Positively | Victoria Stilwell | Forum

Corn & soy products are highly indigestible for dogs. Fundog might consider looking for a new brand of dog food. I usually look for rice since it is the least allergenic. A book called "Pet Food Nation" is very informative about breaking down what goes into commercial pet foods. The ma...

What's a Stopet? In the States, some trainers use "shake cans", empty soda cans with a few pennies in them to make noise. I have found it's uses limited. When used as a "quick fix" deterrent to scare or intimidate a younger or sensitive dog, the results are short term & unsat...

A vendor at a dog show tipped me off to the hairdresser scissors too when I mentioned $75.00 was a little more than I wanted to spend just to trim my dog feet. I ended up getting a pair of thinning shears as well as regular 6in trimming scissors. His feet no longer look choppy & it is much easie...

Do things with your dog that will build it's confidence. For some reason physical activities make a big impact. With my dog I used modified agility type exercises. I would go through short tunnels together with him then have him do it on his own, walk across the tops of benches, up & down bleach...

I didn't find this book until after my dog had improved but I wished I had. It does a great job of explaining things that I had to figure out on my own. THE CAUTIOUS CANINE, How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears by Patricia Mc Connell. This is more in the form of a booklet and alot of it was taken fr...

Yeah, the lunge whip works great. I tie a 3 foot light cotton rope lead on the end next to the toy so that when my dog shakes it (to subdue it & render immobile!) the backlash of the whip dosen't hit him in the face and eyes.

San Francisco covers a large area, but you might try siriuspup.com (they are all trained using Ian Dunbar's positive techniques), SFASPCA has many notable trainers (Jean Donaldson came from there), and Laurafordogs.com (Laura is experienced & also trains using positive techniques). I personally ...

Thanks for the interest. I actually found some internet sites when looking @ some listings for dog shows. For US, Cherrybrook has a nice selection of high quality items far superior to what I've seen in any pet store. It cost me 2-3 times more but the results and increase comfort for my dog was defi...

I'm sure most of the people who submit postings on the methods forum have read books & worked w/ instructors (which not everybody can afford) but they still have problems. You will also find that training is an on going process that continues for the life of your dog.

Yes, I agree that the show wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it was just the basics, but I think it would be nice if it included some prevention instruction. A lot of people don't bother to read books or interpret them wrong as evidenced by the number of poorly trained dogs around and she wouldn'...

I believe the episode w/ the stairs in the backyard was "Hollywood Hounds" but I'm not positive. Correction they had 4 dogs. Of course, the exercise climbing the stairs wasn't the sole purpose of the recall drill she had them work on. Exercise was part of it though, that's why she had them...

Nettle,I really appreciate your offering your expertise and the medical & physiological info you gave on the stair exercise. Actually, my dog no longer does it, but I can now see how numerous repetitions could be harmful and will be careful that my dogs don't take the stairs more than necessary....

I seem to remember in a very recent episode this season, a situation w/ 3 dogs w/ a hillside backyard that had 2 levels and lots of STAIRS. Victoria had the owners practice recalls using a whistle from the top of the yard to the bottom as a means of supplying them w/ more exercise. The dogs had to t...

Of course, remove the pouch as soon as he's done.

Had to add that for all the sticklers.

I don't know about your stairs, but ours are carpeted and everyone in the family runs up & down them sometime or other. Not at breakneck speed. C'mon folks! How about a little commonsense here. No one in the family is allowed to run up & down the stairs so wildly that they're going to break ...