Postings by kai's Family

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holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Sat Dec 22, '12 6:00pm PST  Some people hang a bell by the door and ring it on the way out with praise. Most dogs figure out a way to signal their need in some way, one of mine just gets relentlessly up in our face and we know then she is asking the other 2 scratch at the door. I am an advocate of paying for good behavior with treats and so when the dog goes potty outside I praise and treat immediately when they are tiny or starting potty training. The result is that even now the treats have been discontinued they all pee on command and quickly in times of need of rush like on the road or cold mornings. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

kai why are they not- all bowing?     Barked: Sat Dec 22, '12 5:54pm PST  We went through this with Kai about 6 weeks ago, exactly that she seemed to not even be aware she wet our bed. We took her to the vet, they checked her urine and found lots of crystals in her urine though not much indication of a uti. She was treated with antibiotics and put on the Royal Canin SO urinary food and had one more accident during the first couple weeks of her treatment. I am not happy with the food simply because we have always been careful to feed good food and this food is mostly grain fillers but the 2nd urinary sample showed no crystals and no indication of uti at all and no further accidents. My first thought was spay incontinence but it turned out not to be the case. I would talk to your vet and have a urine sample tested just to rule out the crystals and stones problem. It is usually caused from a ph imbalance that is directly connected to the food. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Choosing the Right Dog > Which way to go?

holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Sat Dec 22, '12 5:43pm PST  Don't you hate it when you type a long drawn out response and the computer eats it? So to condense, I got Holly at a year old, ACD/Aussie, she is an excellent off leash example while still being a complete anomally of her breeds, she is calm, loves all people and most other dogs, has an amazing off switch and needs very little excercise compared to the rest of the pack. Overall though I have complete confidence that if a tragedy were to happen and our dogs all had to go to new homes they would all be excellent off leash dogs for anyone they bonded with. They are all herder mixes, even Paislee that acts almost entirely like her Catahoula contribution is absolutely trustworthy off leash with the exception of intolerance of men approaching on the trail, she throws quite a fit to tell them they cannot approach us but since I worked with her recall from the day I brought her home she is even easy to pull off when she starts to chase prey or any other surprises. Admittedly I got the other 2 when they were 6/7 weeks old but no matter who else gained their trust and love in the future they would be able to trust them off leash. When I say trust off leash, 7 mile hikes that are in very wooded very high wild life areas and my girls have never had an issue. Even Holly the most secure least protective of my pack gets well out of my site but one word or whistle brings her running back at full bore. My other 2 are more protective and so consequently hardly ever get far enough away that they cannot see me in case they need to "protect' me from other hikers or dogs or imaginary predators but if they do venture out of eyesight they are very intune with my every move and trail change. I have had people comment often on my trust in my dogs and responsiveness but it is just bred into them really. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Choosing the Right Dog > Thoughts on the Akbash and Kengal dogs

holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Sat Dec 22, '12 5:08pm PST  I see a few Akbash in my area here in Utah at the dog park here and almost always the people have no clue what they have and I tell them to go home and google the breed to learn more. The reason we have more than you would expect is that there are quite a few pairs in Wyoming and surrounding states where farmers leave them out on the range with the sheep. When it is time to move the sheep they take the parents and many times the pups are left to fend for themselves. If they are lucky enough to find thier way to town then people rescue them and they get distributed to area states. They are almost always puppies when they come to the dog park but are getting to be difficult to handle and the people are clueless as to what they have. I have toyed with the idea of eventually getting one but only once we have increased our land. It is hard enough to keep 3 herders worked enough on just 1/2 acre of land to try to add a LGB that needs his own area to roam and guard. My opinion is that this is not a breed that you can "compensate" for a lack of a herd. My girls are a range of really well adjusted to reasonably well adjusted dogs because we create work and training and jobs on a regular basis that replace the brain work a herd takes but you cannot really replace the roaming and guarding instinct a dog of Akbash heritage has. I can easily make hiding games and training excercies to keep the mind of a smart herder busy but I cannot provide the large boundaries and herd to protect that is central to an Akbash's needs and the replacement for that would end up being a family and small lot to protect, I think that would drive one to insanity. I am not against someone owning a working dog that is able to really accomodate those dogs needs, Dalmations can work out their needs if they have a running companion, my ACD/other herding mixes get mind games and training games and off leash runs and fetching and searching games, a shepherd can be a family dog and protect a relatively smaller area and be content but I think that the ancient Turkish breeds and other breeds that are similar are still too close to that need for very large areas and a herd to protect. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Australian Cattle Dog > Does my dog Lucky look like a mixed breed to you?

holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Wed Jun 20, '12 12:19pm PST  Hm, your main profile pic does look a lot like a G.S. mixed in there but your other pics look like an ACD with not so defined markings as breeders like to see. Honestly unless you are planning to show or breed those papers are just paper. ; ) my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Mon Feb 27, '12 4:53pm PST  I am of the long lead to teach recall camp. I have to say, my 3 girls all have really wonderful, really reliable recall. I do agree that comparing saints to herders in the obedtheirience department is a bit of apples to oranges but none of mine came to rely on it an i can reliably call them off a deer chase, i recently had to call Holly off a charge at a horse in the neighb orhood (silly me for not being prepared for a horse on the sidewalk outside our house). All of mine started with the long lead. We off leash hike A LOT and I never have a problem with any of them, i made coming to me a fun treat laden thing with the l?ead and capitalized on their natural desire to be with us also. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Behavior & Training > Needing to bring the "heeling" to heel...(at least of me)

kai why are they not- all bowing?     Barked: Mon Feb 27, '12 9:17am PST  I have found that the trick with herders is to set the expectations consistently with marker training will almost always overide the bad behavior because they love rules and they love to please. Never never inadvertantly reward bad behavior so if you were heading to the door and the nipping starts, the trip to the door stops and reverses. When your pup is just walking calmly beside mark that behavior with the chosen praise word "good girl" for us. Believe me, my oldest is a phenomenal herder still even with being taught the impulse control of not herding people. Honestly that is the most valuable training i do with my dogs, impulse control.working on sit/stay, wait, leave it, impeccable recall. All of those things only make a better herder because they need that self control to keep from hurting or killing their flock or herd. we are upping the impulse control training at my house becauswe you can imagine how much chaos 3 young herding mixes can produce even on a calm day. Our youngests lack of impulse control is causing issues with the other dogs and since we have all females we have to have a good understanding of protocol but it helps that these dogs love to know the expectations so they can efficiently carry out the job of making you happy. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Behavior & Training > Stick obsessed Aussie

holly THROW THAT- BALL!!!!     Barked: Mon Feb 13, '12 8:45am PST  Oh yeah definately have to put the favorite toys up and out of sight. Make sure they have plenty of other toys to occupy themselves with. For our Holly balls are her favorite so it is either all up or plenty out for her to have kicked and chased but the chuckit must be hid or she will fixate on it. For kai, she loves the frisbee but that has to be hid and then she will utilize the ropes around the house. it is just the nature of the breed, make sure you are tgetting in lots of excercise and brainwork that will also help. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

Behavior & Training > woo hoo

kai why are they not- all bowing?     Barked: Mon Feb 13, '12 8:38am PST  So,Kai has been having some resouce guarding issues lately and some nervous aggression. So i ask my Biology Prof, that has a Phd in animal behaviors, specializing in canine predators if she can recommend a dog behaviorist for me. She says "yes me". She is working on getting some certification that requires her curent Phd. She did an initial questionaire with preliminary evaluation that seems spot on and is going to do a home visit soon to make a plan for all the dogs. I am so excited considering the rarity of real behaviorists. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

kai why are they not- all bowing?     Barked: Thu Jan 12, '12 5:47am PST  For both of our pups we got young we left treats in the crate at random times as surprises for them to find. We watched and as they started looking like it was nap time we placed them in the crate. Always a treat for 'going to bed' . And placed the crate by our bed at night for easy assurance trhough the bars. A kong with frozen yogurt and food inside gives a nice reason to be in the crate. With all of that all 3 of my dogs are very easily crated and one definately sees it as her safe haven from the world (she has her crate covered since she seems to need that). Hang in there. Oh also building trust with short intervals (SECONDS to start with) of being in the crate and only removing them if they are quiet is helpful too. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become pals [notify]

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