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Erny,thank you as it is much appreciated my Friend.A Compliment from all the People in this Topic,who I know are knowledgeable and decent People carries some weight for me. Tony

Rob , Kelpie-I and Jesomil,thank you all for your very kind words Tony

Brendan,I would be asking myself what has happened in the last Week? Tony

Lablover,this my interpretation of a balanced Trainer. Somebody who has had experience with a wide range of Dogs. Somebody who can see where the Dog is up right to now. Somebody who can recognise residual effects from the past on the Dog. Somebody Somebody who can see exactly what awareness level the Dog owner has. Somebody who can sucessfully blend the Dog owners eductation,expectations of the Dog and training of the Dog so that all involved grow in awareness,ability and confidence. Somebody who has no bias as far as training methodology,leaving them free to select the best approach based on the Individual dogs temperament,age,past experience and ability. I am not the best Trainer I could be.Nobody is the best Trainer we could ever be.Everybody who is honest,rational and aware will admit being the best is a continual and ongoing process. Tony

Lablover,I have to agree the majority of times the Human is at fault. Tony

Prey Drive in a BC,Kelpie,Catahoula and so on is herding!!!Reddi there is no way you will surpress this behaviour.You might as well try to stop Pigs rolling in the Mud!!!You do need to find an outlet otherwise your on the way to a Neurotic Dog.Try to surpress the Herding behaviour and it will take another unhealthy form. Kelpie-I has given some good advice in her posts.Dogs like this are great with strong prey drive and good nerves,not some wishy washy watered down thing. Tony

Best thing I have used on Hotspots was Nappy Rash creme from the Chemist.Worked extremely well. Tony

As others have said,way too much too young. Tony

I love the ol Shutzhund.Extremely well trained Dogs with alot of handle on them.Trainers that really know Dogs and Dogs that work with good nerves,thresholds and ability. Tony

Poodleplus,I am reading between the lines and it seems a Possibility that you may be trying to hide your true identity.Anybody acting in this manner has certainly got an issue or two!!! If your not trying to hide anything and are genuine,then I would say get over it and get on with it!!!!Also Human Nature can be a strange thing and People can be so far off the Track and not be aware of it. Tony

thank you for your kind words Rainey.Driftwooddragon not a problem at all.Perservere and you will get the result you want.All the best with your Pup. Tony

Driftwood,watch two or more Pups playing.They will be jumping,grabbing,wrestling,biting and having a great time.The Game will flow with the roles of Prey and Predator swapping back and forth.When one Pup feels the Game has gotten too much or too rough,he or she will let out a yelp and or turn and walk away.Try imitating this yourself. Tony

I must agree with Erny,there is no subsitute for the right training. Tony

Lewis,how old is the Pup? Tony

Pax,thanks for that.Pretty neat little Dog. Tony

Vickie,thank you for the very kind words my Friend.You got it straightaway and know exactly what I mean.Also Vickie a while back I tried to send you a message but could not get through. Tony

Dogdude,no worries my Friend yes we can agree to disagree.Pinnacle thank you for your very kind words. Tony

Dog Dude,many Dogs I have seen have had their freedom to express Prey Drive hampered by the Owner.The Dog in these cases learn inoder to be whole and let my Prey drive Flow I must get away from the Owner.The Dogs in these situations learn they must repress Drive when with or around the Owner.The Dog learns that their is resistance in him being a Dog and expressing his Prey Drive. All Dogs naturally have Prey Drive, some higher than others of course all depending on the Dogs temperament,experiences and Genetics. Using Food is in some cases the First stage in working towards breaking down resistance the Dog may have learnt inregard to him letting Prey Drive flow.Once the motivation for Food gets him chasing the Ball and he encounters no resistance,then the pathway for Prey drive to flow is opened. Tony

No problem Pinnacle.We all see so many tired old fallacies about Dogs going around. Tony

I agree wholeheartedly with Pinnacle and Rachelle about playing Tug.Playing Tug is part of many good Trainers program. Tony

jules,the Horses your been exposed to must have been different indeed.People use a bit of Feed to catch many Horses. Tony

Pinnacle,thank you for your kind words. Now Erny, this is not directed at you but you did bring it up in your post above.I find Human Nature fascinating with all its twists turns,desires,hopes,dreams,fears,doubts,self deciet and so on.Any Human intereacting with a Dog involves of course Human Nature.The quality or lack of quality of the relationship goes back to how honest,how rational,how aware,how knowledgeable and how balanced the Human involved atually is.A Human struggling with Human issues will bring those to the relationship with the Dog.One classic example of course is Humanising Dogs. Back to the point Erny brought up and again Erny no disrespect towards you is intended.Erny made mention of the Working versus Showing Debate in her Post.Yes I have heard the tired old line of thought many times.Humans are somewhat like Dogs in the fact that we need to read them,see where they are going and respond accordingly.I have had a number of conversations with Dog People of various Breeds and the working versus showing debate was used as a Smoke Screen,manipulation and or diversion of the conversation.The People I was having the conversation with did not want to honestly look at the true reality, hence their effort to divert the Topic. Many times in many Fields not just dogs,we have to put aside our Egos,our self beliefs and look at the greater reality.Many of course do not want to look at the true reality as they may be fearful of what they see,may have to admit they are wrong,may have to concede to somebody else"s Idea,may be having a big struggle with ego and may be always having to be right. Unfortunately most People will not make change till the Pain is great enough.With some its take a long time to get to the required level of Pain to make change.Many plod along living in denial that there is indeed a problem.This of course happens in all aspects of life not just the World of Dogs. Inorder to be objective and realistic we need to rise above tired old statements of Working versus Show and so on.We need to rise above diversions,egos,false beliefs for a greater good.If we do not then we had all better read the story"The Emperor"s new clothes" Lets for at least a little while forget the silly Working versus Show line of thought.Lets look outside the Box for a change.Lets look at the Dog himself.Any Dog of course is much better with a higher level of health and soundness.The higher his soundness and health is the more efficient he is able to be as a Dog.The same goes for any Species.now basically we say we have three groups of Dogs,Working,Showing and Pet or companion.Now forget about Working and Showing briefly and look at the Pet or Companion dog.The Companion Dog even though not showing or working still has to function as a Dog.The point I am making is that the companion Dog needs a good level of health and soundness to be a Dog and a companion.Sadly though I have seen many that did not have the level of health required to be a companion Dog. Tony

There is always the old Debate about whether we adopted Dogs or they adopted us.None of us can go back and see so it remains open ended.On another line of thought it may also have been a simultaneous adoption by both Parties. We all know there was benefit for both sides.Food and Shelter for the Dog and a Hunting Aid for Man.I can see how the channeling of Prey Drive began.This Channeling led to formation of types and or Breeds further down the Track.Early Man would have noticed with the Wolves the common ground amongst the pack and yet at the same time the many differences between Pack Members.I am sure Man noticed how every Pack Member whilst acting in unison whilst Hunting, still had their own individual specialised role to play.Some of the Wolves to use an example would have been more adept at retrieving small Game and thus further down the Track evolved into retrieving Breeds. An ironic part of the whole situation is that, yes Early Man was not as evolved as much as the Human of today.Despite early Mans level of Evolvement he would have lived with and participated in many Dog activitys related to hunting and survival.The Ironic part is I am sure some Early Humans due to their hands on involvement with Dogs,had more knowledge of Dog behaviour than some that I encounter in the Present Day. I am sure if a group of Humans from that early came for a Visit to modern Day Society they would shake their Heads and or grunt in dismay!!!!!They would be looking at some of the Dogs that are being bred today and wonder why the Hell!!!!I could imagine them thinking why would you breed Dogs that cannot Breathe,are not sound and could not survive without being propped up by Humans. Early Man had the best Breed standard I have ever seen and one that will never be surpassed!!!!Early Man used Natures breed Standard to brilliant effect.Early Man continually tested his Dogs in the natural World and this ensured the best survived to continue evolving.Sadly Natures Breed Standard is now paid very little attention to.Many modern Day dogs if shown in the Showring of Nature,would be culled. Man and Dog have lived side by side now for along time and will continue to do so.One would have expected over time for Mans knowledge of Dogs to expand and in my eyes did so up to a cetain time.Now though I see a decline in true knowledge of Dogs as less and less People have hands on involvement and or less and less work or utilise Dogs as part of their livelyhood. Tony

Anita I see sensitive dogs and Dogs that are wary or aloof as two totally different aspects altogether.Many of our Dogs at Home are aloof and wary of strangers.Do they have weak nerves and show so called sensitivity?no way!!!A Dog who is used for guarding say and who is good at it may well be aloof and watchful of Strangers but those Dogs I find are usually strong nerved and high threshold. For example my American Bulldog is watchful of Strangers but very high threshold and strong nerved.again to me Breed Characteristics are one thing and Weak nerved or sensitive Dogs a completely separate matter. Tony

Rom,talking about Reinsman there is a sequence which is Snaffle Bit,Snaffle bit and Hackamore,then Hackamore then Hackamore and Spade or Curb.The finished Horse is a Bridle horse ridden straight up in the Spade or Curb.One only goes back to the Snaffle from a Curb if an issue arises.Once the problem is rectified then its back to the Curb. The Harness Leather Reins are for weight yes but also so in the early stages of Neck reining, so that the Horse feels them on his neck. Rom we are dealing with two totally different areas here.One being a Dogs Neck and the other the inside of a Horses Mouth.The inside of a Horse"s mouth is more sensitive than that of the outside of a Dogs neck.I do not seeing the two areas as being a workable comparison. Also your taking an example from an Animal that is a Prey Animal and applying it to an Animal that is a Predator.Both have their own species specific Psychology, which have little common ground. I feel it would be of little value.I have seen both in the Dog and Horse World where People have noticed a certain Trainer winning consistently and so they start to buy and copy the gear the Trainer is using,mistakenly believing that just having the same gear will see them winning too!!!We all know what a fallacy that is!!!!The quality of training is what counts. It seems the objective in your post above is to graduate down to a thin Cord or leash.Train the Dog with a thin Cord from the word go and if the training is good then you have a Dog that works on a thin Cord. Tony