Staranais

Dog pee spots aren't caused by the pH of urine. The pH of carnivore urine naturally varies from neutral (7.0) to mildly acidic (5.5), so in a healthy dog shouldn't reach a pH low enough to damage grass. Normal unpolluted rain has a pH of about 5.6, and it doesn't kill your lawn! It's the high nitrogen concentration in dog pee that is the culprit behind lawn spots. Just like spilling nitrogen fertiliser on the lawn, too much concentrated dog pee in one spot can cause grass to burn off. And just like around a nitrogen fertiliser spill, you'll often see increased grass growth around a dog pee spot, where the grass has got just enough nitrogen to boost its growth, not enough to kill it. IMO the best way to avoid dog spots is to dilute the urine. Either water the urine in after the dog has peed, or increase the dog's moisture intake - feed the dog wet food and/or induce the dog to drink more water - so he produces more dilute urine. I suspect that the success that a lot of people have had by adding special rocks, vinegar or other solutions to the water has a lot to do with making the water more palatible to some dogs, hence the dog drinks more? I guess feeding a diet with less protein might help to reduce the urine nitrogen concentration too? That's just conjecture, I haven't seen any studies on that. But if the dog's peeing much nitrogen out, that generally means he doesn't need it. There was actually an American veterinarian who did studies on this in the late 1980s, watering grass with different concentrations and pH of pee to see what effect it had.

Well yes, there are chemicals you can use for all of these problems. But I personally don't believe that drugs should be the first port of call for any behavioural problem, no matter how qualified the person doing the prescribing. And although you're right that a veterinary behaviourist has done a lot more study in their chosen field than most regular vets, in my experience they still don't necessarily have a great breadth of knowledge. Many seem to just toe the "purely positive" Karen Overall party line without having fully investigated other methods - for example, last semester I sat through a lecture from a qualified veterinary behaviourist who told us quite melodramatically that prong collars are unnecessary and cruel, and e-collars are only useful for delivering harsh shocks as positive punishment, both of which conflict directly with my personal experience. She was a nice lady, and probably a good vet, but I certainly wouldn't let her or anyone else prescribe drugs to alter the behaviour of my dog until I'd investigated all the other options out there.

Vets get only a little bit of education about canine behaviour problems. But we get heaps of training about drugs. And you know what they say... "if the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, everything will look like a nail..." Not saying that drugs can't be a useful tool for some severe behavioural issues, but I'd certainly be concerned with anyone recommending drugs as a first option. JMO.

No, a 30 min walk wouldn't have tired my guy out either when he was younger. Have you thought about investing in a pulling harness - tie a tire behind for him to lug. Or you on a skateboard! That should take the edge off him. Yeah, your second option might work too.

Can you walk him first, so he's tired out from the walk and less likely to chuck a hissy fit? Maybe walk him first, then give him his breakfast when you leave with the other dogs, so he's got something else to think about.

Brachycaephalic and other breeds have the same number of teeth. I think that's what she was saying, that all dogs (should) have the same number of teeth, but it's harder to fit them all in the mouths of brachycephalic breeds since they have proportionally shorter jaws, so brachycephalic breeds are more likely to suffer from tooth crowding and rotation problems. Not that bull terriers are brachycephalic.

http://www.gsdcqc.com/Articles/Female_Reproduction.pdf Yeah but there's nothing for LH and FSH to act upon if the ovaries are gone, I think? I don't think FSH and LH change behaviour at all. I'm pretty sure that it's the hormones released by the ovaries that do that (e.g estrogens, progesterones). If the ovaries aren't there, they can't release those. I too would guess probably a pack structure or training issue, not a hormonal one.

Also, some farmers I've seen partially rely on the old dogs to "train" the new dogs. Puppy gets to watch the older dog working, eventually gets to have a go "helping" the older dog work, and learns his job that way. I reckon that would be much easier for a farmer than starting a single puppy off from scratch. I've heard that sled-dog trainers and hunters often do the same, though haven't seen that for myself. As for the thread topic, I use clicker and food, or drive and marker words, to teach new behaviours. Using clicker or marker allows you to be very precise with what you teach, and allows the dog to understand what you want quicker, so I always use one or the other. I generally prefer the marker words to pure clicker, since I find it easier to be more communicative with them - I can give him lots of different information (a no reward marker, a keep going signal, a release, etc) instead of just a click. For well-known routine behaviours at home, I don't give my dog food or toys, I do expect him to perform known behaviors "just" for praise and attention. I do think that attention and praise can be a primary reinforcer for many (not all) dogs, as long as you have a good relationship with the dog and don't lower the value of your attention by constantly giving it non-contingently. After all, the dog is a social animal, he has evolved to intuitively understand different vocal tones and to find touch and social contact with his pack rewarding, and in my experience many dogs will work for these things as long as they're not constantly getting them for "free". (Also, I personally dislike the idea of having to trick my dog into thinking there "might" be a food or toy treat in order to get him to work with me. I'd feel there was something wrong with our relationship if he wouldn't do very simple things just to earn my approval and attention. I know many people don't agree with that, which is fine, it's personal preference, but it's just how I feel about it, and have felt that way since my first clicker class!) I do reinforce competition training & recalls & work in new or high-distraction environments with toy rewards, since these things demand a high level of precision and focus and self control, so I feel it's only reasonable to use extrinsic rewards to keep these activities extra fun for him. Plus I figure, he's got to have play and exercise and drive satisfaction somehow - I don't like giving them to him for free, I'd rather make him work for them!

Also, many vets don't actually know all that much about dog behaviour. I mean, they do learn a little bit about it during their degree so they can give advice on basic pet behaviour problems. But unless they're interested in the area and have done extra research and training in their own time, they're not necessarily going to have much experience at training aggressive dogs. So in other words, I'd suggest you ignore your vet, and go talk to one of the recommended behaviourists (IMO Kelpei-i really sounds like she knows what she's talking about). You can resort to drugs if the behaviourists can't help you, but they don't have to be the first port of call, whatever your vet told you! (Yes, this is first hand knowledge - I'm training to be a vet and I just sat through a semesters worth of "animal behaviour" lectures. We did learn some useful things, but I certainly don't think the course qualified my colleagues to go out and cure canine aggression problems...)

Sounds like he's either confused about the whole idea of toilet training, or else he's urine marking. Pending advice from the real trainers here, I was wondering, would you consider crating him during the night? Dogs are normally reluctant to pee in their crates, so crating would prevent the problem in the short term (and may help in the long term by getting him out of the habit of doing it!) And make sure you clean the pee spots really well, so he's not tempted to pee there again due to the spot smelling just like a toilet to him. ;)

That was my thought too. Many dogs will guard special treats like bones, or pigs ears, and not guard their regular food. I wonder if something similar is going on here. Separate the dogs while eating, and maybe post in the training forum for training advice about the food guarding?

Oh yes, I certainly understand the place for the Hills prescription diets. I've always had this idea that when I finally graduate and eventually own my own practice, I'd love to offer my customers a small selection of chilled fresh meaty bones, plus some really good quality commercial diets, instead of (or at least as well as!) the ubiquitous Hills you get in vet waiting rooms. I'm not sure how commercially viable it would be - but I really don't like the idea of selling or advising my clients to feed something I wouldn't feed my own animals. Anyway, watch this space (for the next 5 or 10 years...) ;) Anyway, sorry for hijacking your thread, OP.

I agree. Most vets I know carry brands like Hills because they genuinely think they're good brands, and because they're familiar with the brand (Hills Science Diet sponsors all sorts of things for vet students!) Plus, those "prescription" diets for animals with particular ailments can actually be genuinely useful to some pet owners. IMO most vets are anti-raw since they have been taught nothing about the benefits provided by the raw diet, but are all too familiar with the "risks" of nutritional deficiencies and bone impactions. I think it would be great if vets recieved more information about the benefits of raw diets during their training, so that they at least would see raw as one valid feeding option, but I don't think that will happen any time soon. Good luck to the OP with finding a raw supportive vet! ;)

If there's a vet school at one of the universities in your city or state, that would also be a place to try. Vet schools tend to attract specialist vets of all sorts, and they're normally more up to date on the latest research than your average vet, since they've got to teach us students.

Burn marks can be caused by the dog having a concentrated urine. It's just like fertiliser burn, if you stick too much fertiliser on your lawn without watering it in, you'll also get a burn mark from the excess nitrogen. Is the dog on a dry diet? Putting the dog on a wet (roll, canned, BARF) diet can help with grass burns, since more moisture into the dog = more dilute urine. Encouraging the dog to drink more water will also help. & as a last measure, following the dog round the lawn with a watering can and watering the urine in will also reduce the burn. I guess it depends how much your friend likes her lawn!

Thanks Denis, I'll have a look at the link, and try to find a place I can watch the videos with sound. :D

[ Basically you have not understood the book Uh huh, right. :D If you think I've misinterpreted the message of the book, feel free to post what you got from it, I'd be interested to hear what important and original training information I somehow missed. She spent time studying wild wolves in Yellowstone Park even before she invented "Amichien Bonding"? Because I had the impression that this was something she's only had a chance to do since becoming famous. The vast majority of dog owners, even those not interested in dogsport, still want a dog who reliably obeys basic commands and Jan Fennell's methods don't teach someone how to achieve that. Hence my comment that her methods were not a complete system of dog training. I still think that is a fair and relevant comment about her system. But each to their own, I guess it's good for the OP to hear both sides of the story before she spends her hard earned money on books. I certainly don't think Jan Fennell's books are the worst stuff out there, and I don't think they're too "harsh" or "strict", but I do think there are better books on the subject - including most of the books that Helen posted. :D

Dog urine can burn grass partly because of the pH (which is normally around neutral, but can be slightly acidic or alkaline), but most of the problem is because of the nitrogen content. The concentrated nitrogen in dog urine affects grass just like fertiliser burn will (and just like with fertiliser burn, you'll sometimes see the grass flourishing madly directly around a dead patch). From what I've observed, making sure the dog gets lots of moisture in its diet can sometimes help. Getting enough moisture into the dog makes the urine more dilute when it comes out, so it's less likely to burn the grass. For example, feeding all moist food instead of dry food can help. Also encouraging the dog to drink by making his water supply as accessible and as attractive as possible. For the same reason, watering the urine into the lawn after the dog goes also helps. I have heard that ACV works well for some people (it didn't ever work for me), I don't know why this works - but I wonder whether some dogs just like the taste of ACV, so adding this to water can encourage the dog to drink more? Incidentally, studies have shown some types of grass are way more resisitant to dog burns than others, so if it's really bugging you, I guess you could always re-seed your lawn.

I've fed them to my dog and they just go straight through. Come out the other end in exactly the same condition that they went in. So if you want your dog to get some nutritional value out of them, perhaps you'll need to grind them up?

From the second xray, it looks like the right lower canine is impacted behind one of the lower incisors, is that right? Or is there some other reason why it didn't come through? Is the vet going to do anything for her, or can it just be left the way it is? Thanks for sharing.

So what you're saying is, it's possible to work a dog in just prey drive, but that properly training in prey drive naturally tends to increase pack drive as well? That sounds pretty plausible to me. And perhaps that is just what Dennis meant, and I misunderstood him when I thought he said he only worked his dogs in pack drive? I too would love to hear what they both have to say on the subject.

Hi there again Erny! I don't know a heck of a lot about this stuff, but as far as I can see, when you're doing obedience in prey drive, the dog only works for you since you control the prey reward. He's not interested in your approval or affection, as such. He just sees obeying you as a means to an end - which is to earn the prey item. That doesn't really sound much like pack drive to me? Whereas it sounded to me that Denis was saying he worked his dogs ONLY in pack drive, and that he thought working in pack drive was the best reward for a dog, even better than getting prey drive satisfaction. But perhaps I completely misunderstood what he was saying, or am just confused? It's been known to happen, lol.

Doesn't that depend on the dog, though? Won't some dogs just naturally have more prey drive than pack drive? Or won't many predatory dogs have moments when the excitement of prey drive just overrides pack drive? I know that K9Force (on this forum) does lots of his obedience training in prey drive and seems to get really good results. I'm sorry if the answer was in the video, I can't get sound where I am, so I could just see you talking without hearing you.

I'm not sure, but I think he's referring to the way he initially taught the exercise, Kelpei-i. I think he's saying that the dog was taught that if it didn't obey the whistle, it would lose the chance to get the toy. So that was negative punishment. I agree that the video clip itself just shows positive reinforcement, as far as I can see anyway. The dog does what it's told, and it gets the reward it wants.

I haven't tried bark busters, but just wanted to warn you that they are a franchise. So even if one person here has had a good (or bad) experience with them, the people who run the franchise in your area might be completely different. Just FYI. I have read the barkbusters manual, and was unimpressed. From what I remember, it mostly involved establishing dominance over your dog by making him follow certain rules around the house, and then punishing your dog when he performs undesirable behaviour (for example by saying "BAH", throwing "squeaky pillows" at him, or spraying water in his face). I do know that you don't actually need any experience of dog training to buy a Bark Buster's franchise, though. Apparently they put you through an in-house training course. So that alone would set my alarm bells ringing. But like I say, they are a franchise, so it's possible that some people that work for Bark Busters are really experienced and really good.