The Spotted Devil

Fear periods are a normal part of development - it just means the dog perceives various situations to be more fearful than normal. If you're not sure what to look out for these fearful situations can have a lasting impression.

Counter conditioning is one way....there's a game that's been developed called Look At That! (LAT) by Leslie McDevitt. Basically you change how the dog feels about the scary thing - not just how he BEHAVES but how he FEELS. Look at the scary thing, look at me, get a treat. It really does work :) As mentioned already if your trainer wants to use aversives on a fearful dog I would be running a mile.

Ah you got it! Just to add my Dally developed an unholy fear of Great Danes at about 9 months despite NEVER having had a bad experience.

This should work:

Could well be a fear period...and his behaviour sounds more like fear than anything else...personally I would not put him in these situations but work on counter conditioning - you may need to enlist the assistance of a trainer if you are in any way unsure.

"With a companion, a true and loyal friend like that, lots of troubles can be conquered." "When the human heart, and mind, is willing, adjustments can be made." Beautifully said VM :) x

And what makes me sad is the dog sounds unwell and in his twilight years. That's when they need us the most.

So she has to walk him everyday and yet he doesn't get ANY exercise? Which is it? Poor bloody dog. Of course life gets crazy but a little management and awareness goes a long way.

Sorry - think mine were from Crazy Sales... http://m.crazysales.com.au/online-pet-barrier-gate-with-cat-door-65cm-72cm-59175.html I like it as you pull it shut (unlike our old baby gate) and it has a distinctive sound so you know if it's shut behind you!

If you send it to me I'll put it up :)

It's something I was told to do from the start because you don't want a gundog developing an aversion to your new dummies! When she was younger she wasn't mad on other brands of dummies (eg when we went training with someone else) but that's just a generalisation issue.

When I buy new dummies for retrieving training I always leave them out in the open air for a bit, mix them in with the old ones and even put them in a bag with some feathers/game to get that new smell out.

Only problem with the cat door is that my Springer has already learned to squeeze through it Little sh!t :laugh:

Yeh seeing as I growl fiercely at the dogs when we play wild tug games together I can't see that being very effective for me :laugh:

My 2 new gates just arrived from Deals Direct. Look nice. Seem strong. Cats love the little gate. Can't wait to put the second one in the laundry doorway (cat litter central) once the renovation is finished next week!!!

Yep. But I usually get a camera first so we can laugh about it later. Time outs are for the owner to calm down I reckon! Science tells us that we have TWO seconds to reward or punish. And then you need to ensure the dog can work out which behaviour it was. No wonder we get it wrong!

Baby gate is another useful one. You don't give a 14 year old the keys to your car. So don't give the adolescent dog free access to the house. All he gets to do is practice inappropriate behaviours which are HUGELY rewarding. I have my living area gated off and it is the perfect puppy (or Emmy!) zone. As a collector of cat toys, socks, anything leather etc she doesn't access the bedrooms etc until it's actually time for bed. She's bred to retrieve, trained to retrieve and rewarded for retrieving.

Rubbing a dog's nose in his urine just encourages more anxiety. It is completely unnecessary.

I find it much easier to teach and reward an alternative behaviour - can't be bothered growling and it's so much less stressful. For example my dogs race to the door to go out and Em is literally shaking from excitement to go chase birds. When I put my hand on the door they sit, open the door, still sitting, OK! completely crazy running. A nice calm way not to get bowled over. I do lots of "choice" games and pushed the envelope a few nights ago. Em was curled up on my feet whilst I was chopping veggies....I started dropping pieces of carrot etc "accidentally" - some even bounced off her head! Without a word she looked at the treats, wagged her tail, looked up at me but didn't grab them. She's an absolute guts so that was quite an achievement. She was rewarded admirably for that effort! Don't want the dog on the couch - teach and reward heavily for lying on a mat. Start with standing. Then only reward sitting. Then only reward lying. Then only reward lying but forgetting about the treats. You can do it whilst you watch TV. I wouldn't leave a 9.5 month old with cushions - just waaaay too much fun.

When we moved to this house the smell of dog was everywhere and the carpets were foul. I didn't even chance it but went straight back to toilet training 101 as I could tell Zig was anxious about marking his territory. Literally let him sniff inside for 5 min then took him outside to pee. Rinse and repeat. Crated or outside when I couldn't supervise and he was perfectly fine within 24-48 hours. He was perfectly toilet trained in our old house.

Hey Daniel My Dally did this at 9 months. Simple solution is to revert to puppy toilet training. Outside every 15-30 min, give them a command for peeing and reward like crazy (food and play!) when they do it then bring them back inside. No unsupervised wandering about the house. Clean any pee with a good quality enzymatic commercial spray such as Urine Off - there are other brands but this one is the best in my opinion. I have an entire bitch here also and Zig would never pee inside but certainly asks to go outside to mark his territory. He's a HUGE marker too...to the point where I use it as a reward for an awesome agility run or recall etc :D

Yep! A Dally puppy :laugh: But this is my all time favourite.

Yes that's where I've just ordered mine from Rebanne. Much cheaper there than the same thing on EBay.

Very briefly…. Training - pup on leash, rewarded for calm, lying on mat etc. In my house the cats rule so there is ZERO tolerance for chasing….that said one of my cats thinks he's a dog and he initiates very rough play, tumble and chase games until I am forced to rescue the puppy! He's currently doing laps of the house howling and trying to get the dogs to chase him but they've been told to lie in their beds in the study. Escape routes - Baby gates are your friend! I have just ordered a couple of new ones that have cat doors in them as well - my cats love to do the flying leap over the gate but as they get older I want to give them another option. Also put a nice tall scratching tower in the living area where the pup will be - you can feed the cat up there (or in another room) and it gives them another alternative. Litter tray and feeding - your cat MUST feel safe and have free and unfettered access to their litter and feed bowl. You also want to keep your pup away from the litter as apparently it's quite tasty :D Play - spend plenty of time playing with your existing kitty to reduce the stress and also spend lots of time playing with your puppy so that he's too tired to find the cat interesting. Photos are a must. It starts like this… Brontë gets her own back… Foster kittens… Foster failure…