pinkpony

Thank you again. I will give that a go! I'm in Western Australia, south of the river. I rang the vet and they said the classes were done with a trained professional but didn't provide a name or organisation. I'm starting to think I should look elsewhere.

Thank you Cosmolo, that sounds like great advice. I realise I have been looking at taking Indi to puppy school from the wrong perspective. The school is run at the local vet - not the same one I took Willow to as we have since left the area, so I really don't know if they use the vet nurses or dog trainers. I guess I should find out. I will also start working on a calm down cue right away. However, if I train this while they are 'playing' will it seem like I am rewarding the rough play-time rather than the ceasing of play-time? Thank you also for reminding me about giving Willow plenty of time to play fetch by herself. We have been doing this by crating Indi (with treats to keep her content) but I like the idea of also using this time to teach restraint. I need to remember this is a slow process and we have only had Indi for just over a week! She has already learnt to sit, drop and potty outside, so she is a clever girl and I know I can't expect too much. More than anything I just don't want to create problem dogs, so the guidance is much appreciated.

Hi, I'm new and I hope this is the right thread to post this into to. I'd really appreciate some training advice and general reassurance and/or guidance. I have recently bought a Cavalier King Charles puppy as a companion for our 2 year old Cav. I adore the breed and have found training our older dog really easy and rewarding. Willow (the 2 yo) is the most gentle, loving dog. She has always been very submissive with other dogs but seems to enjoy her playtimes. She is now very excited to have a permanent friend and Indi (now almost 10 weeks) thinks she is great fun. However, because of her submissive nature, I am concerned that Willow is not teaching Indi about bite inhibition. She allows Indi to constantly hang off her pretty ears (which are getting very matted through all this chewing) and her tail. She runs, gently mouths and rolls Indi onto her back but never tells her enough is enough. The behaviour is at its worst when my fiance or I are actually there as Willow loves to play fetch and because she runs to us with a toy in her mouth, she either (a) can't tell Indi off or (b) can't play the game with us that she loves more than pats or food rewards. They also make a lot of noise - low growling (not accompanied by teeth barring at all) and the occassional yelp or bark. They go at it so often that I'm also concerned they're not getting enough rest and that my neighbours are going to get annoyed! We have tried distracting them both with toys, training etc but they will ignore us in preference to this rough game, which worries me a lot. We have put Willow's bed up onto a table so that she can jump up there when she needs some time out, but she seems to tolerate it more often than not. We have also been crate training Indi, but it doesn't seem right to put her in her crate to stop a game is she's supposed to see it as her fun, special den. Do we step in to stop this rough playing? How should I progress this? Or am I being an overly cautious mum? I have enrolled Indi into puppy pre-school, which we start next week, so I'm hoping there's a big dominant puppy there that will teach her some respect! Thanks for any advice. I would really appreciate the expertise of forum members.