traceymcl

I am glad that Bully has been allowed to keep his life and that his owners haven't lost their friend. But it's an awful situation all round. I'm not surprised that the little girl's family feel they need to move. I'd also find it very difficult to stay there under those circumstances. I hope they are able to get whatever counselling they all need to help them recover from it. It's a hard way to learn lessons. I feel for all the people involved. I do wonder how much influence the media has had on the emotional trauma felt by the little girl and her family. Had Bully been another kind of dog - a large goldie or a great dane - I wonder if the event would have been perceived as an aggressive attack or as an accident. I suspect that the belief that the dog had aggressively attacked the little girl may have played a part in the emotional distress felt. The little girl cannot have been unaware of how upset her adult carers have been and that must have influenced her ability to get over the incident. Children are so good at picking up on their parent's stress.

Sadly, there are such things as unprovoked, unannounced attacks by dogs. Dogs like people can suffer from brain tumours, hormone problems etc which can make them behave aggressively completely out of the blue. It's rare but it happens. This isn't true. Defending our turf is absolutely justifiable in human, social terms. If I was on my own in the house with my dogs and I believed that an aggressive stranger was entering the house with the intention of harming my dogs, I would do whatever I had to to make them go away. If that meant harming them, I would harm them. If I was also babysitting my nephews when the same thing happened, I'd do my level best to kill them. Human beings are more aggressive and more violent when defending our homes and families than any other animal on the planet. So, in human terms, that dog's actions were completely justified. All that the dog lacked was an understanding that the visitor was a visitor and not an intruder.

Bless him. I normally go to people to do TTouch - saves me having to tidy up first. That said, I'm really really busy just now and am not able to take on any new clients until August. But if you want to try TTouch after that and haven't found anybody else, give me a shout. You could also try Val Borland who is on the TTouch website - she's based in Ayrshire but she does travel a lot. She's fab. And there is Carol Chalmers in Dundee who is also fab. You could also buy Sarah Fisher's book - Unlock your Dog's Potential which is well worth a read. I wonder if Arran might possibly find it difficult to keep his balance. Car sickness is sometimes a balance thing in dogs just as it is in people. Was the training class you went to held on a slippy surface? So many of them are but it can make it hard for dogs who find getting their balance a bit difficult - especially puppies. Also, finding other dogs hard can be linked to poor balance. A friend of mine has a young male setter. He's a lovely dog. Was very well socialised and always loved all other dogs. He has a problem with his back legs - vets, including several specialists, can't find anything wrong but he is often in pain and very weak in his back end. Since this problem he has found other dogs hard. If they run up to him, especially from behind, he can lunge at them. He's totally fine with dogs he knows and regularly welcomes dogs of all different shapes, sizes, sexes (neutered and unneutered) onto his property. But with new dogs, he is defensive especially if they come up to him fast. Very understandable - his balance isn't good and he can be knocked over easily so it's no wonder that he feels the need to protect himself. TTouch is great for helping with physical balance so can be especially helpful for dogs who's balance isn't so good.

Thanks for the recommendation I sometimes have the time to read posts on The Refuge but don't often post. I would try the remedy that's been recommended. It may well help. I'd also use TTouch. It's fabulous for helping dogs gain in confidence and also to help them have alternative ways of dealing with things. I think it's an amazing thing. For all dogs. I always say that TTouch and clicker training saved my dog aggressive bullmastiff. Those methods gave him back the joy in his life. He had always loved other dogs. The aggression was triggered by a hormone imbalance and he then became too anxious to be able to deal with other dogs. When he was dog aggressive he was miserable. Playing with other dogs and being around them was always a source of joy for him. And it is now - he becomes quite irritating if I don't find him enough other dogs to play with. My friend has a shi tzu who used to be very difficult with other dogs. He'd run up to them and nip their legs. He had a couple of unpleasant experiences with other dogs as a puppy and never got over it. He loved the dogs he lived with but not other dogs. My friend and I met when she e-mailed me asking about TTouch for her dog. The TTouch helped enough that we could have all 3 of her dogs mix with all my dogs. We can travel together and the dogs all get on well. There were still problems with strange dogs and my friend still tended to avoid them. But she retrained last year as a dog groomer and now her dogs see lots of other dogs. Now that she has stopped avoiding other people's dogs, her problematic shi tzu is getting much better. She told me last week that he was playing nicely with a pair of bichon frises that she met on a walk. Heree is a photo of her difficult shi tzu with my previously dog aggressive bullmastiff. At one time that would not have been possible. I would never have allowed Cal to be around a dog aggressive shi tzu - far too dangerous. They are fine together now. Tracey xx

Thanks for that, Billy. Very useful. I obviously have loads more research to do but I'm very seriously considering shifting both mine and the dogs' diets so that at least at first the only meat they get is organic. Would mean I could probably only afford to feed us meat once a week or so. Mine are all already on home made diets anyway because of K's food allergies. And they all eat a good variety of foods including fruit, veg, ground nuts and seeds. Rice and oats as well. The boys have eggs too. All 3 of them will happily eat a bowl of food processed veg for their dinner without any complaint. They get home made treats just now anyway. Brocolli stems are a favoured chew him my house also. So far everything that K is allergic to is animal based: chicken is the main one (a tiny amount of that turns her into a lunatic), beef isn't good, salmon and eggs also caused some problems. I find with Katie that I can feed her on some commercial dog foods for short periods of time (when we go on holiday). But even if the foods have nothing she is allergic to, I notice her allergies coming out. I suspect it's the preservatives - which they all have in them. Katie's symptoms are almost all behaviour related - her sore feet last year came ultimately from the allergies. But physical problems pale into insignificance compared to the behavioural problems that an in appropriate diet causes. I suspect it's been a life long problem. Katie was not a normal puppy. Her early upbringing and experiences in her litter didn't help but they weren't the full story. She has always been a very challenging dog. Until now. Now that her diet has been sorted out, she's amazing. It's like owning a different dog. Tracey xx

I have been thinking about this a lot recently. I have been reading a book recently: Meat by Joseph D'Lacey It is fictional and a horror - about a canabalistic society. Good book (if you like horror), well written etc. Well researched and describing lots of modern farming practises. Really put me off animal products. I haven't eaten dairy since and have only bought organic meat. But, what stops me looking at becoming vegan is the dogs. I have 3. Between them they eat more meat in a day than I would eat in a week. I cannot afford to feed them on organic meat. TBH, even feeding them organic would cause me problems if I was worried about animal welfare. I think even organic farmers castrate male animals without anaesthetic - something that bothers me. My dogs don't eat as much meat as many I know. They are all on home made diets and eat a third meat, a third fruit and a third veg. They all eat fruit and veg happily. Billy, I know you feed your guys on a vegan diet. Can you give an idea of what you cook for them? What do you do for their teeth? I'm lazy and just lob my guys bones for their teeth. I know some people who are horrified at the idea of us feeding ourselves dairy products. Not from a welfare point of view - just that milk is something designed to be fed to mammals before they are weaned. No other animals on the planet consume milk once they have been weaned. Thanks, Tracey xx

My ginger dog is a bit of a nutter too. She's much more nuts than my nice, sensible stripey one! We recently spent a week on holiday with a friend and her 3 dogs. Her ginger dog is a nutter too!

Hi Billy, I think I could manage either of those dates. I will take the dogs on a test run in the campsies tomorrow or Monday and make sure my back will hold up reasonably well to walking up and down hills. I will also do a bit of a test walk up Ben Lomond at some point - I have a friend who I'm sure would be up for a spot of hill walking with me. I've been doing a bit of experimenting in the kitchen and I have a recipe for flapjacks that you and Kiera might like. Take about a kilo of bananas, 250g dates (or other dried fruit apart from sultanas or raisons as those are poisonous to dogs) and 250g peanut butter (you could use any kind of nut butter you like apart from macadamia - those are poisonous to dogs). Slam the bananas and peanut butter in a food processor. Chop up the dried fruit and mix it into the banana / peanut mixture. Then lob in enough porridge oats to make the mixture stiff. Put on a baking tray and bake at about 180 for about 20 - 30 minutes. My dogs love these (and if I've taken them out early in the morning before breakfast, I sometimes have a couple while we are out as well ). They'd be just the job for keeping people and dogs going on a long hill walk. Tracey xx

Hi Billy, Do you know dates yet? I don't think I'm doing much toward the end of June / beginning July. Me and Katie could come along. I think Cal would bite me if I tried to make him walk that far but K would probably be up for it. We went up Ben Lomond last year - it was pretty misty but I think we were almost at the top when my little sister threw a wobbly and refused to walk any further. Tracey xx

That's a lovely story. Thanks for posting it, it made me smile. I had to go out the other Friday and found a gang of around 20 teenagers hanging around at the end of the path drinking. I had Katie first. She was scared - went behind me and was very reluctant to walk through them. So they all cleared a nice big path for us without me having to say anything. Then I got Cal - when he was sitting on the doorstep and saw the teenagers who are one of his favourite types of people, he barked to make sure they noticed him . Then when we walked through them, one of the boys asked if he might pat Cal. I told him to go ahead and then Cal was in his element - he was suddenly surrounded by teenagers all patting him and saying how nice he is. Tracey xx

I don't go to a formal class for HTM - just get together with a group of friends. We've all found it great for helping the dogs to think and stay focussed. And teaching them different movements helps them to stay supple and better balanced. Both my dogs love it which really surpised me. I didn't think that Cal would like it at all - but he does. And I never thought Katie would have enough concentration to manage a whole routine - she manages no problem. Tracey xx

Jesse is just too cute. Lovely photos of him and Flash playing together. Tracey xx

Hi Nat, I'd have a go at teaching some self control type exercises - nothing fancy. Just stays or calm work - Katie is learning to sit up and beg just now which takes a lot of concentration and can't be done if she's excited because she loses her balance. Are you still doing TTouch with Purdie? I found it really good for helping with motivation and general being able to remain in a good state of mind for listening. And for my guys, big rewards seem to be more motivating especially for long chains of moves. When I have competed with them, I put the reward (a whole tray of naturediet) on the judge's table as we go into the ring. This is where the self-control comes in - they both know they have to wait until I say before getting the reward but knowing what is coming seems to help with their motivation. Can I ask about Purdie's teaching dog work? I'm interested to know how you managed to teach her when she is and isn't working. So that if dogs in the park are charging around like loonies, she doesn't feel the need to go over and correct them. Cal went through a phase a while ago now where he got really upset if other dogs were squabbling - he would stop them if he could or bark and lunge at them if he was on lead. It was causing him a lot of stress in class situations where dogs will sometimes have a bit of a pop at each other. I ended up working to teach him (as much as I could) that it isn't his responsibility and that he can just ignore other dogs when they start on each other. With Purdie, she does sometimes do that work but I'd be interested to know how you went about teaching her when she doesn't need to be doing it. I'm fascinated by all of it - if Purdie is working with the dog near you, do you do this in the park or find somewhere more secluded? It must be great to have her working and know that she isn't going to bog off onto the horizon like she used to. I'm so pleased for you - especially I know how much recall was an issue for Purdie and how keen you were to get her out on walks again. It's fabulous that she is able to get out and about and that her recall is now so good. Well done, Tracey xx

Nice high five, Nat. I've been wondering how you and Purdie have been getting on with the HTM training. Tracey xx

Hi Rachel, You can practise heelwork to music at home no problem. I have Mary Ray's book 'Dog Tricks' which is really good. Well photographed and gives really nice step by step instructions for all the tricks in it. Mary Ray also has a book called Dancing with Dogs which has a few routines in it. Tracey xx

I loved the maltese. One of the most special dogs I've ever met was a maltese. He was the most amazing character. I've had a soft spot for the breed ever since. Tracey xx

Those are lovely photos, Vera. So nice to see Troy so relaxed around the new arrival. Tracey xx

John's theory is a nice theory and I'm sure it is true in some cases but I think there is much more to it than that. Katie has problems being calm and coping with other dogs because of what happened in her litter. As she's not a rescue dog, I know exactly what her early weeks were like. The puppies were seperated from the mum at 4 - 5 weeks when they were weaned. They were kept in the same room - puppies in a pen and mum outside the pen - but mum could have no physical interaction with them. Whenever I visited there were frequent, noisy squabbles amongst the puppies. Katie was a very quiet puppy and when visited, all she wanted to do was be cuddled. When she came home, she was scared of Calgacus and obsessed with food. She was also terrified of other dogs and aggressive toward them in training classes at 12 weeks of age. Katie was bullied in her litter. She learnt to fight for food, space and anything else she needed. I suspect she lost those fights a lot which is why she was so obsessed with food and so scared of other dogs. And also why she will bully other dogs if given the chance. Play fighting did not cause her problems - being bullied did. I wonder how many of the dogs John sees whos aggression is apparantely caused by play fighting is actually caused by bullying. Many owners don't recognise when one of their dogs is bullying another or they know what's happening but believe that dogs should be left alone to sort out their differences / pack order themselves. I be there are more like that than there are dogs who have become aggressive as the result of genuine play fighting. Tracey xx

Hi Jo, I replied about Cal. Katie can be difficult sometimes around other dogs down to lack of self-control and general anxiety but she is not at all dog aggressive. I put 'other' because although he did have a dog-dog aggression problem, he's gotten over it and now likes other dogs. He is my first dog and I have had him since a pup. I don't know if he is a reliable indicator of fitting into any profile, though because his dog-agression was caused by a very rare reaction to tardac. I wouldn't have mattered if he'd been my 10th dog or if I hadn't gotten him until he was older. What's the theory you are testing? Tracey xx

So, so sorry about this. Words are so inadequate but I am thinking of you. Tracey xx

I would happily get a puppy from a rescue. So long as the rescue could guarantee that the puppy would be small as an adult and had no terrier breeds in him. And the puppies were being brought up in an experienced foster home, carefully socialised with people, adult dogs and the outside world. And I could meet the mum and at least know what dad was. And spend enough time with the litter to choose the right puppy for my household. I do keep my eye out and am looking around but so far, I haven't seen a litter in rescue that would meet my requirements. I suppose that the bottom line for me is that it is me who will live with the dog for the next 15 or so years of my life. I will be the one dealing with any problems. So it is up to me to make whatever decision I feel is suitable for my household. Tracey xx

Well, at the mo, I am thinking about a third dog and it is likely that it will end up being a puppy from a breeder. This isn't so much for my benefit - it's more about finding a dog who will fit in with my household and with what I do with my dogs. While I would love to take in a needy soul, I will not risk my own dogs' (Katie in particular) quality of life in the process. Maybe I am wrong but I doubt very much that the sort of dog I am looking for will turn up in rescue. I will give my criteria and if anybody knows of one or hears of one, feel free to let me know. First, the dog needs to be very small. Yorkie sized. I don't have space for another big dog. Second, the dog needs to have no terrier in it at all - if the dog is a cross, I would need to know what it was crossed with. I will not risk a dog with the sort of fiesty nature often found in terriers living with my bullmastiffs. Third, the dog needs to be totally confident around bigger dogs. My Katie is freaked out by dogs who are scared of her and she will bully those dogs. Fourth, the dog needs to be fine living in a town and mixing with lots of people and other dogs. He will also need to be fine in rural and farm situations - so okay with horses, sheep etc. Fifth, the dog needs to be youngish (no older than 2) and male. Sixth, the dog needs to travel well - my dogs spend a lot of time in the car. And not suffer from seperation anxiety - I work part time and just don't have the lifestyle to allow me to cope with a dog who can't be left. I also would not consider a dog out of rescue kennels because I don't think enough can be told about their temperament while they are in kennels. I feel that my requirements are asking a lot for a rescue dog who might well have some baggage which is why I'll probably get a puppy from a good breeder. If I didn't have Katie I would be more than happy to give a home to a needy dog with issues. But she has had such a hard time during her 4 years of life that I will not consider taking a dog into the house unless I am absolutely convinced that it will be okay with her. And that it won't add to her problems. Tracey xx

Do you drive to work? Could she go with you? Very rarely, I have to work through the night and for longer hours than normally. As I live in a terraced house and my lovely neighbours on one side work long hours, barking during the night would be a big problem. So when I'm working during the night, the dogs come with me. They go for a walk before we go to work and I take them out during my shift and again before we go home. I have a van and the dogs are crated so they can't see out. They settle down well and sleep. And I don't have to worry about them keeping the neighbours awake while I'm out. Tracey xx

Hi Jo, I've just sent you a vast long e-mail about Annie poopie. Tracey xx

I have to be honest, I don't lie awake worrying about dog in pounds or about the amnesty. And while I do feel sad for them, the thoughts wouldn't occupy my day. This has nothing to do with dogs being less important. I also don't spend time fretting over abused children, child prostitutes, homeless people, people caught up in war zones, people caught in famine situations. I'm very prone to anxiety and I have to keep a lid on it. If I spent time worrying about all those things, I wouldn't be able to work, my own dogs would suffer and I'd probably end up in hospital. Tracey xx