Staranais

Oh I see. Possibly a cross I suppose? But I don't really see much belgian in there. She looks nothing like my mally, except for the big ears.

Agree 100%. I think it also can reflect the level of knowledge and experience of the behaviourist. My problems seem to have been with behaviourists that only have one or a few tools in the toolbox, & if their favoured tool or method doesn't work, they can get a bit aggressive or upset or just blame the owner or the dog for the failure, rather than problem-shooting or suggesting other techniques or methods to try. This is just my experience, however. To be frank, I'm quite a shy person in real life, so if I say something hasn't worked & the behaviourist responds by getting stroppy, I'm liable to simply take my business elsewhere. I'm sure many other clients would feel similarly.

None of the dogs on that page look like a mally to me.

I'd admit that I am pretty bad at giving negative feedback, especially to someone who sets themselves up as an "expert", although I am much better at it now than I have been in the past. It's not unique to the dog training industry, I think it's the same as people going to the vet, or any other type of service industry - many people won't tell you to your face that they're unhappy with your service, since you're the "expert" and are supposed to know what you're doing, and they don't feel they're qualified to argue with you. They just vote with their feet, and go to another provider next time. Of course, the behaviourist also has to welcome negative feedback, which can be quite hard for a person to do. On the few occasions I've told a trainer I didn't like what was happening, or that I hadn't had any success with the methods, I have not always gotten a particularly helpful response, or even a particularly polite one...

I'd only put the collar on him when he's unsupervised (and if he's not bothering his stitches at all then, you could probably risk not putting it on at all). Most dogs don't bother their stitches - on the other hand, you get dogs like my malinois who first ate out her stitches, then immediately ate out the steel staples we replaced them with...

That's a fair enough gripe, I think. I have a similar story - my last dog was a very (very) DA stafford, and like you I consulted some absolutely useless positive-only behaviourists & trainers that didn't help us one little bit. However, I also paid for a consult with a more traditional style trainer (a behaviourist/trainer who was very heavy handed with the choke chain & prong collar, and who "didn't believe" in clicker training) and she didn't help us at all either. So, although I personally prefer to consult with someone who knows how to use lots of tools properly, I think the problem is more about how to identify someone who knows what they're doing, rather than just picking someone who is happy to use correction collars. At the end of the day I'd far rather consult with a good positive trainer/behaviourist, than a crappy trainer that uses correction collars, if those are the only two choices available to me. And IMO someone who thinks every dog needs a prong collar or check chain is just as close minded as someone who thinks no dog should have one. If I went to a training session and someone slapped a correction collar on my malinois girl without looking at what she could already do or getting to know her, I'd run a mile.

Yes, I agree. I've done genetics honours, and one year just isn't as long as it sounds - there's really not enough time in one year to really get into the research and follow it up like you can while doing a pHD or even a masters. I'd say the best thing is to work out what question you want answered, and then go talk shop with some university academics in the relevant field to find out what approach they'd take and what parts they think are do-able within the constraints of a pHD or masters.

I don't know if there is an official definition of "trainer" vs "behaviourist". But if I went to a trainer, I'd expect help training my dog to do things (tracking, obedience, bitework, or just simple things like loose leash walking, etc). If I went to a behaviourist, I'd expect help changing her behaviour or emotions (don't bark all day, be calm when I have guests, don't be scared of fireworks, don't try to eat other dogs, etc). I know there is a lot of overlap there, and in a way I do think it's a pity there aren't official regulated standards for being a behaviourist or a trainer, seeing as in the past I've paid a fair bit of money to "behaviourists" who did absolutely nothing to help my previous dog. It would be good to have an official quality standard for behaviourists. Word of mouth doesn't always work, since most behaviourists can help at least some dogs, and some clients are impressed with anything, so almost every behaviourist can supply glowing testimonials. However, I'd also be a little worried that if behaviourists had to all sit official tests or all belong to one organisation, they'd not be allowed to use certain methods or tools, and they'd become a bit generic. For example I personally like the choice of consulting with someone who can use ecollar properly since I've used this tool before in the past & like it, but if all behaviourists had to belong to an organisation, what's to stop the regulations of that organisation banning the use of ecollars since they're not always a very popular tool and maybe 80% of behaviourists don't use them? That takes choice away from the client (and the behaviourist). Although I guess it would be good to have the use of tools like that regulated so you know a so-called behaviourist isn't just going to slap one on your dog and start experimenting...

Yup. Most of the time it's drivel. But if it's advice from someone who has done something similar with a similar type of dog, it can be absolutely invaluable. It can be almost impossible to learn to train & handle a dog for some exercises without help from someone experienced.

I thought that was the vets?!

Oooh thanks Steve, will do! Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

LOL - that's a good one, I can see her liking that rather a lot. Thanks for the ideas so far, everyone.

It doesn't sound like a cyst, just like a scrape? If it's just a tiny scrape from being bitten & the dog isn't bothered by it, I wouldn't put anything on it.

A bit technical, sorry, but I thought it might interest: The z/d (and other hydrolysate diets) are supposed to be good for allergies since the protein in it is broken up so small (under 10 kilodaltons) that it can't simultaneously bind to two antibody receptors on the body's mast cells. An allergic response to a food protein happens when the protein binds two mast cell antibody receptors simultaneously, this is what causes the cell to activate and start releasing inflammatory compounds like histamine, heparin etc. So the theory is, if the protein is really small, it can't reach two receptors simultaneously, so it can't activate the mast cells = no inflammation. The only problems with this are that 1) there's always a tiny proportion of protein left in the food that's larger than 10kd, just because the manufacturing process isn't perfect, so very sensitive dogs may still react to the protein in hydrolysate diets, and 2) the diet still contains intact carbohydrates and fats that some dogs may react to, and 3) it's possible that not all dietary immune issues are entirely mediated by mast cells. So, hydrolysates aren't perfect by a long shot, but they're the best hypoallergenic diet we've got at the moment. I don't know anything about the 93 food test at all, is it an ELISA test run on a blood sample?

How have people here gone about introducing their dogs to wearing a muzzle? The only sensible suggestions I've heard are firstly introducing it by inducing her to put her nose into it by putting really tasty things in it (so she needs to put her nose into it to fish them out), and when she's happy with that, to do it up directly before doing something exciting and distracting (so she hopefully forgets she's wearing it). Any other tips & tricks out there?

I'm very sorry for you, I hope your dog survives. Dogs do sometimes squabble, however if one of them is getting this seriously hurt, it's more than a squabble. If your foxie survives (or even if he doesn't) I'd suggest you consider getting a behaviourist in to help find out what's going on with your Akita. Your partner might also be happier with you keeping the Akita if they can see you're doing something to make the Akita less likely to hurt another dog again.

So, plaque is basically the bacteria and food gunk left on your teeth after eating (like when you've not brushed your teeth for a few days and they start to feel sort of fuzzy - that's plaque). It's transparent & hard to see, and it scrapes off really easily. If you leave plaque on the teeth, it attracts minerals from saliva, and within a few days the mineral & plaque together form a sort of hard, solid, yellowy-brown crust on the teeth. That's tartar. If you leave tartar on the teeth, it causes gum irritation & periodontal disease. Tartar is way harder to remove than plaque is, brushing won't do it, and eating bones doesn't always help either. So, if he's got tartar, IMO it's best to get a good teeth clean under GA (the GA is so they can get right up under the gumline, which is where bacteria erode the gum away & enter the blood stream), then do your best to prevent the tartar returning by brushing off the plaque regularly. Hope that makes sense.

I'd deal with it exactly the same way you did, if my dog didn't sort it out by herself first. And I'm lot more polite about it than she would be, believe me! I don't go to specific dog exercise parks, but I will go to multi-use parks that allow off leash dogs (such as our local river trail that is for walkers, runners, dogs, and horses). I think it's my job to protect my dog against any obnoxious dogs we encounter there. And humping is obnoxious, especially if the dog being humped is clearly trying to get away or otherwise indicating they are uncomfortable. I think you did the right thing.

I do train for SAR with her, but this trip is just for fun. I'll be heading off tramping several times between end of exams and start of summer school, and there's no point leaving the pup behind. She loves the great outdoors as much as I do, and the exercise does her good. Of course, any poor people that get roped into coming with me on my travels will be forced to get "lost" several times a day behind various bushes, so the crazy malinois can find them. Persephone, do you know the brand name of your Italian muzzle?

From what they tell us, brushing only removes plaque. Once the plaque has turned into tartar then brushing won't remove that. So brushing is really effective at keeping teeth clean if you do it at least every 48 - 72 hours - the aim being to remove the plaque before it can turn into tartar. The toothpaste apparently makes it only a few % more effective, it's the mechanical action of the brushing that does the trick, so I wouldn't bother with the toothpaste (except that Fledge thinks it's om nom, so I buy it for her).

Will he let you brush them? I do Fledgie's teeth twice a week with a child's toothbrush (even though she eats bones too - I'm bit of a clean teeth nazi) and she's quite used to it. I just do the outside surfaces as that's where most tartar accumulates. She doesn't like the brushing, but is pretty keen on the chicken flavoured toothpaste. Sorry, I'm hogging your thread!

I'm glad you got it sorted out without the need for a scope or biopsies.

I'll be muzzle shopping for my malinois girl this summer since I'll be taking her bush with me into areas where 1080 has been dropped. She's not at huge risk since she is under excellent verbal control & stays in my sight at all times when she's not working, and I carry an emetic, but I think a muzzle will give us an extra level of protection if I can persuade her to accept one, since 1080 is so damn toxic and at times we will likely be several days away from veterinary assistance. Does anyone here muzzle their dogs? If so, which muzzle do you use, and do you like it? Anything I get her needs to be comfortable, and have really, really good ventilation since she'll be running for hours in the hot sun. Cheap would be an added bonus!

I wouldn't want to second guess your vet, but I have heard of dogs being allergic or intolerant to a lot of random things, including veges. It's a bummer he's not as good as you hoped on the z/d.

I wonder about that too, in a slightly different way. Nowadays we tell puppy buyers to take care not to let their pups run, not to let them jump, not even to let them walk too long until their joints are fully mature, in order to avoid joint problems such as HD/ED/OCD etc - and IMO this is a good advice for a large breed puppy that is not going to be bred from as it gives the pup the best chance to mature without sustaining any joint damage. But is possibly not good advice for future breeding prospects, as any fragility in cartilage or the associated joint structures will be masked by the molly-coddling, and will therefore be passed onto the next generation undiscovered. I'm thinking that a dog that has been allowed to run and jump and romp from the word go and still has good joints when they are x-rayed at a year or two old, simply has good joints. A dog that is restricted as a youngster and has good joints, may have genetically robust joints, or may have delicate joints that simply were never stressed. Would take a dedicated and somewhat ruthless breeder to let their large breed pups run and romp and jump as youngsters, and cull the ones that didn't have great joints at 1 or 2 years old. But may do their lines a big service in the long term in terms of eliminating any genetic tendency towards developmental joint disease. Just something I have been thinking about lately. Not sure if I expressed it perfectly. And slightly off topic too, I guess.