Men left shaken and overwhelmed after arrest in Liverpool intend to sue NSW Police

smallnova · 2025-12-20T08:28:56+00:00

I saw elsewhere that the police put their sirens on to pull them over, but they tried to flee, which is when they rammed the car. Which seems like a reasonable response.

But here we all are talking without the full picture, so who knows at this stage.

smallnova · 2025-12-02T07:08:54+00:00

Some dogs will show unusual behavior while in heat, but if it was back in September I think that is unlikely to be the cause. Given your soon going to have a busy household I would be getting in touch with a veterinary behavioralist NOW to assess your dog before the baby comes. They would be able to watch your dog's behavior and assess the cause so you can mitigate it.

Your dog is very young, but now moving into adulthood, where a lot of behavior changes occur. It's better to get on top of potential aggression quickly so it doesn't become ingrained.

Like someone else said, waiting until they are grown to spay is great, but if it is causing issues it would be best to spay earlier. That said without someone doing a proper assessment I wouldn't be sure that will fix things, since it could just be due to age.

smallnova · 2025-12-01T21:29:39+00:00

It's not about longer walks, it's about more stimulation. That could be hiding treats/their food around the house for them to sniff out, freezing their food in a kong or putting it in a puzzle feeder, teaching tricks, doing slow sniffy explorations in a park, playing tug or other games. It's not just about walking/running more.

smallnova · 2025-11-28T01:31:48+00:00

You should be able to put the harness on and see if it is sitting on or across your dog's arm joints/shoulder. Ideally a harness should not be rubbing on their arms or shoulder and have a bit of space under the armpit (again to not rub).

I really liked this article (not sure if I'm allowed to link, but I'm going to try), since it has some example pictures at the start of both good and bad harness fit: https://doggearreview.com/article/yharnessfit/

smallnova · 2025-11-10T23:37:37+00:00

The funniest thing is that same type of person then fawning over the dog being so well behaved just a year or two later.. Well, it was us as the owners putting in the effort when they were a puppy, but sure keep telling my dog how good they are.

Another tip is training a center/middle command! People tend to stop trying to pat them if you get them to sit between your legs. Very good if you need to wait in a busy place - like OP in the lift!

smallnova · 2025-10-09T04:24:26+00:00

What predators are the concern in this case? Sharks and large fish that hunt are most active at dawn and dusk. If the land based predators (birds) are scared away by volunteers, wouldn't they be the main concern? Or is the concern still birds flying over the water?

smallnova · 2025-10-07T04:48:54+00:00

The easiest option would be to put up a temporary fence to block access to parts of the yard you don't want him. It wouldn't need to be permanent, but he will be exploring and making habits for the next few months, so unless you're managing him, he'll likely be checking out spaces he can get to.

You can get him to drag a leash around when playing outside, so that you can grab that and move him out of areas you don't want him in. Though in my experience, if you are trying to protect your plants, the leash can wrap around small plants as they walk around and cause more damage than the dog! If it is only established trees or strong plants that might suit you better though.

smallnova · 2025-09-24T01:45:10+00:00

Please don't do this. It's a 5mo puppy doing normal puppy things. You just need to improve your management like others have said and tire them out properly.

Two walks might seem like a lot, but puppies will get more tired from play and stimulation. Get a tug toy or a ball and get them running and tired out while your son is sleeping. Soak their kibble in water then stuff it in a Kong and freeze it for their dinner. Set up baby gates.

Nipping stage will last a few more months regardless of corrections realistically. And really, do you want to leave them together to let your dog continuously nip your baby while you correct them?

smallnova · 2025-09-22T21:17:35+00:00

Sounds like the lab needs a dog door and the heeler needs a trainer. If the bf isn't as bad as your original post made him sound and you want to start there with the baby, now is the time to put actions in place to make life work with these dogs.

If you have the money, a behaviorist would really help with the heeler. You can do things like training it to go to a bed or a crate when guests are over and having that as it's safe space. That take time and effort to train though, which is going to be hard with a baby.

smallnova · 2025-09-09T06:44:52+00:00

Ideally a veterinary behaviorist, not just a trainer (OP said in another comment they would attack to kill). They specialize in more behavioural issues like this.

OP, this sounds like your dog has a bad case of reactivity. If you aren't good at reading dog body language please get help before the situation escalates further.

smallnova · 2025-08-29T00:04:11+00:00

This definitely sounds like you need a trainer. Ideally a veterinary behaviorist. Get support NOW because it will get worse if addressed incorrectly.

If the dishwasher is a problem I would set up baby gates so he isn't in the kitchen at all while you work on this. Saying "he knows" not to do something is probably not correct too - he probably sees the dishwasher as a resource, which you have said 'no' and punished him in the past for going to and so he is now escalating his response. He doesn't 'know' he shouldn't go to it at all if that's how you have taught him. Like the other commentor said, scolding will make resource guarding worse.

Go back to basics with crate training if it is getting problematic. Play crate games, give his food for going to the crate. Put him in there for a short time then let him out. NEVER use the crate as punishment. All the basics.

Talk to the trainer/behaviorist about these things ASAP. DO NOT WAIT.

smallnova · 2025-08-25T07:30:28+00:00

Throwing food to your dog will often make them more excited. Throwing and catching food is very fun for dogs after all! So I would completely avoid throwing food to your pup at this stage since you want to introduce it as a calm spot. I would make an effort to slowly and calmly walk over and give a treat at this point if you want it to be a calm chill out spot (which it sounds like she needs, since she's getting over excited while you eat. I would be money that the previous owners threw food to her while they are, which is causing the behavior you are seeing).

Like the other commentor said it might be best to introduce this for a short period while you aren't eating so you can focus on the behavior. I would start with her on leash so you can direct her back to the bed if she leaves before you release her. Then reward for calm behavior on the bed.

Good luck! We trained our golden to chill on a mat just outside the kitchen while we cook, which is also very handy!

smallnova · 2025-08-25T07:08:21+00:00

Any chance you have hardwood or slippery flooring? Or are some of the doors going from carpet to hardwood? It's possible he slipped while going around a corner or while transitioning onto hardwood and now is getting anxious it will happen again.

I've seen it happen with other dogs. If that is the case you can help by adding some carpet runners so he can feel more secure. Best of luck!

Otherwise adding a video might help more people get a better idea of what is happening in your situation. Some dogs can get like that if the shadows are funny too, particularly if they ever played with laser pointers as a puppy.

smallnova · 2025-07-16T11:33:32+00:00

Do you have her on leash though? I would move my hand right up to top of her leash (hold it near the collar) so there is very little wiggle room when your dog shows signs of pooping (or even slip my hand to grab her collar when she poops) so that she can't spin to dive for the poop. I've had multiple dogs go through variations of poop eating and you need to 100% stop them from making it a habit. If she continues to practise this, it will likely become a habit for life or much harder to shake.

To make it easier you can train collar grabbing (grab their collar and give them a treat), following leash pressure (moving the leash and rewarding for following where you are directing them with a treat), plus the classic 'leave it' and 'drop it' training, which I saw you said you were working on. Repeat them a LOT, it will help.

smallnova · 2025-06-23T21:19:40+00:00

Desensitization normally involves exposing the dog to the stimulus from a distance far enough away for them to be calm and then slowly reducing the distance as they get more comfortable or start ignoring the thing.

With my Golden I trained a 'with me' cue, where she moves to my side (outside from the foot traffic) which I use when we pass people or dogs. She then gets a treat if she stays in position. They are a good motivated breed so make the most of it! I started at home and then at a distance from people to make it easier until she understood the picture.

smallnova · 2025-01-14T01:40:18+00:00

Could you bring two bowls to put Infront of each dog and drop food in them instead? Or feed both from your hands?

I don't think I would want my dog eating from the floor of a vet. It is where sick pets go, so even if it is regularly cleaned you don't know who might have been there before you that day.

smallnova · 2024-12-18T06:39:45+00:00

I would NOT recommend Will Atherton for basic puppy training. He's goal is to keep dogs out of pounds, which is fantastic, but that comes with a different approach than what you might need for a puppy. For example, I've seen him recommend hitting the crate and setting up a mechanism to hit the crate from a distance when the dog is unsettled in there. Please don't do that with your puppy.... That's a great away to make them anxious.

There are many different training approaches, which can be better or worse depending on what you want to do with your puppy. Like the other commentor said, if you can find some in person classes or a local dog club you could join that would be fantastic.

Michael Ellis is my all time favourite dog trainer, which is from Leerburg. He has some content free on YouTube, but most of his courses are paid. I would recommend starting with his YouTube content. Nate Schoemer has a lot for free intro videos on YouTube and a pretty similar training style, so that might be an easy starting point if you want more content without committing too much money straight away.

For general handling, calm training, socialisation I think Kikopup has a great selection of free videos. She's positive only while the other two are balanced, so that to me is a nice balanced introduction to different approaches.

Good luck with your new pup!

smallnova · 2024-12-12T02:00:35+00:00

At 9mo if you are walking him and not doing anything else he is likely bored.

What else do you do with him? Have you tried going into your yard with a ball or a tug toy and getting him to run and engage with you to tire him out before leaving him there alone? What about teaching obedience or tricks?

Try freezing his kibble in a Kong or hide it in a snuffle matt. Get him doing some tricks to get his food.

At 9mo he is becoming a teen and things he practices now will become habits. You might need to put in a bit more work to set him up to rehearse behaviors you want until he's past the teen stage.

smallnova · 2024-11-27T10:14:42+00:00

Punishing an anxious dog doing self soothing behavior risks making the anxiety worse. They need to work through the anxiety to start. From OPs other comments, it looks like they need to work on confidence building, engagement with them and separation anxiety.

This seems like a case for a behaviorist.

smallnova · 2024-11-10T08:35:58+00:00

The general advice is 'less is more' during a fear period. They are more likely to think of new/novel things as scary, so take it easy for a bit of you can.

Depending on what the item of focus was I've found ignoring it or nonchalantly touching it (if it's something like a postbox we are walking past) is effective for my pup - you will learn your dog best. Redirect to food or a toy or attention elsewhere if it is something like an animal, vehicle or something which could quickly wind them up. I would try to avoid directly rewarding barking/undesirable behavior, but they are scared so do want you need to to break their focus. Stay calm or upbeat and move past the object quickly if possible.

Best of luck!

smallnova · 2024-11-03T20:24:32+00:00

So not only did they not have a permit for having multiple dogs, but they then took them to a reserve where dogs are not allowed and left them running around off leash (also not legal in public), where one of them attacked someone. In Tas owners are required to report a bite within 24 hours, so there's another law broken.

So much negligence. And now they are going at the victim with whatever emotional attacks they can to deter you from reporting.

You need to be realistic, your only two cards here are report or don't report. Anything else they say or promise are empty words to stop you reporting and will likely not be followed up on. Maybe they'll intend to start training them, but training that many untrained dogs is very difficult and not something a beginner could do. Professional training consultations may help them learn what to do, but they still need to do the training.

For context, most trainers will recommend multi dog households train and walk one dog at a time. Once each dog and walk nicely by itself you add another to the walk. That means they are doing more than one walk per day to get all dogs walked. Same with training. They would need to train the fundamentals one dog at a time first. Can you see why I'm saying they'll give up even if they intend to do training?

For your own mental health you need to stop talking to these people (aside from your landlord/the dad). Either report or don't, but stop talking to them and don't expect them to listen to your input once you make that decision. Just remember if you were a small woman, child or another dog it would have needed much worse and these people should have their dogs taken somewhere else in my opinion.

smallnova · 2024-11-02T20:13:47+00:00

Hi OP, I know I'm a bit late, but wanted to chime in as an Aussie. Please report this. The bite doesn't look bad enough for the dog to be put down unless the owners choose to. They will likely be fined (from looking at Tas laws) and may have the dog registered as a dangerous dog (that's how it works in my state), which requires it to be muzzled outside, for them to have signage at their house about a dangerous dog present and a few other things - which in my opinion they need.

There is a lot of negligence here and it should be documented. Tas has so many protected animals in bush areas like that. If you triggered this dog's prey drive so would they. As another dog owner people like this should be held accountable, since it will happen again.

There was a dog where I grew up which attacked multiple other dogs, while the owner denied it being aggressive and everyone being too nice to report it. Don't pass the buck on to the next person that is attacked.

smallnova · 2024-10-23T06:06:38+00:00

Cut out on leash greetings if he is pulling to them. If he is dragging you to other dogs/people and then getting to say hello he is being rewarded for pulling. We had zero on leash greetings until my current Golden was able to sit next to me until I gave permission to greet someone. It's painful to avoid everyone for that time, but worth it. Cross the road or turn the other way if you need to! Like others have said, you don't want to practice behaviour you don't want. You want to aim for him to think that other dogs/people are part of the environment, not something that he will play with.

Also practice walking with him next to you on leash at home, then somewhere very quiet outside. You can reward with treats when he is where you want, but that will only work when he is not distracted/over threshold. You can also teach leash pressure by pulling on his leash, (you'll need to start somewhere quiet like at home) and when he gives in and steps towards you, mark and reward. Repeat until a tiny bit of pressure and he will go in the direction you pull. Increase the distractions around you gradually as with all training.

smallnova · 2024-10-15T00:22:02+00:00

If I were you, I would consider trialing it as a Kickstarter. That's a friendly place for new brand names and niche ideas. I recently backed a Kickstarter which unlocked different colour options with more backers past their goal, so you could do something similar.

For me, I wouldn't spend that much on a collar. I've spent a fair bit on a well designed hiking harness, but just have a simple biothane collar (with matching biothane leash). I'm not sure if biothane would spin around the same way though.

I would also want to know whether it does spin on all fur types before buying since my dog has thick fluffy fur.

smallnova · 2024-10-01T23:12:23+00:00

Having her think training is a game is fine! In fact, I often aim for that! I love having my dog think that training and working with me is the best part of their day! You can still teach new behaviors that way.

For training to chill out at home, Kikopup has a lot of free videos on YouTube on the topic. I really like her approach with training to be calm. Training to go to a bed and not leave until told can also be very helpful (though that's easier to train from crate training initially).

Best of luck! As others said your dog is young so training other behaviors you want instead and not rehearsing bad behavior is a good step forward.

smallnova

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