fuzzy82

Considering snake training my dogs, and just wondering who does that sort of things around Brisbane? I am on northside.

Front attach harnesses have limited usefulness for pulling, at least for some dogs. No harm in trying it though, it might work for you. I think a correctly used prong collar is better than a head collar, as most dogs HATE the head collar. I think it would be more humane for the dog to receive 3-4 corrections for pulling than wearing a head collar for the rest of its life. You need a trainer to show you how to use it though. And if you're getting a trainer in anyway, why not get them to show you how to train the dog not to pull, rather than looking for a quick fix in the form of some equipment? Your dog probably isn't more headstrong than any other, it just hasn't been trained to walk properly on a leash.

I don't pat my dogs while eating, but I do want to be able to take things off them without getting attacked. And what if the dog ever has a bone and attacks anyone who comes out in the backyard? Or do you want to only ever be able to give the dog edible things while he's in his crate? Why set yourself up for inconvenience when it's so easily trained at an early age? From the first day I got my puppy I had him on my lap while he ate and I touched him all over. I also taught him to drop things on cue in exchange for a treat. I no longer touch him while he's eating, but if I accidentally bump into him he's not gonna snap, and he will drop anything in his mouth on cue, even bones and dead fish etc, and I can go over and examine them and determine whether or not to let him have them back. And it didn't take long to train, so why would I deliberately do nothing to prevent resource guarding and have to stay away from my dog whenever he has anything edible for the rest of his life? You wouldn't need to though, once the dog has learnt the cue and the game. "Give it up and get something better". The dog doesn't know that what you have isn't better, and if you keep training it by trading up, the dog should still give up bones and really high value things, because he has been conditioned to think that whenever he gives it up he will get something better.

I watched it last time it was on. Very interesting.

Punishing him for looking at kids will not fix the problem. That really is bad advice. If you were scared of something, would you be less scared if someone smacked you over the head every time you saw the thing you were scared of? You should contact a behaviourist/trainer. Fixing the problem should be reward based, such as rewarding for looking at kids, moving towards kids (without any threatening body language) and eventually interacting with kids. The only way you'd use corrections in this situation would be to interrupt the behaviour, so that the dog would then offer the correct behaviour and you would then reward for showing the correct behaviour towards kids. But preferably you should never get so close to kids that the dog would react and need to be corrected.

I woulda left the park with the dog in my arms. I wouldn't care if the other dogs ran out the gate too, not my problem at that point. Maybe that would get the owners' attention. And yes, that's a very common occurrence at dog parks, and the main reason why I don't use dog parks anymore.

But unless you have a dog that will slip out of a collar, or you are planning on giving the dog corrections, then there is no point putting it in a choke or prong collar. I know how to use them correctly, I can see how they are useful training tools in some cases and when used correctly, but I would never put either on my dogs. And I'm not gonna put one on my dogs just for the sake of putting one on my dogs to prove that I can still give them treats while they're wearing a correction collar. One of my dogs is fear aggressive, or used to be, and I have used nothing but treats and distance to fix. Now he's a normal dog 95% of the time. I can't see why you'd use any other method to fix fear aggression or reactivity, so the only reason you'd put a correction collar on that type of dog is if it's very big and you need to be able to control it if it does react. I can't understand why so many people in here advocate the use of correction collars. If you want to use them, fair enough, your choice. But why try to convince everyone to use them? It's like people who use correction collars can't handle that some people manage to train their dogs without them.

No dogs in Vic? Sure this isn't a conspiracy theory?

It says quite clearly in the story that she first rescued him nearly 2 years ago, then she was arrested and Oscar returned to the puppy farm, and it was only 18 months later than she was able to go and buy him back. That was in June I think.

My dog was attacked by a lab last year, and yes, I went right in there to split them up. I'd rather be bitten and have to go to hospital for stitches than have a dead dog. (Neither of us were injuried though) But yeah, it's rather funny that pretty much all the dogs that react to my dogs on walks are goldens, labs or toy dogs. I don't think I've ever seen a staffy or similar breed react to us. As for touching your dog's food bowl, you should be able to do that without being mauled, and if my dogs did that to me I'd be calling a behaviourist.

Where I'm from in Europe breeders make similar contracts. Thing is, they don't hold up in court, due to a law that says no one can tell you what to do with your own property. So signing a contract like that might give the breeder peace of mind, but it goes against the law and is worthless. Maybe that's also the case in Australia? Unless the breeder retained part ownership of the dog I don't really see why she has any right to dictate what happens to the dog.

Thing is, most people don't have a clue that dogs need to be "socialised". And even if they did, they would think "socialise" means "run around like maniac at the dog park". The great majority of dogs we meet have had very limited socialisation and no or very little training. A lot of dogs spend their lives in the backyard. So if the majority of the population has no clue that socialisation is good, or how to socialise a dog, then how would the politicians know?

I thought only 2 were required, at 8 and 12 weeks, or at 12 and 16 weeks...? I thought the first one at 6 weeks was considered pretty useless?

I'm sure for a lot of clubs that's true, but I do both agility and flyball with one of mine, at two different clubs. In agility, our group has no other small dogs, and my dog doesn't really like big dogs. In our flyball group there are several ACD's, all of which are dodgy with all other dogs, several neurotic BC's, and a semi-aggressive standard poodle (I suspect it's really just prey drive gone over the top). The only other dogs I will let her socialise with are the other two small dogs in the group, and while training there isn't much time for it and when we finish they both want to go home because they are both owned by older people. I guess I've just been unlucky. My other dog finds dogs to socialise with in our obedience classes though.

I can transfer money today too, just need the details.

I have a reactive dog, and I suspect fear aggression, but even without a reactive dog I would be interested, because I'm a dog trainer student and it seems like useful knowledge.

I have two small dogs too, and have stopped going to dog parks. I personally don't prioritise socialisation with other dogs, because they have each other and I see no value in running around with unfamiliar dogs. They socialise with other small dogs they know at training classes, but that's about it. If I only had one dog I would probably look for a small dogs playgroup to let it socialise. If you're in Brisbane there is a poodles in the park playgroup twice a month that welcomes all small dogs. Just google "poodles in the park" and you should find it.

If we get the 20% discount I'd be in too.

There is a Ruffwear harness that has 3 straps that prevents backing out of it. I think it's called Webmaster or something along those lines. It has the normal two straps around the chest and behind the front legs, and also one further back over the belly. Apparently sighthound people love this harness because their dogs are so deep chested they will back out of anything else.

If that be the case, which I still doubt, why not take them to your own vet and have the dog pts by your own vet? Why drop them off at a strange council pound where they would be frightened and confused and killed In the arms of strangers! I'm sorry but you owe the dog that much Sorry I'm very upset by It all, so I'm not being rude just deeply sad and angry I love the way Vic, tags RB's and DD dogs as the same a RB Is just that a restricted breed It's not a dangerous dog! I agree, I would never do that to my dogs, but a lot of people wouldn't even think that far, and they might not want to pay for the dog to be pts, and/or they think it makes no difference as the dog will be dead anyway. Who knows.

Maybe the owners knew the dogs were likely to be aggressive and handed them over before anything could happen, to avoid punishment should something happen. If that's the reason, then I think that's fair enough. Better to have a dangerous dog put to sleep than wait for something to happen and then put the dog to sleep. But if they handed perfectly friendly dogs over just because they were a certain breed then that's a bit silly.

Cool, thanks

Just wondering what you all use to clean your leather collars? And is there a technique?

My dogs will heel when I ask them to, but usually I just let them run around and sniff everything and I don't care if they pull either (they are small, so it doesn't matter). Only one of them pulls and runs around everywhere, and the other one walks ahead of me on a loose leash and only occasionally stops to sniff something. I usually also have them on a long line so for part of the walk they enjoy extra freedom. I did seriously consider teaching them to walk next to me and not stop to sniff etc, but after thinking about it I realised I would enjoy our walk more if I saw that they were enjoying sniffing and running around, so I ended up not bothering. I definitely would want any dog to be able to heel on cue though, because sometimes you need them to. If you did want to teach them to walk next to you, shorten the leash, reward profusely while the dog is next to you. If it moves in front or the leash goes tight, stop, wait for the dog to stop, then turn around and do a loop to bring the dog back next to you (you wait for the dog to stop because you are very gently getting it back into position, not jerking it around as punishment). Repeat as needed.

On the dap spray it says not to spray on the animal or anything that will be in close proximity to the animal.