Michelleva

Earlier tonight I witnessed something odd. I saw it once and thought I was seeing things, then it happened again. Georgia was humping her own bed.......... does anybody have an idea WHY a female desexed puppy would do such a thing... I always assumed only grotty boys did those things, well clearly I was wrong. Should I do anything? I just ignored it this time, and haven't seen her do it since, she's now sound asleep at my feet. She's the only dog we have, but we do have three cats. The cats were nowhere near her when she started this behaviour, so its not like she was trying to dominate them. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when she did this and the kids weren't playing with her either.

This sounds really interesting and something I'm sure my sheltie pup would love to have a go at. Its a pity its miles away from me.

Sas, what we're experiencing with our pup is definitely NOT seperation anxiety. I've had a dog which suffered from that and I know the difference. She's just easily excited by outside noises, like other dogs and kids in backyards. She also thinks its her job to guard the property from these things she hears. I've been doing many of the things you listed and I am already seeing an improvement in her behaviour.

Awwwwe how cute is she. I can see good mates in the making there, I just want to hug her too.

She has free range of most of the back yard. We've just fenced off the vege garden. But I was thinking of moving that fence tomorrow, effectively cutting the backyard in half. Its still plenty of room for her, as we have a decent sized yard, but that way she won't be able to get to the back fence at all, which is where most of her excitement is coming from. I have some new ideas and different things to try, so I'll keep working with her. Thanks for everyone's input, I appreciate it.

Exactly, I'd love to know that answer too. I'm going to try increasing her excercise and training and see if that wears out her brain a bit.

She has spent equal amounts of time indoors and outdoors. I made a concious effort to not make her dependant on being indoors while I was home. She loves being outside, I usually need to convince her to come back inside. She was just whining at the back door to go out, so I let her out thinking she needed to pee. I followed her out to see what she wanted, and she could hear a dog barking, not a direct neighbour, probably a street away. I couldn't hear it till I was outside. I think she feels she needs to defend us from every dog in the vicinity of our house. I called the come command, and she did, then I bought her back inside.

Lillysmum, those tips are very helpful thanks. Georgia is always at her sleepiest after we've been to obedience, like today.

Rileys Mum, thanks your reply makes a lot of sense to me. How much exercise do you give your 5 month old? I've been walking Georgia for about 15 mins or so, because she's still young. Maybe if I increase that she'll improve.

The only place I could contain her indoors would be either the laundry or bathroom. At what age do you consider them able to contain their excitement cowanbree? Georgia is 5 months old now.

I'm trying to work out the best way to wear Georgia out before I go out. I'm a stay at home Mum mostly, but I've had to do quite a bit of work away from home this week, as we were short-staffed in our business. As a result Georgia's been barking alot, so I need to work out the best way to keep her entertained/tired while I'm away. Hopefully things will be a bit more normal this week, but she needs to learn to be quiet while I'm away. She turns on the guard dog mentality whenever she's outside. Which is fine, except she'll bark at anything. I thought I was making good progress, but thats obviously while I'm home, which from the sounds of it goes out the window when I leave. I need some help to get this in check, before it causes lots of problems. So if you go to work each day, whats your morning routine to get pup ready for you to leave? Thanks so much, Michelle

Our sheltie pup is 5 months old and this last week I've had to work a lot more than usual so have been out of the house most days. The neighbour has just informed me that she's been barking constantly while I'm not home. My biggest concern is if I don't fix it now, it will become a big problem and then someone will complain to council about her, thats just what I don't want. When she goes outside she goes into guard dog mentality, like she's really alert, ears pricked and listening for any noise and then barking at it. I've got a couple of different kongs, I've tried putting dry food in them, I tried closing it off with peanut butter and she wasn't interested. The neighbour suggested vegemite, so I'll try that next. I'm also going to give her her own personal sandpit where I can hide some toys and doggy bones to keep her amused a bit longer. I'll also make sure she's always walked before I leave in the morning. Anything else would be appreciated. The neigbours been good about it so far, but I don't want to push it. Please help with some ideas to keep her mind occupied.

Well she's now on two meals a day, she survived the first day without a problem. Someone I met at obedience described her as a solid girl. ;) I don't think she's that solid, although she is growing her fluffy coat, which is very deceiving. :rolleyes:

Our pup has just turned 5 months old. We've had her since she was 4 months old. At the time we were told to give her 3 meals a day, and I'm still doing that. Should I be cutting her back to two. She's on Advance puppy and a bit of ground up chicken frames for each meal. With a few bones thrown in to gnaw on. She's also had chicken necks and eats them well. She was a bit fussy a week or so ago, as she's been teething but she's eating with gusto again. She's a sheltie and weighs about 6kgs.

We just learned the "leave it" command at training last Saturday, I've been using it when she wants to chase one of the cats. One of them is very scared of her, while the other two are happy to interact. She knows the difference, but we still need LOTS more practice on that one. Excercising her definitely does help. I just took her for a walk before, then gave her some lunch. After lunch she went outside for a piddle and she never barked or yapped once. Normally, she'll carry on at any sound. So I think I'll up it two small walks a day and see how we go. On our walk today I mixed it up, so it was a walk but with some training thrown in along the way. Now she's curled up asleep, as all good puppies should be. Since day one I've really tried hard to be the leader. I'm slowly drilling it into the rest of the family too. I must say she does seem to have respect for me, so I must be doing something right. She will even sit and listen to my nearly 5yo son, I'm really pleased with that. He copies what I do, so as long as I stay on the ball, she will continue to understand where she fits in the pack.

You just need the toy stuffing from places like spotlight. When I was making them, I was selling labrador sized ones for around the $100 mark. If you use the toy stuffing, its washable too. Just make sure you reinforce the seams, by going over it a couple of times. You'll find patterns on the net.

I know, you can spend a fortune on pet stuff if you want to. I know I'd never pay $50 for a treat bag, I just can't justify it, whats so good about this brand anyway. The fuzzyard beds I've seen and they are rather cute. But if you have some basic sewing skills you can make your own donut type beds with polar fleece. I've made heaps of them, and was even selling them for a while. I've got plenty of them thrown around the place for all the furries, and they never cost anywhere near $80 to make. I've seen treat bags in the pet section at the reject shop for a couple of dollars. I'm sure it wouldn't last as long as the one you mentioned, but at that price you'd just replace it.

We'll keep working on it. She's a work in progress, just as we are. She looks pretty chilled at the moment, she's curled up at my feet, catching some zzzzz's. One thing we learnt yesterday at obedience was how to give a doggy massage. I did that to her before and she looked soooo sleepy, it really works for her. Now I need to teach her to return the favour.

With her walks, I thought because she was still a puppy I had to limit the amount of excercise she got. I could definitely fit in another walk in the afternoon. Overall, she's walking quite nicely on lead. She only pulls or comes to a complete halt on occasion if something scares or excites her. I do allow her time to sniff some trees and have a wee, but only when I say so. When I give her the command to keep walking, off we go. She seems to have no problem with that. To be honest she walks the best when I have her by myself. When my little boy comes she's very excited, especially if he's on his bike. Thats when she'll pull. And if she hears a dog she can't see barking or a car flies past she'll plant her butt on the ground and it takes some coaxing to get her moving again. I've tried a few different things today. She doesn't like the water spraying on her and that did stop her from barking at the broom. I've also done a couple of extra 5 mins sessions of training. And the kids have taken her for a walk around the block earlier today. I've also started teaching her tricks. She can shake hands, and we're starting on high-5's now.

Bascially when we get up, she goes outside for her toilet, then back inside for a while, probably 30 mins later its breakfast time. She eats outside, while the cats eat inside. She'll generally have a play outside with her balls/rope type toys while I get the kids organised for school etc. Inside she has an array of toy/squeaky type toys. As well as a few kongs, which don't really keep her occupied because she's going through a fussy stage with food. We think it related to her teething. When I get back I'll take her for a walk, usually about 15 mins duration with a stop at the park on the way home. I do a bit of practice training from things I've learnt at obedience but not at set times, just whenever I think of it. I will go outside with her and play, just running around and throwing toys etc. During the day, she'll spend some time outdoors and some indoors. Outdoors, she has a warm kennel, which she will sleep in if it gets cold/wet. Inside she has two beds in the family room and the crate set up next to my bed. When she's really tired she'll put herself to bed in the crate. She does come out with me visiting family and friends too. She's quite the socialite and loves everybody she meets. She's met LOTS of different people and dogs at obedience because we started the week she arrived. Any ideas or suggestions will be great Peresphone.

The trainer told me straight water is the best, then there's no risk of injuring or hurting the dogs eyes/skin. I do agree with that. What sort of pup do you have jadesamara?

My sheltie pup is nearly 5 months old. She gets VERY excited by any movement, especially like sweeping outside, vaccuming inside, or my son riding his bike. When she gets that excited she barks excitedly at whatever I'm doing, or what is moving. The trainer at obedience yesterday suggest a water pistol/spray bottle to shock her a bit when she gets over the top like that. I'm going to the shops shortly to pick one up and see if that works. She also snaps her jaws a bit when she gets excited. She's not trying to bite anyone, it seems to be an excitement thing for her. Any other ideas will be appreciated.

Wow, thats really scary Whippets Mum and just goes to prove we can never be too careful. I hope your puppy is feeling better. Before Georgia arrived, we pulled out a few plants or relocated them. The biggest job was the 4 rhododendrans (?). They were quite large, but apparantly the whole plant is poisonous to dogs. I was a little sad to see them go, but they dropped leaves everywhere, so a small bit of relief. Once she's past the puppy stage of digging and chewing I'll replace them with something safe.

BF, I've been giving her a few chicken necks which are still partially frozen. I figure babies like cold stuff on their gums, so why not a puppy. She's destroyed a few cat toys and I have to check her bed everyday because I usually find my sons little cars and all sorts of stuff she's collected during the day. Does anyone else have a hoarder? This was taken today, Georgia is a few days shy of 5 months.

Whatever you want to call them its gross! Our old dog used to go nuts for it too. But here's me thinking this delicate little pretty girl wouldn't lower herself to such standards - ha! How wrong was I??? I normally have one of those storage crates for a litter tray, its big with high sides and the dog can't get in it. But I've been using a normal tray for a couple of days, I guess we're going back to the big one. Our old dog didn't care if the tray had a lid on it either, he just stick his head through the hole.