Weasels

He is a very cheeky little Weasel If there was one command I would change though, it's using 'ok' as their release word. When we have them in a down-stay while we are listening to instructions from a trainer both OH and I will often acknowledge the trainer's advice with an 'ok!' without thinking .... aaaaaaand there goes our dog

Call the council where the incident occurred and say you'd like to report an aggressive dog. Tell them where & when the incident occured, when you've seen them before and describe the dog and owner. If a dog is aggressive toward your on-lead dog one trick you can use is to lead your dog sideways then back. Moving sideways is a calming signal, and I've used it with success before. Personally I wouldn't put any tension on my own dog's lead if he's not agressing back, i'd address the other dog with sharp, loud noises like 'hey!' and claps. Hopefully you'll get the owner's attention if nothing else! Glad your boy wasn't traumatised

:laugh: It can happen, wuffles :laugh: Try setting your dog up for example for the distance control and get someone to stand with you and say all your commands to try and catch them out :laugh: When someone yells 'down' or 'sit' to their dog across the yard at herding Weez will comply too. Even worse than that, if someone is calling their own dog at the park or beach he will rush up to them then plonk his butt down to wait for his treat I guess he'll never be an obedience dog!

Wow, of all the important messages you could impress on someone in a training consultation, this has to be one of the most trivial. If I hired a trainer that spent more than 5 seconds on this I would feel like I was wasting my money. I use down for my boy and lay down for my girl. Drop, off and leave are already taken in our training dictionary. I'm certainly not going to start shuffling them around now!

I always put Fox through so that her left shoulder passes the first pole. I find that helps me to remember.

I stopped by Kwinana beach this morning on my way home from an agility class to let my girl have a run and to investigate this horse beach I've been hearing about ....... I've never seen so many horses in one place! And I used to belong to a pony club!

Well it seems the idea has promise at least, and appears to work in similar incarnations here. I kept thinking there must be some catch I wasn't considering, but I suppose like any program the quality of the outcomes depend upon the commitment and good will of the people running it.

Cairn or Border terrier? West highland white terrier?

Hmm well in my case I've had my partner a loooot longer than I've had my dogs, so if a dog came to us with 'man-fear' I would do heaps of counter-conditioning and training. If they really really couldn't get over it I would have to rehome But then I know Mr Weasels is a good egg, so I don't have to look to the dogs for a second opinion :D (but dogs and kids do love him anyways)

Purdie - Thanks for that. I'm not familiar with Petbarn, do they also sell dogs from *ahem* other sources? Or do they just sell pet-related supplies normally? Sandgrubber - not sure, but the shelters would have those difficult dogs regardless of the program. The effect it will have really depends on the distribution of costs - if the pet shop contributes to the feeding etc. of the dogs in their care it could free up resources for those dogs still at the shelter? (maybe?). Or are you suggesting the shelter would get less foot traffic if the 'best' dogs are all passed on to the pet shop? That's certainly possible

Janba the shelter we got the foxdog from (the main shelter in Perth other than the RSPCA) required we fill out a form, then have an interview, then spend some time with her both in a yard and in a quiet room. The shelter we got Weez from were a bit less thorough (interview and a meet between him and Fox), but they could see we were already successfully caring for one kelpie so maybe that's why Not sure about pounds though.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news%2Flocal%2Flos_angeles&id=8503367 My first reaction was that a shopping mall environment was not great for the dogs, but then again a shelter environment isn't the best either. And if the increase in foot traffic means the dogs get into homes quicker, that's good right? So what do people think, could this work in Australia? Do we trust pet stores to match the right homes? Or has something like this already been tried here?

Hawksdale - Paw Prints Pet Training are also advertising on FB some free 'come and try' agility classes this month, the first one is tomorrow in Floreat CC - if you ever want the company of a couple of obsessive kelpies just let me know :) I was very slack this morning tho, didn't get to the beach until 10:30

Southern River is probably a nice close club for you, others might be able to help there as I'm way down south, so I'm not up to speed with the local clubs.

hi Hawksdale! How old are your retrievers? Do you do any sport with them? :)

But of course kelps can do anything :D ;)

So reading between the lines here, perhaps I just don't trust people that don't like dogs... :D

I think it's the other way around. I'm sure both mine, but especially Weez, pick up on people I'm uneasy about.

Don't know how the dogs feel, but I'm enjoying the peace since they started sleeping under the aircon all day :p

So glad to hear he's doing better :) I had a similar experience recently ( Thread ) right up to the running up the road and just standing there I'm still trying to work out the cause, my current working theory is that it's a specific dog he's afraid of. I hope your boy continues to act normal :)

If it's anything like my place it's going to get a bit noisy when 'red cat' is on screen :laugh:

When my girl had demodex it was just a matter of ivomectin and patience. I tried a few other things like green tea and tea tree oil on the patches but no idea if they made a difference (i'd be careful putting those somewhere the dog can lick too). We now have her on Advocate to prevent a recurrence. Hope you can find the cause of the itching soon, poor little thing

How's your pooch doing now B&J?

yeah I was just going to bring the kelps down for their morning run and maybe a swim. Understand it's a long way - that's why I was happy to see people coming down, it's usually me travelling all over town :p Won't be beaching it Sunday tho - going to a free agility class in Floreat with the Foxdog

CC if you are after a quieter beach in the area, the one I normally use is set back on side streets so it's mostly just locals who know it's there already. It's about 5-10 mins drive further south. On my phone atm, but can post location later if you'd like