fuzzy82

I wouldn't use a leash correction on a puppy around strangers. He is still developing, the last thing you want is for him to associate strangers with getting corrected. I can't believe you have been using an e-collar on him either. I thought the golden rule for puppies was to make every interaction with a stranger a pleasant one. If he can't handle having people walk up to him without jumping up, don't let people walk up to him. Keep him at a distance where he is below threshold. Play 'look at that' below threshold. Gradually move closer to the stranger, maybe have the stranger walk in a big circle around him while rewarding him for remaining in a sit (once he gets to this point and is BELOW THRESHOLD). You can't train a dog that has lost his mind in excitement, they are not trainable in that state of mind. You need to stay below threshold.

I use 'view new posts' in every forum I'm a member of. It's just so convenient compared to having to go into every forum you're interested in, then click back, wait for page to load, click new forum, wait for page to load etc. And even though I am not a breeder and not interested in everything posted in every forum, once in a while there are interesting posts in every forum. But then I am a nerd and I like to read things just for the sake of learning new things, even if it doesn't apply to me.

Nothing in life is free, or NILIF, is a good idea. Not only does it form good habits and manners, but it also builds confidence in the dog. Basically it teaches the dog to manipulate its environment to get what it wants, and in the process it does what the human wants, so it's win-win. My poodle x was a timid little thing when I got her, NILIF instantly built confidence.

I wanted to get in somewhere that there is no proof the dogs were Pits that the police officers/witnesses might have identified them as that but they really could be any mix of any breeds that sort of look like Pits but aren't. Thought I might get told I was trivialising a womens death though so kept my gob shut. No attempt at trivialising it, it was horrible.

No, he's not dominating you. Dogs don't dominate humans, 'dominate' is an intra-species term, and doesn't make sense at all for inter-species relationships. All the things you listed are bad habits. Nosing you while you sit or walk is affectionate in a sort of timid, insecure way. One of my dogs do it too. I ignore it. Jumping up is just because it's fun and he can reach higher up on your body when he does it. Ignoring (turning your back, leaving the room) works well. Mouthing is a puppy thing, it's good that a puppy mouths, means you can teach him bite inhibition. If he already knows it, just increase the criteria until he stops mouthing altogether for fear of hurting you. If he mouths during play, play time is over. If he mouths during cuddles, cuddles are over. Etc.

A 7 year old boy was killed by a group of huskies in Norway a few years ago. I don't think it's a breed thing, and pitbulls are bred to be dog aggressive, not human aggressive. Most people have trouble recognising a pitbull though, so I wouldn't trust that the dogs actually were pitbulls unless that have posted a photo of them. And it's horrible of course, very sad.

How about playing 'look at that', but with humans instead of dogs? You basically click for every slight glance towards the human/distraction, and eventually the dog starts offering the glances as a trick, and stops treating it as a distraction. Because he knows he doesn't have to worry about the distraction anymore (because he was allowed to look at it) and because you are also using a bit of premack, it means he ends up focusing on you rather than the distraction. Bit of reverse psychology.

I wouldn't say a harness makes him WANT to pull. It makes it less uncomfortable to pull, yes. I swapped over from a collar to a harness when my puppy was about 6 months old, because he would occasionally lunge at things going past and then cough and hack and I was worried about his trachea. He instantly transferred everything he knew about loose leash walking to the harness, and it was never an issue. I recently tried walking him without the harness, and it made no difference as to how much he tried to pull (I thought maybe he would pull less in a collar, but he didn't). I started out just stopping and waiting for him to sit whenever he pulled. That didn't work at all, he didn't care and would just run right to the end of the leash as soon as we started walking again, and I would literally have to stop every 3 steps the whole walk. I then started giving him penalty walks, ie turning around and walking the opposite way a few metres then turn back and continue the way we were going, which worked much better. He's now pretty good most of the time, but still sometimes pulls towards a scent (which I never let him get away with, I either make him sit and ask for it, or do a penalty walk). I also tried rewarding for walking next to me, but he got so focused on the treats and was walking in the heel position with his head up and forging, and it was too annoying. I don't want him walking at heel, I just wanted him casually next to me. But he was either in a forging heel or he would get distracted by a scent and leave my side altogether. I still have plans to teach him to walk next to me, but in a casual way with his head in a natural position, but because he's good most of the time we have been working on other stuff instead.

Canidae and Artemis are high quality brands, and when you buy the big bags they work out cheaper than Nutro and RC. Plus, they are grain free.

I would recommend the cook "Control Unleashed". It deals with self control and keeping the dog below threshold etc. It lists loads of exercises in detail that you can work on for increasing your dog's self control.

Laying them out side by side sounds like cat behaviour to me. Our neighbours often complain that cats go into her yard and injure/kill her guinea pigs. What on earth were the gp's doing running around loose where there is a dog and 4 cats around?? No matter which animal killed them, it was your fault, it was an accident waiting to happen. The gp's should have their own safe area to stay when they aren't supervised, and the dog should be separate from the cats when you're not around.

I heard the opposite is true, the earlier you desex them the less they grow and I heard that when you desex males their heads stop growing, would love some info on this.... Their heads stop growing? errr.. no. My puppy is from a shelter, so he was desexed at 2.5 months. He was the size of a guinea pig. Can't even imagine what he would look like if his head had stopped growing at 2.5 months. I have heard that males that are desexed young tend to stay leggier and leaner, and undesexed males fill out and bulk up more. Desexing doesn't stop humping. My puppy started humping at 3 months old, after he was desexed. He used to take every opportunity to hump, but seems to have grown out of it these days.

Telling my puppy 'ow!' didn't really do much. So I would be playing roughly with him, which he looooves, then as soon as he hurt me I would say 'ow' and then freeze and ignore him for 10 seconds. Then the game would continue and I would repeat as needed. Another thing I did was when he tried to take half my finger along with treats, I would pull my hand back with the treat. He is very food motivated, so he got that one quickly too. He is 9 months today, and he has a VERY soft mouth, he hasn't hurt me for months.

They look cute:) I don't really like patterns on things though, unless it's a modern pattern like swirly floral or similar, something minimalistic. Otherwise plain colour is good, and I don't like pink either, my female dog always wears blue:)

So you are saying you are against caged birds? Most likely the people who pay thousands for a bird will know how to take care of them. I feel much worse about the puppies and kittens in pet store than the birds. I always enjoy looking at the birds.

My little 4.5 kg poodle x sometimes jumps on people at the dog park. Mostly we stay away from people and dogs, but one time when we arrived there were quite a few people near the gate. My poodle x looooves people more than anything, and she jumped up and touched a guy with her front paws once, then came when I called her. I think if you're at a dog park you have to be tolerant of dogs, I didn't think it was a big deal, but the guy gave me the stink eye.... Another time we were walking around, and my poodle x disappeared out of sight for a few seconds. She had disappeared around a corner and I called her, but she didn't come, which was weird. I went looking for her and found her on the lap of a woman with her son sitting on one of the benches. I called her off, but they seemed to think it was cute. Would you all be annoyed if that happened to you? Because after reading some of the answers in here I am now paranoid about taking them to the dog park in case what she does is rude and annoying (although I don't really see how). I find it much ruder to allow dogs 10 times the size of my dogs to run up to us at full speed and make no attempt to stop them or call them back. It's usually fine, although it makes my dogs a bit uncomfortable, and all we want to do is stay away from all the other dogs. If you don't want to hang out with dogs and tolerate their behaviour, then maybe go to an on leash park and use a long line to allow the dog to run around.

I have wanted to know this for ages. Long nails are a pet peeve of mine, I hate seeing their nails sticking out. I always keep my puppy's nails really short, but my poodle x has black nails and is so fidgety when I try to cut them that I always end up not being able to cut as much as I want, plus I am really paranoid about cutting the quick.

My adult poodle x is never crated. When I first got her she would freeze when she saw the crate and was obviously scared of it, so I never forced it. With my puppy I crate trained him from day one. Ever since the day day I had him I have used it for naps, overnight and during the day (2 naps per day) and also for keeping him safe when we go out, or just for when I needed a break from him when he was tiny and acted like he was on speed.

If the other dogs are being rude, it's perfectly acceptable for your dog to tell them off. Standing over another dog is rude, and so it following it around and not backing off when obviously told to. It's unfair to expect your dog to accept everything other dogs do all the time without letting them know they are being rude. I mostly stay away from other dogs at dog parks, as we are just there for the off leash walk. If a bigger dog was bugging my dogs I would remove my dogs, go to a different area and keep my distance. If it followed us around I would take my dogs and leave, or if the owner is nearby ask him to call his dog over as it was intimidating my dogs. That's good manners, letting your dog run wild and be rude and a bully is not good dog park manners. There is a large dog park at Clontarf near here which also has separate areas.

Haven't heard of it, but just wondering if it's actually safe for the dogs? If they are supposed to go out and rescue people in the water, what happens if the person in the water is panicking and will grab onto anything to get out of the water? That means the dog gets pushed under and will possibly drown...

What do you mean this roo can have a perfectly happy life given proper care? How? No matter what care he is given, he will never be able to socialise, run, jump, scratch himself etc etc etc. He can't do anything. The only thing he can do is eat, and probably only when the food is put right in front of him. How can that ever be a happy life? It's not like a human at all. Animals have instincts, they are supposed to express those instincts in the form of socialising, running, playing. Depriving an animal of all that for the sake of keeping it alive is not fair, and a total waste of money that could be spent saving other animals. I believe that euthanasia is more humane than being kept alive in some cases. That also applies to humans, and some people choose to die rather than live with severe illness and disability.

It's strange, we were in Hong Kong in January, and people there adore their dogs. There are so many dogs there, and people pamper them and treat them like babies, dress them up etc, and you can buy all sorts of cute stuff for dogs. But I guess if authorities are thinking about banning dog meat it must mean that the majority of the population is now against it.

I have a poodle x maltese (from a shelter). I think it's sad that I don't see any maltese dogs around too, as I quite like the sound of their personalities and the look of them. And I honestly find most dogs crossed with maltese quite unattractive. Like their bodies are out of proportion and their faces are funny looking. I don't find them cute at all. Not all of them of course, but most. My maltese x has the body of a poodle (long and lean) with the adorable face of a maltese. I have been told she is the prettiest poodle x people have ever seen, and I can't disagree of course:)

I am not a parent, so this might be way off, but until it has been sorted I would either keep the animals separate, ie have a room set up for the cat where the kid isn't allowed (and can't get in even if he tries) and/or put a leash on the kid (you know those kid harnesses with the leash) and leash him to you when you can't watch him, the way you would with a puppy, and get a playpen (3 might be a bit old for a playpen, I don't know?) where you can put him when you can't watch him. I see no reason why a toddler should be allowed to run around the house on his own without being supervised when he is known to hurt animals. You need to somehow manage the animals and him so that they are never in contact when not being watched by an adult. He sat on the cat's head. That could have killed the cat, it could have broken its neck/spine, fractured the skull, not to mention it would have been scary and painful. You need to somehow prevent him from getting in contact with animals.

Excellent, thanks:)