Staranais

Thanks! That makes perfect sense. If I were to take video of her at a walk, pace, & trot, is it possible to analyse if her gait is due to unbalanced angulation? Or do I really need a very experienced person to look at her in the flesh? Also, if unbalanced drive is the cause, would she still break out of a pace at faster speeds (as she would if she is just using the pace as a lazy transition between walk & trot?)

AnKC is a member of the FCI, and I believe each country is only allowed one FCI member. I don't believe the UK kennel club or AKC are FCI members, but Aussie & NZ & much of europe are. I guess I also see it as one of the main points of the AnKC or NZKC, is that they keep accurate pedigree information & allow you to accurately research a dog's ancestors & their achievements. If they're unwilling to print information about schutzhund or other bite sports on the pedigree, then what use are they to working dog breeders? I would be gutted if I moved to Aussie in a few years and my dog had not only any titles she'd earned wiped from her pedigree, but all of the titles belonging to her ancestors.

Thanks everyone for your comments! She doesn't pace at a walk, it is only when I ask her to go a little faster that she breaks into a pace not a trot. I'll try speeding her up for short periods & see if she trots. Not for long periods though since I am deliberately keeping it slow, this is rehabilitation not exercise per se, & I don't want to over-stress her shoulder before the cartilage is ready for it. Poodlefan, can you please explain about having insufficient rear or foreleg drive? What are the causes of this, the other symptoms, & the ramifications? She never crabs, BTW. I suppose she must trot when we heel since she prances beautifully - I've just never watched her since I'm concentrating on all the other heeling criteria. Perhaps I'll videotape her & see what she's doing with her legs when she heels. I don't actually care if she's doing it so long as it doesn't reflect a conformation flaw or injury, as I have no intention to show her, & am happy for her to assume whatever gait she finds most comfortable. I've done a google search (not the most accurate information I know!) and apparently some sled dogs prefer to pace for long distances?

Wasn't sure quite where to post this, so I thought general was as good as any. Have just started my girl (malinois) on some slow road work as part of her rehabilitation after shoulder surgery. I've never biked with her before, and it was a good chance to watch her pace as I rode beside her. Anyway, turns out she paces, not trots. Does anyone know why a dog would pace rather than trot? Is it a conformation thing? A speed thing? Is it a variation on normal, or abnormal? She's been to the chiropractor, got the all clear, and shouldn't be in any pain after the surgery.

Equine allergies are actually not that uncommon, either as respiratory issues (heaves), or skin issues (insect bite hypersensitivity, atopy, etc). Each species is a little different, of course. Horses have their own common skin issues that dogs don't get. But they certainly do suffer from allergies as well.

The article has some stunning photos!

There's lots of ways to skin a cat, and I think it depends on what your final goal is, as well as your training philosophy. We use a combination of several methods in this thread, depending on what behaviours/situations we're working on. There's no one right answer.

I don't think it's a size thing - me & my dogs have been harassed by dogs of all sizes before. Not often, luckily. But in my experience, it's not just small breed owners that are oblivious. Lots of large breeds have their dogs out running free without an effective recall too, and it's not much fun when they charge you. Perhaps it's different in different areas, though.

I do know that if an Aust Champion goes to USA they lose their title. Do all the ancestors in the pedigree lose the title too? That seems wrong to me also.

BARF is a mixture of raw meaty bones with additional meat, table scraps, grains, supplements, as described by the vet Dr Billinghurst. Prey model is designed to mimick a prey animal carcass, most of these people do not feed vegetable matter or fruits at all, let alone table scraps or grains. I've met dogs that thrive on both diets. Dogs are very adaptable animals.

What course is this, Peipei? Just asking since the only qualified small animal nutritionists I know are vets with postgraduate qualifications, but that doesn't sound like what you did. Thanks. The course was done with the 'National College of Traditional Medicine' info below. This was one of the core modules in order to achieve my Small Animal Naturopathy Diploma. Interesting, thanks.

Oh interesting! So sounds like the AnKC are doing the dirty, unless they've found a loophole, or persuaded the FCI to turn a blind eye...

I laugh at PP trainers, having to 'baby-proof' their homes,because of their inability to train the dog not to steal their valuable resources. Is this only a problem for PP trainers? My home is still relatively baby proofed.

Oh really? Interesting. I didn't know that. So does that mean that they don't need to comply with all the FCI policies? Does it also mean that there can be more than one "associate member" within a country? I know every country can only have one full member registry. Perhaps working dog breeders need to leave the ANKC, and develop their own FCI associated registry. What do we need the ANKC for anyway??? They are not interested in bettering working breeds, only fancy show dogs. You don't, but you do need the FCI (IMO) if your pedigrees are to be legitimate, and the AnKC is currently the only FCI representative in Australia. I'd be happy to breed dogs under a non AnKC FCI registry, but would think twice about leaving the FCI entirely. JMO, but I bet many breeders would feel similar.

What course is this, Peipei? Just asking since the only qualified small animal nutritionists I know are vets with postgraduate qualifications, but that doesn't sound like what you did. Thanks.

Too high an arousal level can trigger aggression in some dogs. I have no idea if this is what is happening with your two, but it sounds like it to me.

Dogs killed by the truckload obviously don't faze you. As long as they're not yours of course? Please see above.

I think that article makes some good points, but also some over-generalisations & some outright mistake (for example, debarking a dog isn't actually punishment as it doesn't involve learning). But I'd like to see the paper it's based on before I really comment.

I am happy to see anyone doing anything that combats or calls public attention to puppy farms. Whether or not I agree with their other policies or not.

I have never heard of weightpull causing joint problems in healthy adult dogs. If your dog has good conformation, if you wait until the dog is skeletally mature before starting training, and if you always listen to your dog (if it's at all sore or reluctant to pull, stop), I would not imagine it would cause joint issues. But if your dog has joint issues already, or is predisposed to developing them by crappy conformation, then I suspect that pulling could make the issues worse. Same as most sports, really. If that makes any sense? Perhaps someone that does weightpull could comment more on this issue, I would be interested to hear from them.

Nasty, but also makes no sense - since when do you marinate meat before you kill it? He just sounds mentally disturbed to me. I hope they get him assessed & put on appropriate medication, or locked up, for his own good.

Perhaps it's a combination of several things, then - a strong reward history (either actual rewards or just an amused looking owner), and the dog finding the skill intrinsically reinforcing (like the active behaviours you describe). It was just interesting to me that I'd never seen her walk backwards before I taught her to do so, and now she does so regularly - even though it's never purposefully rewarded outside training sessions. I have no idea why walking backwards is rewarding, but I guess it must be so. Perhaps she merely finds it useful, and that is enough reward. Thanks for your thoughts, everyone!

Me neither. I would also wonder how someone could decide a dog was suitable for breeding without training it? I learn so much about a dog from training them. I wouldn't want to breed (or buy from a breeder who bred) a dog that was thick as two short planks, had low prey drive, didn't want to work at all for praise, etc, even if it had a great career in the conformation ring. & how do you tell these things without actually training the dog? Perhaps it is different for some breeds, the ones only bred to be companions, not to do any sort of real job.

Hmmm, my understanding is more of allergies as a confused immune system. It's attacking like it should, but it's attacking the wrong thing. I guess you could call that overactive. Definitely not underactive, though. Like Danois says, that's why we use steroids to treat it (or at least, treat the symptoms of it). With vaccination "weakening" the immune system, I think that depends what you mean by weaken. I think it's more like you're educating it, and making it stronger in some areas, weaker in others. Sorry, I'm probably rambling. This stuff is complicated. And the more I learn, the more complicated it becomes. Perhaps I should just stop learning about it. To the OP, I'd imagine keeping your dog fit, generally healthy, & feeding it a good diet (and trying to buy from a breeder who has done the same with the sire & dam) are your best ways to strengthen the immune system. I believe the rest mostly comes down to genetics (so, only breeding from healthy dogs, or buying from a breeder who has done the same). I don't know any specific drugs or herbs or magic pills that specifically make the immune system stronger. I don't even know if that would be desirable in some cases. As an interesting aside, I know in sheep, the immune system relaxes during pregnancy to allow the animal to "accept" the fetus inside it (which is, after all, genetically different, and would normally cause a huge immune response). Adult ewes are far more prone to get & shed intestinal parasites at the end of pregnancy than at other times, due to this temporary loss of immune resistance. I wouldn't be surprised if this type of thing occurred with dogs during pregnancy too, but have never read about it.

A GSD! I still think they're lovely - slightly more sane than a malinois, from what I've seen - but couldn't cope with the size, the shedding, or the risk of H.D.