Staranais

I'd personally be exercising the crap out of him to exhaust him physically, clicker training him daily to wear out his little brain, crating him when he's in the house & unsupervised, and doing the tot with him (sticky at the top of the form). If that doesn't help, perhaps try a behaviourist or local training classes for some one-on-one help. ETA - most of the things you've mentioned are normal for a pup that's bored & not yet fully toilet trained.

What she said. Any correction collar can be dangerous in uneducated or malicious hands. E collar is no different. But, of all the correction collars out there, I prefer the e collar for my dogs (well, obviously I'd prefer no correction collar, but if I think one will be useful then the e collar is the best I've tried). It's the most versatile, most gentle, physically safest. Has several bad points too: 1. Need to learn how to use it. It is not a quick fix. You do not just slap it on the dog & experiment. You don't just crank up the intensity any time the dog doesn't give you the response you want. Like with any correction collar you need to learn from someone who knows how to use it properly & is adept at reading canine body language. 2. Need to remember to charge the damn thing and take the remote with you 3. Very expensive to buy a good quality one 4. Some dogs find the collar mildly aversive as it has to be fitted tightly to work (the key word is mildly - my girl finds most collars aversive, and detests most harnesses. She doesn't like wearing the e collar, but prefers it to wearing a walking harness - go figure. She really is a princess!) ETA: the "big leash" definitely is a remote e collar, have just googled it. I can understand the confusion since the website persists in calling the stim a "training message" or "sensation" not an electrical stim. Presumably they do this to make sure people understand they're not shocking the dog as if with an electric cattle prod or electric fence (which are what most people immediately assume when you say "electric collar"). Still silly, IMO.

Nice idea but IMO impossible! Hence why I don't go to most dog parks. There will always be people who take aggressive dogs to dog parks. There will always be people who let dogs without an effective recall run off leash. There will always be people who don't supervise their dogs properly. There will always be people who expect every dog in the park to be completely non-reactive. There will always be people at the park who can't read dog body language and have no idea what appropriate play is. Edited to add: and all these people will probably always continue to blame each other for incidents in the dog park!

Pennhip is supposed to have higher heritability I believe, so if that's true it makes more sense to make breeding decisions based on Penhipp than OFA. My understanding is that the Penn system evaluates laxity & remodelling, whereas OFA just looks at remodelling. Bizarrely, there isn't necessarily a very good correlation between the results given by the two systems for any one dog. Sandgrubber, I can post some links to good studies evaluating clinical signs & radiographs if you like, I have them saved on my computer, but they're not free to access. One of the studies looks at the swedish system (OFA type), and found that dogs assessed as moderate - severe HD at one year old had a much higher risk of claiming on their insurance policies for vet costs relating to HD later in life. Another study dissected out & examined the hips postmortem, and found that radiographs taken during life correlated well with the cartilage damage found in the hips after death.

"Chocolate" isn't a SBT colour, but perhaps they're just talking about a really dark red, or like someone else said a murky kind of blue colour?

LOL, mini groenendaels would be funny! I think they're allowed to interbreed here in the varieties with small gene pools, but only certain combinations, e.g. mally & laekenois is allowed, but laekenois & groenendael is not allowed (in case you end up with black curlies). Not sure that the WL mally would benefit from having any other variety introduced, but in general I'm a big fan of allowing inter-variety breeding in sensible combinations.

This is the case for belgians. Only one size, I admit, but four coat types. From what I understand some countries let the varieties interbreed freely, some not at all, & some only with special permission. Especially in the countries where you can interbreed, you apparently do get malinois popping up in tervuerens litters, tervuerens popping up in groenendael litters, as well as strange combinations like black malinois & laekenois.

It's an issue with lots of grey areas, I think. And people with aggressive dogs will always be more sympathetic to others in the same plight, just like those who have friendly dogs will be sympathetic to those with friendly dogs. Taking a downright dog aggressive dog to a busy off leash dog park is just silly I feel, even if you do keep it on a leash at all times. It's an accident waiting to happen. But there are grey areas. There are different types of dog park, and different levels of dog-dog aggression. What if the "dog aggressive" dog is only snarky to other dogs that are downright rude or pushy - do dog parks only belong to dogs that can tolerate any kind of rudeness without biting back? What if the dog beach is huge and almost empty, & the owner of the aggressive dog is clearly doing their best to keep their dog out of everyone's way - should that dog never go to the beach in case a "friendly" dog suddenly appears? I think it's the responsibility of everyone at the park to keep dogs safe. If your dog is sometimes aggressive to other dogs, then don't go to busy off leash parks. If your dog is really aggressive to other dogs, don't go to off leash dog parks at all. If your dog is friendly but might conceivably overwhelm shy dogs, don't let it bowl on to other dogs without asking. If another owner appears to want to keep their distance in a large park, or looks like they're training their dog, don't let your dog run up to it without checking first. Etc.

What is she getting out of the barking, then? i.e., why is she doing it, what is the reward? There must be a reward or she would not do the behaviour. Is the reward that the frightening people are "scared off" (in her mind?) Is the reward that the people give a fun reaction when she surprises them (my girl used to do this )? Is the reward that she thinks she has protected her resources from these people (the resources being you or possibly the park?) I tend to think in general, if you can work out what reward the dog is getting from the behaviour, you have a good chance at stopping the behaviour. If you can't work that out by yourself, that's when hiring an experienced professional is useful. Anyone giving advice over the internet isn't terribly helpful, since no matter how good they are, they haven't actually seen the dog in action. I think the concern is that she's barking at people to get them to go away, and if one day it doesn't work and the person doesn't go away, she may escalate & bite them. And also that, if she trusted you to look after her, she wouldn't need to drive these strangers away by herself. If you don't want to get a behaviourist since you don't think you could reproduce the situation for them to see, is there any chance you could capture the behaviour on video to show them?

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?" "This is Heaven, sir," the man answered. "Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked. "Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some icewater brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open. "Can my friend come in, too?" the traveler asked, gesturing towards the dog. "I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets." The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog. After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill,he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book. "Excuse me!" he called to the man. "Do you have any water?" "Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in." "How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog. "There should be a bowl by the pump," said the man. They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was sitting under the tree. "What do you call this place?" the traveler asked. "This is Heaven," the man answered. "Well, that's confusing," the traveler said, "the man down the road said that was Heaven, too." "Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's hell." "Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?" "No" said the man with a smile, "we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind."

I don't think the dog should be put down - he was doing his job, and presumably didn't know exactly who he was supposed to bite. The officers in charge were the ones who should have made sure that the house was clear before the dog was sent in offleash. Just like they should make sure the house is clear of innocent people before discharging any other type of weapon in a house. If the child was shot or tasered accidentally, we'd be blaming the officers in charge - not the gun or taser. Same thing. It's unreasonable to blame the father, I feel, unless there is more going on that was revealed in the story. 8 year olds should be able to enter their own houses to look for their Mums without being bitten by large dogs. & you can't keep an eye on your 8 year old all the time - they're fast and unpredictable!

If she's barking from excitement & prey drive when she sees them, I suspect that seeing them is just making herself more interested in them. Frustration builds drive.

"Pure" is an arbitrary line in the sand. If you introduced one dog of another breed, then cross back into the original breed - for example, bred a lab and a poodle together, then bred those pups exclusively to poodles - by the 4th generation the pups would be only 6.25% labrador, by the 7th generation they would be less than 1% labrador. Who knows if that 1% would be important genes or not - depends what you selected for! But my point is there is no one point where the new breed disappears and the pups are once again "pure".

How about the registered 3 year vaccine?

Vets can be called before the vet council to answer charges of professional misconduct if the owner chooses complains to the vet council in that type of situation, though. I know vets that have appeared before the vet council and apparently it's a bloody stressful nasty experience, not something anyone would wish to go through voluntarily.

Or they take dogs that are rude, boisterous, completely out of control but "friendly". I had a bad experience a few years back with a huge labrador that systematically approached & rudely challenged every single dog that entered the dog park. The owner was convinced it was being friendly since it did not bark or growl while doing this. Having said that, not all dog parks are created equal. I will take my dogs to offleash parks or beaches that are huge with very few dogs in, but I go to give the dog a run, not to socialise her. The little poky dog parks where you can't but help run into other dogs I avoid like the plague. I am lucky in that I have access to (and have worked to create access to) farm land & bush areas where she can run offleash unimpeded & not encounter other dogs.

It was perfectly normal to drown unwanted kittens and puppies here in the west just a few generations ago. There is no excuse for PTS animals inhumanely, and from the description of the video, the girl sounds callous. But I am also wondering, where is this girl from? I am thinking, do they have ready access to vet care for speutering animals where she is from, & for euthanasing unwanted puppies? Or do people pretty much have to take care of unwanted litters by themselves? I haven't (and won't) watch the video.

I think the situation is a little different to the other unregistered breeds out there, since you can make an F1 labradoodle. If I could cross two unrelated pure breeds and magically get a "koolie" out, then I'd feel that breed was dodgy too. But you can't. A koolie always comes from two koolie parents, even though they're not AnKC registered. . I think any serious labradoodle breeders would have a better chance of getting recognised as legitimate if they give their dog breed a new name. That would show they were actually trying to make a new breed, not just crossbreeding F1 dogs for immediate profit like many (most?) labradoodle producers are doing.

They're related but different. Hydatids are dangerous to humans, sheep measles only affect meat quality & don't hurt humans. I don't know how big an issue they are in Aussie, but they're an issue in NZ in sheep farming areas.

Just curious, how many generations of breeding true is required for a cross to be identified as a breed? Depends who you talk to. Some people say it's a breed so long as it breeds true. Some people say it's not a real breed until it's recognised by a registry. Some people say it's only a breed if the gene pool is closed (a la AnKC). I don't think a certain number of generations is usually a criteria for dogs, although it can be for cattle I believe.

I teach mine to do a down stay on command, then when someone rings the bell, I tell her to down (a short distance away but close enough that she can still see what's going on). Proof it around other distractions first & it will transfer to the door much easier. If she doesn't down stay in other situations, she's not going to do it when people come to the door either.

LOL, no. Sheep get sheep measles, but dogs can carry it & give it to sheep, and the sheep get cysts in their muscles. This gets the sheep carcasses downgraded at the works = grumpy farmers. So if you regularly take your dog onto farm land (as I do), it's polite to worm your dog for tapeworms every 4 - 6 weeks to make sure your dog can't transmit sheep measles.

I do mine every 6 weeks for sheep measles, so it wouldn't work for us. Good idea otherwise, though!

It's pretty widely accepted by anyone up to date with the literature that the C3 normally lasts at least 3 years, probably far more. But the issues are that: a) it's off label use of most vaccines, meaning that if your dog happens to get parvo more than a year after the annual vaccine was last given (very unlikely but always possible - no vaccine works 100%), the manufacturers won't take any responsibility, & your vet might get in big poo if you decide to make a fuss about it b) some practices are slow to change, I know practices where all the young vets want to do C3 every 3 years, but the older vets (who own the practice) are set in their ways & unfortunately they decide the practice policy. Take your vet a copy of the 2010 WSAVA vaccination recommendations, available on this page, & ask him to share it around the practice: http://www.wsava.org/VGG1.htm The WSAVA would say your dog doesn't need another C3 for 3 years. Any other vaccines (lepto, bordetella, etc) still need to be done more frequently though.

I'm glad your dog wasn't blamed for that. Not your fault at all, entirely the fault of the other owners, but as a dog lover you'd still feel stink about it! I've had offleash dogs rush my onleash dogs before, it's a scary feeling since it's hard to manage that situation.