all that glitters

My girl had her 2nd obedience class yesterday too and distraction is still an issue. We were all practicing some heel work, and although I could get her to focus for small amounts of time, getting her to focus initially is the hard bit!! But each little success I hope will lead to good focus later, it's hard with a dozen other yappy puppies around you and wind and voices etc

What a darling! Sweep is adorable, get better little man!

I'm still here I knew from the get go that SBT are very close to humans and in particular children, and this is one of the reasons it made the shortlist of breeds due to my young children. Like i've been saying all along i do appreciate more knowledgeable folk (in particular breeders) giving 'constructive' feedback and i have come to realise that SBT aren't suited for an outdoor only life. Now we just need to sit down as a family and rethink our plans. Fantastic, Sluggo! And if you choose an outdoor only dog, also consider WHAT will be the plan IF he particular puppy you end up with results in issues down the track with being outside (anxiety, destruction, barking and annoying neighbours etc etc) which COULD mean some or all indoor access.. would that be possible IF it had to be? That sorta thing

Dogs are dirt, mess and hair :panting:

Thanks guys! We may have a go at agility sometime later when shes over a year old or even 2yrs old. I think she would really enjoy it, as she loves training, and applying it to obstacles and energetic exercises would be great!

I was worried about the whole GSDs being vocal thing as well, so far my girl only whines/cries/makes noise if she wants to be let out for toilet, or if she is tethered or left alone (when we leave she sooks for about 5 minutes according to neighbours). So I think I'm pretty bloody lucky by the sounds of it I found that ignoring the noise is better than reacting to it. If I said "ahh ahh" or "NO" when she was making noise, she would make more noise, if I ignored it, it would stop quicker

Just want to say how exciting it is when your puppy becomes toilet trained.. to think you established their good habits is great! Shyla does all her business outside now when we are at work (goes out her dog door) and whines at the door to go out when we are home (but if we don't hear her, she may do a pee at the door). Last night we had to go out for the evening (hardly do that, but it was my best friend (bindii)'s 21st!) and we were gone for 6 hours, came home to a spotless house with no accidents.. the good little girl held on whoo! I wonder what makes some dogs harder to toilet train then? Lack of consistency? Smartness of breed? Mum got her golden retriever when she was 4 months old, they had a heck of a time toilet training her. She wasn't trustworthy upstairs on the carpet til she was nearly 1yrs old! Now she is 3 and is great, but it was a much slower process, which I then expected with Shyla cos of mums experience. But I can honestly say my first hand at toilet training has been extremely easy, I'm thinking its more Shylas intelligence than my approach to toilet training!

* Don't freak out right away if pup has soft poos when it gets home, almost always happens with the excitement/new change * Don't give into their crying and whining if they whinge in their crate/room at night, it is inevitable * Let pup settle in for a day or so before people come over to oohh and ahh over it

Here goes this thread the way so many other threads go.. :rolleyes: If someone comes on here asking about having an Outside Dog only, these are the responses they are going to get. They can take it or leave it!

:rolleyes: Showing her dismay!

Are GSDs any good at agility or is it bad for their hips? I think Shyla would be fantastic at it later in life, she seems to love any challenge I give her, and if we excel at Obedience I will be wanting more! I know they can't jump or have extra pressure on their hips when they are growing, so at what age would one try agility on a GSD? I might buy one of those agility starter kits when shes old enough :rolleyes:

It's only hard to accept because dogs are companion animals. Meaning company, meaning indoors where the family is most of the time. Sure, a dog may get used to being outdoors, and 'seem' happy, but is that truely what they would want? That's all *shrug* Unless you move the couch and computer and TV outside and spend hours out there with doggy, I am yet to be convinced about this whole outdoor thing. Good luck in whatever u wish to do though, we are all different in our upbringing and decisions

That does sound quite handy for adult pullers! Hopefully by the time Shylas massive we have walking nicely down pat, or at least a vast improvement lol

Mmm totally agree, thats my point, who will seriously spend enough quality time outdoors with their dog when its cold especially? Do you sit on the sofa with the tV out there? Play tug for 10 minutes, do some training, pick up poop, then what.. generally people end up relaxing indoors of an evening, sitting on the computer, watching tv, reading, none of that stuff is outside stuff that takes up several hours I guess I don't understand either, but some must do it successfully!?

Staffies + being kept outdoors = no way!! I bought my GSD as they are loyal, human loving dogs as well, and I knew I wanted her inside as much as possible. A GSD kept outside 24/7 is a recipe for disaster as well. I want her around me as much as I can, I want her to feel a part of the pack. Hence why I got a dog!! Whatever breed you choose, if it's kept outside you yourself will need to spend a lot of quality time outside (in the cold!) to give it company and make it feel part of the pack. As long as you do that, it may work, personally I would hate having to spend so much time outside (Im a wuss with the cold, brrr), so I have my dog as an indoor dog to make it much easier to keep her stable and happy and a part of our family (pack). I am one of those people who is all for having dogs as indoor dogs, or at least partially indoor dogs, the thought of having a dog as an outside dog only is something I can't understand, but have come to sort of accept after seeing there are a number of people on this forum who do it. It always raises the same question with me "Why get a dog if its outside all the time!? No one has really answered this properly for me yet, but everyone does what they want to do, and we all have different opinions. At least get a breed that is not super human clingy, a staffy is about the worst choice, or if you still go with the staffy, give it a dog door so it has indoor access as well, it will benefit you and the dog :rolleyes:

The lady who took our first Obedience class today said she didn't want correction collars on the puppies, check chains and haltis. She said only flat nylon/leather collars or the martingale This grumpy looking mother and son had a halti on their little black lab puppy which I thought looked very extreme/wrong for a pup. I'm glad they were made to take it off, it was squashing his eye!

No worries about going off topic guys, it's always more to read and learn about! I've got the obedience club to order me in a martingale collar, at least for the fact that if she tries to reverse out of it (which she sometimes does) it won't come off! Will definately start seeing the walk as more of a training session than a 'walk'. She's not phased by walks at all yet, so going out there and focusing on getting her to walk nicely, even if its just down a few houses and back, will be fine. Will definately work on it!

http://www.pawzazzpetz.com.au/gpage13.html Is this sort of collar OK to use if a dog continues to pull?

I've tried giving a quick wrist flick to correct her to stop pulling, and I usually do that and stop walking til she stops pulling, and when the leash is slack and we're standing, I try to walk again, which results in more pulling. Our 10/15minute walk takes ages longer cos we're always stopping. I also tried the thing where you change direction continuously, but I just end up looking like an idiot, and it doesn't work either! It's usually when she gets nervous that she becomes a steamtrain (so to speak), cos thats when the pulling starts, we're mostly walking when it dark cos its usually 6.45am, and shes nervous in the dark, so I guess she will just get used to that aspect as well. We start obedience tomorrow.. hopefully over the the weeks they show us how to tackle this. It's heaps annoying!

Thanks! At the moment we keep her on leash and let the min pin come to her, we've had some good moments now where she just licks her, I mostly hold Shyla on my lap though and min pin goes crazy leaping around near us

It must be an automatic thing they do as pups then! We start obedience tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if their tips help us overcome the pulling. It just seems that almost all large dogs I see in public have check chains on? As opposed to being walked with a nylon collar. I guess it's better control IF a situation happened, and if they are not pulling anyway, it doesnt matter that they are wearing one? Hm

Well Shyla has an ordinary nylon collar for now as she is a puppy. I have been to a GSD meet a few times now, and most of the adults have on check chains or haltis! Which is more effective to control a dog and stop pulling? Haltis look more daunting and more serious, check chains are way more common. She is already a puller, I am hoping to curb that with obedience help, but it seems with the larger dogs its good to have more than a nylon collar anyway for control if you need it?

My mum has had a min pin pup for about a month now, when they first got her she was SO tiny! Now she is a lot more rubust and larger, but still small Anyway, we take Shyla over 2-3 times a week, and she gets on great with their Golden Retriever, but cos Shyla loves to play and playing involves 'mouthing' each other and all that, she can't be let loose with the min pin cos it's head is the size of her mouth! For those who have such a large/small dog scenario, when can the larger dog be allowed to play with the smaller one? When the min pin is adult size will it be ok? It's frustrating cos I have to keep Shyla on a leash the whole time, or min pin goes in her playpen and they mouth through the bars

Yep Kelpie, thats her! She's a lot bigger now though cos those photos are from over a month ago, hehe Some nights we forget to turn the heating down, but usually we program it so it doesn't come on during the night (ie - ive just gotten up now and the dial says 16c, but just did poop duty so I'm warmed up anyway lol)

My girl would eat another 10 dinners after her initial one, she is a guts and a half!! Totally never lets me forget breakfast, dinner or supper, she will sit at the cupboard and stare me down til I get up