Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Iwould like to shut your poor dogs previous owners in a shed for years. Poor dog.

Just got home. As for the chasing episodes, she needs to be redirected as soon as the behavior starts and ideally as soon as he starts to get aroused, whines or makes any indication that the chase is about to begin. The faster you can cut her off and redirect his behavior, the more successful you will be long term. Teach yourself to watch for him staring. As soon as he keys into one of the cars and is staring in their direction, call her name or clap your hands. When he looks at you or turns around, praise and reward her. She needs to be taught that another behavior will be more successful for her at the same time she learns that you are not allowing her to practice the behavior you don’t like (chasing).I sound like Barbara Woodhouse. :-))

doodlebug4 chase cars ? not cats ? never heard that before. The above will work for cats as well as cars. Good luck.

Tell a lie my sister had a cocker spaniel that used to chase aeroplanes as she was walking out over the fields. A bit annoying when you live several miles from Stansted airport. She would see one flying over, then next thing she was bolting across the field not listening to a word of the shouting. lol. Never cured her . I know when she (the dog) went for walks she was so full of energy.

our westie is perfectly happy to be kept on a lead when going round the golf course .... he wouldn't misbehave, but that way i don't have to worry about him ..... he can equally romp around our garden without a lead .....

as to your spaniel, it's pretty foolhardy (verging on antisocial or worse) to have her, or any dog for that matter, off the lead when there are cars around, and thus by implication, other people and particularly young children .....

if you are in open fields or woodland or similar, then fine; she can chase around as much as she likes with no chance of harm to herself or others

Used to have them cynic , lovely dogs. In this area it seems a lot of the previous large dog owners have now after they have passed away, replaced them with small ones. I only let mine off in the farm fields as it only takes a small distraction from the dog and its under a car.

Thank you for all your help, I will persevere. She hasn't seen a cat yet - oh my God, I hadn't thought about that scenario! I had an another dog who used to go ballistic when she saw a hot air balloon.

Lol doodlebug. The more the dog gets to know you and trust you she should come out of that phase. The last owners have not helped.The person who is the walker tends to be the dogs master (not always) . One of my Yorkshire terriers is now 10 yrs and when she was a pup a roll of tin foil was dropped in the kitchen. The noise scared her and to this day if you go any where near the cupboard or crinckle tin foil she runs a mile.

Put the dog on a lead.

Get a friend with a car to drive a car slowly next to it.

Call the dog and pull it to you.

Get him to sit.

Reward him with "meat" and keep him sitting.

Repeat with car be gradually revved up.

Repeat rewards and behaviour pattern you wish for.

,

Thank you for the advice. I can leave the house now for a couple of hours and know that the garbage bin in the kitchen will not be totally destroyed by the time I get back - that had to be moved elsewhere previously. Fred, I've tried that with a friend and it worked for a short time until she figured out that she could actually "catch it" because it was moving so slowly.
Could I just add to this thread that there are so many unwanted dogs and cats in this country desperately needing homes and there are loads of websites out there advertising them. I have homed many unwanted dogs and the joy they have given me far exceeds any amount of money I have made from trading shares.

Are you praising it after after it comes to you after it catches the car?

One the trouble with dogs who bark a lot when its unnecessary is that the owners call it to them, say SHHHS "that's a good dog" and the dog is very please with itself.

(False association of action and intent, or double messaging.)

Oh jeez, heard it all now Fred the dog whisperer.

Anyone foe Aussie.



Australia: I'm living here now. No ISA equivalent. Only tax efficient savings vehicle is a Superfund (Pension) from what I've found. On that note, the only equivalent of the SIPP over here is what is known as a Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF), and it's an administrative and expensive pain to set up compared to a SIPP, due to the additional compliance reporting required by the ATO. For example, your typical annual admin charge on an SMSF is around AUD 2000 pa. Makes it very restrictive for anyone who has less than a couple of hundred thousand Aussie Dollars to plough into their Super, and means that SMSF's are perceived to be a rich persons investment over here - recently reinforced by Gillard's decision to raise taxes on SMSFs.

To be honest, Australia is one very expensive Country to live in right now - strong Aussie Dollar aside. I could provide examples of many things that are more expensive than the UK - even after the Pound weakening further - yet only a handful that are cheaper. The UK wins hands down on tax-efficient saving and pensions at this point in time. Quality of Life? Well, that's debatable. There are nice points and things to do over here, but there are in the UK aswell. In terms of everyday worries, Aussies share many of them - despite the jovial culture. I would personally say that the cost of living over here at the present time is higher than that in the UK. I keep my own costs down by cycling to commute, but am about to buy a car for weekend travel/exploring (Skoda Octavia with any luck, but around £1000 more expensive than the UK equivalent. Yes, I know it's a European car...). Road Tax over here is around double what it is in the UK. My housemate will be paying the order of AUD 800 to tax his car for the next 12 months. That's around £600! I'm fortunate to be earning enough to be able to afford to live here with a good quality of life, but the expense is seriously making me question whether I'll end up permanently settling here. Good to have the residency option while morons are running the UK, but believe me when I say Australia has no shortage of those either! ;)

Which city in Oz? I am watching F1 qualifying at Melbourne in UK.

Are you an England Fan????
Feeling depressed???
Down in the dumps?????
Then call the R. F. U. Helpline on
0800101010.

Thats
0800 won nothing, won nothing, won nothing!!!

LOL.

I am feeling very contented about the 5 Nation's outcome.

Almost perfect!

A little bit of regret about Irish game, but didn't want to depress them.


8-), 8-))))))))))

That didn't take long!

Argentina's Kirchner raises Falklands with Pope Francis

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner says she has asked for the Pope's intervention in the Falklands dispute between her country and the UK.

The pope is a supporter of Argentina's CV claim to the Falklands. It would be a bit like getting the 'king of the fairies' to help.

sounds like, "Pappa, Pappa, those boys are being nasty to me and won't let me play"

Super, smashing, great. Does anyone know if the new pope plays darts?