Weasel's Tip of the month: 
Dont' get caught escaping otherwise this will happen
Julia's Tip:
Weasel is hard wired genetically and as
a learnt behaviour (with other dogs) to hunt, she came from a large travellers
camp and was found by a busy Maidstone roadside with a dislocated leg by
a local farmer and friend of ours. Although still an adolescence when rehomed;
even with obedience training aimed at emergency stops, re-directs, retrieves
and recalls, this dog will always be hard to call off once a chase has started.
My tip is to train from a puppy, dogs that have been bred
to hunt such as sighthounds and terriers to 'Tattle' it is a valuable training
tool aimed at giving the dog a job to do which requires the dog to break
eye contact with its prey and back onto the handler. See Eva Bodfaldt,
Follow Me book a very good training book for owners and trainers
alike.
Badger's Tip of the Month: Dont' bite
the hand that feeds
Julia's Tip:
Badger came to us from a local rescue centre (Kit Wilson Trust) see home
page for link, aged around two years. This dog was keen to bond with the humans
in the household - too keen; her main aim was to get rid of the other two
dogs in the household and take over. Badger was territorial aggressive, aggressive
over food and towards other dogs. Badger was showing a lot of fear based complicated
behaviours as well as a lack of trust towards us, keen to bond, she was just
as keen to bite. In short this dog had already decided having been rehomed
more than once that humans were not to be trusted. Badger was put on a behaviour
programme which included being hand fed for over six months, affection had
to be earned by showing appropriate behaviour, trust rebuilt by consistency
in training and household rules. However, aggression in dogs can be related
to physical pain. Noticing that Badger appeared conflicted over being stroked
or handled and had a 'hot spot' along her back we decided on X-rays to find
out if there was a problem. A back problem was discovered, regular acupuncture
has seen a large improvement not only in her physical movement but within
her behaviour towards being handled and mixing with other dogs and people
in general. My tip is to be aware of possible physical causes
for changes in behaviour. See Brenda Aloff's book: Aggression
In Dogs an excellent book which details the many different types
of aggression and practical management, prevention & behaviour modification.
Mouse's tip: A lunge and grab
for a toy, a person, dog or food is often successful
Julia's tip: Large strong dogs can quickly learn that with
one lunge they can drag their owners anywhere they decide they wish to go.
We adopted Mouse from Foal
Farm rescue centre where he had sat waiting for a home for nearly five
months. Picked up as a stray in Newham, London aged around 9 to 10 months
his size went against him for adoption. Rude, incapable of walking on a lead
without lunging and pulling and with a bit of an attitude, Mouse still showed
through his lovely temperament that he could be, with a lot of training, a
very fine dog. The use of a head collar or a shoulder harness like a Halti
can help with training a strong dog to walk on a loose lead. However training
aids such as head collars should be seen as being a stage
in the training process, working towards a collar and lead being the norm
when out walking.
I recommend for all dogs and owners who want to learn how to walk on a loose
lead Turig Rugaas book: My Dog Pulls. What Do
I do? See also: On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming
Signals by the same author a good book that looks at appropriate
greeting signals between dogs.
