tothemax

Valby - I think it might be worth starting your own thread, or no one will see it. Apart from last drop praise, does anyone have suggestions for stopping Max peeing inside? He has a dog door, but im quite sure he is avoiding going out into the cold.

Hi All Its been so long since I’ve been on here, and apologies for not updating you sooner. Max has taken really well to being trained by Planetk9. He is still not perfect – but I can get him to sit, drop, go to his mat (ok, I still need food for this one, and he doesn’t stay there) stay for a few seconds (which we’re trying to extend) bow, spin and circle (which are the same thing, just in opposite directions) He passed the basic course, and we’re trying to continue the concepts of the training at home. Any barking issues seem to have mostly been resolved with Max having access to the house during the day (only to the wood floor area) He hasn’t destroyed anything (ok, well much. He likes the stress balls Mr tothemax gets as promotions for work!) and we’ve had a couple of toilet issues but he is always getting better, and I can tell when he’s going to do it – as he’s usually doing it in retaliation to getting in trouble (say, pooping on our beautiful rug because we locked him outside when he was naughty). The only thing im super concerned about anymore is taking him down to my parents place who have a cat. When he gets nervous (or whatever you’d like to call it) he will still sometime pee on things, or people. If a dog is being aggressive, or he’s in someones house that has a dog/cat he can’t see it. PlanetK9 advised to take him on a lead in this kind of situation. Because the cat at my parents will not socialize with the dog, he never seems to calm down. We’re going down in June for the long weekend, and I hope to be able to do some more work with him. We have now progressed to being able to let him off the lead in situation where dogs can go off lead. In my small dog park it was ok, but in larger ones he’d never return. Now we will play with other dogs but come back when called. All in all we’ve had some quite good success, and we seem to have a very happy dog.

edited post below.

Hi all I was wondering how people feel about citronella collars, and if they're successful? TotheMax

Oh you all are quite simply superstars. Thankyou for finding the article for me - I love it when someone does half of my homework for me. Im almost done reading it. Im just realising how different the psychology of dogs is, from humans. I know that is quite obvious, but I feel I apply to much of 'human logic' to these situations. I really need to educate myself. A though dawned on me today - i've taken on a rescue dog, and its no suprise that im having to educate him. Why would I have expected anything less? Skip - your post made me laugh - and thankyou for your kind words. Instead of worrying that people @ dog school will be wondering why I let me animal get so out of control - maybe they will just think that a. its a good thing something is being done about it now and b. maybe I didn't have him from pup. On another note, we're working hard on loose lead walking - and healing, sitting and a little bit of staying. There is improvment.

I'e been trying to catch him just before he does it. I can tell when he's sniffing and about to cock his leg. Honestly, he's a quick little bugger! Here is my reply to a PM which may also answer some questions about what has been happening at dog training. I dont think I am clear enough. My trainer thinks that he does need to learn that my partner and I are the ones in control, and that he needs to just relax and wait for our instructions. She thinks he has been taught 'rude' behaviour through lack of training, or bad training. As for pee'ing on us, and others she thinks it might be a. not knowing who the leader is b. the recent hormonal change (and suggested that if training doesn't rectify this, it might be worth seeking hormonal control through the vet - but that often is only with dogs who do things like air hump) and there was a c, but I can't remember it. We talked for so long last night, I can't remember half of what was said. They suggested I read an article called ' I just want to say hello' which will advise me the kinds of behaviours dogs exhibit when they greet one another. They tell me although I think my dogs greeting is fine, him bounding upto other dogs is seen as rude. I did some googling last night for this, but I couldn't remember the authors name. Im going to try again now. So we were told to: walk him in our driveway/street and concentrate on getting him to not pull on the lead anytime we give him attention to make him work for it. make it easy for him to do the right thing, hard to do the bad thing walk him away from situations where he barks. We choose who he says hello to, and if he barks he doesn't get to say hello work on making him heal. Reward him each time he heals and makes eye contact She has also invited us to go to the training sessions and work outside the group where she can keep an eye on us, and we can try and train him with distractions.

Cosmolo - what would you do about the pee'ing situation?

I sent you a big reply to your PM, Kelpie-i. Thankyou for messaging me. Im so glad the community is so helpful When he pee's on people im to remove him away, and I think tell him off? (although they didn't say that, so im not sure. Thats what I did in front of her?) We were there for an hour an a half, and I think they were hoping that he would eventually respond to the training and not get distracted by the dogs. I really dont want to unfairly represent Nicole - she's been really great, and helpful.

Hi Skip Thanks for your reply. I just had an obedience class last night. He pee'd on both my partner and I - which he has never done before. He did it right in front of the trainer. I was mortified - but glad that she saw his behaviour. Nicole (planetK9) said we need to stop taking him to the dog park. He needs to learn to calm down - he was insane last night and wouldn't stop barking at other dogs he wasn't allowed to say hello to. They tried to work him upto saying hello to other dogs without going nuts - but they just couldn't get him there. They suggested we'd need to work one on one with them some more just to get him to calm down. We're to practice loose lead walking in our street until he gets it, then we can take him further bit -by-bit. We need to make him work for any of our attenion. We need to teach him how to heal. Also sitting in a park and just getting him to try and be calm is going to be a part of the training. He is such a lovely dog, I just wish he didn't have some of these behaviours. Im scared that he'll always be a 'problem dog' that tries to wee on my friends... I dont mind putting in the hard work. Im just a little concerned. I can't believe a dog that is so sweet and loving can at times display such bad behaviour - but of course that is because he doesn't think its bad, he just thinks its they way he should behave as he's never been shown otherwise. However, one really great thing is that he will allow children to pat him - and he remains calm and still. It makes me think he came from somewhere with kids. Not all is bad! Onwards and upwards though. Ally

Great reply, thanks Erny. My partner wants to go back to Nicole and see what she thinks about the TOT before we implement it, just so we dont confuse. If I get the tick of approval im going to follow it! In answer to your questions: Nicole is really lovely, she's very welcoming and I have called her about a couple of things. I just dont want to 'bug' her all the time. No I dont believe they have people who come out and see him at home - not in the 6 week course we've signed up with. In regards to keeping him on the lead, bearing in mind he needs to be socialised - other dogs get tangled in his long flippy lead at the park, and thats why I let him off (plus, he runs around and wears himself out). I just dont know if its a good idea getting much bigger dogs tangled? Does anyone know if his hormone change will make him less territorial in 3 months?

Hi everyone Its been great reading all of your posts, but I would like to post my own because it seems a lot of questions come from people who have had their animal since they were a puppy. We got our West Highland Terrier from the Lost Dogs Home (Melbourne) 3 weeks ago. He is a (est) 1 year old boy who has only just beed desexed (4 weeks ago). One of the questions I would love to have answered is 'Is this behaviour due to the hormonal change, or will it change and settle him with his hormones changing?' We're going to Planet K9 for training, and we've just had our first one on one with Nicole who was great. Sadly our last class got cancelled as it was 40 degrees and unsafe for dogs, and today is a public holiday. Im going to list our issues in dot points so people can respond to them individually if they wish. 1. While at the dog park (we've been told by LDH he needs socialisation) he will try and pee on the owners of dogs. I yell and he will stop but its usually that second too late. Im now warning people when I talk to them, and I know he might sneek in and get one out before I have time to remove him. While at my parents over Easter he's also pee'd in their house which he doesn't do at home (well, not unless he's been left inside too long) and they have a cat. It seems he's trying to mark his territory/establish dominance. Do you all think this is something to do with his current hormones, do you think it will chill out? Do you think there is anything I can be proactive and do - apart from telling him off? 2. Walking on a loose lead - we have a flippy lead which we're going to replace with a fixed lead on Nicoles advice. We've been told to pull him backwards when he pull forward and praise him when the lead is loose. The problem is he will pull ahead, but not so much that it engages on your muscle to control him - but just enough that it is a slight pull. This does get tiring after a while - and im concerned that he just doesn't 'get' being pulled backwards. He just goes back to what he was doing. Is it just persistence? We've been doing this consistently for two weeks and there has been an improvement. Am I expecting too much too soon? He will sit and drop most of the time and he picked that up really quickly. 3. Barking at other dogs when he doesn't get to say hello. He is getting better at this, as when we dont want him to say hello and if he does bark we take him away. After this he seems to become like a child who has had too much red cordial. You just can't get him to pay attention or respond? Any advice would be fab. He is a really lovely sweet natured animal. I'd just like to have him as a part of my life (and my partners) that we can take him to the grandparents/friends places/ parks and not worry about naughty behaviour. I know there is going to be a little hard work involved - I think I just need some reassurance and guidance. If you'd like to see our gorgeous little boy there is a picture of him on pg 19 of the Westie thread. Thankyou! TotheMAX (Max is the Westie, btw)