DogsAndTheMob

This is why I'll be prepared to pay the money for a purebred, registered puppy, when I get my next dog (although that is many years away.) I don't assume that a crossbreed puppy is a first generation cross with hybrid vigour (the spiel used to market "designer crossbreeds"). I assume that a crossbreed puppy is likely to be a second or subsequent generation cross, possibly from a mating of related individuals. I therefore anticipate that the puppy may be prone to any of the genetic diseases prevalent in the progenitor breeds. My views are formed by my experience with the rescue "designer crossbreed" I owned for 12 years. He had more health problems than all my purebred dogs combined. He had epilepsy from the time I rescued him. I've never owned a purebred dog with epilepsy. He went blind from cataracts. (In fact, he already had impaired vision when I rescued him.) None of my purebred dogs have gone blind. He had chronic back and neck problems from the time I rescued him, which were worse than anything I've seen in my purebred dogs, except in very old age. He had alopecia with bruising and seborrhoea, which was evident when I rescued him, and only partially improved with care and grooming. None of my purebred dogs have had these skin problems. He also had what I have since heard referred to as a typical "oodle" coat - a coat that matted within hours of grooming. His coat had to be clipped short, and that did nothing to conceal his alopecia or protect his bare skin. On the plus side, he was a delightful, devoted dog, with a notably stable temperament, contrary to the inane stereotypes about "small white fluffies". My views are also coloured by my observations of crossbreed puppies in petshops, which so often are obviously not the crosses that they are claimed to be. If their breeders are not even honest about the parent's breeds, how can anybody trust them to pay attention to the finer details of breeding healthy dogs? Problems can and do occur with purebred dogs, even when great care has been taken. But at least with purebred puppies, I can look at the pedigree and ask pertinent questions.

We have four dogs and recently had two senior dogs visiting for a few months. The old girls weren't interested in anything except food and my dogs ignored them but, even so, my dogs seem much more relaxed without the two visitors. I also think the pie is limited in terms of time and money to devote to the dogs. The more dogs, the smaller the size of each slice of the pie. This is becoming even more of a consideration as vets have more ways to help my dogs live longer with better quality of life... at a cost. In the future, I will think very carefully before having more than two dogs.

A day lying around won't do him any harm. If you make yourself sicker or have a fall because you're walking him when you're dizzy, that won't be a kindness to him. Think of it as enforced off-switch training.

Do the manufacturers modify the kennel cough vaccine mix to cover currently prevalent strains of disease, as is done with human flu vaccine?

Do the vets say the cataracts are likely to progress? My husky was diagnosed with congenital cataracts in adolescence. She lived well into her teens and remained asymptomatic throughout her life, running,jumping, chasing a ball and fetching a dumbbell. Although the first diagnosis was given by a veterinary opthalmologist, I was sceptical and took her to a second opthalmologist. He gave the same diagnosis. If there are any doubts about progression of the cataracts, what are the potential consequences of delaying?

I have an Ezi-Set hexagonal "instant dog house", in the medium size. It folds up and stows into a bag about 60cm x 10cm x10cm, and is light enough to carry in one hand along with other bags. It's surprisingly roomy for my BC ( and even my gsd can fit inside, although I would not leave her in there). It's sturdily made (canvas etc) but I don't feel that it securely fastens into the open position. I would never leave a dog in there unless she/he was crate-trained and I was nearby to supervise. The issue with stability in the "open" position might be rectified by sewing in additional tabs or ties.

I live with cats... In comparison, nothing the dogs do is annoying! One cat used to hook a claw into me to anchor himself when he snuggled up in bed. After I banned him from under the blankets, he took to tickling my face with his whiskers. As soon as I lifted my hand to rub my face, he'd scoot under the covers. The closest a dog has come to that was my mother's GSD, who burrowed her face down between bedclothes and pyjamas to plant her cold nose in the small of my back when she wanted to go out in the middle of a wintry night. Our current dogs wake my OH up if they want to go out. They know who's the soft touch!

To the OP. I have crates for my adult dogs but I only use them if I need to separate them for meals or because one dog is ill. However, my last four puppies have slept in a small enclosed crate beside the bed. The crate is large enough for comfortable sleeping, but too small for playing. The covered sides make the crate more den-like, which is also conducive to sleep rather than play. This helps with house-training, because I wake up and take the puppy out as soon as he stirs. If he whimpers after being returned to the crate, I just drop my hand over the side of the bed and press it against the crate door for a few minutes,. If he continues to whimper, I ignore him. The crate gets moved progressively further from the bedroom, because I think it is important for my puppies to learn to sleep by themselves. My latest puppy quickly outgrew his crate, so I bought a mid-sized crate. Previous puppies have graduated straight to a full-sized crate, and slept there, for their own safety, until they could be trusted not to chew electrical cords. <div>I do train my dogs to sleep outside on my large verandah, because sometimes I need to leave them outside overnight. My dogs have trampoline beds outside but no blankets outside, because these would get dragged around the yard.

Or how about a keenness of kelpies?

A vitality of vizslas. A grace of greyhounds. A prettiness of papillons. A grin of German Shepherds. (With a nod to the maremmas across the road)... A midnight madness of maremmas. For other maremmas... A magnificence of maremmas.

A bounce of Border Collies. A gambol of German Shepherds

From the New Zealand Herald.... A New Zealand manufacturer is planning to market vitamin water for dogs. It will come in 4 flavours, NZ beef, free-range chicken, fresh mint and peanut butter. http://nzh.tw/10862812

How restrictive is the ANKC affiliation with the major registries in other countries? My interpretation of other posts is that, in countries such as the US where there are multiple registries, some secondary registries recognise parti poodles. Would it be practical for the ANKC to recognise the poodles from these registries as a second poodle breed? (In the way that "Siamese" cats bred for non-standard colours are recognised as Colour-point Shorthairs.) This would give purchasers the option of buying parti poodles with authentic pedigrees (supported by appropriate health testing and certification) from reputable breeders... And hopefully force out the backyard breeders.

(I'm back from taking the dogs for a walk.) Document 2: Schedule for the annual championship show of the German Shepherd Dog League of Australia, held 25th November 1951. Interesting highlights: "Exhibitors in the Metropolitan Districts travelling by train should enquire at their local railway re Special Show Dog Ticket available on Saturdays and Sundays only. Outside the Metropolitan Area, Exhibitors should get a consignment Ticket not a Dog Ticket." "OUR CLUB is democratic and progressive and any element of discord has no place amongst us. We cordially invite all fanciers who appreciate such an atmosphere to come and join. Join our club and help us to stamp out the ridiculous antagonism against the German Shepherd Dog. We need you! Your dog needs us! See the Secretary to-day!"

I'm looking at some old documents and thought I should share... It would be great if other people could also pull out their archives. Document 1: schedule for Sydney All Breeds Dog Training Club trial of 3rd July 1960, which states, "The members of our club are proud to present the FIRST ONE-DAY TRIAL OF OBEDIENCE DOGS EVER HELD IN THIS STATE." The entry fee was six shillings per class, with child handlers at two shillings and lady handlers at four shillings. First place trophies were valued at five pounds five shillings. The club shield was valued at 35 pounds. Novice Companion Dog Test exercises were character test (examination by judge), heel on leash, run on leash, heel free, run free, come when called, sitting ( in front of handler for two minutes), lying (in front of handler for three minutes) and stand free. The Open Companion Dog Test included the above plus a retrieve, recall and down, deliver message, jump hurdle and retrieve, scent discrimination, seek back and (as a combined exercise) long down and return to place.

It sounds as if you are doing everything possible to manage an intractable problem! Take care of yourself... This must be incredibly stressful, particularly combined with your long working week. Best wishes for a good solution.

Do you think the circling is misdirected working instinct... i.e. trying to work other dogs, people or horses? One of my BCs will circle the other dogs if he doesn't get enough sheep-work. If Serenity "switched on to" dogs first, that might explain her lack of interest in livestock, particularly if she is distracted by the sight or sound of other dogs. In any case, it might be worth considering setting up a visual barrier between Serenity and the other dogs when she is separated from them... Also, be wary of having her in a run with a fence adjoining the area where your other dogs are housed, as that can precipitate fence-running. What does she do if she's housed in a quiet area with minimal stimuli?

My first BC was like that. Even at 16 yo he was hyper! He was great to train for obedience competition because he never became bored or tired... He got his UD without much trouble. I found these strategies effective... I did a lot of UD level training even before he could heel. Those exercises provide good mental stimulation and I think you could adapt to your dog's motivators and abilities.... Seek back for food rather than an article, sendaway to food, directed send to food etc. I played a lot of hide and seek games with tennis balls.... Perhaps you could confine your dog while you hide her meals then send her to find them.I placed him on long stays while I worked around the house, as I found that stopped him from "psyching" himself up.He was very responsive to touch and would almost freeze if I ran my hand slowly over his head and down his back to the base of his tail.

I had a "wake-up call" on the weekend when my dog lost his cool with a breakaway sheep - absolutely out of character! When I'd recovered from my shock, I realized that it was caused by my poor handling and management but exacerbated because I lacked confidence in my ability to control him from a distance in that situation. I also realized that I'd become sloppy and complacent about control with all my dogs. I went back out there and insisted that he stayed by my side as we walked across the paddock, rather than creeping ahead as he tends to. I did 10 minutes of walk up, back away drills in the yard, then back to the small paddock. After this, his casts were cleaner than they have been for months, and he was driving and flanking on drive in a manner that we've never achieved before. I've now drawn up a list of goals for my dogs. They will already drop on command as a group and recall as a group when running in the paddock, heel individually off-lead while the other dogs run around, and hold long down stays (up to half an hour) individually and as a group... usually in the comfort of the house. I now want them 1) recall individually "against the flow" of the other dogs during runs, 2) reliably wait to be invited (individually) through some doors and gates, 3) walk individually on a loose lead (not heeling) while the other dogs run past (specifically during their morning crazy-run) and 4) go through doors and up to bed on first command both individually and (longer term goal) "against the flow" of the other dogs. My older BC's drops are reliable off-sheep, but not 100% on sheep. So, the next time he ignores a "drop" during herding, I'm going to just let the sheep go and work on control. I'll use a method I've found effective in other situations when dogs ignored a drop command or responded slowly. I walk towards the dog (bossily) and send/take him back to exactly where he was when I said drop. If the dog tries to stop short, I insist on him going all the way back. If achievable, I prefer to send him rather than physically re-position him (or her). I believe the dog learns more when he chooses to comply. Drop him where the original command was given, wait a short time (reinforce with stay, if necessary), then walk up, give a restrained tactile reward, then release. Immediately call the dog to heel and do a series of quick, brusque "heel" (few steps), "drop" (wait a few seconds), "heel" (few steps), etc. At the end of the sequence give big (jackpot) tactile and physical rewards (I don't use food rewards at this stage, as communication is a big part of the process and the verbal/tactile reward relieves any tension.) Then we practice some random walking around and dropping at a distance and I randomly reward with verbal (from a distance) or tactile or food rewards (with the dog holding the stay while I walk up.) Now how do I train the cat not to walk on the keyboard?

Have a look at the articles here http://www.abcollie.com/index.php/articles/ and here http://www.patrickshannahan.com/articles.asp Although I don't agree with every aspect of their approaches, I've learnt so much from these articles. I particularly like their focus on communication and working with each dog as an individual. And if you want to be inspired, look at some of the internet video of Red Top Riggs competing in ISDS-style trials.

Any of the above, depending on the circumstances. I give a second command (with more command in my voice) if I think the dog is likely to obey it. If I don't think a second command will "work", I only give one in an emergency situation. Either way, I follow up ASAP by reinforcing training in a controlled situation... and repeat this just before I go back into the situation where the dog ignored me. Herding is different, because the situation is fluid (by the time it has gone from thought to words to dog's response, the sheep may be doing something entirely different), so I need "intelligent obedience" or "intelligent disobedience". If I'm not happy with my dog's response to commands, I practice general commands (eg drop) as much as I can away from the sheep then, when working the sheep, try to ensure that on-sheep-only commands (eg flanking commands) align with the dog's instincts until communication channels are open again.

So perhaps I should be playing more chasing and retrieving games with quick turns (e.g. turn and throw a ball) so that he becomes more attuned to my shoulder movements.

What natural cues do you think your dog uses to anticipate your movements and adjust its position when heeling? By natural cues, I mean cues in the way you naturally move (e.g. turning your feet left or right as you lead into a turn; slowing/shortening your step to adjust your balance as you stop). I'm particularly interested in cues that dogs pick up on when they're looking upwards. I spent some time last week teaching my youngster both stand and left about turn, and now I notice that he's switched from watching my face to watching my feet during heeling.

All of this is good stuff. But I don't see why you can't do all of this and have the dog wearing a long line at the same time. For those of you that are experienced and good at 'reading' your dog the long line will never need to be used. For those less experienced and less skilled at reading their dog, the long line offers security and insures the dog isn't given practice at ignoring commands. By all means encourage the dog to come without having to use the long line, let it drag along the ground, but if not, it is always there as extra insurance to reinforce the come command. That's a fair question. I guess that I see the long lead as a temptation to use force, and would prefer to avoid any compulsion, at least in the early stages of training (and certainly with an 11 week old pup). In addition, I trained my first dog without a lead (way back in the 1970s) because I was such a klutz that I couldn't manage a long lead effectively. It worked so well that I've never since used a lead to train the recall. I've also seen other people's pups get distracted or even distressed by trailing leads and long lines... and I think dogs trained on long leads can end up with slower recalls as a result. However, I've trained most of my own dogs as puppies. If I was teaching an adult dog with entrenched problems, I might train differently. In my original post, I should also have advised the OP never to call the half-trained pup unless he was likely to respond to the first command... except in an emergency of course.

Oops, sorry, I should have said "she"!