fuzzy82

You should all be aware that backyard breeding is completely different in Europe (which Great Britain is part of, despite liking to think that they are not) Firstly, the countries have hundreds or thousands of years of history behind them, not like Usa and Australia that are a couple of hundred years old. Through history, everyone has always gone to a backyard breeder to get their dog, either people who thought their dog had nice working traits and crossed it with the neighbour's dog because it was also a nice working dog, to produce more working dogs. They would keep one themselves and give or sell some to the neighbours. But most commonly, before desexing was even thought of, there would be oops litters, and people would give or sell puppies to whoever wanted them. Thusly, getting a puppy from a neighbour or whoever has cute puppies goes back hundreds or thousands of years, it's always been how people get their dogs. Secondly, Europe doesn't have a big dog show culture. People with purebreds usually don't bother with shows. Dog sports or herding trials etc are much more popular. Thirdly, you can't buy puppies or kittens in pet stores in a lot of European countries. Fourthly, some European countries still have bans on desexing dogs for non-medical reasons, so there are more oops litters to begin with. In other words, byb's in Europe are not the big deal they are here. Most of the people whose dogs have puppies never set out to breed their dogs, nor make money off of them. So the attitude towards it is completely different.

When one of my dogs don't come outside when they are called, they get left behind inside, which they don't like. Same happens if they don't come inside when called in from the backyard. This of course only works if the dog cares about being around you, and being around you in itself is a reward. But dragging him out and then giving him a time out (and by then he would have forgotten what he did wrong anyway) seems a bit harsh for just not coming outside. He might have had a good reason for not wanting to go outside in the first place, and even if he didn't and he was just being obstinate, it's pretty pointless trying to punish him for something he has already rewarded himself for (running away and getting to stay inside was the reward). Sounds like you just got annoyed and decided to go on a personal power trip to me. I understand it, because dogs can be very frustrating, but that doesn't make it right, and it should be avoided. I would stop asking him to do stuff that you can't enforce, or that you know he won't do. Keep a lead on him, if you call him outside and he doesn't come, stop him from going in the opposite direction with the lead, and lead him outside. Then make being outside with you a pleasant experience. I wouldn't expect my dogs to come outside if they were dragged there when they clearly didn't want to go, and then put in a time out. But my dogs are quite soft, so that might be different.

Not entirely correct. A recent survey shows that more than half of the Spanish population is now against bull fighting. It's just that the government isn't going to do anything until there is a very large outcry against it, which is why it is taking so long. Bull fighting was recently banned in one region in Spain, and others are expected to follow.

Karen Pryor does use negative punishment and negative reinforcement in small doses, but she doesn't use positive punishment. You can correct a dog without causing pain or discomfort, and aversives don't have to be painful. Being force-free and positive doesn't mean you can never punish or correct. For my adult dog (poodle x), I can't use all positive reinforcement all the time. So I use some negative punishment, occasionally, and I also correct her by telling her a firm 'no' or 'hey!', or just grab her collar to prevent her running to the front door barking her head off. She is a very soft dog, so that is plenty of correction for her and an aversive, without being painful or uncomfortable. For my puppy (JRT x), I sometimes use negative punishment, such as leaving him outside if he doesn't come inside when called, which he doesn't like, but 99% of the time it's all positive reinforcement, and it works really well for him. I can't comment on the hard, working type dogs as I have no experience with them.

He hasn't been this bad previously, and mostly walked nicely, apart from when we walk past a house where a dog is barking at him, or someone walks right past us on the footpath, and then he wants to go up and say hi. I considered that normal for a puppy. When I take him out with my other dog he is perfectly fine with everything, as he just follows her around and copies her behaviour. But they both keep crossing over in front of me, so he needs to be taught to stay on the side where he starts out before I can take both of them out together on a regular basis. It wasn't until yesterday that he went into absolute stupid mode. But the other day we walked down to the riverbank (both dogs, so he was fine walking there) but then we sat down there for a while, and there were a lot of other people just hanging out there as well, and he was very curious about everything, but as a woman walked past the bench where we were he started barking and being silly. He doesn't try to run away, he's all perked up, tail up and pulling towards things, not away from them. But I will try to sit in the driveway with him, or maybe just on the patio right outside the door to begin with, and see how that goes.

Poodles. They are intelligent, biddable, and generally easy to get along with.

I have a just over 4 month old puppy, Obi. Ever since I got him we have done regular puppy classes, where he is completely focused on me, loves all the other people and plays nicely with other puppies. The instructor and other people in class regularly comment on how smart he is, and how advanced (obedience wise) he is for his age. We have been to the dog park, pet store, friends' places, birthday parties, and he has behaved perfectly. He loves people, and is generally a fearless puppy. The only thing he has ever had an issue with is traffic, but he has gotten better with that. He hasn't had regular walks, but we have been up the road and back a few times. And every time we walk out the front door, he goes into stupid mode. Like, raving lunatic type behaviour. Every little sound, every little movement (people walking towards us, but still 100 metres away, cats running around, dogs barking in the distance, hearing a car coming) makes him pull, bark, growl and generally go crazy. And he doesn't lack self control, we use release words before eating, have done crate games, he knows 'leave it' etc, so he is generally a very well behaved, obedient puppy. I tried going up the street with him earlier today, but had to cut it short. I figured I would try again just now, because it's evening and quiet and I figured we would just stay in the driveway. He did some sits and drops and loose lead walking next to me, but inbetween being asked to do stuff he was a complete lunatic. Just not sure WHY he is doing this? He never does it anywhere else, so I wouldn't consider him a fearful or reactive dog. What am I supposed to do? He is getting to the age where he should be getting regular walks, even if they are just short ones, just for the sake of getting used to traffic and people etc, but I can't walk him the way he is now. He becomes unresponsive, he growls at people, barks (and his bark is so loud and piercing) and it's just embarrassing to be seen with him.

My puppy isn't bothered by rain much, he will still go out and pee on the grass when asked too, and he gets an extra treat when it's wet. My adult dog is a completely different story. She will hardly even leave the house when it rains, even to go out in the covered patio area which doesn't get wet. She will NOT pee on the grass when it rains or is excessively wet (after raining), and whenever it rains she suddenly has "accidents" in the house. She is 100% housetrained the rest of the time. So I have decided to just get pee pads for her for when it rains. It's easier than forcing her to go outside, because I don't even know what times she will need to go, and she doesn't pee on cue. One of my agility instructors says she uses pee pads for one of her dogs (1 of 4) when it rains too.

Both of my dogs are inside with me all day, they are never left outside on their own. When we are out puppy is in his crate and the adult dog is loose in the house. I never even considered keeping them outside, and if hubby had told me before getting that he expected them to live outside, I prolly wouldn't have gotten dogs at all, as I don't really see the point in having outside dogs. They both sleep in the bedroom with us, the adult dog on her own bed and the puppy in his crate. The adult dog sometimes comes up on the bed in the morning, and hubby hates it when she licks him or walks across him, so I just keep her on my side. But both dogs are small, well behaved and one is non-shedding and the other sheds very very little. He is a little more particular about his car, but the adult dog travels strapped into a harness and just sits there shivering the whole time anyway, so she doesn't leave any paw prints, and the puppy gets carsick so he travels in a crate. If any vomit ever leaks out of his crate I quickly wipe it up before hubby sees it.

We have used Urine Off too, seems pretty good.

Unless the landlord is planning on doing surprise inspections (which I'm pretty sure aren't allowed) there is nothing stopping her from letting the dog inside in the evenings.

Yeah lotto ticket sounds like a good idea:) I am still really annoyed that someone left a hook with bait on it (which was why he ate it in the first place) at a beach area where there is always heaps of people, kids and dogs, it's very popular with families who just hang out there, or people who do water sports etc. And last time I was down there with just my other dog, she cut her paw quite badly, I assume on a piece of glass or something. It was a blood bath and she limped for a week, so I am never taking my dogs down there again.

Yep,it really came in handy today:)

I took both dogs down to the river bank while hubby and a friend went out on the kayak. I was there to get some photos of them and exercise the dogs. We walked around for a bit and then went back down the the little sandy beach area they have made to meet hubby and friend as they came back in. The dogs of course were sniffing around, and Obi (4 month old puppy) was very excited and it was all much fun, because there were several other people and dogs around. I didn't think anything of it, until I looked down and saw fishing line coming out of his mouth. I immediately checked his mouth and saw a fish hook, but with him being excited and squirmy I didn't get a good look, and he seemed to be trying to spit it out and wasn't able to, so I assumed it was stuck in his tongue or something. I called hubby over, who had a look in his mouth, and then told me the hook wasn't stuck at all, and reached in to grab it, just as Obi swallowed it. We then of course rushed him home, called the emergency vet, who said to bring him in right away and do not let go of the fishing line. So I put Obi in his crate, tied the line to the handle, and then we headed off. Obi gets really carsick, and threw up 3 times on the way there, and when we got there I told the vet nurse he might have vomited it back up, so she checked the crate and there it was! Yay:) We were thinking the worst, that he would have to have emergency surgery and all that, so we couldn't believe how lucky he was. The vet nurse said to just keep an eye on him, but if he eats normally and seems fine otherwise it's all good:) And he's had some treats since we got home, and the poor thing was so exhausted he went straight to sleep.

Can also get them on ebay pretty cheap.

Depends on the dew claws doesn't it? In some dogs they aren't attached to the bone and just flop around and are useless anyway, but in some dogs they are attached and function as a thumb, like when they are holding something they are gnawing on. Neither of my dogs have any dew claw issues, but I will admit I haven't had a close look to see if they are attached or not. I trim their claws about once a week to keep them short, so maybe that helps.

I am sorry, but this is not quite correct. Sun light is essential for Vitamin D production in the body, and Vitamin D is essential for bone growth, calcium absorption and some other things. If there is not enough exposure to sun light, you would have to give the dog Vitamin D supplement. BTW, this also applies to humans as well. I find this very hard to believe. There are countries where it's cloudy and rains for weeks at a time, yet breeders still successfully raise puppies without giving them supplements, and wolves also manage to breed in these countries. Plus, the only parts on a dog exposed to the sun are the nose and the top of the bottom eye lids, and possibly the inside of the ears if the dog has upright ears, so even if you do take them out every day they get very little exposure to sunlight. Also, in many parts of the world it's too hot to take a dog out in the sun, and yet there are healthy dogs all over the world. My 4 month old puppy doesn't get regular walks, and he's an indoor dog and we only go out for toilet breaks during the day, because it's too hot to be in the sun, and he seems to be growing just fine and is perfectly healthy, and I don't give him supplements.

My puppy was desexed at 10 weeks, before I got him (because he's from a shelter) and he still humps and occasionally lifts his leg while peeing. He's very active (I joke that he's on speed) and I don't think it has had any negative effects on him at all. All shelters desex puppies before rehoming them, so any growth or health issues from it can't be very common, because then they wouldn't do it. Even if it does lead to the dog being smaller or not having the nicest coat, what does it matter if you're not gonna show it?

I am currently feeding BARF to both my dogs, one adult and one puppy, and both of them have really soft and smelly poos on it. It really sucks, because it's the only food I can find around here that I am happy feeding them. The options for dry food are RC, Hills and Advance, and I checked the ingredients in them and don't like them at all.

The roomba is awesome for the hair. I used to have to sweep at least twice a week, because we have 6 cats (2 dogs too, but they don't shed), but with the roomba scheduled to clean at 6 every day, I haven't had to sweep or vacuum for weeks. It's pricey, but it's so worth it. I don't know how I lived without one.

I personally would prefer to leave the puppy inside. Most likely she will just sleep all day anyway. My puppy sleeps in his crate about 16 hours a day, and whenever we go out he goes in his crate, where he flops down and goes to sleep until we come home and wake him up. If she doesn't like being outside to begin with, leaving her out there all day unsupervised will most likely just result in problem behaviours such as barking and digging, + there is the risk of her being stolen or getting out, and being exposed to snakes, spiders, people who throw stuff into your yard (if she barks excessively an annoyed neighbour might throw rat poison or similar into your yard). Don't know what kind of property or neighbours you have, but those are some issues off the top of my head.

I think it just becomes automatic to give verbal praise every time. Sadly this is not that common. The number of times I have to cue handlers to verbally reward their dogs in class is legion. Agreed, I know people with dogs and they keep telling the dog to do something, like lie down quietly at their feet rather than investigate something that is worrying or interesting, and doesn't get so much as a 'good dog', just gets completely ignored while the owner keeps playing in their phone or chatting to other people. I tried suggesting making things rewarding for the dog, and pointed out that running around investigating stuff is more rewarding than lying quietly at the owner's feet (which the dog did when asked, but jumped up a minute later and went back to what it had been doing) and the dog will do what is most rewarding, and she got so offended and started a rant about how she rescued the dog from a previous friend of hers and had done her best with it, and who am I to "criticise" what she's doing with it. Attempting to tell her that it was just friendly advice was pointless. And this is a really close friend of mine and we normally get along really really well.

I heard the same thing recently, but I'm not worried about it. Microchips are silicon coated, which doesn't cause cancer, and they are specifically designed to be biocompatible, so that they don't cause allergies or any other reactions. Not likely to cause cancer, imo.

Hope your dogs are ok, but for the future I would consider getting rid of everything teflon, as it's now known to cause cancer. You would be better off getting diamond coated non stick stuff. It's physical non stick, not chemical, so it doesn't produce fumes when heated up (good if you have birds), and you can use metal on it and steel wool to clean it without scratching it. Swiss diamond is a good brand. Pricey, but comes with a life time guarantee, both on the surface and the handles etc.

I was under the impression that it gets absorbed into the bloodstream, because that's how it kills worms as well (unless you use Frontline which doesn't treat worms). I would imagine that's also how it kills fleas and ticks, because they drink the blood. When I used to find ticks on my cats, they were usually on the neck, head and chin. Very rarely would I find one anywhere else, but the point of the treatment isn't to put it where you find ticks, because like I said it gets absorbed. Which makes sense, because the animal can get wet/have a bath and the treatment will still work, if it was allowed to dry before the animal got wet.