Staranais

That's disgusting. Do they have any idea what the poison is? ETA - forget the animal welfare charges, if they catch the culprit they should do them on something like attempted homicide or aggravated assault if they can - how does the culprit know that a little kid isn't going to eat that poisoned food? Little kids regularly go to the park too, and stick weird things in their mouths all the time. Leaving poisoned food in a public place where little kids go is just asking for one of them to swallow it.

You're welcome Staranais! Have you read "Police K9 Tracking" by Tracy Bowling? No I haven't! I've heard great things about it on another forum, but it's a little bit $$$ for me at the moment. Have you read it? Would you recommend it?

Hey experienced breeder people, Has anyone here ever seen a bitch produce a clear/straw coloured, slightly sticky, discharge from her nipples towards the end of diestrus? I've seen bitches produce a small amount of milk at the end of diestrus, but have never seen any produce this clear fluid before. The bitch is comfortable and happy, her mammary glands aren't inflammed or sore at all, and the discharge is only a small amount (a few ml from each gland), so I'm pretty sure it must be normal (for her). But I'd be interested to know what it is, and if it's common at all. Thanks.

I'd find it hard to own more than one dog like mine and give them the attention that they really needed to be happy and to reach their potential. Plus, more than one is far harder to transport within the country & overseas, and to travel & holiday with. But, I don't think people with more are necessarily crazy.

Thanks Kynan! Sounds fascinating, but not what I need to prioritise right now - so that's really helpful, thanks.

Yes, definitely.

I wouldn't call that an unreasonable price for what was probably a consultation, microscope exam of cytology on the ear, and both oral and topical medication? Anyhow, as for your question, I don't know any natural cheap meds to use in ears. To be frank, I'd also be pretty wary of ever putting anything down ears without confirming that the eardrum is still intact (which you need an otoscope to do). Some substances & some meds can do the dog substantial damage if they get past a broken ear drum & into the middle ear. However, if you get rid of any predisposing factors to the infection, it's less likely to happen again. Predisposing factors are things like - make sure your dog has no other food allergies or atopies that can predispose to itchy ears, try to keep the ears dry on the inside (be careful when you bathe or swim the dog), make sure your parasite control is up to date, consider getting a groomer to pluck the ears if the canals seem unusually hairy (plucking helps some dogs, and won't help others, as it can irritate the canal).

I think you're both right. Certain breeds are, all things being equal, more likely to express predatory behaviours than other breeds are. But it also seems unfair that greys would need to be muzzled, but huskies or akitas or malinois do not (just to single out some more large breeds with generally very high prey drives).

You mean she'll climb onto your lap & lick your face?! Ew. I guess I'd want to avoid that too. ;)

No negative issues here, when I got my old boy desexed at about 8 years old. The only behavioural change I noted was that he marked outside less often after desexing (he was never allowed to mark in the house, so that didn't change). If you're concerned, you can get him a Suprelorin implant that will last around 6 - 12 months. The hormonal effect of this is very similar to desexing, so you can see for yourself if his behaviour changes. You could also vasectomise him, if you didn't want the effects of neutering but did want to make sure he didn't sire any more puppies.

Maybe ask about why she has decided to get one of these dogs, rather than one of the component breeds (or another breed entirely). She might have some reasonably sensible (if uninformed) reasons, and if you listen to her concerns you may also be able to talk her round. ETA - my sister also bought a crossbreed puppy recently. I thought her reasons & choices were sensible enough, although it's not a decision I would have made. The dog is very nice too, and so far appears healthy.

Awesome, thanks! Can I please ask a few questions about the purpose/content of the book? 1. Which style of tracking is this geared towards (is it focused more towards precise slow IPO footstep tracking, or towards the fast but less precise SAR/police tracking/trailing style). 2. What motivators are used - is the dog motivated by food drops along the trail, or is he working for a toy/bite at the end of the trail, or a mixture of these? 3. Do they cover hard surface tracking? Oh sorry, and 4. Do they cover much about the handler's role in tracking (e.g. handling the tracking line, scent theory)?

Depends what you mean by "meat". If you feed only bones and chicken muscle meat, then yes, I can think of many nutrients you'll be lacking that could cause problems over the long term. If you feed bones and a mixture of muscle meats from mammals, birds & fish, organ meats, skin, in appropriate proportions then most people get away with that just fine. The only sure way to know (short of collecting a lot of dogs & doing long term diet trials with them) is by doing a lot of maths & comparing your results to the NRC/AAFCO recommendations, or by using a nutritional program like Zootrition: http://www.zootrition.org/ Of course, that raises the question of how the NRC and AAFCO themselves determined the recommended levels of nutrients in dog food - the evidence is a lot sketchier for some nutrients than others! Cook and mush the veges & they'll be absorbed much more readily. Some people feed no vegetable or fruit matter in their diet and seem to get away with it just fine. I wouldn't do this unless I was feeding a good quantity of green tripe in the diet, and even then I'd probably include some extra fruit. Prey model and BARF are both types of raw (or mostly raw) diet. Prey model feeders attempt to recreate the proportions of organ/meat/bone found in a typical prey animal, and often do not feed vegetable matter. BARF feeders follow the diet decribed by Dr Ian Billinghurst (and therefore generally include vegetable matter, a higher % of bones, and often more supplements in the diet).

ETA: By not worthy I mean their working capabilities By folks not prioritising working ability (nerve, drive) in the breeding, I suppose.

Had no success with Apple Cider Vinegar In my experience, ACV and dog rocks can both work if the particular dog likes the taste of the acidified/mineralised water. Tastier water = higher water intake = more dilute urine = less grass burn.

Interesting, ta.

Have any of the Aussie dobe kennels produced dogs that are being used as service dogs in any capacity (police, SAR, security), Monika? Just curious.

Thanks Staff'n'Toller - yes, it's hard to actually teach a stressed dog anything substantial or useful, especially when you have merely a few minutes a day in which to do it (as is the case for most vet & vet nursing staff in most clinics!) I was mostly just interested in the difference in attitude of these dogs after only a few minutes training per day. One dog in particular I was working with became much less vocal and less defensive when I handled him, despite being in considerable discomfort after pelvic surgery, after only two short marker sessions with me (just learning to target his nose to my hand). Who would have thought such a tiny amount of training would apparently be so beneficial for them? Pity no one seems to have studied this, so far as I can tell. Futuredogtrainer, that's really interesting, although it's probably not applicable to our situation, I still found it fascinating - thanks.

You could find several breeds to do part of what you want. There are lots of breeds that are loyal, are less inclined to chase stock (if trained), & will alert bark for you. But I don't think there's any breed that will automatically stay on your property or stay near your house & not roam off it. Leaving a dog out in a rural area is going to risk it being shot by neighbouring farmers, or hurt on the roads.

I'm not a dobe person, but I imagine recommendations will partly hinge on what exactly you want the dog for? i.e. will you be competing in a particular type of dogsport, are you after a service animal of some type, or merely a protective pet?

Please review it when you've finished reading it! I'd be really interested to hear what you think about it.

I don't know about farm dogs. But for my working dog, I wanted her to have lots of access to toys, and get the snot socialised out of her, before I got her. A working dog with undeveloped or repressed drive, or that's nervy from being undersocialised, is no use to anyone.

Anyone got any informative links or resources specifically about clicker (or similar) forms of training for dogs that are undergoing short or long term veterinary hospitalisation? Have been experimenting myself with this in the last few weeks when working at a referral centre where we have several long term patients. Started out as me trying to see whether I could teach them anything that would make my caring for them more efficient (e.g. to stand on cue for a bandage change instead of me having to get someone else to hold them in position) but very quickly realised that I had no hope achieving that in the time I have available (literally minutes per dog per day) and especially with dogs that are both stressed out and have usually never "learned to learn". However I've been interested to see that most of the small group of dogs I've done any marker training with with have become significantly calmer and less hectic throughout the day (as well as much happier to see me - classical conditioning of course, "here comes the roast chicken lady!" vs "here comes the injection and thermometer lady!" ). & this improvement is after probably 5 minute sessions of marker training for no more than once or twice a day, focusing merely on nose targeting and/or name recognition only (= both very simple skills that even non-ambulatory dogs can perform). Being in a strange and essentially incomprehensible environment where people routinely do nasty things to you has got to be chronically stressful. I'm thinking that merely regaining some feeling of control over their environment for even a few minutes a day is doing these guys a world of good (and making them into much more pleasant patients). Hopefully someone here has some links on this specific topic, I haven't turned up any myself. I'm particularly interested to find out about any other veterinary practices that have tried proactively training/communicating with patients - do they have specific training protocols, how do they fit these into their day, and what have the results of them been.

Yup, good effort!

Technically, the vet is legally (as well as morally!) required to PTS the dog (or treat it, if they'd prefer) in that situation, even if the owner can't or won't pay. We'd like to be paid for it so we're not out of pocket, and all clinics I've worked in will send a bill afterwards, but the situation is a little different to elective procedures since the dog will be PTS by the vet regardless of whether the owner pays or not. If that makes sense?