Nancy B

Don't you just hate it when that happens! Yeah, my male snacks on chipmonks when he can catch them. Keep an eye on her, she may need to be wormed. Eating wild animals really isn't a great idea simply because of the parasites and/or diseases that may be present.

I feed raw too. Beef, chicken backs, both chicken and beef liver, turkey necks, beef heart, tripe, pork neck bones...odd cuts of meat that are on sale. I also feed a selection of veggies but no grains.

Aww, Dusty's pups are just adorable! Congratulations!!! :D

We had one heck of a good agility trial at Perry. Whitney got the 10th and final leg she needed for her master jumpers title (MXJ) and then went on to get a "spare". Mason got a first and second place Open standard leg that finished that title (OA). Then he got two second place Open jumpers legs that finished that title!(OAJ). Gent got the final leg he needed (third place) for his excellent standard (AX) title and then, after I moved him up, went on to earn his first master agility leg and his first 5 MACH points! In the breed ring Gent's owner was showing a bitch he sired. Vista took two 5 point majors and got an award of merit at the Dobe specialty! I've always enjoyed the Perry shows but, we've never had a time quite like this. It's gonna take a day or two to come back to earth! :D

[quote name='Carolk9s']Your friend should first contact German Shepherd Rescue if there is any such in her area. She can also go online to find them, perhaps there are people in her area who can help.[/quote] Yes she should contact GSD rescue if necessary right after she contacts their breeder!!! :D

[quote name='Cowgirl']INow that it has been proven that we have been over vaccinating our dogs, there shall be less appointments with vets on an annual basis (of course this would not apply to rabies - which is required annually) but possibly every 2-3 years depending on the vaccine. That the vets will surely lose income as a result of this change. Furthermore it is suspected that the other heartworm manufacturers may be considering going "over the counter" in retail markets with Petsmart/Petco, etc. in order to compete with the PH6 shot. The vets would then lose the ability to charge us for having to test the dog for heartworms prior to the administration of whatever heartworm preventative we chose.......so, they push PH6. It would be logical to do this, since the dog must receive an injection and be tested, etc., etc. Thus they would have re-curring revenue every 6 mos. So, this is why he feels they are pushing the shot so hard. [/quote] Excuse me but, I don't agree with a lot of this. First of all rabies varies from area to area but, many areas allow 3 year vaccinations. Second of all I have not vaccinated my dogs annually for many years BUT I most certainly do take them to the vet once a year! (Most of the show/performance people I know do likewise.) If it's a "non-vaccination" year I have titers done. I've also started having complete bloodwork done to ensure that the BARF diet I feed is giving them everything they need. I also do have a hearworm test done once a year at their checkup. You need to do this, you can KILL your dog if you merrily carry on giving heartworm meds for year after year without checking that they have not developed heartworm. With canine accupuncture, massage therapy and physical "adjustments" now more widely available I find myself going to the vet more frequently than once a year. My dogs to agility and it's sometimes hard on their bodies, those things help. I never buy Frontline (which I do use) from the vet. I do buy their hearworm preventive there (Interceptor) although that may change in the future. I suppose that there may be some vets who may feel a pinch with lack of annual vaccinations but, that just means that they're not evolving with the times. They need to let their clients know that their dogs still need a "wellness" exam. They need to let clients know that their dogs still neet annual heartworm tests. They need to expand their practice to include some sports medicine or holistic or massage or accupuncture or physical therapy or many of the other things in demand theses days. Vets who have actually gone on to specialize in canine nutritution are in very high demand because there are very few of them around. I feel very sorry for the people and dogs that were so adversly affected and/or killed by the heartworm shot. I NEVER give my dogs anything new on the market. It's got to be out in common usage for years before I'll try it. Heck, drug companies have screwed up with people, remember all the weight loss drugs killing or affecting people's hearts? I figure that human drugs must have more controls on them than drugs for dogs so, I'm just not gonna let my dogs be "beta testers" for new dog drugs!

[quote name='Marble']hey, i know this is probably one of those things that's kind of dumb to ask about but i'm curious........do any of you people with female dobbermans remember how big they were at a year old? i'm curious because i have a mix that is (i'm pretty sure) part dobie and part ACD, i keep thinking she's done growing and then she starts growing again.......they don't really finish growing till about two years right? just wondering, thanks for any help you all can give....she's only 50 pounds but her head is already at dinner table height, she's really tall and skinny.....thanks.[/quote] A female Dobe may attain her full height, or darn close to it, by one year old but she will still need another year to "body out"....get more rib spring and fill in. My bitch was about 50 pounds at one year old. She's almost seven now and weighs in around 59 to 60 pounds. She's dead in the center of standard height for bitches, 25" at the withers. Many folks think she looks small.....for some reason the BYB Dobes that people run into more frequently than show bred Dobes do tend to be larger.

That's one of my favorites! :D

[quote name='Sparky']I am hearing that choke collars are not the way to train a dog. I am trying to see if a choke collar can cause the trachea to be crushed.[/quote] Hmm, having Dobermans I'm concerned about neck injuries since we have wobblers in the breed. (Cervical/neck instability) I don't use chokes at all. Likewise, I won't use a head collar....Halti type thing. If you have a driven dog in a breed with the potential problems Dobes have, the last thing you want to do is put them in something that could "snap" their necks around if they hit it running. I do use a prong collar. It looks like a torture devise but, it's actually a lot more humane than a choke....safer for the neck too. I do not use a prong for a prolonged period. I never had to use one on my bitch. I think my boy went through about three weeks where he needed it. I train mostly with positive methods, clicker training. Whitney was taught to heel offlead with a clicker and does a beautiful job. Mason OTOH, found it more rewarding to go visit (lunge) at other dogs in our class than assume the heel position that he'd learned at home. The prong cured him of the lunging but the clicker taught him the correct position. Mason now only wears a flat buckle collar. The key with whatever you choose to use for training (choke, head collar or prong) is that you need to use that equipment to train the dog to walk nicely onlead. You don't want to continue to use it for the rest of the dogs life, just during the training period.

[quote name='DogPaddle']Maybe its different because I live in Canada, health care is covered, they can only sue me for pain and suffering, negligence, maybe plastic surgery but probably not. I know that most insurance companies will not cover at all for dog bites, but you can get homeowners no matter what the breed is, its just not covering the biting bit.[/quote] I lived in Canada (Montreal) for 15 years, just moved back here 8 years ago! Folks in Canada don't have the same mentality toward lawsuits that folks in the US do. I'm not saying that they never sue but, in the US too many folks are looking for any opportunity they can find (or make) to sue and make a few bucks. Picture this. I'm in the front yard working on the garden with Whitney. Whit is on a 20' lead tied to a tree....the lead stops well short of the sidewalk, someone would have to walk halfway into my yard to be within her reach. OK, picture someone deciding to walk into my yard and hit me. Maybe someone drunk, maybe someone under the influence of drugs, maybe someone who was just looking for someone to hit. Doesn't matter. They walk into my yard, hit me, Whit bites them and I get my ass sued off. Not kidding, this could really happen even though it took place in my own yard! Folks in the US, whether they are homeowners or renters, carry liability insurance to protect themselves from today's "sue happy" mentality. The liability is usually rolled into the homeowners insurance package. Someone tripping down your front step could sue you......too many people today refuse to take responsibilty for their own actions.

[quote name='Crested']I bought the delicroque and Ben LOVES it... It's dry food... Ingredients: Corn (min.14%), vegetabilic proteinextract, meat and meatbiproducts (min 4% chicken, min 4% lamb), vegetabilic biproducts, oils and fats, minerals, east, vegetables (min. 4% carrots) , sugar, milk and milkproducts. Ben has food allergies and he has not got anything from this. /Crest[/quote] Corn is the first ingredient listed in that food and corn is the most common food allergy for dogs. My boy Mason has some mild food allergies....nothing really dramatic, just some excessive paw licking. I tried a lot of the commercial foods that were developed specifically for dogs with allergies. None of them really helped. I switched my kids over to the BARF diet last September and, wouldn't you know, Mason's paw licking stopped. I'm NOT saying that you need to go BARF but, I certainly would look for a food with fewer ingredients and no corn! (The fewer ingredients mean less to possibly affect Ben and also aids in an elimination diet if you need to go on and do that.)

[quote name='DogPaddle']Ok so the insurance costs a lot more or they won't insure you if you have certain breeds, the site indicates this is due to risk of biting and liability right? When I got my homeowners and pet insurance quote I inquired if this covered bite liability and the guy said - absolutely not, if your dog bites someone you are solely responsible. So why not just do that, I mean if you have a breed with a greater statistical chance of biting someone, so what, the insurance company does not have to insure you for that right . . . or am I missing something?[/quote] The insurance companies call it breed profiling and it's a nasty thing. Dobermans are one breed that many insurance companies refuse to insure but, if you check the CDC's bite statistics Dobes are pretty far down the bite list. (For example, they're far below German Shepherds yet GSD's are not generally refused for insurance.) Personally, I think Dobes always get lumped into stuff like this and BSL (Breed specific legislation) because of the way they look.....Hollywood loves to use a Dobe as an attack dog. My Whitney is a working therapy dog. She has attained somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 titles, including agility and obedience. She's extremely stable and, short of someone attacking me, I can't see her biting anyone. I have State Farm insurance. I really like their policy when it comes to dogs because it's very fair. Tthey don't care what breed of dog you have, they insure the first bite. Once a dog has bitten, it is removed from the policy and the homeowner must either be willing to bear any finiancial consequences themselves or find other insurance. The Doberman Pinscher Club of America in conjunction with several other national breed clubs whos' chosen breed has been "breed profiled" by insurance companies are working on the matter in the courts. I believe Seattle or at least Washington state, has the distinction of being the first. We don't want breeds penalized or discriminated against. (It's not the breed, it's the owners!) We're attempting to get legislation in place to prevent insurance companies from doing breed profiling. We're also looking into getting insurance companies to take into consideration any certificates earned by the dog in question....CGC's(AKC Canine Good Citizen), obedience titles, etc... BTW, about covering the bite yourself.....in today's society someone could sue for many thousands of dollars over a dog bite.

[quote name='HazelNutMeg']I never really thought it mattered before either. But when you have a dog that's constantly testing you, the little things matter too. Everyday I try to put Hazel in situations (like the doorways ect.) where I can show her I'm still boss, 'pecially if I feel she's been testing me a lot. With a dog like Hazel, you want to always make sure that they know YOUR BOSS, otherwise complete chaois (sp?) would deffently break out! Nancy - how did you train your dogs not to pass you on the stairs? This is an ongoing issue with Hazel, she's REALLY bad for it! I've been racking my brain trying to figure out how to stop her from doing this because I've almost fallin down the stairs MORE then once! She doesn't just pass me, she blunders down! I don't know if she does this with anyone else, being as I'm the only person she's usually around! If I'm not home, she'll either stay in my room (by her choise!) or sit on the bottom of the stairs by the window, waiting for me (She has seperation anxiety). Other then that, she's always with me.[/quote] Mason, as a male Doberman pup, was quite a handful for a long time so, I can understand if you need to be more restrictive with Hazel on things that may not matter to other folks. Everyone has to train with their particular dog's temperament and issues in mind. Mason did try "pushing the envelope" when he was younger but he's really turned into a very good and fairly reliable dog. He still has a ways to go. I never went through the "I must be first through doors or up stairs" but I certainly did other things to make it clear to Mason that I was most certainly his boss. To this day both of my dogs have to sit or down and stay when i put their meals down. They only eat when I release them. They also have assigned places to wait while I prepare dinner....I don't want them underfoot. They are not on a formal stay in their places and I don't even have to tell them to go there but, they know that all meal preparation will cease if they are not in their places. I do a lot of attention and obedience clicker training with both of them. Mason, because he needs the reinforcement that he will do what I want when I command or, and this is what he hates, the game stops. I work Whitney simply because she wants it too and it wouldn't be fair not to work her. Going up or down the staircase I simply either tell the dogs to go first or tell them to stay. If they go first they know they must go all the way to the end and clear the stairs. If they're on a stay, they don't move until released. I never really put much training into this because it really consists of two well known commands. The "stay" is from obedience and it gets trained pretty early around here. The "go on" is an agility command...tells the dog go on and take a series of jumps or obstacles that happen to be in front of it. "Go on" in agility doesn't get used very often in agility aside from closing sequences...they tend to have 3 or 4 things in a line. Works great for stairs! Neither of my dogs have ever tried to pass me on the stairs. Since as far as I'm concerned, this is a safety issue, this would be one instance where I would use a correction if required. I seldom use corrections so, when I do, it makes a huge impression on my dogs.

[quote=Mary's Mama]If you have appropriately established yourself as alpha non of this should matter. In my house there is no consistency as to who enters or exits first, who goes up or down stairs first. It doesn't and shouldn't matter, because I am already established as alpha and they know that if I stay Stop or Go, no matter where they are they will listen.[/quote] Yep, that's how it is in our house too! :D

Quite frankly, I don't care if my dogs preceed me or follow me down stairs. The only no no in our house is that no dog shall pass me on the stairs. It's a safety issue.

[quote name='HazelNutMeg']Nancy, I totally understand, and I guess you didn't read everything I wrote when you wrote: [quote]I just think that it would be better to offer links to some of the major dog training websites and perhaps, a list of recommended books. There are a lot of good training websites out there that were put together and are maintained by folks who have put their lives into dog training....and written the books to prove it.[/quote] I am going to add those! I said that here.... [quote]I am deffently going to suggest some books (if I find any good ones... a lot of the ones I have were only good to me because I was able to pick out things that would work with Hazel, or alter them in some ways, not all people can do that) and add some links.[/quote] I'll see if I can even put more books and links then my methodes! :lol:[/quote] I read and understood what you had posted just fine. I stand by my post above. For persons who are not very knowledgable about dog behavior and training, even if you post links and/or books, why would they want to look elsewhere when they've found a handy step-by-step guide on your website?

Hazel, I'm gonna attempt to explain my thoughts. Please don't be offended, I'm really don't want to do that but I would like you to consider a few things that perhaps you haven't. I've been an agility instructor for several years. I really don't know how many different dogs have been in my classes, maybe 100 maybe more. In that time I've had owners who are very dog savy, owners who don't have a clue but are really wanting to learn and owners who don't have a clue and really don't give a darn as long as they can "make" a dog do as they want. Just as every dog has to be treated as an individual, so does every owner. I have a fairly extensive website with pages for agility and obedience. At the bottom of those pages I have provided links to sites with training information but, I have purposesly not offered step by step training advise. There is a reason. Your methods work very well for you as my methods work for me. In presenting a "step-by-step how to train" on your website you're making the basic assumption that anyone who reads it and decides to use it will also make modifications to it if it's necessary for their dogs. I'm sorry, but my experience as an instructor doesn't support that. In fact the more dog savy folks would probably have invested in a book or two so it would be the ones who really aren't dog savy trying to use your training advise. Now, this is the part that I think can be potentially harmful. A person who isn't very knowledgable about dog behavior may take your instructions as a step-by-step "bible" and not realize that, if their dog requires it, some adjustments may need to be made. Dogs are different...soft dogs, hard dogs, dogs with issues....training may be similar for dogs but, adjustments usually have to be made. If adjustments are not made and a training program that you outlined in a step by step format fails to work with that particular dog there may be consequences for that dog. The owner may get frustrated.... Most folks who offer step-by step advise on dog training try to anticipate all possible consequences and address them...they write books. Yes, it takes a lot of space to cover most of the bases. Books still can't cover them all but they're pretty good. I think it's admirable to offer training assistance on your website. I just think that it would be better to offer links to some of the major dog training websites and perhaps, a list of recommended books. There are a lot of good training websites out there that were put together and are maintained by folks who have put their lives into dog training....and written the books to prove it.

Well, I really can't help too much with suggestions since our training methods are so different. I'm a clicker trainer and I do use treats. I also prefer to "shape" the dogs behavior rather than demand that they assume a particular position (like heel). I will say that I certainly don't think that using treats has impeeded my dogs progress or made them less reliable than if I had only used praise. After all, I compete in trials and I certainly can't use treats there.

Well hey guys, obviously I love Dobes too! :D

I looked at Steve's as well as quite a few other commercially produced raw foods. The upshot is that the sheer volume of food that my two Dobes consume (especially the male) made it clear that I had to prepare the food myself. If you've got a small dog, that's something else.

I sure don't like dogs being killed but, quite honestly, some of the worst places for a dog to wind up are no kill shelters. (I'll probably get flamed for saying that!) Honestly, can you imagine a dog sentenced to what boils down to life in prison? I would rather a dog was euthanized than that. Also, what you don't hear about the "no kill" shelters is that they do have a finite capacity. When they are bursting at the seams, they simply refuse to accept any more dogs. So, what happens to those dogs? Most are shuttled off to a different shelter that is not no kill. I would like to see shelters extend the time a dog is available for adoption when the dog is healthy, friendly and seems to be very adoptable. Of course, if they did that then I suppose the intake could overwhelm them. I just wish people would spay/neuter their pets and folks who have no business breeding wouldn't!

[color=red][/color][size=6][/size]CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! :laola:

While I was still working I always had a couple of cats. My job required a lot of short trips out of town and cats can cope with that. When we moved south and I quit working one of my cats passed on. I still had the other one when I brought Whitney home. Whit and that cat loved each other sooooo much. It was just too cute to watch a cat and a Dobe cuddle up together or take turns chasing each other. (Yes, the cat did chase Whit.) When that cat passed on Whit was so heartbroken that I almost went out and got another one just for her. I like cats very much although, generally speaking, I don't like them quite as much as dogs. The cats I've had over my lifetime I loved as much as my dogs. Sad thing is that I can no longer have a cat. I guess living in a catless household for so long has changed Whitney's feelings about cats. She would like to kill any cat she sees now. :(

I don't like throw chains and I sure don't like Koelher. As far as I'm concerned, dog training has come a long way since then.

Last weekend we had our first agility trial of the season. Mason had already gotten his novice titles last fall but, I held him back in novice because he tended to "zoom" a bit in trials. On the first day he proved to me that he was now ready to move up with a novice standard and novice jumpers leg...both first places! I moved him up to open and he did it again, an open standard and open jumpers leg...again, both first places! Whit got her 9th masters jumping leg so now she only needs one more for that title. Gent got his second agility excellent leg, a first place! He actually would have gotten another leg but I screwed up.....told him to "out, jump, chute" on a course. Whit knows what that means perfectly but Gent just stopped and looked at me! :D I think I'm gonna pass Gent over to a friend to handle once he's finished his excellent titles. Running three dogs at the same trial is just too much for me.