squeak

How did I miss seeing this!!! If it's a Sunday next time, I'd love to come!

PAW - Pure Animal Wellbeing We this stuff here. We use the "High Shine Moisturising Shampoo" which has lavender and cedarwood. The smell isn't overpowering at all, just smells really fresh. We also use the "Rose Aroma Mist" which has chamomile and rosewater for the between times when we want to freshen up her smell a bit, mainly for when she gets to come into the office with me.

Just a couple of random thoughts, but might not be of any use, because I don't know much. Is there any way you can hook up a shade or blind to his pen. Lower it when he sooks when you have his food (ie., remove your attention) and as soon as he is quiet, lift the blind and feed him. My only other thought is to use a crate closer to the house at feed time and get him used to waiting and being quiet in there and gradually move the crate closer to the pens, where you want him to be.

NO dog off-lead under ANY circumstances (including instructors dogs) until all classes have started. I hate having to play "dodgems" with off-lead dogs waiting for class to start, or worse, trying to get to my class! I have a very, very friendly dog who wants to play with any dog, esp those off-lead. As a result, I end up with a bouncy, over-excited dog when I finally do get to class! And, I would love for people to (a) watch what their dog is doing whilst waiting in the vetting line... and not yakking to the person next to them and (b) leave a clear distance of at least one dog between people waiting in the vetting line, instead of having their dog pounce on mine, or surprise her from behind Never gonna happen, I know, but I can dream. Also would love a bit more consistency with the methods that the different instructors use - they range from purely positive to purely traditional. I understand variety is good, but I think it confuses a lot of people when they get told to correct their dog harshly one week, then told not to correct them the next week, when they end up with a purely positive trainer for an instructor. People keep raving on about how important consistency is for the dog, I think it is just as important for the owners. And to have an instructor that gives me some credit for knowing my dog and what she will/won't respond to would be nice, instead of just ramming their methods down my throat. I would love for the club to introduce an "agility foundation" class, for those who are interested in doing agility, but feel that their dog is not ready yet, but want to build the basics. I'm keen to do agility, but won't do it with our girl until she is 2 years old, because she is a large mixed breed. I'll get off my soapbox now

I don't know how much I can help you, but I can share that I know. I know that Assistance Dogs Australia will only "accredit" for the public service licence, dogs that have been selected, raised and trained by them. They do this so that they know the exact background (ie., temperament of the dog and it's parents and grandparents) and experiences (and can control these) of all dogs that receive their public service licence. They do not train other people's dogs or help people train their own dogs. I believe that the ASDOGS (NQ) Inc may train other people's dogs towards receiving a public access licence. In searching for their website, I also came across Craig Murray, but I do not know anything about them. I'm sorry if I have been less than helpful, but I hope that you can find someone to help you. My only other suggestion may be to contact the NDTF (www.ndtf.net.au) as they have a module of "training dogs for assistance roles", which may help you in teaching the skills to your dog, but may not help with the public access licence.

They really only want people to do elective modules because of the assessments/prac components involved. They are willing to let people do three electives if they choose "food/water? as one of them, since it is not as intense on the prac side.

I use the "regular" treat bag from Black Dog and love it - originally had the mini treat bag, but eventually found it a bit small for my big clumsy hands. Also, the regular sized one has a spring that will stay open, where the mini one does not. I have/had a dog that wasn't too motivated by food, but she now sees/knows that treats are a good thing. Reading the book "How Dogs Learn" last night makes me think that I had to teach her that treats were good, ie, make them a conditioned reinforcer. I'd be interested to hear other peoples thoughts on this. Treats that I use vary from liver treats (low value for low distraction/easy training) to cooked chicken sausage (high value for high distraction/difficult training). Just remember to keep the treat size small because apparently dogs are more interested in the number rather than the size of treats. Also take into consideration the number/types of treats you use and consider adjusting the meals accordingly.

I was under the impression (and could be wrong) that at least some of the nine-day blocks would count toward some of the 100 hours prac

There is a second course being run which starts 18 July 2007.

Thanks - I saw that. I was thinking that if hubby came with me, he might want to spend some time with Stormy while I was at the course. I'll PM you You don't need dog friendly accommodation, your dogs can be boarded at the training facility free of charge

Okay - do we want to try to see if the DOL people can try to get into the same dates for the first practical - it would be sooo much fun to be able to meet people from here. And maybe see if we can get the same accommodation? Anyone know any dog friendly accommodation in Melbourne???

I'm curious to understand what you mean by "aversive". When I read it the first time, I thought that you meant something like beating the dog with a stick if it didn't obey the command. Now that I've reread it, do you mean an aversive to be something like a "correction" with a check chain?

My big achievement this year was getting a dog... and manage to not totally mess her up yet!!!!!!!!!! Stormy came from the RSPCA in June when she was 12 months old. Very nice nature, but absolutely no manners - she was a jumping, mouthing lunatic at times. We've managed to teach her that is not the "way of the humans", but she still gets to have a heap of fun. Stormy has learnt to: - walk to heel on a loose lead - sit, drop, come, leave and mooove! We've made it into Class 2 at dog school. Not bad for a dog who an instructor told me should definitely be on a halti (we're still happily using a martingale, thank you). But I guess that my biggest achievement is after putting a heap of work into her training at home, being told by an instructor who took Class 1 at obedience one week, that "we were too advanced for Class 1", and couldn't work out why we hadn't been graded t Class 2! And another one of our big achievements is Stormy starting to listen to me and me just beginning to understand her language.

I know it sounds weird, but maybe she had to find her "soulmate" and home before she could pass on her way. She found love and peace before she went with people who showed her how much they cared.

Yep, I'm the one with the hairy hound ;) It's been a little bit hot for both of us lately, so we've only made it a couple of times... that and the number of "off-lead" dogs before training really stresses me out :D Only because it hypes Stormy up so much! And no, I haven't been in your class yet - I've just made it into "white", so no I haven't been asked. And yes, whilst we don't pull like a steam train on the lead (most days!) we do have our "moments" when Stormy totally loses the plot! That doesn't mean that I'm not still interested in learning the foundations. I have found training clubs to be a high stress, high distraction environment, in which she behaves worst. That doesn't meant that there are things that I couldn't learn and practise outside of the club, in a lower distraction environment, with the aim of having her eventually perform the skills in a higher distraction environment. And yes, I understand (and have seen already) what you mean by people understanding (or not) training methods and disagreeing. I have already come across it, but have chosen to hold my tongue.... for the time being.... since I'm the "newbie". Have I had you in class? I pretty much ask every student that I get, right from the beginning. I used to get this feeling as well, even now if I went to a new club Id get this feeling. I guess it comes from few factors. People that are interested in trialling are members of the club for a while and know each other, hence chat after class giving an apperance of the clique. Second - their dogs are usually better behaved than others. Third - the mystic of trialling - if someones dog pulls on lead like mad and they have been shown 3-4 times on how to fix it and 4 months later the dog still pulls that person has a looooong way to go before they can trial, whats the point of introducing the person to a figure of eight and expaling how to lead out of it? Do you know what I mean? Forth - once someone actually knows a bit about some training methods they might start to disagree with methods used by others hence creating some conflicts between people. As I said - I personally ask all my students, dont know if other instructors do, half of our instructors arent interested in trialling themselves, so I doubt they ask.

That's not quite correct I am a recently joined member of your club and I am very interested in trialling. I am very new and haven't been asked... not that I would expect to be at the level that I'm at. If there is me who is new & interested, perhaps there are also other new people who are interested as well???? Or do you just want people who already have well behaved/trained dogs for this activity??? Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh, but the feeling that I'm already getting with some clubs (not you) is that trialling is a "elitist" activity... that you need to go through all there other classes first before they consider introducing you to the mystic of trialling Perhaps if it is something that the instructors are interested in doing, they should mention it to all classes to see if they can get enough interest to do something about it - either earlier or later class or on a different day. Yes, I know that you're short of instructors, but surely there has to be a way to work something out???

Yep, got my letter today, just have to wait for someone to call me back on Monday. I'm defintely doing, just have to work out if I'll do the March or July course.

Then it is time to find an after hours/24 hour vet!

How about some raw meaty bones for him to chew on? And some chew toys? And then some more raw meaty bones? By raw meaty bones I mean things like lamb necks, chicken frames and the like.

My butcher had lamb shanks going cheap the other day, so I grabbed one for Stormy. It wasn't until I got home I thought that I perhaps shouldn't give it to her - I know that some people don't feed chicken legs because there is there is a small sharp bone in them, and I suddenly thought that lamb shanks might be the same She will of course be supervised when we give it to her, and thankfully she doesn't gulp her food or bones.

We feed 50/50 (1 .5 cups dry morning and night) here at the moment, thought I've been wondering about it as well. Stormy gets feed about 1/2 hour after her morning walk at about 8.00am and then she gets feed sometime after we eat of an evening. We reduce the amount of kibble she gets on the days that she gets lamb necks or kangaroo tails during the day... but I'm still learning exactly how much to reduce it by! I'm also yet to learn what time to feed her kangaroo tails/lamb necks so I don't get woken up in the early hours of the morning by her needing to go out and poop. She's fine all night when she just has kibble all day, with a chicken wing. We'll get there some stage, I'm sure. I'm been wondering about the rations morning/night mainly because over the last two weeks, she has been refusing to eat her breakfast more often than not. She's very hungry in the evening, so I often wonder if I should increase her evening meal and reduce her breakfast, or if that will just create a vicious circle of her not wanting breakfast. I feed twice a day in the hopes of reducing the risk of bloat.

We fostered a greyhound and for the first week she worried me sick. She wouldn't eat - she even refused chicken necks for the first two days GAP assured me that she wouldn't starve (even though I could hear her tummy rumbling, which I told them). She was getting dry food with mince/vegies/pasta mixed in as per GAP's instructions - it was the same food & the same mince/vegie/pasta mix that she was getting at the previous fosters, as they were kind enough to send a container of the mix. After two days I got permission to give her a chicken neck to stop her tummy rumbling, but she would still turn her nose up at the other stuff. So I got told to go back to "tough love" as she was just holding out for the good stuff (chicken neck). Boy was it hard - but she eventually did eat - we did the 10 mins down, remove, then later offer it for another 10 mins. I ended up getting sick of reoffering her food, so one night I just put the bowl down for 10 mins then took it away and said good night (mean mummy I know). Next morning, put the bowl down, it was ignored until I wandering to the back door 10 mins later (intended to reoffer it to her later), when she decided that she had better get up and at least look in the bowl, because I think she realised I was going to take her bowl away and there was a chance it might not come back later. She didn't eat a lot that morning (she wasn't a greedy eater anyway) but she did improve from their.

** bump **

I agree that a lot depends on the dog. I might sound strict, but please remember that we got our dog from the RSPCA when she was 12 mths old and was totally untrained - she didn't even know what "sit" was!. She was truly a handful when we first got her - jumping up on us, and I mean constantly and mouthing us, very hard, much of the time. Since she is a large dog (deerhound X) we really needed to get control of her - and what I have outlined has worked for us. I don't treat her as a robot, I just feel like I set very clear and consistent boundaries, and she really seems to have responded to this. As I said, it is a personal preference that she's not allowed on the furniture - I don't have a problem with other people having a dog on the couch, it's just not something that I choose to do. If I did, it would be by invitation only, but then again, it is a personal choice. Since we've only had her for four months, I may "ease up" in the future, but I really felt that in order to get control, I needed to do what we have done - it's worked for us so far, and just thought that I would share with someone who has asked. We also have fun with her and I truly believe that she is a more relaxed and happier dog because she knows who is boss/leader. I don't see putting her outside as punishment - she is sent/put outside with the command "out" and always praised when she does go out. I see her being inside as a privilege for her - if she doesn't behave, then that privilege is removed for a short period of time.

I'll preface this with a disclaimer that I'm a fairly new dog owner who is on a very steep learning curve. I've been told, and we enforce this, that the pack leader goes through narrow openings first and also sits in the highest place. For us, this means that our girl is asked to sit/stay before she enters or leaves the house - we gets lots of practise as we go through the house to go for our morning/afternoon walk. It also means that when she comes into the house, she must wait to be invited. If she barges in, she gets put straight back outside. Inside the house, she mustn't run or wander - she has a crate or mat which she must stay on. Again if she wanders, she gets put straight outside. We do not allow her on the furniture - partly it is a personal preference of I don't like dogs on the furniture and partly I see it as her challenging for position in the pack. When we first brought her home, it's all that she wanted to do - she tried to jump on the lounge, dining table and kitchen bench Now she happily sits on her mat on the floor - I think partly because she knows she doesn't have a choice, but partly because she recognises it as her position in our pack. The other thing that we enforced for about the first two weeks was that pack leaders eat first. I made her very aware that we ate before her. I admit that I have let this one slip a little bit as she doesn't seem that food orientated, but I wouldn't hesitate to go back to it if I felt that she was starting to challenge me as pack leader. Having said that we don't always eat before her, I do insist that she wait to be told that she can eat. I will ask her to sit/stay whilst I put her food down. Then she has to "earn" her dinner. This is usually something simple like shaking paws or more challenging like drop/down. Once she has, I "release" her and leave her to eat in peace. The other thing that I insist on is that she absolutely must move out of my way. I refuse to walk around her - pack leaders don't. I have taught her that the command "move" means just that. Although now she will usually move if she's on her feet - the only time I need to use it is if she's lying outside the back door. And she quite happily complies, because I make sure I usually praise her when she does. As for the walk being more for her than you, I tend to have a different view. I view it as for "us" and I time to work on our obedience. The neighbourhood probably think that I'm insane, but I don't care. I practise recalls (come) by calling her and running backwards and then getting her to sit in front of me. Some days I will get her to heel at different paces. Other days I will get her to heel and then do lots of sits in quick succession - like "heel (two steps), sit, heel (one step), sit". Some days I'm lazy and just take her for a walk. I find on the days that I do a lot of obedience with her, she actually comes back more tired than if we walk further - I think the mental stimulation is good for her and probably the concentration required tires her out - she isn't a naturally obedient dog. The other suggestion that I have, which I've only just started with our girl (it's taken quite a while to get her to walk nicely) that you teach her a "release" command. Most of the walk, I now insist that she walks at heel (probably 90%). If she's walking nicely and paying attention to me, I will "release" her for a sniff - for us, this is just simply saying the word "release" and keeping walking. This means that she is free to sniff the grass, but doesn't have to walk at a precise heel. It does mean that she needs to keep up with me, I refuse to be dragged - but she can roam the length of the lead. It also means that she must return to heel when I ask her to. As I said, I've only just started with this, but I'm still experimenting. What we have found that by following the above, she has gone from a very "wild" dog when we first got her - running through the house, jumping on us, extreme mouthing (this was really, really bad), to a much calmer and seemingly happier dog. She seems to be happy and calm as we believe that she knows that she can relax because she know knows her place in the pack and she doesn't have to worry about trying to be/become the leader. I'm sorry that this is soooo long, but it seems to be something that I'm becoming passionate about