Kerriebaby,
Pleased that your dog is home with you again but please PLEASE don't ever put that mussle on her again. I'm sure you did know, and maybe just temporarily forgot, ('tho now you've had it confirmed in the most horrible way), that a dog that can not defend itself is like a Christian being thrown to the lions in ancient Rome, in fact it is worse since those poor b*****s at least had a sword or somesuch weapon to use your poor creature had NOTHING!!!!!.

If she hadn't had that stupid thing on her she could have growled barked and even fought back, that would have been the thing that dogs do best and don't forget she would have been trying to protect YOU.

So it's a bit lame to protest about getting bitten and even worse to complain about the horrible noise she was makinhg while being gorged by the two attacking dogs,,,,,,,,,what the heck kind of noise do you think she COULD make while being unable to open her poor mouth more than a few inches. It's really lucky she didn't die of asphixiation, if you know ANYTHING about dogs you must know that they need to breath fast and with open mouth in stessful situations.

In that situation (when it happened to me many years ago) I let my dog off the lead, she of course had no mussle on, she initially attacked the two dogs, gave them as good as she got and then belted into some undergrowth where even at a two to one disadvantage the attacking dogs could not make any serious damage on her.

Kerrie must be wondering what the heck her 'leader' was doing and why this so called leader was on the attacking dogs side.

In case you think it might happen again do get yourself a pair of steel capped leather  boots (They are widely used in the construction industry & the steel tow cap is inside so they look quite normal) if you kicked the attackers wearing these they would know about it 'tho I don't guarantee they will give up but with Kerrie helping you it won't be such a traumatic experience.

But most of all take that stupid mussle and chuck it in the bin, do it NOW you'll be glad you did and you can look Kerrie in the eyes and say sorry. Being a dog she'll not hold what happened against you in future, like most stupid humans would do. Isn't it lucky you have a dog.

Actually it's lucky you have two dogs 'cos next time (I hope to God there is no 'next time' ) you'll hopefully have both of them with you, WITHOUT mussles, and all three of you should be able to give a yorkie & staffie a fright (And if you practice kicking with your boots on maybe inflict some injury on them)

There will likely be some blood but I can absolutely positively 100% guarantee that the outcome will be much better than what happened last Friday, believe me it happened to me, my dog had some wounds which requires a vet (But no overnight stay) and the other two dogs were never seen again!!

Higashi,
I just had to post again because someone mentioned 'Theft of Dogs' OMG what a terible thought

When I suggested they could run around in a properly fenced garden it never occured to me that there might be people in UK who would stoop to stealing dogs - This is the sort of thing that goes on in Nigeria or China but surely not in UK.

Don't know what more to say, if you keep them locked up in the house they will chew things and be very lonely and it's not a natural habitat for a dog who is a gregarious creature and needs some sort of company.

emalou2,
Yes, I think you are making a valid point.
higashi,
I think you and your partner can do it IF you think hard about the needs of the dog. (1) He needs to have a garden (Not necessarily big) to run around in & SMELL things (2) That garden must be well fenced, this means maybe getting a contractor in to put up a new fence and be prepared to erect it on the side which legally maybe your neighbours responsibility (3) A dog flap on your back door, if you live in a high crime area you'll have to provide a good sized kennel instead (4) Fresh water must always be available (5) A puppy will 'adopt' you and you'll have less problems provided you can get through the first ten weeks.

Finally, if you have the money, why not get two puppies  

The older I get the more I despair of the human race.   Who on earth would fall for such an obvious con :

Lovely jubbly  I may be biased but I think big dogs are best (We have two Newfoundlands which can be a real handful & improve ones muscle tone hugely when the're on the lead) How much does a fully grown St. Bernard weigh??

Best of luck - Hope all goes well. I think of few of us would like a 'progress report' when you get time

Yorkie  /  Sarabe

Thanks a million for that explanation which I'm happy to go along with. I think he probably only reads his PMs at work and as I sent it Friday he may have sloped off work early    (Well, I have been known to do that myself so I'm not complaining )

I was a bit confused because on the 'UK Workshop' forum (Which appears to use the same software) my messages seem to get into the 'Sent' box quite quickly,   but I guess there are loads of 'options' on this and dogchat may be set up differently.  

We'll see what Monday brings - Thanks once again for responding. Hope I can do the same for you one day.

Fay - What a lovely chappie
He seems to have some white claws and some black - Is that what happens when you get a cross?

Can someone advise me how I get a PM which is sitting in my 'outbox' to actually go  

On most forums I think you just log out & anything in the outbox gets sent but that doesn't seem work on this forum. I tried logging out and back in, it's still in the outbox which means it's not been sent, doesn't it??

Yuppypup  /  Sarabe

Thanks for your polite & helpful responses. Being the prudent sort of chap I thought my invesment of 8.99 for the book was reasonable, even if I was in UK I would think very hard and long before parting with 100 quid for 'dog behaviour' classes

Six months ago I didn't know about this forum, hadn't learned much from some of the doggy magazines I had seen (Or which my brother had sent me) and on a flying visit to Suffolk I had to pick a book from almost ten shelves in the 'Dog' section of Waterstones.

Anyway, it has all come right in the end, Alena & I are always saying now just how much Bara has changed. She's a lovely dog and so intelligent.

Thanks again for your comments, much appreciated.

Yuppypup,
Thanks for the above. As a general rule I don't like to use 'trendy' words or termilogy either. I suppose I picked up on the 'Alpha' thing from Jan Fennel's book "The Dog Listener" this is about the only book we have regarding trainning 'tho we have a few others about dogs in general.

Never ever has Bara caused any harm to the younger one, no loose fur no bloodshed. This is more than can be said for me........but that's another story

My wife doesn't follow everything in that book but it has helped in certain ways.

Thankfully the "Dog Behaviourist" industry has not really taken off yet in Eastern Europe but given the level of fraud and corruption in most areas of business and government here it can't be long before it does

regards, Losos

Yes, I think I could be defined as an 'ex pat' in so far as I spend nine months of each year in Czechland (They like to be known as Czech Republic but I think Czechland sounds much better )

A high 'dog ownership' population but I regret to say very few 'dog aware' types around, at least not that I've met anyway.

K9
Thanks for that. We are definately 'ordinary' dog owners in that we don't breed, don't show, don't 'work' our two, 'tho they do earn their keep by guarding in a doggie sense

I've sent an enquiry to the magazine about subscriptions into Europe & think I'll likely give it a go.

Had a look at the electronic edition but think I still prefer the hard copy 'cos I can read it my workshop where I don't (yet) have web access.

Sarabe,
Yes, consistentcy and routine, these are very important, and yes, I was making an assumption about leadership & Alpha status regarding our 'problem' dog.

One could say it was my lack of patience and time and knowledge which started her off wrongly   'tho we latter found out she had been taken back by the breeder after four weeks of an unhappy placing by him.

We have had this dog for just over two years now, she was twelve weeks old when she came to us. Whatever the reason for her problems, she has changed dramatically in the last six months, and this has exactly coincided with the start of my wife taking charge of everything. (Feeding, walks, commands, etc.)

My wife is rightly very keen to see that both dogs are treated equally but I have to say that the 'problem' dog still likes to show she is senior to our other dog. (Climbs on her back, forces her to the ground etc)

So, whether one calls it a pack, or a familly unit, or a clan, it seems to me that there is a 'heirachy' and that if the dogs know their place in that 'unit' then they will be happy.

I'm just glad that we now have two pretty normal well adjusted doggies who love us and who are loved by us.

K9media,
I wish you hadn't posted that link

I'm moving to the view that humans are really the lowest of the low in the animal world

Still in a way it is good to have such articules published, it just might make some dog owners wake up.

Are you allowed to say on this forum what the general approach of K9 magazine is. I've not been too impressed with some other publications I occassionaly buy when I'm in England.