wuffles

Yes Tilly I'm glad ours isn't a big issue. In saying that, our girl is only 7 months old, has just started to lose her puppy license, so we will keep an eye on them as she gets older. She doesn't like to share her food either, but is so in love with her "big brother" that we don't have a problem. We had a foster greyhound here who was quite food aggressive (only around other dogs) and she had a go at my boy because he was sniffing the ground and she assumed he had food! It was just a lot of noise though and neither of them were hurt. We were super careful with them, they were fed completely separately.

I actually find the interactions between my dogs on this issue really interesting. Sometimes I feel a bit of pity creep in but in the end I enjoy watching my dogs be dogs. In our case there has been a benefit to our older boy's mild resource guarding -- the puppy learned very quickly that you don't steal things from older or more senior ranking dogs. She's also now got great appeasement gestures. Thankfully ours is only mild (a growl is as far as it goes) but we still separate to feed high value items and only leave lower value toys in the yard.

I have, and I have no regrets Our girl is just a pet, but we had a lot of communication with the breeder and we were happy with everything. She has also given us a lot of support.

Just wanted to mention, be careful if you think he will EAT the blankets/towels rather than just destroy them as they could cause a blockage. Mine actually do eat pieces of what they chew up so they don't get towels/blankets any more

Whenever Satch hears a bell of any kind, he thinks there is a cat somewhere -- it's conditioned! Once we got one of those Lindt bunnies out of the cupboard that had a tiny bell around its neck and he went nuts looking for the cat. I was dangling the bell in front of his face going "look, this is what's making the noise!" and he was going "yes I know, but I HEARD A CAT" :)

I agree on the bell suggestion, it's quite easy to teach! Personally, my dogs don't really need to ask to be let out because we are in the routine of letting them out frequently. Sometimes they go and sit at the door if they want to go out (usually to play or bark at something rather than toilet), which we usually notice as our house is small. There's no way I'm going to teach my girl to bark on cue as she loves to graciously offer behaviours in the hope of getting rewarded and would probably drive me and the neighbours insane

Does anyone know if anyone in or around Canberra is running Rally classes or seminars? It looks like fun!

Ours don't feel the cold, in fact, the colder it is, the happier they seem. They both have a nice thick undercoat, unlike little Elbie! When we fostered a greyhound, she had her coat on all day while we weren't around -- a soft Weatherbeeta one. The other suggestion I'd have is a Hound House kennel. Ours used theirs when it was cold, it was much warmer than our other kennel. I would just put a towel in there for a bit of snuggling. Unfortunately, they managed to destroy the Hound House, so now they make do with a trampoline bed (which I came home to find upside down yesterday)

It depends on the dog's individual personality, but I would take him for some kind of socialisation, whether that be puppy school or obedience school. Our girl had been socialised with all kinds of dogs at the breeder's house, but when she met our boy at 12 weeks she still squealed and weed herself! She was very tentative with the first few dogs she met and then gained confidence - puppy school helped in our case and now she's not scared of anything in the world

6:30am is a sleep-in in our house I am really firm with Ava (7 months) likes to come into our room at 5:30am and poke her nose in our faces. She gets a very strong "NO, back to bed" when she does this and she listens and goes back to her bed in the lounge. Unfortunately, OH isn't firm on her so she only tries his side of the bed now Sorry, not much advice, but we have an early riser here and I don't see it changing any time soon

What lovely pictures and how nice that they let doggies visit! His ears are so gorgeous

One of ours is the same, except he can have chicken bones with no problem, so he only gets these. Sorry, don't really have any suggestions

There is no way I'd be leaving a 9 week old puppy tied up outside a shop by itself, no matter where it was. At 9 weeks old she is still a baby and not used to being by herself. She probably thinks she is being abandoned. Start training in your home or backyard. Put her on leash and tether her to a fence or other structure. At first, just stand with her and reward her for being calm. The next session, take one step away from her and again, reward her when she is calm. Build this up until she is calm with you out of sight, but do NOT move too quickly... I would expect this would take weeks or even months, not days.

I've already had all this advice, and while it is gratefully received, this is what we are doing. We are walking them one person per dog. Our older boy needs no corrections. He ends up getting very confused about why we are stopping and starting so much, though I'm not just using a training aid and forgetting about training. My argument was that I think people on these forums get told things are easy when sometimes they are, but most of the time they are not. Just my opinion.

Yep, "find the kibble" is Ava's favourite game! She doesn't even touch her Kong until every last bit of kibble has been devoured. Sometimes she gets kibble thrown on her when she gets in the way, then she goes crazy trying to get it out of her fur :laugh: You just have to be careful the ants don't find it, it also attracts birds, but Ava is so obsessive about getting it all that we don't have a problem.

Our boy was an only dog for two years before we got our puppy. It has definitely been a lot more work for us, our dreams of "keeping each other occupied" was quickly replaced by the reality of "revving each other up" Pros: They have each other's company while we are at work. They play together, and both enjoy playing with other dogs. They learn things from each other - social skills, sharing resources, training. Cons: They get up to lots more mischief when we're not home - less likely to sleep all day and more likely to play and chew things. Have to divide attention between them, especially hard when you have a puppy who needs more training than the older dog. Harder for me to manage exercise time, as they have different energy levels and are hard to walk together. Having to deal with any issues between them such as resource guarding, jealousy, disagreements.

No, it's not too late, but is there a reason you need to use a crate at all? Ours (5 years and 7 months old) both have free range of the lounge/bedroom at night and generally spend the whole night on their beds in the lounge. I've found that most dogs seem to "know" to sleep on their bed at night, and it sounds like your girl is well behaved. Some dogs seem to take to crates better than others but if you make it a fun place to be they generally learn pretty quickly. Neither of ours "love" their crates but will go in there willingly to sleep if asked, for example if we are at someone else's house. We had a foster greyhound that just adored the crate, she would have slept in there all day if we let her.

Do you use clicker training? You could probably build up his interest in balls this way, I'm sure there are Youtube videos about clicker training your dog to retrieve which would be useful. Click and treat at first just for any interest shown in a ball, even just looking at it. Once he is doing this consistently, up the criteria - sniffing, then touching, then picking up, then holding, etc. Make the ball seem like the best thing ever We freeze tinned dog food in our Kongs and they last a little longer. We also scatter the puppy's kibble alllll over the yard, so she spends a fair time hoovering that up

He sounds like our 7 month old girl. She's hard to tire out of a morning and gets into mischief during the day while we're out. I don't have any suggestions for you on the ball/play front, but does he have heaps of things to keep him occupied during the day? Ours get Kongs, Tug-a-Jug or other treat ball type toy, and rotated chew toys. Ours still destroy the yard, but it's worth a try

I am not an expert but here is my advice anyway! Does she have her own comfy bed on the floor, near the couch? You need to make that a nice place for her to be instead of the couch. I wouldn't punish her for getting on the couch, just an "uh uh, OFF", preferably while in the act of getting up rather than once she's actually up there! Be consistent with the word you use and give her time to learn what it means. Remove her from the couch if necessary and encourage her to lie on her own bed. Give her a bone or toy or something she enjoys on her own bed. Mine have an "on your bed" command that I taught by luring them to their own bed and giving them a treat. I built up the time they were expected to stay there gradually. With one of ours, he would always try to take the treat elsewhere, so I had to give him rawhides or other treats I could hold while he ate on his bed. The same boy often gives us that "I don't care what you want me to do" look when he gets told off, positive reinforcement of the RIGHT thing to do helps us deal with this. Our other little puppy only has to be told once! Hope this helps!

I am comfortable giving a strong correction if it works. And yes, I have been shown how to do this At least with the front-attach harness now we can walk the dogs together without her constantly choking and without having to give correction after correction after correction. I still don't think this is just an issue with owners without training experience. Most people I know who walk their dogs on haltis and harnesses have quite well behaved dogs who have been through some formal training. There are people in my class at our training club that use these tools during class, and they all definitely know the basics of training their dogs, and they're at class, so it's not like they couldn't be bothered. I have had at least three instructors at our club (who have obedience and agility titled dogs) tell me that "they have the same problem" when walking more than one dog at once

I had knee surgery 7 weeks ago (ACL reconstruction) and the amount of times dogs have run into me is scary Strangely enough, my two seem to stay clear (Ava ran up to me and bumped it when I got home from the hospital, she got roused on, and she hasn't done it since). Other dogs, however..... I've had a rottie, samoyed and labrador all put back my recovery a little (They haven't damaged the graft at all, just made the knee a bit more tender!) Satchmo can't wear a car harness, he hates it so much. Ours both ride in the back of my wagon.

I can give a pretty hefty correction on the martingale and get a very minor or no reaction at all. Sometimes her ears will go back and that's the only sign she cares in the slightest. The same dog can heel to a pretty high standard when she is walked by herself, or at the training club I definitely know that the problem is focus around our other dog, which I'm working on, but I just don't believe it's as easy as many on these forums make it out to be.

My pup is completely unresponsive to a flat collar or martingale correction when she's excited. Turn around go to the opposite direction? Weee, this is fun, let's continue! Rewarding natural focus and slack lead doesn't happen because there is no natural focus or slack lead. Not all dogs are the same, some are much more difficult to teach to walk on a loose leash than others (I've taught another dog with no problems). While I agree that people need to use training to teach this, and not rely on equipment or tools, I also don't think it's constructive to say that anyone can teach a pup to walk on a flat collar in a day. It just makes people lose faith in their training ability and IMO makes them more likely just to rely on a tool. Sorry, rant over

When Satch has had hotspots, they have gotten bad really fast. One night I noticed one, it was just a tiny moist patch so I dried it and went to bed... slept him in our bedroom so I would hear if he was licking it... when I woke up the next morning it was a huge weeping mess with hair stuck to it I guess it depends on the individual dog and the reason the hotspot has appeared - but yes, if you can get away with not trimming the hair then go for it, as Satch looks silly with a bald rump :D