WinGus

My baby has been barking a lot whenever she meets people. I think it is excitement as she then does play bows and does this funny little dance where she runs around in circles with her body curved, tail wagging profusely. Her idea of play is nipping at fingers, which we have been trying to stop. I have been asking people to ignore her until she stops barking/nipping. She does stop after a second or two, and she will then lick the person's fingers until they look at her, and then she will starting barking at them again, and running around, inciting them to play once more (?). I'm pretty sure this is because we haven't really socialised her that well with people. She's met a lot of people, as I take her everywhere, but haven't really spent time with anyone. Even with relatives it's only about two hours once a week, and then not even paying her attention for that long. I think my relos are getting annoyed that she barks so much. She also hates being picked up and cuddled, and of course everyone wants to cuddle a puppy! Can someone tell me if this is normal pup behaviour and if it may turn into people aggression later on?!?! Oh, she does bark at the neighbours too when they talk to her over the fence. Again she does her funny little run, almost looking like she's inciting the person to play with her. Any advice would be much appreciated. ETA: She is 7 and a half mo, desexed.

Check out the Puppy Development Calendar from K9Force, pinned at the top of this forum. Outlines all the stages your puppy will go through. It's great! Socialisation is an ongoing thing, although it is important up to about 12-16 weeks. I took Pepper everywhere, but then again, I could carry her around in my arms (mini-foxie). Not sure about the larger breed dogs.

:p Gotta love the way pups think! The first time Pepper got her kong, she nudged it with her nose, sniffed it a bit, then ran away to play with something else! Didn't take much coaxing to get her to use it though, just starve her a meal!!

My girl started on Advance puppy, but now has a RAW/BARF diet: bones in the morning, meat/vege mix at night. Otherwise I probably would have tried Eagle Pack, looked pretty good!

I agree with Rachelle. You need to train your dog so that it knows it must not go through any doorways before you. I am trying to train my puppy this at the moment. So far so good, but we ALWAYS have her on a leash whenever we have to open the front door, including when meeting friends/visitors. When she was younger, she wasn't as bold, but she is gaining her confidence now so gets extremely excited when she gets the chance to go outside. I don't want to risk anything!

Yeah, I only have a midget kong too. Definitely wouldn't fit Persephone's recipe in there! One diced up chicken wing TIP, plugged with a little cream cheese or peanut butter is about all I can manage. Amypie, must be the terrier in Kyzer and Pepper, everything has to happen NOW, not ten minutes later!!

I'd hate to be a Kong!! :cheer: Pepper licks hers to death. She has a long tongue and although it doesn't reach to the bottom of the Kong, it hasn't stopped her trying!! If she can't get it out by licking then she'll bounce it around a bit. She goes through them pretty quickly too, but if I pack it in too well, she gives up! My girl has no patience!! :D

:rolleyes: First (and last!!!) time I gave Pepper cabanossi, she let one loose, then looked at me strangely wondering what she just did and what the noise was! Had me in stitches!!! :rofl: I use steamed chicken, cheese, homemade bikkies, or Nature's Gift Liver Mini-bites, although these can be rich. Do a search for dog recipes and you'll find heaps of ideas! Broken up rice cracker snacks work well too!

I've read about this technique too and wondered if it works. Never tried it on my dog. Guess it makes light of a tense situation and gives stress relief to the human if anything!! :rolleyes: Can dogs distinguish between animate and inanimate objects copping a scolding?!? Also, if the object is scolded after the fact, does the dog still make an association?!?! Dog psychology fascinates me!!

Pepper gets her bones defrosted. I hate to do this, but I defrost them in the sink overnight. She won't eat them frozen, or defrosted in the fridge, too cold for her. PRINCESS!! Her stomach seems fine though, but needless to say, I have to give the sink a good scrub every morning! :rolleyes:

Like what BC said, they need to learn that it is a safe place. Try putting treats in there and praise them when they go in to retrieve the treats. Feed them in there, add their toys and soon they will get used to it. It takes a while for puppies to get used to something new.

Thought I'd introduce Pepper to a new game - find the treat. I took three foam cups (the only cups I had that weren't clear and could easily be tipped over), showed her the cups and the treat, put the treat under one of the cups and proceeded to ask her where the treat was. Obviously my expectations were a little too high in that I thought she'd find the treat. Instead, she knocked over the cup closest to her, sniffed it a little, then picked it up in her mouth and ran away with it - her new toy!!!! ;) Oh well, back to the drawing board!!!

Try a SnugglePuppie. My Pepper cried non-stop the first three nights when we brought her home, but she settled down soon after that. She loves her SnugglePuppie, although she will try and "kill" it sometimes! Good luck with the crate training. Best thing ever!

I'm not sure what a Y harness is either. Are they the car harness type ones? I always thought harnesses were better for a dog's body than a collar, but maybe not?!? From what I've seen, I seem to have a martingale collar (part collar, chain sits at the back of the collar to pull it together), but the training school called it a half-check. Not sure if there is a difference. I have been reading through Jan Fennell's book and she suggests that if your dog pulls, then you should just turn around and go home rather than prolonging the walk. I might try this. I don't think I'm going to get out the front door though with the way she gets so excited about walkies. I might try playing a game with her beforehand to try and tire her out. Thanks for that suggestion, Poodle Wrangler!

My Pepper gets a quarter of a chicken frame for breakfast or a whole chicken wing. I find the frames are good because she has to chew through the bones. She also inhales chicken necks, so I save them for dinner when I can chop them up and mix in with the rest of the food. Sometimes I give her a red meat bone for brekky (beef soup bones from Woolies or lambs necks), but she tends to only eat the meat, and not bother about the bones at all. I'd like to try the lamb flaps, but are they really fatty?

Hi Skip Yeah, I wish an expert would explain the difference between a check collar and a flat collar, although I do wonder if it has anything to do with different training methods?!? I'm not actually finding much difference between the two. I think I might try and get a harness. My breeder gave me one when I bought her as a puppy but it's probably too small for her now. Mini-foxies are supposed to be bold and fearless, so I guess sniffing every blade of grass, every tree and investigating every stick is part of her genes! I had wondered too if she is like this because she is closed up in the laundry pretty much the whole day so getting to go out on a walk is extremely exciting. I actually envy you because your pup follows you around and is scared to leave you. Pepper wants to bound up to every other dog whenever possible, and is not afraid to play with any dog. The only time she gets afraid is if a bigger dog is overly pushy in sniffing her or playing with her. Then she gets a bit cranky. She is more nervous of people than other dogs. She won't often let the trainers touch her at training. We are working on this one too. We thought we had socialised her with enough people when she was younger, but perhaps it was the way we went about it. Never mind. Maybe we both have to look at K9Force's article on drive training.

Hi Pug Hugger, does Louie ever get tangled up in anything when he's wearing a harness during "fun time"? Did it take long for you to teach him to wear a harness?

Hi Skip Pepper is 7mo and only 3kg. The training club that I go to recommended a half check because she was so small, otherwise normal check chains for bigger dogs. I thought they worked the same way? I might try a harness anyway, thanks!

Hi Poodlewrangler Yeah, I know the pulling on the lead has nothing to do with the collar, it's just that whilst I'm working on it, she's choking. I'm not pulling her back when she pulls. I just stop and wait for her to loosen the leash. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Should I use treats rather than just praise when she walks loosely? Is it better to have her walk in front on a loose leash or at heel? We have been going to classes (on and off) since August, but hasn't done much. She doesn't heel unless we are practicing the obedience training at work. Even when we tell her to heel, she ignores us!! What's even worse is that when she gets excited (like tonight - she was adamant to get to the park for a run!), there's no holding her back!! Thanks for your help!

Hi Beks She actually is a mini-foxie, 7mo. I don't seem to have a problem with her slipping the collar, although I guess there's always a first time! Thanks for your advice. Wingus

I was just wondering what's better to use when walking a small dog (well, still puppy, but she probably won't get much bigger), a flat collar, half-check or a harness? I started off using a flat collar, then had to get a half-check for training so switched to using that for her walks. I'm finding she does choke a bit now on the collars, so wondering if it is better to use a harness on her. Do you think it gives better control?!? I'm still working on the pulling problem. Thanks.

Thanks for the tips MCM. She already has a treat ball, and I've just ordered another one that apparently has a maze inside, so that should hopefully keep her busy. I do have kongs too, time-delayed with an ice cube, but she tends to only play with them while we are with her. Hubby does training in the morning, might get him to do a longer stint. I do also change her toys around, but again, she mostly ignores them (I've spied on her a few times with a webcam!!) !! Monah, yeah, I was thinking that perhaps she isn't eating because she's full. I've dropped the amount of food she gets for the past two weeks and still she isn't eating. I thought puppies were supposed to eat up to 10% of their body weight until they mature at 12 months?!? At the moment she is barely getting 5% of her body weight, and that includes breakfast, treats and dinner!! Oh well, I guess I just have to keep trying. Hubby had her at obedience training on Sunday and it was a hoot! She did actually follow the commands, albeit reluctantly, and everytime hubby stopped, she lay down on the grass enjoying the sunshine!! Classic!! :rolleyes: I definintely can't say this little one has personality!! Monah, if you want to check out some more pictures of her, go to the Mini-Foxie thread in the Breed Specific Threads section. I've posted a few pics of her on there.

Hi Monah, yes, she is alone when I'm at work unfortunately. We try and have a play and get her to do zoomies around the yard in the morning before we leave, but it's probably not enough for her. I'm hesitant to take her for a long walk in the mornings because I strapped for time, especially if I have to wait at least an hour before feeding her. I'd have to get up at 4am in the morning just to make it to work by 8am! For me who loves that extra minute lie in, getting up at 6am is already difficult! :cry: Having said that though, we do try and take her for a walk when we get home from work. Hasn't seemed to do much yet! We usually make her go into her crate before dinner, but lately she hasn't wanted to. Just stands and stares blankly at me. Not sure what that means. Perhaps I need to enforce this as I then just give in, make her sit and she does. She then eats a little bit and then is disinterested. Maybe I should get the vet to check her out if she doesn't have much appetite?!? Or maybe I should just starve her for one day and see what happens? I've never had any object occupy her attention for more than ten minutes!!! Definitely the terrier in her! We have a pillow that I try and get her to stay on, but the only time she will stay on it for more than two seconds is if she is really, really, really tired (ie. we've had her out all day and she hasn't had any sleep during the day at all) and the heater is on, yes, even on warm days! I did read the Puppy Calendar post. It was very good. Now I just have to get all that information into my head, including the TOT and put it all into practice.

Yes, she is very cute, and definitely has me wrapped around her paws, and SHE KNOWS IT!!! I suppose I could keep her toys away and not leave them lying around. I don't think she plays with them whilst we are at work. How do I keep her occupied when we have dinner?!? She tends to wander around and not sit still (still working on a good sit stay!) or gets bored sitting and staying and wants to do something else. I think that's definitely the terrier in her! I think back to basics with high value treats and lots of patience should hopefully do the trick!

Thanks for your good advice, PoodleWrangler. She does actually look at me when I put the food down, not at the food. She will glance at it once or twice, but mainly her focus is on me, which is quite good since I never really formally taught her this (I was actually trying to teach her to leave a food item in my hand - that didn't work, but it made her look at me before feeding, which I guess was good also!! ) I will re-read and try to put into practice TOT as described. Hopefully it will work in the house as opposed to outside.