Luke W

Fantastic news! Hows toilet training going? How old is he? Wake him up in about 1.5 hours and take him to the toilet. Then put him straight back in again and repeat the procedure. That was my approach.

Hmmm...you know - I'm not sure about that. Now I'm no expert...but my initial thinking is that YOU want to be the source of all good things in your dogs life. YOU should be the center of attention. YOU should grant your dog access to smells, games, toys and such. I guess it depends on what kind of personality you want your dog to develop. I'm hoping for a competitive obeience and agility dog so I want my dogs primary focus to be ME. Also, puppies need heaps of rest. I think my multiple play and training sessions during the day, followed by rest in his crate seems to keep him satisfied. I could be wrong though. PS - I am home during the day, in the same room as my pups crate, it might be different if I was at work 8 hours a day...still not sure though.

It might also be worthwhile to start with kids tossing treats to him, it might make him a bit more willing to approach on his own.

PS - My pup still sometimes (only sometimes) howls when I leave the house (he knows the sound of me going out the front door)...but only for 30 seconds at most. Then he settles. I can move to other partsof the house no problem. He's quietly sitting in his pen at the moment, chewing on a new toy. We've just finished a 5 minute tug toy play session.

What worked for me...your mileage may vary. - His crate is in the same room as I am during the day. It's my 'home-office'. - The first night he slept in his crate he howled and howled. I left him locked in his crate but moved the crate to the hallway outside our bedroom. He quickly settled. The oinly time he cried at night was when he wanted to relieve himself. He now sleeps the night though (he's 3.5 months old now). A timetable is a good idea. I'd start at even less than 5 minutes. Stand outside the door, out of site and very, very quiet. You need to be able to get to him quickly the minute he's quiet. He must not know you are outsid ethe door though. Crucial. If he's quiet for 15 seconds, quickly slip in, click/treat and a low key "Good Dog" and walk out again. He'll start to cry...If he's quiet for 15 seconds, quickly slip in, click/treat and a low key "Good Dog" and walk out again. He'll start to cry...If he's quiet for 15 seconds, quickly slip in, click/treat and a low key "Good Dog" and walk out again. He'll start to cry...If he's quiet for 15 seconds, quickly slip in, click/treat and a low key "Good Dog" and walk out again. He'll start to cry...If he's quiet for 15 seconds, quickly slip in, click/treat and a low key "Good Dog" and walk out again. etc He'll tend to stop crying more quickly. When he does, increase the requirement to 30 seconds. Repeats, repeat, repeat. Then increase the requirement to 1 minute. Gradually build up to 5 minutes. By which time he'll be cured. I hope this helps.

Cute! I don't know what they are...maybe a bit of chihuahua. Make sure you get in lots and lots of socialisation for these pups. If there were seperarated from the little at 5 weeks - they are going to need some extra attention in the socialisation area to grow up well balanced dogs. Do a google search for "Puppy Socialisation " and read everything you can. Try reading: http://www.siriuspup.com/beforebook.html for starters.

Fantasic! Enjoy the new addition! Don't forget to take photos so we can see the little guy.

One of these: inside one of these:

Hehe - Nothing In Life Is Free My kids have to run 5 kms for dinner. Just joking, I don't have kids.

- Some bedding for his crate - I buy lengths of fleece from a fabric shop. - An ID tag for phone number - Enrollment in puppy school Some other things I've got: A treat bag Treats for training A clicker Plastic toilet bags Nail clippers A softer brush than a slicker Plastic sheeting for the floor of his pen (instead of paper, which he just tore up). Lots of books and DVDs Congrats and good luck...

Poor thing. I hope the other dogs don't make fun of him at school.

I'm a novice and my skills aren't the greatest - I'm trying to use 'ah' as an NRM, but I forget a lot We both still need lots of practice.

I tend to use the ones here: http://www.bordercollierescue.org/breed_ad...niCommands.html as posted by 4 PAWS

Ditto to the above (BUT! what's with the toilet diary Luke W!!! Way tooooo much time on your hands .... do you take piccies too ... little bit like CSI!! ) Our pup is now 6 months and still does not have reigh of the house. Noodle went into the back room for a play the other night and went on the carpet (missed the signs .. our own fault!!) ... I also have a theory that dogs may think the carpet is like teh lawn and go on that .. she hasn't been on the parquetry or the lino for a VERY long time) :D :D Want me to send you the pics? The little diagrams of where he went? The graphs of weight versus time versus previous food consumption? The sound recordings? Too much time on my hands? Moi?

In short, no. I think she's a pretty good trainer (Delta, so almost entirely positive) and seems to have pretty good chops. I'm using her mainly for basic obedience, help with my clicker technique and help with behavioral issues. I'm yet to find a training organisation that I'd be entirely happy taking my pup to. I've seen a few classes and lots of leash jerking. I'm relying a lot on what I'm learning from books, DVDs and the internet. At this stage, I think I'm going to do an 18 session course with my Delta trainer, then join a trialling club when Barkly is around 9 months old. If you find a good trainer with trialling experience, who uses a clicker and is mostly positive, is in Melbourne and would like to earn a healthy hourly rate, let me know :D

This helped me enormously. http://www.siriuspup.com/beforebook.html My advice (from a novice)... - Start crate training immediately. - Take your dog outside EVERY two hours without fail. Wake up in the middle of the night to do it. I did. Every time the dogs makes a mistake in the house you take 2 steps backwards. - Watch the dog every second when it's not in it's crate. - Never let the dog loose in the house unless it's JUST been to the toilet - Keep a toilet diary so you can anitipate when the dog usually goes

One of my problems is I'm too eager.

Food luring with a clicker to mark at the moment. And yes - my basic hand signals have evolved form the lures...typical sit and down signals... My 'recall' signal (if you can call it that) is to bend at the waist with my hands on my knees. It kind of evolved from patting my thighs - haha ) - need to change that to the 'open arms' signal. His recalls aren't fantastic yet - he's a bit unreliable, smells can be too interesting...he does sit in front of me when he comes back though. Oh - and he's only 3 month old so I guess I can't expect TOO much. Stand - I still have to lure at the moment but I may change to physically prompting via a finger in the groin coupled with a better hand signal... At the moment the signal looks like I'm pulling him up on a string (a la luring with food in hand), but he always takes a step or two forward...It's a move I need to think about a bit. I've got a few training DVDs I need to watch. So much to do, so few hours in the day

Thanks Kelpie-i I've got those ones - I had those before I started working with the trainer. Perhaps that's why she didn't give me some generic ones. And yep - we're working on verbal cues as well.

Thanks for the responses, comments and links everyone. I'm digesting...

By the way - it's not likely the dog 'knows better'. All he knows is that for some reason you freak out in the morning sometimes and he can read your body language and he's knows you're going to freak out. He runs to put himself outside because he knows it's the safest thing to do. He's scared and he's trying to appease you. He can't possibly remember that 4 hours ago he peed on the furniture and that's why you are angry. Ditto what Amhailite said. Consider crating during the night. Or get some fake grass, out of the rain and train him to pee on that.

These look good: http://www.lovemypet.com.au/shopdisplaypro...ars+and+Leashes

Thanks for all the help guys. Shoemonster - no she doesn't trial, thanks for the links Noodlenut and TerraNik - I found a site that showed some signs used to signal to a deaf dog...not quite the same but interesting nonetheless. Ahh - Here it was: http://www.deafdogs.org/training/signs.php Bordercollies4me: Thanks - makes sense.

Good point TerraNik. My only comeback at this stage is to agree with you that dogs do tend to respond better to hand/body signals than voice cues. Still your point makes sense. Maybe it's about prioritising the ones that are important to be able to cue at a distance.

I have also had Black Dog stuff until Noodle decided to 'mouth' the lead once or twice while she was teething and wrecked the Black Dog lead GRRRR!!! I hunted around and found Lupine leads and collars. I have bought a lead and collar online http://www.petalia.com.au/templates/prodsu...m?group_no=6143 and found them to be great quality. I was fortunate to also find them on the 'REI outlet' (USA) website and snaffled up a lead, collar and harness at half the price!! Great deal even with the exchange rate and postage! Unfortunately they are out of stock now .. I must have got in quick. I have not found the Lupine range in any stores and I have done a ring around .. great product though, lifetime guarantee even if chewed. Mind you, Noodle no longer mouths the lead Hmm...They have a unique look don't they