Tapferhund

Does anyone have any advice for me? Yes ! Keep her in with you ! It must be very lonely and frustrating for her to be shut away from you but if you don't want her on the bed then put a crate or small pen next to your bed with her Hottie and toys in it......but personally I can't see why she can't be on your bed.......if that's what it takes to make her settle throughout the night. It is not as if she were the size of a Great Dane to have on the bed with you. I have a Mini Foxie who has slept on my bed for all of her 14 years and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dump the weetbix as they have no nutritional value at all for the pup and i wouldn't bother with the milk either. Vary the pups diet by feeding a good quality dry food.....minced chicken necks or carcasses(something with bone) and not just minced meat only ....juiced raw vegies or cooked ones like carrot,spinach ,parsley,silverbeet etc but NO onion or potatoes. Maybe an egg yolk once a week......a little natural yogurt a day etc. You can feed some fruits too like apple or banana but NEVER feed grapes or dried fruits. Basically give the pup various foods just make sure he gets plenty of raw meaty bones such as the minced necks while he is young and then on to whole chicken necks as he gets older. Cute puppy BTW !

Novta, I don't know what type but I only suggested it because your bitch's strange behaviour is recent (?) plus she is doing physical damage to herself,teeth, nails etc during her "bouts" of destructive behaviour. Maybe she is having some type of fit (??) which is causing her strange behaviour?? Might be an idea to mention it to your Vet. Whatever is causing it I hope you DO get to the bottom of it !

Maybe she has developed some sort of neurological problem ??

Well I have been living with dogs for thirty years now and been witness to many amazing things and I'll say this.....dogs are far more knowing and far more intelligent than we humans give them credit for. Good topic Pinnacle and I did enjoy your story.

ps, I have noticed over the years that those who know nothing else and can't see beyond using a clicker generally come unstuck somewhere in their training.......they have no repertoire of methods or ideas to fall back on. Every dog is different and some are natural retrievers with varying degrees of prey drive while others can have no interest at all which can make training retrieve (RELIABLY) with a clicker quite difficult. IMO what makes a GOOD trainer is someone who has many ideas(methods) to use on these dogs.

Ness and Dogdude, what?....you deliberately over looked the word "nice" in my post? And I can tell you my dogs are just as happyand reliable ,if not more so than your dogs AND they were trained just as "positively" as yours.........so don't assume otherwise, especially as you have no idea as to what I was talking about when I used the word 'force'......you assuming pinched ear methods which I DO NOT agree with and would NEVER use under any circumstances ......unlike yourself dogdude. Perhaps if you hadn't JUMPED so quickly to conclusions .......and instead asked what I meant in the ""nice"" forced method that I use..........you might have learned something other than the single visioned shirley whatsherfaces method. LOL

Try teaching the (nice) forced method of 'Fetch-Hold-Give" and you will find your dog will be 100% more reliable than any dog taught by clicker or shirley whatever's method.

OMG I can't beleive what I am reading here, I can't believe there are still people who believe that puppies should not be out and about until they have had all their vaccinations....WRONG WRONG WRONG !! The most critical period for socializing ,meaning - getting puppies used to noises,people, kids, dogs, cats, machinery, transport -buses-trains-trams-trucks etc etc etc etc IS between the ages of 7 weeks and 16 weeks........so they MUST be taken out as much as possible during this critical phasee of their lives. The risk of picking up any infection is MINIMAL but the risk of having a nervy adult dog from LACK of socialization as a pup is FAR GREATER.

It is up to the club as to what catagory they wish the trial to come under...ie...Restricted to Breed........Restricted to Group 5..........Open to All Breeds.

It is up to the club as to what catagory they wish the trial to come under...ie...Restricted to Breed........Restricted to Group 5..........Open to All Breeds.

Remember......she is ONLY 8 weeks old, a baby, and has had the trauma of losing her litter mates , mother and smells that she knows. Getting use to a new home and new ways takes a little time,so don't expect TOO MUCH from her in just a week. If she winges all the time I would have her checked by your Vet just to make sure there is no underlying problem or pain. Also is she getting a good quality diet and enough of it? Why are you separating her from yourselves and is she quiet when with you? She needs to be WITH you and INSIDE at night ...it is far to cold to be leaving a puppy out at night. Why don't you crate her last thing at night and have the crate in your room.....then when you hear her stir get up and take her out to toilet,when she complies bring her back in and back in her warm crate. If she cries and winges when you first put her in......take no notice.....she will eventually drop off to sleep and if you are consistant in doing this she will learn very quickly the routine of it. Dogs love routine so show her what you want,be consistant and she will get in to that routine. During the day make sure she is somewhere draft free with her warm Kennel and make sure the Kennel is close to the house and not WAY UP the back yard somewhere. Pop her out there with her breakfast and a big RAW juicy bone to chew on plus some toys. It might be ok to leave her for a few hours but what about when you are back at work? Eight to ten hours gone is a hellava long time to leave a puppy alone and how will she be fed as she will be on at least three meals a day at this age?

Yeah count me in too. It won't be much but as the old saying goes ,"Every little bit helps said the mosquito as he peed into the ocean."

Do Tracking ! :D

If the prong collar is a good quality one then it should not come apart ! The links on a good collar should be tight fitting and only come apart when squeezed. I have 3 collars.....one of which is 20 years old and the other two I've had for just on 12 years and never have they come apart........so if the collars today are coming apart then IMO they are faulty or are cheaply made.

"Not sure which ADT centre you would be referring to as they prefer to use flat leather collars for training over any other type of collar. It took me ages to get a few of the trainers to understand that my bullmastiff would only be trained on a correction collar as there was no control with a flat leather collar (not to mention they didnt have any that would fit his neck)." Ravensmyst00, Are you sure it was an ADT center you went to(?) because the ones I have attended ALWAYS recommend Sprenger brand(the best brand) slip chains over anything else and for those owners who want to use nothing but flat collars on their dogs ,the trainers recommend the buckle type flat collar. On reading some of the other posts I have to agree with a few of the comments such as in the over use of one method , ie compulsion , for all dogs regardless of the dogs temp and char.........and the lack of use of other more positive methods at these centers. Don't get me wrong......I am not against compulsion....it is a valid method and has it's place in training but IMO it should be in conjunction with other more positive methods. My problem with seeing compulsion being the only method taught to the clients or members is that this is what they (the clients) think training a dog is all about and many , IMO, become bullies towards their dogs..........and this in turn is reflected in seeing very unhappy dogs who comply because they have to and not because they want to........IMO.

We'll be there at both Trials. Good luck BC have fun and enjoy yourself !!

As the old saying goes , "You get what you pay for" and personally if I had a dog with issues that I needed to see a behaviourist about , I would prefer to pay the extra and see someone like Dr. Robert Holmes ,who has years of practical experience, over a behavioural trainer who might have only had a few years of recent experience and who might have never been involved with dogs prior to their recent experience and training.

I agree with Dogdude , moist is the way to go. I use either, skinless franks, cabana, cheese or Spam .

Shepmax, Ask your Vet if it could be Pannus as our breed suffers with this problem and a lot of Vets don't pick it up......they always say infection/inflamation and start treating with anti biotic ointments etc when they shouldn't be. One of the classic signs is the dogs suffer more in the summer than winter because the Sun agrivates it.

"In Germany (where I come from) it is completely normal for 90 % of the dog owners to study how dogs learn, about behauvoiur training, health, nutrition etc. and all dogs go to the dog school." and...... "Its the same in Poland where I come from. I wish it was the case in Australia as well." The only way it could become the case in Oz is for Australians to start viewing having and owning dogs as being a privilege (as they are in Europe) and not "a right" as is the case in Australia.

I don't believe in teaching drop from a sit position for no other reason than it could cause the dog to go down in a sit stay at a Trial. I have always taught mine to drop from a stand only.

Natsu chan...........if it's Geelong you are going to it has been cancelled.

Well I am an Obedience person having trained and trialed for about 25 years now but I have done Herding , Agility and flyball with some of my dogs. The herding I would have liked to continue with but distance and finances didn't permit. Agility I gave away as IMO it is a bit risky for injuries in the dogs, Flyball I enjoyed for a while but I got bored with the sport. The only other sport I really enjoyed was Dogsport once known as Schutzhund and if I could would get back in to that sport in a flash as it is so much more interesting and a hellava lot fairer than ANKC obedience.

I have already said that I am all for the prong but I can see why people would be against this great training tool ,as some, because of their lack of knowledge in dog training , can and do abuse it . In recent weeks I have witnessed this by people who instead of training their dog/s properly .....giving their dogs clear direction and boundries through obedience, prefer to let the prong collar do it for them in over use of correction . You can see the dogs have 'no idea' of WHY they keep getting corrected and they have no idea of what is wanted or expected from them, so they keep making the same 'mistakes'(?) only to be corrected again. It's giving me the sh*ts actually !