imported_Kat

it really depends on where you want her to sleep. If you want her in your room, then put the crate in your room and ignore her if she whines, so that she knows that she must sleep in the crate and that whining will get her no where. Work on the house training with her and make sure she is taken out immediately before bedtime. Dogs usually view a crate as a nice safe haven but it takes a little bit of work sometimes.

Its a horrible reality with these BSL bans. I agree with you that Staffys are wonderful dogs and I can't understand why they are classified as a pitbull or seen to be an aggressive breed. Perhaps you may be best waiting until the law has passed (if it does) in case you get a puppy and have to surrender it.

You would be better to discourage the dog in doing this and of course a kid should never be left alone with a dog. The BC bitch Caeli that I am currently training will grab my hand or wrist and hold it even when I am sitting down in a chair. It appears to be a sort of assertive dominance trait and also almost like a reassurance thing. In human terms its like a child holding onto his mum saying that "shes mine" but by holding mums hand he is also reassured that he actually belongs to mum. with Caeli it seems to be the same. She only does this with me and she has been living with her owners for 5 years but doesn't hold great respect for them.

Just be really careful Zheelah. Dogs can't see as well in the dark as in light and they can easily misjudge a shadow and hurt themselves. This happened to a guy I know in Scotland who was doing weaves in the field in darkness at a dogshow we were camping at and his dog impaled itself. :-?

good job ESS :wink:

This is rather disturbing indeed. I condemn the breeding and keeping of wolves and their hybrids but although Mals and other Northern breeds are closely related to wolves, they are still very much domestic dogs. Hasn't this woman got pedigree pepers for her dogs? I hope that she gets her babies back soon.

It sounds like the poor girl is still making a big transition. The key here is patience. She has been moved in with strangers from one home to another and needs some time to adjust. I would spend a lot of one on one time with her away from busy areas to start with, as it sounds like she isn't quite trsuting you enough yet to get reassurance. Take her to a quiet field and let her interact with you on a one on one basis, then progress to taking her to busier places and as you walk her around the city/inside the pet shop give her a treat every now and again to reassure her. Formal behaviour/obedience classes at this stage is a little bit early. She has only been with you for 2 weeks so she needs to adjust and learn to trust you first before she is placed in an even scarier situation. Good luck. :wink:

aww JM thats unfair... :( I know some wonderful people on an msn community called Golden Retriever and I am sure that they will be able to recommend a good foster for you. The people that you went through all that hassle with just don't seem to be fair. The people are fantastic at GR and tend to foster more in their own homes than working out of shelters . [url]http://groups.msn.com/GoldenRetriever[/url]

ooh yeah even some pics would be good! :D

This actually used to be incredibly popular in the days of the roman empire. Puppies belonging to the rich and famous had their own "wet nurses" who would breast feed them. Crazy world! :o

hmm it looks like it has been removed :-?

I disagree Seijun but you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. The language of dogs has changed so much since domestication. Dogs behaviour now is much more modified. I am not against a dog reprimanding a puppy or young dog, but I have seen it fail time and time again when people attempt to use it. If a dog is brought up correctly without confusing signals that will create conflict in the dogs mind, then there should be no reason to use any form of abusive dominance training.

It sounds like it could be an abscess which needs to be seen asap to be drained at the vets. Good luck!

Geeze yeah this is a common occurence unfortunately. Some bucko joined an online dog group a few years ago posting photos of Meg. Some of the people from that group were also members of one of my groups and alerted me. There really are some weirdos out there :o

lol my Golden Zoe howls when my dad winds her up singing silent night in doggy voice. She also loves "how much is that doggy in the window" and does the woof woof bits at the right times :lol:

How cool! Good luck Peanut :D

Sounds like you had a great day! Congrats :D Can't wait to see pics :wink:

The alpha roll is an old style method still used by nutters who think that dogs still must be treated like a low level "thing" and not a dog. Its dangerous and shouldn't be used. That buck eejit Fennell uses it in her Dog whisperer" book :roll: When I work with a dominant dog I try to level with it. If the dog is forced into a position of "forced submission" he will stick his paw up at me and say Feck you in his doggy language. If on the other hand I can try and reason with the dog and he agrees to play by my rules if I allow him a little freedom then I find that it works so much better. Think of it like 2 people. A dominant person being shouted at and bullied by someone less er but trying to make a statement will just laugh at the lesser person. I prefer to think of training in terms of mutual respect and to not use the whole "alpha pack law" anymore.

I would just tend to let them work it out. Collies usually show very erratic behaviour compared to other breeds including this herding. At the moment it is a fascination for your older pup and it will likely subside. What you should do is to get them both active and to train some basic behaviour with the pair of them. Collies and their mixes are high maintenance dogs and not more mental stimulation than they need physical .

A bloodtest can't tell the breed identification of a dog. She should have a justifiable case if she has legal papers and pedigree to prove that he is an American Bulldog. They look so different from pits to a trained eye so I would doubt that this guy is an "expert".

You handled the situation wrongly. It was wrong to confuse the dog and to bring him away from his familiar surroundings to your house and then back to where he was found. If he is a street dog and safe where he normally is then he should have been left if the authorities will do nothing to help. I find that rather ridiculous actually. The other alternative is to find a home for him.

seen this big guy this morning on JD and i still think thats its blatant neglect and that the authorities should be called in unless the owners have a legitimate medical reason that he has been certified with.

When I was younger (8 I think?) I showed a Rough collie in junior handling and the big git was stacked lovely then proceeded to shift his position to a squat and he pooped in the ring. I was horrified! With my BC bitch Meg when she had her first obedience show she had done brilliant and I was talking to someone who was commenting on how well she had done, when i heard a shout behind me. My wonderfully obedient dog had jumped up on the refreshments table and was proceeding to eat a sticky cream bun. :lol:

ooh hes home! how exciting! Racing over now to Pics! :D

Poor dog! What a prat of a guy though! :roll: