The Spotted Devil

Whilst I'm not familiar with Spitz breeds, I can't see a problem if you introduce a puppy - my Dalmatian's best friend is a slightly manic foster failure kitten with one eye My Ziggy is incredibly quiet - didn't bark until he was 6 months old (and scared himself stupid ), is inside most of the time and only alarm barks. He does have the most incredibly loud, mouth gaping yawn though ;)

Good quality dog food is great - if it's not our usual brand I just mix it through. Have a heap of 4 Legs frozen in small bags at the moment. Haven't had to buy training treats for ages We won a really nice soft crate too which was fantastic!

My Dalmatian's brain went missing at 9 months of age I just had to push through it....it started to come back at 18 months (thank goodness!) Find heel games are fun - in between lots of tugging or chasing toys/food (2 food game). Make sure you are rewarding the exact behaviour you are after - be very specific about your criteria even if you get 2 steps of heeling. Sometimes it helps to take a break and try some shaping

Helen, sorry - I haven't caught up on the whole thread but if you'd like a Dally, he's not only handsome but well trained :D

Yep, that's it It's just a shame there's no where I can do retrieving or agility with him - I've only seen more motivation in a working line labrador :D

And I nicked Cosmolo's bowen therapist Seriously life changing in terms of back pain and migraines. I take my dog to a bowen therapist more local to me and she is also fabulous.

That is such a sweet pic, Vickie Imagine if we added Dizzy, my one-eyed foster failure kitten, into the mix They'd be an unstoppable force

+ 1 I had a nutty adolescent here too with the attention span of a flea. We played a lot (with short, easy commands worked into it), manners around the house, did LOTS of informal recall and just worked on getting him to relax. When Ziggy turned 18 months I actually started liking him a lot more and when he was 2, boy did the penny suddenly drop! I think sometimes an off-hand comment by a professional can get taken the wrong way by a client.

Firstly, relax If you're getting anxious, your body language won't help his confidence. Secondly, do you know the 'steady feet game'? It's designed for stand for exam preparation but I love it for sit stays too - makes it fun and allows the dog to feel in control.

corvus, is nausea sufficient? There are a number of food aversion studies with livestock in the literature. Perhaps it would be less prone to habituation?

Something else to think about....my last dog (ACD) was such a breeze to train (despite me being crap ) but I could not teach her to shake paws for the life of me. One day I had a minor revelation and realised she was LEFT PAWED!!!! Poor dog was so confused but when I guided her to pick her left paw instead of her right paw she was so relieved and nearly rolled her eyes as if to say: "About freaking time you complete idiot"

Crikey Jed - that can't have been an easy thing to see that level of destruction. I raise my glass to you :D Much hope and healing every day

There's also one called "Can I pat that dog?" Not sure of age group it would suit as I haven't seen it.

Had my first lesson with Ashley a week or so ago - had a fantastic time and learnt a lot

With babies especially, I like to train a little and then completely forget about it for a week or two. Keeps it really light and fun and somehow they just seem to process it better. Works with Dalmatians of all ages ;)

I used something similar - the small clear plastic lids from takeaway food containers used for dipping sauce. It's easy to fade and easy to replace if your Dalmatian crunches it up in frustration when you increase your criteria too quickly GG - I just shaped the nose touch with a clicker - I'm not a purist when it comes to shaping though (unless it's free shaping) and am always happy to give Zig a nudge in the right direction. Increase the number of nose touches and duration separately until it's reliable, the dog understands the behaviour and is having FUN. When you switch to using a piece of timber, the most important thing I can say is get your criteria straight in your head before you begin and stick to them i.e. 2 hind legs on the board, 2 front legs on the ground and nose to the target. Again I lured Zig into position in the beginning as he was throwing himself around desperately trying to work it out. If I pick up the board now he gets so excited at his chance to earn the reward. Once he had it worked out I extended him by using the 2o2o as a starting point and using it to practice change of arms etc etc. Hope that helps!

I find that nice clear body language from the handler driving forwards helps. Practice easy straight line jumps with a reward at the end. I show Ziggy his jackpot tug toy OR a larger biscuit treat (he is a bottomless pit for food and never puts on too much weight!), drop it at the end of the jumps and send him. To begin with I had to have a helper as he'd just run around the jumps 'cause it was quicker :D ETA: I meant to add that targeting has led to 100% success rate in trials for contacts thus far. We don't have much opportunity to practice on full size equipment and don't trial a lot but he has such a strong understanding of what is required that it's become a really fun game for us both.

Taught properly running contacts mean that the dog knows to drive for a spot at the bottom of the contact and then keep on going with no thought of a stop. Exactly as it sounds - they 'run' the contacts. How are you teaching your 2o2o contatcts at the moment? Walk along a plank and drop at the end with 2 feet off, progress to putting the plank on a slant, then progress to lowered contacts With Tess I was never able to get a proper 2o2o, but she will go to the bottom of the contact which Im happy with Have you considered using a target and nose touch at the end of the plank and then fading the target? I would do this again as I was surprised at how quickly Ziggy picked it up. I find it easy to define the criteria.

She's gorgeous Kirty Maybe you should try those drugs out on Champa

Dolly (ACD) came to me to show me what it felt like to have a dog devoted to you no matter how crappy your training skills were (RIP) Ziggy (Dalmatian) came to me to teach me to think outside the square in every aspect of training, to learn the power of positive reinforcement and that a one-eyed foster failure kitten can be a dog's best friend.

Thanks Jess....I'll try that today. Happy to take any other suggestions on board.

Just wondering if there are any exercises for working on lateral flexion? Not necessarily hind end awareness. Cheers

Typical! :D We joined our local club (a lot closer since we moved!) which I have been meaning to do for ages but haven't had many agility sessions due to the poor condition of the grounds. In the limited training session we both had a hoot, Zig worked really well and we learnt a LOT Ziggy now has two passes in Novice Jumping (2nd place, 4th place) and one pass in Novice Agility (1st place). Could not be more pleased with how he is going. Both of us are starting to get some real confidence and speed up! Handler still needs lots of work. Agility contacts are seriously cute, funny and very reliable - he just scares the sh!t out of me by sprinting across the dog walk pretty fast for a larger dog ;) When he's feeling a little silly at home there's nothing like playing nose touches with the piece of timber on the deck! Weave entries are really coming along at home - I'm really pushing his independence and he is loving the challenge. Can't wait to do some training at club so we can practice coming off other equipment instead of using the old stone BBQ as a table ;) I can't see him getting his Novice title unless I start entering trials Two passes down and one to go Just not enough time to get myself organised.....need to buy a decent bike... Definite highlight of the year....had a fun time camping and caught up with Ziggy's breeders who were so proud of him. In one day of competition he came up with a first place, Q in Novice Obedience (& Highest Score in Trial), first place, Q in Novice Agility and second place, NQ in Open Jumping. Still proud My aim is to stop enjoying my busy weekends around the house and enter some trials!!!

A friend asked me to post a warning about how dangerous it is for a dog to use escalators. There is an old article about an incident here. Apparently there is a correct way to train dogs to use escalators but it should be undertaken by a professional. I think it's lovely to visit those in need with your dogs

Is the ACT any help? Zig's breeders gets CGC titles for their dogs but I'm not sure where - PM if you would like me to ask them