BrunoBella

JME I have done some reading. It says you need 100 gms to kill a horse. Symptoms are rapid and include diarhoea and rapid heart rate. Sometimes muscle weakness. If he didn't actually chew on the branch it should be OK particularly as he's well at the moment. I would still ring a vet for advice (which you've probably already done). How is he doing now? BP

I'm pretty sure its only the flowers that are poisonous but I could be wrong. Hope all goes well.

I used to have my two on bonnie but their coats and condition declined at some point. Ingredients were changed if I remember. Now I won't feed it to them. Their coats become dull.

Jigsaw, I use a remote training collar (ecollar) to correct my dogs if they are barking too much. Not a common event with GSPs but they occassionally have a barkfest over butterflies that won't land on the ground so they can catch them . With the remote trainer you can control which type of barking you stop. Bella is a fantastic guard dog and my closest neighbours would mutiny if I stopped her barking at intruders. At their request, I let bella bark at their burglars as well as both neighbours have been burgled in the past. BP

The first thing I taught Bella and Bruno without the lead was to stay ahead of me (where I could see them) and not too far forward. I used voice commands first then a stim if they didn't listen. This has been very usefull and they always stay in my line of vision now

I keep mine in big metal container (freeby with some dog food) and it never goes off. Is it getting humid? Are mouskes leaving mouse poo in it? Only thing I can think of... My food only got a little wet when we had a flash flood and the container was bobbing upside down in the backyard for a few hours.

Quickasyoucan I have heard about the NSW rules in previous topics and I'm pretty sure that you can use them if you have taken training which is actually a sensible rule. Where are our NSWmen?

Slightly off topic... Has anyone used the bark counting collars that are beginning to appear in literature? I would like to try one if I could. I don't have major barking problems but seqld is not very dog tolerant. I would like to be able to count the barks once a month to check how they go when I'm not there. When I'm home, I can control their barking easily.

BP works hard :D BP works hard :D I had perfect recall on two offlead GSPs in 6 weeks . Get off your bums and get to work! Ecollar has been invaluable during our flood a few weeks ago. And the other day when the footpath attacked me and I dropped both leads. Get to work

It sounds similar to Bellas fear aggression which she got from being attacked as a puppy. I took her to steve from K9 Force nearly two years ago and he helped me cure it. I think, you need one on one guidance with a good behaviourist to work out how to fix this. It's not hard to fix once you know what's going on. Have fun

Poodlefan You just helped me work out a little problem I have with Bella. The only thing she barks at that is not a person at the gate is wheely object going past (bike, trolleys, skateboards ect). I had a vague inkling it was a fear reaction and now I realise that is right. Will work on desensitising now. I put up a fence inside the front fence to keep her further back from the footpath.

I agree with your fence barking. Bella will bark (couple of deep barks) at someone at the gate and will continue the occasional bark until I come outside to see who is there. I understand this to mean that she considers it her job to tell me about burglars and my job to get rid of burglars. Bruno will only bark at people at the gate if Bella is not there so he is backup protection. When I let people into the yard they ignore them or cuddle them depending on the person. I have spoken to trades people who come into my yard when I'm not there and the dogs still bark but they hide at the back of the yard where the burglars can't get them and they refuse to play with strangers if I'm not there to protect them. :D I am very happy with this situation

Second attempt at posting. My internet keeps cycling out.... The sulking is temporary . It is your dogs attempt to regain control of the pack. Miss Bella did this as well for a while. You just need to be consistent and patient. Your changes look good . Have you looked at the Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF) leadership program? That contains all the tips for becoming a good pack leader. You should be able to sort out the leash walking with a bit more training. It doesn't hurt for dogs to miss a few walks if they are really playing up! The inside toileting I know nothing about as my dogs are big. Have to ask a little dog person. Keep up the good work :D

Um your vet is seriously out of date when it comes to things. Many drugs given to animals are actually human drugs. Many vets prescribe antihistamines and also suggest to people to go to the chemist to get the human ones. What exactly does your vet suggest then? Ok, I have got the same advice from two vets last year. It may have changed since then. My vet gave them 'roids which I didn't like but I no longer treat their allergies with drugs as the salt water works beautifully. Also mine are clearly contact allergy from grass as they only get it in spring. BP

I forgot another thing. Its too early in the morning The allergy on my two was a red rash on their tummy, armpits (doggy equivalent), inside ears and on the face. I don't know that it is related to her eating. Bella just developed her spring rash two weeks ago. The Epi Soothe wash sounds good as well. I chose the swimming cause it fixes the face and ear redness as well. Off to the beach to fix their allergies

Another thing, RosieFT Human drugs do not work the same on dogs as they do on people. I would not give my dogs antihistamines no matter how bad their rash is. There is no way you can work out a corrrect dose or even if it works on them. My vet said No Way to my discussion on antihistamines.

RosieFT Where are you located? My GSPs are allergic to grass, a weekly trip to the beach fixes it all. I don't like steroids antihistamines, I tried them but they were expensive and don't work as well as salt water bath (in the sea). Are you near a beach? Otherwise you will have to make your own salt water bath Have fun and don't pack your back pack. It's not that bad. edited for stupidity...

I'm not an expert, but having been a nurse, know that you can end up on so many treatments that they counteract each other. It might be worthwhile seeing another vet as they can get complacent with their treatment over a long period of time. Maybe prioritise his illnesses so you can deal with them easier. I would consider his weight, heart problems and pain his most pressing problems. Kidney stones aren't life threatening. Also the food you describe is still quite a lot for a little dog. How much canned food does he get?? It's tricky, but I think you could improve his quality of life. Good luck

This just needs patience. I once had bruno run up the stairs and be too frightened to come down. I didn't want to push him as you are supposed to make them do it themselves. I left a trail of treats down the stairs and left him there-went outside. He cried and howled for 25 minutes. After half an hour I had a quick look and he had made it all the way to the bottom. I praised him profusely. He ran straight back upstairs so he could try his new trick again . With the dog door, I would leave some really yummy food on the other side and wait patiently for your dog to go through. It has to be a really good treat (cheese for mine) for it to work though. You could also leave the dinner on the other side of the door. Eventually the dog will get hungry enough to go through the scary door. Good luck

Depending on the jurisdiction, aggressive fence running could result in the dogs being declared as Dangerous Dogs, so no, I don't believe allowing that behaviour to occur to be acceptable as the dogs, if they are doing that, are NOT in control. Here, the owner could potentially be fined $220 for Dog Cause Nuisance if a complaint was submitted, and if that behaviour occurred off leash outside its property, it would be considered a Level 2 Attack for menacing behaviour. The implications are serious. Do you still see nothing wrong with that, RebLT? Thanks caffiend . I was busy cleaning up mud from the flood last week! RebLT The proud owner claims his method of control is that just him raising his voice is enough to make them quake with fear. (Poor rotties ) If the dogs were attacking someone he would run over, grab the dog from behind and drag it to the ground to show it who was boss. . He believes if you grab them from behind they can't bite you. Anyone knows that a dog that is afraid is much more likely to attack. As a final insult, he was also proud that when his dog was injured 9mths ago he didn't let the vet rip him off by fixing the poor dogs torn ligament, instead he lets the dog run around injured and in pain I wanted to find his house and take those poor rotties out of there I so wish I had written down his name but I was so shocked I didn't think.

As kids we had dobermans and rotties. I still love both breeds and don't find them scary. I have pointers and even they can scare some people. I met one of the people responsible for BSL this week (lovely taxi ride ). He has two very large what he calls English American Rotties and was very proudly telling me how they kept everyone out of his yard by running up and down the fences barking aggressively at them. "No one would dare get in my yard", he says, along with "of course I have complete control of the dogs" He is seriously from another planet.

My dogs did occassionally forget the stim in the first 8 weeks. Turning it up works well and they do it less and less. They remember that you have more power and stop running off. This is not a setback, just a little test from the dogs to see if you really can get them back. I now use my voice, if I don't get immediated response, I use a short stim, then a long stim and then I turn it up. The dogs are gradually getting more and more perfect

As midol said, the collar uses electrical stimulation. I wouldn't use it on a puppy until you've tried all other training. Some dogs are very easy to train and control off lead than others. Your puppy may be perfect without any extras.

Merriment has three Jack russels on ecollars so it should be possible. :p

Petstock between toowong and indooroopilly is my favourite. Great stuff, reasonable prices and great advice. Some are also dolers. Have fun with your puppy :rolleyes: