TheSniffa.com Forum

Re: puppy biting

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:12:15 GMT

Steady there tiger..................this is an eight week old pup we're talking about. (Well it was when this was posted) I would have thought you would have asked several pertinent questions prior to making your suggestion to return this pup to the breeder, such as 'how did it happen', ' did the bite break the skin', 'was it a proper bite or one delivered in play', 'what was the child doing to exact this kind of response' etc, etc. As we all know, 'bite inhibition' is learnt from litter mates but some dogs take longer than others to learn this important behaviour. If it is a lack of bite inhibition then this can still be taught to the pup using techniques that it would recognise from being with it's litter mates. Pups, regardless of breed will always bite or mouth as that is one of their ways of learning about their enviroment.

Re: puppy biting

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:58:23 GMT

Never leave the puppy and child alone together. This may sound an obvious thing to say, but it can happen. Supervise very closely the interaction the two have. Both child and puppy will need your direction.. Crate the dog when you are busy and can not supervise. Your vet is a genius! Of course the dog is teething! They are teething machines throughout the first year, so always have rope raggie toys to hand when interacting so you can put that in your dog's mouth and not skin or clothing. No tug of war games please as this encourages a hard mouth when interacting. I don't allow teeth on skin AT ALL. I say firmly 'No biting' and walk away. Walking away should be sufficient at this age as the dog will not (hopefully anyway) have learnt that it can gain the upper hand and simply carry on. You must avoid excessive or over excitable play in the home! This is when accidents can happen. Nurture a calm gentle side in your dog...this goes such a long way in the long term formation of your dog's attitude. Thanks, Nick

Re: puppy biting

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 09:13:38 GMT

thank you for replying. its more when shes excited and this is the first staff ive owned, and basiclly need some advice on how 2 stop this happening again. i understand puppys will chew and bite but 2 how much is normal. the vet has told me to get chews and lots of toys as she may be teething

Re: puppy biting

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:35:50 GMT

Hi Melissa. Hmmmm. Well this is serious really isn't it? Not the best start you wanted and for your son's face to be bitten you must be really upset, and confidence in the dog knocked heavily. A dog at 8 weeks (assuming half well bred and healthy) should still be correctable. My problem in trying to address this matter online is really what I can't see and advise for...I'm always at a huge disadvantage when replying online. The safest advice I could give is to say that this is not working out and to send the dog back to the breeder now now rather than later. Alternatively (funds allowing) you need an assessment in the home, and advice to get the family (dog included) on the right tracks for a better future. If you'd like to call me for free initial help please feel free to do so. 01299 404356 or 0775 909 3394. HTH, Nick

puppy biting

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:16:59 GMT

hello basiclly i have a 8week old staffy and am having a lot of trouble with her biting and growling. she has biten my 3years old sons face and at my wits end. this is the first dog ive own and have no idea how to stop this

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:16:43 GMT

I have fed raw diet for 20 + years my dogs are fit and healthy, coats gleam, no problems with toilets, I have now found a source that adds fruit, veg, oil, kelp so no longer have do it, dogs love it and it comes frozen, I too have a 'dog' freezer so buy in bulk (no chance of running out) they also have chicken wings which they all love, my 14 year old still goes for a run with the others, though if it's more than a 3 mile hike he does get a bit tired. Just thought I might add, that on the breed discription the German Spitz - Grooming not considerable coat very easy to care for, and exercise is considerable they may not be very big, but believe me they will go all day running and swimming any exercise in fact. not for the couch potato, also they were bred as watch dogs not guard dogs, though letting you know someone is around will let anyone in the house lol

Re: Dangerous food for dogs

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:18:29 GMT

I always give my dogs Garlic tablets as they can work alongside Flea & Tick drops as a repellent, the only downside is the smelly Garlic breath. What is no good for one dog might not necessarily affect another dog (sorry cant spell) my old beagle used to love Raw Onion & the occasional grape, never did her any harm at all.

New dog law proposals

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:07:52 GMT

Have a read of this article on the BBC website and let me know what you think. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8556195.stm. Under new proposals by ministers in the UK all dog owners would have to take out insurance against their dogs attacking somone. In my opinion forcing all dog owners to insure against dog attacks is penalising the majority for the acts of a very very small minority and smacks of being another stealth tax. There are over 7 million dogs in the UK and the vast majority of owners are responsible and have dogs that have never and will never attack anyone. The current law on dangerous is completely inept and was thought up in haste and by people (Ken Baker in particular) who have little understanding of dogs. The law focuses on particular breeds or types of dog whereas the real problem lies with the owner. Any dog can be a dangerous dog with the wrong owner so the only effective way of controlling dangerous dogs is to control dog owners. Forcing owners to pay an insurance tax is like giving people who want to own a dangerous dog the green light and telling them it's OK if your dog attacks someone because it's covered by insurance. The only way to effectively control dangerous dogs is by targetting their owners and until the focus of the law is changed the problem will never improve.

Re: Dangerous food for dogs

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:39:17 GMT

can i just say, i've had a dog all my life, and we've always given them chocolate now and then and it never did them any harm.

Re: The Secret Life of the Dog

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:32:15 GMT

Wouldn't be surprised, didn't they say they started the experiment in the 50's?

Re: The Secret Life of the Dog

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:18:45 GMT

i watched this too, however the silver fox has been on another dog programme before cant remember what one

Re: The Secret Life of the Dog

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:12:18 GMT

Yes that was an interesting theory - that without dogs to help, we couldn't have successfully made the transition from hunter gatherer to farmer. We owe dogs a lot!!

Re: The Secret Life of the Dog

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:58:03 GMT

yes, i watched that. it was so interesting... the whole of civilization is a result of man working with dogs!

Re: Kennel cough

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 20:03:47 GMT

My puppy got kennel cough, and we decided to go to the vet just to make sure that's what it actually was, and if she wanted to put him on any kind of antibiotic for it. She said that actually, there was a chance that is could be lungworm (unlikely, but VERY dangerous if untreated) and gave us a wormer to mix in with his food. It turned out that it was actually kennel cough, and he was fine after about a weed and a half, but I would always encourage people to go and check with their vet.

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:28:54 GMT

Thanks Hand on Paws :) Yes, we have a pack of six Shiloh's, and do a few breeding a year as a passion. They're really wonderful. And as I sit here with my morning coffee on the laptop, I have 5 of them lying all around me lol. Without hijacking the thread, the King actually came from the same foundation lines as the Shilohs, and they only split off a few years back. I could show some pedigrees that will show where the split happened (eg here is one King pedigree http://www.rarebreedpedigrees.info/geneal.pl?op=tree&index=127&gens=5&db=sk.dbw and here is one of my pack http://www.boldcanine.com/Gunner7GPedigree.htm). They all get raw, and out litters start on raw at 4 weeks of age. I actually just took our first pup to Amsterdam a few months ago, then spend some time in Scotland with friends. The UK import laws are a bit different than some of the EU law which allow me to take in an under 12 week old un-vaccinated for rabies puppy without a quarantine. Hopefully things will change as we have some friends in the UK that desperately want to bring some Shiloh's into the country.

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:20:02 GMT

Great post Boldraw, i agree with everything you said. And Shiloh shepherds?! I would LOVE a Shiloh shep, although i think they're more well known as King Shepherds in the UK. And they all get raw, it just gets better, i like nothing better than seeing a big dog with a bone! :-)

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:29:24 GMT

Hi guys, I'm new here, but am a huge proponent of raw. So much so, that I left the corporate world and started my own raw business to help promote the diet and to help dispel many of the myths associated with raw - many of which are created by the pet food industry which obviously has stakes to protect. We feed our entire pack of 6 shiloh shepherds raw, our litters are weened on raw starting at 4 weeks of age, and advocate the use a of raw natural diet. Unlike some, I'm not a raw nazi with strict viewpoints over the type of raw program you follow, or whether supplements/veggies/fruits etc should or should not be added, but rather encourage owners to do what they feel right and comfortable with. If some want to alternate raw and kibble meals, cool - at least there's some raw in there. If some want to add fruits and veggies into their raw, cool - at least your dog is getting raw meats. Please feel free to check out some of the articles on raw at our blog (http://boldraw.tumblr.com) or our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/boldraw) It's a great topic started here, and hopefully the discussion continues. It's an incredibly important topic.

Re: Editing the page

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:03:59 GMT

You can edit the content of the pages within your site, add and remove pages and pick a template for your site from within your My Account area. Click My Account (top of each page) and you will see your my account page that has a row of tabs across the top. The Pages tab is where you control your page content. In this tab you will see a list of the pages you currently have and an edit link (looks like a pencil) in the last column that opens the content editor for that page. Clicking this will open the page in a little window and the editable area is outlined by an orange dashed line. There is a toolbar at the top for formatting the text, inserting images and links etc. You can also set the name and title of the page and specify whether the page is active or not. Underneath the list pages you will see an Add button for adding new pages and a site styles button for choosing a template for your site. You can change your template at any time. If you need any help at any time you can e-mail the help desk at helpdesk@thesniffa.com. Hope that helps!

Editing the page

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:26:38 GMT

I can't figure out how to edit my page layout and such.. Can you please help me?

Dangerous Dogs

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:46:24 GMT

There's a recent article on the BBC website looking into the Dangerous Dogs Act in the UK - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8391175.stm. What are your thoughts on this? I'm sure there are cases where a dog is just agressive and there's nothing that can be done about it but for the most part I think the owners are the problem rather than the dog. Any dog can be trained to be agressive and some breeds are more responsive to this than others (that's why police use German Shepherds) but I don't think banning breeds is particularly fair or productive. Also I think sometimes the problem is not that the owner wants the dog to be aggresive but simply doesn't know how to handle the dog or is even scared of it. Surely a properly implemented licensing system would work better. This would highlight owners who needed help in training and looking after their dogs and also those that want their dogs to be aggresive.

The Secret Life of the Dog

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:15:54 GMT

Did anyone in the UK see the horizon programme last week about dogs? You can see it on iplayer now at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pssgh, it's well worth a watch. Particularly interesting was the experiment to tame Silver Foxes and how in a few generations they're appearance change to look more like dogs. Also the bit about dogs developing a bark specifically to communicate with us and how they are good for our health! What did you think?

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:19:08 GMT

I think this is a great post. I am currently doing an series of articles on my own blog on my website. www.mybreederplan.com/dogblog about Pet nurtition. I have a few more items to go but I spoke about the pros and cons of both kibble and/or raw diets. I am glad that you guys have included this topic. I love what a raw diet does for my dogs. There are so much additives in commercial diets that I have had dogs go way down hill in the past. I have best success on Raw or BARF diets. For my pups, I use the closest to natural form of kibble that can be found (that's easy to use) for them because of convienance for their new owners. But my most memorial result of a raw diet was when a new mother whom stressed out so much that she just dropped at least 25 pounds from her normal pre-pregnancy weight. We tried de-worming with no results. We were worried initially about whip worm. We weaned her off the pups early and started her on a Raw diet and had her, within a week, gain back almost half of what she was down. What an improvement almost immediately. Hope we can get more discussion on this topic in the future. Whispiri

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:51:37 GMT

Well barney can pee with his left and right leg, and if he feels lazy then he squats.

Re: My JRT won't grab the ball and turn in flyball.

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:18:48 GMT

Do you let your dog play with the ball as a toy at home?

Re: Kennels in Cardiff

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:40:46 GMT

I've only used one kennels in Cardiff, that was The Boarding Centre? in Pontprennau. It was a bit strange though as they wouldn't let me have a look around - apparently it disturbs the dogs. That's a little bit odd if you ask me so I don't think I'd leave him there again. A friend of mine uses one out near St Nicholas and says it's very good. I think it's called Wayside

Kennels in Cardiff

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:58:12 GMT

I'm looking for a recommendation for kennels around the cardiff area? I know there are a loads but would appreciate thoughts from anyone that uses them and can provide positve feed back. Ideally somewhere used to looking after young, large, boisterous dogs. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Your Life Story

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:54:51 GMT

We recently had this submitted to us at Sniffa HQ... I wondered if any of you Sniffas had an amazing life story to tell, with the possibility of being featured on the BBC TV programme "My Story" which airs in Spring 2010. Here it is... Could your life story become a published book? The BBC is searching for remarkable true life stories that could become best selling books. Tell us your story and it might be as successful as Calendar Girls or Erin Brockovich MY STORY… We’re looking for extra-ordinary true life stories from all over Britain. They might be dramatic, heartwarming, funny or sad - as long as they’re true, we want to read them. Fifteen stories will feature in a major new BBC One TV series called MY STORY. Five people will win the chance to have their stories turned into a book and receive a cash advance of £20,000. MY STORY is not a writing competition, so you don’t have to be good at writing to take part. Each of the five stories selected to be published will be ghost-written for you. And if your story is chosen, your name would appear on the cover of your own book. To find out more : Visit the MY STORY website at bbc.co.uk/mystory, or ... email lauren.benson@princesstv.com or ... Write to My Story, c/o PO Box 65655, London W12 2BG. The closing date for entrants in 6th January 2010.

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:50:17 GMT

Thanks for watching the videos. I cannot explain to people just how exciting and thrilling it is to be out on the lanes in competition. It's fast pace keeps you on your toes. This summer while running with Rude Dogs we were completing our heats in as fast as 17 seconds for the team. That is all four dogs 102 feet start to finish. Doesn't include all of the run back space we use. Booge & I have an absolute blast and get to spend the weekend with some very good friends who have as much fun as us. I guess from all these comments you can't tell I like the sport can you?

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:11:44 GMT

I totally agree - and I watched your Flyball videos - so impressive!

A Puppy's Twelve Days of Christmas

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:47:24 GMT

I am trying to share this cute poem with as many as possible so I thought it was a good fit here for Holidays and would post it here. A Puppy's Twelve Days of Christmas On the first day of Christmas my puppy gave to me The Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the second day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the third day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the fourth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the fifth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the sixth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the seventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Seven scraps of wrapping paper Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the eighth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Eight tiny reindeer fragments Seven scraps of wrapping paper Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the ninth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me My wreath in nine pieces Eight tiny reindeer fragments Seven scraps of wrapping paper Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the tenth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed My wreath in nine pieces Eight tiny reindeer fragments Seven scraps of wrapping paper Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the eleventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me Eleven unwrapped presents Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed My wreath in nine pieces Eight tiny reindeer fragments Seven scraps of wrapping paper Six yards of soggy ribbon Five chewed-up stockings Four broken window candles Three punctured ornaments Two leaking bubble lights And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree. On the twelfth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me A dozen puppy kisses And I forgot about the other eleven days.

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:42:29 GMT

If you watch other activities your dogs do, you will find they are left or right at many things. Some dogs are both ways but as a general rule, most dogs are either right or left. A good example of this is in Flyball. In the beginning of training, we figure out if they turn right or left when retrieving a ball thrown out for them to retrieve. That tells us which way they turn. As we train turning on the box, we put the ball on the right or left side. I am sure, if we pay attention, we can find a lot of things our dogs do that are right or left.

Gundogs

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:32:17 GMT

I have started this for gundog owners and workers to talk about training, gundog nutrients, and whatever else you can think of to do with gundogs!!

Agility

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:28:25 GMT

Talk to other members in Agility. Disscuss training methods, competitions, and much, much, more!!!!

Re: Flyball

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:47:19 GMT

Hi I have started flyball with my JRT. Do you know how I can can him to turn and grab the ball at the same time on a BFA box? Thanks Pupspawz

My JRT won't grab the ball and turn in flyball.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:08:35 GMT

My JRT dog will do a wonderful box turn in flyball, but when I put the ball in the box he'll grab the ball then lie down(on the box!) and chew the ball!! Please help. I don't know what to do!

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:53:59 GMT

Obviously ambidextrous.......if that's how you spell it!

Re: Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:13:45 GMT

I feed a diet which is basically, a mixture of raw/homecooked/natural breed specific! It doesn't really abbreviate lol! I would never go back to commercial foods, once you know whats in them and how easy it is to feed other ways, i just don't see how people can do it. Im a passionate advocate of natural feeding!

Bones and Raw Food (BARF)

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:25:07 GMT

Wouldn't be a dog forum without a discussion about this! What are your thoughts? I know this type of feeding won't be for everyone but it works very well for Tal and I. I feed Tal a mixture of dry and raw food which he loves and we've never had a problem with feeding him. He's 5 years old and is very healthy, has a great coat and still sometimes gets mistaken for a puppy! I mix up the raw food so sometimes he'll have tripe, sometimes minced meat and other times chicken or turkey necks. We buy the food in bulk and we have a freezer in the shed for the raw food and some wheelie bins for the dry food. There's a company that delivers in our area every Thursday and we place an order of about £60 every three months so it costs us about 65p a day to feed him. The minced meat and tripe come conveniently packed in 450g packets so we can just take out 1 a day to defrost overnight. The cons to this type of feeding are the smell (tripe smells bad) and the flies it attracts in the summer. We have to keep the bowl covered up after he's finished with it because the flies love to lay their eggs in there and it also attracts slugs. Overall though I think it's a great way to feed and very beneficial to the dog.

Do you have any suggestions for TheSniffa.com

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:55:52 GMT

If you have any ideas or suggestions for TheSniffa.com website we'd love to hear them so please respond here. If you have any questions about the site then please ask them in this category.

Welcome to the Snifforum

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:53:52 GMT

Welcome to TheSniffa.com's new forum. This category is for discussing anything to do with the website generally. If you have any comments, suggestions or gripes about the website this is the place to discuss them. We monitor this category so please feel free to air your views here and we will try to respond as best we can.

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:41:12 GMT

Quote from Sniffa VizslaI can't say that I really pay much attention but Tal often turns round and round before finding a comfortable spot so I'm pretty sure he uses both sides

I paid attention this morning and he's definitely just as comfortable on either side!

Re: Hello and Welcome...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:26:51 GMT

Thank you. Glad you like them. I would love to have all day to make more, but my 'real job' prevents it! Hoping to break into more video blogging later on, and commit to a weekly video upload. We'll see.

Re: Hello and Welcome...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:24:37 GMT

Nick, those latest videos on your site are fantastic! http://www.thesniffa.com/sniffasites/alphadogbehaviour/dog-videos.aspx

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:38:02 GMT

Well my boy is 11 weeks now and is still squatting down...bless im. The cocking action normally comes with sexual maturity, and can be accellerated by learning from other males. Interestingly, my 4 yr old border terrier (female) often over scents and cocks her leg in the process. Her left leg I think.

Re: Lefty or Righty......?

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:44:19 GMT

I can't say that I really pay much attention but Tal often turns round and round before finding a comfortable spot so I'm pretty sure he uses both sides

Re: Hello and Welcome...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:56:34 GMT

aww, thank you!!!

Re: Hello and Welcome...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:26:57 GMT

Thanks very much - I will give it a go - and those photos are GORGEOUS!!!!!

Re: Hello and Welcome...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:17:25 GMT

consistency is your best friend. gently pushing your dog off, telling him a calm no, and pointing away from you can eventually solve the problem, but you have to do it every single time. Also, reward by petting without excitement, when the dog sits quietly to greet you instead :) Don't get frustrated if it doesn't work after a couple of days... it may take time

Lefty or Righty......?

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:53:52 GMT

If you have a male dog have you noticed that they are a 'lefty' or a 'righty' ie they lift their left or right leg to pee? Fred is a Lefty - and cannot pee with his right leg up - he over balances if he tries. Walter, on the other hand is mostly a Righty but will pee with his left leg sometimes.

Re: Dog treats for Christmas?

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:07:23 GMT

I avoid like the plague the little stockings for dogs full of radioactive coloured treats and so on! They'll be getting about half a mug of mixed veg, a bit of turkey and a little gravy...I'll have a couple of mugs worth at least ;)