Comments for Total Dog Magazine

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Debra

Debra — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:02:13 +0000

I agree with what has been said and like people dogs must have boundries taught to it so the dog understands what is acceptable behaviour. I also believe that the breed of dog & what they were bred for can be a disposition to temperament and this cannot be ignored. This is especially important to train properly a dog bred for fighting & aggression. Peoples ignorance lead to many unnecessary & horrible problems. My husband was a victim of two pitbull x mastiffs owned by a out of control steroid junkie who trained his dogs to be aggressive like him. My hubby has great chucks missing from his legs & arms & numerous skin grafts & permanent nerve damage. He is only alive because someone came to his aid. So if these breeds are in the hands of irresponsible owners then they are dangerous. I have seen this first hand & I have had many beautiful canine friends over the years so I love dogs.

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by destiny

destiny — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:03:58 +0000

it’s not talkingabout dogsthat defendtheirown toys, bones etc. it’s talkingabout dogsthat takethings that aren’t theres

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Name (required)

Name (required) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:50:16 +0000

Has nothing to do with the breed….The owners make the dog the “dangerous dog”! I have two rescue dogs the one was terribly abused and used as a paintball target I have had her since june last year and she still cowers when voices are raised so to ease her fears we just started slowly but play loudly with her, she is coming around.. the other was yelled at alot she is a nervous piddler. but both are unbelieveable blows my mind at how forgiving dogs are..! Adopt a pet, save a life <3

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Laecey

Laecey — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:08:35 +0000

My pit mix is chained and she is perfectlyffine. Buttthen again I playwwiwit her a lot and my other dog plays withher…sheiisggreat around kidsjjust a littletoo hyper…so not allcchaineddogsare bad dogs

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Cora

Cora — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:11:21 +0000

I agree, we rescued a beuatiful achshund that was agressive EVERYTHING, turned out he had a disc issue that we had to have surgically reapired, now he is a completley different dog.

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:12:56 +0000

I have to admit when I saw the title of this article I was very apprehensive but after reading it couldn’t be more pleased. Bravo! If more owners took responsibility for their lack of understanding of canine behavior we wouldn’t have so many dogs euthenized every year. Do you know how many times in training I’ll ask a client why they chose their breed? They’re response is almost always ” cutest puppy there”. Really? They have no idea of the breed’s characteristics. Thank you for this article.

Comment on Revealed: The 5 Most Dangerous Dogs In The World! by Ken C

Ken C — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:11:58 +0000

To believe that it is 100% the dog owners fault 100% of the time and never the dog ever under any circumstance is absurd! As with humans and other species some will have “bad” genetics and some dog breeds will be more predisposed to these “bad” genetics then others.

To disagree you have to be a dog lover.

Comment on Positive Reinforcement Dog Training by Graham

Graham — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:30:11 +0000

You were doing so well in your article until you started talking about dominance and pack leaders. Neither of those topics have anything to do with positive motivation. What you have to look at is B F Skinner’s work on Operant Conditioning in fact you should also look at classical conditioning. In simple terms a dog’s life revolves around 5 things and it’s life objective is to get these things. The 5 are eating, sleeping, hunt (play the chase etc), defecating and fornicating. You correctly identify food treats (eating) as a reward and it is normally the easiest to work with. A dog will perform a behaviour to get what it wants good or bad. A dog does not differentiate between the 2 it is just a behaviour. If you reward it, the behaviour is likely to be repeated if you do not reward it it is likely that the behaviour will fade as there is nothing in it for the dog. People then say how does that help me with my dog jumping up? Well you have to correctly identify what is rewarding the dog and then remove it. In the case of a dog jumping up it is normally the interaction with the person.So you do not interact with the dog when it jumps up but, if the dog keeps 4 paws on the ground you interact with the dog. Therefore the dog learns if I want to interact with a person if I keep my paws on the ground I will achieve it. The whole thing is a huge subject but definitely nothing to do with dominance or pack leaders.

Comment on Canine Dominance: Is it a Myth? by Graham

Graham — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:07:30 +0000

Dominance does not exist and in many respects the Alpha dog theory does not exist either. Where a dog is showing signs of what we humans call dominance it is in fact just displaying a behaviour that has not been curtailed through established boundaries and that behaviour is what the dog thinks will get it what it wants. The other aspect is the Alpha dog theory. As dogs are self centred (whats in it for me) and they also have a survival instinct they do not want to be injured as that could cause death, an alpha dog who is well fed and satisfied will not fight a lesser dog for food as, a; they do not require it and b; any fight might lead to injury and therefore death. Therefore in this case the dominant or alpha dog would concede to the lesser dog. Of course if the alpha dog is hungry it will fight and probably win but that is based on size and power not deference to being alpha dog.

Comment on Positive Reinforcement Dog Training by J Wilson

J Wilson — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:32:48 +0000

Thanks for this article. I am going to try this basically to try and avoid my dog barking at occassional people with hats on ! Obviously I missed this particular category of people during the crucial up to 16 week puppy socialisation period, but now I am going to try and work to get her to “look” at me. I like that you say it doesnt have to be treat based as with our collie she is really not interested in eating when out on a walk at all, which can make training a little difficult in some ways. She does like a ball game though so maybe I will reward with a ball game…..I might also think of trying the clicker training but again there it depends on treats. I suppose if it was something very tasty like bacon she might be interested !