Staranais

The amount of calcium is important as well as the Ca:P ratio (though not as important). I personally wouldn't want to feed more than about 50% of the diet as RMB (unless they were really meaty), although I know some people do feed up to 80% (!) bones and get away with it. Most RMB have a Ca:P ratio that is OK for dogs, as you say. Meat has very little Ca or P compared to bone, so the Ca:P ratio in the diet will be mostly determined by the bones you feed. But remember that pups need other nutrients too that don't come from bones and have to come from red meat and organs - zinc, iron, copper, to name a few. Too much calcium can actually bind to those minerals and stop them being absorbed correctly. The official prey model doesn't include veges, but it does include plenty of green tripe which (in the natural state) is lined with processed grass. So if you're not feeding green tripe as a regular and substantial part of your prey diet, I'd suggest including some processed veges instead. I also include a little bit of fruit, and the occasional bowl of (cooked) porridge oats for my girl. Don't forget you can include eggs, canned or fresh fish, yoghurt, etc, as well.

LOL, thanks. JulesP, you can do that with a regular reward too. I did a few club level obedience trials with my old boy, and always left the toy right out side the ropes. He knew from our training that he had to focus on me to be released to it, just like in tot. But that wasn't a jackpot (IMO), it was just the reward he always got for doing obedience.

Yes Ernie, like in TOT. What do you class TOT style rewarding? I'm not Erny, but to me, it's a jackpot when it's an unexpectedly big reward compared to rewards that the dog usually gets for doing that type of thing. So I wouldn't class tot as a jackpot, since the dog always gets about the same value reward. I'm not sure if there's any official definition of jackpot, but that's what I've always understood by the term?

Just wanted to re-emphasise this, as it's so very important. Thanks for the recipe, Tomas!

It can also be a good idea for older dogs to get blood tests before they go under anaesthetic (mostly to check that their kidneys and liver are functioning well still), and to put them on IV fluids throughout the procedure. Some vets do this as a matter of course, and some don't, so it pays to check.

I'm by what you've said here, JulesP. If you think something's good enough to earn a jackpot, you finish the training session instead of giving the jackpot? But what if your dog is enjoying the training (which I like to think he/she is). When, then, would you consider something to be "super special" if there are other things that are good enough to earn a jackpot (but don't deliver it). I'm only curious - perhaps I am mis-reading. I think she means to jackpot and then that's the end of the session? That's how I read it, anyway.

Hmmm, I can't say I've found that. But then again, after a jackpot, I often switch exercises and work on something else right away. Usually something she really likes, like between the legs heeling. Of if I want to keep training the same exercise, then I stop the exercise for a few seconds after the jackpot, then ask her if she wants to play again (builds frustration a little bit, I guess). Perhaps if you just keep on going after the jackpot it would cause a slump, since the dog would be disappointed he just got a regular reward not a jackpot? Perhaps that is what he does? I find if we have a little break, she seems to be excited that we are going to keep training, rather than disappointed it's just a "regular" c/t.

Are you guys using the dumbbell as the drive object, or are you rewarding with another drive object for picking up the dummbell? I'm no expert, but my old boy's formal retrieve improved ten fold when I retrained retreiving the dumbbell as just a means to a drive reward, instead of actually using it as the drive reward. Makes the whole thing much more controllable, as you can give immediate negative verbal feedback (uh - uh) for unclean pick ups or pick ups from the wrong angle, and then withold the reward, and ask her to try again. Whereas if the dumbell is the reward, they've already been rewarded for the messy pick up! Also gave much less chewing and mouthing.

I feed a kind of prey model diet. When it says 10% bone, it means 10% plain bone, as the average small prey animal is about 10% bones by weight. The bones you feed (chicken backs, lamb ribs, chicken wings) are not just bone, they're RMB, so they're already at least 1/2 to 2/3 meat. That means you need to feed at least 25 - 30% of the diet as RMB in order to get 10% actual bone in the diet. Make sense? Of the organs, half (5%) should be liver. And IMO, most of the rest should be kidney. I feed green tripe too, it's great for dogs, and that's in addition to the 10% organs. Make sure you freeze and defrost raw lamb or beef meat or organs before feeding it to your dog, kills most of the parasitic nasties that could be there.

Yup, I often use a jackpot when shaping a new behaviour, when she's made a big leap towards what I want. I do it because I want to mark that behaviour is really good, so she remembers it! I think it helps improve her understanding. It's just another way to communicate - a click or mark says what she did was good, a jackpot says what she did was really good. For a jackpot I I use lots and lots of excited praise while giving several treats fed quickly in succession. Sometimes even multiple click/treats if she remains in the correct position. Example, perch work, walking her hind quarters round towards heel position. She takes a step, c/t. She takes a step, c/t. She takes 3 steps and ends up in heel position - jackpot! Then start again. Other times I may use big rewards (e.g. a recall away from a big distraction gets either a drive reward or lots of praise/successive treats, depending on what word I used to recall her), but that's not really a jackpot IMO, it's just reinforcing an already learned behaviour and teaching her it's always worth coming back. I wouldn't regard that as a jackpot as it doesn't aid her understanding of the recall, just improves her motivation to keep recalling in future. So I guess it all depends exactly what you mean by "jackpot".

Good luck!

Perhaps I'm missing something, but why couldn't the vet have seen yeast (or the absence of yeast) on the swab and slide taken for mites? You're just looking at the earwax to see what's there, right? I'm wondering if what the vet meant by "maybe yeast" is that she saw some yeast there, but don't know if it was causing the problem (perhaps only saw a tiny bit of yeast or something)? Just a thought.

Yes, the raw diet can be great for dogs, but if done wrongly in a growing pup can lead to serious problems down the road. I too recommend you do your reading. The amount of Ca:P you're feeding is pretty important, as ABPT says. As a general guide, you want to be aiming for about 30% of your diet as RMB for a growing pup, but again it's a good idea to do some reading for yourself on the matter. The amount and type of organs you feed is something you should research too. Remember that a good quality commercial diet, supplemented with a few RMB meals per week, is an option too - it doesn't have to be just kibble or raw, lots of dogs do well on a combination.

I've not ever used the clicker (nor suggested it be used) for toilet training and doubt that I'd ever do so when pup is mid-stream. Perhaps others have tried it and found it to be successful, but IMO the sound of the clicker could prove to distract the pup from the 'job at hand'. Just a quiet, non-distracting, just audible (to the pup) toileting word that you're training to pair to the action (eg. "quick quick") is about all I'd suggest be used when pup is in the midst of a wee. More than that and you run the very real chance of pup forgetting about weeing and not emptying the tank, so to speak. Save the "good puppy!!" and treat for once the pup has finished toileting. I have found this too, with the clicker. I tried it once or twice with my last dog, but being clicked was so exciting that it seemed to interrupt the flow, so to speak! I found that quiet, calm verbal praise during the act was far better, escalating to a more excited squeal and reward when they were done (the neighbours must have thought I was crazy!)

They sound pretty good to me too, yum!

Just a random thought, but how about pieces of fruit leather, or broken up rice crackers, or small bits of cheese? My dogs have liked all of those things as treats, and they're all vegetarian.

I understand - many people on this forum (including myself) generally recommend people see a behaviourist for any type of biting or aggression, since it's easy to misinterpret what's going on when you're just reading about it on a forum, and if the owner does the wrong thing then there's a risk that the behaviour can get worse or someone will get hurt. No one wants to be responsible for that happening. But if this were me, I too would be trying to fix it initially without consulting a behaviourist: by tightening up house rules (no furniture privileges), by making sure I always enforced my commands (and only ever gave commands that I was able to enforce - hence the long line), and making sure I was being 100% scrupulous with NILIF and TOT. I'd also make sure I was giving my dog lots of training (IMO even clicker training tricks helps get your dog into the habit of working for and with you), and sufficient exercise. If the behaviour gets worse, though, or doesn't improve after a wee while, then I really would recommend you find the money if you can do so.

Yup, see a trainer if you can. If your dog snaps at you for telling him what to do, then it sounds like you may have a bigger problem than just being disobeyed. If my dog did this (refused to get off furniture sometimes, let alone snapped when being moved), she would lose all furniture privileges. In other words, I'd be telling her to get off as soon as she got up, and redirecting her to her own bed. I'd only let her in the house when she was being supervised, like a little puppy, so I could interrupt her when she went to get up on the furniture. I'd also be attaching a 4 or 6 foot line to her collar to drag behind her whenever she was in the house. The line allows you to enforce your "off" command by gently tugging the line, if your dog ignores you when you tell them to get off, without risking getting bitten and without starting a direct confrontation with the dog. By nose targeting, I believe Aidan means to teach him to run over and touch your hand (for example) with his nose, in order to get a reward. It's a useful behaviour and pretty easy to teach with food rewards or even just praise. It can be used to get dogs away from places you don't want them, such as off beds - just hold your hand out and ask the dog to target, they have to jump off the bed to touch your hand. If it were my dog, I'd still use a line in the house, though, as I would want to have the ability to enforce the dog getting off the bed 100% of the time.

That's a pity. I wasn't sure if our club would let me, but luckily they did. So perhaps it's worth just asking your club? I was prepared to go to the other dog club in town if they said no, mind you! As for how do you say that to an instructor without upsetting them, I guess I'm saying, I'd rather put them offside than have them take my leash. My wee girl is a sensitive soul, and one good correction could take weeks to repair. Plus I really don't like other people rewarding her, since I'm trying to aim more for neutralisation than socialisation with other people. So I just say "sorry, I don't like other people to handle my dog". I guess you could have a polite white-lie type excuse ready if you wanted, though? Something like "I don't like people handling my dog since it distracts her for the rest of the class?" or "I'm working on her focusing on me when we're around other people, so I'd rather not have someone else reward her at the moment", or etc? Or just tell them that "no means no!"

Tess, can you join the club as a member, but not join a class - just come along on club night and do your own thing? Just use the other dogs as a distraction? That's what I do. The club I attend know me a little (I trialled at club level there with my previous dog), so are quite happy to have me and pup turn up and do our own thing at the edge of the field, as long as we don't disturb anyone else. Tell them you're working on focus, or fear issues, or whatever. I would not hand my dog over for a demo either. Not to anyone. And I would politely refuse if a trainer asked to do a demo on my dog. As far as I'm concerned she works for me (not for anyone else if she doesn't want to), and it's my job to protect her from other people (not let them correct her, unless she's a real little shit toward them in which case I'll correct her myself). JMO.

That's a good idea. You can keep them on a long line to ensure that they do come back before you release them to the pool.

Yes, I had that issue too when training at public parks with my old boy, people looked quite worried about what he was doing to the tug toy. However, other people who saw us looked very impressed to see him doing his heeling, recalls, retrieve, distance position changes, etc (the drop on recall always seemed to particularly impress people for some reason!) So I kind of felt I was being a breed ambassador as well as a public nuisance, and was pretty proud of him when people stopped to stare.

It may not be a typical reaction, but the timing of the symptoms seems like it would be too large a coincidence not to be associated. One of the vaccine studies I read earlier this year (they surveyed 1.2 million dogs!) said that localised swelling and redness and itching were three of the most common vaccine reactions seen in dogs. Not necessarily dangerous, but certainly unpleasant for the animal and owner. If this were my dog, I would not vaccinate him again unless I really had to - and even for regular dogs, I don't believe that for the C3 vaccines, that's any more often than every 3 years. If this were my dog, I'd titre instead of vaccinating him again for as long as I could get away with it. He wouldn't get another vaccination for the rest of his life if possible, and if he had to be vaccinated, I'd do my best to split the vaccines up - give him C3 one week, kennel cough a few weeks after, etc, instead of a C5 all at once. As an aside, IMO, this is why it's important for everyone who can vaccinate their dogs to do so, for at least the puppy series and possibly one adult booster. It creates a good level of herd immunity in the canine population, so that dogs like this can safely get away with not being vaccinated. Oakway, what does titre testing have to do with T cells? No offence but I think you might have thing mixed up a little?

DOL rocks! I've had an offer to lend both already. Thanks very much awesome mystery person (not sure if you want to be identified!)

They both started & learnt to weave with 3 poles & a clicker. I have done some 2x2 with Shine, but more b/c I wanted to understand the process so I can teach it. I like the 2x2 & see benefits in it, but think I will always use the 3 pole method for my own dogs. Thanks! I taught my old boy with a lure, which was the only way I knew then, with pretty average results. Will definitely be doing one of the clicker methods with my new girl.