Fourjays

Jesus H Christ! Sorry, but this is terrible advice I have 1 child and 4 dogs (and raised 19 puppies as well) in the course of his short 5 years of life. NEVER in my life would I recommend this sort of training method Dogs and kids are made to be together and as long as the dog understands that the child is a family member, more important than them, and that they have no right to discipline that child in anyway (which is really what a lot of dogs are doing with a young child, they treat them like they would a puppy), then there is no reason why you can't have your dog around your baby/in their room, in the house, growing up together. And I am sorry, but I would rather use positive training methods to help my dogs understand, than using adverse punishment methods to make my dog fearful - because a fearful dog is a danagerous dog! I hope that the OP (and any other reader) doesn't take this advice seriously!

Professional advice is always warranted and helpful in these sorts of situations. I have 4 dogs and will not tolerate any sort of negative reaction on their part, towards my son. He has been raised with and around them, from day dot. I had trouble once he was at the pre-walker/toddler stage when he was pulling himself up using anything and everything to hold onto (which included any hapless dog standing around - they were not happy that this cute baby was no moving!). 1 dog snapped at him one time, whilst we were all in the kitchen area, which was a big shock! The dog was majorly corrected for it and all interactions thereafter around that dog were very closely supervised - lots of praise for that particular dog for being gentle and tolerant when my son was around. I found though that just instigating a few more rules (on our part), and we have had no further problems (I also had the dog chiro'd and he had a very sore back at the time, as the behaviour was uncharacteristic). The rules included no dogs around ever, when food preparation/eating was happening and baby was running around (and no access when he was eating either - they always went outside). The dogs also needed their own time out area from the child, so they have beds that he is not allowed to go near when they are in it (when he was little, I used crates for this purpose). I have made it pretty clear to the dogs, that my son is, and always will be, more important than they are and mostly this has been reinforced via who gets attention first. Some of my dogs are quite attention demanding, so I found that the fact they were ignored when I needed to do things with my son, helped them to understand. I also started having my son help feed them, from when he was about 2 and could talk well. I think it's really important to make sure the dog has really really good bite inhibition and it's also really important for the child to learn from day dot, what is and isn't, acceptable around the dogs. No running/squealing in the house, let sleeping dogs lie, and no going near them when they are in their 'space', no going near them when they are eating. Aside from 1 time when my son jumped on this dog when he was sleeping (sometimes these kids are just too darn quick!), I have never had another incident with this dog. And my son got in trouble for jumping on the dog as he was old enough to know better by then!

I have plenty of experience with clothesline pulling The ONLY thing that works 100% is to NEVER give a dog doing this, access whilst he is in the puppy stage. I have stopped 4 dogs from doing this behaviour, plus litters (yes, they start young sometimes ) and helped ppuuy owners with this problem. This is the same for hoses/watering systems etc. If the dog cannot be fully supervised when allowed around these items, then he needs to kept separate from them. Fence off the clothesline area so he can't get in, same goes for the pump out hose, enclose it some how and only get it out when in use. I have also built a run in the past (and now always have one) to use when I have to go out, or when at work, so that any dogs in this phase, can be locked up safely and comfortably and not get up to mischief when I am not there. An example of restricting the access to the clothesline - I have a 12 month old pup and he was never allowed access to the clotheline area when there were clothes on it, for the first 9-10 months of his life. He (and some of his littermates) showed interest in the flapping clothes, from around 7 weeks of age, so I put a fence up. I took the fence down when he was about 10 months old and he shows absolutely no interest now. Likewise with hoses - they were always picked up off the ground so he couldn't play with them - and he's never touched one. Can't say the same for my garden dripper system however - there was too much of that to be able to protect it Kids toys are much harder! One thing I did teach my pup is to 'trade a toy' for something better ( a treat), so if he does pick up a toy now, he always gently carries it over to me to show me. I always preface this with a 'what have you got there, come show me' type thing, in a nice voice, so that he knows he isn't in trouble and therefore is happy to come up to me to hand it over.

Hi guys, Well Kaleb and I went to boot camp retrieving training this morning! I have a lot of work to do but by the end of the session he had grasped the concept of 'hold' reasonably well, whcih was something I'd been struggling with. I don't think my dog takes me very seriously at times - he's too busy thinking life is a party Managed some small water retrieves and some land retrieves with him as well and finished the session whereby I could put him on a sit/wait and walk out a distance and throw the dummy, send him from where he was, and have him come and deliver to me and he held his dummy and delivered to hand (I was super excited with that part!). Did a bit of work on heeling and a lot of work on being quiet and not so exciteable My biggest problem with this dog is that he has been OTT exciteable with other dogs around but today we had him working off lead and ignoring the other dogs and even being calm when he was tethered and they came up to him - he was almost a different dog. He did his first marked retrieves into long grass which were a bit challenging for him - something I need to start working on as up to today he's done water retrieves, or land retrieves just on short grass. But he was starting to work out to switch his nose on and did 2 nice retrieves where the dummy was in thick/long grass and he marked it well. So I think he and I both learned a lot today and I have a few things to work on - hold being the highest priority and then need to get him doing longer marks into some cover. The biggest thing I got from today is that he is keen on this sort of work and the new environment and the bit of pressure he was put under to start holding his dummies properly, didn't deter him at all. And i have to say - it is so nice having a dog that loves water and seems to prefer water retrieves to land retrieves - my other GSPs have been the opposite to him. I think we both had fun and 3 hours of training is certainly a good way to wear a young GSP out too :D

Hi guys - I am excited as I have planned to take Kaleb out for his first proper retrieving session tomorrow morning (assuming the current stormy weather goes away by then!). Hoping to do his first intro to a retrieve from a thrower - going to be interesting to see how he goes, I suspect he is going to have a ball! Will let you know how we go

Hi, I recommend you give Raelene Koerber a call, she has recently moved back to Canberra and is a very experienced trainer (had recently been in Japan lecturing and training). Her email address is: [email protected] You really need to let your husband know that the training in the household needs to be consistent and that you don't enjoy walking the dogs anymore due to their behaviour and that it is upsetting you this much (trust me - been there, done that too!). Have you considered a head halter for them, or a sporn harness, to help stop the pulling behaviour?

Aren't there certain exercises where the rule book states that 'only xxx command' may be used? Therefore, the judge needs to understand the word that is being said by the handler and obviously if it is not in English, then the judge has no way of knowing. I will have to go find my rule book, but I am sure there are some exercises in the higher levels, where this is the case.

I can't believe that came so fast! I am STILL waiting on something to arrive from Hong Kong, that I ordered at the start of December...sigh Have fun training!

Yes sorry, what I meant is that she takes good lines, wasn't so much a comment about liking the water. But I do agree that they will cheat when given the chance. So far all my water work with the youngster has been into the middle of a pond/dam so that he comes straight back to me - we've even had real live duck decoys a few times and he's already learned he can't catch them so is ignoring them

Yes, I did, but we will need to explain this concept to Kath, though I don't think it will be an issue with Coco

And she most definately has no issues with water. Kath sent her down to me for a while, and I threw a dummy for her in the river - thinking the dog could swim - ha ha! Dummy floated away once Coco realised it was too deep to walk anymore...but I had her doing water retrieves within 15 minutes after that - she is a phenominally crazy water and retrieving dog, she loves it Anyway, I would keep doing the marking work with her Kath and slowly building the distance. I wonder how many of the RAT trials will utilise water?

Ugh! We have a RAT training day and mock trial on here in February, but of course, there is a dog show with a judge I'd like to show under, on the same day. So conflicted!! Why do these things always have to clash

What food rewards have you tried with him? What is the timing of your training sessions - are you training him right before he is due a meal to ensure he is hungry? From your explanation of his behavior too, it sounds like he thinks everything else in the world is way more interesting than you are. So, my first thing I would be working on, is bonding with him and working on letting him know that good things come from you and his access to these good things are because you allow him. Have you got him confined to areas of the house or has he got free run? I always confine my pups to certain areas and they quickly learn that I provide access to the big wide world for them to explore. My current pup was very similar to your pup - not particularly food focussed, very interested in the rest of the world and especially other dogs. I just slowed down with him and worked on my relationship with him by playing games and lots of physical interaction with him, walks around the block, trips in the car etc. He was only allowed in one part of our house for a number of months and then slowly allowed access to the rest of the house. Crated when I had to go out - and then I would do some playing and interacting with him after I would let him out, demanding his attention was on me. At almost 12 months old I can happily say he now loves training treats, is keen on training sessions and mostly can focus on me for a few minutes at a time So don't despair, give him time and enjoy your puppy and work on building a positive relationship with him - it will come in time.

I think you have moved too fast. Go back to just 2 containers, 1 with nothing in it and the other with the target item in it. Do you use a NRM for him? I would be using that every time he picks up the wrong container, and would only ever reward for the correct one. If your notes don't specify what the active response should be, then I would think that the dog actively picking up the container, is a fine response especially given he currently has physical limitations. Don't forget - if he isn't food motivated, try rewarding with a toy or a game instead, if he is into those things already. You really need to find what turns him on for this sort of work - have you tried different foods? I use cabanossi/cheese, meatballs, chicken necks - anything that gets my dogs drooling and excited! You could also start hiding teabags in long grass, or around the house in spots (under cushions etc) and make a game of having him find it in those areas, to really get him to twig to the idea - start really really simple with this though. Even something simple like holding a teabag in one hand and nothing in the other and getting him to respond to that. I would avoid using food to help him associate, as it is likely to confuse him. Use it only as a reward. Teach him to respond to the scent in other ways first, then move onto increasing the difficutly and having him find it in the containers. Good luck!

Yes, and you can try tying to a fishing line and casting it out and reeling it in so he can chase it, and you can make the toy dance as well. Deinfately try furry, lifelike toys. Petbarn have some good 'rabbits' at the moment.

Special package on it's way to you, to help you get started

He has the same reaction with the lead - gets put off by it. For some reason, he displays avoidance behaviour with me (but not with hubby??) when it comes to delivery. BUT, I also haven't put much time into him, as yet, especially the past 2 months I am having some success using stairs (of which I have a few!). He seems very happy to come up to me when I am sitting on the stairs and I've been praising him for just coming straight to me at the moment. His avoidance behaviour means that he will come to me but then dances out of reach, or turns away from me and presents me his bum He did really well tonight, with just a ball for practise and quickly caught on that I wanted him facing me and the ball in my hand. He is much keener to sit with a ball in his mouth, though not overly happy about it yet. Still won't sit with a dummy or dumbell in his mouth yet - I will keep working away - right now I am trying to get the front delievery happening. And yes to some training but not until the New Year for me - haven't yet gotten the all clear from the doctor, but x-rays etc again tomorrow

Oh and by the way - try having a 'house line' on him when he is inside - which is simply a long lead or piece of rope tied to his collar. That was if he does take something, you dont' have to chase him, you can grab hold of the lead/rope and have control of him from a distance. That way you can then go march him outside for a time out (or whatever you want to do), as soon as the behavior occurs - which is important

I can happily tell you that I went through this with my GSP pup - now 11 months. He no longer bench surfs or takes things he shouldn't (well, most of the time!). Just some of the things he destroyed includes my favourite heels, the keyboard off the laptop!! and a cordless telephone I have never had a dog like him before - the counter surfing drove me insane! I was just consistent with him and gave him time outs (outside) when caught in the act of bench surfing. Being a very sociable boy, he hated that. With the picking up things he shouldn't (mostly my sons toys), he just learned to come and show me what he had, and I'd take it off him. I occasionally rewarded him for bringing me things, but not often. I did however, always praise him for bringing me something, rather than sneaking off to go chew it...it's a hard balance as I was conscious of not rewarding him to go and get me things just for the reward/praise. Mostly though, I restricted his access to the house whilst working on this problem. We have baby gates set up so that he just was not allowed into areas where he could have a free-for-all with things (like the toy room or the bedrooms). This seems to have worked the best, along with the time outs when caught in the act. He also went through a phase of pulling things down off shelves - or things hanging up, so I also included crate confinement to prevent him having access to things when I couldn't supervise him, and in time, he has grown out of this behavior too. Similarly with pulling washing off the line - we put a fence up so he had no access whatsoever and he no longer pays the clothes any attention (that problem took 6 months though!) I started to notice a big difference in this behaviour by 9 months and now at 11 months, it very rarely occurs. He also has been taught to go lie in a bed, especially when people are eating or preparing meals. So hang in there and be consistent and try to not let him self reward as much as possible.

Neutering at this point in time may make some difference, if hormones are driving some of this behaviour, but it won't be immediate and obviously, the longer this continues to happen, the more entrenched this behavior will become. A couple of suggestions whilst you locate a behaviorist - which I strongly urge you to do - is a) separate (which isn't particularly practical but when you go out and when they are asleep at night, I'd crate him); b) keep him on a house line at all times so you can have control over him; c) obtain a greyhound muzzle and have him wear that so that he cannot hurt your old girl and cannot actually carry through with this behaviour, though he will still be able to push her around physically but at least he won't be able to grab hold of her, which must be extremely distressing for her at her age. How much has the dogs normal routine been disrupted aside from the move and new partner? Are they getting individual attention from you? Dogs can aslo react to pregnancy in different ways too - it sounds like there is a whole lot going on for him right now and if he has never moved before, he clearly is not coping very well with it all. Increasing his exercise routine **may** help too.

Thanks for that - what a great training story! You are very lucky to have LL to go train with. Good explanation of walking singles, so thanks for that. Keep having fun with your training, sounds like you and Em are really enjoying yourselves

Sounds like another fun day! Can you explain what walking singles are? I am sure I will know the drill but I can never remember the names of things, have a terrible memory for the actual names people call things. I bet I win with the worst throwing arm ever - was a very long time ago and I managed to throw right into the middle of the densest blackberry bush I'd ever seen. I was pretty embarassed

I am having an issue with my youngster ( 11 months GSP) - with delievery to hand/front. Basically, if I give him a land retrieve, he likes to hoon around with the dummy and does not like coming in from the front, to give it to me. To counter act this, I've started water retrieves with him, so that he HAS to come in front of me, which is working fine ( yesterday I was actually able to get him to come about 5 metres away from the waters edge and deliver to me - which I was chuffed about). But I am not sure what to do with the land retrieves? I've started separate hold training and one of his biggest problems is that he hasn't yet made the connection that he can actually SIT whilst holding something He is quite happy to walk around and carry things but ask him to sit and he spits it out big time - so right now, I am just focussing on the hold whilst/standing and walking and at least getting him to give it into my hand like that. I did get a 2 second 'sit and hold' yesterday but that was after I'd told him to sit and gave it to him. I am sure with time he will make the connection that he can do 2 things at once (boys!) I guess the thing with the delievery to front with land retrieves is to have a barrier of some kind, but this just doesn't seem to work - he gets really put off by it. Any other suggestions out there?

In GSPs in Germany, they have a 'sharpness' test, which requires the dogs to 'dispatch' of vermin such as foxes. It is a separate test to the field testing that they do over there though I think it used to actually be a requirement for a FT CH at one point?? I imagine that it is similar testing they are doing with the LMs too. Anyway, the best place to source one would be via farmers - if you know anyone in Victoria, I know they were offering bounties on foxes in rural Victoria a while back - so maybe that is still in place and someone in rural Victoria might be able to help you out?

Well done FHRP and your talented boys - what a wonderful achievement! And it must feel so good being out there, doing the variety of things that our breeds are meant to be able to do. Good on you and the UG boys, and how could anyone say that about Polo, he's a cutie