Nekhbet

I know my dogs are going to be fast hence why I was taught yeeeeeeeeeeeeeears ago to teach the dog targeting skills. It's why I start pups with big, fat rags rolled up well over a foot wide and hold it at the ends, then gradually move closer together. It's why tugs are graduated too from soft, long tugs to smaller and smaller. I don't use balls all the time either because too many dogs slip them and then end up in this desperate manic snatching mode trying to grab it and your hand gets nailed. It's a two way street, the dog too needs to learn to target otherwise you end up with slipping, poor target bites that either lose you points in competition or the dog can be injured in protection work (restricted airway, tooth/nose/facial injuries) My friend taught me a targeting exercise, throw tennis balls at a person and they have to get them with their hand/forearm. It teaches you to target quickly because you have to learn to predict the dog so it can get a decent bite on the target you set and it protects you most of all. Having a hand nailed through a tug toy is one thing, having a trained dog miss and nail you because you're not putting the sleeve/suit in the right position will put you in hospital if you're not protected. Not every dog is a Schutzhund dog that will just take trained targets. I've copped a hard bite to the booby before from a pomeranian who refused to let go, trust me, I have no intention of regular injuries from larger dogs

I've copped a slight stray tooth but never had a bite. I start with large targets and move down as the dog learns to aim for the middle of the tug or give a decent string length on the ball but really I don't use them that often compared to tugs. Comes down to tug delivery as well, you develop uber l33t ninja skills over the years :laugh:

InLine K9 Dog Obedience and Actvities School - Obedience - Tracking - Scent Detection - Behavioral - Agility Ryeland Court, North Geelong Contact Julie Kopunovich inline_k9 @ Yahoo.com 0401 389 863 inlinek9.webs.com

THeres a Xolo thread in the breed forums, Wazzat Xolo has the dogs in WA and it was one of hers I believe in NSW too doing the rounds :laugh:

They are an official, they are not a civilian. Civilian laws do not apply 100% to them and some other officials/representatives. Tresspass itself though is not clear cut, there is an implied allowance that there is to be access to your front door in Victoria, anyone has the right to do that unless you have a big fence and a locked gate. As for being on the property, walking up to the front door to question residents for a police investigation is a more then valid reason. Jumping the back fence or bashing down the front door with no warrant on the other hand is not. The residents have the right to ask even police to leave if they are not breaking any laws that justify officer's attendance on the property. The issue here is an officer discharging a weapon in public around members of the public for no valid reason. They are all armed with capsicum spray, that is to be his first port of call BEFORE a firearm. I can tell you for the dog to be shot in the back of the head is difficult, nay impossible, unless you are standing behind the dog (unless there is one hole visible and it's actually the exit wound that people are mistaking for the entry wound) Saying that LE rounds are not really clean in/out they're made to stop as someone else said, and fragment easily.

His excitement is part of your overall training and reward. It's OK to be motivated but it's not OK to be nipping, jumping, over excited. You're also rewarding his overall state of excitement, the more you reward it the more he will escalate. If he goes too far, remove the reward and give it to him when he's settled. I teach the focus has to remain until the treat is given. I dont like my fingers bitten, and the dogs learn nothing but snatch and grab. I've never had to wear gloves, even with the prey dogs because they all learn how to take the reward and especially prey dogs, you MUST teach targeting. That is the point of it, it's about controlled interaction, not a free for all.

Who are the main instigators? E collars, remotes and condition them back to what quiet means.

If Steve recommended a raw diet get him to write out a diet for you. Different proteins have different effects in some dogs, I too recommend diet changes but I write out recipes and products to help clients do a change over and we see if it has the desired effect. Get onto the www.vetsallnatural.com.au site and start there for raw feeding, it's all balanced and just add meat. As for training treats raw, I find it horribly messy and hard to handle. Sorry, my poor clients get hotdogs, kabana and cheese :laughL

5 dogs, work about 55 hours a week, renovating a house plus other animals ... you learn to manage your time. The trick is to you don't get another dog until you have ironed out the kinks with the ones you have. What I say goes, I have 5 bitches in the house, 3 working Malinois that need attention and eyes on. I don't have time for problems and slow learners :laugh: you learn quick what I want, and the I don't have problems. They sleep with me, come renovate with me on a rotational basis as the house still needs guarding and they come training with me.

I wouldn't vaccinate a sick pup, its system is having enough trouble at the moment.

Dogs systems are made to digest raw foods. The acidity of the stomach is more then that of us IF you condition them to take raw foods. A totally processed diet decreases stomach acid production which means a stomach environment that cannot kill off a few bad bacteria. Little bits of raw stuff every day is better for your dog and your system at a minimum, if you don't want to feed a totally raw diet. I don't use canned foods, frankly I consider them overcooked, overpriced scraps. In leaner times I made my own home made diets and added a complete vitamin, now I use the Vets All Natural because it's a complete diet when I add the meat of my choice. I don't believe in 100% dry food diets, imagine eating the same processed food every single day of your life.

The difference is too I create the behaviors I want, I show the animal what it has to do to gain reward. I don't wait to capture because it's too unreliable for me. Why make an already stressed animal guess when you can just show it.

When a client comes to me with a dog, I don't have the choice of months to sort this out. I promote safety and gentleness as well, I do not advocate chastisement, in fact any interaction with a panicking dog, because to do so will get someone invariably bitten and the dog learns nothing, owner confidence is now through the floor and it all turns to poo. Restraint is for everyone's safety and the prevention of the extreme end of the behavior reoccuring. Most of these dogs have problems with things outside their homes, I have to restrain them to ensure they don't run out under a car or in some cases attack another dog/person. Bad luck restraint, they deal with it. I sound harsh, but the dog has to learn. I walk the dogs past what they fear and we walk on, reward, walk back past, reward, walk back past, reward etc etc. Up and back, closer to the object they don't like until they ignore it and take the reward from me with full focus as we go past. For dogs that lunge out to have a go, they get put on a corrective collar and they can go lash out - they hit the end of the lead, realise that was really stupid and the owner then calls them with a scrumptious reward waiting for them. It's why I use corrective equipment - the dog dictates when it gets the correction, the owner is not to ARRHHHH, NO, BAD DOG etc. Let the dog learn on it's own. There is a lovely potential reward here of whatever you love and affection from me, instead you decided to run at that other dog. It's part of tipping the scales - let the dog make it's own educated choice. As for fearful dogs we don't let them run away. When the fearful reaction starts we get no closer and we just stay at that level - the point is not to reinforce the behavior by increasing distance but to show the dog nothing will happen. It comes down to reading the dog too, some you can easily throw into the deep end as you see their behavior is total BS, others you take slowly. Heavily reactive dogs I put on the outside of my dog school fence, have someone else supervise and let the owner and dog just watch at a distance they're comfortable at, or play with a toy, do stupidly simple things for reward etc. I like flooding, I believe it's not the demon it's made out to be and can be incredibly effective in creating good, solid dogs with temperament resilience. I just encourage people to do it under supervision so I can teach them and their dog how to cope together as a team. Now let's not think that flooding is tying up a dog on a short tether and blasting horrific noises at it until it concedes defeat - that's cruelty. I want to see wagging tails, trotting steps, strong focus on the handler through motivation during flooding exercises NOT yank and crank/force. Anyone who's met me knows how the owners get a lashing from me for not rewarding/interacting with their dogs enough. Sometimes grabbing the bull by the horns and waiting out the tantrum is worth it more then skirting the issue, all I'm saying.

Depends on the overall traits of the dog. That doesn't sound like the end of the world, and like you mentioned it could be illness, pain, etc causing it. A pup that is OTT with fear, aggression, etc is a different kettle of fish and IMO should be culled out. Of course, because you prevented bad temperaments from being released into the public and from potentially breeding and spreading bad temps. We're too soft, in fact I see we're favouring the bad temperament/physicality sometimes which I find ridiculous.

Porton say if you want something outside of the UK you have to contact them, they wont just ship through the website because they're not set up for int shipping rate calculation automatically. Send them an email. Most others will post too if you just email them, I've talked people into stuff before!

Buy 10 of them :laugh:

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Take a fecal culture and see what bacteria are growing in there. She could have picked up something thats colonising and creating gasses that shouldn't really be there in that amount.

Kong make ring zingers still AFAIK

Yes I'm inhumane :laugh: deary me. Your example has a flaw - there is a single party acting on it's own making the decision and that is where the danger and problems lie already. The dogs are making the decision single handedly how to handle the situations and hence why we see such primitive reactions. I want the dogs to learn that the reaction is unnecessary in order to remain 'safe' and that it will be taken care of, so don't worry about reacting. Instead, react the way I heavily reward you to. I also don't walk other dogs up to reactive or frightened dogs, I think you don't understand how I do this. That would be stupidity since it's one of the most confrontational ways to access an animal and the point is not to frighten the hell out of it. It is taken successively but I don't skirt the issue or reaction. The reactive dog is usually the one doing the walking. A little stress helps proof the behavior, too much blows the dog up and that's useless to me totally as it's incapable of learning a thing. It comes down to repetition, heavy reward and teaching the dog to use it's brain and think about whats happening and how to gain that reward. You make the dog do it's own cost analysis on situations - do I waste my stress and energy to gain nothing, or do I calm down, think and gain everything. I believe in creating self sufficient animals and ones that can generalise this thinking if they're not attached to their owner. That's the point of behavioral training. It only takes a couple of sessions. Problem is most people don't want to put the dog under a little stress for whatever reason or panic, or plain old don't know how to train a dog so we get this whole over extended rubbish. Dogs deal with things instantly, be it in a good way or a bad way. They don't do things by halves or successively, start them how you want them to be and they will follow your lead :)

Go send off fecal samples ASAP. You can't treat if you keep guessing, in a pup that young after a week it should have been sent off for investigation.

If the dog is that nusience a barker then get an e-collar for it. They're graduated so when you're not home the dog can learn how much barking is acceptable. I don't like citronella, the stink remains on the dogs face for hours if they bark too much and it burns mucus membranes like eyes, lips, nose etc. An animal with such a sensitive, highly tuned nose assaulted with that stench until it wears off. Don't like it.

You can't control the world but you can do your best in an educated manner. I'm talking about those that have a blatant arrogance or disregard. I see working or specialty breeds advertised as family pets ready to go to the first person who adopts them. I get a steady stream of rescue dogs - anxiety, shyness, fear, snapping, reactivity etc. Why are these dogs adopted out in this condition? I thought the point of rescue was to ensure the dog gets a decent second chance in life, not to become a pinball or end back up in rescue because they are still problem dogs. We are being conditioned, nay berated in some instances to take dogs that are of poor temperaments because we're 'saving a life'. Hence, we perpetuate the idea that shoddy temperaments are in some way acceptable, so we keep taking them. People also feel sorry for a bad temperament pup so they buy and keep it. Dog bites are on the rise because we're becoming more permissive and less realistic. Bad dogs used to go straight to the vet, now we keep them going for whatever reason. I remember the days where the dog got scare and a smack if it tried to lay teeth on people, now we shove toys in their mouths and allow it as pups so they can learn bite inhibition themselves :laugh: Of course it's always the dogs fault these days too when they behave like dogs around us and we have skirted or avoided issues totally. For all our supposed laws, science and education we've regressed immensely in this country. One day we will wake up but like a lot of things, it will be when decent dogs are a distant memory and we look back thinking, shit we made a big mistake.

Dogs do what they find successful. Many panic reactions I see are a learned behavior - pulling, hiding, or barking/snapping etc. Now, I don't mean as if they are not based on fear/anxiety etc, they are. But the dog has learned if I feel afraid, I do X behavior and I am successful in getting away/moving away that scary thing. Take away the success of the behavior and you have a dog now sitting there thinking WTF now ... thats when the brain is now in a mode of thinking, learning, working things out how to deal with it's stres and thats when the handler steps in and teaches it the alternative behavior. I make it sound cut and dry but I find it very very successful in retraining dogs like this quickly and happily. They all come out the other end fine. I did it with Chloe a bit with her rolling over and scuttling ... she now owns the place and bosses everyone and everything

Fine bamboo cane with you. Give 3 warnings then thwack.