Kavik

$18/hr is AWESOME Far more than I have ever been paid working in animal care. Where do you work? Maybe I should apply

The most important time in a dog's life for formation of temperament and behaviour is up to 16 weeks (4 months) so the pup is past the critical socialisation period and rehabilitation would be quite difficult and time consuming and hard to say how successful

Plenty of working line dogs adjust well to suburban life providing they have a good solid temperament and an outlet for that drive such as dog sports. Unfortunately in the OP's situation the dog looks to either have a poor temperament or poor handling or both

Another vote for crate him inside Much easier and quieter that way!

Yep, that is the big problem with working in animal care. That plus the pay does not increase much regardless of experience or qualifications. The vet nurses that get paid well work at specialist centres/emergency. But it is hard to get in there and you do need to be very experienced for them to consider you. GP vets vary in pay, depending on the practice, but it is not much. I worked in a dog daycare and it was very frustrating that I got payed the same as people with no experience or qualifications, even though I helped to train staff, evaluate dogs, instruct classes and implement policies.

I know someone who has a horse that hates dogs, and not only will kick them but KILL them so they can certainly do a lot of damage!

I am now about to start looking for a job outside the animal care industry I am sick of the low pay, long hours, unpredictability of shifts (a lot are casual and I am getting past the point of being tolerant of having shifts cancelled at the last minute). And the work is VERY physical. Not a problem when you have just left school. But I am getting to the point in my life where I have to think about whether I want to spend the rest of my working life cleaning kennels for less money than a check out person's wage. The only real option for me if I want to continue working with dogs is to start my own dog training business, as I am qualified through NDTF, have experience instructing classes, am confident handling different types of dogs and have enough 'tools' and methods to help people, and compete with my dog. But I don't really know much about running a business and am a bit scared to take that step

Well done Ness

Will have to get a copy of Control Unleashed. I have only read Click to Calm. Best book on behaviour modification I have!

I'm pretty sure you have to allow access for meter readers? I vote for double gate, better safe than sorry.

I don't actually use a word, but want automatic focus if we see another dog. Look at the dog, look at me = click/treat, look at dog, look at me = click/treat. I only click/treat if the dog is looking at me. At first I would click/treat if Zoe looked back at me after looking at the dog, even if she reacted first. Gradually the reaction has been reducing and provided I can keep to a certain distance I can get her to look at the dog and then back at me without a reaction. I use this with all my dogs, even though Zoe is the only aggro one. Very handy for having to pass dogs on the street, even if your dog is just exciteable and friendly, to help keep attention on you.

I agree - it has really helped me a lot and has helped to relax both me and Zoe (who is dog aggro) in the presence of other dogs.

Both my dog aggro dog and my dog who can be reactive to dogs in his face are predictable in their behaviour. Much better when the other dog is calm and ignores them, more likely to react if the dog is exciteable/barking/lunging/pulling etc

From what I've heard and talking to some toy breed owners, they can be more difficult to toilet train.

When I read your post I wondered whether it was for the baby or the dogs as well

ADAA does have cleats on the dogwalk, ANKC does not.

My boy sits around 30kg

OK update on how we are going. We now have our ADAC Novice Agility Title (Novice Agility Certificate) 2 quallies towards JD 1 quallie towards AD So I think we have a good chance of meeting our goals this year Good boy Kaos!

My older dog Zoe sounds rather similar (but worse in that she is dog aggressive altogether). I have had some success with the methods in Click To Calm: Healing The Aggressive Dog which from other descriptions is not that different to the methods in Control Unleashed? It is basically clicker training for attention taken to the next level by adding dogs as the distraction. I think you could do this in conjunction with other things. First have a good automatic attention = click in a quiet environment, then a busier environment with no dogs. Then start with a dog on the other side of the road. Allow your dog to look at the other dog and don't cue attention on you. If you have a good foundation your dog should eventually look back at you and you c/t. With practice your dog should automatically look at you for a c/t when it sees another dog. Gradually decrease the distance from the other dog (ie same side of street but in a driveway, same side of street but at the edge of the footpath).

I still need to really speed up Kaos's dogwalk. The last few trials he has been stopping 4on and I have been waiting him out for him to offer 2o2o, and release him when he does. In training he is being pretty good and giving 2o2o, but still not as fast as I would like along the down ramp. In trials he is only trotting along the second half of the flat board and along the down ramp. At training he will run the first two but trot the down ramp. I am working more with my short board at home, and might get OH to get out my seesaw and put on a table so I have a longer plank to work with.

In this scenario, since her dog kept coming up to yours to play, it is not your fault. You did the right thing by moving away when she asked (it is nice to move away when someone doesn't want their dog to play with yours), but after that it is her responsibility. She should have control of her own dog and a better recall if she does not want her dog coming up to yours. I understand the other lady's fears, as sometimes play does look rough, and I am now careful not to allow rough play with strange dogs, but if I am worried, I move away. I do get annoyed if the other dog has no recall and keeps annoying us or coming up to us after we have gone the other direction.

Mine are kissers I have to watch Kaos as, like Jarrah, he will jump from a standing start to face height to give kisses

Does he like water? I think Innotek make a device that sprays water (like a sprinkler I think) when it senses movement in an area, made to deter dogs and cats from your yard.

Kaos and Diesel snuggle together and will share a bed. Zoe doesn't - she likes her space. DOL has changed since I last posted a pic - can you still upload from computer? I can't find the attachments section

We had a great ADAC agility trial. Qually and first place in both Novice Agility and Open Jumping Kaos was a good boy! Think we are ready to go up to Open Agility and see how we go there. (ADAC you can stay in a level even after you get your title).