Staranais

or Cushings

High prey drive can give a good recall though, in some dogs. I have a working line malinois - I'd imagine her prey drive is a similar intensity to that of any sighthound - and I use prey drive to reward her recall. The idea is trying to teach her that focusing on me, rather than ignoring me & chasing after random other things, is the best way to satisfy her prey drive.

Well, you're all always welcome to come visit us in little old NZ...

Oh that is bad! :D I think some of these places employ people who just don't really understand dogs - or at least aren't familiar with dogs that are DA, or have behavior issues, or have some degree of working drive. That's one good argument for trying to board with a skilled trainer, instead of any old establishment.

Are you going to do tracking with her at some point, then? She sounds like she'd be a star at it. And it is FUN! Yes, thinking about it! Would like to get a couple of obedience titles first though. But I agree, I think she would be a natural. Yes, sounds like my dog. My girl is a natural. I'm not! I'm learning slowly, though. There's a whole lot more to it than just hanging off the end of a line. Really really fun when you start to get into it.

Cosmolo, I think it would take a novel, and then I'd still fret! I'd admittedly far rather leave her with a skilled trainer than in just any old kennel owner, though. With an emphasis on skilled! I think she'd have an unskilled trainer under her paw within a week (or at least be humping them and not letting them anywhere near her favourite stuff) - else she'd end up really freaked out when they over reacted to her happy barking and body slamming and teeth clacking. The last time I sent her to the kennel it was 2 days before she was "right" again. Support group time!

For me, it's not just a trust thing - it's also the idea that the trainer might do training that conflicts with what I've been doing. There are so many systems for doing things. I guess that would be much less of a problem for a regular family pet than a competition or working dog. But imagine if I came back from holiday and you'd been rewarding stands that weren't kick back stands, or had been teaching her that "down" meant "get off me" not "drop", or had even once allowed her to take the toy reward without giving the release command first? Aaargh. I think I'm a control freak too! Perhaps Huski and I need to start a support group.

Are you going to do tracking with her at some point, then? She sounds like she'd be a star at it. And it is FUN!

Personally, I think the clicker is a really clear signal to the dog that they're in a "training space" where certain rules apply. It's such a very distinctive noise that it's easy for dogs to understand that this training time is different from regular time, there's no corrections, no chance of being wrong, so they can relax and have fun and focus on experimenting to earn the click. For the trainer, it's easier to communicate consistently and calmly, it's impossible to inadvertently use a frustrated tone of voice since you're not talking, and you're focused more on clicking the right thing than correcting the wrong thing. Not sure how to explain it better, sorry, I'm not sure that I've explained it adequately here! It's just more of a game for us when I bring out the clicker. I should explain I use several "systems" to train different things - we do verbal marker and prey drive reward (tracking/formal obedience), as well as verbal marker and social play/praise/mild corrections (round the house obedience), and we also do clicker and food reward (learning tricks). There is definitely a different mood when we use click/food as opposed to our other stuff. She's less intense, less drivey, less excited. But she's still focused and quite playful. Possibly we'd get the same result if I was very very consistent with a single syllable marker when I trained verbally - I'm not, I'm crappy at sticking to one word and one precise way of saying it! However, I do think there is something about the distinctive sound of the clicker, and the "ritual" of picking one up, that would still make our clicker sessions subtly different from verbal marker training. Sorry, I may have just made not much sense! Am typing as I think. And am tired!

Just did a quick literature search, and can't find any concrete numbers for you regarding what proportion of hock OCD is supposed to be caused by hereditary as opposed to environmental factors. It's been far less studied than HD, or even ED, has been. But all the papers I've found agree it has a genetic component, as well as being influenced by trauma and diet. They're just not sure which genes are involved yet, or how it all works. (Spot who is procrastinating instead of studying for the small animal medicine test! Tee hee.)

that kinda sounds scary. Nah, it's normally fascinating, not scary. Unless it's a dog that looks like my girl! Then it kind of freaks me out a little.

Me neither! It's not just you, don't worry.

I'd call recalling off a ball to be a "reasonable" request, though - it's similar to calling a dog off a prey item like a bunny or a rabbit - so I'd say a dog that couldn't recall off a ball didn't have 100% recall. JMO for the purposes of discussion, not having a go at you.

International standard now is to vaccinate with the core vaccines (hepatitis, distemper, parvo) only every 3 years. Non core optional vaccines such as kennel cough, lepto, etc, must generally still be done yearly. If she were mine I probably wouldn't boost her before mating. If you're worried if she will have enough maternally derived antibodies to pass on, a titre test would let you know.

OCD in any joint is believed to be multifactorial. Lots of different genes affecting cartilage growth, combined with trauma (repetitive exercise or one off trauma), diet (too much energy or too much protein), & probably other environmental factors affecting cartilage growth and blood supply we don't know much about yet. Think of it this way. A dog that has a genetic predisposition to OCD (slightly softer cartilage, for example) probably won't develop OCD if it has a perfect diet and no trauma during its upbringing. But a dog with perfect joints probably wouldn't develop OCD even if you fed it a slightly unbalanced diet, or it suffers some trauma, either. It takes the genetic predisposition, plus something at least slightly wrong with the environment, to cause the lesions. HD is multifactorial, again, a product of many different genes, with maybe some help from incorrect diet, inappropriate exercise. And unfortunately x-rays only expose the phenotype not the genotype - you can see the cake, but not the recipe. So it's perfectly possible for parents with good hip scores to throw HD puppies. The parents could have had good x-rays but average genetics (for example, a careful upbringing meaning that any predisposition to HD wasn't exposed, giving "good" x-rays). Or the pup could have by chance received all of the bad hip genes that either parent had - sexual reproduction is luck of the draw! Or a linebreeding could have exposed deleterious recessive genes by making them homozygous (that is, after all, the point of linebreeding - it exposes and fixes traits, both good and bad). As an example, according to the OFA statistics on elbow dysplasia (another multifactorial joint disease), mating two radiographically "dysplastic" dogs gives an approximately 40% chance of dysplastic puppies. But mating two radiographically "normal" dogs still results in 12% of puppies affected with ED! Taking hip and elbow scores from siblings and ancestors of the sire and dam gives more information & should reduce the risk puppies suffer joint problems, but there's only so much even a good breeder can do. Hope that makes some sense.

What do you mean by reasonable? Well if you set my dog on fire, for example, then I'd think it quite reasonable if she didn't recall. Anything that puts an animal in severe pain, or extreme fright, I think the survival instinct kicks in and it's not reasonable to expect them to obey commands 100%.

Depends what you mean by 100%. I think you can get a 100% recall under any reasonable circumstances. You just need to find what most motivates the dog, and then persuade the dog that the best way of accessing that motivator is by obeying you.

I think she's going away anyway, and thinks she might as well get the dog trained at the same time? That's the way I read it, anyway. There are few people I'd personally trust to let train my dog. But on the other hand, I'm sure there must be some good board and train places out there, and if you're away for 6 weeks it might be nice to keep the dog occupied with some training while you're gone so it doesn't get too bored.

I wouldn't, except in exceptional circumstances (for example, if the information we would gain would directly and immediately save other dog's lives). I've participated in several canine autopsies, and would find it hard to let anyone do that to my girl. It's respectful enough, but there's nothing pretty about it - it would be very hard for me to bear imagining my own dog's body reduced to chunks of meat. If I'd never watched autopsies, I'd probably feel differently, since I have no objection to them at all in theory - my objection is purely visceral, I can picture exactly what they'd do to her, and I don't like imagining her chopped up like that. I even don't like seeing other people's shepherds & staffies being autopsied, since that reminds me of my own dogs too much. Silly, huh?

I'd be getting a specialist opinion from an orthopaedic vet before chopping anything off.

Actually, technically, BSL is "breed specific legislation", so if you think that legislation should be different for different breeds of dog, then you support BSL. BSL isn't just about eradicating breeds. It means there will be laws specific to certain breeds. Well, honestly speaking Staranais, I really thought that BSL was all about eradicating certain breeds of dogs especially given what had taken place in QLD where pet staffies were being ceased and destroyed even though they didn't commit any wrong doing. I was tears when reading that such things were taking place. I am all for ensuring that no more bloodshed is to take place and no owner should have to go through the nightmare of finding one's pet/s mauled by other dogs. Does that make me such a malicious person? Yes, eradicating dog breeds is IMO certainly the worst aspect of BSL. But any legislation relating to breeds is technically BSL. So you can understand why people were getting rather confused when you were saying you didn't support BSL, but that you did want some breeds to be treated differently. Personally, I can understand why some people think larger or more powerful breeds should have different laws surrounding them. There is no argument that a high drive or large dog is more likely to hurt someone than a tiny or placid dog is. I don't think it's the right answer, but I can see why some people think it is.

Actually, technically, BSL is "breed specific legislation", so if you think that legislation should be different for different breeds of dog, then you support BSL. BSL isn't just about eradicating breeds. It means there will be laws specific to certain breeds.

In the last few years I've changed from sharing my life with a very short 18kg dog to a very tall 28kg dog. It's much easier teaching heeling, fronts, etc to a taller dog! I can't believe how simple it is heeling with a dog whose face is right at hip height, compared to a dog whose face is down at knee level. But she is also much, much harder to lift and carry. If I had a sore back or joints, I think I'd definitely go with a smaller, lighter dog. Not poodle specific at all, just my experience.

The breed of dogs that kill is of consequence and should not be discarded. Yes, these dogs did manage to get out due to an irresponsible owner and set out on a killing spree, it was the dogs' decision to kill! How they managed to get into the other property, I have no idea but they obviously heard the barking of those poor chihuahuas and thought all their birthdays had come at once. How many cavaliers or westies out there set out on a rampage and killed other people's pets????? This prick now owns 4 of those animals, pfft pathetic country we live in. You speak about these dogs as if they were humans, "thought all their birthdays had come at once" ?? Yeah, ok, sure that's what they thought "Set out on a killing spree" ?? Emotive enough?? You say you don't advocate BSL, and then in your next sentence you ADVOCATE BSL?! My girl (NOT a bull breed) would probably think all her birthdays had come at once if she escaped the yard and ended up unsupervised with someone's pet rabbits, birds, or even cats. She wouldn't kill other dogs, but she would kill other types of pets, and probably wildlife and small livestock too. It's MY responsibility to keep her in the yard. If I made a mistake and she escaped my yard and ate someone's pet bunny, cat, or lamb, I would totally understand they would want to fine me, inspect my fences, put restrictions on me owning dogs. I would fight tooth and nail to keep her from being PTS if that happened, though. It simply wouldn't be her fault. She's just being a dog. Dogs kill small fluffy things. I am sorry for the owner of the chihuahuas, but I fail to see how this means the dogs should automatically be PTS. The owner was a moron. The dogs were just being dogs. If a dog broke into my yard and attacked my dog, or my cats, I'd be furious. But I'd want the owner punished, not the dog.

If he doesn't like people buying dog bones because he doesn't make much money on them, he obviously needs to charge more for them! It's kind of unfair to make his bones cheap, and then whinge when people come to purchase them. I don't buy meat for myself from the butcher, since I don't eat it, but I will buy scraps & bones for the animals. I'm happy to pay a fair price for them. I wouldn't be happy getting grumpy service though.