simba

I have a dog who very much wants to eat cigarettes. Constant worry for me when out in the city. Al

Teresaserrano- very, very common. Often they will do it to multiple forums at one time.

Good mojo winging your way.

In fairness if the pup is too young to be vaccinated* there is a difference in risk between an unvaccinated dog and a vaccinated dog that might have diseases on its feet. Lots of diseases don't actually last that long out in the open/or and need close contact or transmission through air droplets to spread easily (parainfluenza and bordatella for example.) *Cannot be vaccinated for some other reason, has only one shot in a vaccine that needs more than one to confer immunity etc.

This is more for enticing a dog to eat- which I have heard it being used successfully for- so I don't think nutrition is as much of a concern at that point.

You could try the same thing with tripe. Some butchers will stock it. I have my eye on a shop that sells tripe, pig intestines, duck's necks etc and sometimes sells whole pig's heads for five dollars- some day I will get one, cook it, eat all the bits I can stomach, feed the rest (not including the skull, that's for stock) to the hounds.

I have one who's like that- now, she will want to approach people or nudge people who are walking against you, but she will call off them. But she's from a biddable breed, genetically good temperament, no use of e-collar. I was lucky. She used to chase waterfowl but I got her out of that (touch wood). I have one other dog who with even more time spent on training is like that except for the 'aggressive towards other dogs' part (but she's now deaf so rarely or never off-lead any more). I don't think an e-collar should be necessary for a dog like a collie to achieve this. I, too, see a lot of dogs on trails like this but none of them were on e-collars (that I've noticed anyway). You're talking about a dog bred before these were invented, to be reliable on voice or whistle commands around incredibly exciting stimuli (sheep) under often trying circumstances.

You're far from alone, we're all with you! Sometimes when I see someone who's walking a reactive dog and is obviously mortified, going "oh god everyone's looking at me" I want to say to them "Look, a substantial portion of them are probably going 'well done you for training your dog and having it on-leash safely' and 'Oh, been there, poor mite.'" I know sometimes when I have my reactive dog I feel like the entire world is looking at me and tutting.

If it helps any my dog is on tramadol, she's happy on it, it made her bouncy but relaxed the first time she took it but I think that was as much from the pain relief as anything else.

Nearly 10 months ago I was discussing with the vet the probability that my dog would have to be put down 'on the table' during surgery, if they found the cancer was too extensive. This week she went on a happy little 3km walk with me and swam at every swimmable point in the river.

Thinking of Tyra and you from another continent, will be waiting to hear how it goes. My best wishes to you both.

I am not a behaviourist. I am a completely inexperienced/poor dog trainer. I have no expertise. I have not seen your dog. You should get a better trainer in your area, and this is more (a) something to ask that trainer about and ( reassurance that there can be improvement. I walked a dog who reacted to cars. I sat beside a road in a quiet area with no walkers, and threw a party for the dog every time that a car came. Whether she barked or not I told her 'good dog' and gave her a mixture of dog food, dog biscuits, and hot dogs (not large amounts at one time). I started off with a hungry dog, she's food-motivated anyway and I didn't feed her before we set out. After one session she got it and would look at the car and look at me for treats. I wasn't looking for any particular behaviour, I literally just wanted to go 'car=biscuits' so this could have the side-effect of teaching him you *want* him to bark. I then did the same for other dogs- as soon as we see another dog I point it out to her and give her a biscuit. I still have to keep an eye on her around cars, reassure her when there's a loud one etc. but she can now go to a park with on-lead dogs and walk down a street with cars. She might shake or ask to be moved away from the thing sometimes, or give a couple of barks. Before, she would lunge and snarl and scream and attack the nearest other dog. Oh, and get a muzzle. Teach your dog to accept it. Better safe than sorry, always.

Echoing what Denice said- you only appreciate a dog when you try to do a dog's job. As a teen I was called on to help move cattle. Four to six people, coordinating with our big human brains and use of language, would take a few hours to do a job. Fly would take fifteen minutes with less stress, less danger, and not break a sweat. She made it look simple. It was only when you tried to do it yourself that you realised how complicated it was.

I am also a city dweller but for dogs I have known it has had huge seasonal variation. Lambing is tough, and was when you would traditionally see any deficiencies in nutrition showing up. Similarly if anything has gone wrong.

Hah! Always a good sign. Obviously a good choice there Moosikins, well done! I tried to demonstrate to some friends that crates are not 'cruel', pulled down one and just casually opened the door. The dog popped straight in and did not want to come out. Didn't convince them, sadly.

The harness was actually from the dollar store. I don't spend a lot of money on clothes or accoutrements. I keep telling myself I'm just 'thrifty' etc. On using it today, while getting her into it was a little bit of a struggle, she seemed to be just fine once walking in it, didn't impede her a bit. She kept stepping out of it while I was putting it on her and just being quite determined that the strange thing wasn't going to be put on her. I have seen dogs who will jump into the harness. Hopefully once she realizes that it means 'walks' she'll be happier, she's just a bit crotchety about new and strange things.

I (shaaaame) don't have a BC, am an inexperienced dog owner and so on. I'm here not because I reckon my advice is so very useful to others, but because it's about the best place to learn that I've found. I keep trying to find a general dog forum with this combination of expertise, friendliness, and happy-to-vigorously-correct-if-you-make-a-mistake*. I used to be on a few, but they generally involved more 'oh showing is the way to go' and had quite... outdated ideas about breeding and genetics and such. I even started off on Yahoo Answers but stayed not because I was learning so much but because even I could provide advice that would be better than some of the train-wrecks. Here, when I apply the advice, it generally works. People on these boards have helped me teach my dogs so many things. *How else will I learn? If I do something stupid, I want to be told, as much as it will upset me at the time and as defensive as I may get. I'll still go away and think about it. If I put up a picture of a lab at a healthy weight I don't want to be told she should waddle, if I put up a picture of her fat I don't want to be told she's 'fine' or 'pudgy, but so cute!'

With a screaming dog I walk, sometimes one thing (as you say) can cause an all-out tantrum where many things won't. But this is a scaredy-dog, so it's because she's very quietly and worriedly trotting along beside you. Almost like she's shutting down a little out of fear.

I now own both a flexi and a harness, for the same dog. And I will at some point probably use them together. Huh. I am one of 'those' people now. "Ditto if you see a person walking a dog on a retractable string leash, or you see someone walking a dog in a harness meant for draft horses. This is a person that has never read a single book on dog training. You do not have to say anything. Simply notice it and remember what it means."- Patrick Burns

Any tips on using/fitting a harness? I have purchased a cheap harness for an elderly terrier. I've never ever used one before, and would like to hear about people's experiences with them. How do you fit them properly? I've done the 'two fingers comfortably underneath' thing, then decided it seemed too tight somehow, and loosened it a little. How do you know if the harness is the right size for your dog? It was correct according to the weight of the dog, but I'm a worrywart. I have heard the horror stories about how easy they are to get out of and might do the 'carabiner attaching harness to collar' thing you see on pit bull websites. Any tips, advice, experiences? She's wearing a harness because she has respiratory problems. She will pull occasionally to get to a smell because she can no longer hear my 'leave it', and sometimes I will stumble or change direction suddenly and jerk her neck- she can't hear any longer when I change direction, and sometimes I forget that. I'm not that worried about pulling in a small 14 year old dog. I want easy breathing and a not-injured neck, and if this allows that it will be great even if she does ineffectively attempt to drag me over to see the ducks.

Chrisandgabe- what a bitch! That's just rude and unreasonable. I spent three hours at the local park today. You have this odd situation where it's perfectly legal for you to have your dogs off-lead on the busy streets to get to the dog park (because it's legal in public places to have most breeds* of dog off-leash if they are under control) and then you must leash them within the park because those are the rules of the park. Lots of dogs, many of them off-leash. I only saw one ill-behaved off-leash dog and most of the on-leash ones were impeccably mannered. And even then the ill-behaved dog was a 'my dog is friendly', was genuinely friendly if rude and clueless, and was getting away with it because the other dogs it met were polite. I love that park. *Not greyhounds, pit bulls, german shepherds etc.

This is an odd one but if you can find older railway and canal paths you can sometimes let them off there. You can get stretches of fenced-in paths beside these things that are now quiet since canal trasportation is not as popular. You can find kinda 'odd' spaces- stretches of paths behind houses, things like that, that are public but unfrequented. Of course this may be entirely not relevant in your area. Just something to look out for, and you did say you were interested in what other people do! I find the canal paths much better than parks or open fields for keeping an unfocused dog with you, or starting off training the recall. You're on a straight line- the dog can either go into the canal, ahead of you, or get left behind.

I've heard hand-feeding works for some.

I have magically morphed from 'no treats for you unless we are working on the start of a big goal, big scary noises when you do something wrong' person to 'naww you get a treat because you're making a cute face, it's okay that you misbehaved we'll do better next time' person as the dogs get older. Which is weird because I'm still Miss Strictpants, typical-grumpy-bitch with younger dogs. I am a better dog owner with older dogs for some reason. Well, 'better' in terms of their enjoyment- they do get away with a bit more and I suspect that younger dogs would become more ill-behaved if raised like that.

It's amazing, too, that owners who tell me to let my dogs off-lead, they'll 'sort it out'*, or laugh and say it's fine that their dog is bullying mine because mine will 'teach them a lesson', were so much more reluctant to do so when I had a young labrador with me. It used to happen way more often when I had the small dog out for a walk by herself, and now it happens much more often since the labrador is visibly elderly. Funnily enough, because the bigger dog would be much more physically capable of 'sorting them out' and potentially less likely to just get attacked by their dog, so therefore it would presumaby work better. Complete mystery, that. Owners are much happier to let them 'sort it out' when their dogs are bigger than yours. I must ask the guy who walks the cane corso if he gets this. I suspect not. A pit bull may be in my future. *Or, you know, the fearful dog will run away into traffic. This has happened/been suggested while walking beside a busy road. Or the snappish dog will start a fight she cannot run away from because all the dogs are off-leash. Or your four dogs will pile into my three dogs because you evidently have no control over them anyway.