Reddii

Thanks for the replies. The problem we have on Monday night is that both dogs are in different classes at the same time, hence OH handling Xena. So, it's not like I'm sitting on the side line watching, I'm 2 football fields away working with CK. If I was to handle both dogs the only option would be to take them week and week about - not recommended by the club people. We have done retstrained recalls - initally Xena would not leave me and go to OH, now she will do it quite happily. We are doing this with a view to trialling the dogs, not just in an informal sense. Around the house both dogs will do as they are told (more or less) for both of us, it's only at obedience club that we strike the problem. PF - agree with you, I'd be a bit peeved if I was the instructor. But as you said, you've politely suggested that they look at other options - dirty looks don't help anyone - if we could discuss the problem I'd be really happy. We don't have an ego issue in terms of 'this is what is right for my dog' and are both quite new to the dog world so are quite happy to listen to those with more experience, but don't always know the questions to ask. Monday just gone there was a small improvement, but I think I'll have a chat to the instructors and see what they recommend. May just be that we do have to swap dogs. Cheers. ETA - Xena will work for me - her entire flyball and agility lessons are off lead, we constantly get comments from both dog and non-dog people how good she is for a dog of her age with me and is almost as good with OH when I am not around. Just this obedience club thing that has us stumped.

anyone?

This depends on what you are using the crate for. Is it only for sleeping? If so then just leave it in your room. If you are going to use it for dog sport or have him in it for other reasons then move it around. Personally I'd move it around - that way you will always have the option of using it for obedience/sport etc if the need arises. Agree with all the other advice - the other thing I was going to suggest is that we fed our dogs in their crates while they were getting used to them - mmmmm......happy thoughts for puppies. This is the key - NEVER use the crate as a punishment, it has to be their safe and happy place or you will have problems. When/if he wakes during the night and wakes you to take him out just put him on lead, don't look at him or talk to him, take him outside, no play, just do the business and back to bed. Both our guys are pretty solid now and mr 7 months don't wake any more than once a week if that - only then if we feed them too late. Best of luck with it!

When it comes to training our two dogs are basically mine, but I want OH to be able to handle them too. At the moment I have done all our 12 month old BC's training - basic obedience, now agility and flyball. For me she's pretty solid, although if OH and the pup are around I have to work pretty hard to keep her attention on me, but manage to do it with her off lead. In the last couple of weeks we've begun going to a new obedience club with both dogs. We decided I'd manage CK, the seven month old bag of trouble and he is going really well in the level 2 class, while Xena (12 month old) is in level 1 with OH because she isn't quite as experienced handling the dogs. The problem we have is that Xena in the L1 class is bored and cries and looks for me every time she is not doing something. Week 1 she wouldn't work for OH at all, week 2 she did work, but still made heaps of noise and looked for me at every opportunity. Unfortunately the only feedback OH got from the trainer was dirty looks - not too helpful. I've suggested that given OH reckons she is across everything they are covering in the L1 class that she could be doing things (targetting/down/turn etc) to keep Miss X occupied during 'down' times. (OH has done a bit of training, just not confident, but not a complete novice.) Does anyone else have any thoughts about how we can handle this one. I'm not keen to swap dogs back as Xena does do agility and flyball with me and to swap now would be to give in - not a trend I'm happy to start.

What did you puppy have? I am thinking it may be Pano, but I am not a vet of course. Like I mentioned the first xray of leg one came up clear. No dark spots, no bone damage, but I will definitely go back on Tuesday for another look and consultation. I also will try to get a second opinion if this does not improve. Cracked tip on the elbow. Been 3 weeks since we saw the vet last and have another 3 before we are going to xray him again. Just taking him to obedience and walking on lead atm - perhaps one or four sneaky ball tosses every couple of days in the back yard too (10m or so) - all vet approved. He's really good now, the temptation to let him have a run is so great because he sooooo wants to - especially when our other pup is running around, but must stay strong. Hope all works out for Kirby. I know what you are going through and my thoughts are with you. Cheers. Tony

Bugga - this is what happened to CK, our little guy who is about the same age as yours. We had him treated and when it didn't come good in two weeks I insisted on X-ray, it showed up the problem immediately - fortunately while it was serious, it wasn't nasty. Don't take chances - get them to x-ray. (My vet didn't put CK out for the x-ray.) Tony

not always - my little girl looks worried all the time. Even when she is excited she looks worried. One very serious puppy.

She is a gorgeous girl. I just love that mouth open goofy BC look. My boy has it all the time. I'm sure he practices it when we aren't looking so he can pull it out when he is in trouble!

First command is sit - said in a command voice because it is not a correction - it is telling him what to do. Don't want them to think they are in trouble. Then voice correction if they don't do it from there - correction is either arrrgh or no. More likely to be arrrgh - old habits died hard, this was how I was first taught. SD - I like the idea of 'steady'. Hadn't thought about it that way. I'm lucky that I find it pretty easy to keep my cool, and can switch between praise/command/correction easily, but OH has a bit of trouble and gets frustrated so everything tends to come out as a correction. So I might try it for us both so we are consistent. THANKS

Agree, no yelling. But I do find the voice correction works well - it doesn't have to be loud, just consistent as you say. With the jumping I tell my dogs to sit ONCE and then wait for them to do it - no touching until they are sitting calmly.

He does it a bit, but he just gets ahh or no and a time out and seems to be stopping it. He really is amazing though - even when he jumps up on you (also working on getting rid of that little gem that he's copies from our little girl BC) it is gentle and mouthing is the same, even with adult teeth. It's almost like he knows how to be considerate. We are just lucky little miss (Xena) doesn't bite, her jumping habit is bad enough!! Nothing is gentle with destructo dog, everything is done at about a million miles an hour. Has made it a life threatening mission to teach tugging (at least she is good at it) and the 'take' command (lucky her mouth eye coordination is good!). At least she is gentle 'give'ing things back to me - if only because she doesn't want to!!

CK is his name - Kennel name is Totaly Obsessed (CK Obsession as in Calvin Klein.) He's not desexed yet - will wait until about 12 months for that. I think his lines might be a bit timid by nature and on top of that he's was confined to his run/our house for about a month because of an injury. He's been out and about for the last 4 weeks now and is improving markedly. What way has he been timid - just scared of EVERYTHING - wheelie bins, leaves, men (in particular men apart from me), you name it he's been hiding behind me. He loves other dogs though so that's a good sign, just have to work on his manners a little - he hasn't been allowed to play with other dogs at all and gets very excited when he gets near them. it's 'only' jumping up on them like he does with our other pup, but i don't want it to lead to anything nasty with another dog.

I'm not going to be much help, but our guys are just the opposite. If we are home and we aren't meant to be they don't really want to know. When we are home and it is 'their time', look out if we aren't front and centre.... Perhaps Jedda just wanted the extra attention because of the rain - I know my guys haven't seen much of it and they have been a bit weird for the last couple of days.

Sounds great - doesn't it give you the biggest buzz to see them progressing. Where are you training? On the weeing thing we sometimes had the same problem with our little man (now 7month BC), but did exactly what others have suggested and supervised him outside. He's now 100%!! Slightly ot, but is Zorro a bit timid atm. I've had a hell of a time with CK over the last month or so. Finally coming out of it now. Cheers.

My little girl's one vice (12 month BC) is that she does exactly this - jumps up to give you kisses, is WAY too exuberant for her and our own good. If you turn your back she continues to jump up and claw. I've found telling her to sit (have to keep facing her and fending her off) and then giving her attention once she does that is working quite well. I don't have to tell her any more, just raise my hand (sit signal, not to hit) and OH only has to tell her once and she does it. Visitors aren't a problem as she is quite reserved around everyone other than OH and me. Been a long road, but we are almost there - it was one of those things that was sooooo cute as a puppy, but not so much as a grown dog. Lesson one.......

We were in a similar situation and crate trained our first dog first - the new pup will take his/her cues from the older dog and make it that much easier. (worked for us any way.)

Yeah I am thinking that maybe Kirby. We will see how tall he will really get. Cracked elbow, wow hope your little one gets better soon. How do you deal with the lack of exercise? I feel so bad, that I am not walking him, but he aggrivated his wrist again and I really want for him to get well now. But when they look at you with those sad eyes and then turn around and chew on your chairs and shoes and baby toys I becomes very very hard. I am a sook when it comes to my dog's exercise so it is really hard for me to stay firm. Any ideas? I'm pretty lucky with the exercise thing - it's been cracked for 4 weeks before we found it on the weekend, so it's pretty clear that rest, but not total rest will do the trick. Our vet feels that complete rest often causes more harm than good and since the injury isn't 'in' the elbow as such there should be no long term problems. To this end he is being seperated from his mate and kept in a run that doesn't allow him to race around the back yard, nor up and down hills. The Vet could feel heaps of soft tissue injury on both sides, so didn't want to Xray, but when it hadn't gone away I insisted - lesson 1 - insist from the word go, just in this case we'd have Xrayed the wrong spot. As for exercise he can still walk for 15 minutes a couple of times a day and do all the obedience/heel work we like (within reason) and isn't pulling up sore. Not a lot for a 6 month BC granted, but we are getting by - funny - when you think about it this is a lot more than a lot of dogs EVER get. That said he is going nuts! To try and combat we are using lots of toys swapped around, lots of grooming, lots of talking to him and he's kept on the lead if he isn't in his run or in his crate so that he doesn't chase the cats or our other dog. Oh - the other thing is that he's going through a hell fear period and it seems to have been made worse because we've kept him at home for the last 4 weeks not wanting to walk him too far. SOOO......lots of outings in the car and sitting at the side of parks, restuarants, bike paths etc etc. He is getting better in this regard. Good news is that he's not really stretching any where near what he was and isn't limping first thing in the morning any more - just occasionally down our rather steep driveway when he is cold. Best of luck with your little one, I know it is frustrating! Good to hear it isn't anything too serious. Tony

Sorry to hear about your girl. I've decided to stick with two meals - smaller at night and then a bit more in the morning as we are at work 3 days and would prefer them to be sleeping off the meal. The idiots do their agility/obedience etc mostly at night so that suits as well.

Thanks for that. We found out how he hurt himself. He stills one of my sisters dogs toys runs up on their retaining wall and instead for running back the same way he jumps down from some considerable height. The will be no visits for a long time. I have bought a Glucosamine supplement with Vit C in it. Can you help me on the dosage? He is 16.8 kg at the moment. Thanks! Reducing is weight a little may help as well. 17kg seems awfully big for a 5-6 mth old puppy who hasn't started to fill out. That is the weight of my adult males & they are quite heavy set dogs. Unless he is very tall, that is a lot of weigt to carry around for a puppy with an injury. Can you feel his ribs? Apologies if I'm off the mark. I think it depends on the lines. I have a 17kg 6 month old BC who happens to have a cracked elbow, so am feeling your pain KD. He is quite lean and the vet is very happy with his progress. At the same time we have a 12 month bitch who is also exactly 17kg - vet is also happy with her size etc, they are just different builds. The six month boy is about 1.5 inches bigger than our girl - I'm sure there are elephants in the lines somewhere, just registered and named as BC's!

Once a day because that's what I was brought up to do - I can understand the big dog/bloat thing, but is there a good reason to feed twice a day? Dogs are 12 and 6 months old BC's. I've found by cutting back their night time feed and increasing their morning feed they seem to be more settled at night and have no night time toilet breaks. The little guy was getting us up at 2am every night, despite a successful toilet walk after dinner. Tony MC - Do you only feed once a day because you find your dogs lethargic if they have been fed in the am before work? I was thinking a good feed in the morning and then they'll be more inclined to sleep through the day??? Cheers Tony R

As the topic states????

Hi All, Does anyone know which of the Super Premium Foods are Aussie Made? Cheers. Tony R

Hey there, Take heart. Our BC boy has been driving us insane with exactly the same thing. He's just reached 4.5 months and it finally seems to have clicked in the last week or so. He hasn't weed on the deck/outside bedding or any of his other 'favourite' places for about a week. Until that he would pee on their beds on the deck (they sleep in crates, but have big pillows on our tiled deck which is where they spend most of their time when we are at home), on some other matting on the deck or on the day beds out the back. Funny thing is we haven't been doing anything different, but have been able to increase the amount of time he spends inside with us with no accidents. (If they are inside they have to stay inside and the same for outside as we have indoors cats - what a PITA!) Cheers. Tony R

Well it seems that he was just fretting a little. I've been feeding him in the crate and treating lots at bed time so that when he gets in there are some great treats and a few ice cubes for him to munch on. Basically gone back to how we crate trained out other little one - also been more careful with the Toilet Time before bed. Not a peep for the last two nights and he now RUNS to the crate when he comes in for bed. All seems to be OK fingers crossed. Tony

Too true, except that if they break the rules in a big way the correction will be physical (NEVER hitting, just returned to the point where they should be with a thorough scolding on the way). With two fairly soft dogs it is rarely necessary and generally counter productiveto be physical though and most of our training (about 98% I'd say) is positive. For every day basic manners and life and death issues my dogs have to obey me orI will correct them - verbally at first, but possibly physically if it is bad enough an offence: eg: little miss 10 months thought she would be clever this morning and jump out of the car as soon as I took her belt off and take off to the dog park (my bad as I didn't put the lead on first, but not the point, she should do as she is told.)- only problem was we weren't where she thought and there was no dog park. She was dragged back to the car in big trouble. once back there we made friends again big time. On the other hand when we are at agility or flyball if she makes a mistake or runs off it is fun and all positive - as you said, just a game we play. Tony