MrsD

Nice work Lil, she is working nicely . Love the paws up in the recall sit in front .Not sure if you would loose points in your case, I do traditional around the back finish. However just as an aside, your dog doesnt have to finish after the recall in CCD anyway, you must return to the dog (rather than the dog moving to you) so you will have a bit more time to practice it .

I feed one of my boys Optimum & he has blossomed on it, by far he looks the best out of our 3 dogs (the other 2 are on Bonnie WD & Royal Canin Mini Junior). I am going to try our GSD on it as Im so impressed. I posted this in another thread but I'll post it again because I just cant believe how fantastic his coat is & how great he looks .

For the record, I was talking about obedience only - not agility.

I had a similar experience when we first took our GSD to training at a new club after a break of a few years. Lost track of the number of times someone tried to persuade us to use a halti on her. They have an induction night for new handlers (no dogs) each month as well where the instructor "encourages" you to train on a flat collar or halti. I politely told them no thank you & luckily they didnt persist (past the 2nd month anyway :nahnah: ).

Superminty, Cash is looking great!!

The "best" food is the one your dog does well on . We currently have 3 dogs & feed 3 different foods - Royal Canin, Optimum & Bonnie Working Dog, all are healthy & happy.

With all due respect Tony, people who are "having a go" like Nekhbet & myself & others have been giving exactly the sort of advice she needs to take onboard & our first concern is the dog. As for not waiting til we get all the facts, the facts were written in great detail in the first post, it blatantly said So now the story has changed. Still doesnt change the fact that the dog needs stimulation, it needs work on pack leadership & is going stir crazy not getting any attention.

1. Desex the dog 2. Make yourself pack leader & get your dog's respect. 3. Commit to spending 4 or 5 sessions of 10 or 15 mins per day training the dog - this is the mental stimulation he needs. This is on top of the physical exercise he also needs. 4. If the dog doesnt obey when you ask it to do something, be in a position to make it do what you asked. Obedience is not about whether the dog wants to do something or not. This is linked to the pack leader issue. 5. Start spending some time with the dog instead of having him locked outside (no matter how big your yard is!). He is obviously the type that needs the stimulation. Why do you think he hurls himself at the glass door when you are inside & he's not? He wants to be with you! Spend time with him playing with him as well as training & teach him respect. 6. For the dog's sake, never ever ever tie the dog up on a check chain or one day you will come back to a dead dog. 7. Give the dog something to do whilst you arent able to spend time with him. Either get him some toys to keep him occupied (things like kongs & chew toys are good) or a large marrow bone to keep him occupied. The reason the dog chews everything is because he is still really a puppy & is bored stiff! Your problems stem from very basic problems, if you have owned dogs before you surely should know things like how to make yourself leader etc, if you dont then get professional help or read up some books by well known & respected authors. If you arent willing or able to do all of the above things, rehome the dog. Sorry if you don't think my answers are nice , sometimes truth hurts.

You have chosen a breed which (especially at that age) needs an enourmous amount of attention as well as physical & mental stimulation. You need to be working his mind as well as his muscles & you arent doing it. If you cant give him more than what you are giving him now (& I cant see that happening with a new baby on the way) I agree with Imashephead - desex him (which definitely should be done whatever happens to him) & rehome him to someone who can commit to the time needed by the dog & find a breed more suited to you & your situation. Im sorry if I sound harsh, but I have owned 3 GSD's & I cant bear to see intelligent animals ignored & then blamed for being what they were bred to be - a working dog .

The poor dog is BORED SHITLESS!!!!!!!!! A German Sherperd is a WORKING breed & you have him locked up in a laundry, tied on a chain (by a check chain too, god help the poor dog ) & left in a back yard 24 hrs a day 7 days a week with 10 mins training a day - what do you EXPECT him to do? This thread makes me want to cry :laugh: .

I used Travel Calm ginger from the chemist for Jonty, I used about 1/4 of a tablet, it did help to a certain extent, he used to be sick on a 10 min drive :rolleyes: , but then he managed to do a trip to Sydney & back at 6 months old without throwing up, I found the driving on straight roads helped alot. He's only been sick once since, it was on a short drive of 10 mins to training. He still doesnt like the car (not even going out with us to training, park etc) but he has seemed to be able to cope better even though I dont give him the Travel Calm anymore.

Compared to Vic & NSW our clubs up here are soooo far behind .

actually it wasn't Lure, unless Im very much mistaken Im betting he would love herding too . Ebony will just have to chase Jonty .

I think Tollersowned might have been talking about a check chain rather than an obedience club .

Are you saying it takes 2 of mine to make one of yours? It's funny, I didnt really realise how small Jonty is when he's standing next to me until we took those videos of the dogs recalls on the weekend - then it was like "Oooh he looks so LITTLE & look how far he has to look up at me!!"

Nahhhhh he's still small enough to pick up, almost up to standard size, but still small enough for a cuddle :D . There are a couple of pics of him from a couple of weeks ago when we were on holiday in the shelties & collies thread in photos . Have you spoken with your herding instructor (or a herding instructor) about luring? I was told that luring should not be done with any dog you wish to herd with. Really don't want to encourage the chase drive. dont tell me that :D . Ohhh well I know which one I would rather do if it does conflict, I'll ask & see what they say - thanx for the info .

Take him to different places more often & do simple exercises - then they wont be so exciting for him . ETA - yeah, what leopuppy said .

Ohhhh the poor thing I agree with whoever it was who said give her lots of smaller meals, twice or even 3 times a day if you can manage it. Her poor stomach probably wont cope with large meals otherwise. I would be giving her a super premium & perhaps some chicken wings or carcasses as someone else mentioned or maybe even some lamb flaps as they are good for putting on weight too, I would also be adding some livermol & some Omega 3 oil or similar to her food to bring back the coat condition. Hope she's well on her way to a new & happy life soon, good luck with her . EFS.

Good luck Mrs D. I agree with you - my older boy is a little more laid back and is sometimes hard to motivate. When he gets going though he is great fun. My younger girl on the other hand is constantly switched on and tonnes of fun!!! Mind you I love working both, each for their own reasons. Like Myszka - I love working my older boy coz we are more 'in tune' to each other, having only had Kinta for a short while Can understand the in tune thing perfectly, I was like that with my old GSD boy. Dont get me wrong, my sheltie works nicely & never puts a foot wrong, he is such a good boy , he just doesnt have the "spark" that I like in my dogs .

I currently have 2 dogs (Ebony is MrD's now, even though she was bought as my dog), currently on a slack training period cos its hot , but I would normally train every day. Both a very similar age (one has just turned 1 & the other is 9 months) normally I wouldnt have 2 dogs so close in age (almost 3 years between Ebony & Jonty & there was almost 3 years between my last 2 dogs as well) but Jarrah came along & I couldnt resist :hug: . 1 Sheltie, one kelpie, yes, very different working styles, TBH the sheltie is probably too laid back for me, I find it difficult to motivate him sometimes. The kelpie is exactly the sort of dog I love to train best, always switched on, full of life & wants to work with you. Im hoping that both will be ready to go into CCD in the next 6 months, I have my eye on a trial at our home club at the begining of May .

Joho, glad to see you have ventured into the scary part of the forum , stay around it gets interesting sometimes . As for the question you asked, I think greytmate has pretty well answered it, but Im sure you will find that some people do lurecoursing with their dog & (like me) have cats etc. Can't wait for the new season to start up here in Brisbane, I think Jarrah is going to be a superstar at more than just obedience & doggy dancing :hug: & Jonty will finally get to run in competition as he will be old enough by then .

I agree with this - I would never go to a club which said I had to use or wasn't allowed to use a specific method of training or piece of equipment. IMO, every dog is different & different methods work best on different dogs & even for different exercises, it's up to the owner with help from the instructor to work out what those methods are. One method does not fit all - that goes for positive as well as negative as far as I am concerned .

Here are a couple of clips of our dogs doing recalls in our front paddock - & yes, before anyone mentions it, I know I moved my foot . - very green, this is only his 3rd or 4th formal recall ever.

No big dogs allowed - please keep your distance .

has it got a sign on it or something? too funny, Jarrah would love somthing like that, Jonty would be the one barking at him .