Show us your pets

[Tumbleweed]

Ta for the link - which have a look-see at home - and the explanation! 

 

Takes discipline to keep animals like that, and your passion is evident.  

[nathrix]

Searched a bit and found a working link http://www.priscillava.com/bbc-journey-inside-a-giant-spider.html

 

http://www.priscillava.com/images/1-tarantula-976.gif

http://www.priscillava.com/images/2-predatory-976.gif

http://www.priscillava.com/images/3-feeding-976.gif

http://www.priscillava.com/images/4-circulation-976.gif

http://www.priscillava.com/images/5-respiration-976.gif

http://www.priscillava.com/images/6-silk-976.jpg

[nathrix]

Lastly, subscribe to the local Tarantupedia YouTube channel, they make fantastic videos!

 

 

 

 

 

[dre]

I have over 60 different species (I'm not a breeder, just fascinated by them). I also have the most venomous ones (there are over 900 identified tarantula species in the world and none are deadly) e.g. the Featherleg baboon or Starbust baboon.

 

 

 

Would love to see a photo of your set up of terrariums if you don't mind?

[SeaBee]

It's a dirty job, but somebody has to guard the braai grid. And the wandering pine cone. Vigilance at work! 

 

 

[tunariaan]

swimming time

[Little Fish]

Hi dog people - I have a question, and I'd really like to hear other points of view.

Guardian Dog training for large/protective breeds - Yes or No?

 

Good thing or bad thing? Does it make a dog more aggressive than it would've been without the training? Or is it the responsible thing to do if you own a protective breed?

Thanks.

[LOOK695]

Hi dog people - I have a question, and I'd really like to hear other points of view.

Guardian Dog training for large/protective breeds - Yes or No?

 

Good thing or bad thing? Does it make a dog more aggressive than it would've been without the training? Or is it the responsible thing to do if you own a protective breed?

Thanks.

Interesting question. Looking forward to hearing what the experts have to say

[tunariaan]

Hi dog people - I have a question, and I'd really like to hear other points of view.

Guardian Dog training for large/protective breeds - Yes or No?

 

Good thing or bad thing? Does it make a dog more aggressive than it would've been without the training? Or is it the responsible thing to do if you own a protective breed?

Thanks.

Havent really heard of this before, i know of obedience training, Ipo, therapy, working dog training ect

Please specify more, also what breed exactly?

[Little Fish]

Havent really heard of this before, i know of obedience training, Ipo, therapy, working dog training ect

Please specify more, also what breed exactly?

Ok, so as I understand it, it would be the 3rd phase of IPO - the protection training.

So the only difference in classic IPO training & this kind of training is that IPO is (or should be) more of a game/challenge vs the guardian training for protection under threat. I think the difference is very small, as even with IPO there is a "threat" which signals the bite, right? So the stick.

 

So for IPO training the dog needs certain drives in order to be successful at the training - you know more about it than me. From what I understand the dog needs steady nerves, the chase instinct & a instinct to fight/defeat the prey or object.

 

With IPO the dogs can only take part in this phase after obedience & tracking, which is good. With the training I looked at yesterday nowhere does it say there needs to be prior training before the guardian course.

 

So the owner & dog do some basic obstacle work & then go on to the bite training. The guy with the stick & the arm that the dog bites. The dogs on the training I saw were scary to say the absolute least - I was terrified just looking at the photos. 90% of them were Pittbulls. The others were a mix of large breeds. But no boerboels that I saw.

So the dog is trained to bite under certain circumstance, mainly when the owner is under threat.

 

This whole thing came about because I asked a breeder if he thought a 2 year old dog could be trained to be obedient. The breed is a mix - its my dog that I got earlier in the year from the SPCA. She is a mix of breeds - we were told she is a Boxer X Boerboel, but now that she is no longer a bag of bones, she looks increasingly like a Pittbull X Boerboel. She has the Pitt "smile" as well as the "butterfly" on her chest. 

We were told she was 18months when we got her, but she was very much still a puppy, so I think maybe a bit younger - she is now about 2yrs & this girl has gone from a timid bag of bones to one of the most amazing guard dogs I've ever seen. She has suddenly reached maturity - you can see she is solid & pure muscle. She literally lies in front of the front door & waits for us to come home at night. I watch her on the cameras & there is not a person that walks past our house that she does not go flying at barking like a crazy thing. She misses nothing.

A few weeks ago I was walking her in the park with my other dogs & a child that lives with us & out of nowhere a guy came out of thick trees & bushes towards us. He wasn't extremely close to us, but it was unexpected & he kept walking straight at us. Before I even knew what was happening she had put herself between him & us & had literally transformed into a state of guarding/attack. Her entire body & face changed & she went mad - with her teeth bared & snapping. To the point where the little boy with me screamed at me "Molly looks scary".

She did NOT bite him but I did not trust that she wouldn't because I'd never seen her like that before. Basically what she wanted was for the guy to stop approaching us - so she blocked him & he kept walking, so she then went around behind him & started lunging at his legs, so then he would stop & turn towards her (away from us) and she would then run around him & put herself between us & him again. She did this several times until I basically started walking away in the other direction, and then she followed.

This was an extreme situation as she goes to the park often & if somebody is approaching she will run up to them & they will stop & we walk past. No barking no lunging. This guy did feel like a threat - the fact that he would not stop approaching us & came out so suddenly was certainly not normal.

Since then I have watched her very closely & I can see she is becoming more & more of a guard dog. If I go to speak to somebody at the gate & they approach, her & my male will bite them - I know this for a fact. My male does bite in those circumstance & she is right there with him waiting for a hand or arm to come through the gate towards me - which is fine. I have no problem with that.

Her hackles on her back have now suddenly appeared as well when she barks.

All of this has made me realize that having a dog made up of any of those breeds is a responsibility. And I will take it seriously. What I would like is to be able to prevent her biting somebody who is not a threat to me in the future.

And right now I feel like she decides what is a threat, not me - hence the question about what kind of training I can do, if any?

 

I do not want any kind of training that will bring out aggression in her - the idea of training her to attack, just so that I can prevent her from attacking does not make sense to me. Or am I wrong?

[Little Fish]

.

[DJ84]

I have always owned power breeds and trained most of them.

To be honest i dont see the IPO training assisting in what you want.

 

It is command training that gets them to attack not stop them from doing so.

 

proper obedience training is all they need to listen, on top of that the dog needs to follow the leader and if it does not believe you are in charge it will make its own decisions. On top of this, and i see it with my Staffie and my wife, if she gets startled so does he and that can dictate what he does.

 

She must learn to follow your lead and you need to learn how to lead her. If i show aggression towards someone and my dog is next to me he gets worked up and tense ready to fight, it is pack mentality and they are designed to follow. 

[LOOK695]

.I eated it.jpg

Dont look scary to me

[Little Fish]

Dont look scary to me

LOL - I know right? But that may have had something to do with the fact that she had just eaten my birthday cake & was being reprimanded

 

She is a big softy. The other dogs normally end up hurting her, even though she is the biggest. And she pins the little boy that lives on the property up against the wall on her back legs & licks his face to make him laugh.

She is really a stunning dog & I really want to do the best I can for her. I think she will enjoy training, but there is no chance I'm taking her to the place the breeder told me to go to. I don't want her (or me) to be anywhere near those dogs.

[LOOK695]

LOL - I know right? But that may have had something to do with the fact that she had just eaten my birthday cake & was being reprimanded

 

She is a big softy. The other dogs normally end up hurting her, even though she is the biggest. And she pins the little boy that lives on the property up against the wall on her back legs & licks his face to make him laugh.

She is really a stunning dog & I really want to do the best I can for her. I think she will enjoy training, but there is no chance I'm taking her to the place the breeder told me to go to. I don't want her (or me) to be anywhere near those dogs.

But the cake was "damaged" so she probably thought it was all hers????????

It is good if a dog has a natural instinct to protect and they are often very good at sniffing out danger and scaly dudes. Our young Rottie let our garden girl know today that she is not welcome playing with Tristan

Edited October 20, 2015 by LOOK695

[Little Fish]

But the cake was "damaged" so she probably thought it was all hers????????

It is good if a dog has a natural instinct to protect and they are often very good at sniffing out danger and scaly dudes. Our young Rottie let our garden girl know today that she is not welcome playing with Tristan

Yes - I think that cake was jinxed to begin with. The only people who would eat it after Molly was done with it were my Israeli neighbours who would steal Molly if they could!

I want her to be protective, but I do not want to encourage her to be aggressive. To me these guys are doing just that & that's not what I want for her.

And just to say, I'm not against working dogs - some of the dogs on the training are anti poaching dogs.

They are stunning & I love that they are used to their full potential instead of kept in a cage for fighting or even in a garden as some kind of weird status symbol.