In my non-doggy workplace we are lucky enough to have an email dog list where those interested in all things canine can get together and chat. I thought this was both an enlightening and humourous series of emails and wanted to share it with you!  You may like to read this from the bottom to the top.

From: W
Posted At: Monday, 14 May 2012 09:24
Posted To: Dogs
Conversation: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice
Subject: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice - Reply

It always makes me chuckle - the number of people who thought they were getting one of those gentle, passive, obedient, helpful guide dogs they see out and about, but end up with a Labrador puppy disaster zone.

They are incredibly easy to train and they are very keen to please, but without training, you may as well release an over-powered, self-propelled angle grinder in your house.

From:
Posted At: Monday, 14 May 2012 09:10
Posted To: Dogs
Conversation: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice
Subject: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice - Reply

Hi R,

Whilst the information below may not be a suitable solution for your particular situation, the structure of the situation and the solution is the same.....

I assisted a family on the weekend with a near identical situation to yours.  They had a yellow Labrador who could easily have scored the lead role in the movie 'Marley & Me'.  This dog was hyper-energetic, terribly destructive and as sweet as a lamb.  The dogs owners were quite wealthy and lived on acreage with a large impressive house and exquisitely manicured gardens populated by numerous statues, fountains, swimming pool, tennis court and ornamental hedges.  The lawns were bowling-green quality but the presence of the dog was having an obvious impact upon them too.

Upon arriving at the residence, the damage that the dog had done was immediately obvious as I surveyed the yard...... a 10 place Quilla outdoor setting was heavily chewed on all corners, all the legs and armrests were also heavily chewed.  Scattered around the back lawn were remnants of what used to be an in-ground watering system for one of the ornamental gardens.  The BBQ cover hung in tatters loosely draped over the BBQ which is also missing the hose from the gas bottle to the burners thanks to the dog also.

The dogs owners were not terribly concerned at the destructive habits of the dog but rather were very concerned at the way the dog was interacting with the children aged 10, 8 and 6.  The youngest child was terrified of the dog and refused to go outside the house unless the dog was tied up.  The owners said that the dog was constantly knocking the youngest child down and playfully mouthing him.  Even though I am no fan of dogs mouthing anyone I was not terribly concerned by this mouthing as it was obviously playful and it would be very easy for me to extinguish.  The described the dog as energetic, noisy and demanding and my initial interactions with the dog certainly supported this.  The moment the dog saw me it ran at me from approx. 40 meters away and jumped straight up on me without hesitation.  I kneed the dog off me and he jumped straight up again so this time my knee had more force behind it and the dog decided not to jump on me any more.  I ignored the dog whilst talking to it's owners and then the dog started mouthing my right hand.  I responded to this by delivering an attempted aversive to the dog and then re-presented my hand to it again, the dog mouthed my hand again so I escalated the force in the aversive and quickly got it to the desired level where the dog chose to disengage.  I then tried to get the dog to re-engage my hand again and it fell for it and received yet another aversive..  All this time the dog was bouncing around like an ADHD kid who started the day with a large glass of red cordial.

Over the following 3 hours we worked our way through all the dogs behavior problems and at one point I mentioned that a remote training collar (RTC) might be the ideal option for extinguishing some of the destructive behaviors that are occurring in the yard.  To my surprise the dogs female owner said that a friend of their from America had leant then a remote training collar but that they weren't sure how to use it.  I got them to bring it out to show it to me and I was most impressed to fine that their friend had lent them a top of the range Dogtra Dual Collar System.  Sadly it wasn't charged at that time so we couldn't use it but the system they have is worth about $1,300- and would most certainly be perfect for the task.  At that point I got one of my systems from my case and I spent an hour of so working on the dogs interaction with the kids.  Hyper-activity around kids is just another behavior and its very easy to apply gentle electrical 'pressure' to the dog to let it know that it's behavior is stepping over the line.  This kind of electrical stimulation is delivered to the dog below its Threshold Of Discomfort (TOD) and the dog does not verbalise nor is it depressed or in any way upset by it.  We also took the opportunity to teach the dog to 'lose' games of tug-of-war with the kids which previously it had always won.  We taught the kids to say 'Give' and the dog would then let go of whatever it was pulling on.  Because RTCs have very adjustable levels it is very easy to 'pressure' a dog into releasing on command.  The amount of (electrical) pressure applied to the dog gets less and less until the dog is releasing on verbal command alone with no need to stimulate via the RTC.

Questioning of the dogs owners revealed exactly what I had expected, that all their training of their dog up until that point had been reward based training and that their dogs had never effectively been disciplined.  I used Cesar Milan's phrasing and told them that their dog definitely needed 'rules, boundaries and limitations' and that up until I arrived that it effectively had none.  The dog responded extremely well to any and all aversives offered never requiring more than two successive aversives before surrendering the behavior.

By the time I left the dog was running and playing happily with all three of the children.  The youngest child took a bit of coaxing but once the child realised that the dog wasn't going to pounce on him he started interacting with the dog.....a bit of judicious button pressing when the dog went to overstep the line has the dog happily modifying its energy levels when interacting with the kids.

Now the dogs owners will have to do a bit more work but their primary concern of the dog playing with their kids has pretty much been dealt with and they will need to do a few hours more supervised training with the kids and then they can move on to dealing with the destructive chewing behaviors and a few other minor issues.

caveat "The use of a Remote Training Collar should not be done without formal training and or supervision from a canine professional."

Grant 'The Paw Man' Teeboon

Canine Behavior Specialist

www.thepawman.com.au

Mob: 0411-341-280

From: Reynolds, Rachael MRS
Posted At: Friday, 11 May 2012 14:22
Posted To: Dogs
Conversation: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice
Subject: Excitable Kelpie and young child - advice

We have a 2 year old kelpie who is a very loving but excitable member of our family. My daughter who is almost 15 months absolutely loves him and he her in return, however we are having a bit of an issue with just how excited he is when we are outside with him. Barney has a particular interest in my wooden pegs and this was something my daughter discovered very quickly and so the two will spend ages outside with her feeding him the pegs (he destroys them then spits them out - thankfully they aren't expensive). despite being quite boisterous with both my husband and I at times he is actually very gentle with her and waits for her to hand him the pegs and never tries to take them from her but now that she is walking/running he gets a little to excited with her at times and tries to run with her which has resulted in a few tumbles. The latest of which knocked her into a brick wall and left an egg on her head, this was despite me being right next to her at the time (he ran between us).

He obviously gets told off very firmly and its usually the end of play time but I'm not to sure how I can calm him down a little to make things a little safer for my daughter while she is outside, especially as I'm sure her running everywhere isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Also how do I discipline him for his actions when being told off and shoved away results in him just standing there with his tail wagging and a dopey grin on his face which suggests it wasn't any sort of deterrent.

Thanks in advance

One of our new(er) foster families wrote to us about the training weekend that through support of the public, we ran over Easter. The weekend continues to influence our mission to provide our dogs with a safe, loving home with adequate boundaries. 

John, Raj and Nadin wrote to us shortly after the event with a description on how Cherry benefited from the training. 

Hello Katherine, Monica and Linda,

Thank you so much for the opportunity for Raj, Nadin and I to attend the dog training session on Good Friday. Already it has been tremendously helpful with our foster dogs. 

As you know, we were caring for Cherry over Easter. Although a lovely girl, she is very rambunctious and was testing our limits. We were feeling somewhat at a loss to know how to exert some control over her extraordinary extrovert behaviour. However that changed after a day with Grant 'the Paw Man' Teeboon. We learnt effective techniques to stop her jumping and pulling on the leash. Really useful hints, like how and when to expose dogs to their fears, will certainly come in handy with rescue dogs - especially those dogs that have nervous tendencies as a result of previous mistreatment.   

Equipping foster careers with the tools to manage difficult dogs will help ensure that the animals can be trained quickly and re-homed smoothy. That is good news for all involved, particularly the dogs, who with a lot of love and positive training, will go on to bring much joy to their new owners.

Once again, thank you for arranging this training. It's a worthwhile initiative that will stand our family in good stead to be effective foster careers. 

Best regards,

John, Raj and Nadin.

Maggie's just come into care this week from a breeder in Victoria. Unfortunately she's spent a fair amount of time at our vet due to a bad uterus infection. Peter Burgess and his team have been phenomenal as usual, putting Maggie's wealfare above sleep, food and their own families. We are so thankful for the dedication of our vets, they are incredibly generous and we couldn't do all we do without them. 

Here's John's update on having Maggie. Keep an eye out for her on our dogs available to adopt page when she's healthy and ready for adoption!

Maggie is a lovely girl, however it’s obvious she has had very little love and attention. Her coat has many black marks – not sure what they are – and her face quite a few scares. Her nails are very long and she looks a bit neglected. 

She has struggled with the stairs, although following her foster brother Henry’s lead, seemed to be managing them better this morning.

She cowers and becomes frightened and timid when we approach her – so for the moment we let her come to us. When we crouch down to her level she feels safer. She whimpers a lot, so I suspect that might be a sign of stress or lack of familiarity with a homely environment.

She isn’t house trained and we had major ‘accidents’ around the house last night. Our house is an old style plan without rooms such as a separate laundry. So we’ll have to come up with a creative solution for cordoning-off the carpeted areas.

As an aside, Maggie was also freaked out about our wooden and tiled floors. We have just kept exposing her to the surfaces, usually on her lead. She's still not totally comfortable, but much less freaked out than a week ago.

We have continued to employ Grant Teeboon's philosophy with reprograming Maggie. We are exposing her on a regular interval to all the things she's freaked out about; tilted and wooden floors, the crate, the lead, etc. We are finding it's working - but we have to do our best not to let her get away with anything. Sometimes it tests us more than her I think!

If Maggie has come from a puppy farm and her job has been to spit out pups on a production line, the poor thing has probably had a pretty crappy life.  

Thanks for the update John, and keep up the good work with poor little Maggie!

Behind each dog on the web-site sits a whole story. The (usually) unknown story of the background the dogs came from, the volunteers and professionals who care for the dogs in the pounds, the dog transporter network that runs across Australia, the massive amount of unseen communication, administration, IT expertise and support, the vet care “donated” at almost cost price and finally the homes and families who welcome the foster dogs in for as long as it takes. Each carer also usually has a supportive partner and children and pets whose lives are often bent around the needs of the Labrador rescue operation.

One of the things we are so grateful for at Lab Rescue is the donation and support we get from the public. I want to take some time out to thank the generous donations of Casey, Janice, Alison, Karen and the Austen’s who made our recent training day over Easter possible. Your donation has helped me become better equipped as a foster carer to train ‘difficult dogs’ like Anna.

As a small token of my thanks, I want to share with you my recent experience as a foster carer at the training day. 

On Good Friday I headed out to Katherine’s place with Anna (classified as difficult dog) secured in the back seat. We had consulted with Grant re Anna and Abbie (one of the girls rescued from the infamous pig farm ) months before so I was looking forward to meeting him. I was also looking forward to meeting the other carers in person. 

Like many similar not for profit organisations, we know each other only by phone calls; usually to swap dogs or supplies around. We meet for fleeting moments at dog drop off/pick up times. Meeting for a day to share experiences and getting to know each other was a huge bonus. Many foster carers brought along their partners too who again are often an overlooked part of the lab rescue story. 

Grant provided us with the specific information based in years of personal experience but also international research around dog behaviour. Much of it we knew or guessed at based on our own experiences but it was great to hear it presented logically and in a way that connected all the pieces together rather than having to sort through the jigsaw of our own observations. 

Also present at the day were Katherine’s own dogs, the last of the pig farm survivor girls (still not ready for adoption), Anna (not ready for general adoption after 14 weeks so now adopted by us) and a couple of other difficult dogs who are in long term care with us due to ongoing work on a number of issues the dogs have been left with due to previous poor experiences.

It is very safe to say that not only did this day make a significant contribution to the capacity of the foster carers, this one day also allowed several of our “difficult” dogs to make significant progress. Let me use Anna to illustrate. Anna is (now) a gorgeous gleaming healthy looking 6 year old chocolate lab. She didn’t always look like that. When she came into care she was significantly overweight, her coat was dry, brittle and a nasty tawny light brown colour instead of a dark gleaming chocolate. This was due to the high level of stress she had been living under.

Anna has been used to breed many litters of puppies from, earning a high income return for at least 5 different owners before being sold to the people who eventually surrendered her to us. Her highly fearful behaviour of any strangers and especially men, tells its own story. Although a gentle loving dog who has fitted in beautifully to our family, it has been very difficult to get Anna to interact calmly with people. She usually panic barks and/or growls and tries her best to hide. She sits shaking, peering sideways at the “scary people” who have “invaded” her home hoping they will soon go away and she will be safe. As you can see, not the easiest dog to present to would be adopters!

At the seminar however, Anna, always beside me on lead found herself sitting next to a whole range of people who knew how to deal with a scared dog and after the first few hours, she trotted along next to me without caring WHO was on her other side. She allowed women and MEN!!! To give her treats, without crawling on the ground. In the “dog social” paddock at break times, although Anna IS very dog social, her stress level was so high, she hung along the fence line or followed me wherever I went and ignored the wonderful chance to run and play, all the other dogs indulged in.

When I made a point of leaving her to get some lunch, (peering nervously around the corner to see how she’d cope) it was fantastic to see her head over to Monica and seek her out as her safety net. 

What amazing progress for this lovely dog in just one day! Grant made a difference to the knowledge base of the carers. He gave us food for thought around some of his ideas and techniques. Sharing stories and experiences with other carers also gave us an expanded knowledge base. The organised safe proximity of so many people and dogs has made a difference to Anna, Kayla, Tasha etc it has given their owners, carers renewed hope for their eventual total rehabilitation. 

We owe a debt of thanks to Grant and Deb, Katherine, Monica for organising the event. The tips shared in this event will stay with us throughout our many more foster dogs. 

Training to be a Lab Rescue Foster Carer

Labrador Rescue takes wonderful Labs that, through no fault of their own, have ended up on death row at the pounds or are surrendered to us directly by their owners. These lucky Labs are placed in foster homes to live with the families whilst they wait for their new homes. Our foster carers treat them as members of their families and begin their training on what it is like to live with a real family. Some of these Labs have never had any training at all and have never even heard the word "sit"!

As a thank you to our foster carers for all of their loyal support and to help our Labs learn their manners even faster, we have asked the wonderful "Pawman" to come to Canberra and host a training day for all of our foster carers. Whilst he is in Canberra, he will also be doing a training seminar and one on one's for the general public. Labrador Rescue are asking for donations to help cover the cost of this valuable training for our foster carers. This will allow our foster carers to not only train their Labs in basic manners and solve minor problem behaviours such as jumping up but will also give them the knowledge to support the new families when they take their new Lab home. A beautifully mannered Lab has a much better chance of finding a wonderful new home as quickly as possible. It also opens up many new homes to a Lab that may otherwise need a very particular home.For example, not many homes could cope with a 35kg Lab that jumps up on them every time they want to say hi!

Can you help?

We will be bringing all our foster carers together for this event, which is quite a task! Our foster carers are located all around NSW, from Newcastle to Yass. Our main challenge is making sure we have enough money to fund this training course. If you would like to donate to Labrador Rescue and to help train our foster carers, our bank details are below. Every dollar helps!

Labrador Rescue Inc

Defence Credit Union

BSB: 803-205

Account: 2077 9092

But I want to go!

If you wish to learn more about doggy behaviour, fix a problem issue with your best friend (only of the canine variety!) and see why we think The Paw Man is the most fabulous dog trainer, the details of his public training are below:

Event: Canine Behaviour Seminar by 'The Paw Man', "Understanding and Dealing With Difficult Dogs"

Presenter Bio: 'The Paw Man' has been a qualified Police Dog Handler, Trainer and Instructor for the last 33 years. He specialises in solving canine behaviour problems especially those involving disobedience, dominance and aggression. His Brisbane based business 'The Paw Man' has been operating for over 12 years and boasts a success rate of over 99%. Visit 'The Paw Man' web site at www.thepawman.com.au to find out more about the man and what he does. Seminar Content Description: Seminar attendance is strictly limited to 50 persons. This ensures the maximum amount of interaction with the group. The Paw Mans straight shooting but light hearted style will shatter many myths about dogs and their behaviours that abound in these Politically Correct times. He will simplify the understand of canine behaviour to a level where even the most difficult of canine behaviours will be understood with ease. He also teaches the correct use of aversive in behaviour modification and discusses various other dog training styles and their advantages and disadvantages. The Paw Man also has a strictly limited number of 1:1 consultations available in the two days following the seminar where he will come to you in Canberra and deal with your dogs problems in the home environment. His 3 previous Canberra seminars have all sold-out before the event so book early to avoid missing out.

Event Date: Easter Sat 7 Apr 2012

Location: Olims Hotel, Braddon Time: 0800-1200hrs

Cost: $100- per head includes light refreshments and reference manual at end of seminar.

Booking Inquiries: For seminar inquiries send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We wish to take this opportunity to thank The Paw Man for all of the assistance he provides us on a daily basis with our rescues and we are looking forward to being able to spend Easter Friday with him learning so much more.

Puppies often come into our care needing training. All of our dogs get toilet trained because they all live inside the house. Linda kindly wrote down a few tips on toilet training that I thought I'd share. Feel free to add your own in the comments below. 

Toilet Training ideas from my experience that might help you with new dogs - Linda

Body Language 
Learn the body language your dog exhibits before toileting. This can only be done by observation. Watch your dog until it toilets.

Constant Supervision
While housetraining a dog not to toilet inside, constant supervision is a must. If you can't supervise for a time pop the dog in a crate or outside while you're busy. Remember not to leave the dog in a crate for too long as you want to set up the dog for success not failure . If you keep getting distracted tie the dog to you with a leash so you don't forget (Labs won't mind a bit)! If you are supervising you will be able to catch the dog in the act of toileting, then you make a loud sudden grrowly sound , 'no' or 'bah' to shock the dog into stopping and take it quickly outside following the toileting routine below. 
Note: You cannot punish a dog for toileting inside if you find the evidence more than 10 seconds later, it will have no idea what you're trying to teach it!

Routine
Develop a toileting routine. Dogs generally toilet after a meal, after a drink, upon waking or becoming active after a period of relaxation, like greeting you. At these times take your dog to the same door and walk out with them to the garden and take the same route to the general area you'd like to encourage them to toilet in. Keep wandering around slowly and watch your dog's body language until it goes. When finished give the dog a treat and some lavish praise or a game of fetch or something you know the dog loves.
If you get sick of waiting for the dog to toilet , take it back in and continue the constant supervision while inside, put a timer on and go out again in about half an hour, keep doing this until the dog toilets either inside (and interrupt it) or outside (and praise it). 
Hopefully the dog will start to follow that routine before it toilets and you will notice it trying to tell you that it's time to go. Give yourself a pat on the back when you realise you can understand what the dog is trying to tell you .

Cleaning Up
For a dog that is new to toileting outside on grass, you may like to clean up the mess and transfer it outside to an area of the garden to get an area to start smelling like a dog toilet. If that is not necessary then wipe up inside and spray with vinegar. This will neutralise the smell so that the house doesn't smell like a toilet to the dog.

A very guilty looking dog in the Canberra pound, at least he smiles for his mug shot!

As you may have already read yesterday, one of our rehomed dogs Molly ran away from her 

family. Read about Molly's experience here. 

Molly's story inspired me to talk about what to do if your dog escapes and how to prevent it from happening. 

When you first bring a dog home

It sounds really obvious, but make sure your fencing is stable. A determined, lonely dog can easily push aside a loose paling in a picket fence. Also make sure sure your fences are at least 1.5m high on all sides. If not, consider getting an older dog with arthiritis who's less likely to jump.

If adopting a lab from us, be clear about your fences. I know our adoption questionnaire is long and at Lab Rescue we're quite unashamed about it. We want to know a lot about you! You can also use this time to express what type of dog suits you. For instance, if you have farm fencing you don't want a dog who will climb. (like my Dorrie, she won't stay more than 10 seconds behind a farm fence!) If you have a barred gate with gaps in it, don't ask for a small (and slender!) dog. The more you let us know about your backyard, the more we can test suitable dogs to ensure a good match. 

Before you plan to pick up your dog, have a couple of dog tags made up. Have a dog name (if you know it, or have a name in mind) on one side and a contact mobile number on the other. It's useful to have a few spare because they do get rusty or lost. 

When you have your dog 

Molly's family recommends putting up a sign on any external gates or doors reminding people to close it behind them. It can be a great reminder for children or visitors. Explain to everyone that the door/gate must be fully secure every time you go out, especially in the first few weeks when your dog is getting used to you.

Once I came home to a new foster and the gate bounced open when I went through it. Cajun was off down the street with me chasing after him in a pencil work skirt and heels. Luckily (for me) Cajun spotted a car parked down the street with a door open. The family was unloading shopping out of their nice clean car. Cajun jumped straight in and sat there waiting for them to come back. They got quite a surprise when they returned to their car!

All dogs that are rehomed through labrador rescue have microchips in our name. When you adopt a dog from us you will get a copy of a microchip transfer form. We will hand in our copy to a pound to transfer the dog into your name, however the pounds aren't always great at doing this. When you take your new dog for a checkup at your local vet, ask them to check the details on the chip. If you want to change it you can use your copy of the transfer form to do so. 

When your dog's missing

The first thing to do is to check the local pound. Research in your area what local shelter/pound is near you. Most pounds are very quick to upload photos and details of dogs that have been picked up. Are you close to an RSPCA? It's worth giving them all a call to register that your dog is lost. Dig out your paperwork and find the microchip number of the dog. 

If you are in Sydney, check the large pounds like Hawkesbury, Blacktown and Renbury. Canberra people can check the Canberra RSPCA, Queanbeyan pound and Canberra pound. Thankfully Lab Rescue routinely check these pounds for labs, so we can keep an eye out too. 

Walk around your typical path where you take your dog. They are most likely to head off in an area they remember or associate with fun. If there are people in the area walking their dogs, ask them if they have seen a lab without an owner. 

Go around door knocking asking people in your street or along your typical walk asking them to keep and eye out. Give them your number to contact if they see anything. This is ultimately what found Molly. 

Search thoroughly around your house. Has there been any fireworks or loud noises? Was the dog scared and found a place to hide? 

Let your vet, or any local vet in the area know about your lost dog. Remember to give them the dog's microchip number. 

Call your local police station. They often get calls about stray dogs and may know of one in the area.

Use Facebook, Twitter and Labrador Rescue to advertise that you have lost your dog.

Finally, if you have another dog, walk it around your neighbourhood. It may pick up on a hiding place that we don't see and since they know the dog they may run towards it. 

Helping the Family Deal with stress

It's a horrible, stressful situation that none of us want to go through. Molly's family were particularly stressed because of how helpless they were. They just wanted to be able to do something to bring Molly back. Most of the steps above resulted in letting Molly's family know where she was. 

Hopefully this article has reminded you about the possibility of your dog wandering off. It can happen to anyone, and like with Molly, it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the dog being bored or under exercised. Bookmark this article or create your own list so that you can refer back to it if needed. 

Do you have any tips on what to do if your dog escapes? What's worked for you in the past? 

Big thanks to Molly's owners for sharing their experience and tips! I can't express how happy we are here at Lab Rescue that Molly's safe at home again. And we are so pleased that she's found a home that loves her dearly.