The Spencinator

Just thought I would spread some love for the responsible dog owners out there seeing as we seem to have had bad experiences recently. I was walking Spencer in the street near my house the other day and saw a young girl about 5 years old, her (I assume) mum and their adolescent labrador approaching down the other end of the street. I did what I normally do and crossed the road to avoid them and also kept my fingers crossed they were in control of the dog. As they approached I could see that little girl was the one holding the leash. Just before I turned to sprint in the other direction to try and avoid the dog blasting across the road at us I realised the mother was holding onto another leash that was a little shorter than the little girl's. HALLELUJAH! The little girl asked her mum if she could bring the puppy over to say hello to Spencer so mum asked me if that was ok. I explained that he wasn't friendly so not a good idea. Mum explained to daughter that sometimes dogs are scared of other dogs just like you (the kid) are sometimes scared of new people. HALLELUJAH! We then proceeded to have a nice chat about labradors (from opposite side of the road) and the little girl informed that she loved walking her dog but sometimes he got a bit excited because he was still young so mum holds the other leash in case he pulls really hard. If thats not 5 star parenting I don't know what is!

I've never heard of deafness being a labrador specific problem either but obviously it can happen. There must be a vet somewhere in Darwin willing to listen, they might just have to keep trying! Would it be worth putting a post up asking for recommendations for a Darwin vet? The couple of breeders I'm friendly with down here in SA would be very responsible if this puppy owner got back to them with their concerns, but I can't speak for them all!

Speaking of ignorant, frustrating and oblivious people, Spencer and I had an interesting experience at agility today. We were running a 'mock trial' with the 7 or so dogs in our class (which he is fine with because he knows them all well and none of them are 'bouncy') and we ended up going last. That meant the next class had started to arrive. In that class is a very joyful lab who wants to do nothing other than jump on dogs faces/lick/bark/mount them. This lady and her dog were standing about 3 metres from the start line (with the lab nearly choking itself to death trying to get to Spencer) so when it was our turn I politely asked her to give us a bit more space because I was worried Spencer might turn around and have a go at her dog. Instead of just taking a few steps backward she had a go at me and said she had a right to stand where ever she liked and that no she wasn't going to move just because I 'couldn't control my dog'. Thankfully the instructor stepped in and told her where to go! Also as an aside, we won the competition (potentially because I was so fired up from that encounter haha), yay! Snook, Spencer would have spat the dummy in that situation too which is why we don't go into Petstock anymore either. Honestly I think even dogs who aren't usually reactive would have a really hard time coping in a situation like that. Sometimes people don't even realise their dog isn't coping because they're not outwardly aggressive, they might be cowering or showing a heap of calming signals instead. Our dogs are just really good at showing us what they don't like!!

So sorry to hear you had a day like this if tears equaled progress then I'm sure all of us would be a lot further along in dealing with our dogs' issues! Silver lining is that now hopefully those 2 sets of people will be more careful in future. I saw someone else mention medication. I'm getting Spencer assessed by Adelaide Veterinary Behaviour Services in September mainly to see if medication would be worth it for him. Spencer sounds similar to Justice in that he is very chilled and not phased by much other than dogs so it will be interesting to see if they think medication will help. Otherwise I hope they can give me some more pointers. We seem to have reached a plateau where I can have Spencer focussed on me in the presence of other (under control) dogs but he's still seriously stressed and not trustworthy... I also completely reject the fact that you can't give Justice what he needs. He's lucky to have you as a mum :)

What about a havanese? Seems to fit most of your requirements (although would require trips to the groomers). Otherwise your suggestions of a cocker or a cavalier sound perfectly reasonable as well. I'm sure there are people on here who could recommend you a good breeder of cavaliers if health problems are what you're concerned about. I used to have a cavalier and she was the sweetest dog I've ever met. I miss her terribly! At the end of the day you sound like someone who is putting in the time to research your decision and this is likely to carry over to the care of your new dog, so you would likely do well with a range of breeds, you just need to pick the right one from the litter. Just something I've learned about getting a mature dog from a breeder, you really need to be able to assess the temperament away from the breeder's property and with different people/dogs/environments. We got my boy as a 2 year old from a breeder and he is almost perfect, however he does have issues with other dogs and this wasn't something I was able to see because he was so familiar with the other dogs the breeder owned.

This. It's not the dog that needs training! This makes me think of the Big Bang Theory episode where Sheldon trains Penny using operant conditioning... I think I have a plan!

Spencer likes eating lemons lol. He stops at nothing!!!

Thanks guys. Passing the bill onto my brother is a great idea but he genuinely doesn't have the cash in the bank to pay for it so thats not an option. This is the first time he has actually seen how quickly Spencer can dive in there and grab them so hopefully he has a better understanding of how careful he needs to be from now on. FYI Spencer is home safe and well :)

Hello all, My labrador truly lives up to the lab stereotype and eats anything and everything that can physically be swallowed. He's currently at the vet where they are inducing vomiting because he swallowed one of my brother's large gym socks (and we don't want to risk it getting stuck and the consequential surgery). This is the 3rd time this has happened. I am super diligent about not leaving my socks around and also do a check of the house before I let Spencer inside to see if anything has been left out however, I live with my 18 year old brother who no matter how often you ask/plead/yell at him, he still leaves his socks lying around. I suspect this is not an unusual trait for an adolescent male. Spencer has a wonderful leave it command but to use it I have to be able to get the words out of my mouth before he swallows and this is not an easy task. Does anyone have any ideas on any training I could do that would help Spencer control his sock eating urges? I feel like a bit of a failure of a pet parent at the moment

I second the need for a collie thread!

I'm going away for my cousin's wedding in december and don't want to put my boy in a kennel due to his reactiveness to other dogs. He can't stay with friends or family for the same reason. So what I've worked out is that seeing as I'm only gone for one night, I will leave on the saturday morning, a friend will come over to feed/play/love saturday night and sunday morning and then I'll be home again sunday evening. I was originally not happy leaving him alone for the whole night but then I figured that happens when I do night shifts anyway... so he's used to it. Maybe this type of arrangement could work for you if its only occasional and the dog is getting plenty of attention during the week?

I am by no means an expert on this stuff but my lab was quite mouthy when we got him. We got some advice from our trainer and what has worked for us is to just completely remove any positive, reinforcing consequences that might be resulting from the mouthing. So what you're doing by turning away is definitely on the right track. If you want to take it a bit further, as soon as you feel his teeth on your skin, whatever is happening stops (be it a game or even just 'access' to you) and you walk away (into another room and close the door if necessary). That way he doesn't get any reinforcement for mouthing and the behaviour (hopefully) won't develop into a chain behaviour where he mouths, you turn, he sits and he then gets praise. It will really help to look at it from his perspective to work out why he's doing it. If its for attention, you take the attention away when he's mouthy and he no longer has a reason to do it. It's a bit tricker if he's doing it while you're giving attention to your other dog. Maybe you could try asking him to sit while you pat your other dog and reward him with some yummy treats if he sits and waits patiently? It might be worth contacting the rescue that you're fostering for and asking for their advice, I'm sure they would be happy to help out seeing as you're doing a lovely thing and fostering for them. Also well done for not using anything too harsh with him, especially seeing as he's nervous!

I've just ordered one from Woolies for Woofers. They knit custom fitted woollen jumpers and donate all profits to rescue :) I haven't actually received mine yet so I can't give any feedback on the actual product but they were super helpful with some extra requirements I had plus I love that they donate profits to rescue! You can find them here: https://www.facebook.com/Woolies4Woofers

Done, always happy to help out with research!

Yeh that looks really tough... I feel really sorry for you... ;) That was adorable!!!

Yep thats my boy as my avatar... looks can be deceiving. I do try to just walk away but when we're trying to do a class or something it becomes more problematic. I'm just going to have to be more conscious of being more assertive and rude if I have to be! Thanks guys :)

I like the "how many pieces do you want him back in" line! Spencer doesn't vocalise much and I think people tend to see it as him being excited to see their dog rather than him getting quite agitated. Thanks for the tips :)

Hi everyone, I've just found this course thats running in Adelaide on Thursday night about "on lead behaviour problems". I'm heading along and thought someone else following this thread might find it useful. http://www.adelaideveterinarybehaviourservices.com.au/www/content/default.aspx?cid=842 I also have a question about how people handle situations when people insist on letting their "friendly" dog say hello to your dog? It seems to be happening over and over again to me. No matter how many times I'm saying "he's not friendly, please keep your distance" I still get people going "oh no but my dog is friendly so it will be fine" or "no my dog is really submissive so they will be fine". Aside from being seriously rude I can't seem to get people to back off!! And then they get mad at me if Spencer snaps...grrrrrrr. Never mind the fact that their friendly dogs want to do nothing but lick and jump on his face which is not ideal! I've recently taken to just bolting in the other direction but that makes me look a bit looney haha.

Just an update on the things I have tried in case it helps others down the track... I bought 2 Kong Genius toys off of amazon (the Leo & the Mike) and he couldn't work them out! I decided to put it down to his dry food being very large (largest I've seen) and difficult to get out of the toy and not the fact that Spencer isn't the sharpest tool in the shed... ;) I ended up widening the holes that the food comes out and now I'm really happy with both of them. It takes him a solid 45 mins to empty a cup of dry food and the fur on his nose is beginning to grow back because they don't rub it. Before the Genius toys arrived I tried burying his food in a few old towels. I simply hid food under folded corners and in between layers and that was taking him a while too. It's a very good cheap option seeing as it doesn't require the purchase of anything!

Hi VizslaMomma, thanks for recommending the other thread! Looks like I have a nice selection of options to try now... thanks everyone :) I've ordered the kong genius so we will see how we go with that once it arrives. Also Esky, I tried the tennis ball in the wobbler trick and it worked a treat! I highly recommend that trick to anyone else looking to slow their dogs' wobblers down.

Hi everyone, Thanks very much for your suggestions so far! I have tried the bob a lot but my lab decided it would be simpler and quicker to chew the lid off and get to the biscuits that way! Regarding the plastic bottles etc., my lab will chew and swallow plastic bottles if the opportunity presents it self... great suggestion for a dog not completely mad like mine though! I'll have a look into the Kong Genius and the Tug a Jug (although I suspect the rope would end up as food too), thanks :)

Hi everyone, I'm on the hunt for a new food dispensing device for my labrador. He has always been particularly adept at inhaling his food so I bought him a Kong Wobbler a while ago which has worked a treat. The only problem with this is he has worked out that if he tips it on its side and rolls it along with his nose, he can finish it in about 10 minutes (or less). Not only would I like food dispensing toys to last longer, he has also managed to develop a bald spot on his nose front the constant rubbing as it rolls along the ground!! So what I'm looking for is a food dispensing toy with the following properties, yes I'm picky! ;) - big enough to hold a cup (or more) of food - preferably not round, we want to avoid bald noses if possible - big enough holes to allow Royal Canin Maxi Light dog biscuits to fall out (they're about 1/2 and inch wide I reckon?) - preferably not one where you have to sit there for half an hour putting one biscuit in at a time (although this is negotiable) So if anyone has any recommendations/suggestions, please send them my way :) Many thanks!

Hi everyone :) , I currently do agility with my labrador at Holdfast Dog Centre in Adelaide and we LOVE it. We love it so much that we would like to do more. Does anyone know of any other places in Adelaide you can do agility that uses only positive methods? I know some of the traditional obedience clubs run agility but they all require that you reach a certain grade with them before you can participate (we have completed the highest 'obedience' course at Holdfast twice but I'm not really interested in going down the check chain path). I was also wondering if anyone could recommend any positive trainers who run trick classes or something similar (preferably near the city or south of the city)? Basically we just want to do more! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ashleigh