haven

Could you describe the training you are doing? It is possible that if you are putting a bit too much pressure on or expecting to much too soon that she is starting to make a aversive association with your training and therefore the predictors, like the lead and courtyard. It's possible, and there are many other possibilities but that's the first that comes to mind without more info.

Yes VIC VIC VIC Pleeeeease

While I can certainly see how amusing this must have been, I really have to stress that you should try never to do this in the future with your pup. Perhaps worth it once, just to see the look on the SWF owners face, but in reactiong like that you send a message to your pup that you are afraid when another dog acts in this manner and communicate clearly to him that he too should be afraid. On a regular basis, especially during the critical period, it is almost sure to create lifelong issues for your dog. Don't worry too much, our animals always manage to embarrass us at some stage, no matter how old they are. That's what they are for

Wriggling and wanting to play while at puppy school? How dare he Let the SWF owners whisper, clearly they lack the brains to realise that he is a puppy, of course he is going to act this way sometimes! Don't you worry, I'm damn sure their dogs do exactly the same thing at times :D As for the dominance, you should start on a leadership lifestyle right away if you have not already. One thing I would suggest at this point in time is not to let your pup sleep on your bed. The NILIF (nothing in life is free) program is good and if you do a search of the forum, you will find the link with no problems. In terms of humping, I wouldn't let your pup do it to other dogs, if he does I'd lift him off by the scruff (gently and firmly but not in an angry way) and give him a time out, IE he doesn't get to play with any other dogs for a few minutes. If he persists, time out him in an area away that has NOTHING for your pup to play with for a good amount of time and only let him out when he is quiet. In terms of temperament, you get what you get, whether he is going to be a dominant pup or a submissive one is largely decided by genetics, assuming adequate socialisation occurs. You can't change the relationships he forms with other dogs, as he takes his cue from their behaviour, you're not in the equation. You may not want him to be dominant over another dog, but that dog may happily offer submission, which is completely beyond your control.

Not sure if it was written by this guy, but someone posted a very interesting article on this subject a few months ago. I haven't been able to find it, so if anyone has it or can link it I would really appreciate it. Also, in a small hijack, because of this article I was going to have my dogs titre tested in Feb, which is when their annual booster is due. Someone once posted about a Vet's who did titre testing and if it was necessary, vaccinated the dogs at no further charge. Does anyone what Vet it was, or know of a Vet that does this?

I wonder if you might also send me some info please Sardog? You might remember I asked quite awhile ago but I never received anything. I'm still interested

Reactions yes, but resulting in death? Against the millions of dogs that receive a yearly vaccinationeach year? I'd still say the percentage was small. As for Fort Dodge, if you don't trust them use diffrent products. I wouldn't vaccinate using their vaccines, people don't call em Fort Dodgey for nothing! Like I said, if the vaccine was bad or the Vet was negligent then by all means follow it up, but if the pup was one of ther unfortunate few to have a reaction I don't see what there is you can or should do about it unless you choose not to vaccinate or to use different products. Either way I'm sorry for the loss of this pup.

If i took my child to the doctor for a vacc and they died soon after. I would not just accept it and have another. Why should i just accept it with my dogs. If this is accouring on a regular basis the should there higher standards set. I know that there are alturnative options such as CSL vaccines which i only use. Unfortunatly the new owner of the Neo did not. If it is a single case then i accept this as an accident, if it is not a single case then question should be asked. It is not about weighing up odds, its about remooving the bad eggs. I didn't suggest that you "accept it and have another" nor did I say that if it were a regular occurance it was ok. I said there is a slight risk as always with vaccinations, minimal, like one in a million. By all means as questions and ensure that it wasn't a bad batch or something the Vet id wrong, but if you're going to ask about my experiences, I'd appreciate not receiving a rude reply when it is given. ETA: if you were aware of and prefer alternatives to vaccinations why did you not pass on that information to the buyer of your pup?

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your pup, but I thought there was always a slight risk with vaccinations, just like in humans. I too lost a pup to a vaccination but I still vaccinate, its about weighing up the odds. Unfortuately some puppies form the minority and react badly to a vaccination but that thought doesn't make it any easier for those of us that love them

I've been having a problem with loki, who has been excessively licking his legs recently. The Vet gave me some Dimethyl phtalate, which stops the licking.

There are also usually one or two students in each course who are on sponsorship, they pay a percentage and a vet/kennel/training organisation etc pays the rest in return for a certain amount of work during or after the course. If you are currently working with dogs, it might be something you wish to discuss with your employers, or you could approach someone about employment during or after you finish the course.

Plus you will get waaay more out of it than most in terms of learning.

Yes I agree HR, although I will always have a soft spot for Boronia (cos that's where I took my dog) Scoresby is the best venue.

I bought mine from ebay and from Borders, that shop that sells books, dvds etc.

Use the rescue remedy as required, there is nothing in it that will harm your dog, you cannot 'overdose' him. What happens or has happened between 7 and 8? Is that what time it was when you played the CD the first time? To be honest, it sounds like there is more than meets the eye hear, perhaps there are some signals that you're not picking up because you don't know what to look for, or you don't know that they are significant. You might want to consider having a home visit from a behaviourist. Definately get the vet to check him out and make sure there is no medical reason for his behaviour, but my personal opinion is don't reach for the Clomicalm right away, use it as more of a last resort. What I do suggest is a natural diet (with extra B vitamins, Vitamin C, copper and magnesium), a bach flower remedy, the use of a DAP diffuser in combination with good leadership and a desensitisation program. My own dog who has been treated for anxiety since I got him recently suffered quite a relapse and started compulsively licking himself to the point where he would bleed. One of the many things I am using to treat him with is a product called 5-HTP. It is a human supplement and I don't know if it is cleared for use in dogs, when I asked the Vet he didn't know anything about it but suggested I give it a go. It is a tryptophan supplement. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is converted by the body, in conjunction with Vitamin B6, to serotonin which is the chemical that regulates anxiety. He is doing a million times better since I started treatment, but I can't really say exactly what amount of recovery can be attributed to which treatment, but the best thing to do is to hit it with everything you can at once so that your dog can go back to being happy and healthy as soon as possible.

So glad to hear that Ollie is going well Jodie

For those of you that are interested in schutzhund, I highly recommend that you take a look at K9 Force's threads on working in drive and also socialisation and neutralisation. They were not written specifically for schutzhund dogs, but if you have the opportunity to start with a puppy you want to ensure adequate socialisation and start drive development as early as possible. If you have an older dog it is still important to understand drives and start to develop them.

$250 for 1.5 hours? Sheesh, people say ADT is expensive and yet for that you can get a LIFETIME of training and access to a qualified behaviourist. Phatdex, as you're using Steve's program, I'd recommend that you email him and get his thoughts on this. One thing that suggests itself to me is that your dog may be linking his barking with getting satisfaction, IE if you pat him when he barks and if he gets the prey item when he barks etc.

I agree with Anne. Also, identify the triggers for this behaviour. If you are going to use corrections, you need to ensure that you don't put your dog in the position that triggers this behaviour every single time you go out. Otherwise you will end up correcting him every time you meet people and he will very likely come to see people = correction and possibly start acting aggresively. I would recommend also that you have a trainer/behaviourist take a look at the situation, just to ensure that you have identified the motivation for his behaviour correctly and that there is not some underlying fear issue. ETA: what do you mean by 'he does it to you also'? Do you mean that he barks to demand attention from you? Do you follow a leadership lifestyle program and how do you think your leadership is?

Bedazzled, Possumcorner, you guys went to the wrong places! Like any club of any discipline there are good trainer/handlers and techniques and there are bad. I don't know a lot about shutzhund training, but it has been my privelage to be involved with some people who are very knowledgable and what I have seen is far from negative. The handlers that I have seen have been far more dedicated and have had much more training in training theory and psychology than your average obedience trainer, we're talking about getting up and 5am everyday to lay tracks etc. These guys know their stuff when it comes to understanding drives and what motivates their dogs and how to utilise such knowledge to their advantage. When you see a schutzhund titled dog, it's just breathtaking. It seem rediculous to me that such dogs should be classed as dangerous by default when the very point of schutzhund is to distinguish dogs with the very best of temperament, nerves and drives. To be trained so highly in not one but three disciplines (obedience, tracking and protection) marks such dogs as far safer and more temperamentally sound in my book. My limited understanding is that the sport was developed as a means to test which dogs were allowed to be bred from to ensure only the very best of genes were passed on for future generations. The standard is also very strict re conformation I believe. If only all breeds were tested so rigerously before being allowed to mate! Perhaps I have just be privelaged in meeting the right people and seeing the right trainers, but at least that shows that they are out there.

I don't know if you will get any/many replies Boxagirl, given the legal ramifications of training/owning a shutzhund trained dog in some states. I'm sure if you google, you will see some great pics. There is a particularly good site, but the name has flown right out of my head :D

OK an update on what is going on with Nova, which may or may not help you... She was healing great, or appeared to be for close to 3mnths after the op, although the leg was quite atrophied and was slow to gain condition there was no limping. Then she suddenly came up lame (after resting) after even a small amoutn of excersise. I decided against the cranial wedge ostectomy (or whatever it is called) as I mentioned earlier. My vet mentioned that he had seen a number of cases where healing had been inadequate due to hypothyroidism. Nova was checked and sure enough her thyroid was abnormally low. Now she is on treatment for that, her healing is well on track, her leg is almost back to normal condition and I haven't seen her limp since she started treatment. She also uses the leg much more than before and distributes her weight more evenly instead of favouring that leg most of the time. Might be something for you to consider.

I'd go with whatever is easiest really. Yes i can definately see the problem there. Is it possible to feed her in a seperate place? Maybe even a walk in the park to 'discover' some food? I'd definately try the chicken frames and if you have not already, lamb or beef necks, beef/roo/ox tail, brisket bone etc. The reason my GSD didn't eat and was so hard to keep weight on is because he suffers badly with anxiety. By easing the anxiety, his appetite returned. Is it possible that your dog is suffering anxiety in some form?

If she loves chicken necks and eats them for breakfast, have you tried chicken frames? Do you know why she gets sick after eating the wings? Could it be the skin? Have you tried chicken thighs or drumsticks? They come with skin off or you can easily take the skin off before feeding. I'd try giving her a multi B vitamin supplement, either a simple tablet, paste or by mixing brewers yeast into anything she will eat. I had success with my dog in both switching to a natural diet and fasting him once a week. Something else I have heard for fussy eaters, particularly GSD's, husky's etc is to leave small portions of food in the yard for them to find and eat.

Good point Pax. Both tone of voice and prior learning play a part here. Obviously a low, growly tone is naturally punishing to most dogs reguardless of what word you actually say. Some people (like myself) use the term NO as a no reward mark, to indicate that whatever behaviour being offered will not be reinforced. But either way, whether or not it is a punishment for the dog is dictated by how the dogs behaviour is affected, it is not punishment simply because we as humans consider it would be so.