I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Nice!

Someone's morning poo was mostly sand.

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She was lovely but unsocialised, untrained and a total handful. She was quite nervous around Reggie, not being used to other dogs, and it looked like it could turn into snapping. Reggie loves all dogs, but wouldn't tolerate that, so I regrettably decided not to take her. Two staffies/staffy crosses not getting on isn't great.

She's 18 months old, so much of the behaviour will take a lot of work to correct and it would be easier to do that if she's the only dog. As a young adult dog, she would have had difficulty fitting in and taking a lead from Reggie. She's already been in two homes so it's a real shame.

it's coming right for us!!!!

her name is Olive. The cat is... unconvinced.

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Very cute! Our cat took a few months to warm to Crumpet but they get on alright now. It helps that he's a big, confident lad I reckon, not afraid to give Crumpet a slap if she needs it.

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Just wait till it grows big sharp teeth 😬

Hello, Olive, she's cute!

Will you be hammering her into your neighbour's lawn?

Are you insane? You can’t freeze a dog.

sand poo

Keep an eye on that, it’s not good for them, we have to take our dogs ball away on soft sandy beaches for the same reason. It’s better on the wet stuff when the tide goes out.

Thanks yeah, just thought he was messing about not actually chomping on it.

Squirrel spotted...

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Some advice please:
Odie is not aggressive in the slightest apart from a specific situation. If he steals some food (or one of the kids toys or whatever) and then retreats under the kitchen table or similar, he’ll go in to defensive mode. If you try and get the contraband off him or get him out he’ll bare his teeth, growl and even bark (he doesn’t normally bark that often).

It’s not very often, but it’s behaviour I’m really keen on avoiding obviously. What’s the best way to handle this? I don’t feel like ‘alpha-ing’- grabbing him by the collar and dragging him out - is necessarily the best option

All three of the dog training books we read before getting Otto had entire chapters on how to deal with this so I assume its a really common problem.

I know that's not useful to you in itself but if you google "food guarding" you'll find a shit load of tips and guidance.

Edit: Its such a common problem you don't even need to specify that its for a dog when you search for food guarding. Food Aggression is another term for it.

Staff's are so subtle with there body language...

From stalking squirrels to having a nap

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That's really interesting to see. When whippets see squirrels they make themselves low to the ground, pin their ears back and stalk forwards trying to make minimal noise. Staff body language is really different!

Our lurchers just shoot off after them, often as far up the tree as they can

Our lurchers just shoot off after them, often as far up the tree as they can

If Otto did that he'd catch more squirrels. The element of surprise is everything!

I think his pose probably comes from staffies' fighting past - stand up straight, make themselves big, lean in, etc. It's certainly how they square up to another dog. He does this when he sees a squirrel or cat, but doesn't immediately take off and will happily move to a sit from the position in that photo. Give him a treat and pop the lead on and it's all good.

He will do that low to the ground and slow steps thing to mimic certain dogs he knows, before tearing off for a chase and play.

Back from getting spayed. Extremely dopey but otherwise fine, didn't even complain as we were lifting her in and out of the car on the way home. Hoping she doesn't get too bored having to stay at home for at least a week!

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This used to happen with our Catalan Shepherd/German Shepherd 12-month-old rescue, Otto.

The following assumes you’ve signed up to the positive training school of thought, entirely…. You’ve got to present them with a better option to show that they get something better in return if they give up one thing. If they steal food, entice them to leave it by offering even better food (we used fresh chicken breast) immediately and a “drop it” command (or whatever you use).

Then, after a little while, get them to sit or work for that better food.

After a little while more they’ll start thinking about dropping it just with the command and without the extra treat. You should still reward them when they drop it.

Otto used to be awful with this - would growl and snarl terrifyingly.

Now he doesn’t always drop it straight away but is no longer aggressive about it.

It’ll take time and gradual progress.

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he's beautiful

Scotty ain't been here in a while, here he is on the beach yesterday.

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Ooh, here he is tattooed onto the back of my wrist as a T-rex.

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He is! We got him in January when he was 1 year old.

His past family had him when he was only 6 weeks old (wayyy too young), then when he got bigger, didn't take him out of the flat. He then had 4 months or so of not being socialised at all before he was dumped in the shelter for 4 months.

When we met him, he was very energetic, but seemed friendly with everyone.

After a few weeks of being with us, a more reactive side started to develop - barking at anything that moved, trying to bite strangers, food aggressive, aggressive with other dogs etc etc.

We luckily found an amazing trainer and have been making great progress ever since. He still has some of those traits, but stays under threshold now.

As our first dog, we definitely bit off more than we could chew, but it's been an amazing journey and you can see and feel how much he trusts my partner and me in just these 6 short months.

Definitely one of those sink or swim scenarios - especially in a busy city with a lot of dogs (Barcelona)!