Kavik

Yep and equally if I say mine is not friendly - don't allow your dog to bounce up to its face!

Definitely sounds like a drink is in order Glad everything turned out OK!

It's the opinion section of the paper . . .

Doesn't the dog need to be certified by an association to be able to get the access to public areas that a Guide Dog has?

I enjoyed that. Was a bit worried when he went on the purebred dog disease rant but it was not a large portion of the show. :D to the SAR dogs and to the sled dogs when he almost got left behind.

What a beautiful boy! All the best with him

..and those of Spongey's owner A good professional can assess how the household interacts, and help manage things . Definitely agree with this! You need to get help and address the issues of both of these dogs as Spongey's behaviour is making things worse as well.

Great shot Tilly!

Ooh that's exciting huski, I didn't think we would be able to sway you from the Beagles

Hi Rachel Yes there are breeders who breed the style GSD you are after, though you are more likely to find that sort of shape in working line dogs.

The person I know of who makes a lot of the equipment in Sydney I don't think has a company, not sure about ABN though. He makes to competition specs and a lot of his equipment is used at competitions and clubs throughout Sydney.

She sounds divine! Can't wait to meet her

Nice work Gees they have long legs don't they! I don't see any drive rewards though

For balance - a more serious one - amazing work! Goes to show what you can do with the right dog and the right method.

What videos have really inspired you and helped you to build drive or train in drive with your dog? This is one of my favourites - very funny! and also helped me to relax when playing with my dog and really made a difference to the enthusiasm we both brought to the game

Also, if you are getting good results at home but not class with a reward, maybe you need to condition it better - I really have found clicker work to make a huge difference and they pay much more attention than if you just wave a piece of food under their nose because they have learned how to think and learn and to choose the right option for the reward. Again like with the variations of LAT it is not about distracting the dog with food/waving food under their nose to get them to do an action. I don't think you can get this result with a check chain Most of those behaviours would be shaped

I don't see the purpose in saving a dog the experience of learning there are consequences to an action good and bad. Behaviour reinforced with positives is good, but behavior reinforced with positives and negatives IMHO is better and amounts to increased reliability. Fiona I assume we're talking about behaviour that is rewarded when performed on cue and punished when not performed on cue rather than a single behaviour that is reinforced with positives and negatives? What's the difference in reliability between rewarding a behaviour when it is cued and rewarding a behaviour when it is cued... and then punishing whatever behaviour the dog chooses instead of the original one when it is cued? Ok, I will give an example: I teach my dogs a "stop" command. We walk along on leash and the dog is out front for instance and I say "stop", the dog stops I catch up in a footstep and reward which is working well in low distraction atmospheres and the dog knows the stop command well. We up the distractions where the dog moves forward on the leash focusing on another dog. We say "stop" and the dog ignors the command, I will then correct him and the dog stops, catch up and no reward. The dog from my experience learns that unless he obey's the stop command a correction follows and has the choice of which action he wants to take. Stop and be rewarded, don't stop, get a correction and no reward. Im my way of thinking, there is a "double" reinforcer in place, a correction and no reward for disobeying, no correction and reward for obeying. Does it work??? ABSOLUTELY, my 8 year old boy's "stops" are bullet proof off leash even with my OH calling him at the other end although it was 7 odd years ago I trained him to do this Fiona Ok an interesting alternative to the situation you just described . . . walk on leash and dog is out in front, I stop, give dog no command, the dog stops and looks at me, I click/treat, I stop and the dog comes back to me and looks at me, click/treat. Up the distractions to where the dog is focused on another dog. I stop, the dog stops and looks at me, click/treat, I stop and the dog comes back to me and looks at me, click/treat. The dog has the choice of which action to take. :D Same result Kind of the same result, but will your's reliably exhibit the behaviour off leash without a clicker and treat??? Fiona I really only do this while on lead, so haven't tried off lead. And I am never without my clicker and treats when out walking the dogs - you never know when you will have the opportunity to train I train primarily agility with a little bit of competition based obedience exercises (I compete in agility, but my obedience dog has allergies so we only train for fun in that)

It looks like you haven't faded out your reinforcer well. You can start by having the rewards somwehere the dog can't see (eg pocket) and then reward, and move to having the rewards off your person in a different location (up high and you go get it, or send to a reward somewhere else). You want to make it so that he doesn't know where the reward will come from so he doesn't have to see it and you don't have to be holding it for him to work.

I don't see the purpose in saving a dog the experience of learning there are consequences to an action good and bad. Behaviour reinforced with positives is good, but behavior reinforced with positives and negatives IMHO is better and amounts to increased reliability. Fiona I assume we're talking about behaviour that is rewarded when performed on cue and punished when not performed on cue rather than a single behaviour that is reinforced with positives and negatives? What's the difference in reliability between rewarding a behaviour when it is cued and rewarding a behaviour when it is cued... and then punishing whatever behaviour the dog chooses instead of the original one when it is cued? Ok, I will give an example: I teach my dogs a "stop" command. We walk along on leash and the dog is out front for instance and I say "stop", the dog stops I catch up in a footstep and reward which is working well in low distraction atmospheres and the dog knows the stop command well. We up the distractions where the dog moves forward on the leash focusing on another dog. We say "stop" and the dog ignors the command, I will then correct him and the dog stops, catch up and no reward. The dog from my experience learns that unless he obey's the stop command a correction follows and has the choice of which action he wants to take. Stop and be rewarded, don't stop, get a correction and no reward. Im my way of thinking, there is a "double" reinforcer in place, a correction and no reward for disobeying, no correction and reward for obeying. Does it work??? ABSOLUTELY, my 8 year old boy's "stops" are bullet proof off leash even with my OH calling him at the other end although it was 7 odd years ago I trained him to do this Fiona Ok an interesting alternative to the situation you just described . . . walk on leash and dog is out in front, I stop, give dog no command, the dog stops and looks at me, I click/treat, I stop and the dog comes back to me and looks at me, click/treat. Up the distractions to where the dog is focused on another dog. I stop, the dog stops and looks at me, click/treat, I stop and the dog comes back to me and looks at me, click/treat. The dog has the choice of which action to take. :D Same result

From: http://www.k9rawdiet.com/Click-to-Calm-Hea...ons-pr-127.html Your dog does not have to be aggressive in order to utilise this book! Click to calm is about keeping our dogs calm as much as it's about helping the aggressive dog. Is your dog a little too much to handle for you? Here's your answer! K9 Raw Diet recommends that before using this book a basic understanding of clicker training will ultimately provide you with the most benefit. As such, purchasing the Clicker Training Starter Kit and becoming familiar with the techniques is going to greatly assist you as you begin to Click to Calm your dog. Learn a path-breaking, effective approach from someone who's been there. When Emma Parsons, canine trainer and behavior consultant, discovered that Ben, her own prized golden retriever, was aggressive toward other dogs and that traditional remedies took his reactivity to nightmarish levels, she turned to clicker training. In the process, Emma developed innovative and highly effective strategies to calm, alter, and re-shape Ben's aggressive displays. Her work has since helped many clients successfully reduce—and even erase—their dogs' reactivity to both dogs and humans. This proven path is now laid out, clearly and empathetically, for you to follow. Click to Calm has more than 40 exercises presented in an easy-to-follow “training recipe” format, teaching how to: •Desensitize your dog to approaching stranger dogs •Allow you to grab your dog's collar without him snapping •Have your dog perform canine calming signals, instead of aggressive displays, on cue •Have your dog turn and give you eye contact whenever another dog approaches, or you tighten on the leash •Use your own body language when under stress as a cue for your dog to remain calm •And many more creative and effective uses of managing behavior through clicker training 181 pages of fun.

I dont get it either corvus. In the scenario above how would a dog know its an interupter not a marker. Agro dog looking at the other dog just about to lunge and you click? That could be very dangerous marking the totally wrong behavious! That is my thinking as well. Click means mark, means treat. I am only going to mark what I want to reinforce and reward. I think to use it as an interruptor is a bit dangerous as to the dog, you could be marking and reinforcing something that could come back to bite you on the bum later. I wonder also if it will, over time, reduce the "power" of the clicker when rewarding what you do want? Probably not, but got me thinking. I think it would be better to read Leslie McDevitt's description of it, seeing as it's her method. The idea is you use it under threshold to mark a behaviour you're going to ask for again in a moment anyway, and then the dog automatically turns away from the object of interest to get the treat from you. You wouldn't click when the dog was lunging or carrying on. The only thing you are marking is looking, but it simultaneously interrupts that looking because the dog turns back to you for a treat. You're then rewarding them for attending to you, so the only behaviours you're likely to increase are looking at a trigger and then looking back to you. I am thoroughly confused by this thread. What actually are prong collars being used for? What does it do to teach impulse control? I will have to have a read. Although - I am am merely attempting to understand - If I click while a dog is looking at another dog to get it to look at me/come to me so I could treat it. I do not want to mark it looking at another dog I want to mark it looking at me. In my way of thinking I would be better off to use something else to get the dog's attention away from the dog and when it did look at me click/treat then. The otherway seems to be teaching them to look at the dog for a C/T. Which is what I don't want?????? Sorry but that seems to be taking the state highway around Australia when I could get home by driving just down the road. I remember being told many moons ago by someone I admire (and is on DOL), reward what you want. If you want to trial you want a perfect straight sit in a certain position. So don't ever treat what is not that sit. Treat the perfect sit then you are highly likely to get it, treat the half backed sits and then you are highly likely to get half baked sits. So that is why the other idea doesn't compute for me. I wait the dog out. Dog looks at other dog, dog look at me = click/treat. I don't use an interruptor to get the dog to look away from the other dog to me. The dog chooses to look at me after looking at the other dog, knowing that looking at me will get the reward. Quite different to trying to distract the dog by shoving a treat under its nose. I stay still and quiet and don't say anything to the dog (no cue word).

From Hobbes Leviathan Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man. . . . Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man, the same consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. . . . But though there had never been any time wherein particular men were in a condition of war one against another, ****************** It is a completely fictional situation he thought up to justify why people would subject themselves to laws which limit their liberty etc.

Hobbes was referring to a fictional situation where there were no laws/customs in place (such a situation has never been the case of course, as people have always lived in some sort of loose society/tribal situation). Hobbes did this to try to determine why a government would be formed and what type of government would be formed assuming that everyone was only in it for themselves, what freedoms would they give up for security. (sorry, did social philosophy at university, this was one of the topics )

Looks fine to me too

I have certainly found teaching the dog to deal with the fact that there is another dog there, and that that is alright, has made a HUGE difference to my dog aggressive dog. I have used a different method to K9Pro (I used the method from Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog). When Zoe was younger I boarded her with my GSDs breeder who I trusted to help me to fix her aggression issues. They used correction/praise method. It worked well for them, they were able to have her around other dogs and even sniff another dog, but I was not able to keep that up, I still got too stressed/anxious taking her around other dogs using that method and she reverted to showing aggression again. I found for me using a clicker has helped immensely as she knows look at other dog, look at me = click/treat and this morning we went past two other dogs no problem, one of the other dogs was even growling at her but she was perfect. It has allowed me to trust her and our training and I am no longer as stressed, and this is so important. Unless you have had an aggressive dog I don't think you can really know the stress and anxiety it can cause.