Weasels

Oh I forgot about this thread :) Thanks for bumping! Well the trialling season is over for us, and both dogs got their Started Sheep titles Chess got a nice collection of High in Trial rosettes across the year but unfortunately finished one pass short of her Started Duck title. Weez got his Started Duck title but fewer rosettes, so we'll call it a draw I think :laugh: OH and I are going to swap dogs on sheep now so I'll get to handle the lovely biddable Chess and he can have the frustrating headstrong Weasel! i'm looking forward to it :D Unfortunately our agility club folded early in the year, so any agility plans are on hold,but we'll be moving house soon so hopefully we can find a club near our new house :) I hope everyone is having lots of fun & succes with their dogs!

there was a good video about this but I can't find it, but here's an article with the jist of it - http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/you-cant-reinforce-fear-dogs-and-thunderstorms :) (and the follow-up article - http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/tag/reinforcing-fear-in-dogs ) Hope the little mite is feeling better this morning

Hehe more TeddyKelpie time! From the comments on the AWDRI facebook looks like everyone else is just as smitten! :) Such a good lookin' little man. Edit - love your FB profile pic too :D

Guess who I just saw a petrescue profile for? :D Fantastic job KTB!

I agree, I don't think he could've got a better interim home :) I can't imagine how hard it is, but maybe it will help to focus on how happy Elbie will be to have his house back :p

Same here, I'm a bit wary of any VIP pet food, but I like the frying idea

It doesn't need to be often! The barking doesn't cost much and sometimes gives an awesome reward. If you had a vending machine that occasionally gave you a freebie when you press the button, wouldn't you press the button every time you go past it? She needs to stop feeding the dog from their plate 100% of the time. Feeding from a kong while the people eat could help distract the dog while the habit gets broken. I would probably get up and go eat in another room whenever the dog barked too. Humping is a complicated thing, from all the reading I've done I'm not sure anyone fully understands it. I have a desexed female who only air-humps blankets, so that isn't dominance or sexual. The best explanation I can come up with is boredom/excitement, just like when she runs in circles shaking her toys. My point being, the cause may never be known, and doesn't need to be to train the dog to stop. Interrupt, either with a "hey"/"ah" or by moving away, then give the dog something else to instead like going to its mat or a trick :)

I did this with my girl, let her bark twice then called her in, but I was working from home at the time. But... she is still a very alert working dog, so she's learnt to compromise by making a wide variety of whiny/growly/howly noises while pacing the house instead :laugh: Quite cute actually :)

Oh! Meg I didn't realise you were a DOLer, I just bought a red soft crate off you :laugh: Super customer service and I am very happy with how quickly you shipped off the crate Thanks again :D

I would guess that the main factor in training against countersurfing is how much reinfocement the dog has had for it in the past. In Huski's case she said the dog had a strong history of it so that would make it so much harder to break. In my house we eat all our meals at a low coffee table (kelpie nose-height) right in the middle of 3 couches and 2 dog beds which is where our dog spend about 85% of their time during the day. I'm not really interested in moving my plate everytime I take my eyes off the table. Like NotMidol said I spent time when they fist arrived saying "ah" and redirecting them to their mat or one of the couches when they sniffed at our food, but I think the most important training thing we do is heaps (a few times every day) of self-control exercises around food - putting that mental space in between seeing the food and eating the food where they have to decide if it's appropriate or not - so just because they can see it doesn't mean they can have it.

Mine do this when they are either overstimulated, or the treat is too dry and they are thirsty I use 4 legs treats most of the time because they are soft and easy for the dog to swallow. If I train with jerky or similar they will often take them then just let the treat fall out of their mouth. So I would try first lowering the level of excitement, and second using a meaty soft treat :)

Aidan, Julie, Judi and Tamara do :) Edit - that I've seen, there may be others :)

Oh what a stunner :) No idea sorry but love his little face :)

I'd assume you could a research Masters at any Uni with an appropriate supervisor, but I'm not too sure There are a couple of DOLers doing postgrad study in animal behaviour who might be of more help :)

Actually I'm not too sure, we saw Cecile for sep anxiety and to help our 2nd dog integrate so nothing that +R/-P and some management didnt fix. And I've only done a couple of agility sessions with Georgia. They are very focussed on reward-based pet training but I can't speak to their behavioural approaches for extreme problems :)

In WA - Georgia Karajas and Cecile Ashen-Young - http://pawprintspettraining.com.au/about-us/ Cecile is/was doing a Masters degree in dog behaviour too :) But both are very smart and great with clients as well as dogs.

Awesome! I'll PM you Kavik :) Applications close next friday

The bones in the lamb offcuts are soft - there's nothing left of them when I get home unlike a marrow bone, so the doggles are able to crunch them up.

Gotcha, thanks :) Also, very cute :p -- I don't think this thread has gone as far OT as it may first appear, since the repeated discussion when someone asks "NDTF or Delta?" is about Delta 'only teaching part of dog training'. The argument has been made that if you really want to be all things to all people, doing a Cert. level course alone isn't going to get you there, regardless of who you do it with. I've studied animals formally for 8 years and have been researching them for money for 2 years and I still learn more about them every day :) - and I'm in a much more straightforward field than behaviour, which will keep many many people employed for a long time! Philosophy aside, I think that there are segments in the marketplace for both Delta and NDTF trainers (and a bunch of other approaches). If one or the other is what you are happier practicing and you wish to be able to provide that affiliation on your marketing, then you will attract like-minded clients.

I get the gist of what you're saying Corvus - small sample size, multiple variables per trial and non-independence between trials all mean you can't draw valid conclusions from the results. I'm not clear on what the nose pokes are indicating tho - are you thinking they are a stress behaviour, or a part of natural doggy expression that get diminished when he is unhappy or unsettled generally?

Thanks for posting :) I did the Honours year of my science degree on evolution, and as an 'insider' it was obvious to me what was factual, what things were genuine questions remaining to be answered and which questions were just red herrings. As an 'outsider' in dog behaviour science (and climate change for that matter!) I've learned how hard it can be to establish which voices can back up their claims and which voices are just the loudest.

I've found a local coles that sells bags of lamb offcuts :) The dogs love them and they're nice & meaty. I'm not a fan of brisket either, too hard and too fatty.

Really not very long at all As in, if I don't see them getting it in the first session I try something else. Which is why I think I will always need to have working dogs :laugh:

It's probably a sequence, but to my thinking you are reinforcing the correct distance by stopping the pressure of pointing the rake at them Edit - followed quickly by +R of being allowed to work the sheep again Edit 2: But I do see what you're saying though. And my brain hurts.