Nancy B

[quote name='bullygirl29532'] My point is Genetics plays a big part in personalities and second is upbringing. The original brood bitch should never have been bred no matter how many CH are in her pedigree.[/quote] Yep, I agree 100% and that's basically what my post waaaay back on the first page said. Sorry folks, there are bad dogs. Dogs with bad or unstable temperaments should never be bred but, unfortunately, sometimes they are.

Whitney and Mason have the Home Again chip. Most of the breeders, show and performance folks that I know use the Home Again.

OK, go here. [url]http://www.merck.com/mrkshared/mmanual_home/sec18/202.jsp[/url] If you click on the first link on that page it'll take you to a page that has ringworm on it....just have to scroll down a bit. Talks about causes and treatments.

Found out what it is: Ringworm Ringworm is not a worm at all, but a fungal infection of the skin. It can be difficult to diagnose in animals, as the lesions do not look the same from case to case. Some animals, especially cats, can carry the fungus in their hair coat without showing signs of itching, scaly skin, and hair loss. In people, the classic lesion is a raised, reddened, and itchy "ring."

[quote name='nea']Thanks for the help! I'm going to see if I can book some time with a trainer, since the classes started way back this spring. And then in the fall I can go to a normal class with him. In the meantime I'll try one of those methods. What one works the best?[/quote] I have used all of the above methods with success with different dogs. What's important is to figure out which method is best for your particular dog. (That's why a trainer is a good idea!) My male Dobe is a very high drive boy. He's also a rather "hard" dog....I don't do many corrections at all (usually just related to the dog's safety) but, he'd shrug them off whereas my bitch would really take it to heart. She's a lot softer in temperament than he is. Mason was determined to be a puller as a pup. I knew that he was gonna wind up in the 80 pound or more range so, I was determined that he wouldn't pull on lead. I usually try the "be a tree method" first on a dog. (It's generally more in line with the way I teach.) You don't get instant results with "be a tree", you have to give it time and be consistent. I did that with Mason and, after about three solid weeks of trying with multiple short training sessions each day, threw the towel in. It did not work for him. Yes, he would slack the lead when I stopped but, he would immediately start pulling as soon as I took a step. (He was a very extreme puller.) I think the reason this didn't work for Mason was simply that his focus was out in front and he was determined to keep it there. He would "wait out" any stops without changing his focus. (Getting Mason to change his focus was also "fighting" the nature of his breed. Dobes are protective...part of what's bred into them IS to be aware and ready to react to their surroundings....to "watch out ahead" for any trouble.) The "turn around" was what I tried next and it worked very well. I don't remember how many sessions it took before he caught on but, it wasn't too many. The turn around method forced Mason to change his focus. Since he would be heading in the opposite direction at any minute, he couldn't maintain a focus only on things in front of him. He had to include me in his focus....to keep track of whether I was gonna turn around or not. To keep me in his focus, he couldn't go out to the end of the lead and pull. The "turn around" method is more a correction based method. Although you shouldn't "pop" the dogs collar, by turning around and walking in the other direction your action will naturally pulls on the dogs collar. That's the reason I prefer to try the "be a tree" method first. I prefer to avoid correction based methods whenever possible but, since I got Mason, I will acknowledge that it is sometimes necessary for some dogs. A positive based training method may not work with every dog but, you'll never cause damage to a dog's temperament/drive/security using it. A more correction based method can cause a "soft or softer type" of dog all kinds of problems. It can cause them to "worry/be insecure/shut down (stop working...stop moving for fear of doing something wrong). Since I don't know your dog's temperament, I'd recommend that you give the "be a tree" method a try first. If your dog is "softer" in temperament, that method won't cause it any harm. Give it a fair chance....it's gonna take time and it will be very frustrating that you can't seem to take two steps without stopping. If you do give "be a tree" a fair chance for several weeks, multiple short trainings session per day and it doesn't work then I'd be inclined to try the "turn around" method. There's a book called (I think) "Clicker Training for Obediece" by Morgan Spector that's wonderful. It's one of the first training books that I bought and I still use it to this day. Perhaps you could order a copy online. It breaks down all obedience training exercises into small portions and tells you how to teach them in a positive manner.

I do think going to an obedience class would be best for you but, in case there isn't one available I'll outline three methods for teaching a dog to walk on a loose lead. This is not teaching heeling, just teaching a dog to walk nicely next to you. Both of these methods work but, YOU have to be very consistent. We'll call the first method "be a tree". When you go out for a walk, the minute your dog starts pulling just stop and be a tree. Don't tug on the leash, don't call your dog, just stand there and hold still. Eventually, your dog will turn back and, consequently, cause the leash to be loose...not pulled tight. When that happens you can start walking again. Of couse, with a dog that pulls a lot, it may take you an hour to get out of your driveway with this method! :D with this method you usually wind up with a dog that will walk on a loose lead but out in front of you. We'll call the second method "turn around". When you go for a walk, the minute your dog starts pulling just quickly turn completely around in the opposite direction and walk quickly in that direction. Your dog will hurry to catch up and run out in front again....and will probably start pulling again. When it does, just do the same thing...turn around and keep walking. With this method the dog learns that it has to keep an eye on it's person. it shouldn't go forging out in front because the direction could change at any minute. With this method you usually wind up with a dog that walks next to you on a loose lead. The third method is to lure the dog into the proper position and reward it for staying there. Sounds easy but, you have to do it in little steps. Be very happy if you get 6 feet the first time. Have treats available in in easily accessed place. (I have used cut up hotdogs or cheese...put some in my mouth so that I could get to them fast.) Put loop of lead over lright hand and gather some of the excess lead in taht hand. Place treat in left hand. Let dog sniff treat in right hand. Put right hand out at your left side until the dog is in the positon that you want it to walk in. (Dog's nose will be "glued" to your hand/treat.) When dog has taken a step or two, praise dog and let it have the treat. Get another treat and continue....and continue and continue. What you're doing is luring the dog into the proper position with the treat. then you're rewarding the dog for taking a step or two in taht position. Eventually, and it will take a lot of time, you'll want to get more and more steps from the dog before it gets a treat. When the dog is getting pretty good at this you'll attach a command like "lets go" or "by me". You'll also eventually want to remove your hand, place it against your waist, and tell the dog "lets go". When the dog assumes the position you've taught it without the luring hand, you need to treat it,release it and praise the dickens out of it.

Haltis, gentle leaders, prong collars and choke collars are all training tools. For some dogs each of those can be a valuable training too but, that's all they should be. A training tool is simply for use during training....not for the rest of the dog's life. The tool should not replace training. I've got to add the following small disclaimer...... Another consideration with regard to the above training tools is the structure of the dog. Because of the cervical neck instability that can be present in Dobes, Haltis, gentle leaders and choke collars are not a great idea for them. You don't want a Dobe in drive to hit the end of the lead and snap it's head/neck around. You also don't want to "pop" it or allow it to pop itself as can happen with a choke. For training, prongs are safer for Dobes.

[quote name='ullabar']Thank you , again. I am really looking for a photo, because I have read the descriptions, and just can't get a mental picture. It has been easy finding the apple-head, but the deer head has proven to be harder, or maybe I just don't know the difference :)[/quote] I suspect that it's been easier to find the apple heads because that's what responsible breeders strive for. BYBers and puppymillers are really the ones who produce the deer heads. If, for whatever reason, you decide you really want a deer head you really need to check into the health testing, structure, temperament and pedigrees on the sire and dam. No, not all apple head producers are responsible breeders but you have better odds with one of them.

[quote name='nea']Bir pulls on the leash [i]all[/i] the time. It gets very annoying, if I want to go at a slower pace but he is pulling on the leash all the time. I get worried that he'll hurt his neck if he pulls hard enough, and I am supposed to be the one in command. If I jog along he is fine, but I don't want to do that every single walk! And then if he catches a scent, he will suddenly stop without any warning. He knows how to heel for a short while like going across the road, but not much longer than that. I don't want him to have to heel all the time either. I've seen other cockers that walk ahead, like Bir, but whose leash is not a bit taunt. I wish Bir could be like that. How should I do?[/quote] Most dogs do not just naturally walk nicely on a loose lead, they have to be taught to. There are many different ways to teach loose lead walking. Is there an obedience class near you that you could enroll in?

[quote name='nea']I'd like to get Bir neutered. Will he try less to be dominant, or does that have nothing to do with it? Will he stop marking so very much? It is ok to neuter a 2 year old, isn't it? Will he be less likely to dislike other male dogs, or not? Will he become calmer? In what other ways will he change? What are the downsides to getting him fixed?[/quote] Neutering a male at 2 may or may not affect his dominance. It may or may not have an impact on his reaction to other dogs. It may or may not "calm him down". It also may or may not stop his tendancies to mark. Many folks do neuter in hopes of having a positive affect on just the items you've listed. Many times it does but, there's no guarantee. I think there's a better chance when the dog is neutered earlier in life before the things you're concerned about become a "habit". That said, neutering will do two very important things. It will prevent him from getting testicular cancer and will prevent him from siring unwanted pups. It will also help him avoid prostate problems later in life. I don't know of any down sides to neutering aside from the surgical risk that is involved in any surgery. It's not a new or complicated surgery and I wouldn't let that stand in the way of having a dog neutered.

Why don't you visit the website for the Chihuahua Club of America? [url]http://www.chihuahuaclubofamerica.com/[/url] You can read the standard (heads should be apple, not deer) and learn a lot about the breed. They may even have breeder references on there. Don't know for sure, I'm not into Chi's.

[quote name='Crested']Here are my victims!! :evilbat: [img]http://personal.inet.fi/koti/crested/nancyb.gif[/img] Recognize your dogs? :diablotin: And there will be more!! The picture slaughter hasn't ended yet! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :cooldevil: /Crest[/quote] OMG!!!! Whitney's been beheaded!!!!!!!! :o

Go to the AKC website ([url]www.akc.org[/url]). They have a whole department devoted to fighting breed specific legislation. I'm sure they can give you some pointers.

Speaking in general, not about the incident posted. OK, I'm probably gonna get yelled at for saying this but, I think it's very true so I'm gonna say it anyway. I have Dobes, they're a protective breed just as Rotties are. With a breed like either of those there's a greater responsibility placed on the owners. Obedience isn't an option, it's a must....these breeds also need owners with very strong leadership qualities. If the owner doesn't take charge, the dog will. Extensive socialization is also very important. What you can "get away with" with a Lab or Golden is not acceptable for a protective breed of dog. If you don't want to put in the work, don't get one. Yes, in most cases when an "incident" occured it was due to the owner. Either through ignorance or some idiot wanting a "mean" dog. However, and it is a big however, not all Dobe or Rottie breeders are created equal. There are a lot of folks producing dogs like this that have absolutley no business doing it. They simply throw together a dog and bitch to make puppies without consideration to temperament, health issues, structure and drives. Even a responsible person who wound up with a high drive Dobe with questionable temperament would be hard pressed to do anything but euthanize it. Yes, most of the time it is the owner but occasionally it is the fault of the breeder. Yet another reason to do a lot of research before you buy a dog. I'd say particularly a protective breed dog but, since I know two person and dog aggressive Golden Retrievers, I suppose it's any breed that's popular enough for idiot BYBers or puppymillers to get into. I feel bad for the Rotties, they've become very popular and that's when more problems crop up due to lousy breeding. Dobes have dropped a lot in popularity but, they usually get a black eye in the media simply because Hollywood loves to use them as "attack" dogs in films, videos and tv shows.

Hey Jen, sounds like you found a good instructor and both you and Laylah did well. Congratulations! :D

WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! Carol!!!!! Huge congrats to you and Candy, sounds like a wonderful trial! :laola::laola::laola::laola:

[quote name='ShadyLady']Just out of interest . I though I'd train my sheep dog to do some tricks (he's way too smart) so I taught him to drop , lay down then roll over I did this in individual steps . But now when I tell him to drop he does it automatically . Its a little embarrasing when you trying to herd sheep and your dogs doing sumersoults on the ground :oops: I taught him with praise . So now when I tell him to drop its drop and then stop!! Quite a mouthful anyone got any ideas??[/quote] Yeah, pick a new word for the drop command and use that for drop only. Some folks use platz...I think German for down. It really doesn't matter what word you use. Right now your dog has connected a whole chain of behaviors to the command 'drop". While you could work through retraining this it would be easier on you and less confusing to the dog if you just pick a new word for "drop".

[quote name='science_doc']I was wondering how many people use food treats when training and how many people just use praise or a clicker or something else I haven't thought about? I have heard that the praise method is better, but I am wondering what the opinons are out there. I have been thinking about trying the praise method first and if that doesn't work switching to treats to keep my dogs(I hope by the end of today) attention?[/quote] It sorta depends what I'm working. If I'm shaping a particular behavior I'll use a clicker with treats. If I'm working any standard obedience behavior including heeling, I use a clicker and treats. If I'm fine tuning some agility contacts or more static agility behaviors I may do the same. If I'm training agility moves that require a lot more motion on my part and the dog's part (sharpening up front crosses or something like that) I wouldn't use a clicker but I do reward with treats and praise. If I'm working longer sequences I may withhold treats until the end of the sequence but, I may at the same time be lavish with praise during the run. With my male I do occasionally use tugging or a ball in place of treats. He's very toy driven so, that works well. My bitch has no toy drive at all so, that really isn't an option for her. When my boy was around 14 months old he went through an "I'm not eating phase" that's fairly common with adolescent intact male Dobermans. Didn't matter what it was, he really ate minimally and got pretty thin. Training during that time was a real pain. He would let treats (liver, chicken, steak) just drop out of his mouth onto the ground. We did keep training through this phase by using lavish praise but, it's not something I would recommend as the best way to train a dog. Yes, Mason did progress in training working with just praise but, he came no where close to the progress he made both before and after the non eating phase when he was wild for treats. Both of my dogs are primarially trained with food. I do competition obedience with Whitney and run agility with both of them at the excellent level. Just because you train a behavior with treats or a toy doesn't mean that you always must have a treat or toy on hand to get a dog to obey. The motivators (whatever you choose to use) are for the training and reinforcing phases, not for the rest of the dog's life. Of course, I do still use treats occasionally to "brush up" an old behavior. Why make it hard on yourself? Find out what really motivates your dog. It may be treats, it may be a game of tug, it may be a ball.....whatever it is, use your dog's desire for that to make him really want to learn new behaviors in order to "earn" that item. Using just praise is fine but it's not quite as much of a motivator for most dogs so, training will go slower and you may never get as "crisp" a performance as folks who train with treats/toys/etc do.

Gee...I don't know if the board will let me post this but, I'll give it a shot. With regard to stud dogs, there's a very well known and respected Dobe breeder who coined a phrase I love. "it's a penis, not a magic wand"

OK, I've just read through this entire thread and I figure that I'll toss my two cents in. Teaching classes as I do I'm very aware that most of the public hasn't got a clue as to how to read their dog's behavior and head off a problem before it starts. And just consider....I'm teaching folks who were at least motivated enough to come to a class!<G> I've thought dog parks were a terrible idea for as long as I've known about them. How do you know the level of control an owner can and will exercise over his/her dog? How do you know if the owner can "read" his/her dog? How do you know if the dog's vaccinations are up to date? How do you know if the dog has a communicable disease? How do you know if the dog has parasites? How do you know if the dog has "issues" with something that would seem innocuous to you? How do you know that if two or more other dogs decided to "start something" they wouldn't carry the fight to your dog? I regard dog parks as accidents waitng to happen. My dogs mean more to me than that. Yes, they are confident and controled but I see no reason to put them in any situation where there are too many variables outside my control. It's just plain foolhardy.

Wow, I never thought of chicken wings as bait....but hey, I don't fish! :D OK, you're right in that you really do need to prevent your dog from eating them. Fresh raw chicken bones are flexible and won't do harm but bones that have either been cooked or dried out can cause serious dammage. Training a really good "leave it" would be ideal which is what you're shooting for. Until your dog will reliably leave things at command or eat only from you, you may want to consider getting a basket muzzle just for safety. A basket muzzle is simply that...sorta a big wire basket that is fastened around the dog's muzzle. Dogs can bark, pant, drink water (as long as the container is large enough for the muzzle) and do just about anything except eat something from the ground through the muzzle. I have a friend who has a Dobe with Persistant Right Aortic Arch. Angel, the Dobe, can never eat from a normal position. Food will lodge in her throat and kill her. She must eat meals from a stepladder. Whenever Angel is outside she wears a basket muzzle for her own protection.... to prevent her from trying to eat anything. If you'd like to see Angel the website is [url]http://bellsouthpwp.net/a/d/adamas1/angel.html[/url] It's been quite a while since I looked at it but, there used to be some pics there of Angle with her basket muzzle on.

Putting a knee up to stop a jumping dog is a pretty bad idea. A dog can be harmed by doing this. Why do dogs jump up? They're seeking attention. The way to stop the jumping is to deny the attention when they jump. When your dog jumps just quickly turn around away from your dog. Look at the ceiling, look at the side, basically, look anywhere but at the dog. Do not talk to your dog. In the beginning you may want to say "no" as you turn away. That's fine, it'll help your dog understand that no makes you turn away and deny attention. After you wait a few seconds you can turn back to face your dog. If your dog jumps, go through the same behavior of turning away and denying attention. I have a very driven male Doberman who initally thought that jumping was a great way to get my attention. He quickly learned that he got a lot more attention by keeping all four on the floor or doing a sit when greeting me. Another method that some folks swear by is to train an incompatble behavior. What does that mean? Well, a dog can't jump on you if they're sitting. Train a very good and fast sit. When you have that, if your dog comes at you in a manner that you suspect is gonna wind up in a jump, simply tell it to sit.

[quote=Mary's Mama]:oHere is my hypothesis, it seems all of this started when I changed him to the senior diet in hopes of helping him drop more weight. [/quote] This sentence combined with the symptoms you listed make me wonder if he's having an allergic reaction to something in the Wellness. Yes, Wellness is a good food but individual dogs can still have reactions to ingredients. Check the Wellness bag for grains (most common allergy) and see that the next food you try doesn't have the same grains. Dogs that do have allergic reactions to foods usually do well on foods with very few ingredients. California Natural is one that a lot of allergic dogs do well on. BTW, you can give a 1000 mg fish oil capsule (Omega 3) each day to help with dry skin.

Wellness is a very good food but, it may be that it just doesn't agree with your dog. Not all dogs do well on all foods no matter how hight quality they are. Another thing to consider is that perhaps you're giving her too much food. You should be feeding a smaller quantity of Wellness than you did with your previous food. Overfeeding will cause soft stools.

[quote name='jen'][color=red][size=7]A question?[/size][/color] i have a question that i`d really appreciate your opinions and advice on :hmmmm: i`m wondering what is the best way to introduce cleo to my other dogs when she comes home. i`m worried about the initial walking through the door :-? , it will be dark by the time she gets here so i can`t do the intro`s in the garden. my dogs live in the house, so do i keep them in another room as she arrives then let them in one at a time to meet her, or bring her straight into the room where the other dogs are? :-? Or some other way? Any suggestions? :D[/quote] If there's absolutely no way you can do the introductions on neutral ground (which really would be the best way) I'd recommend that you keep something like a baby gate between the dogs for a couple of days. Lets them sniff each other and get used to having them there but, would prevent them from immediate access. A crate for Cleo would work too. If you do opt for some sort of gate, be sure that you don't spend all your time with Cleo. Your dogs should see that yes, she is now part of the family and you do interact with her but you have to be careful not to interact with her at the expense of the others or that could cause problems.