fuzzy82

Diet food for dogs is such a gimmick, and so not necessary. Just feed her less. Dogs only beg and sulk if they're used to getting rewarded for it, so just ignore it and they will get over it. When they give up, do a quick training session using some of their daily food allowance just to put something in their stomach.

Desexing contracts don't hold up, because no one can dictate what you can and cannot do with your own property (as long as it's not illegal of course, and breeding dogs isn't).

We went away for a week when my puppy was 5.5 months old, and we boarded them. He was fine, didn't affect his training at all. I was mostly worried about his houstraining, with peeing on the floor in the kennel, but it was a non-issue. Mind you, we found a really good kennel with very competent and caring people. The dogs had access to a play area with a pool every day, and were let out in a grassy run twice a day, and I suspect that because he was a puppy he did get a lot of attention.

I kept a record of expenses for a year (August 2011 to July 2012), and during that year they started out on a high quality dry food mixed with high quality wet food, and about 2/3 through the year I mixed to raw. That year I spent about $400-450 on food for the two of them (small mixed breeds).

I kept every receipt for dog related stuff for a year for my two dogs. Turns out I spend about $5000 per year on them, and I certainly don't buy a lot of stuff for them, and they don't have any major health issues either. The purchase price is like pocket change compared to what you'll spend on a dog in the 15 or so years it will live.

Don't really think that would put people off much. For cheaper stuff where the price difference isn't that much, then yeah. But last year hubby tried on some shoes, then found the same pair online for $100 less. He didn't set out to do it that way, we were in the store when we decided we'd just look online just in case, and found there was a huge difference. Even if he'd paid $10 to try the shoes on, he would have saved $90 and it would have been worth it. As for the woman charging for walking into her store, I get it. Her experience and time are valuable, and if people are regularly walking in, asking advice and then walking out without buying anything, I can see how that would get very annoying. I can see it from the customer's point of view too though, I probably wouldn't walk in unless I was fairly certain I was buying something. So I think she's justified in doing it, but I also think she will lose some business.

There's no way I would have kept approaching if the other person showed no sign of wanting to reign in the dog. As it is, I cross the street whenever someone is approaching. If you pass on the same side of the road, you have to expect the dogs to investigate each other, unless the other dog is very clearly extremely well trained. I would expect no less than a face to face greeting if I stayed on the path with another dog approaching. If you don't want that to happen, avoid it by crossing the road or going onto the grass or picking up the dog etc. I agree it *shouldn't* be this way. But it is, so you deal with it.

Plenty of body awareness to start with, then using a platform to teach the position in the first place, only rewarding when straight, until the dog is consistently doing it. If it comes in crooked, don't reward, just try again.

It is very frustrating LOL. My boy Chazer who I wanted to teach heel has trouble pivoting on the spot and I had to spend a long time to get a fraction of what I wanted. I then put my girl Tilly on there and she just privoted around top speed right from the start LOL. Chazer can walk sideways brilliantly though and dogs aren't supposed to be able to do that easily, so I am sure your dog will have its own talent :) Hah, yeah, my other dog has been heeling like a champion for over a year, using the same training method. Very strange. My non-heeling dog is a master at trick training though, and my champion heeler isn't. They all have things they're good at and not so good at :)

I didn't own CG or Ruff Love when I did the course last time. Not a disadvantage, as all the info is given in the course. Stages 1-3 of crate games is posted in detail and easy to follow. The games from RL are also explained in easy to follow steps. The DVD and book just gives you more details, and CG DVD gives you the full use of CG, not just steps 1-3.

Nope, sharing definitely isn't allowed.

I do crate games with a soft crate now, because they dogs know the game. It would be best to start with a hard plastic crate though. The wire crates need to be taped and padded so the dog doesn't hurt itself going in and out at speed, and it's difficult to throw the treats into it because they might accidentally go through the back of the crate.

I'm doing the course. My dogs already know to get up on a foam square and pivot, but for some reason one of them really struggled with pivoting, particularly when I've tried to remove the platform. So far he's doing well with the course :)

One of my dogs is reactive, and when I did Recallers last year, I noticed his reactivity improved too. I think it's both because the course focuses quite a bit on impulse control, and also because you learn how to work around distractions, and so everything in the environment that your dog would normally react to or want to check out, becomes just another distraction. Last year a lot of the dogs also learnt to enjoy tugging. Mine will now tug with me, which they never did before. Still needs work though. It was no issue doing the course using food though. A lot of the games where you are supposed to tug, they explain how to do them if you have to use food.

I've had trouble putting into words why I want to do it again. This is a great list of reasons :)

Thanks for that :) I have done some research so I know which exercises are included, and my dog pretty much knows everything she needs to know, we just need to do more work on grass and proof stuff around people. She's great with distractions, but she loves people so definitely need to work on that. Do the different exercises always happen in the same order for every trial? If so, backchaining would be possible. I've been wondering about that. I've been planning to start with rally, because it's less scary :) We're only missing a couple of things for rally, and I've got my eye on a trial in April :) If our attempt at rally goes well we will be trying obedience. We used to train at the club at Lawnton, Pine Rivers Dog Obedience I think it's called? I've been eyeing the one at Redcliffe, but my experience with classes isn't all that great, so I haven't gotten around to checking them out properly. Metropolitan is also close enough that I would consider them. Do you know any good, fun classes on northside? :)

Thanks :)

Thank you so much for this, that's great :) Silly me hadn't even though to look at the back of the entry forms :) Good to know there is more info available on each trial in the magazine than what there was on the pdf I downloaded. I received a magazine when I got my membership confirmation, but I only quickly skimmed through it and didn't notice the schedule. Will have another look. Not a member of a club. I used to be, but it was too hit and miss which instructor we got, some wanted us to do heeling for 45 minutes and drag the dog along if he was distracted, rather than actually getting his attention and get it right, while other instructors were great fun. Is it required to be a member of a club? What do you put in club name if you're not a member? N/A?

I recently registered my dogs with Dogs Qld so they can compete. Trouble is, there are no instructions anywhere for this stuff, and I've had to google everything and none of the answers have been on the Dogs Qld website so far. There really should be a new members' package thing with instructions and glossary etc. But anyway, I contacted them and asked for trial entry forms, and they have sent me a book of show entry forms (I assume you use the same form for everything, but no one told me that). I've looked up upcoming obedience trials (Obedience trial dates pdf) and have found some I'm interested in. It still assumes that I know what I'm doing though, so hopefully someone here can help, or point me to where the answers are. What is the column on the left called "W/E" ? Weekend number? And what is MW? (And why is this relevant?) For the clubs under "Club names" is there a list somewhere of which specific club they are referring to? (To look up to get the location and contact details etc). "Trial type", is there a list of what they all are? Some of them are pretty obvious, but some of them I don't understand. And for the entry form, where do you find the entry fee? Contacting each club directly? And as you put one dog per page, do you put the entry fee for the one dog on there, or do you add up the fee for all dogs and all entries and put in the total on each page? (Sorry of these are dumb questions, but it all seems foreign.)

Hah, his comment about how as long as you're the pack leader the dog will be ok ruined the story. People really need to stop saying that, showing a dog "who's boss" doesn't mean you don't need to provide stimulation and train them. It started out well, but the punch line was "be the alpha". Stupid.

Don't mean to hijack, but.... Anyone know someone in Qld who does them?

The intention is good, but I don't really agree with it. If you put yellow ribbons on dogs who need space, that means dogs with no yellow ribbon don't need space, so it's then ok to let your dog run up without asking first? It would be better if it was the other way around, put a green ribbon on dogs who really enjoy being approached and the owner doesn't mind. Otherwise, give all dogs space by default. For training clubs it's ok, because dogs tend to be much closer to each other and it's easy to tell members what the ribbons mean. I think it should be something more obvious than a ribbon though. One club I know uses bright orange leashes on reactive dogs, and you really can't miss it. But even there I've seen people who are oblivious, who either don't notice or don't know what it means or don't care. At my agility club we don't have a system like this, but all members are told during orientation to give other dogs space, and to speak up if they have a dog who needs space. And yet people let their dogs run straight up to mine. Not deliberately, they just don't pay attention or the dogs are within leash length as we walk through a gate, and they don't see the importance of giving other dogs space. And then there is the obvious issue of getting the message out there to the average dog owner, and communicating to all the people who currently don't care that their dog is terrorising other dogs that they should care.

I doubt it's aggression. Aggression in young puppies is extremely rare. More likely she's getting over-excited. Play fighting with humans isn't something most people would encourage or recommend, it's much better that you teach her to tug with you, or chase and retrieve a ball. Also, there is a LOT more to socialisation than just playing with other dogs and people. She should be experiencing as many new environments and situations as possible. That also means different surfaces, sounds, sights, interacting with many different types of people, especially kids and mean, and also to learn to be around other dogs and people without having to interact with them, but instead focusing on you and doing as you ask. And while doing all this, the puppy should feel good about herself, she shouldn't be scared/worried/overwhelmed.

I just used Win live movie maker, and just put together some recall, focus and impulse control clips that I had lying around, with some captions. Nothing fancy.

Recallers 3 was just over $400 I think. I got the email too, and have done a video for the comp :)