Kavik

If you look in the socialisation vs neutralisation thread you will find lots of opinions and questions including from me I am still deciding how I will socialise future puppies. My goal is competition as well as companion. Most likely I will socialise carefully to other dogs, with known adult dogs who have good doggy manners, and not let pup run riot with crazies at the dog park. Exposure at trials, shows, training, beach, outside schools etc, but not puppy preschool. My aim is the same as Staranais - raising a puppy that is confident and happy when interacting with other dogs and other people, but which prefers to interact with me.

hehe no problems like that here - short coated dogs dry off quick in this rain too.

Agree with poodlefan - it will take time. Given the size difference between them, I would certainly be careful with this as your little dog could easily be seriously injured if there is an altercation.

Different clubs have different requirements, some train onlead at first, some only train offlead. A reliable recall is something that you will definitely need in agility, as the majority if not all of it is done off lead and a distance from the handler. Definitely something to practice!

I would bring your dog on a flat collar and lead. Bring treats, toys, anything your dog finds rewarding If you wish to allow your dog to visit another dog, it is a good idea to ask the other person if that is OK first, in case their dog does not want to visit. Does your dog have some basic obedience? Recall, sit, drop, stay are the ones you will be using in agility.

I understand where you are coming from Crysti-Lei. Diesel is my accident prone very expensive doggy. Broken leg (very $$$) grass seed allergies (ongoing $$$) ear ripped open by another GSD auraL haematoma in same ear Also need to feed him a lot of food (5 times as much as my next biggest dog) to keep him looking not too bad (he could still put on a bit more weight to look better) OH unhappy about the amount of money spent on him. While I have not managed to compete with him as I wanted to, at least he is well behaved, is the only one of mine that actually enjoys socialising with other dogs, and thank goodness is easy to handle for pilling/medicating/at the vet.

I agree Erny Quite possibly I act differently towards Diesel when he is having a tough health patch.

I'm not really sure when Diesel's skin problems became really apparent. But I have had numerous health issues starting with him breaking a leg at 6 months. I don't think I have as good a bond with Diesel as I do with my other dogs. Not sure if it is a personality thing, or whether the contsant stress and worry about his health has anything to do with it. I don't think his personality has changed.

Slightly OT (but not much ) I was bored this morning and thought I might try something different. I made a box out of PVC (previously a channel weave set) and decided to see if I could shape Diesel to go into the box for the start of obedience box work (not that we're likely to get that far given his health and focus issues, but it is fun to train stuff anyway). In our first session I had him happily offering to go and stand in the box with all 4 feet .

I have used targetting and shaping to teach my dog to put her head in a basket, and then to place and object in the basket. She already knew how to retrieve. I taught her to target the basket with her nose, and then extended that to putting her head in the basket. I then backchained putting the object in the basket, starting with giving her the object right above the basket, then giving it to her next to the basket, then putting it on the ground next to the basket, then moving it further away. I've also been teaching 2o2o contacts for agility with targetting.

I'm not sure where you are, I am in Sydney My experience with speciaslists has been positive. My GSD Diesel broke his leg at 6 months of age - spiral fracture. We went to Andrew Marchevsky, who at the time was at the Veterinary Specialist Centre (VSC), now is at Small Animal Specialist Hospital (SASH). He was great! :rolleyes: Diesel needed an external fixatur and cage rest so it was quite stressful for us trying to keep him quiet, but Andrew is a great surgeon and also a great guy. I later worked with him when I got a job at VSC.

Well done! That is cool, I didn't know they did this I have heard good things about Schwarchund Malinois

Good luck!

Head in a bucket was one of the first things I shaped too

Thanks for the offer K9 - will let you know if I decide to take you up on it At the moment I am still uncomfortable with idea of negative reinforcement.

Has your pup met other dogs before? How does he usualoy act around other dogs? Have you done any training with your pup? Gone to any classes, puppy preschool, seen a trainer etc? If not, I would suggest you do so. Can you get your pup's attention on you? I would be careful how you approach this problem. I have a Kelpie and a Kelpie X :cool: They are not necessarily the best, most social dogs for off lead park situations. From my experiences and talking to others who have the breed, they would rather work and maybe say hi briefly to other dogs, but are generally not as interested in playing. My Kelpie X started barking at other dogs when she was 6 months old, and this escalated to aggression, and she is still aggressive at 9 years, so I would seek assistance now while he is still a pup and the problem can be fixed before he gets older.

This is why I am not comfortable using the ecollar :cool:

Oh and he doesn't get any bones apart from chicken wings/frames/carcasses. I really hope I never get another allergy dog

Thanks guys I was worried it might have been something I did. OH actually mentioned the chewing his fur thing, looks like he was right for once Poor guy now he can't even get a date

I'm not sure what his bite was like before Didn't really occur to me to look. What is the difference between level bite and scissor bite? I have just moved him to Royal Canin GSD, before was on Advance, has been on ProPlan and Eagle Pack previously. As well as Chicken Wings/Frames/carcasses

Yet another problem with Diesel I was giving him his tablets and noticed that his incisors are really worn down. The lower middle two incisors are only stumps . I have no idea what he has done to wear them down. He is 5 years old. The main toy I use with him and Kaos are Ruffians http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.p...roducts_id/1875 Would this be likely to wear teeth a lot? Kaos's look OK, but he is only 3. If it is the toy, I want to switch to a less wearing toy, but not sure if that is the problem. I don't use tennis balls cause I heard they are bad for teeth. The dog with the least tooth wear is actually Zoe who is 9 years old. They all get the same diet of dry food and chicken wings or frames/carcasses. My other thought was that since Diesel has bad skin, he is always scratching and chewing himself, and when they chew themselves, those front teeth are the ones they use. Is it possible that chewing his fur/skin for several years has caused the tooth wear? I don't know why I didn't notice earlier, there is always something healthwise stressing me about Diesel

Yes they can still get it even if vaccinated. Like the flu in people, there are different strains and it mutates etc.

Will your dog pick up the ball at all? You could try running away from the dog when it has the ball - dog is likely to chase you. Then praise when the dog gets back to you (hopefully with ball ) and you can swap the ball for food so they give the ball to you.

I have a question about flyball. When you do competitions for points that count towards your title, are you allowed to have rewards with you in the ring? All the demos I've seen the handler is holding a big tug for the dog to get after the jumps. In obedience and agility you are not allowed rewards in the ring, was wondering if it is the same in flyball.

I haven't used a divider with mine. The guy was not that tactful though