Santa's Little Helper

so sorry :GroupHug:

the neighbour deserves a medal for getting this @rsehole arrested !! hope truffles will eventually get the loving home she deserves

the problem with any sort of 'examined dog licence' is that it would only cover the person who's taken the 'test' which, presumably, in most cases would be the owner and most of the recent tragedies have occurred when the owners weren't present. supposing there was a scheme where you took part in some sort of assessment or training to own a dog, what would happen when the dog was being looked after by a neighbour/relative who had not received the training? the analogy of the car driving licence is very apt because once you've passed your driving test, you're allowed to drive any car (with some restrictions) however you're not allowed to be in sole control of a car until you've passed your test. i agree that a central register might help maybe together with microchipping and compulsory registration with a vet. i don't understand why the 'costs of running it would wipe out most crossbreeds' - there's probably a good reason but i'm being a bit thick at the moment and can't think what it could be !! lol

happy birthday kiera (aka murphy ) hope you had a lovely day and enjoyed all your pressies !!

so sorry to hear this thinking of you all

i've got karen pryor's book. it's a bit on the thin side but it's ok to start you off with the basics. you're probably a bit more advanced than that, though ange. i just taught my dog a new trick - fetch your bowl !! we're in the process of refining it but she picked up the basics in 2 minutes !! i think i get more enjoyment from watching her work out what she did to get the click than from the actual trick itself !! i really should do more clicker training with her cos she's a quick learner and she enjoys doing it.

i'm going to ask my daughter to ring the police station today to see if she can find out what happened. i'm curious to see if this was his own dog. for the dog's sake, i hope not

my daughter heard a dog yelping this afternoon and looked out of her office window. there was a man on the other side of the road holding a young brindle staffy, awkwardly in his arms. she went down into the street to see what was going on, the dog was now on the ground and the man was crouching, trying to stop it running past him. he punched the dog on the nose, then he was fiddling with something (she couldn't see properly) then he punched the dog again, 3 times, in the face !! she phoned the police and kept an eye on him for a while. he was sitting near a bus stop with the dog held tightly in his arms - no sign of any lead. police came about an hour later and took the man and dog away. my daughter got the impression that this wasn't his own dog. she thinks he may have found him or maybe stolen him. i've checked doglost, there's no recent reports of any lost dogs answering this description missing in the area. i've emailed them to say what happened, just in case someone was to report their dog missing in the next few days. just thought i would mention this in case anyone hears of a young staffy, possibly about a year old (she said he looked puppy-ish but was big) that's gone missing in the croydon area. presumably, if lost or stolen, the police will take him to battersea.

happy gotchaday to the gorgeous max !! :wub:

happy gotcha day, kiera !! what a fab year you've had !!

so sorry that it wasn't better news, to you both

sorry to hear this to you both and hope all goes well tomorow

what a fantastic article!! lovely to see something positive for a change and great also that they are using rescue dogs:)

we were shown how to 'stop' a dog running towards you at puppy classes. with a treat in hidden in your hand, call the dog to you. when he's about 3 or 4 metres away, throw your hand/arm up as if you were hailing a taxi, shout 'stop' and at the same time release the treat so that it lands in front of the dog and stops him in his tracks. you'll find, after a few goes, that when you shout 'stop' he will stop and look for the treat. releasing the treat and getting the right distance/direction takes a bit of practice so i would try it out first!! i know you asked for help for doing this when the dog is running away from you and you're behind him but maybe once he's learned the 'stop' command you should be able to halt him no matter what direction he's running in. not sure how you would transfer this to do it on a whistle, though.

dogs are allowed on the beach all year round from dungeness to greatstone, after greatstone they're banned from april to september. there's banks of shingle but it's sandy once the tide's gone out.

thanks guys, i appreciate you all taking the time and trouble to post your advice and help i think the most important thing suggested is getting some professional help (lindsay, will pm you for details of trainers ), in the meantime i'll write down all the relevant points, (high value treats, don't set the dog up to fail, why not to do alpha roll, etc) and pass these on to her ('cos i'll never remember it all !! lol) and then if she wants me to help her with training the 'leave' command, i'll use the clicker training link (object guarding) as a guide. i was lucky with my own dog as she didn't have any food guarding issues, but it wasn't until i read the article that i realised that we'd used the same principles to get our dog to accept our cat. when sadie first arrived she was very aggressive towards our cat and the poor thing had to spend the first six months virtually, upstairs!! however, by continually rewarding her for good behaviour whenever the cat was around, we have managed to get to the stage now where they actually sit side by side to have their food!! this is some achievement, i can tell you and it has taken probably over a year or more of patience and perseverance, gradually increasing the boundaries to get where we are today. although i know i'll never have a photo of them curled up sleeping together at least they tolerate each other now which i could never have imagined 3 years ago!! so, like fiona with storm, i know that it could take a long while, it's just a question of whether my friend has the patience and committment, too. no. she's told me before that he pinches socks etc from the washing basket and they have to chase him round the house to get them back but one day in the park he found a glove and when she took it from him, he jumped up and bit her. this is what i'm worried about. he is a lovely dog, soppy as a sack but i'm concerned that as his recall is so poor, he could run up to a child that has dropped some sweets or something and bite them.

a friend has a lab x about 2 1/2 years old, neutered. he's a lovely dog, very playful and gets on well with the other dogs. at the weekend, my oh was walking with her and some others when she dropped her treats on the ground. her dog went to gobble them up but as she went to stop him and pick them up he bit her on the arm. he's done this before when she's tried to take something off of him and she's been told to do the 'alpha roll' on him. the owner and another lady tried to do it but made a bit of a pig's ear of it and i think, in the end, the dog just rolled over to have his tummy rubbed!! minutes later, he ran off to see another dog who was with a mum and toddler. because of what had just happened, the friend was desperate to get him back but he took no notice and just came back when he felt like it. fortunately, he didn't cause any harm but i'm very concerned that it's only a matter of time ....... i've told my oh to tell her when he sees her, that she must work on his recall - i can help her with that - but i don't know what to suggest regarding the aggression. i'm not sure about this alpha roll thing, is it ok in really bad cases? mic martin did it on dog borstal once and everyone keeps telling her that's the thing to do but i'm not so sure that using force is the answer. i was thinking maybe she should teach him to 'leave it'. any advice would be much appreciated cos i'm worried that if something's not done soon, there's going to be a serious incident.

kathy, i've only received a link to an online album, so i'm not sure which ones you wanted to enter can you contact me please, to sort out - thanks, joy

i've sent emails to everyone who has sent pix for classes 1 & 2 (puppies & oldies) to confirm that the photos have been received. so, if you've sent photos to me for either class and haven't had a reply, could you please send them again - many thanks

did you think so? maybe it was better 'in the flesh' but on telly it looked boring and repetitive (mind you, the bbc's camera-work was appalling - they kept doing wide angle shots and you could hardly make out what was going on.) i watched the international freestyle comp yesterday at crufts and some of the routines were much more entertaining. it's a shame cos i really look forward to seeing mary ray each year but i was disappointed this time. tbh, i think as she's been doing it a long time she's getting to the point where she's running out of ideas and she's lacking the vitality and freshness that some of the other htm competitors have. can't comment on the bis winner as i haven't a clue about showing dogs and i'm afraid no amount of drawing yellow triangles, circles and lines will help me they all looked nice dogs but i thought a couple of the handlers were a bit rough with some of them.

there's some fab pix there but the one that set me off was the policeman with the black staff

i think this is an excellent idea !! kc and dt have links on their site to national curriculum educational packs for teachers to download so this could be a good resource to promote. good luck with this and please keep us informed

whoo - hoo !! 33 grand well done to you all !!

just came across this from bva. sorry, if it's already been mentioned but couldn't see it anywhere "Dangerous Dogs The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 as amended makes the ownership of four types of dog illegal - the pit bull terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino and Fila Braziliero. Since none are recognised as breeds in the UK and there is no description of them in the Act identification can be difficult. Defra have however provided guidance on what they consider the breeds look like and this can be downloaded from the Defra website. Because the Act refers to 'dogs of the type known as a pit bull terrier' it is impossible to claim that any dog is a pit bull cross. In any event the parentage and behaviour of any individual dog is largely irrelevant as the dog has simply to look like the Defra guidance. Any person who owns a dog fitting the description is guilty of an offence and, if prosecuted, must prove to the court that the dog is not a pit bull. If convicted and if the owner can show the court that the dog is not a public danger, the dog may be entered on the Index of Exempted Dogs created by the Act (and closed in November 1991) as long as the other conditions are complied with i.e. neutering, microchipping, muzzled when outside and the taking out of third party insurance. The only mechanism now open to add a dog to the Index is after the owner has been convicted. It is for this reason that The Kennel Club has called for the Index of Exempted Dogs to be re-opened. Read more here. The BVA has long been opposed in principle to any proposals which single out particular breeds of dogs rather than targeting individual aggressive dogs. The problems caused by dangerous dogs will never be solved until dog owners appreciate that they are responsible for the actions of their animals. Read the BVA Policy statement. Further information on the law and pit bulls is available on The Kennel Club website. BVA supports the The Blue Dog campaign which aims to educate parents and children about the safest way to interact with their dog in a household setting and The Kennel Club's Safe & Sound Scheme." http://www.bva.co.uk/policy/dangerous_dogs.asp

............ but this was sent to me by my uncle !! A three-year-old boy was examining his testicles while taking a bath. "Mum", he asked, "are these my brains?" "Not yet," she replied."