The Spotted Devil

And at 11 months old, some dogs are very mature whilst others are not. I seem to have one of each here.....new pup is 15 weeks and I can ask for more of her at this young age than I can with my Dalmatian now. And he's 4!

What I often do is click and treat with one biscuit for each response and then jackpot with a handful when he takes the next step. Once he has the next step I revert to one biscuit for each response and jackpot when he pushes the boundary again. Also, I would keep it simple and calm with click/treat rather than lots of praise after each click. I find it helps mine concentrate on the job at hand and I save the praise and game for when we have finished the session.

If it's frustration, have you tried just free shaping? Just click and treat for ANY interaction with a new object - I find it gets them to relax and enjoy the process of trying new things. Also, are you asking for too much too soon and not rewarding very tiny incremental steps?

Oh, and my Dally isn't much better :D What works for him is having his coat on. Precious, much

Just went through this with crazy Springer pup, Vickie She was toileting in all sorts of freezing, wet weather without a problem then we had a warm, dry spell. Once the rain came down again she decided it would be much easier to toilet on the paving under cover. Smart lass I say! Yep, I just put her on lead and took her out to toilet as per normal. Gave the command as per usual and waited and waited and waited. Ah, well - no toilet? No freedom. Quietly put her back in her crate with no fuss. Eventually she got the message and I gave her a massive jackpot reward for her troubles. I also rewarded other behaviours with pats and praise only and reserved her food for toileting only for a few days. She's fine now - sprints out, toilets and sprints back before I've had a chance to put my shoes on. Good luck!

Lots of obedience gurus too Oh yes, absolutely! But I mean that I want to get some one on one lessons outside club like I have already done with agility. I learn much more efficiently that way. Would love some suggestions

I think it's a case of learning more with each pup. You try not to make the same mistakes but you're bound to make new ones Geez, I'm feeling the pressure with this one - just so much potential. I'm thinking of finding someone for one on one obedience....have a great resource in Lablover for retrieving and the local club has heaps of agility gurus.

Little Miss Emily accompanied us to agility training last night. She was very excited to meet everyone (think baby puppy 'leaking' ) and did not appear at all phased by the barking, activity, chatter and laughter. She happily lay quietly in her crate when I was training Zig and was really focussed when I had her out. We have been doing some shaping with regards to lying quietly on her mat so she kept offering drop all the time Once we had packed up the equipment and other dogs were tied up I had someone do a restrained recall with her - anyone remember that first time you let pup off lead in a giant space with lots of distractions? My heart was in my mouth a bit but she absolutely rocketed over to me She is going to be damn fast!!!!! Then I let both her and Zig off for a run together. He sprinted off to do his usual 'thing' but I was able to call her back to me with no problem - we did at least 10 repetitions of recall, treat, play, release. I know she'll probably "break" when she hits adolescence but it's a really nice start Both dogs have been relatively quiet this morning after all that! ETA: It's a far cry from UDX training

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Thanks for the encouragement. All our previous pups have whined and yelped a little during the settling in period, but nothing like this one is doing. All the others were cocker spaniels, so this is our first Springer. Shiloh is a he by the way We are persevering. Oops! Sorry Yes, they're all different aren't they and it's tough when they throw you a curve ball way outside your expectations. My Dally was pretty hard work until he hit 1.5-2 years of age so everything is easy after him ;) My ratbag had an upset tummy for 24 hours and she was so quiet and well behaved - it was very unsettling! Springing out of her skin this morning and giving my Dally absolute curry again. Little turd :D

She's gorgeous Just remember back to your previous pups and remind yourself that "this too will pass" We have short memories sometimes!!! My little lass is working lines too so she is a Springer with a capital S :D ETA: See I'd forgotten already ;) She sleeps in a crate by my bed at night and for the first few weeks she would scream blue murder if I wasn't in bed next to her. She gets 2 special treat biscuits to go to bed with and now ignores the cats and races the Dalmatian to the bedroom to spring(er) into bed. By the time I've brushed my teeth she is snoring her little head off!

cherish, I went through something similar with my English Springer rascal puppy. She bonded to me incredibly quickly and any attempt to remove her more than 5cm from me was met with howls and loud yaps of protest. She didn't get to the stage of soiling her crate but we did have to turn up the sound system so I didn't feel so bad - oh and to cover our laughter They really are happiest snuggling with their people (maybe a gundog trait? It didn't bother my Dally as a pup as much) so it's hard to make that initial break. I think the first week is generally the hardest in terms of the pup missing all that's familiar and the human getting sufficient rest!!! I do lots of training and playing with her when she's up and about, she has an older Dally for wrestling with, otherwise she is only ever fed in her crate and I am home a fair bit. I have moved my 'office' into the dining room for the moment (and outside on a nice day) as it's a bit chaotic with cats (and their toys!!!) in the house as well. Fortunately I had the first week to settle her in and she's pretty good now at 14 weeks - only the occasional whinge when she feels she's been hard done by ;) Any pics? ;) ETA: Don't forget a vitamin B complex for yourself either - does wonders to counteract the lack of sleep and added stress

SO jealous of Ziggy! Luckily it hasn't gone to his head! wuffles - assuming that you have made the heel position VERY rewarding and she's fine physically, I would start the training session with something like the 2 food game rewarding fast, accurate drops. Then I'd move into a brief heeling pattern. If she drops properly, I'd jackpot (in position!) with rapid fire awesome treats - probably wouldn't release but continue doing the heeling pattern for a short time - lots of reinforcement. If she doesn't drop properly I would consider giving a NRM and quitting this fun rewarding game for her that is heeling - you can simply move out of position and end the game or crate if you have to get the message across. Also worth getting a video of yourself - your body language might be encouraging her to anticipate moving forward too.

THAT IS SO COOL!! I love JT. I saw him live in Brissy when he was here last and he was hilarious (and a real dog lover too). When can we see the pics?? What was it for? Heh heh - 'tis very cool He was really nice, great with the dogs seeing as he was all dressed up and having to focus on the camera and looked VERY dapper on the set - there were some group shots with other dogs and then some single shots with Zig. I think it was a promo for his next comedy show but I could be wrong - there will probably be pics on his Facebook page. They were planning to upload a bit of video from the photo shoot too. I will keep an eye out. I like his work but haven't seen him live.

Ziggy just did a photo shoot with Josh Thomas. Funny how hard 'sit' and 'stand' can get when you're in front of a camera

I'm in the midst of cute puppy overload :D so there are no "buts" for me.....apart from the time wasting And my Dally is just the perfect house dog

I've always been against having dogs on my lap whilst sitting on the couch (couches and laps are for the cats!).....but my young pup has me suckered in already With my Dalmatian, he was always going to be too big and awkward so, when he was a pup, we had cuddles on my lap whilst I was sitting on the ground. That worked really well but he was always taught to sleep on his own bed and in his crate as well. With current pup, she is really, really snuggly (JUST like her mum) - however, she has cuddles by invitation ONLY. If she jumps on the couch without being invited she is gently placed on the ground. If she asks for a snuggle on my lap sometimes I say no, sometimes yes. At other times she goes into her crate. Oh yes, there were tantrums but it was worth a few weeks of tantrum chucking for the convenience and safety of having a happily crated dog. I like to teach my dogs that anything goes. It's just that I get to dictate what "anything" is from day to day

Yay Jules! With the baby?

Seita - I would probably add a cue when the behaviour is what I'm looking for - ie for nose touch, really enthusiastic and coming in at all different angles to the hand. I think for the retrieve I got to the point where I was gently restraining Zig and then gave him his release word before I added a verbal cue.

Thanks Tiggy :D Yes, she is an English Springer but looks quite different as she's from working lines. She completely crashed (on the couch!) tonight and Mr TSD points to her and says: "You call that 'working lines'???"

Great work JulesP - isn't it great when you find out what makes them tick! Yes, Miss E. has plenty of time and potential to make a great fool out of me lol

Oh, she is RS! And she's the SWEETEST natured little thing Except when she's jumping on Zig's head

I have 2 Snooza D1000 beds - I use them indoors in their crates but they are advertised as an outdoor bed. The Dally's bed is unmarked after 3 years and young pup is having no luck with hers either

Yes it's a bit like that I meant to say...ALL her training so far (apart from one time at puppy school) has been with dry food from her daily ration. Dog help me when I pull out the good stuff

I'll get Mr TSD to video her soon I promise. She sits on command and now drops as well - throws herself to the ground - taught the verbal command in 3 short sessions and she can already discriminate between sit and drop. I think that's pretty cool for a 13 week old pup. She's doing nose touches to my hand - bit rough but she's so impatient. She didn't even blink when I introduced the clicker. I'm teaching her heel position - just luring but starting to introduce a command. She runs fast and is gutsy as hell - runs straight up the sloped block whilst Zig picks out the easiest path - great for retrieving. I will have to get my handling up to speed for agility as I'm no match for her already She will be coming with me to a local ag show this weekend - our agility club is doing demos so I will get to practice everything in a novel environment. I took her to a t-touch workshop on Monday (with Zig and the 3 cats) and whilst the lady in charge was demonstrating with her I was throwing in some commands to "sit" and "come" - she just ignores everything else and focuses on me. We will consolidate everything she knows in different settings but need to learn more at home - will read my focussed puppy book again tonight! When I picked her out I looked for the pup who wanted to retrieve and was good with loud noises - she was the standout for me. Her breeder calls her the little terror(-ist)