geez she must be popular,,,, lol,,

I think the reason PM's are useful is because not all of us with problems with our dogs want them plastered all over the internet. Its nice to get general advice on forum, but even better to get advice thats specific to your dog without having to share the ins and outs of your daily life with the world. Esp if its a very sensitive subject to that particular owner.
I know in this case Shona will go into very boring,( sorry Shona) lengthy detail with the OP to get to the bottom of the reasons why the dog is behaving the way it does. That doesnt make for thrilling reading for the rest of us. I am also sure that she will offer all of us the same service if we feel in a position to need to ask for her help.

Plus, as has been said all dogs are different and its so easy to " blanket" treat a problem and make it worse rather than better. eg treating fear aggression with the old water bottle technique....
It's great to follow a thread and get suggestions but I don't think any of us should be implementing anything that could seriously affect the confidence of our dogs without the advice being tailored specifically to your own dog.

thanks jp, yes its does take time and its boring, some things I may need to ask may be personal, you word it so much better than I do lol ,,,

Sorry pm box full thats what happens when you are laid up with flu/throat infection!!

Have pm'd Sarah and like Shona said I don't see the benefit in listing a whole load of ideas here as every dog different but I am sure Sarah will keep us updated of anything she trys and the results.

Good on her fior asking for help and then taking on others suggestions

Good Luck Sarah

As has been mentioned on the thread with excellent explanation, the last thing anyone should use on a dog with an issue is a choker, [ or on any dog imo, the only acceptable sort being the show type as they are not used to choke the dog into submission, the dogs have to be able to move comfortably and freely to Show well ].

Doing anything which creates pain, fright, or lack of breathing ability, is a sure fire way to either mask the problem, which can then build to the point of explosion one day, or will quickly create a negative in the dogs mind to whatever he is looking at when choked and that could be another dog, a cat, a child, a car, whatever, but will increase the chances of creating a huge and potentially dangerous problem.
I`m sure if that is what Sarah or anyone else would like to risk with their dog then they are sure to take your advice of using a choker...

When I first adopted my Willow, [ human fear aggressive ], I made him a dog coat from a bright orange kagoul and put lettering on saying `In Training`.
That drew peoples attention to him,[ so they actually read the jacket ], and the reactions were either :

[ From a distance ]

"what`s he training for ?"
which gave me the opportunity to explain why he was the way he was, [ horrific abuse victim ], at which people were understanding and offered to help with being introduced or, [ politely ], said they understood and gave him his space.

or

would read the coat and not interfere at all but would just go by with a smile acknowledging that they did`nt want to interrupt or make his training difficult for him.

No one gave funny looks, that coat made a huge and very beneficial impact into how people reacted toward him so it really did help massively

All my dogs are on harness by the way, trust me I have complete control of them as a result, my dogs are more relaxed because they don`t `feel` restrained - in other words don`t feel so vulnerable, vulnerability being a large element of the reason behind behaviour of a fearful dog - I can easily manoeuvre them, hold them still, whatever I need to do, and they don`t get hurt or throat damaged or lose breathing ability.
No I`m not controlling their heads by using a harness - it`s up to me to work at being interesting enough for them that they want to look at me instead of something else whenever I need them to

Please keep references to PMs off the boards.

To clarify on our rules, it's seen as spam when you say things like:

"______ I just PM'd you" - Why? Because it adds nothing of value to the thread.

or

"______ feel free to PM me for advice" - Why? Because again it adds nothing of value to the thread. (If you want to 'help' someone by PM just PM them directly instead.)

or

"______ I tried to PM you but your inbox is full!" - Why? Because again it adds nothing of value to the thread. (When someone's inbox is full they are sent an email to let them know someone tried to PM them - so they can come back and clear some space.)

or

"______ I tried what you said in PM but..." - Why? Because it disrupts the thread - not everyone knows what was PM'd, so the post is useless for everyone else and only adds to confusion. (Keep things in PM to PM and off the boards.)

In future all similar posts will be deleted without notice and persistant offenders will be given an infraction.

Thanks for reading.

I don't see why Shona should post suggestion's there are lot's of trainer's on Dogsey, as there are lot's are breeder's and if started posting suggestion's the breeders would be up in arm's,
Shona is a member she is not obliged to post suggestion's who ever knows her knows enough to say she will help if she can, but most of us come on dogsey for fun, Not just as a trainer if im wrong Shona will say so, im sure, one thing a good thing about her, she is Honest and up front she calls a spade a spade.

RE azz post,

"______ feel free to PM me for advice" - Why? Because again it adds nothing of value to the thread. (If you want to 'help' someone by PM just PM them directly instead.)

from here on in I WILL NOT OFFER ADVICE x

No worries there Patch, I won't, never have and never will use a choker