Kavik

Using raw for treats is tricky. Susan Garrett feeds raw and uses cut up bits of chicken necks as rewards in training. Personally I don't think I could do it, I have a thing about sticking my hands into raw meat all the time My raw fed dog gets cheese as treats, same as the others (he is raw fed due to a bloat episode requiring removal of his spleen. My other dogs are fed dry). I am also using cut up dog rolls as treats - the dogs really like these!

Up to the Council's discretion once they've concluded the investigation. Ill bite - why is it up to the council's discretion ? It's always up to the individual Council's discretion what action to take following a dog attack or any breach of the Act. One Council would fine this woman, another Council would decide that losing her finger is punishment enough and warn her. You'll get a different response to the same attack depending on where it happened. Some will declare the dog dangerous, others will declare it a nuisance, others will issue a Court Attendance Notice and go for a Control Order instead. My council actually left it up to me to decide what action should be taken. I thought that was very unfair. It was a pretty nasty attack too and I believe a smaller dog would have been killed. When Zoe was attacked the council also left it up to me to decide what action should be taken.

I would be there if I didn't have to look after a toddler! Sounds like a fantastic opportunity to work with a variety of dogs.

But isn't the general feedback that dogs often react more strongly to vibration settings than stimulations from ecollars?

I never even look at what it says on the packet lol just go by body condition

Diesel had his spleen removed for the exact same reason on Christmas Eve last year (great timing hey!). They also tacked his stomach to his abdominal wall so it can't twist again. He stayed at the hospital for 3 days (from memory) so they could keep an eye on him and until he was eating fine etc. The main change in his care was his diet. The usual no exercise for a couple of hours before or after eating. Initially they had him on tinned food specially formulated for digestive issues, and then I changed to the dry of the same food. But I found that I had problems keeping weight on him and had to feed what I thought was an enormous amount of the very expensive food to keep him at a good weight. So with approval from the vet I am feeding a homemade (raw) diet. Once he recovered from the surgery and I got his weight back up he has been fine.

I had one trainer tell me to have Zoe PTS due to her dog aggression. He even offered to give me a bullet to do the job. That one really floored me

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training. Depends on what you are training...but to cut up chicken necks into tiny little pieces for training would be impossible. They would be OK for big, easy to see rewards, like throwing at the end of the weave pole. I wouldn't use raw chicken, though, as the thought of maybe me getting salmonella from handling the raw chicken, which may have been out of the fridge for a while & would be all over my hands etc. If you use something like a chunker ( I fry mine in garlic oil), you can either break it into tiny pieces or throw the whole thing, depending on what you are training. I'm just saying what she does, not that I would do it :) They are not tiny little pieces she uses. I saw her use them in the online contact course she ran. Her dog in training gets all of his dinner through training. I also don't like the idea of handling raw meat for treats myself, but if you are really keen on only feeding raw it can be done.

Susan Garrett feeds raw, she cuts up pieces of chicken necks for training.

I'm not Huski, but I never take my dogs bush to explore. And it's not because of their recall, it's because I'm paranoid about paralysis ticks.

I have to go overseas next year for my sister's wedding. I am stressing a bit as Zoe turns 14 in October and Diesel turns 10 at the start of next year. I would really be devastated if either of them passed away while I was overseas

Nitro is 6 months now. I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to start growing a brain, he was so easily distracted :laugh: I think the impulse control games and focus games started to pay off! I wonder how long it will last :laugh:

Nitro is starting to grow a brain! :laugh: He has been very excitable but recently is starting to give more focus and pay attention. Hopefully this continues! Took him to a quiet park for some tugging on the weekend and then to an oval where there was a soccer game, previously he has been too excited at the soccer game but this weekend he was paying attention while we did some Recallers games.

My 5 mins includes the play before and after - actual training exercises are usually less than a minute

How do you start your sessions? I like to keep sessions short and active. So I start with an action game - tugging or chasing, have a bit of fun! Get them engaged! If they don't tug then have them chase you for food rewards, zig zag, run different directions. I also don't do many repetitions of the exercise I am teaching, and end with more fun games. Very short sessions - I try to keep them under 5 mins total.

Have you had her checked at the vet for a UTI?

Thanks Kavik, when you say restrained recalls do you mean using a long lead? Restrained recalls are where you have a person holding the dog (restraining the dog) and you let the dog know you have something they like (toy or food) then you call the dog, the person releases the dog and you run and reward the dog when he catches up to you.

For recalls I do restrained recalls and calling back and forth between two people, and calling and running the other way. For loose leash walking I pay for attention on me.

Yes I do a lot of foundation work for agility :) Just lots of little fun things.

I just watched the trailer - it looks interesting!

All of my dogs have dew claws. Diesel is the only one who has had problems with a nail that came out and then grew back, but then again he is my accident prone dog!

With my puppy I do several short training sessions a day: Tugging Basic control positions (sit, drop) Impulse control (boy do we need lots more of that lol!) Shaping: Body awareness exercises (backup, stand on balance discs, get on travel plank, perchwork etc), get on things, go under things, go around things, nose touches etc Retrieve (needs a LOT more work!) I go to training once a week where I practice those basics around distractions, and to the park to work around distractions as well (there are sometimes kids sports on the oval so good for socialising and distraction work)

Unless you are doing agility where you are working on having the dog focus on 'work' in preparation for obstacle focus work where you DO want the dog looking at the toy (or food) and not at you :laugh:

Clean Run have a huge range of toys - for tugging as well as throwing http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=29 For a really little dog or puppies these are pretty cool http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=2938&ParentCat=29

I agree with this. At home, you interact with your dog more often than just training, so there are likely to be some behaviours that have come about from daily interaction and routine. A trainer taking your dog for the first time does not have this history with the dog, so their interaction is different and does not come with 'baggage'.