Kavik

WIRES is like that too, will only come and collect an animal if it is contained

I'm exactly the same. I always contain the dogs if tradies come - mine are very friendly but tradies don't want to be bothered by dogs while they are working, common sense! And they tend to leave gates open

When I tried the food spitting, I used human food obviously (cheese and cocktail frankfurts and cabanossi). Had to teach him to catch it! I got the idea from a Leerburg video, I've been looking but can't remember what it was called. I wouldn't do it now, I can think of lots of other ways I would teach the behaviour, but at the time I thought it was worth a try. Found a video! Don't be too critical, it was a looooong time ago! Diesel is now 12 1/2 years old!

I would not be telling a dog like that "no" and I would not be letting it hump my leg either. The way I deal with most dogs like that now is to grab their collar and hold them away from me - until they notice they can't get where they want to go, when they back off, I let them go to see what their choice is... More humping and I collar grab again. If it gets extreme... I have a spare lead in my bag and the dog would get tied up. The other thing I would recommend trying is more subtle. Get some eucalyptus oil, mix it two drops to 200ml water in a misting bottle - and spray on clothes. It smells pretty nasty and would discourage the sniff before humping and probably the humping. Definitely it's a safety problem for the dog as well as the workers. If they spill paint on the dog or someone gets tripped and falls on it - there's going to be problems for the dog too. I'd be careful trying a collar grab with a dog that has been narky with you. Quite a lot of dogs don't like it and if they haven't been conditioned to it, they may bite you just for trying to get their collar.

Yep that happened when I was spitting food! He leapt up and I got a kiss with his teeth!

I found the crawling/starting to walk phase the toughest with managing kids and dogs - the Kelpies weren't comfortable in this phase either. Diesel was fine, but he isn't phased by much. I didn't have Nitro at the time mine were that young. I suspect he wouldn't be worried by them but would have been too rough lol If he is normally good with kids, maybe you can just tough this stage out with management and not have them together until the kids get a bit older and start acting more like 'normal' people.

I've done the spitting food thing with Diesel a long time ago to get focus on my face when heeling, wouldn't do it now, lots of other methods out there, I certainly wouldn't just spit :laugh:

So sorry to read this Take care of yourself

The Wheatens I have met have been lovely, but yes one did have a coat that would mat if you looked at it!

I love black GSD! I was chatting to people at the GSD stand at pet expo once and said I really liked the black ones, and they said they don't come in black, to which I replied, I know several black ones :laugh:

Kaos is taller than that at 57cm! Hmmm, OK, I guess he is a BIG Kelpie :laugh:

Kaos is often mistaken for a GSD. OK I walk him with Diesel, who is a GSD, and he is rather tall for a Kelpie, but he is still fairly obviously not a GSD :laugh:

While my dogs are 'my' dogs in that I do all the walking, feeding, training, they all have their other 'favourite' person which has nothing to do with how much they interact with them :laugh: Diesel adores my OH, Nitro loves my daughter, my previous dog Zoe loved my mum.

There is also SASH http://www.sashvets.com/ They are the only ones I've had experience with :) posted same time as Scottsmum :)

You can clicker train for toys (I haven't though as mine are more food driven than toy). What about just a very short toss of the toy, so it doesn't go far, or so he catches it? Or you can use his meals when training. My young dog gets all of his meals through training. He has a naturally high food drive anyway, but this means I can do plenty of training without worrying about him gaining weight, and also means all good things come from me :) This also allows you to utilise contrafreeloading - animals like to work for their food http://www.progressdog.com/follow-our-blog/will-work-for-food-the-contra-freeloading-phenomenon

I also know that when I've had a run in with another dog (dog rush at/attack mine or when I had Zoe, when she would behave aggressively) it would take me several days to calm down - the few days afterwards I would feel on edge, hypervigilant. So it is quite possible that dogs would be the same.

I've found with my dog (who is very friendly, but easily overaroused) that it is best to give him at least one relatively 'quiet' walk day where we train and walk in a park with few distractions, in between our 'busy' days which include training at agility clubs, trials or busy parks where there is a lot going on. I found that when I did several 'busy' walk days in a row I had a harder time keeping his attention and a harder time keeping his arousal in a good place.

Maybe he is becoming incontinent and can't help it, can't control it anymore?

Here we go, here is the guy from Absolute Dogs talking about arousal https://positively.com/contributors/what-is-arousal-in-dogs-and-why-should-i-care/

Here are some ideas for reactive dogs. This you can implement on walks: https://clickerleash.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/look-at-that-a-counterintuitive-approach-to-dealing-with-reactive-dogs/ And these UK trainers have put out a DVD called 'Naughty but Nice' which is very good. I have the DVD (my dog is not reactive, but very friendly, distracted and easily overexcited, there are tips for that too). http://absolutedogsblog.com/2015/10/01/naughty-but-nice-you-are-not-alone/ One thing that was surprising, and something to keep in mind with reactive dogs, that they mentioned, was that it takes 72 hours for a dog's arousal levels to come down to baseline levels after a reactive event (eg where they lunge, snarl, act aggressively), which is a long time, and they suggest keeping the dog quiet, calm and if necessary at home (no walks) for that period until they have had a chance for their arousal levels to come down, or they will quickly shoot up and react again.

Thanks :) She lived to a good age.

Zoe passed away Feb 2014 at 14 yrs 4 months. So I had her another 7 months after kidney failure diagnosis.

I am sorry your girl has been diagnosed with kidney failure Zoe got kidney failure when she was 13. I put her on the recommended K/D diet. She had also been diagnosed with systemic lupus at the same time.

I would use Malaseb

I agree with Showdog, I would start at home and do all toileting on lead rather than just let them out the back door, if you need them to toilet on walks/while away and they currently won't. Lots of praise when they do toilet. Then you can add a cue so they will toilet on cue.