dog etiquette on Peckham Rye

[daizie]

You're right first mate . Yet, before this incident i'd never judged a dog on its breed, it just had never occured to me, being a bit niave . I do now avoid bull breeds altogether as I cant risk it . Threads like this are very useful .

[Huggers]

Ive found pocket full of crumbled old stilton cheese invaluable for getting dog back when he is focused on all the bones dropped in the park.It s stink can over-ride anything else.

Ive also started to teach him hand signals so he is watching to see if there are any coming- it completely knackers his brain. (i emphasise I am the one doing the hand signals, not the dog,)

[first mate]

I also advocate "blame the deed not the breed" so what I'm really doing is associating a dog breed with a type of owner because the bad owner won't control or train their dog, too many bull breed owners fit this bill- terribly unfair to decent bull breed owners, but as Daizie says, I won't take the risk.

[puzzled]

dog training classes.... call pam mulvaney on 07939023135.

[LegalEagle-ish]

Thanks everyone for a really helpful thread.

I love my dog and know he's a sweetie, but I'd love him to be a bit more obedient. I'll get some stilton tomorrow and see if that helps. Also I've been looking after a friend's dog for the past two months and he's an uncastrated young male, so the dynamic between the two dogs has been a bit up and down (mine is castrated but older).

That may have affected his behaviour, but my friend has sorted out accomodation now so he'll be taking his dog back this weekend. Hopefully it will be a bit easier to get my dog to behave better with your tips and no other interloper to challange his position!

[Huggers]

Legal, you got to practise with the stilton at home so he knows you have the stilton. We hate stilton and I always buy it by mistake at Christmas,so have supply, but I understand camembert is a good one. In fact now if dog has nose in kentucky fried chicken and is about to start his 'dance' of buggering off with it, I scream 'cheese!'

[LegalEagle-ish]

Lol. I've got mature cheddar in the fridge. I'm going to cube it and try that for now. Might even pop along to the Rye and see if I can stop him chasing bloody foxes this morning!

[daizie]

get him to chase a bugaboo .

[LegalEagle-ish]

Lol. He was quite good, he loves cheese! I did some of the sit, hide the chesse and find it with both of the dogs before I went out and even tried it in the park, and it was only after about 40 minutes that he started getting itchy paws and ran off into the bushes fox hunting. He came back fairly quickly for the cheese, but then when I started walking from the field, he was oooooff! Had to get him back on the lead, but I must say, the cheese was pretty successful on the whole.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I've found a water collar very successful for recall. I was walking a boxer-cross, a notoriously bright, but stubborn breed. She became instantly receptive when I let blast with the water: came back to call which was reinforced with a treat. She soon got the hang of recall.

The collar has quite a good range so useful for dogs that run off.

[first mate]

Hi LE,

Glad cheese successful. In your shoes, I would not give him the opportunity to go off. Just get a long line and keep him on that and then engage him with a game and obedience. If he likes a ball or a tuggy then get him to do sits and heeling etc.. and alternate your rewards to keep him interested (but he must know the "leave" command). In all honesty nothing will ever quite compete with fox chasing. It's in him, in those terrier genes. But the more he practices it, or is given the opportunity to do so, the more likely he is to try. If you really want to try to crack it then you'll have to introduce a whole new regime that keeps his brain busy and focussed on you. The fox thing will never go completely but by limiting his opportunities to go off and keeping his mind on other stuff, where he can EARN a reward, you can compete.

One more thing, eventually the reward every time thing becomes boring and predictable to the dog. That is why you have to eventually reward randomly- it's the same principle as gambling where the dog will keep working to get his reward eventually. If you always, always reward every time, he can think - I'll get my reward later, right now I'd rather go after that fox.

Chasing a ball and bringing it back can help to redirect high prey drive in some dogs- but he must be taught to retrieve to you.

Try a training class. You may enjoy it. It's impossible to describe all the points here and you're far better learning all this with a trainer who'll make sure you're doing the right stuff according to your dog's temperament and drives. Trying to train on your own can mean you make mistakes that make a problem worse. Hope this is helpful.

[LegalEagle-ish]

Thnaks, yes very helpful. He loves balls and toys, but even the toughest don't last more than a day or two! I think I'll have a go at the training classes.

[James Barber]

I was contacte to ascertain if Peckham Rye posters about dog poisoning are true. Council officers have been unable to obtain any evidence these rumours are true.

IF you know of any information that substantiates these rumours please get in touch with me and I'll advise the officer investigating.

In the mean time any remaining posters will be removed.