bret

Hi anissa thanks for your speedy reply, i feel that you might be right, the thing is we have tried the ignoring thing, but as cute as it is, she will leave her head on your lap, and give you one of those 'ruff' little barks that say 'hey, i am here look at me' i did have a break through i feel today in the walking though, i again took my treats, but this time i used them a little more sparingly, instead of getting a 'yes' and a treat when she healed, i just tapped her and 'good girl'. i think that maybe i am putting too much emphasis on my marker too often. ie: maybe she has the basics down, and i need to mark more perfect behaviour.. does that sound right? also, anyone with clicker/marker training knowledge, when you start out and click/mark and treat, can you use the click/marker and say a pat as a lesser reward? to make the dog think that wasn't good enough cause i didn't get the treat? if that made sense. bret

hi everyone, i have 2 or 3 quick questions, that could possibly turn into longer ones, but i will be brief with the opening post. 1) my BC is the most affectionate dog i have ever met, i mean AFFECTIONATE. her training when i get a chance really goes awesome, she picks up things quicker than i expected. But her constant need for touching is sometimes incredibly annoying. I have trained her in sit stay and down stay, when I am training her she will stay for how ever long i want, but lets just say at night which is mainly the worst time, we are watching a movie, she is on her mat watching with us, she constantly has to be touched or patted, she will go lie down and in like 30 secs she will creep up thinking we can't see her move and put her nose on your leg for a pat. I won't pat her unless i call her over, and i put her back on the mat if she moves, but i can't seem to have her stay still. 2) surging when walking. i take her for a walk every day, now she isnt a puller like 'i need to run let me go' pulling, but she does tend to surge. i have tried every trick under the sun. i stop, i turn, i take treats so that when she is doing the right thing i treat her, i have tried the 'slow'-correction, and when i say slow she instantly looks at me and slows down, but 2 seconds later she surges again. I don't need comepition heeling, which she is also learning, but without that treat in my hand, i have to constantly tell her to slow down, instead i want her to stay close and then when i release her 'ok' she can walk at her leasure a little more. any help would be greatly apprectiated. cheers bret

i dont' user clickers either, but a verbal marker and treats,

hi all i have the 'only trick training book you wil ever need' and have found that a lot of the stuff is good, but i am baffled at the way they teach the 'bow' command/trick as a quick over view here are the steps involved after you have tought your dog 'touch' targeting you hand, you can then teach the bow. 1 - in stand position have the dog target your hand 3 inches below his chin, click and treat (i don't use a clicker, but i have a verbal marker 'yes') 2 - gradually make this harder lowering your hand by 7 inches or so at a time, 3 - when your hand hits the ground click and treat for all times the head touches without them going into a 'down' 4 - watch for any elbow movement' then advance from there. the problem is that, by the time my hand is on the ground the dog only has to lower her head and she is touching my hand. i am trying to wait for free shaping and let her work out something else, but she only lays down or waits for the marker. has anyone else taught bow and if they did can they give me an intermediate step in there that will maybe force her to bend her knees, which is what leads to the bow? cheers bret

Hi everyone thanks heaps for all of your feedback, i recieved my vials of advantage today. according to the package, it starts working on adult fleas within 20 minutes of application, killing them that come into contact. what can i expect to see as results, do the flea eggs that have been steralised fall out? do the fleas fall out, ie: i have seen some jump or fall off her coat when i am patting her, then jump straight back on again? also, she hates the flea brush i have, i think that it is too touch on her skin when it goes through her coat, but i have another brush that does a good job of brushing her coat. the last question i have here is, she seems to be shedding an aweful lot of fur, more than usual, can i attribute that to a season change? do i brush her every day to get the loose hair out? any tips on how often a brush is in order? thanks heaps for all your advice. Bret

QUOTE If you wanted to kill the fleas ASAP, there's a tablet called Capstar made by same people as Sentinel Spectrum, which will kill all fleas on a dog in a 24 hour period. Most our clients by a 6 pack, and give their dogs a tablet every 2-3 days until finished. They're also helpful if you ever take dogs to dog parks - give dog tab before you get in the car for ride home, and won't be bringing fleas back with you. Usually helps eradicate most of the fleas present, but also a good topical product like Advantage will do the same. can you please tell me where to get this capstar. i have had my BC for a year now, and i can't for the life of me get rid of her fleas. i was going to post a new comment, but i will just add to this, as i also had another question. we just moved house, to a house with a pool and virtually no dirt, it is all grass and pebbles. i washed her the other day in her usual oatmeal shampoo, but for some reason this time after she dried off, the next day i noticed dandruf. her skin was flaking mainly around her back/bum area, but still it is all over. can i get a suggestion on a good shampoo and conditioner for her? and it seems that advantage is the way to go with fleas, i really would like to get rid of these pesky little buggers, i will try advantage. just to let you know, i have bathed her previously in malwash, it worked for a day but then straight back on her, also i have a diluted solution of permetheran, which i use, but again doesn't seem to work, she seems to be a flea breeding cycle frown.gif thanks for all this quality advice. Bret Advantage kills fleas, flea eggs, flea larvae, and forms crystals which will fall off in the dogs environment and kill the fleas in the surrounds also. But to be effective you have to treat every pet in the household, and also won't be as effective if you have roaming cats coming into your yard. Hope this helps! -WithEverythingIAm

can you please tell me where to get this capstar. i have had my BC for a year now, and i can't for the life of me get rid of her fleas. i was going to post a new comment, but i will just add to this, as i also had another question. we just moved house, to a house with a pool and virtually no dirt, it is all grass and pebbles. i washed her the other day in her usual oatmeal shampoo, but for some reason this time after she dried off, the next day i noticed dandruf. her skin was flaking mainly around her back/bum area, but still it is all over. can i get a suggestion on a good shampoo and conditioner for her? and it seems that advantage is the way to go with fleas, i really would like to get rid of these pesky little buggers, i will try advantage. just to let you know, i have bathed her previously in malwash, it worked for a day but then straight back on her, also i have a diluted solution of permetheran, which i use, but again doesn't seem to work, she seems to be a flea breeding cycle :D thanks for all this quality advice. Bret Advantage kills fleas, flea eggs, flea larvae, and forms crystals which will fall off in the dogs environment and kill the fleas in the surrounds also. But to be effective you have to treat every pet in the household, and also won't be as effective if you have roaming cats coming into your yard. Hope this helps! -WithEverythingIAm

hi all again, well the room mate has moved out after long and dubious effort, which means there is only one dog left now, maiya. NO more playing tag/rough housing with the sister, or growling because she took my bone etc. she will be lonley out there, with nothing to do. I have got a puppy kong which now that there is only her, i can make a game out of burying it, as well as her bones, and she has to find it, she is allowed in the house more, which is good for me becuase i can train her inside and out without having to worry about the other dog, but i was wondering if i could get some tips on how i could make her transition a little easier to being along? a list of some thinking games (ie: i am going to buy a puzzler ball, which is a treat ball that she has to work out how to get the treats from) and some rope toys which she like, any ideas would be helpful, thanks Bret

where would i look for one of these that is a little on the cheaper side and rated for flying?

I have enrolled in the NDTRF course for this years distance learning section. and it seems i have to go down to melbourne 2 times. I have until may before i fly out, but i would like as much info as you guys can give me on preparing maiya (9month old b/c) for her first flight. the travel agent at melbourne who i am booking the flights through, said that they can arrange a crate for maiya when i get there, i will have to buy one now the same size as the one they will give me and train her in that. any help would be awesome cheers bret

I remember posting something very similar to thelast post on 'puppy pre school' about maiya and makaybe being antisocial and snapping atpuppy preschool, but loving human attention. Together, they play rough and tumble just like the pups at preschool do, but at the classes they never played. they sat under the chair and just watched. They did however learn different games which when they came home they liked to play with each other. now 9 months on and maiya still doesn't like other dogs. Taking her to the park if she see's another dog usually she will go to within about 15 metres of them, or a little closer and drop, and wait. in a book i read this is a calming signal. but when the dog comes up and sniffs her, if they stay too long (longer than like 3 or 4 seconds) the upper lip quivers and a little growl. lately she has been snapping at other dogs. I took her to sheep dog lessons 2 weeks ago for hte first time. although she excelled in the sheep ring, her skills at socialising with the others lacked considerably. 2 togs were tethered on a picket about 2 meters away from each other, and the other dog approached, maiya snapped and given that the other dog was a long haired collied, maiya ended up with a wee mouth full of hair, nothing in it i don't even think she really expected to get that close. lastly, today i took her to the spit, a notorious dog beach, we were doin great, 1 baby dog came up, the lip quivered, i kept her close to me, the dog went away. but after that a pup boxer maybe a little bigger than maiya came bounding from like 20 metres away, jumped straight onto and over maiya, she didnt like this and growled and snapped, so the boxer decided to do the same. I told maiya 'no' and she downed, but watched boxer dog who i quickly got a hold of the coller. the owners were like 2 seconds behind and leashed him, i guess he lost his freedom for the beach session P:(.. anyway, lets get to my questions. i thought that maiya would grow out of the whole hating other dogs thing, but it doesn't seem so. her sister is the only dog so far she will play with (oh and a friends border collie, but they only played in 3's, never maiya and tahi!) is there a way to have her like dogs? is it a jump straight into defense drive? in her drive she still listens, quite well which i am happy with, but i don't want her to be scared all the time of other dogs. any answers would be great cheers bret

i;ll get in on that, iw ill have an order made up by the end of the week cheers bret

HI all, Maiya and i are getting very close now, it seems anyway. Today i gave her a juicy bone with meat and marrow and all sorts of good stuff oozing out of it. I have read so many different things on dog agression, and pack leadership and the sorts and sometimes things just like to confuse themselves. I want to know more opinions on the outcome of todays test. previously when i fed maiya and moved near her bowl, she growled and wouldn't let me near her, to fix this i was told to have 2 or 3 treats that are better than her food ie: chicken necks and offer them during her meal, and while that happens pat her. I did this and the growling stopped and she came instantly. I have since stopped doing that because on of the many things i have read about says 'leave your dog alone when they eat, you wouldn't like someone coming up and patting and distracting you when you eat,' so i did. today i moved over when i was cleaning up the poo in the yard, i got close to her she growled. i moved closer again she growled louder. She has never tried to bite me, and the truth be told i never thought she was even close today, her growl wasn't that nasty super deep growl that you hear with a vicious dog, she was just letting me know i guess she was uncomfortable. I corrected her with my voice and a tug on her flat collar and took the bone. i moved it away about 3 feet and put it down and told her to stay. after 2 or three minutes i gave her the 'ok' and she went and merrily started to chomp. I then went up to her, she didn't growl, i gave the 'out' command and a little reluctantly she gave up the bone, which she was rewarded for and praise and stuff, then left her to finish it. i guess my question is, when it comes to trust and loyalty, should your dog ever feel like maiya did today about her owner? and if not, what other things can i do to unequivacably make her know that i am a) pack leader and b) that i would do anything for her. does that make sense? cheers bret

at this stage as much as i can. we do 3 10-15 minute training sessions, and when we go for a walk, we usually go to the park, or to the lake, if we go to the lake, it is across the road, and we play fetch and swim for at leas 30-40 minutes, then walk home, if we go to the park, it is a 10 minute walk there, fetch for 30-40 minutes, sniff around, (don't swim in that lake any more, bull sharks like to eat live things) then we walk home. i am trying to do much, currently my job isn't allowing me the time, soon though i will be able to work less and play more... ps, if we go to the beach, we play in the waves for at least 40 min to an hour.

Thanks everyone, your reply's have been very helpful I also have a laundry which is just on the back door. I was thinking of utilising this as her "maiya's" sleeping place. I have 2 nights off in a row so i will be able home and monitor how she is going. i have also started her training back up, with the bond building and having fun. we have been playing fetch for a while, but she thinkgs it is funny to drop the ball 5 feet away from me and make me get it. or when she is getting tired she will run to the ball pick it up and drop it there, making me walk at least 100 yards to the ball. i have introduced her to the frisbee. She will catch it when i am 3 feet away and throw it to her, and she will chase it when i throw it farther, she hasn't quite gotten the concept that i would love for her to catch it when i throw it far, but that is just going to come with time. i am just sourcing cage prices now and sizes, but until then i will try out the laundry. as for the toys and stuff, i give her a plastic bottle with kibble in it, and a small hole, she loves that game,but in the end the other dog comes along and they both end up just destroying the bottle and i have to start all over again. sand in the shell hey? i will try that. as for the kong i have one of those too. i freeze it with peanut butter, low fat cream cheese, and kibble, then i hide it. at the moment she is still only on the basic find, i hid it under a bucket, which was under a cardboard box, and had 2 pieces of wood on it. she found it, but gave up because she couldn't work out how to get to it. i guess that will come with time too. cheers bret

I keep reading about crate training, i have a question though, if she is in the crate for the night, what happens if she has to go to the toilet during hte middle of the night? also, can i get some info on the best way to start crate training her? funny you say that, i took your advice, after we moved the movie set we were building, the grass all turned to dirt, which is where they dig. I went out and bought them a clam shell bath/sandpit, but it is a xmas pressie, they have to open it up on xmas day :rolleyes: i am trying to hide her puppy kong when we go out so she is looking for something, tyring to stimulate her mind, yesterday though, i think she gave up, she knew where it was, but didn't try to work out how to get it. I made it a little simpler and she finally got it, so i will keep doing that. I also want to get a puzzle ball, that she has to work out how to get the food out of. any other suggestions on toys that would be good for her? the ones she has now she has destroyed. bones are great, she loves those and will chomp for quite a while. this idea i like, i have plenty of poop to put in the dirt around it.cheers for your help bret :rolleyes:

Hi all been a while since i have posted, been really busy. Maiya and her sister are about 8 months old now and they are starting to use their voices a lot more. more so at night. They will bark at anything, the tree moving, the wind blowing you name it they bark at it. My g/f tied them up last night next to their bed, and that seemed to work, apparently there wasn't a peep out of them. But i don't want to have to tie them up every night just so we don't disturb the neighbours. talking about neighbours, they are also in touch with their grave robbing side. They have successfully dug at leas 6 holes in the fence on the left. we have borded it up now and put rocks there so they don't get under, but i am wondering how we can stop them from digging under the fence? is it a sign that they might be a little bored, not getting enough stimulation etc? any help would be great. Bret

hi all. the 2 b/c we have at home, maiya and makaybe might be known to a few as i have posted here for info in the past. teh current issue we are having is with overexcited puppies being greeted. not only by us but also by friends. I have read through and found that you don't go straight outside when you get home or get up, you let the pups know you are there and go out when you are ready. this is fine most of the time. when we do go out it is always 'sit' before they get a pat or a good morning. they do this although extremely excited. then we pat them, rub their belly etc, and then the super excited barking and groaning comes out. we stop they don't, no pats no nothing, we walk away but they are still wanting the attention. after we go inside, my pup maiya, wil give you the '1' bark. the attention seeking bark that says 'hey, i'm here, come play with me' the bark goes at least 7 or 8 times. ignoring her doesn't work, telling her to stop sometimes does. i am assuming that she has won by telling her to stop because she has gotten a reaction out of it. why i write this today and not any other is becuase while i was ouside patting, they were going nuts and i got a 'shutup' from the next door neighbour. i don't want to cause any hassles so i thought i would ask a question on the best way to settle them down? CHEERS Bret

Maiya's threshold for prey drive is quite high. i will take the orbi ball with me to the park, if i am running she will persue me and then go the orbi ball. If i am there holding it, waving it around and such, she just looks at it as if to say 'yeah, so your playing with a ball, what do you want me to do about it?' it is quite funny sometimes, where as her sister, if you even look like holding a ball, she is already trying to jump up and grab it. I would love to use the prey drive to my advantage but at this stage i am not getting some of the success i would like. i attribute that mostly to me being a new trainer though, hence the continued quest for knowledge. hmm, most likely incorrectly at the park, build up her want for a toy, give her a command, when she responds to the command, she gets the ball. most times though the ball doesn't interest her. I also take treats, and use what i have been told recently is 'food exchange', which works, only if hte puppy is hungry Saying no doesn't seem to work all the time, and i don't want to smack her ??? at a loss. she is told 'no' when we don't want her to do something, is this not enough? given the tone and such? i keep her on the lead when we walk on the street, so you are saying that if we go for a couple of laps of the oval so to speak, she must stay on the lead? what about when we go to the beach and in the water, or should i lay off that for a little while, until i get her back on track? hmm. i do understand that it is about her understanding i am the one who allows her to eat when i say, and that i control that sort of thing. I am at 2 minutes now with her in a down position, her sister is eating and her focus is entirely on me, awaiting the release. is that not correct? this is something i don't understand, the scavenging thing. she has been corrected when going into the bin in the kitchen, but she still does it. i didn't want to tie them up during the party, i am only assuming this but if i put them both on a lead, with people over that they would have gone nuts and barked all night. should i have tied them up in an out of the way place? Thank you so much for your response. I am here to learn, and need to know answers. Sugar coating is not the way i think, so thank you for telling me outright that i am doing something wrong. I await your responses to the above answers i gave you. many thanks again Bret

yes maiya is already quite well trained in TOT... she will not eat unless i say 'ok' but i think i might have to extend that to make sure that she knows i am pack leader. with the praising. she will come to me and sit. should i ignore her and make her do something more? so that she doesn't know that the praise will come every time? also, can a dog that loses respect for you, regain it by not ignoring her, but making her work more for her praise? i have tried to get everyone in the house not to praise her, but since doing this, it seems that this is what has made her less attentive too me. i am not sure, i am going to see a professional trainer recomended up her, but like i said, too much knowldegde is never enough bret

HI everyone i find that i get some awesome information here with the problems or suggestions i need for my puppy. I am at a real loss now. after doing some training with puppy, trying to buid her drive for 3 weeks, things started to go a little bad. previously my puppy used to be estatic to see me when ever i was around, especially in the morning. these days she doesn't have that same excitement. she is a 67 month old border collie, i know that she is quite intelligent, and i also know that i 'don't' know the dogs mind and how it thinks, but her naughtiness has almost trippled in the last 3 weeks. i take her out for a walk 2 times a day. i spend as much time as i can with her as well. I play fetch in the back yard with her and her sister, i try to make sure i am the only one who feeds her, i give her treats and do basic training. when i go for a walk and we get to the park, she wanders around which is fine, but doesn't listen to me all the time when i call her back. she sits when she wants to or doesn't drop during training. last night thoguh was the last straw. I never hit puppy for corrections, usually just use a stern to angry voice but it doesn't phase her. last night we had a party, and once the initial excitement of all of all of the people there was over, she wouldn't stop scavenging. this also isn't new. when she is inside her first point of call is the bin. but last night she was licking the fat off the ground under the bbq, she didnt' even listen to me to stop or 'no'. i physically had to pull her away from it which she didn't like at all, yes i got the growl. i put her on her lead on a tree. She has this high pitched bark which i interpret as 'hey, i am here, you need to talk to me, be with me' she did that for a little while. once she stopped, i let her off and put her to bed. i guess the questions i am asking are, i feel that i have lost the respect that i should have as the pack leader from my dog. Do you lose that respect by giving them too much praise? doing to many nice things for them? how do i get that respect back, so taht she really does want to be with me, and listen to me? any of your advice will help me greatly. Bret and maiya

ok hi all i have only gotten up to page 14 of this 36 page battle. I was also at the gympie workshop with K9 and started work with maiya straight away. I have also got a 6 month old border collie, so i am quite sure taht she has bucketloads of energy, but not sure where it is to be used yet. i have been annoying poor steve like crazy with how my dog is doing and the 'am i doing it wrong' questions and such. i do have one to put to everyone. i realised today when i went out ( btw i am now at week 1.6, so only 1 week and 1 day left of ground work so to speak) to play with my dog and her sister was there. i had no toys or anyhting, just started runnign around. i got them both so worked up they were barking and yelping and nipping at me all excited like. i am assuming that this is the type of reaction i am trying to get when i am playing iwth the orbi ball. i have modified it to put a piece of hide which she loves chewing. after finding out i was doing it for too long, i shortened the time to about 1 to 2 minutes, she was still lunging for the ball, but her excitement never got above 'hey if i try i can get it, but i might not try to hard, if i win it, cool if not, well i'll just stand here a minutes, stretch my legs look at the butterfly fly past my nose oh hang on what was i doing, yeah the ball 0 lunge0.' i put the ball on the end of a rope and that seemed to peak her interest a little more, chasing a rope with the ball is maybe more animated? you are wondering where the question is right? anyone who has a pup that has a higher threshold for prey drive, or has circumstances like mine where i think her pack drive might be higher, have any extra little things i can be doing to get her so excited about this ball that she wan'ts to just jump out of her skin? and does age have something to do with the amount of drive they might have already? i notice a lot of the dogs on here are already nearly past 1 years old. thanks bret

Hi Kristie thank you very much for your reply. as for the Triangle of temptation, she already does that. she is fully aware not to touch her food until the 'ok' is given. we have established 3 minutes, where she just lies down until the 'ok'. also, we have moved to the state of me walking inside and making her wait. As for the feeding her last. I will do that from now on, i will make her watch her sister eat, and then feed her. I started taking away her treat if she growls at me while i pet her, and also her food. this has started to stop. I was going to ask all of the things i should reinforce to become alpha again, or at least to ensure she knows who it is, these things you ahve suggested are a great start. we don't crate our dogs, if she did something naugty, would a laundry secluded from everyone be sufficient? as for the chek, thanks for that, i thought that is how it was done, steve is supposed to be up here in september, and we will be doing obedience starting next month. i will look into a personal 1 on one session though, to see if i can iron the small kinks out before they get out of hand. thanks heaps bret

it is a little worse than i had thought We did jump on here earlier when our pups were younger, and talked about the fact that they needed to be seperated, we did it as much as possible, but it seems now that maiya is the one who has taken the dominant role in the pack, well at least between her and makaibe. although with the food thing, tonight she growled at my trying to pick her up. I have been getting a lot more frustrated lately with her in her training, especially at the puppy park or somewhere where her sister is, becuase she just won't listen. I think that she has picked up on this and taken offense, that is if this can be true. I am going to go back to my older methods of training, with more treats and affection and stuff, do you think that this will change her mind? i also read a book on dog training, which suggested the use of check chains, i used it on maiya today, and it didn't really work any different than the collar, she is a smart dog i know taht, a border collie, and i know that she isn't getting enough exercise, which i am trying to rectify, but she doesn't understand how to play with her toys, or how to fetch, there is a way you can teach this, but i am unsure of it. there is a question in there somewhere and i hope that you guys can point me further in the right direction cheers bret

Hi all, things have been going well for our little border collies, but i have recently run into this problem Maiya is getting to be a little too big for her boots. When her sister and she are eating treats and things, such as pigs ears she is very protective, and growls and barks when her sister comes near. Worse though is that she is also not letting me pat her while she is eating, previously she had no problem with me patting her at all, now she slows down her eating, and growls at me and yesterday she barked. Is she starting to think that she is the leader? We have them both able to wait for 3 minutes before eating and giving the ok command, I even tested it last night, I walked inside and maiya just laid down until I gave the command. Any ideas on what it might be? Cheers Bret