Nekhbet

because they believe it is in the interest of the animal to do it, or their own. Self justification (and denial) can be a magical thing. I've seen dogs who have gone beyond just a nip here and there, yet the owners go 'oh but he's really just sweet, gentle, loving and needs a little more time and obedience training'. good luck doing that in australia. The next owner will either pass it on to another home, shoot it or take it to pound/vet. No one is that lawyer happy yet here

really? I can. And seen a lot worst from people who supposedly should know better too.

time for a face-palm moment ... someone close grab that dog will you. Just take the darn thing and either assess it or take it to a vet

sort of does doesnt it ... or some anatolian in there

I thought there was only 1 breeder in Australia? Isnt it Southern Star Sarplaninac? ahh just saw website has dissapeared

HA = human aggressive DA = dog aggressive

that is my point a sign cannot be illegal. In case of an incident it just doesnt help your situation.

separate the two of them and keep them on lead. Dont give them an opportunity to 1) pack up on you together and 2) learn to keep running. If you want them to bond to you spend more one on one time and also control the environment. You are giving them opportunities to still decide what to do and exhibit old unwanted behaviours, as well as not allowing you the chance to retrain them to behave the way you want. As for treats, they only get them WHILE you are giving them contact, not after. And you break off the contact first, not them. So pat TREAT pat, get up and ignore dog. If they skuttle about or run off, totally ignore the behaviour and I mean dont even look at them.

I know its hard Skruffy. It's also a terrible decision to have in your hands, trust me I have had it a few times and it hurts a lot to see an animal PTS. That it is a better option is not a justification for it, its our responsibilty as their caretakers to keep them free from pain and suffering. If we cannot do it due to our situation or experience and there is no one else that can either then there is little choice. Unfortunately one cannot sit down and explain to a dog what is happening. Some are just never right in the head from genetics or upbringing. I work with owners who have aggressive or outburst dogs and regularly they are in tears or you see they just want to chuck in the towel. It's incredibly taxing on your life, your family, your time and your wallet. I applaud anyone who persists and is doing the animal a favour and giving it quality of life. But even then there is a line. To me human aggression especially towards children is a deal sealer.

desex now, unless she is in season. If she's just had a life change then she may still be settling in or has learned to be fussy. She may go without for a few days but trust me unless she is very ill or you notice the food is giving her diahhrea then stick with it. You can also try soaking it in some warm water to help with the smell, dogs not used to dry food can be a little turned off by it as it doesnt have as rich a smell. Also I would be checking her teeth. Just have a good look there isnt any red or inflammed patches, retained baby teeth etc normal teeth this is what it looks like when the puppy teeth dont fall out. Notice the thinner teeth next to the big canines and the two little incisors at the front still there? These can cause infection and pain so if you see something that looks like it take her to the vet

age is not always a factor depending on what the problem is. If it has a genetic component of being weak nerve and low threshold to bite then you cannot totally fix it ... you manage it. You always have to keep an eye on the dog, work with it, socialise it day in day out and be prepared for outbursts. The dog fears people and reacts aggressively. If you think living life stuck in a backyard or run terrified out of its brain is the way to go or medicated up to the eyeballs to help it cope through god knows how much work will help then take it on - very very few people have the time or resources anymore to take on a HA dog that exhibits at such a young age. Most know the long term outcome and simply take the route that is less stress on the animal. I got a dog once, puppy farmed, never touched before 10 weeks. By 8 months he had bitten his owner and possessed their grandaughter aggressively, not even her father could get near. Coming to my place he flipped his lid and required 3 people to get him out of a crate with a catching pole. Now if I had the space I could have kept him. He never would have been a social dog or one to greet visitors, he would have lived in a run, spent time maybe with a dog he wasnt terrified with but apart from that lived quite an average life - is that fair? Vet was the other option as we considered him unrehomable. I did find an experienced angel for this dog but it was a one in a million. He lives as a companion to another dog he gets along with but he will never be 100% (I barely think 70%). But if they had not come along the vet was definately the only other option. You have to consider the animals quality of life as well, and despite the fact many people MEAN well and will take these dogs on very few have the experience to do it safely and properly.

breeder sounds like a dip---t. Bugger. Sounds like she got the short end of the personality stick or has been treated very roughly as well. Weak nerve working line dog - vet.

I would persevere. From the sounds of it you just leave the bowl down too. Give her the bowl twice a day, leave it for 15 minutes, then come back and take it away. When she's hungry enough she'll eat. DOnt bother with cans they're rubbish at a high price. Royal canin is available from pet stores all over the place. Which one were you recommended? THere is a few different versions for small breeds

so an added bonus is that they have a working kelpie with nothing to do, no stability and no outlet. It could be a high contributor to her behaviour. These dogs were bred to work sunrise to sunset. I've seen kelpies with little to do go pottie. She might make a good sheepdog in the right hands or on a big farm with no kids on it at an absolute pinch.

when I said specialist I meant pack it off to one. I dont think this dog should stay with the family if it is exhibiting these behaviours and let me guess, they dont live on a sheep farm?

we've seen a few border collies etc down here like that, puppy farm specials. But exhibiting the growling, fighting, dominating at 10 weeks of age frankly? Either find a specialist or take it to a vet. Human aggressive semi feral dogs are hard work and there is no guarentee she will ever be right. But for god sake not to someone who will breed it.

It comes down to common law. If you put up a sign stating 'dangerous' or 'warning' you are admitting your animal is liable to cause harm to a person, more in the range of the dog will use excessive amount of force to an average dog (which is why Victoria wanted bitework trained animals caged, some would in all probability not just stop at one chomp or warning bite). Australian law now also has a new meaning to the term 'dangerous' and dangerous dog signs are set with specifications. The government wants these dogs contained properly, imagine a council ranger responding to a call about nutso dogs behind a fence or biting a childs hand and you have a big sign stating 'DANGEROUS' on your gate. If you simply put 'dogs on property do not enter' then legally you are simply making people aware of the fact there are dogs on the property, not technically promising aggressive or territorial behaviour. If the person continues their illegal activity of tresspassing then they will be covered under this part (Vic) From the QLD Animal Management (dogs and cats) act 2008 The law does make provisions for dogs to be dogs and in the case of break in/tresspass if it does bite the offender then if the bite is not out of proportion to the action of the offender (excessive force comes into play here as well). EG a dog biting a robber on the leg when he breaks into the house vs a couple of dogs shredding a child to bits if he climbs over the fence. If we look at the abouve section it's vague enough to cover the fact that if you know your dog causes problems or has aggressive tendencies and you do not completely control it, liability falls on your head.

yeah go at least for a quick check up. found out my Malinois had a dislocated tail. SHowed no signs until suddenly last week scuttled about and yelped. She showed no other signs either the tough old cow. SHe's broken a rib once too at training, got kneed hard and all she did was hold her leg up for a little, no yelping etc. It mended itself and we never knew, she has a funny bit you can feel now but no harm done otherwise.

not enough common sense NOT to poke your fingers in where a couple of big dogs are going bananas ... there's ur sign ...

if she has that doggie smell all the time then time for a good vet check to see if it is one of the reasons poodle fan put up. Stop washing the dog too regularly too, stripping all the oils and good bacteria on the skin can contribute to stinky dog. ALso if you are feeding any dog food that has wheat, artificial colours, flavours and a lot of meat by product in it that usually is a big contributor to doggy smell. Maltese really shouldnt smell

I was just about to say that PF, great minds think alike

think of it this way, when you focus on ONE trait in a species you are bound to get problems as you are not quality controlling the other possibly harmful genes being passed along. FIrstly a very basic lesson in genetics. You have 2 copies of chromosomes, one set from your mum and one set from your dad. So think of these as the big fat compiled books. Now each chromosome carries within it different genes, so these are like the blueprints that code for things. You have 2 copies of each gene, one from mum and one from dad. Genes can be either Dominant (what they express shows up no matter what the other copy codes for) recessive (need 2 copies of the same to show the trait, these are usually mutations that cause a problem or lack of something in the animal, like albinism [lack of pigment]) there are also codominant genes where both copies will show up in the animal (eg cross a white cow with a red cow and get an inbetweeny colour) So in staffies, some dogs can be carriers of the blue gene but not show it, but mate it with another dog that has the blue gene and you will get some blue pups if both dogs are carriers of the blue gene you will have 1 in 4 pups being blue ok this is for rabbits but just substitute a = blue staffy gene so aa = blue staffy; AA, Aa = normal colour as the dominant A gene shows up over the defective a gene hope that makes sense. NOW - blue colours in dogs is a dilute. THis means the gene coding for blue is RECESSIVE (ie needs 2 copies to show up) and also carries with it some skin problems. Hence, in order to make lots and lots of blue staffies you want to use blue dogs, which are double on the recessive blue gene. Since these make up a small proportion of the gene pool, you will have to skimp a little on quality to get the numbers up. So you accept dogs that dont look quite good, are a bit too big or small, maybe dont have perfect health scores etc. If you want to breed ONLY blues you have to use an only blue dog, as using any other colour will mask most of your blue pups and less $$. Soon you're bottlenecking your own gene variety because to get consistence in ONE trait means sacrificing quality in other traits. You have to ignore considering some other traits or you cannot perpetuate the rarer receessive gene. Nature made recessive genes hard to breed and express for a reason. They're usually a mutation that causes a problem when two individuals that share close genetics breed and hence the double recessive gene individual gets either the short end of the health stick or dies at a fairly young age.

you know my family keeps saying dogs cost too much ... I feel like I spend very little after reading the rest of the posts make friends with a butcher or find a wholesale meat place I got 5 cut in half pigs heads for $15, thats 10 days food for one dog. local butcher gives me meat off cuts for $2 a shopping bag chicken place does 10kg chicken frames for $4 Supermarkets are BS. They charge waaaaaaaay too much.

doesnt look much like your typical shiba either but still ... you have to be a real nonce to mistake one for the other poor dog probably hasnt lasted after being released into coyote territory

you invite close comforting contact then you separate him from yourselves so he's alone at night - he's probably stressing and not understanding why bed time means separation. he's comfortable in the ensuite, then he's back to laundry (ie pack separation) again for no reason (in his mind) answer? Get a crate, put it inside the house and he sleeps in that. Sounds like he spends all day by himself, which to him is not a problem, but the added night separation is a bit much for him. If you add it up he spends, what, 5 - 6 hours out of 24 with you, round about? Not much really for a pack animal that technically would barely spend time on its own.