NoodleNut

Hi All, Our pup has been to puppy school .. now waiting to go on to obedience (will be at least 3-4 weeks waiting for the second vaccination to kick in). Any suggestions as to what collar we should be using for walks .. at the moment Blackdog soft collar and lead. She pulls a bit .. only 13 weeks .. use verbal & lead correction at the moment. I have a Sporn harness - should I use it? If not .. other suggestions? I thought her a bit younger for halters - thoughts?

Yes please. I have emailed you about puppy class update as well before I read your post. Roughly counting, I'd say there's about 10 in my apartment. Not many dogs walk around the neighbourhood either . As I have probably mentioned in my earlier post, I'm likely to stay at my friends' place with a large backyard on most days except Monday and Tuesday so I guess there problem (prior to 2nd vacc) would be when I'm in the apartment on Monday and Tuesday. I'm thinking, the solution is perhaps to take him to the basement carpark to eliminate or a small grass area just outside the apartment. I'm still new to all this puppy raising issues so please accept my apology if I may have written stupid comments or inappropriate ideas. Hi! I have been using this site for assistance with our pup (different issue) but one thing we have been able to do is toilet train her. Noodle is now 13 weeks old and she only just started sleeping through the night as of last Friday (she was 13 weeks on Saturday). From 8 week until last Friday night I have been taking her out about 11pm, 2am and 4am (like having a new born baby again!!). She would get up and shake herself roughly at those times and I would put her on a lead and take her outside (no time to organise myself .. slippers etc .. outside as FAST as possible!!) to wee and poo .. most often both. We have got into a routine of not feeding her after about 7pm at night ... lessens the possibilities of going number twos in the middle of the night. Noodle is in a pen at night with her crate in the penned area on lino which is easy to clean - she also had an absorbant pad (on the 'pad holder') and she started to go regularly on that ... sometimes you could see she stood on it with her front end and back end overhanging ... good try though!! . The crate at the moment has the door open with a bowl of water attached to the inside of the pen (I will start to get her used to having the crate door shut after this weekend as more likelyhood of her not going to the loo in the middle of the night.). The pen is in the kitchen at one end - I don't care what it looks like ... we have not had many visitors over the past few weeks anyway. Noodle goes out on her own ( m,ean we put her out and she is not on a lead) when she wakes now between 6 and 7am in the morning. We have been using verbal cues since the day we got her to 'Go wee' everytime she urinates or poos (I have realised 'Go wee" 'Go poo' would sound the same to her as the voice intonation is the same for both cues. When not sleeping Noodle is with us inside or out on her own ... when inside usually on a long lead attached to the kitchen drawers meaning she can get under the computer chair and be 'with us' but we can also monitor her cues to go to the toilet. Yes, we had a few occassions where we missed the cues ... the floor has never been washed so many times!! If I take her out and she doesn't 'go' I bring her back in and put her in the pen for 10 minutes then take her out again .. now when she gets woken up to 'go' she 'goes' within 30 sec of getting on the grass (on lead) and then turns around to come back in .. I let her off the lead and she goes back to her crate and settles herself back to sleep. Noodle is often on the lead when inside. When the kids have gone to bed she is often off lead and I have found she confines herself to the kitchen and with a small verbal correction of 'Ah AH!!' she refrains from going into the bedrooms or on the parquetry. Before I am misinterpreted by others on the forum ... yes, there are other areas of the house she will be able to go but at this stage she is not 'trustworthy' to be allowed in them. Other times she is outside with her toys (just bought a new one ... fabulous bungee rope thingo attached to our carport that she can play tug of war on (does not play this game with any of us) ... she loves it!! It goes out when we go out/put the washing out ... good treat. And yes, 2 - 3 walks a day so she is definately not 'housebound as my description may sound. Don't know if any of this will be of assistance to you but this has worked for us.

Call Name: Noodle Name: Pasztor My My Sharona Age: 13 weeks Born 1st December 2007 Breed: Hungarian Puli Colour: Black, black and more black! ;) Loves: chasing her ball on a rope, her 'cow' and 'puppy'.

Ditto. I did not allow either of my dogs access to the washing line till they were 18mths. They have never interfered with my washing. I have a dog pen that I put them in while the washing is out. We have only had Noodle for 5 weeks but I have been putting the pen around the washing line - reverse of this suggestion (depends on your line - on the wall, Hills hoist??). This seems to be working well as then she has free reign of the backyard and I don't get the washing tampered with I actually purchased two steel pens (one is currently being used inside at night and in the first few weeks for toilet training etc. The other we used for 2 weeks to introduce her slowly to the back yard. Once the toileting is under control and she is more self-controlled (she will be full grown by then I will be joining both pens up and putting them around the washing line! No go zone and she wont be able to get over them as they are the tall ones. After having a husky and kelpie in years gone by that enjoyed taking socks off the line (what's with the socks????!) and burying them I am determined not to go there again! I figure the cost of two pens is cheaper compared to the cost and grief of wrecked/swallowed clothing. ;)

Thanks for the advice Steve. The kids are really good and we are making sure they are nowhere near her so she can't get to them (and so no problem with the squeals/yelps from them). We have tried the standing still and Noodle seems to think it is fabulous and gets herself into a real frenzy and the behaviour is worse if anything and with no end in sight. I chose to manouvre her lead out to one side so she can't reach and loosen each time she stops trying to head for the heels. (And yes mother 'growls' at each nip or attempted nip) As has been mentioned the rollover is difficult to execute really fast although I am good and prepared when she hits that crazy time. I do like the idea of the Coke can/bottle filled with stones (I might try the 'off' command when/if she releases too). ;) Today and yesterday we have been taking her 'cow' (soft toy) on a walk with us and putting that in her mouth each time she goes for the heels (less than 1/8th of the time of the walk) and praising her when she takes her cow chews that instead. Noodle doesn't seem to have a strong food drive so food (cheese, bits of sausage, hotdog or bought treats) does not deter her from the heels (and that is when having not eaten for a number of hours). When she mouths we remove herself from us and substitute our 'body part' for a more suitable toy of her own and praise and pat. She loves being close to us and that seems to be a huge motivator. She will go down into drop just to get a pat - quite funny to watch her throw herself to the floor just so she can get a cuddle, pat and have her tummy rubbed - in doggie heaven!! On a lighter note she has slept through two nights in a row now! I am hoping the 2am toilet stop is a thing of the past. Yes, she was toileted at about 11pm each night (even woke her up before one of us went to bed) .. she is very clever and goes to the toilet (on lead) and straight back in to bed in about 3 minutes, no stuffing around now. Thanks to everyone that has replied - I do appreciate the advice. Just a matter of finding what works for us and more importantly for Noodle. I have put some photos on the breed sub group (Puli!) if anyone is interested in seeing our Noodle.

Hi! Thank you for your message. We think she is pretty special, smart, sweet, mischevious, inquisitive, confident etc ;) I am going to put some photos on here too .... I haven't worked out the rest of the site as yet but no doubt will - expect LOTS of photos!! Here is the newest photo taken 5 minutes ago. Noodle is technically 13 weeks tomorrow.

Thank you for your reply. Yes, we do have the lead firm but we are also aware that she is only 13 weeks old tomorrow. I have received mixed advice as to how 'firm' it should be at this age. At 13 weeks of age do you still suggest having the lead that 'tight'? We do have the lead on her when she is at her most excited times .. i.e kids arriving home from school and they always keep their voices low and don't approach her until her feet are on the ground. No-one is allowed to pat her unless her feet are on the ground - the time taken to allow her to sit down of her own accord is getting less so this seems to be working - no manners - no pat. I haven't seen her mouth other people only us) Problem is that she just can't help herself ... not a lot of self control at 13 weeks. She is not 'loose' in the house unless she is quiet and the frequency of having her off is becoming more as she gets older. Inside she is always on a lead so there is no running around at all and we are able to control her and our children. Yes, She is getting lots of walks, often 2 - 3 a day with school pick ups and also general walks around the block. Also doing retrieval with her off lead in the back yard (hence she can 'give' as she loves this game). She has masses of toys ... only 3 or 4 out at a time and rotated with the others so it is new and interesting. We have the usual container and box that she also bounces around inside and out and careful to put it in the bin when bits are starting to look like they are coming off. Only time there is 'gushing praise' is when she is working on 'recall' training and 'retrieval' training and the heel nipping and mouthing is never exhibited then. The rest of the praise is either food reward or firm strokes on the sides of her head or chest in a calming manner with a calm 'good girl!'.

Hi! Thank you for your reply. I have found the forum to be very quiet on this issue and yours has been the only reply so I thank you for taking the time. I have had a look at the site - very helpful. However, it does not address the heel nipping (perhaps I am not searching for the right things to find reference to it). Puppy school suggested we just stand there and not walk any further until she stops ... this is painful to us!! Her little teeth go straight through the jeans. The only thing I can think of trying is food rewards for when she gets 'off' each time and hope the frequency decreases over time. The 'in the toilet' time out was also a suggestion of the puppy school. I am about to take her for a walk so I will pack teh bum bag with treats and when/if (Murphy's law says she wont today!! ) whe does it I will start doing the 'off' command when she releases and reward and see how we go.

Hi All, I would like some suggestions as to what you would suggest as a correction for heel nipping. We have a 12 week old Hungarian Puli (Noodle) and she has started the heel nipping over the past week - she is yet to realise we are NOT sheep !!! Very irritating when going for a walk or when outdoors and she is running around any of us just wander past. She tends to be worse at the 'silly' times of the day (first thing in the morning when she greets us and also on our walks). She is going to Puppy school and attends her last session tomorrow before going to obedience after her second immunisation (also tomorrow) in a couple of weeks when the immunisation 'kicks' in. Currently the corrrection of choice is to put her quickly on her back and hold her muzzle and growl at her and wait for approx 15 sec and release when she is not struggling. Tonight she was at it numerous times and was probably reprimanded 8 times by either myself or my husband either when outside or off on our walk. It is literally a pain as her little teeth are sharp and we are keeping our 9year old and 5 year old away from her while she is exhibiting this behaviour (I mean away from her when she has an attack of the heel nips! Not nice) as they can't help their reactions and sometimes the yelp from them can excite her more. Of course Noodle is also mouthing - some days she is more self controlled than others. On the days she is not self controlled she ends up in time out in the loo! This works well ... not so well when we are out pounding the pavement. Apart from this she is doing really well at puppy school, sits, drops, we are also working on retrieval and 'give' at home. Toileting - she is inside at night in a pen in the kitchen with her bed (the crate seems to be too hot for her to sleep in) and an absorbent pad. She is waking at about 2am and shaking and I take her out to poo and wee (working on the defecating on command by respeating the action 'wee ... GOOD GIRL!!!') and then sleeps until 5-6am and then outside after that. If she needs to 'go' in between times she goes on teh pad more often than not or standing right over it but sometimes 'overshot' the mark So, advice anyone?? Pretty typical behaviour from a working dog but not a trait I require in the 'burb's of Melbourne without livestock