www.dog-training-tools.net for dog traing ideas  and another is www.dog-obediencetraining.org

they are both worth a visit.

ShareThis

"He’s very calm — he’s happy when he can sleep, eat … go for a bit of a walk when it’s not too hot or raining," said the 35-year-old Fabian.

Sounds harmless. But starting Thursday, Fabian and owners of 11 other breeds known as aggressive "fight dogs" will be under stricter scrutiny: a hotly debated new law requires Viennese and longterm visitors who own such dogs to carry a license proving they can keep their pets in check.

Some say the measure will make public spaces safer, critics call it canine profiling.

The dog magazine "Wuff" tried to make that point in a highly controversial manner — by publishing a flyer that showed a young pit bull wearing a yellow star with the word "bad" inscribed in it, seated next to a labrador puppy. A headline above the two asked: "What differentiates us?" The magazine dropped the yellow star from its campaign after protests from the Jewish community.

Months later, emotions are still running high.

Alexander Willer, a spokesman for Vienna’s main animal shelter, said the list of affected dogs — which includes Rottweilers, pit bull terriers, Mastiffs, and others — was compiled "at random" and has made it harder for abandoned breeds of this kind to find new homes.

"The image of these dogs has hit rock bottom," Willer said, adding that since Christmas, the number of "fight dogs" seeking refuge in the shelter increased from 123 to 170.

"The majority of people who own these kinds of dogs are normal — they aren’t psychopaths," Willer said.

Maybe not — but dangerous incidents still happen, said Valentina Simic, 21, whose young son narrowly escaped an attack by a Rottweiler.

"Dogs are cute and all but if people can’t handle them properly then they shouldn’t be allowed to own them," she said as she sat on a park bench on a recent balmy evening.

Officials estimate that about 2,500 dogs will be affected by the new law in a city where man’s best friend is often spotted snoozing in cafes, riding the subway and sitting outside shops.

If owners don’t comply by this time next year and are caught without a permit, they face fines and could even see their pet confiscated by police.

Is this an indication that breed laws will be tightened up even more across Europe??

ShareThis

Adjusting to a missing fore limb is more difficult for a dog than dealing with a missing hind limb, for example. Fore limb amputation requires the remaining limbs to undergo careful adaptation to coordinate with each other, a process called "gait compensation." In the case of a hind-limb amputation, the fore limbs continue to act as they normally would in a four-legged dog, so there is little or no compensation strategy.

The difference in compensation strategies may be due to the fact that a dog’s fore limbs carry more body weight than the hind limbs.

The research is slated to be presented Thursday at the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting in Prague.

Update on World’s Ugliest Dog contest:

LOS ANGELES — Princess Abby is missing one eye and a lot of fur. She’s got rabbit ears, a camel’s back and a kangaroo hop. She has mismatched legs, an inverted floppy front foot and a twisted tail.

Add a pile of personality and some unusual dance moves and the 6-pound Chihuahua easily won the title of World’s Ugliest Dog at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma over the weekend. For those very same reasons, she also claimed the heart of owner Kathleen Francis.

"To other people she is ugly, and kids in the neighborhood in the beginning were kind of scared of her," said Francis, 67, who lives in Clearlake, about 110 miles north of San Francisco. "But I think she is beautiful through and through."

Well ,beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

ShareThis

Twilight star Kristen Stewart  admitted that her pet dogs at home were pooches with a difference, as they are actually wolf hybrids. Talking on the David Letterman show she showed pics of her wolf friends. Showing the audience some snapshots of the beasts, the starlet - whose character is in a love triangle with a werewolf and a vampire - said: "This is my pet, this is Jack. He’s our oldest male. I know he looks kind of scary - he’s a wolf - but he’s really sweet, he kind of falls at my feet."

ShareThis

On a more philosophical point - Do dogs dream?

Research shows the frequency and length of dreams is linked to their physical size, said psychologist Stanley Coren, author of several books, including "How Dogs Think: Understanding the Canine Mind."

For example, he said, mastiffs and Great Danes might dream every 45 minutes for about five minutes, compared to their smaller canine cousins that enter a dream state every 10 minutes with episodes lasting less than 60 seconds.

Owners can tell if their dozing dog or feline is dreaming by looking for these clues: whisker twitching, paw tremors, irregular breathing and — in dogs — occasional high-pitched yips.

But what do our pets dream about? Researchers believe they know the answer. Older studies, done decades ago in cats, involved temporarily releasing the suppression of motor activity that happens during REM sleep so they’d act out their dreams.

ShareThis

ShareThis

ShareThis

ShareThis

Stands seemed to be doing brisk business and obviously the dog-owning community was taking the recession in its stride.  I was based next to a doggie matress supplier and they were doing a roaring trade as was a company selling dog sculptures on the opposite aisle.  I do worry about someone paying 200 quid for a sculpted head of their favourite breed, personally I’ve never been more extreme than a yorkie coffee mug.   I think what strikes me most is the actual lack of dogs moving around outside the judging ring.  If you didnt stroll around the rings and the breeeders benches you wouldnt have noticed you were at a dogshow!   Wagger is a very dog-centric site and I think dogshows should be visited by dogs bringing their owners for a day out.  I guess I connect more with ‘Companion’ and ‘Rescue’ shows.  But Dogs were judged, pups were sold and reputations were made and lost.

One final word on the hotel rip-offs at the NEC.  I stayed at the Holiday Inn express which inhabits a parallel universe where a featureless slab of concrete can have a listed room rate of £225.   They they pop it on the web for £85 in the hope that someone might think they had a bargain - I didnt!   Next time I’ll bring my own kennel!!!

ShareThis

I look forward to bringing Crufts news later this week and assure you that we will campaign vigorously for outlawing these ‘weapon’ dogs.

ShareThis