TangerineDream

I vote for the dog run - it keeps my garden pretty safe, and the hoses are safe because they are either on top of the water tank or amongst the plants behind a dog wire fence. Tango's run is on crushed rock and he is a digger too - and I just fill in the holes and rake it over when I come home...so far he's dug under the house slab , under the firewood stacked along one wall, his water bucket, the outside lounge and the pallet and his kennel...... But he loves his shell full of water too!! and digs more in winter when his pond isn't there...spends more time in his pond as soon as the temp gets over 15°C than digging [edited to add the last bit]

If cuddles is what turns him on, then cuddles should be his reward, but for a time, only when he does something that you ask him to do, not because he climbs up on your lap for a cuddle. If I'm teaching Tango something new, even though he's usually a bouncy (5' up in the air) kind of dog, I've found that slow, gentle head cuddles are his favoured reward at early stages of learning an exercise, as he can be uncertain and a bit nervy if he doesn't understand what you want...this sort of thing might work with your pup, you know the sort of thing.....the caressing hand under the chin, draw the head up along your leg, look deep into the eyes and croon in a singsong voice."goooood pup" - this also helps with reinforcing the pups focus on you......

You can also use your foot by swivelling and putting your heel on the ground under the dog with your toe up (if clearance ground to belly is great enough) so that as they go to sit they prod themselves beck up into a stand...can work well if the dog is hand shy.. mind you it takes a bit of co-ordination to do this without falling in a heap and looking like a dork

A quick wipe over with a nice smelling human shampoo dissolved in warm water works brilliantly!!

A quick wipe over with a nice smelling human shampoo dissolved in warm water works brilliantly!!

Next time he does it, do what pups do when they get grabbed by their littermates when they are learning how to and how not to use their mouths... give a high pitched squeak and freeze as soon as he lays his mouth on you...you should find that he'll stop dead and look at you a little confused....you've actually just 'spoken dog' to him and he knows what it means......do that every time he does it, but don't say anything else or do anything else except squeak and freeze. When he either nuzzles you or stops grabbing, stroke him slowly...but if he grabs again, repeat the process.....you'll need to be patient, but this is a fabulous way to teach puppies what is and isn't acceptable in the 'mouth on' times that they go through....and will also work when as an adult dog he runs into you because he wasn't watching where he was going.... Patience and lots of luck....I've used it on 5 Dobes and 2 GSP's and it works a treat!

Yep - I thought of the icerink scenario too - those boards look very shiny - and the reflection might have something to do with it also...and he might be slipping, which would frighten him. Towels are a good idea, and trimming the hair between his pads too. Lots of luck....

In the past there have been 3 times when I have had to force feed (ie: small handfuls of food down the throat and then massage till they swallow) with my previous GSP..the first was when bitches in the area came into season - he'd refuse to eat because his prostate became so swollen he was in pain - but until we worked out what the problem was, I had to force feed him, the second was when he was bitten by a white tail spider and didn't eat of his own accord for 6 weeks , and the 3rd was in his last month. A side effect of force feeding (as well as keeping condition on them and keeping them healthy) is to stretch the stomach...if an animal or person regularly only eats small meals, the stomach feels 'satisfied' after a small amount and they don't 'desire' any more food, and they stop getting hunger pangs.....if you eat larger meals, you actually trigger the hunger signals again......Cadence started eating of his own accord each time, and I have found (being normally a small eater who can forget to eat meals because I don't often experience hunger pangs) that if I have a really big dinner, I'm actually hungry and want breakfast in the morning. Try putting small handfuls of soft food down his throat...I could get 1kg down a GSP's throat every day using this method....but don't forget to use a towel as a bib - it's like trying to feed a toddler.... but it works.....

Eucalyptus disinfectant and hot water kills them too - I used to take great delight in picking them off the dog and dropping them into a bowl of hot water and disinfectant and watching them DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Made me feel like I was achieving something anyway

If the bombing hasn't worked, take to it also with the Mortein Flea and Egg killer spray - you may find that the eggs that are hatching after the bombing are now getting going - I have found in the past that bombing helped, but the Mortein Flea and Egg surface spray worked far better because it got them as they hatched out of the carpet and floor boards...... I had to move out of a property for 10 days because it was flea infested - and they used the Mortein Surface Spray and that was the end of the fleas....

I'd love to come, but will have to hand my apology for this one as I'll be in Darwin chasing storms............ bugger!!

I wonder if anyone in the RSPCA has considered how working gundogs (emphasis on the first syllable) go........I know they don't agree with duck shooting but I thought that was about the ducks not the dogs being psychologically scarred by working around guns....so that's 1 entire group of dogs out of work...and I guess that the Dobe Club better cease their temperament testing because that involves 2 gunshots behind the dog......

When Cadence was ill after being bitten by a white tail, his appetite was so depressed that he had to be force fed...I used to mix chicken mince, rice, oatmeal, Weetbix to a sort of gooey mess and put small handfuls down his throat and massage till he swallowed - I actually kept his food intake up to what it should have been doing it this way and he was happy and had a great coat. This kept him both live and healthy (he didn't lose any weight at all) for the 6 weeks of refusal to eat after the spider bite, and also during the last 8 weeks of his life when he periodically wouldn't eat.

...but his soul lives on in Tango, as does his sense of humour.....but not a day goes by without Cadence drifting through my soul....I still can't listen to Missy Higgins without tears - it was what I listened to endlessly in his last month....I can't play Bodyrockers - it was what I played after I said goodbye to him at the vets....... I miss Cadence, but his soul lives on in 11 month old Tango........... it must, because someone taught him the things that only Cadence knew

Are you supplementing his diet with any calcium? Looks like calcium might help strighten things up a bit because he'd be growing pretty quickly atm...

Beef shank would have done it - Cadence's was triggered by a 1" piece of bacon rind (although he'd been fine before) Each dog is different. With Cadence, once he had the attack - no bones (so I used to have to scale his teeth with a scaler...fortunately he'd go to sleep while on his back while I did his molars ...very forgiving dog). I could feed him the chicken on the condition that I boiled it and then when the fat had congealed, I scraped it off (that's scarey in itself - just how much fat is in chicken pet mince). He was fine on Supercoat because it is reasonably low in fat. You need to read everything for the ingredients - many of the dry foods are too high in fat for a dog with pancreatitis, that's where I found Supercoat to be good. No potatoes, cheese until to find out which he can't cope with...and you'll know with only a small amount. Every change to their diet must be done over a number of days, slowly and monitoring every motion for mucous. If stools get mucousy shortly after the initial attack, assume they are having another and go instantly onto a rice and yoghurt only diet after fasting for 24 hours till the gut settles down again. If the pancreas gets irritated by anything all hell breaks loose. You may also find that you can feed Pedigree complete nutrition pouches (the chicken or the lamb one) if you need to travel - they only have 4% fat, which is great - Cadence could cope with that easily for 10 days...anything with 8% - you'd notice that it was starting to irritate his pancreas within 2 days, and after 3 days you couldn't feed it any more without him sliding towards another attack. It's a fine line you need to walk with their diets - most importantly - you become the ONLY person to feed them anything - no-one else is permitted to - you need to know every single thing that they eat - don't leave anything to chance.

My previous GSP Cadence had 1 attack (after some bacon rind when he was about 18 months old) - he threw up bloody mucous and had bloody diarrhoea....off to the vet, bland diet of rice and yoghurt then added chicken fillets (cooked) and stabilised there for a few weeks till his motions were solid and stable. I was absolutely paranoid about him getting anything that had animal fat in it from then on - he didn't get any treats for a long time till I worked out what didn't work for him. He could only cope with food with 6% or less of fat in it or after about 3 days he'd get mucousy stools which was the beginning of another attack...and I could stop it at that point... Takes a while after an attack for their gut to settle down before you can start modifying their diet....slowly and surely - no treats till you are 100% sure (and that means telling everyone not to feed him) Lots of luck......Cadence never had another attack after the first one....but I was the food nazi after that - and no-one was allowed to feed him without asking first.... From then on...boiled chicken (all fat skimmed off), rice, dry food.....

It's called the 'selective teenage deafness' syndrome ;) and the rules are the same for human teenagers....they only ever listen of their own accord when you offer something they actually want...... ;) Bluntness is good .......silent ignoring when demanding attention is good ....one command which must be obeyed (with no repetition) is good Sanity will return!! Stay calm.....

Erny, you and Kal worked together as a team for so long against this it really showed what dedication and love can do. Be kind to yourself and remember the happy times you shared......that is what Kal would have asked..... Sleep softly.....

With Tango I use speed and a sweeping signal in front of his face and towards the ground at a 45° angle in the direction of travel rather than a chop (did that make sense?)...face follows hand, drops are straight while heeling. Found this to more effective for him.

Tango & I will put a paw and a hand up for a full day session...very interested in broad methodology & handling different temperaments as well as drive......any day on a weekend is good except for the 26/27th August (cos I'll be in Brisbane).

My Dobermann (Tegan) used to surf the top of a 5' fridge!!!!! it was the only place that I could put fruit cakes to cool safely and even then they had to be right at the back, because somehow she could reach halfway back...and she wasn't a big bitch either!! Tango counter surfs the bench in the garage and takes great delight in looking me in the eye & scaring me witless as I walk out the door from the house......all started because that's where I put his breakfast - have told him (in English) that if I find him on any table or desk or bench inside the house I will kill him...so far, it seems that his command of english is pretty good..... :rolleyes:

'El Destructo' here is chewing a pallet, firewood, destroyed a tiretoy in 10 minutes (the indestructable ones) and started on the handbrake in the car......... Obviously they can grow into it....hopefully they grow out of it.... [schpelling]

...under about 10 months I would buy a really cheap lookalike (so that you have one good one and one that can be destroyed) and as the others suggest, make it into a game - tie a peice of rope through it and run around and drag it around the backyard while sounding like a complete lunatic, and make sure there's something smelling nice inside it when it gets pounced on - but that you have to get it out...so that pup thinks...hmmm...fun, hmmm, cheese...mmm, mum gave me cheese...and if there's one thing that a Dobe just can't resist - that's making a total idiot out of their owners.... Please upload video so I can see it you look like I did when I had to do it with my last Dobe bitch, Taryn!!!!!

Check for chronic pharyngitis..that can give the same 'bum' smell...Cadence had it as a youngster and it took 5 vets to find it - then a course of antibiotics nailed it within 48 hours....... (like tonsillitus in dogs...)