The Spotted Devil

After all the excitement and fun of our road trip, I have returned home with a tighter (and often simpler!) focus on things I'd like to work on with Em. I also brought back a GSP pup for a friend - she is staying with me for a month so I thought it would be fun to track her progress too. Em - lots of agility over the last week but took her out for some remote entry work (over splash water) yesterday and then did some left/rights over the same water. Stops and backs were great. Drive was high and she didn't blink the dummies (common for her after trialling on game). The latter exercise was very interesting as it changed the picture and needs more work. She was not entering the water head on. Sky - lots of experiences including Uni, agility trial and agility training plus all the regular training outings. Recall coming along well - she's still at the "checking in" stage but will recall off my dogs too. Paddled in splash water yesterday and retrieved a few toys and sticks! She also is crashing happily through heavy cover - we'll make a Spaniel of her yet :laugh: She is learning to have time on her own outside and in her crate and offers a sit to move through a door, get access to me or to be fed. She has lots of toys of course and if she brings me anything I tell her how fabulous she is and just stroke her.

Ha! But I've had a temporary male Springer pup before too so I'm experienced in handing them back. Plus, I want a girl from Em so I can't have 2 youngsters :D

Yep - only Vebo wire crates here too. Great quality and very reasonably priced.

Ahem, and when were you planning on sharing the news? Hmm? :laugh: She's temporary :p See here

My dogs are SO fed up with the pup I have at the moment - she is very bold and in your face so she is learning to be alone outside for a bit, alone in her crate for a bit, run with the adults under supervision and engage in lots of one-one-one training sessions. She still loves them but is rapidly realising that I am a lot more fun!

Dallies are normally snuggly but Zig is not - he is very sweet, fun to train and likes his space. Em has an intensity about her that never ceases to amaze me - she's currently on my feet and would prefer to be on my lap. She is absolutely wild when out working in the field and I often feel as we are JUST maintaining connection with a silk thread. I absolutely love being on the edge :D I like the balance in my household - I'm looking after a pup for a month and that has really put a spanner in the works with a bitch from a different, more bold breed!

:laugh: Are you putting down a cash or phantom deposit? :D

It's ok for dogs to make mistakes.

Zig and Em's first proper meeting is my avatar. The first time they met it was much later at night than I had planned and poor Em had a fit of puppy hysterics when she saw this strange dog staring at her. Zig was besotted from the beginning.

As far as introductions go, it does depend on the dog, pup and circumstances. I just picked up a pup in SA. I had both my dogs with me (we were trialling) so their minds were elsewhere and the pup is pretty bold. In that case I had pup on leash and my dogs off leash so the dogs could get away. Back home now and my adults are more interested in sleeping or going training and pup is pretty full on so times together are limited and supervised and pup alternates between that, outside on her own and inside in the play pen or crate. In terms of focus, I'm not a fan of focus exercises as a stand alone. I'd rather start on recall games when pup is distracted or teach little tricks, heel position, shaping etc. If I'm not asking the dog to be engaged I'm happy for them to be relaxed or playing. I don't want them to be staring at me all the time. If they won't recall from that situation or engage with me then I would work on building more value for me.

Cooked chicken is a great training treat too. I have a pup here for a little while and I will put her dry food ration for the day in a container and use that to train around the house. I pull out the big guns when we go into a high distraction area. She absolutely gets to play with my adults but I interrupt that with lots of recall training.

Yes we are behind too!!!! I am still on the road and I have a pup with me as well so she is starting at Day 1 all over again. Won't be doing tugging with her as she is destined to be a working gundog and she's not mine. Will start catching up when I get home.

I'm in Waikere at the moment - camping at the caravan park. Dogs welcome but not in cabins. However, there are a lot of dog folk in town for the retrieving championships and a number of them are staying in cabins that are dog friendly. I'm planning on stopping off at Sealake on the way home - again not sure about dogs in the cabins.

Mmm now I better do some homework hey... The seller said she will hold him for me til 4 while I make my decision.. He is actually in Sydney... so I would be buying from only a picture of him on Gumtree. He woud still be a good price with the travel costs to bring him up here. 4 is when then the next person in line will be going to see him. Maybe it is not a good idea to buy like this?? Unless you trust the owner/breeder and/or are highly experienced I would not recommend buying a dog sight unseen in this situation.

I have the D1000 in crates/back of car with an op shop blanket over the top, which seems to help get them through the initial puffy phase.

One of our ACDs considered the hot wire a challenge! If she saw a roo in the paddock she would back up to get a running start and just about close her eyes in anticipation of the fence as she took off to go through it. It took several modifications to stop her.

Sounds great leec! Lucky dogs! When you build your new enclosure look carefully at the design of your fences as once a dog has learnt to jump out it's very hard to stop them - the outside world is just too rewarding. I can't see 6ft stopping them if 5ft won't having seen some dogs scale very great heights.

I would be a) contacting the breeder, and b) organising a BAER hearing test. Where are they located? BAER machines are not common but they are around. The owner could contact the state Dally club for advice on where to find one as most breeders test. I haven't heard of deafness being common in Labs but it can pop up in any breed. Normally pups with unilateral deafness adapt very well and are difficult to pick up in the home but this pup could possibly be bilaterally deaf.

A fellow trialler made a heap of biscuits for her dogs...and didn't have the heart to tell her husband who they were for after he'd eaten half of them...

DOLer Cosmolo aka Underdog Training :) Thanks! I already had Underdog in mind, looked at the website again and I am pretty sold. It's probably dumb but I feel like I've let Didi down and done something wrong, I can't understand why this is happening, kind of a kick in the teeth when I've put so much work into her hopefully a consult can shed some light. Fear periods are difficult to predict and vary a lot. Add genetics to the story and things can go pear shaped. The worst thing you can do is beat yourself up :) i have made sooooo many mistakes - I don't make them again with the next pup but I manage to make new ones! Perhaps try and walk her really early or late in the day. Drive somewhere quiet to avoid the idiots. I train my ESS in gumboots in the foulest of weather - it's just brilliant having all the grounds to ourselves.

Do whatever rolls off your tongue - I use OK for everything as I've noticed that the dogs discriminate extremely well. For example for Em it means fetch in retrieving, release from contacts in agility (start line stay I've changed to the first obstacle name) and go play after training.

DOLer Cosmolo aka Underdog Training :)

Meant to add - I use a lower value treat (generally) for the release.

I use OK. Others I've used previously or heard use are free, that'll do, all done, go play....

I'm not doing Fenzi but I teach a good release cue by asking for sit-treat in position-release word-throw treat. Rinse and repeat - if they anticipate the release I just say Gotcha! and start the game again. Sounds like you are having FUN!