Just Midol

You can buy the mussels fresh as well, in the shell, around $7-8 a kg.

I only have two dogs to feed on BARF so I don't have to buy a lot. Yesterday for eg I bought four chicken frames and 1kg of chicken wings, it was less than $5 for the lot. I make up several kgs of BARF mix and the meat costs me no more than $6/kg, vegies and fruit is cheap and I get a tin of sardines for 55 cents to add in too. The offal is cheaper than the mince. That lasts for three weeks as I feed it with lots of other RMBs. If I had more dogs to feed I would probably buy a standing freezer and buy everything in bulk. You can buy in bulk through Canine Country. Yep, I do. I buy from Big Dog in bulk!!! I go through a 2kg log of mince per day sometimes more!!!! I don't have time to make my own ...between working full time, caring for 5+ dogs and showing ...who has time to cook for themselves let alone the dogs! LOL It is all the other stuff that is the 'new trend' eg: Prey model raw etc. As I have mentioned above I think you would break the bank trying to feed some of this stuff to more than 1-2 dogs. Either that or your catching it, killing it and growing it yourself In all seriousness, I don't use or recommend to my puppy buyers to do solely barf or raw feeding until there dog has finished growing. Too many probs growing large breed dogs carefully as it is. I would be terrified that the pups are not getting the right nutritional balance for growth. I would be interested to hear if anyone has raised their pup on pure raw/barf diet? I raised a large breed dog (A GSD) on barf, he is active as well. Probably more excersize than most do. He is fine, everyone who has met him says he is fine. My main vet says he is fine. My backup vet is just weird. He does need huge amounts though. Almost 10 times what my huskies eat. ETA: That's home made barf. Mince + Bones + Fish heads.

Corvus, just for fun. Can you find me anything which demonstrates when a subordinate dog in a wolf pack has roamed away from the main pack? Can you provide anything which shows this happens? Dogs follow the leader, to me, it is as simple as that. UNLESS we teach otherwise.

Just thought I'd post up a review of the NDTF block 1 so that others who are interested can have a look at what I thought of it. We had 6 people in our group which was good as it allowed for discussion and you get to know each other. Almost everyone there has decent experience with dogs, from obedience instructors to breeders to vet nurses and boarding kennel workers. In terms of length of experience in dogs I probably lost that competition but I don't care Be warned, these are actually diary entries so some of it is not relevant but too bad, I've only edited out a few things. Tis long, and I don't care about spelling errors. Day 1 Started at 2.30pm and ran through till 6pm. I didn't expect to learn much on the first day and my expectations proved to be true, but it was still a very useful day to attend. I already knew most of the theory discussed (basic fundamentals of training, things like the 3 phases) but knowing the theory and knowing how to explain the theory are two different things so I did learn things that would be useful when it came to teaching or passing on what I know (when I know enough to do so.) You're encouraged to question what the trainers say, and naturally, I am already not in 100% agreement with the instructor, mostly on whether the e-collar could be used to train a dog new things but I am here to learn, not argue, so I didn't argue about it. A few good discussions popped up, one about whether dogs have deductive reasoning. I came out of that discussion with my previous thought reinforced, that dogs do have a form of deductive reasoning. It's not the same as what we have but I do believe it exists in animals, I don't really agree with the black and white distinction of deductive reasoning and "human" emotions, if a dog can feel "happy" then why can't it feel "love"? If a dog can feel "anxious" and "fear" then why can't it feel "love"? It might not be identical to the love we feel, but it exists imo and is entirely unrelated to training We also discussed the immunisation and socialisation issue which I attempted to plug Jean Dodds and mentioned I only immunise in the first year and I didn't get insulted once! Wooohoo! Michelle was a very good speaker (our instructor for the day) and manages to communicate very effectively, which was fantastic. She wasn't pretentious either which is a huge bonus which is uncommon in dog training. I'd have no worries spending a year learning from her, or training with her which is something I can rarely say. Anyway, that's about it for Day 1. Now to Day 2! Day 2 Day 2 started off well, picked up @ 8.15am and went for breakfast at McDonald's even though I just had Kangaroo steaks, Eggs, Baked Beans and Toast for breakfast but it was good anyway. We met the rest at an obedience venue (name removed) to observe how they taught and what we thought they did well, did not do well and could improve on. Some of the other students had trouble removing their preconceptions and spent a great deal of time discussing what was being done wrong rather than taking the positives from the instructors. The instructors were pretty successful but I didn't think it was wise focusing on handler praise when most dogs respond better to food and prey based rewards (including play) but what they were doing worked. They were very correction orientated, the first few levels of people seemed to be a bit shy and not willing to act like fools to get the dogs attention and praise. The higher level clients were happy to do this though. I learnt a lot about what to do and what not to do should I ever run obedience classes. We went to lunch next then headed over to the kennels where we had a discussion for a few hours on the above, it was an interesting discussion with many questions and comments posed. I took a lot from it. Whilst I haven't learnt much actual theory yet (though a few minor things have been great) I've learnt how to articulate what I do know, and how to teach others what I do know. After this, we did some handling. We got very good feedback and were "forced" to choose dogs we normally wouldn't handle. I worked with a small cross cattle dog which was about the size of a cavalier. We went through finding which motivator worked, which I already knew how to do but it was good anyway as I could see subtle signs in other dogs of different sizes, breeds and temperaments. First little one had very intense prey drive. Had a lot of fun with him, had him loose leash walking, sitting and focusing in no time at all. Next I got to use a little terrier, he was a blast. Completely uninterested in me, and food, but bring out a squeaky toy and he was just as intense as my previous dog. I then moved onto a Pomeranian which was interesting, as a Spitz breed I do have a bit of experience with similar breeds but this one was a bit different. While it had prey drive, it wouldn't touch an item once it stopped moving or grab hold of a tug but I suspect it was now getting tired. Once we moved back into the shed, we got some good feedback from the instructor and another student who came and watched. Since we all had experience with dogs our handling time was cut down but the instructor (Glenn) wished he had a camera to film it as apparently he has never seen a group perform so well (gain a dogs trust so quickly, find the motivators and get their basic obedience and just generally have no qualms about acting like clowns) which was fantastic feedback to receive and really impressed me. We discussed the training toolbox and what kinds of items (theory & practical tools) as an instructor we should have in it. Drew was also a fantastic instructor, I was very impressed by both his manner of presentation and knowledge. I love trainers who can engage me and keep me interested, which he succeeded in doing. Like Michelle, I could learn a lot from this guy and would have no problems seeing him for training, or referring people down here to him. Anyway, back at 6.00pm and will probably be asleep by 7.30pm (it's 6.33pm right now) as this course really wears you out. It's a lot of information to take in. Tomorrow we have a session with Owen which should be great. I'm now hoping to dedicate one day a week to training dogs at the local shelter, specifically aiming to use different methods and not fall back into what I am comfortable with so I can gain more experience as dogs dictate the methods, and I want experience in all methods of training. I do want to specialise in Huskies and the Spitz breeds though as I feel they require a unique training method due to how stubborn they are. Day 3 Today was an extremely energetic day. We stated off covering everything we have done previously and I heard more negativity about the previous obedience club. It appears to me that one or two people in my course need to take some of their own advice. They complain the club uses too much compulsion and not enough praise but not once have I heard them say something positive about someone else's handling or a clubs practices. We went on to discuss running socialisation classes and I soon realised whilst I do socialise my dogs, I probably do it wrong. I don't expose them to near enough and I have written up a check list with a huge amount of items on it which I'll be using in the future (it spans multiple pages) it also taught me a few things about recognising dangers when dealing with items which may make a dog in a group anxious and the possible side effects and unintended consequences of such behaviours or actions we direct the group to make. We had to split into 3 groups, each taking either a low, medium or high level class. I went with medium, as I find it easy to recognise low level & high level but find it difficult to figure out whether something is medium and always end up going too high or low so felt this was the best challenge for me. Being in medium, I got to pick myself a dog. I went for the Samoyed, not because they are one of my favourite breeds (they are) but because they are very difficult to read body language wise and so the other students could gain an appreciation of dealing with a Spitz breed. He was fine with all 3 levels of socialisation so the owner has done a relatively decent job with him however he was the pisser from hell. I was preventing him from marking as many objects as possible (as he pissed in the water bucket) but failed to protect myself and he marked me, I can't say I was impressed. The one girl who handled the Samoyed when I was doing medium very quickly realised how head strong Spitz breeds are and how independent they are, not to mention their persistence. For our medium level, my team member and I decided on three things which we considered medium intensity: 1) A rake. 2) Gloves. 3) The lawn mower running, but not moving. For the rake, we raked around the dog, bumping the rake into the dog and in some cases raking the dog itself. Our theme was gardening so when raking if your dog gets in the way you may hit him so we felt it was important a dog is socialised to this and considered it to be of medium intensity. The trainer agreed with us which was great. The Gloves was a good idea, but we managed to get it wrong. We had the handlers put the gloves on and handle their dogs in all directions with the gloves on. A better idea in my opinion would have been for myself, the instructor, to put the gloves on and approach the dogs from the front and go for their faces (as this is a medium intensity session) or to throw the gloves near the dogs. The lawn mower is where I made an error with a dangerous situation. Earlier one of the dogs had been eye balling a 4 month old puppy, so we separated them. I didn't actually know why they were separated which is one of my errors because: a) I should have asked why my partner was separating them. b) I obviously wasn't observant enough. Anyway, so I put these two dogs next to each other. The instructor Owen halted the class and notified me of my error so I moved the larger dog out, and the smaller dog into the shade. Problem fixed. The reason this error was dangerous was we were dealing with an upper medium intensity item, a lawn mower. If the dog got anxious and redirected, it is likely the puppy would have suffered for it. The enticement starts here. Owen noticed a fire around 2km away, initially we weren't phased as it didn't look severe but it got bad enough that we had to stop what we were doing and moved inside. One of the students however was very stressed so we decided to leave the venue. Upon leaving, it was decided we'd evacuate all of the cats from the centre so we piled them into our 4 cars (students) and left (but Owen and myself were going to return). Upon returning, we found out they were evacuating the entire kennel, the CFA had advised us to get out immediately. The problems started. Management couldn't decide what to do, the entire thing was a curfuffle. We have a huge fire on our doorstep (wind blowing the other way though) and no one would hurry up. We started the evacuation at 1.30->2.00pm or so and we didn't get to our first location till around 5.30. Moving 70 dogs and 15 or so cats is no easy task but it should have been done quicker. At the first location we decided to move to a kennel, some kind people had offered to board the dogs and cats. Some of the students got lost and some animals spewed and pee'd in her brand new car (4 days old) and the kennels are organising payment (or the NDTF, not sure who is) which was great. Overall, terrible evacuation and should not have been done the way it did, if the wind was coming in the opposite direction it would not have been pleasant at all. I've learnt that having a fire management plan is useless if you don't perform full practices before fire season. On the plus side all humans and animals were successfully evacuated before the wind turned (but the fire didn't impact the kennels). I ended up arriving back at my cabin at 8.00pm, was a long day, not as stressful as I thought dealing with a bush fire would be - I managed to keep my stress and anxiety levels relatively low and I only wish I could have been more helpful, but I didn't know what to do as no one could direct me but I did cart 3 dogs out and Owen took 7, so without me only 3 of those would have been evacuated and the other students probably took around 10 cats and 7-8 dogs at least. The benefits of hindsight. Owen was a very, very good trainer. I learnt a lot today on socialisation techniques from an instructors perspective. He is going to make up the other 2 hours another day as we were obviously cut short (from our luring session) which should be interesting as I am not very skilled at luring. Tomorrow we're with Julie and a thing I am interested in learning more about which is shaping (mostly the methods usually deemed "positive") and clicker type work. Day 4 What a day! I learnt a lot today. I always used the clicker as a "treat marker" where she uses a clicker as an "event marker", the difference being you don't load the clicker before using it. Naturally I chose a large dog, a young pointer around 7 months old. He wasn't food driven though so I replaced him with my bud Benji, the Samoyed. He is food driven, but only wants to work when you get down to his level. He was a typical Spitz, very head strong, independent and would have worked far better in a different environment as there was simply too many distractions for him. I did lure & free shape a sit successfully in him but it wasn't exactly rocket science. I managed to get marked twice this time. I moved onto an older Border Collie next, unfortunately I got frustrated and while I didn't take it out on the dog I still feel guilty for it so I'll make sure he gets some love tomorrow. He didn't take to luring into the drop at all, and he needed to be guided but since we were doing a hands off session I couldn't. He was uber affectionate. More negativity though, insulting, insulting, insulting. I had to bite my tongue as it was just driving me insane. They evacuated poorly, but it wasn't all bad and overall they succeeded. The NDTF is shouting us dinner for the huge hassle in the fire evacuation which in my opinion was entirely unnecessary but it's a nice gesture anyway and if free food is offered I am there. Short entry today, too exhausted. Day 5 Drew took us for the morning again as the original person couldn't make it due to some dramas which won't be posted on a public forum. It was our introduction to compulsion workshop, this is where I actually know what I am doing as I mostly use compelling & compulsion with my Huskies as it's really the only thing that works once I've busted through the teaching phase. It was nice being at home and actually knowing what was going on for once. I still learnt things though, mostly how to teach others and how to troubleshoot problems. A few things that are relevant when taking classes. I also did a bit more work on luring, though luring is one of my least favourite techniques, a better way to word that would be I am not very skilled at luring For some reason today I made a few terrible choices with dogs. First I took a lab that had no real drive (food or prey) and was not social with me at all, her "boyfriend" was much better, very affectionate and learnt relatively fast via compulsion. I also did some work on a few random mutts and the Pomeranian. Next we got into our complex tricks workshop with Glenn. This was very interesting and I realised that I've been teaching complex tricks in an inefficient way. We received our complex trick assignment and since I can and have trained a few already I am going for a hard one, climbing up a ladder and back down a ladder which is on the roof. If I succeed in this, then I'm also going to get the dog to carry a bucket up and down, and then add picking up balls/large sticks from the roof and throwing them into the bucket. That way, I can throw the balls on the roof and get him to go and retrieve them for me. It'll be tough though and I doubt I can pull it off since Gizmo is a bit scared of heights but hopefully it'll work. It isn't the ideal way to teach a complex skill but since it is only required that I do the ladder climb I figure I'll start with that just in case I don't succeed in the rest. We did our practical work and were severely limited in dogs, everything had just been fed and for some reason the kennel girls would only let us take out the two labs, the pomeranian and the fourth I can't remember. It took me 2 hours to get the girl lab to warm up to me but the two labs also suffered separation anxiety which made it tough. We did a bit of targeting again (did some yesterday) which was good as I am learning techniques in a few different dogs now. I could do this all in my dogs, but all of my dogs learn in a similar manner so it has been enlightening to use the techniques on different dogs as it helps me pick when I should use x technique and when I should use Y. Throughout these days I am slowly being reinforced in my views on certain trainers (the more popular TV trainers and outspoken trainers) on the methods they use, and how they only really push one method. I'm learning that it doesn't matter what technique you start with as you just keep trying till you find one that works. There is no technique that works the best on most dogs, or even the majority. After using the e-collar I love the tool, and I don't believe there is any dog that it can't be used on but I'm realising that it might not be the best tool for the individual dog. It is becoming my philosophy to use whatever it takes to get the best result the quickest using all 4 quadrants of training. We had an interesting discussion about Ian Dunbar and they were speaking about how his entire dogs meals are fed in training and he recommends people do the same. I came up with two major issues with this: 1) My dog eats 2kg minimum of barf a day, yet I spend very little time training him. What is his solution? 2) The primary motivator for plenty of dogs isn't food. If the primary motivator for a dog is not food then it is moronic to use food as the primary motivator. Just in this block, roughly half the dogs I have worked with have had a prey drive level which exceeds their food drive level, so if these numbers apply to the general population of dogs then he is recommending that roughly half of the people training use a training method that will not be the best option for their dogs. I've never read his books, but if this is true, I am disappointed. Whatever it takes. I also find it odd at how people approve of one form of negative reinforcement, but don't approve, or agree with another form of negative reinforcement. We were doing the forced retrieve with a lab this afternoon and we did it with two leads, one a tie back and the other being pulled forwards to create discomfort. When the dog took the retrieve item in his or her mouth the pressure on the leash was released, but when I speak about doing the recall with the e-collar I get looks as though I torture my dog, whatever, I'm open to all methods and it doesn't bother me if someone else isn't. We do more luring and head collars tomorrow which should be fantastic. Anyway, utterly exhausted so I'll be going to bed now (8pm) for a 7am rise. Day 6 The start of Day 6 was interesting, was picked up at 9am or something and I knew I recognised the instructor but couldn't pinpoint who it was. It was none other than.... ERNY! It was an interesting session on using head collars. I've come away with a new respect for them and whilst they're still probably not my preferred tool and I'd rather use a training collar I can still see some occasions when I'd recommend a head collar over a training collar, and it's useful to know how to use one. I am hoping I can get some experience using them on some rescue dogs at the local shelter. It was tough as we were pressed for time and I'd have loved to spend a lot more time (an entire day) on this subject alone as it was interesting both proving my previous ideas wrong, and using them on a wider array of dogs would have been very nice but we can't get everything our way. Worked with a fat Labrador and a weird black dog with the head collars. We used the Gentle Leader and the Halti. I'd like to get a few head harnesses for myself now that I've realised how useful they are but given that the different collars are useful in different situations and multiple sizes are required it gets very expensive. I finally cleared up the negative reinforcement/positive punishment issue I had, so now I have a more complete understanding of the four. I was getting confused on when it was positive punishment and negative reinforcement in the sense of using the e-collar for broken stays. I'd hold the stim down and release it when the dog sits back down so in a way it was negative reinforcement as I applied discomfort and released when the dog complied but technically it is positive punishment as it occurs after a behaviour. I guess this point is probably debatable but I don't care. In the afternoon we continued on with our luring with Owen. This was interesting, I worked with one of the students kelpies first up, a lovely little cross named Zoe who has the mouth of a rodent on crack. I've never lured before so haven't perfected holding treats in the palm of my hand and no matter what I tried Zoe managed to get the food from me before I actually lured her, but that's okay. I used the other Kelpie Ziggy who was fantastic. Easy as, very food motivated and very willing to learn. We got a few kennel dogs after this and my partner (we were placed into pairs) chose a Golden. Fantastic dog, very eager to learn and I've never seen a dog drop so quickly. I accidentally taught her to crawl with her arse in the air but meh, I didn't care. She was uber affectionate and one day I might just want a similar dog (eager to learn, affectionate, lovable, not a pain in the arse husky) but we'll see. We went out to dinner next, Owen, two other students and the course coordinator and shock horror, we talked about dogs for the entire time! I got a chicken parmalefijeig that was the size of a freaking cow. I felt sick after eating it all but it tasted good so it was okay. Tomorrow we have introduction to check chains so it should be interesting. Bed time now, exhausted again (8.35pm). ---- Last 2 days to come at a later date. They include check chains and Kelpie-i's club. Both get positive reviews.

I personally feel it can be related to dominance, it can also be because the dog simply thinks you, as the boss, allows it. I don't walk my dogs like he does, but I would if I had to.

I wanted to go, and if it was the 18th-20th I would have but the NDTF interferred

You did the right thing. Of the 5-6 husky/mal crosses at your classes today imo, only one of them (maybe two) should have actually owned the dog that they did. I'm making a judgment based on only 1 hour but that was enough for me. btw, not saying your classes weren't good, they were, we were very impressed I am just saying that those specific owners should not have gotten the dogs that they had. I don't even know if you realise that it was me either ---- I've never met a trainer with real experience with huskies (as in over at least 30-40 individuals) who has come away saying they like training Huskies. Some of the instructors at the NDTF said Huskies were the least enjoyable breed to train due to their stubborness and a few said they were the hardest breeds they have ever experienced. Generalising, but I'd never ever recommend a Husky for someone unless I know for certain they could control them. They are not easy to train or to live with imo.

I was going to post more, but I was interstate doing my first block for the NDTF course... I was going to expand at the airport but my CC wouldn't work on the airports wireless system. I honestly don't give a toss if someone wants to try +R first with no punishments at all (though a punishment IS motivation). I recommended the e-collar which is no different to someone else recommending another technique. Get over it. Sorry I'm not on the PC 24/7, really, I am sorry. It won't happen again.

When introducing Lily and Gizmo I took it pretty slowly, as Gizmo is dog aggressive. I started with one outside and one in, they'd swap around on a regular basis. Then in crates next to each other (but not visible to each other) and after mixing those two up for a week, I started letting them meet on the leash in neutral territory (mums area or outside, strangely enough outside is neutral territory in my home). After another week, I let them run together inside under my supervision only. Any unwarranted fighting was stopped, any warranted fighting was left. Warranted fighting for me is either dog telling the other dog off for doing something unacceptable such as stealing a bone, or pestering the other dog. Gizmo is guilty of pestering, he does it to Lily all the time. After about 6 weeks, I started leaving them alone and sitting on the other side of the door for 30 mins. I finally took the plunge after about 8 weeks letting them run together when I wasn't present. Introducing Gizmo and Montu has been hell. Gizmo does NOT like big black dogs, so it's been a nightmare. Lily and Montu are fine, but Gizmo. Sheesh. Dunno if I'll even bother getting them used to each other as there is no reason to do it. What I did is a combination of leerburgs method, things I read on here & some things I just thought of myself which I thought would be handy (no doubt they're on here but I didn't read them.)

e-collar. I believe they are the best training tool. Way better than clickers, anything. JMO though. For some things I combine the clicker in with my e-collar work, but not for recalls.

Does anyone know of any good brands with adjustable pitch? I don't want Gizmo recalling every time he hears a whistle so want to teach him to only recall @ a certain frequency of whistle.

Least your dog didn't shit on your table.

Yah it is! Gizmo recalled off a group of ducks earlier. He did take 4 seconds or so, he hated immediately, watched, then turned and ran full pelt at me. Going to do a few more weeks then try the beach ETA: I never give a command without a stim, the only reason I know they respond is because I accidentally had it on zero for 15 minutes once.

That can change each time too just depending on why he does/did the run past cheers M-J We work 100% with no lead now, but he did run past today. I decided just to let him. He went 30m then stopped turned around and looked at me as though to say "Oi, buddy, you coming?" and then returns or sniffs around when he realises I'm not. He isn't a velcro dog yet, and does venture about 40m away but any further and he'll "think" about returning, which I don't want so I am gradually letting him go further. I've been going for 1 week really. I did stop and start a few times but this time after seeing results quickly (I changed method) I am sticking with it. Gizmo is offleash already, Lily isn't. Lily is distracted too easily. She knows the commands just as well as Gizmo but minor distractions for Giz are major distractions for her. It's frustrating having him progress so fast and her not, but I just don't show my frustration. Gizmo really has been a blessing. There is nothing better than running around the property off leash with him knowing that if I tried this a few weeks ago I'd have lost my dog. I'm training two right now, but a third will start obedience work with it in a few weeks. Using the two-collar system called the Dogtra 1902. I really like the dial on the top, without it I'd be lost. It allows you to increment the level without releasing the stim so when the dog does ignore you then you slowly wind it up, usually Gizmo comes within 5 extra levels and then won't try and ignore me again for a while. One thing that is different between me and a normal home owner is I won't be weaning my dogs off the collars. I don't care if I have to use them all the time, as huskies go into this weird drive like state and can't hear you, so it's good for communication as well. They do respond to commands without the stim, but they'll always have their collars on. K9Force from this site has a manual, and I'm following his methods. I'm also a member of a Yahoo group created by a fella called Lou who has been on here before (he is the one who slams the e-collar "studies" on here every now and then) and I follow the conversations in there, so I am constantly learning new ways, methods, issues others are having and how they've sorted it and how they've achieved success. The group is: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ModernEcollarTraining/ Feel free to throw any more questions but the response might be delayed, I work the next few nights then get straight on a plane to Melb. Only up now to buy Cesar Millan tickets.

They do look as if they are being very good, well done, anyone who works 12 hr shifts deserves congratulations for bothering to train their dogs no matter what results they are getting. Just out of curiosity would Gizmo turn and come after you if you ran (not walked) in the opposite direction when he ran past you? Some dogs don't. cheers M-J Thanks :rolleyes: Not entirely sure what he would do. At the time I didn't think of trying it, after the Axle saga I go into panic when my dogs run away from me so I just sprinted and grabbed the rope. If he does it again, I'll try running in the opposite direction (and making a bit of noise.) It wasn't a slow run through, he was running as fast as he could which isn't that fast for him (I can go faster).

I took the plunge today and did 30 mins solo with them @ the park, just on recalls. Luckily no one passed through the park, I think they all realised I was doing long distance obedience so they went around me Anyway, Gizmo had one booboo, I put him in the stay, recalled him and he comes galloping to me (I reward with food when they get to me) and he just went straight past me running as fast as he could. I did have a 20m rope on him so I just grabbed that but no biggy, as he probably would have sat if I commanded him to but running = distraction and we haven't done obedience from a run before so I didn't want to. Gizmo started to become a velcro dog and his sit stay suffered as he kept getting up and sitting at my feet again but he got over that relatively quickly. Lily was pretty good. She definitely knows what is expected of her, she is a very fast learner she just chooses not to respond so I've got to be on my game and make sure she has no option but respond. I'm slowly realising that with discipline and giving the dogs no option to fail in the learning stages it's all relatively easy. I'm going to aim for 30 minutes each dog in the park for the next week, then a week in melbourne and then hopefully get right back into it. My goal is that when Lily goes home she has a reliable recall

Yep, prime snake country which is why I find it funny when people say I never have to deal with snakes Gotta be very careful with them going into that grass on the dirt road. I see red bellies there very often as there are a ton of frogs. I actually find the extended sit pretty easy to teach. I suck at recalls though

Nah, it's not a main road. It's just been resurfaced and lined, for the 500th time. It melts in heat over 30 degrees or so. The dirt road no one goes down, it's falling apart In a 40 minute walk we usually dont have a car go past, unless we leave at the same time people are going to work. And yeah, +p only when I know they know what they were supposed to do. Same time I'd use a prong really. The tying together actually has more than one use. When I work I do 12 hour nights so can't do two 40 minute walks, so I walk them together. I use a two dog leash and cbf unclipping them to practice training so it's a mix of being lazy and an insurance policy. Gizmo I'd be comfortable with alone, but Lily can run uber fast. ETA: I couldn't zoom, for some reason when I tried it went all bright :S

Few things. I definitely don't believe dogs are as dominant as wolves. My dogs aren't expected to get along with any strange people or dogs. I know the two huskies will, because they're snuggle bums, but Montu doesn't really care for people and this is probably going to sound irresponsible to people, but I'd even keep a human aggressive dog (handler aggression is another story though.) I don't believe animal hierarchies are related to age really, parenthood, yes, but only because imo in the wild parenthood is a side effect of being the top animal. The top animals breed, they don't become dominant and the top animals because the had babies. I am not sure if I am making sense. This is posted without reading the article as at this point in time I am too tired to take information in But remember, everything is a theory Bed time, will expand later.

I don't want to intrude on the other thread, actually, I am just egotistical and want my own thread. Anyway, I've been working on the sit mostly, I do recall work but not as much yet as I want to do a few full on sessions of recall in a certain area (park an hour away) but haven't had the time off work. I've actually had my collars for ages, probably almost 6 months but only started 3 weeks ago. When they are released from these sits, they come to me. Regardless of where I am, they just won't stop next to me so I just put them in a sit again when they get close. I've just worked on getting them to come in my direction without actually requiring the drop. You can't see it in the photos, but in two they are next to cows, one they are next to a goat. All of them they have birds around them and in one two dogs are about 25m behind them (and they know it) so I'm just happy that I finally have some obedience under distraction. Also, whilst I don't intend to ween them off the collar they actually respond fairly well with 0 stim! I accidentally turned it to zero (well, I meant to, I just didn't mean to leave it there) for about 15 minutes of the walk and they were performing all sits perfectly. I use a combination of +R, -R and +P in my e-collar work. -R till they sit, +R once they sit (clicker + treat) and +P when they break the sit, especially at long distances. Don't really care if anyone else finds this amazing. I am proud of what I've achieved with two dogs who I originally thought could never be offleash. I now believe that if I put in the work I can have these two offlead under any circumstance and all distractions. Progress might seem slow, we do one session on days I work (40 minutes long, worked into a walk) and two occasionally when I have days off. Lily has made huge progress as originally everything was a distraction for her. I swear she'd see an odd shaped stone and it'd be a distraction. Wind was a distraction. A puddle was a distraction. The sky was a distraction. Clouds were distractions. I won't push the distance further, as a car could come and they may not get to me in time. Most people are pretty good with it when they realise I am training and slow down. ETA: They are tied together as a fail safe, if one decides to bolt, they won't get far as they'll get tangled. Plus, Gizmo doesn't run very fast.

It looks like Micha is sniggering. So your dog likes biting leather items? I think Montu needs to receive some training from Erny, she has a whole bedroom full of leather equipment. Leather and things made of human flesh :D He likes the orbee ball though, but I think mine is a bit big for his mouth right now (it's a large) so I might order a smaller one (medium) to get him used to grabbing a ball or something.

Apparently so

Obviously I missed your post then.

Montus drive is all over the place. I know most of it is due to handler error. Some days I have intense drive, other days nothing. It doesn't help that someone keeps throwing tennis balls into his run. I have no idea who is doing it, I suspect my brothers friends but I am constantly (re: everyday) taking them back out and throwing them away. On anything made of leather, but not solid (my tugs are fairly hard) he is drivey. On a flirt stick he is a bit less than above. On a tug he is a bit less than above. With a ball, he is inbetween flirt stick and tug.

Yeah, you emailed me over it didn't you? Someone did :p I was under the impression that it clashed with the NDTF block training. I may be wrong though.