Weasels

I don't know what you mean by dominant, but I'm with Dory - the best behaved dog gets the things, always. Dogs will do more of what gets them stuff, so you are reinforcing whatever the dog is doing when it gets fed/let out/whatever it wants at the time. And I don't let them sort things out for themselves, any resource guarding, growling etc. gets them separated and dealt with directly.

Indigirl I can't find any info on a genetic test for CDA, I don't think they've isolated the allele/s that cause it yet. It could be that some companies are testing for just the presence of dilution alleles and saying that is the same as testing for CDA? If so, dodgy.

Seems more likely that it would be black-hair follicular dysplasia maybe?

Makes me wonder if she was abusing the dog too

I've not done this but I'd be careful using a reward other than going outside to teach the behaviour, in case they start overusing the bell to get food or attention! Yes :)

You don't though, I use a really strongly trained "drop it" whenever one of mine finds some dangerous treasure, It's way more reliable for them, because their natural reaction to someone reaching for their head is to pull away even if they don't have food in their mouth. Drop works from a greater distance too. Never had to grab anything from a dog mouth. -- Chess was a resource guarder when we adopted her. After training human approach = good, she still isn't happy about people other than me touching her while eating, but it certainly decreased the distance people can get from her before she growls. Perfectly fine for anyone to walk past her now, so the training was worthwhile, but she'd still react if really pushed. Management and training in combination worked best :)

Interesting that they said the results were thorough. The report I have (from several years ago) gives no information on the type, number or variability of DNA markers used, the depth or diversity of reference individuals used to create the tests, or of any systematic testing of the misclassification rates in crossbred dogs of known ancestry. All of which would be necessary things to know to evaluate the quality of the tests, and would be the bare minimum required to publish the results of a test in the scientific literature. The only thing I could determine from the report was the computer program they used to analyse the data, which is not informative without information on the data itself.

That sucks Corvus I understand, but it's our loss. I could never work out if it was a good or bad idea to bring one's work onto a related public forum - I was always very conservative with social media in my field of study & work, even though it's felt like I was arguing with one hand tied behind my back sometimes. So I suppose it's a bit of damned if you do, damned if you don't All the best, and super huge congrats on finishing your PhD!! :D

I've encountered a couple of people who insist on knowing the reason why Weez is fearful - and if I don't immediately say he's a rescue they assume WE'VE been beating him! Doesn't occur to them at all there could be reasons other than beatings

The kelps used to go to the beach everyday so I got them some EzyDog neoprene collars. A bit bulky and stiff for everyday use but survived the beach perfectly. Used a fairly good quality leash and just occasionaly rinsed the clips and wd40'ed every few months, they are still going strong too.

When I used to work from home with a 9 month old & an 18 month old kelpie this was almost exactly our routine. The morning run was longer because they were older, but then frozen kong - settle - training over lunch - settle - play with OH when he got home - dinner - couch snuggles. If they bugged me when they should be settled they just got sent back to their mat. If they weren't mat trained I would've put them in a crate with a small chew. Of course some days they will still be determined to make sure you get nothing done, but on most days, it worked

I'm a fan of turkey necks too :)

If you condition Hunter to like the halti he will accept it more quickly than just putting it on. I used to see dogs at obedience all the time who would dive on the ground and try to rub their halti off as soon as there was a lull in class They do need to be conditioned first. Although I do agree with others that those are strange only choices, I wouldn't train if I couldn't use a flat collar. Conditioning -

Lulusuki if you decide you want to get a trainer to help you I know a lovely one in Nelson, she does group classes and behaviour consults :) http://www.youandyourdog.co.nz/

Steph M don't stress too much, I went to offlead parks/beaches every day for 2 years and would bet that not one single person I ever met had perfect recall. I still saw more unpleasant incidents between the people than occured between the dogs.

How far past is he going? Is he heading for something/ doing a big loop/ staying out where he's run to? It's weird! I would do lots of reinforcing the 'sit in front' position with and without the recall, and some 'chase me!' recalls with lots of zigging and zagging rather than a straight A to B path, to see if that helped :) Edit - I just saw you use the ball for reward, which direction do you normally throw it?

I think effective control just means keeping your dog from being a problem to anyone else in public. If a dog is barreling towards us I don't care if the owner takes 1, 2, or 5 commands to get it back as long as the dog turns back before it becomes a nuisance.

Staffyluv what's your recall criterion? When is the behaviour 'done'? My dogs don't get rewarded until their nose touches my hand, avoids problems of incomplete or overshooting recalls :)

:hug: Please throw a toy to Brunes for me xxoo

Perth is a small town, it's very possible the vet has seen or knows of problems in other pups from this breeder. I've heard similar stories about a certain breeder and I have nothing to do with the breed.

I've never had a problem with dew claws in past or present dogs, but Chess has managed to rip her RH outer claw out in spectacularly bloody fashion. And of course on a Saturday afternoon just after the regular vets all closed, how do they always know that??

Surely the fact that it's not working should be a clue? Anyway, kikopup and dogstar daily are the best online resources in terms of scope IMO. But you can ask questions. Dominance is an attempt to gain priority access to a resource. What resource is the dog attempting to access? It's a given that dogs experience fear, excitement and confusion, would these not be a simpler explanation? How does the dog know what you want it TO do? Even if it is motivated by an attempt to establish dominance, that doesn't magically make the behaviour exempt from operant conditioning. Dogs will still do what works and give up on what doesn't, regardless of the motivation. So you don't neccesarily need to talk her out of dominance to talk her into training the dog. Some resources on canine body language might help too, Lili Chin posters being the most accessible :) Edit - or you could just start growling at her every time she says something that doesn't make sense, to see how useful it is as a communication tool ;)

Minimax's link looked good. Also, I'd find a park where people have more control over their dogs so there isn't a constant source of conflict.

About the only thing that pi$$es me off about dog parks is when people expect my dog to 'sort out' their dog's social problems. It just encourages her to resort to growling and snapping more quickly next time. The moment Chess starts to stiffen or puts her tail up I take her away and put myself in between the two dogs. If I have the ball I throw it for her but that only works because she's faster than 95% of the dogs we meet. They can sort out their own damn dog-rudeness problems, I'm not getting an aggressive dog just for their benefit. So I advise keeping out of the situation. Get a really good recall going, monitor and call your dog away at the first sign of trouble.

Dogs will often pay a lot more attention to a stranger trying to train them because they are trying to figure out what's expected of them. They have to concentrate more. Sometimes this manifests as calm obedience, sometimes as blank stares :laugh: I've handed my dogs over to some amazing trainers and got both reactions. But a good trainer will communicate what they want to the dog better than the average person. This can be a huge relief for a confused dog!