gremlin22

someone has shown an interest in Tyler, but they have other dogs so the socialisation process will be quite slow. please can everyone cross their fingers for this girlie, she's been with us a year yesterday!

Ben has been rehomed! way to go ben!

can only growl so many times..grrrr! poor charlie was reserved when i last posted, his home visit was done and passed and all was good to go. He was supposed to go home on tues last week, the owner never showed up, we phoned them, oops they got the wrong day would be there next day at 12...12 came and went, never arrived, one pm came and went, phoned them, oops vehicle breakdown will call you tomorrow..never called.. so poor charlie is still looking for a home. Could this cute cuddle monster be the one for you?

i've not used thera paws but i have used neo paws, they were good and there's different styles, some much lighter than others

i'm not sure where it fits in with this or if it's something totally different, but we have a dog in with us, she's been undersocialised and tormented both physically and mentally before a year old ( been in a year next week!). She's a gsd or belgian shep cross ( listed on here in looking for homes bit). we have been working with a behaviourist with her and i have to say have seen some amazing results. the behaviourist herself said before starting the work that she doesn't usually use any method that isn't reward based, and it certainly wouldn't be classed as aversive or punishment based, but it does mean putting the dog around something they are not totally comfortable with. the method is called B.A.T http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/bat/ Tyler had not responded to other attempts to help her cope around strangers and dogs, and could not be walked around other animals even on lead without turning into something resembling a crocodile. using the bat method, we had to find her critical distance from what was worrying her, one thing at a time, so one stranger, we took her to the distance where she began to react to their presence, and it was a huge distance in some cases, then took a couple of steps back from that to where she was comfortable and started with that as a base line. the person she was being socialised with was told to ignore her totally and not make eye contact, then we would walk her to the base line distance ( where she was comfy), wait for her to give a calming signal then give a marker word ( we used yay) and turn and walk away straight away. She got praise, either treats ( tho she wasn't very interested in food at this point, or cuddles which she loves) once away from the base line. Then we would turn and go back to the base line and providing she was happy take another step forward, wait for the calming signal, give the marker word and turn away and walk again. gradually we reduced the distance to the stranger, and once she was happy a few feet away, we asked the stranger to move or talk very quietly and throw chicken for her, then we waited for the signal again, gave the marker and walked away. the first time we tried it she took around 20 minutes to come around to someone, then next time around ten minutes, now it takes less than 5 and sometimes only takes her hearing the marker word once for her to realise it's ok to trust someone.once she does she is so affectionate! we have started using it with other dogs too and can now walk her alongside dogs she's never even met before. I realise it won't be right for all dogs, but it worked so so well with tyler. we did initially try a click instead of the marker word,she is used to clickers, but she didn't respond to that at all in that situation, i think there was just too much going on. i will use a word to break my own dogs behaviour if she's about to do something, just a "ah", but once she's doing something wrong there's no point trying to use the word then as usually whatever she is doing is worth far more.I don't like training discs, maybe i just don't fully understand how to use them, but i'd be worried in a sensetive dog something chucked on the ground next to them making a metallic noise could scare them, and while i appreciate we had to make tyler uncomfy at one point in the BAT training to get a base line, i personally think that's a world away from a bunch of metal discs thrown on the ground near the dog, or even a citronella spray. i guess it's all down to how well you can use them, if your timing or understanding is poor an aversive will always do more harm than good. each to their own i guess, but i'd have far more respect for a trainer/behaviourist who used reward based methods than one who sung the praises of choke chains, spray collars ( or worse shock collars),alpha rolling etc.

we have been told we must do it at our rspca branch, handed down from on high! but a member of staff has to attend a dog identification course run by DLO so if they don't feel it is of type it doesn't get reffered but if they felt it may be it must be reported to local DLO. deed not breed all the way...that said we recently ran a microchipping event and someone "may have" attended claiming their dog was a red nose pitt cross...they "may have" told us that...some people are clueless..

She's still waiting. poor girl has been in since january. Her destructivness is getting worse to the point she is chewing through her pvc kennel walls. We don't have any fosterers that can take her. Does anyone have any advice? I tried contacting an SBT rescue for some behavioural advice but no reply and our behaviourist doesn't feel her dog issues and destructivness can be worked on in the kennel environment.She's on scullcap and valerian, she has solid chew toys but would still rather chew the walls. She isn't trying to get to anything on the other side, she's in a kennel with no dogs in front of her and you can be stood infront of her and she will chew just as much as if you weren't there. she sleeps in a crate but can't have bedding as she's eating it and will swallow it. were worried she is going to get a blockage. She's neutered so not in season and trying to escape to mate. any advice or suggestions, we really are getting quite worried for this poor girl.please e-mail me if you have any suggestions.

reserved!

You may remember Ben from a thread a few months ago looking for dog bodysuits.. poor ben came into us in may suffering from an immune disorder which had been left untreated for 18 months! He had lost a lot of fur, had very sore skin, had lots of lumps and bumps caused by hormonal issues and horribly infected eyes. The poor boy was a right mess, but after 3 months in the vet ward, Ben is now up for rehoming. He is a very friendly boy, though he does tend to bark when strangers first approach his kennel, but out on a lead he is a right softie! we think he will be fine rehomed with children over 5 and he seems ok around other dogs. He is likely to need ongoing meds to control his skin irritation, and is on a hypoallergenic diet to help with this. His fur may never fully grow back, but we hope this won't stop someone falling for him. if interested please give us a call, 07743 773871 not long after he came in in his lovely doggie t shirt apologies i keep trying to shrink this but it's not working when i put in the link. ben now, he has had the lump on the front of his chest removed now, but has also had to have his tail tip removed as he damaged it on the kennel walls.

poor boy is still looking, he now stars in his own video!

we have a dog on permanent foster at work, he has severe hip dysplacia and athritis and fusing on the spine. He is on tramadol permanently and metacam as an extra only when needed. he seems to be doing very well on it and it has given him a new lease of life. he's been on it 8 months now with no ill effects that we know of. we are aware it wouldn't be right for a very young dog but he is a 6 year old neo mastiff so it's basically keeping him comfy as the degeneration is to the point surgery wont help.

have never used it. I get put off becuase it's so so long unless you read it at the beginning of the month.mybe if it could be weekly or something.. but then one less person using it prob isn;t gonna make a lot of difference.

my thoughts exactly edited to say also like others have said, if you know what's going on already you don't need to watch it, but to all the people out there who let their dog have " just one litter so she knows what she is.." they need to see the reality, they may not have watched it, but if enough people did maybe word at least will get around.

She is getting closer to two years now, she was about a year old when she came in in september. She really is a lovely girl when she has a chance to get to know you.

she's still waiting, hardly any seem to be finding homes at the moment, but I imagine it's the same everywhere.

Tyler is still looking. on a brighter note,she is doing really well with her training and now seems much quicker to take to new people when introduced right.She has been looking since last september now though so is getting a little fed up of her kennel to say the least! We will rehome anywhere within reason, so long as you have a nearby branch of the rspca we can ask to do a homevisit and so long as everyone in the house is willing to come and get to know Tyler first. She is an amazing dog and deserves a chance to show it.

personally i would always vaccinate. for the main ones anyway. I know overvaccinating is a slight risk but not vaccinating is a much bigger one. Just because you don't live in a high risk area doesn't mean a dog or other animal from out of town isn't visiting the area. I'd just do a normal booster then the lepto and distemper are covered. I wouldn't be bothered about kennel cough tho if they don't go in kennels. that's just my opinion though.good luck deciding.

Wow I never realised that. learn something new every day

they close stray kennels becuase of kennel cough?? bl**dy hell every stray kennels up here has KC, but they don't go on shutdown for it, if a boarding kennels got a full outbreak then they would but not a stray kennels.

leeds council is currently looking at dog control orders and banning them in certain places such as public parks..that will be a nightmare

that's brilliant. well done to everyone involved! hopefully now at least Bruce can get on with enjoying the rest of his life.

posted...lets hope the bu**ers never bring it back

crossing everything for murph. hugs to you both.

post the dogs?..post? did i miss the bit where royal mail deliver dogs to your door? it's not a bloody tax disc! this bloke sounds a right nasty piece of work, is it worth reporting to rspca? i know rspca scottish rspca are not the same thing but would have thought there was some crossover, just becuase police are informed don't assume they'll tell rspca.

def send it to the papers, it's great! and drop it off at local vets to display, it'll give nervous owners something to giggle at.