Salukifan

Have to say it didn't rock my boat. I expect a few sighthound fanciers would find the temperament a step up from what they are used to!!

I hope numbers are there today. I can tell you there's 100 Whippets entered!!

No argument here. My point was not to assume that this dog's reactions stem from abuse. I've seen identical reactions from dogs that have never suffered abuse.

Step 1 - find a good trainer - contact Aidan Step 2 - separate your dogs BEFORE the older dog starts grumbling. You know it's going to happen - act earlier to prevent it. When you take a dog by the collar, several things may be happening. You could be seeing a pain reaction. You are also restricting your dog's ability to defend himself. Does he know its you? Do you talk to him or pat him before you do it? He may also be partially deaf and a startle reaction isn't off the cards. If you don't want an aggressive reaction then don't take your dog by the collar. Either CALL him to where you want him or clip a lead on. But you may need to confine the younger dog first. Personally if these dogs are together during the day, I'd not have a collar on either dog. This is an OLD dog. He's living a life with a fair bit of stress. When was the last time he saw a vet for a full check up? Personally I'd be thinking about separating these dogs pretty much permanently. Your old boy is living in a situation of permanent threat and you really want to avoid a big fight, especially if you aren't there all the time. As you've said, there will be a reason for his aggression. Until you get a professional in to help you, then avoid the behaviour that you know will provoke an aggressive response. Cut the old boy some slack.

Sorry but this is not a great analogy. There's a difference between a disability and ignorance. This dog may not have the skills the OP wants but it is not "broken". There's every chance it got more training and more attention than many suburban pets, many of whom never set foot in a house either. Frankly pretty much everything this dog does can be explained by soft temperament, not abuse or lack of environmental experience. I should know, I've got one just like it. This dog titled. That tells me it didn't fall apart when handled or in the ring and that its been out and about a bit. It has skills and experience. Personally I think the sooner handlers stop finding excuses for why their dog does what it does and deal with the dog in front of them, the better things tend to go. You need to look forward, not back. It's like handlers who say to me "oh my dog's a rescue" in some attempt to explain that the dog doesn't know or can't do something or should be given special consideration. Guess what folks, dogs move on.. best we do the same.

Unfortunately, the vet has confirmed it's a form of bacterial dog version of gastro enteritis What did you mean by 'squirts"? I'm worried because she may or may not have contracted the bacteria, so I am keeping an eye out. It's not 100% fatal, but I think it can turn nasty if left too long. Overall, she is active and hungry so those are 2 good signs I guess! :D:D:D Squirts = diarrhoea Gastro can have a range of causes - bacterial, viral, toxin - even if it is bacterial, no reason why it couldn't be from something ingested by both dogs. Unless the vet did a faecal analysis, the cause is just guess work.

Don't panic. It's completely normal for the consistency of a dog's poo to change with what you feed. Soft poo and mucus says "stomach irritation" to me NOT disease. Just keep an eye on things. There's every possibility the other poodles have both eaten something dodgy in the back yard - it may not be transmissible. If she becomes lethargic, goes off her food or gets the squirts that's when I'd be headed for the vet.

Lets get one thing straight. Your dog doesn't know she's making a mistake. What she does know is in the agility training context, YOU can get very stressed/harsh with her. That will make her wary generally. I have trained a very soft dog. Initially she ran from obstacles to her place of safety by my backpack. It took her six months do do a tunnel and over 9 months to do a full height A-Frame. YOU have to take the pressure off her. First lesson: You can NEVER be more negative than neutral. That means you reward the positives and ignore the rest. Most of time in agility it's not the dog making mistakes anyway - its the handler misdirecting or failing to give the dog clear cues. Second lesson: change what constitutes "success". A successful training session needs to become less about the obstacles and more about showing her a good time. Be patient, be positive and resist the urge to compare her progress with any other dogs. Hasten slowly and find a decent trainer who can deal with dogs that aren't high drive, super confident agility prospects.... and that isn't every trainer. This may seem counter intuitive but when things go wrong, REWARD and play with her. Chances are its not her fault. You don't want her thinking that every time you stop her in a set or on a course, its a bad thing. Frankly I've never been a fan of stopping if there's a mistake made. Finish the set or course, rethink your handling strategy and do it again from scratch. Make the end of each set or course rewarding for the dog.

Lily has six lipomas. All have been checked and while they are growing, the rate is slow. They'll be staying put unless they become troublesome. She also has a number of cysts on her skin. She's going to be one lumpy old dog. ;)

Oh no - Mantis I'm so sorry to hear about Kenny I certainly remember him. Run free big guy

Its certainly good news if the site of the attachment is small. :) If he needs a teeth clean or something, I'd try to schedule that and the lump removal together.

I would have said its a combination of: Breed Temperament Level of fitness Nutrition Age Fastest way I know of to make a dog slow down is to make it fat.

Is it growing? You don't have a lot of skin and flesh to spare on a dog's face. It's not small and IMO I'd be having it removed before it got any bigger. The risk with such things isn't that they'll get damaged but that delay will make a minor procedure into something more substantial. Lily my Toy Poodle had one come up at the corner of her eye. I had it removed and it was sliced and diced and it turned out to be some kind of benign tumour but it was growing.

I'd go vasectomy and tubal ligation rather than full sterilisation - if you can find a vet to do it. All pups get the advantage of hormones for growth and won't end up in anyone's breeding program.

I think a muzzle might be a good investment for Rusty. I'd take this as a warning. Yes, you can tell folk until you're blue in the face not to pat your dog but it won't stop some of them.

I hope you find him safe - and soon!

I doubt it. Anonymity inspires folk to do things they otherwise wouldn't. An absence of real life consequences for poor behaviour is always going to be asking for trouble and frankly there are some right toxic individuals here. Padraic I seem to recall you came in swinging here... that might explain some of the grief you've been getting.

Whippets have Specialties at Castle Hill on the 6th and 8th. I'm also doing the Sighthound show on the 7th. Look for the pink and purple gazebo - that's me!! :)

My vet told me that most vaccines start to provide coverage within 72 hours. As this is his final vaccination, he should already have some immunity anyway.

No, same genetics. If you had a whippet that was mostly white, you wouldn't want to breed it to another mostly white or extreme white. Some whippets may be unilaterally deaf and maybe you wouldn't know unless you had it tested. I have been told that breeding parti-colour to parti-colour Whippets can result in Whippets with a lot of white that are deaf.

I think this would fairly accurately describe the amount of neglect your average puppy mill puppy gets. Ie no human attention and no training, and if it's taken away from its litter mates early (eg 6 weeks or younger) then not enough puppy to puppy and mother socialisation either. And then it's up to the new owner to make up the deficit IMMEDIATELY. Far too many people purchase pups too young. There are studies around that suggest that the deficit created by lack of socialisation with humans in the period from 3-5 weeks CANNOT be made up. Dogs bred and raised in "commercial" as opposed to "domestic" surroundings may fear strangers for life. I prefer my pups to be whelped and raised in the breeder's house as that is the type of environment in which they will spend their lives.

Is it for sale Kirislin.. in your shoes I'd HAVE to have it.

Many or most of those asking those questions don't have the support of a responsible registered breeder who'd be fielding them from their buyers. I don't actually WANT a pup that's got a lot of what some breeders are training at 8 weeks. I want a pup I can start as I wish and that is resilient with a sound temperament. I sure as hell don't want one trained in methods I prefer not to use. Horses for courses I suppose. I say let babies be babies and provided basic socialisation with people and some environmental enrichment has been done, I'll do the rest. :) If people want a 'started' dog, then an older dog will be ideal.

That's because the instinct to chase can be moderated by socialisation with cats. Cats will be chased by most dogs who haven't been socialised with them as pups. If you don't want to do a lot of walking or a lot of training I'd avoid the Briard (working breed) and the Brittany (utility gundog).