Staranais

Have never trained this. But my first thought is to teach the trick in two components. First component is target paw to sponge, you've taught that. Second component is just scraping her paw over the ground. Then put the two commands together - ask her to target paw to sponge, then scrape paw along ground. That should get you something remotely resembling the trick, so that you can shape from there?

I think this could work, if distributed in the right places, vets, pet shops, breeders perhaps for a start?? And maybe people leaving obedience schools - ask them if they're coming back next term, and if not, why not (i.e., did they achieve what they wanted to achieve, or just give up, and if so why?) That would seem like the obvious thing to do, but giving the results to a body that didn't provide the service will give you a more truthful response I think. I did a survey for the first several yrs when running my own dog training school, in which i asked for constructive criticism so I could improve my classes. Even though the surveys were anonymous I only got one negative response, as much as I would like to think I made everyone perfectly happy I don't believe it, maybe they were scared of me More a case of not wanting to upset/disappoint me I think?? I've actually made some good friends that I originally met as clients. Yeah, you're right, would definitely have to be run by a neutral body. I've got to admit that I've rarely complained about dog training services, even when they were professionals that took my money & didn't help one iota. So I'd probably never complain about well meaning volunteer staff, even if they asked for feedback. Perhaps another way to look at it is to survey people as to which problem they would most like to solve with their dog? Then target bite size classes towards those specific problems? Although I guess that sounds similar to what Erny has already tried, & she didn't get a huge response from. It's puzzling.

My old boy (unknown parentage) had serious health issues (ALD of front legs & DJD). My new girl (ANKC registered breeder) had serious health issues (shoulder OCD). Being purebred is no guarantee the dog will be completely healthy. We get Cerenia in NZ, I'm guessing you'd get it in Aussie.

Thank goodness. ETA: pity they're not also phasing in something like the Weribee pen systems or Ellipsoid crate system for farrowing to replace regular sow crates. Both provide better sow welfare & no more piglet crushings than regular sow crates. However, that would require people to pay more for their pork, since they allow the sow much more room (hence, fewer sows can be farmed per square meter of land - costs farmers more to produce each piglet). As a previous poster mentioned, many consumers would rather source cheaper offshore pork than more expensive humane locally produced pork. So, we can't just blame the famers - we as consumers determine what they produce by what we will pay for. :D

I think this could work, if distributed in the right places, vets, pet shops, breeders perhaps for a start?? And maybe people leaving obedience schools - ask them if they're coming back next term, and if not, why not (i.e., did they achieve what they wanted to achieve, or just give up, and if so why?)

Thanks Raz!

Depends what you mean by "bond", I guess. I am very fond of my current girl, and she appears to like me, but I guess I haven't bonded with her in the sense of meshing with her perfectly yet. But she's a good working dog & a good work partner, so I'll be keeping her. Hopefully we'll bond further as we get to know each other more. If I actively disliked a dog, that would be another matter, and I guess I'd try to rehome the dog to somewhere more suitable if I got a chance.

Even in unis that don't do non-recovery surgeries, the students still watch recovery surgeries, do recovery surgeries, & dissect cadavers. So it's not exactly as if they're just shown a picture and told to run off and operate by themselves. Although an experienced surgeon might decide to attempt a new surgery only after reading about it (they already have a thorough knowledge of surgical principles & anatomy), it's not an appropriate way to start your career as a surgeon IMO. But I personally feel that the non-recoveries I've done were really, really helpful. I might well have graduated as a competent vet without them, but from where I'm sitting (less than one year till graduation...) every little bit of experience is so valuable & helps to make me more competent & more confident at what I'm doing.

I think it's partly to do with vets being better at diagnosing problems, and there being more treatment options now. 40 years ago, dogs with cancer generally dropped dead or were put down if they were miserable looking, for example. Nowdays, we're more likely to detect the cancer before your dog dies of it, and you then have the option to buy surgery or chemo, at a price. 40 years ago you couldn't replace a dog's hips, or repair its cruciates, or diagnose and treat endocrine disorders, etc. Now you can, if you want to pay. 40 years ago my girl wouldn't have been able to get her shoulder OCD fixed. She might not have even gotten it diagnosed. She'd just be a dog with a permanent limp. So there are more options, and more technology - but it's still user pays, hence more vet bills.

I've only tried Feliway, the cat version. Didn't make any perceptible difference to my cat's stress levels. Our school clinic uses dap in the reception area, some of the nurses like it & think it makes a difference.

Yes. IBD is diagnosed by a biopsy of the intestines, plus excluding all other possible inciting causes (since IBD is by definition idiopathic - of unknown cause). There's a long list of other possible causes which should all be ruled out as far as possible before you go to biopsy for IBD. Did the vet check for parasites (giardia, crypto, trichuris) with fecal tests? Could cause those symptoms & cheap to rule out. Have you considered a diet trial (Hills z/d or similar) to see if there's a possible dietary contribution to what's going on? Done a CBC and biochem of the blood, & a urinalysis, to look for systemic disease? Could be exocrine pancreas insufficiency? Ultrasound or rads with barium could show a partial obstruction? Your vet has a far better idea than anyone here, none of use are vets and none have seen the dog either, but all of these things can be done before going to biopsy, which is expensive & invasive (although sometimes necessary).

I'm not sure if sending people to community obedience schools is always the way to go. I've been to a couple of obedience schools in the community, and most weren't delivering what people wanted. If I had to guess I'd say that most pet owners want firstly a recall and secondly a loose leash walk, reliably, within 6 or 12 weeks. Most people I see leaving the community dog training classes don't have that. Most dogs in the community are not very well trained, IMO. Most of the dogs at our local dog park do not have a good reliable recall, most don't have a solid down stay. So people either don't know how to train these things, or they don't prioritise training them. I don't have the answer. Perhaps having the council advertise & sponsor day courses for dog owners that cover specific skills, like "walk on a loose leash clinic" day, or "get your dog to come back every time when you call" day, with trainers who can work with each dog to achieve the desired goal using methods that suit that dog, & give a discount to owners who have completed them and passed the course for that specific skill?

I don't think Huski has ever said that aversive training was always bad. I've never heard her do so. But perhaps this is a topic for another thread, if you want to discuss it, just in case the OP wants to come back and tell us what happened with her stafford? There's no point turning every thread into an aversives vs motivational training argument. Better to have one thread for it, if you want to start that old debate again.

It's an interesting chart, and a pretty one. I'd still be cautious feeding chocolate under the "safe" level though, since I would suspect the toxin doesn't do the dog a heck of a lot of good even if you don't see overt clinical signs.

In 2008 I spent a lot of time in consultation with the department about the new state act , and I did speak to them about that particular law. Did anyone explain why the dangerous dog law was not enough, since it already covered dogs who "scare" others? And already had all the required penalties applied? The dangerous dog law was too much. The new law means that dogs that cause (reasonable people) to be fearful, or who are only involved in a minor incident don't all have to be declared dangerous any more. There is now an option for council to give a milder penalty than just having to declare a dog dangerous. The standard fencing laws are written fairly weakly though, which is fine given that most people make sure that they have an appropriate fence for their dog. But not all dog owners do bother with appropriate fencing, and this law enables council to act on aggressive dogs that are behind dangerously deteriorating fences. It is a prevention thing. Greytmate, Would you say that a barking dog behind a good 6 foot colourbond fence would be considered appropriately secured to aviod a menacing dog order??? But what if it still scares someone? People aren't always rational about what scares them. So does the owner have to build an even bigger fence, then? I've had a woman act terrified as I walked my dog past her on the street (politely, on leash), turns out she was just terrified of anything that looked like a GSD. Goodness knows what she would have done if the dog had barked. I don't think that makes my dog menacing, but it sounds like technically, under this law, the dog could be declared so just on her word that the dog was scary?

Oooh that sounds promising, though I guess it's early days yet. & I'm thinking, if the z/d diet trial works, and reintroducing other foods after the diet trial doesn't go so well for him, is there really any reason you can't keep him on z/d his entire life? Or is it really expensive? I'm pretty sure it's complete & balanced. Might not be many people's idea of an ideal diet, but feeding him only z/d is far better than giving him immunosuppressants such as steroids (which is the next port of call for IBD, I believe). Just a thought. Our lecturer also suggests fish body oil can help IBD through reducing inflammation in the gut, so you might want to investigate adding some of that to see if he can tolerate it & if it helps (not until the elimination trial is finished, though). Fingers crossed his poop stays nice.

Go Judi!

Did this person tell you they were a Susan Garrett type trainer? If not, how do you know they were? Perhaps they had never seen, or read, her methods? In which case using them as an example to show that Susan Garrett's stuff doesn't work is illogical. I don't believe in banning ecollar or prong collars, although I would like to see their use (along with the use of check chains & head collars) regulated. But slamming all motivational trainers because some of them are crap is just silly. I've met some terrible trainers that use physical corrections too, doesn't mean they're all crappy. Some dogs suit purely motivational training techniques very well.

I just want to know in 20 years how you have never owned an adult male of the breed you have been breeding? I wondered that too. It doesn't sound like this dog is displaying particularly unusual behaviour for an adult male stafford. But I guess the OP is more interested in slamming everyone who wasn't sympathetic enough, than actually taking on board any advice from people who have been in the same situation as she is.

I'd not criticise him for trying the crossbreeding. It's not his fault the idea took off with the wrong people. ;) Me neither. Everyone makes mistakes, but it takes a big person to stand up and admit to the world they were wrong.

It is confusing (for me too!), and I think the syndromes may sometimes overlap somewhat. For what it's worth, my big black textbook calls food intolerance a non immune mediated response to a dietary substance, food allergy an immune mediated response to a dietary allergen, and IBD is an idiopathic (= unknown cause) inflammation of the intestine that may involve an inappropriate immune reaction to a dietary substance or gut flora. But if you can solve the issue with a diet change, I guess does it really matter which label you stick on it?

From what I understand, they think that IBD is at least partially caused by the loss of oral tolerance to food proteins or gut flora (i.e., the immune system is reacting to substance/s in the gut that it normally wouldn't react to). So if it's IBD, I would guess he is likely to keep reacting to the problem substance his whole life - if you reintroduce whatever substance he's reacting to, he will have the clinical signs again. Not that I'm an expert, or anything. They told us in class that about 30% of apparent ibd cases are successfully managed by diet alone, the rest need drugs (usually steroids) as well as the dietary therapy to control the symptoms. Hopefully if this is what Mr M has, diet alone will control it.

I hope the z/d works out for you. At least if he is doing OK on the z/d (and he's happy to eat it) you can gradually reintroduce foods to try to work out what he can & can't deal with. Fingers crossed he keeps eating it, and keeps doing well on it.

If you're using it in the same sense as is used in livestock breeding, hybrid vigour is technically when the average value of the offspring for a particular trait is "better" than the average of the two parent breeds for that trait. e.g., if a Friesian cow makes 12L of milk on average per day, and a Jersey makes 10L, a FxJ cross can be said to show hybrid vigour if it makes more than 11L.

You mean instead of positive punishment I think, no offence. It is a nice gesture to offer to answer people's questions about clicker training. I think there is a question on clicker training in the training section at the moment, so you could post there perhaps. It would be interesting if you told us what you have trained your dog to do.