let her out back to go and this works :) she has just turned 16 weeks old and can now successfully go through night without using tray and has moved into managing 3 -4hour holds between daytime use of tray, so fingers crossed the wee of excitement phase will soon be thing of past. ;)

Lots of good positive points here :) You don't say what sort of dog it is you have, is it male/female? age? size etc. All of these things are important and also every single dog like humans have their own personality/temperment etc. Yep yep dogs are pack animals etc..... firstly because this dog has been kenneled and a "show dog" it is like reprogramming or 'patterning' someone who has had a brain injury and needs to start from the beginning again. So I personally would not be doing anything in the obedience or agility ring until I had this dog loving me and rspecting me as the Alpha dog. Just lots of FUN ball play, tugging as suggested, walks and socialising ++++, introduce new sights, sounds, smells and make everything FUN FUN FUN, this may take 6 months or a year but the difference it will make will astound you. Sure you can continue to use your home base agility equipment as a source of exercise and familiarisation. You can also go to training nights with dog and just walk around the grounds and use clicker and everytime dog shows positive signs such as tail wagging, greeting another dog or just standing near activity and not being 'fazed' click and reward, simple baby steps. This poor dog has gone from one extreme to another with no in between, and so this is what the dog needs, some down time and some re group time, to relearn that there is more to life then 4 walls, being yelled at and a regimented routine. You will also find the toilet training will fall into place as the dog becomes more familiar with the new routine and gains trust and confidence. good luck and patience is really important in this situation.

Probably by now you have had 100 tips re stacking your dog, but the best one I got was to practice by standing her across 2 chairs placed in front of each other, so I put her back legs on one chair and front legs on other and left little gap between the 2 padded seats, dangled a bit of juicy morsel in front of nose hey presto standing beautifully and with repeated short practices she "got it" quickly then we transitioned to table top which for some dogs is very intimidating, I don't think your breed has to do table top I think is a ground stack for judge to examine. but in our case with small breed we had to practice table and also ground, we are now to stage where I can get her to stack nicely after completing a circle, we practiced using a rolled up couple towels with tape to hold them in a roll and I had her stand over these once she got idea I removed the "padding" and it had imprinted on her so when I click my fingers and say stand she does Oh and she is only 16weeks old :) Good luck

I am presuming you are referring to ANKC agility? It is polite irrespective as to whether judge says anything to make eye contact and nod to acknowledge you are ready to start, and also be ready as soon as previous competitor is off the course. Practice your start line procedure away from the competition in home time, set up a couple jumps and ensure your dog knows start procedure, have a word eg 'go' or 'free' or whatever you want to use and if starting dog where you are beside it start well back and practice running from behind and having dog jump and then reward for correct procedure, this may eliminate any run arounds or run aways! Other option is the dog sitting and you walking out to 2nd or 3rd object and then freeing your dog to start, but you must be 100% confident that your dog is happy to do this and will go over the first object, so it is all about knowing your dog. Depending entirely on course and distance/time allowed I will often have my dog do a running start where I set dog up about 3 -5 metres back from first object and after acknowledging judge will just take off and run hard with dog running beside and at first jump I will indicate to dog "over" after that we are off and running the course no problem. I have also taught my dog to go "back", which means if I am out on the course and dog creeps forward too close to first jump bar I can send him 'back' so he actually will travel backwards a few metres and drop, this way I do not have to go back around the first jump and definately don't need to touch him as he does the work himself. Again this is something you can practice and work on. If your dog is consistently spooking at the start line and going around it, look at your body language and assess is the dog doing this because of something you are doing, I know I do get very nervous at start so what I use to do was take deep breath walk dog in circle before I would get to start line and say a little mantra to myself, like "I am ready, my dog is ready, and we are going to succeed and have fun" It is amazing how calming it is because your mind is distracted away from thinking about any problems that could happen. Good luck and practice the start sequence :)

Thanks everyone this has been amazingly helpful, and since posting we have had a little break through with trotting nicely without attacking lead and also our stacking has suddenly clicked with a preferred treat and a hand signal to re enforce. I have seen heaps of You tube antics and tantrums by handlers not the puppies LOL :laugh: And will be taking a light hearted approach this coming w/e and see where we go from there after all I think she will be by far the youngest puppy on the day at only 13 weeks :D She is a social butterfly and so outgoing thanks to the example set by my older obedience expert, master of dog psychology and human controlling canine companion. I wonder if there is any rule to say that a handler has to be a human maybe I could set a precedent and suit him up and send him out there to take her round, he is excelelnt with sign language so I could cue him from the sidelines :laugh: Will still keep the book option in my sights ;)

I find whenever I am in the ring be it agility/obedience or conformation, I get soooo nervous I am sure it just travels straight down the lead to my dog, or in case of non lead events my whole deameanour changes as I mentally try to organise myself. So as soon as I started to do some pre event visualisations (closed eyes/listened to relaxing music on ipod breathed and focussed on doing well), then just prior to stepping in I would say to myself a little mantra such as " You look great, you have a great dog and you will do well", and I would smile and just have fun no matter what happened around me, since then we have become a great team and no more nervous me or dog. Hope this helps. :)

As an example of a situation I recently encountered a person who lives in a non regional area of QLD, sometime ago purchased legitimately a pomeranian bitch, and later a shih tzu dog from different breeders, both dogs were fully registered and papered. This person then commenced cross breeding these dogs to create designer dogs "Pomshie" before long another purebred bitch was brought into the mix a maltese, and yes it was bred to the shihtzu and to one of the original sons of the first litter from the pom X Shihtzu, so after a couple years and many many litters later which were being sent off to various "friends" in Brisbane to act as puppy sellers, being sold for up to $800 unregistered, no papers, and no vaccinations or microchipped etc. I had steam coming out of my ears when I heard this story and the person boasting of how much money that has been made from these dogs and the poor little things were unkempt, covered in matted hair and malnourished with rotting teeth and other health issues, all of which were put down to various excuses such as oh just getting over a litter not looking her best or, the red swollen diseased feet were due to so much water around lately. the bottom line is RSPCA has not been able to do anything as according to current laws this person is not breaking any they can prove. Local council in her region is not interested as she is on acerage and only 3 dogs (according to her ) reside there, pups have to be gone by 3 months which of course they are. Even now with new laws in force to ensure microchipping pre sale etc this is being somehow ignored and silly unaware buyers are paying big bucks for these genetic timebombs. with no gaurantee that the cycle won't continue if the dogs are not desexed etc. And Dogs QLD cannot do anything as none of the pups are registered by this backyard breeder and I doubt she is a member anyway. I just wish I could let every breeder in Australia know not to sell a dog to this person as the end result will be disastorous.

This is the AQIS (Australian Quarrantine Inspection Service) requirement - Dogs First visit 10 days prior to departure Full health examination Frontline top-spot applied Blood collected for Heartworm and Babesia testing Second visit 48 hours prior to departure Full pre-export veterinary health and welfare inspection Heartworm prevention administered even if fully pre vaccinated Internal parasite treatment administered Travel documents issued if all test confirmed negative As my dog is a fully accredited working dog he also had to have rabies vaccine done previously as it takes at least 6 months to be effective and checked, this is to ensure he is safe from lyssavirus (Bat carried) and similar to rabies. Despite all the vaccines he has had in past 8 years as well as numerous hours flying around the country and overseas he remains very healthy and active. I would much rather him have these "poisons" in small doses then be affected by any of the diseases they are given to prevent or minimise if contracted. The treatment for active heartworm is organic arscenic and depending on dog status when treated it often has serious complications. Oh and dogs are not the only species affected by heartworm, cats, ferrets, sea lions and humans can be infected if bitten by the particular mosquito that is carrying this nasty little larvae!

It is like having a new baby after an only child for 5 years, you have definately "bonded" and done heaps with child 1, then along comes child 2 and they sort of take a back seat tagging along after number 1. I have an 8yr old dog who is and has been my whole life and I have had to make an incredibly hard decision to now get a new pup who will eventually (about 2yrs time) take over my current dogs working role, I am so confident in my current dog and know his every move, nod of head, look of eye etc, and I am hoping in 2 yrs from now I will have worked sufficiently well with my new puppy that I will have created this same bond I have with my current dog, My first dog will always be that and he is definately the alpha dog in the house, the pup is already learning so much from him and yet I know that she is also learning so much from the way I behave towards my older dog, so personally your friend has to ask the question, should they have got this 2nd dog in first place and what was the valid reason for doing so, was it as a companion for a stay home lonely dog, a playmate? Was it as a impulse? and lastly if they truely want to have 2 dogs in their pack they have to put in the hard yards and find this dogs special qualities.

My older dog had heartguard monthly as a pup then revolution topical, then at 12months commenced yearly injections, As we travelled overseas it was compulsary to have certain blood tests done one of which was heartworm screening this was done when he was 5 and result was negative, had it been positive he would have been excluded from travel to NZ as they have zero import of dogs from anywhere who have had heartworm or who show positive screening. So for me personally having the yearly injection has certainly kept him clear and we live in a heavily mosquito populaten area. :)

Question resolved and all fixed ;) Thanks

Hi all, I know if I had time to troll through all the topics and replies in this section of the show ring I would probably have all my questions answered. does anyone know if there is a book/books/DVD/ internet resource applicable to Australian shows on the A-Z of show ring Etiquette. Seems there is always someone (like me) about to step into the show ring for the very first time with their dog and if there isn't a good resource then maybe I have a best seller and better start taking notes. :) I have competed in obedience trials and agility and many many years ago handled dogs for someone else under their direction. So have some basics of what to do, still all the dogs I have been involved with were much older and very disciplined. Handling a brand new puppy is a whole new world and I have NO idea what to expect in baby puppy class. I can honestly say at the time I was showing boxers I never even watched a baby puppy/puppy or minor class - bad me ;) I do intend to have fun with her that is my number one priority, 3 questions, Is there any restrictions/rules re what you can and can't use for baiting dogs? Like squeaky toys are an absolute NO NO in the agility world as they cause distraction to other dogs. and 2nd question Puppy is currently grabbing lead with mouth and carrying it will this be a major problem, she walks beautifully in a small not obvious harness (very thick coat covers) but the martingale lead is proving a challenge, is it absolutely mandatory to use a collared type lead, she has good head carriage with harness, and is only 13 weeks old for this coming show. Tail at this stage is a no go zone as she dislikes having it held so will just let her merrily wag away and work on this one, not use to having dog with tails either - but so glad they do now. Finally can someone point me in direction of best place to purchase banding wrap or can you use specific substitute.

Typical of media, we only get a small snippet to sell the news, not the whole story. As someone whose close family member owns a 30kg 2yr old male very boisterous pure bred British Bulldog, when it comes to food or game playing that involves objects, especially my small dog if held, the bulldog will jump with very powerful muscular hind legs from a standstill to my shoulder height (a fair jump), more then once he has collected with me nearly knocking me flat on my back and also I have had huge open wounds on arms and leg from massive claws making contact with skin and I am no spring chicken. It is the nature of the breed this is what they were bred to do "bull baiting" jumping up grabbing the bull by the nose or neck and pulling to the ground! So while I would not want to see these dogs(whatever breed) needlessly punished or worse for doing what comes naturally, definately the owner needs to be directed to the nearest obedience club for instruction in correct management, and need for becoming more vigilent in the open with these dogs.

1. this dog had been through a very stressful ordeal the day before and been exposed to LOTS of media attention. 2. next day dog is hauled off by owner into totally unfamilair environment and "confronted" so given this a. Owner needs to be fined for stupidity. b. TV reporter needs to wake up to herself for stupidity to even agreeing to do this interview so soon after this event. and finally now dog looks like being put down for "attacking" so the authorities hopefully will look at whole situation with a dog behavourist on board. Mind you this particular breed 'Argentine Dogo' (not sure if it is crossed with Mastiff or reporter doesn't know their dog breeds)are bred for hunting and without proper control will take action if 'faced off' with anything. Banned breed for importation into Australia.

I have a huge problem being very short, suits look hideous on me I look like something from the Blues Brothers revisited, as I am about to re enter the world of conformation showing, am in a dilema What to Wear? Thinking just smart slacks with these great comfy flat shoes which are dressy but have good grip soles and a nice flowy top or over blouse with camy under? would this work? Being QLD ever mindful of the humidity! I am usually a size 12 so not overly big just short Dog will come up to my knee when full grown, where as with anyone else she would only probably make mid calf LOL when I was previously in the show ring 'suits' were not the 'dress standard' for handlers :)