JudyHoffman

A ROM (Registry of Merit) is also nothing to sneeze at. That means that the dog consistently produced pups that consistently won championships. ROM is really the top of the line in brood bitches and quite an accomplishment for the breeder. This is not the only reason of course to get a dog from a dog that has a ROM, but it is something to look at.

First of all, you can't say to stay away from OFA Fair dogs. You can breed two fairs and get all pups with excellent hips. You really need to look at the siblings and offspring to determine if the hips are questionable. My girl has "fair" hips yet all of her siblings have excellent hips as do most in her pedigree. The sire is also excellent along with all of his siblings and offspring. The puppies have all been PennHip'd and right now are showing all excellent. Also, it is not a brother sister breeding if the sire is different. If would be 1/2 brother to 1/2 sister. This is considered "loose" linebreeding which is not uncommon to serious breeders who want to develop a "look" to their lines or stay within the standard for the breed. You would need to look at the pedigrees of the two dogs mated and look at those dogs to determine if you will get what you want. If all you are looking for is a healthy puppy as a pet maybe to do agility/obedience then my primary concern would be HEALTH. What is the breeder offering you as far as guarantees?

[quote name='MajiesMom']Cat food is bad for dogs. I would not allow my dog to eat cat food. Cat's require a lot more protein than dogs so it is not suitable or safe for dogs. They love it but they can't have it - cat's only. :)[/quote] It can't be any higher in protein than the BARF diet. Besides the fact that is's higher in protein than kibble, why else is it bad? I've never known a healthy dog that got sick from cat food. Just curious really.

If this dog is part border collie, it needs a job to do. Do you obedience train this dog at all? Have you ever? Obedience training with consistent training and leadership will help the problem. Dogs normally, if they are healthy, don't just "suddenly" become aggressive. It is 99% of the time the fault of the owner who usually does not provide significant exercise, brain work for the dog and a good diet. Border Collies (even part) need a job to do. They are highly intelligent .... use that dogs mind to make it happy again. Go to obedience school, continue going, try agility maybe, or maybe herding? Get that dog working and I can almost say that this behavior will change, but it will take time, lots of it and commitment on your part.

I think a 4 foot square x pen may relieve some of that anxiety. Put a nice blanket down and some bones to chew on. It may be from being a shelter dog too.

Separate them now in two separate crates or x pens. They will learn to "learn" off of each other instead of their humans. Do it now, they don't need to be together in a crate or xpen.

I still would be concerned. 7 weeks is cutting it close and the fact that he doesn't care to play or interact at all could indicate a serious behavior problem. Not bad now because he is small and young, but when he is over 100 lbs it can be serious. I would have him temperment tested by a trainer who knows how to do the test. You still got him too young ....... 10 weeks is good for a Rottie! Where did you get him from? and tell your daughter to stay away from his face, which should be a standard rule with any dog anywhere. Putting your face in a dogs face is considered a challenge by the dog ....... DON'T DO IT!

You've had this dog since he's 6 weeks old? Yikes. Where did you get this dog from? A breeder? If so, call the breeder or return him to the breeder. Everything Edgar says is fine for an older puppy (not 7 weeks old). In my opinion as a trainer and a breeder, no 7 week old puppy should be behaving in this manner UNLESS it is a puppy mill dog who was not with it's mother, poor breeding, poor health. You really can't "TRAIN" a 7 week old puppy, but you can use happy voices, let it sleep, keep out of it's face and feed it a good diet and always have treats while interacting with it. If I were you, I'd be concerned about this behavior if it continues and you got this puppy way too early in it's social development with litter mates and mother.

More important than socialization is OBEDIENCE. The dog must have 100% recall for agility and good focus and attention. Agility classes are for training, not for playing with other dogs. If you are working off leash, and there are 5 other dogs working off leash in another area of the course, will your dogs stay with you and not run to the other dogs? I mean stay with you 100% of the time with their focus and attention on you and nothing else? If so, then you are ready. If not, then you're not ready. Many many students use toys are rewards during agility practice. Your dog has to have a reliable down/stay and sit/stay even with toys and treat bags being tossed around.

[quote]made me think he was well socialized around other animals[/quote] This was your first mistake. You should have asked. He also may have been picked on by other animals in his home. He does not sound like a bad dog, he just needs some manners. Perhaps lunging/barking growling is his way of initiating play? Does he go into a play bow stance? You need to teach focus/attention on YOU. Just because your class doesn't teach socialization doesn't mean you can't do it on your own. Take him out yourself. Arm yourself with lots of treats and a clicker. Walk about a strip mall, at a distance at first and ask him for attention & focus. If he gives it, you praise and treat a lot. After a few days of this, add a dog into the mix ........ do the same thing. You need to teach him focus and attention and he needs to know that YOU are the giver of all good things, treats, pets etc. You should walk him in his obedience class closer to the other dogs, well within his comfort zone. Notice the distance that he starts to feel uncomfortable. You need to work on closing that gap or distance. This you do by shortening his "space" by inches a week, with lots of treats and praise and preferably a clicker if you have one so you can mark his good behavior in a way he understands that what he is doing is good.

SamsMom ..... how old is your rescue? Just curious. Do you know any of his background? Even tho I know pure bred dogs, that only helps because I know the pedigrees and the temperment/drive of their ancestors. I also have a Heinz 57 dog, Tucker that I found in a parking lot at 9 weeks old. He is the sweetest most wonderful dog ever and I know nothing about him, but I try to learn about dog behavior. Basically, dog behavior is dog behavior. 8 weeks does not a miracle make. Socialization is always good, no matter what the age of the dog. Most people think that dogs automatically trust, not so, not even with pure bred dogs bought up in the most desirable of circumstances. Trust is earned, on both sides of the coin. Earned from dog to human and human to dog. It's that simple. You need to put your dog in circumstances, safely, so you can learn his reactions and work on them. Your trainer should be helping you stop Sam from lunging at other dogs on leash. The best and positive way I see work with many dogs is quite simple. In a training class, keep a safe distance from the other students/handlers. Ask the trainer not to pet your dog but to toss him treats from a distance. YOU should have him in a comfortable sit or down stay position. If he makes a move towards the treat and the handler who tossed the treat you should be PRAISING a lot. It took much courage for him to do that. After a period of time, he will approach other people/dogs. A quick story. My daughter is 12. She just finished a 6 week Basic Obedience Class. The first two weeks this 4 month old pup was lunging/growling and barking at all the students/handlers and even the trainer. This past Saturday they graduated, first in their class, did all obedience exercises with ease and even managed a "Sit & Greet" exercise, allowing 6 dogs and handlers and the trainer to come up and pet her and treat her. I DID NOTHING to help, only encouraged my daughter to work with Emy 20 minutes/twice a day, on walks, before bed, at feeding time. It can be done and it is NEVER TOO LATE to socialize a dog. They want to please their humans, it's finding what makes them tick and turn them on that is the secret. To Edgar, if you had a truly aggressive dog, in the true sense of the word, your dog would be aggressive by now and believe me you would know it. With your dog, it SOUNDS as if you will always need to be careful with her, being as she is so friendly and does not know her boundaries with other dogs. It will take another dog to teach him/her that. My dogs, ages 11 1/2 = 6 months all play together. They play with their teeth, their paws and they roll each other all the time. They are always "covered in spit". I have never had a "bloody" play time. This is how dogs play. When one irritates another they get very loud (growling/hackles up/barking/lots of warning "smiles") but they "heed" each others warnings. I think in all the time I've had all 5 dogs, maybe I've had 3 bloody incidences and ALWAYS because one of the dogs refused to heed the warning of the dog that was "irritated". Of these bloody altercations, none needed to go the vet, I always cleaned the wound and within minutes they were back to playing again. Quite simply, if you are confident that your dog is a great dog and the dog they are playing with is a great dog, let the dogs handle their own differences. No one corrects or reads a dog better than another dog.

Absolutely! Most times its dogs on lead that get in other dogs faces and handlers think it's OK because they are on lead. Obedience Class teaches handlers and their dogs how to behave in a meet and greet situation. I'll post more tomorrow.

[quote]the first thing he does when he sees another dog is run up to it and either bark or lick its face [/quote] This is very [b]bad doggy manners[/b], even if Blitz means it in the nicest of ways. Most dogs have their "space" bubble and if another dog invades that space, ignoring the others dogs signals and body language, they will in fact growl and bark. When other dogs growl bark at your GSD, they are essentially saying "GET OUT OF MY FACE" and if your dog won't he could in fact get bitten. As a good and responsible owner it is your job to read your dog and now allow him to enter another dogs space without permission from the other dog handler and dog.

I need to think about this a little, but FIRST AND FOREMOST stop labelling what the dogs were doing as AGGRESSION! Sheesh ....... 6 month old pups that come from good breeding stock, with no genetic defects and are perfectly healthy are behaving like "snotty" teenagers. These dogs behavior should not be labelled or considered AGGRESSION! Of two dogs, one has to be the dominant of the two and it seems that Goliath was and Blitz was responding in tune to that. It's not a big deal but if it really bothers you, take your dogs to an obedience class and teach them "manners" on how to behave with other dogs. If you don't, another dog will and that may not produce the consequences that you like. Secondly, dogs should not be allowed to "wrestle" in the house where there is a small space. Allowing them to do so, and have something escalate out of hand will truly be "handler" error. Dogs should have manners in the house, settling down nicely and comfortably, even 6 monty old pups.

What a shame Kaleb. A BYB ..... the pups may have gotten very little socialization or anything it needs in that critical 6 - 12 week period. I suppose it all depends on how hard they want to work with the dog, the money they want to spend and of course the tremendous time commitment this is going to take to fix ..... not just now, but for the lifetime of the dog. This is a sorry situation ....... :(

The BARF diet actually slows down the growth of a dog. At full mature age, the dog will be what it should be, it just makes the growth plates grow stronger and slower. The BARF diet would not make this dog grow to a whopping 160# at 14 months. If this is not genetic, my feeling is that the dog can be rehabilitated. If it is, then maybe not! I hate to say "no way" based on the internet story. I'm curious tho, did they get this dog from a reputable breeder or from a pet store? That also can make a world of difference in the temperments/genetics of this dog.

Puppies with older dogs have what is called "puppy license". Most older dogs will allow young pups to "misbehave" and make kind and gentle gestures to correct the dog. Then at about 4 months of age, the pups lose that license and the older dogs begin to "teach" them harder and harsher lessons. Many times with shelter dogs, these lessons are not taught. After recently having a litter of pups, I saw first hand what those pups could in fact get away with. I have 3 other dogs besides the mother of this litter. She consistently correctly them once they opened their eyes and were walking and exploring. The older they got, the harsher the correction from all the dogs. Puppies "need" to be corrected by older dogs ...... it's part of learning and growing. I have rarely seen an older dog kill/hurt a puppy. A great site on dog training (and I believe this also applies to dog with disabilities) is [url]www.shirleychong.com[/url]

I'm sure you're doing the best you can for Cody. Keep up the training and things should turn around if you are a consistent and benevolent leader who sets realistic goals for the dog.

[quote]I am posting this for Naomi [b]if she cares to read[/b] and digest the information and for others who may have a similar problem with their dogs out in a training situation. [/quote] Then perhaps "OTHERS" [quote]for others who may have a similar problem with their dogs out in a training situation. [/quote] will benefit. I wasn't responding to 'YOU', I was responding to the problem for anyone else who may have similar problems as you are having. Get a new trainer and get Cody used to puppies. He will encounter them for the rest of his life. Perhaps a training instructor who specializes in deaf dogs with vision problems might help.

I am posting this for Naomi if she cares to read and digest the information and for others who may have a similar problem with their dogs out in a training situation. Naomi, this is in no way a slant or bash at you .... let's get that straight right up front OK? First of all, when you are out with your dog there is something called "having control of your dog". That means seeing and knowing when your dog is going to react negatively to it's surroundings. Just because a dog was good in one atmostphere does not mean it will be good in another. You need to know what triggers your dogs into a defense mode. Please note, I am not saying aggressive, I am saying a defense mode. In my opinion, your trainer was wrong for allowing her "pound puppy" to roam around the training center and sniff in your pocketbook for treats. Her dog should also have been on leash. If Cody was on leash, you should have, and I'm assuming you didn't since you didn't give any details, had Cody pay attention to you, put him in a sit/stay and treat him. The other dog should have been allowed to approach Cody slowly and you should have been watching for any change in Cody's body posture and language. In this instance, both handlers were wrong and both dogs were wrong. Cody has "spacial" boundaries which you need to work on with other dogs and humans. This takes time ...... lots of it, in lots of different situations. If you were out at a dog show, or a dog park and this happened with another dog with an owner not as understanding, you can be charged in any state in the US of not "HAVING CONTROL OF YOUR DOG" and the fines are usually quite large, ranging from $200.00 on up. You need to work on focus/attention with Cody .... he needs to mind you 100% of the time when you are out, not when he chooses. He is determining when he is comfortable and when he is not and that is not a good thing, you, as the handler make that decision, not him. Also, dog ears are usually not stitched. I have a dog with very long ears that have been torn either in a dog tussle or in an accident. The tear needs to be "butterfly bandaged" and wrapped around the head for a few days. Stitching is usually not done to the ear. The $150 is excessive ... perhaps you can offer to pay for the vet visit and antibiotics if any are needed, which I doubt.

I train with quite a few Akita's ..... they are good at it! They are big dogs (at the least the ones I train with) and tend to go "through" obstacles instead of over them or thru them :lol: but they enjoy working with their handlers.

not an Akita but ....... I like the name :) [img]http://a6.cpimg.com/image/00/E7/25862656-0f43-02000179-.jpg[/img] [img]http://a3.cpimg.com/image/11/E7/25862673-fb97-02000177-.jpg[/img] She is quite naked in these pictures as she had a litter of 8 puppies 2 1/2 months earlier ....... Kira is a nice name!

But of course genetics plays a very important role in breeding, especially since the goal is to "improve" the breed. Perhaps you have a dog that is too long in the body, the ear set is a little off, the tail might curl etc. Eyes color is not exactly right. Perhaps the head shape is wrong for the breed and should be bigger/wider/smaller/longer. You need to look at the genetics of many generations of ancestors to see who carries the dominant genes and the recessive genes. Are there most dominant genes for head shape and you want to change head shape? You need look at that. Eye color/ height etc is another area. Some things are harder to change than others and you usually do not get what you want the first time. You need to follow your pups and see them, at least in pictures to see if what you were hoping to improve or lessen has been. Then you need to take one of those pups and improve on it and so on and so forth. That is responsible breeding. It takes years and years of research, dog shows, pedigree study to really get what you want. Do you want to do a pure out-crossing in your breeding? This can cause some very funny results. You can get a litter of pups who look nothing like the sire or dam, but perhaps look like dogs from generations back on both sides of the pedigree. But if you like the look of your dog, then you do line breeding. But here you need to be careful ...... how tightly linebred is your dog? You don't want to keep breeding cousins to uncle, aunts to nephews and grandparents to grandchildren. This can eventually cause major health problems, including temperment ...... but some linebreeding is good to develop a consistent look and temperment. My dog has minimum line breeding and her recent breeding was a complete outcross to a dog totally unrelated to her. Every single puppy has her consistent head type and the fathers consistent tail length and neck length. This tells me that head type and tail type are dominant genes in this breeding. I had to look at all the females the sire bred to over the last 5 years and their puppies to see what was consistent in all of these puppies. It just goes on and on and on and on! Coat type is another big genetic factor. If you are planning on breeding in 3 - 4 years, it will take you that long just to study the dogs genetically and find a suitable mate for him.

You do know that do was a BC mix right? with no Obedience training. I saw this man also and he was just fooling around with the dog taught him that on a whim. Stick to agility, it's easier and less frustrating.

Yep, you can breed a female to a male 3 times and end up with a litter of 3 puppies or even less. Both dogs needs to be tested, especially the stud for sperm count. Thyroid tests also need to be done. Sometimes a bad thyroid can interfere with conception and/or sperm count. Well, think about it. The female drops eggs ........ if she drops 13 eggs and the male mates with the female at just the right time, and his sperm count is good, then, voila, 13 puppies is more than possible. I bred my dog 3 times, day 9, 11 and 13 in her cycle. Each tie was 12 - 18 minutes. She produced 8 puppies. Now my problem was, well, what day did she conceive? Day 9? 11? 13? This is important to know to determine a due date right.? Well, obviously there is not way to know what day she conceived, so her due date was anywhere between 7/10 and 7/15. That makes it more difficult right? You want to be there? You don't want her to whelp without you? Do you take off work? Do you risk it and go? So why breed 3 times? Well, first off I had to know IF she could conceive. There are no guarantees .......... and BTW, 8 puppies is normal for her breed of dog. 13 pups for a lab is considered normal I believe. I would use your breeder via email or telephone and tell her what your plans are and if she could mentor you and perhaps help find a female to stud too. If she is well know and shows her own dogs she will have a lot of contacts. She will also have contacts for puppy buyers.