bubbley

Other stimulating toys like the Kibble Nibble or Everlasting treat ball or Aussie dog home alone toys are fantatic.

It would be great if you could join a training club to get your dogs out frequently. This will also help you with more ideas on how to give them more stimulation.

Lastly, you really need to do things with each dog seperately every day! I too had this problem initially with my dogs (even though I did things with them seperately 3-4 times a week) and it will only get worse. Imagine if one of them needs to go to the vet for a few days later on down the track, what are you going to do about the howling, winging puppy at home then? You need to train this now. If I were you I would walk them seperately each day (give the dog at home something really really good like a meaty bone, or really yummy kong) plus train them seperately and even play with one outside while the other is left inside and then swap them over etc. At the start you may only want to seperate them for a few minutes and then gradually increase the time.

I hope some of this information helps you. Here is a list of dog trainers in NSW (which I think this is where you are).

Thank you

Some of those toys look like a good idea. I think we are going to try to take turns walking one alone and I’ll stay with the other one and play with him out the back.. then swap. Then eventually both walk one then swap with the other pup alone at home. I’m going to set up a video camera to see what he does when left alone to see how he reacts that way I know what else I can do to make it easier for them.

Thank you again

Dogs don't care if it's raining, take them for a walk anyway. You are less likely to see others out walking while it's raining and it's the perfect opportunity for them to see the world.

I am not going to walk outside in an electrical storm in a park full of trees that is subject to flooding. I'll walk them in a light rain, but not in a storm. Sorry it's just not worth the risk.

Just to make sure we're both talking about the right thing, I'm talking about a limited slip collar, not a head halter.

Locky probably barks because he's either over excited or frightened. Punishing him is not the answer. Getting him used to new sights and sounds (including oher dogs at a distance) will help. Don't force him to meet other dogs - let him see and then move on.

All brown poodles fade. Better that they get some exercise outside and lose a bit of colour. They are desexed and therefore of little interest to thieves. Put in a dog door and let them work off some energy in the yard.

yeah I googled it as I didn't know what it was... I was never a fan when people suggested a muzzle for him but that collar seems like a good idea, just in case he does have a minor freak out and pull back while walking. They are pretty good with the stop command so if they are running away from us we just yell out STOP and they stop dead in their tracks.

It rained as soon as I got home so no walk last night but I did look out in the back yard to work out a solution. We are going to move the gate to behind the Gas Metre so we can keep it locked and make it a solid gate. We are also thinking of fencing off half the yard so they still have a huge area but just cant access the fences next door where there are other dogs and a shift working man sleeping.

Yeah some people have tried to give us tips for how to stop him barking but they never differentiated between excited barking and acceptable barking and naughty barking. I don't want to confuse Locky I am a fan of positive training I don't like to punish them I just don't reward bad behaviour.

Thank you all for your advice :D it really does help!!!

if Locky barks when we walk him should I get a soft muzzle for him for walks?

This NOT a good idea.

It will not teach him anything.

It will NOT let him pant/breathe properly, and he may overheat and get very ill.

It may also increase his fear.

I will again recommend you get a trainer in privately... one who can see your dogs, talk with you, and help you manage these niggling problems ..for the longterm health & happiness of your boys

This is what I thought so I never wanted to use it, but some people said it would stop him.... I just didn't feel confortable with it though.

I have a little look on the forum for a trainer see if there is one in my area.

in the mean time I will pop out to bunnings and get something to nail over the frames to stop them from making it worse then focus on getting them better!

I just thought it was odd that they liked bitter bite, Lime gel and chilli! Trust these cheeky monkeys to like it though

We normally spend time with them in the morning about 1 hour and then 4-6 hours at night. We leave them alone anywhere from 7am-6pm Mon-Fri but on the weekend we are home almost all day so we spend it with the pups.

11 hours is a long time to leave these dogs locked in a sunroom, is there any reason why they cannot be outside? I also agree with the others, the dogs need to get out and about, they are lacking stimulation and are bored. Locky is probably 'unsociable' because he doesn't get out enough and hasn't had enough exposure to other dogs from an early age. It's also not a good idea to have two dogs constantly together, they have to learn that being alone is ok. Walking them separately a few times a week and training them separately should make them more independent.

With Locky barking the way he does it would be an annoyance to the neighbours to have him in the yard all day. We were also told by the trainer to keep them out of the sun or their fur will fade and they are a chocolate brown so she thought it’d be a shame. Also I do not want to risk theft while we are out. In the area we live it’s sad but true, small or expensive dogs do get stolen. The sunroom is fairly large and there really isn’t any other safe option at this stage.

Locky got along fine with the puppies at puppy school and the dog next door, it’s only been since Simon (my partners mums poodle) snapped at him that he has become wary of other dogs. They also don’t seem to mind mingling at the groomers which is good to know. I need to find more dogs in the area we can say hello to.

When we have walked them in the past they have been pretty good on the lead and collar. They like to walk next to us but pally likes to walk infront of Locky and Locky likes to walk behind him.

The only issue we have is sometimes Locky gets a little fed up or freaked out and stops and doesn't move. It doesn't happen very much but that is the worst thing they do.

I hadn't seen a martingale before. They seem like a good idea for them to become better trained on the lead.

Another question... if Locky barks when we walk him should I get a soft muzzle for him for walks? or what other way can I stop this? (we would try the water bottle but THEY LOVE WATER they get so excited when they hear the bath that one jumps into the bath to get wet)

I live near Liverpool in NSW.

lol the pups are going to the groomers to get a short summer cut next week so it shouldn't be as bad for them with the heat soon.

Yep, take them for a walk. It doesn' have to be huge.. half an hour would be a good length to start. Let them explore new smells, sights and sounds.

It's a bit hot today but not to sunny so should be a nice day to take them out... we have a great track at the end of our road that takes about 30min to do so it's perfect for the little guys... I might take them out tonight

30 minutes is a LOOONG time to be doing obedience , I think. oh ok we try to teach them a few tricks and repeat them 3-5 times each, we sometimes do it all at once or in 2 lots.... but I can try shortening it into morning, arvo and evening

So- these two never get out to walk around the block? they go out into the front yard (still fenced though) we only walk them once every 3-4 weeks outside the yard due to the weather recently. But we hope to walk them outside a min of once a week now the weather is better and my boyfriend is well again

Dogs NEED to be smelling/hearing/seeing/feeling the world outside their yard... otherwise they stand a good chance of going stir crazy.

You may benefit from meeting with a trainer one-on one...especially if you have a fear aggressive boy I am getting more concerned now that Locky is getting older, I thought it may have been a fear stage... but I really don't think so. We were going to try to find a good trainer in our area to stop the barking more than anything.

Are they desexed? yes we got them desexed back in June.

Do you walk them seperately- or they always together? They are ALWAYS together, this I can see as being an issue but it's hard to seperate them. if you take one away the other pup howls and wimpers and panics. They are brothers so they have been together from day 1. When we walk them it's together but we take 1 pup each

Ah - those aren't REAL Kongs (I have two of those - they only get used as a reward in training as they are material and would be destroyed. They are kept with the other soft prey and tug toys). Real Kongs are hard plastic and I have a hard time imagining a toy poodle could destroy one.

lol... ahh! I might try to find the hard kongs and see how they go.

Enrolling at your local obedience club and doing 5 minutes of training a day would be a good way to go.

I would start walking them daily outside the yard AND provide more chewables like Kongs. You may not like seeing the Kongs destroyed (try the black ones, they are harder) but I bet it beats seeing the door frames chewed.

How much time every day do they spend with you?

They went to a 6 week puppy school a while ago so we have been keeping up with those tricks and teaching them new ones.

I might try to take them for a walk around the area to see if that helps.... can't hurt that's for sure

We normally spend time with them in the morning about 1 hour and then 4-6 hours at night. We leave them alone anywhere from 7am-6pm Mon-Fri but on the weekend we are home almost all day so we spend it with the pups.

When we get home we normally do obedience with them for 30min each per night. Then more on the weekends. We take them to my parents house 1-2 times a week to mingle... but we haven't had much of a chance to socialise them.

Locky is unsocial and a barker (mainly territorial and fear barking) when we introduced him to my partners mothers toy poodle a few months back her poodle took a snap at Locky and I think this has had an effect on him the poor bugger. Pally is fine with other dogs though.

The kongs were the medium sized material octopus leg toy…. These pups are so determined to rip the legs off they don’t stop until it’s ripped to bits.

Oh bugger I missed that I meant to type it then got side tracked.

Exercise.. we have a massive yard so as soon as we get home we let them out for a run and play ball with them.. they will normally keep going until they are worn out. So anywhere from 30min – 3 hours!

We are feeding them RAW BARF at the moment with Royal Canin Poodle dry food mixed in a tiny bit.

They have a lot of toys, they had a Kong each and within 1 day it was destroyed! They have chewy rings and bones, soft squeaky toys, socks, bones about 6 Lamb Shank bones (we feed them a Lamb Shank on the weekends and they keep the bones for a while).

If anything I think they have too many toys.

We own 2 adorable and cheeky toy poodles. They are almost 12months old.

When we are at work we keep them in the laundry with a doggy door to the sunroom. There is enough room for them to play and run in the room so it’s not too small. When they sleep we have a dog bed in the bathroom with a child safety gate locking them into the bathroom.

Overnight and during the day they seem to chew the door frame or anything made out of wood. It has gotten to a point where there are chunks missing from the frame so it has to stop. I have tried Bitter Bite gel and spray, also a Lime version each time the dogs would sit there and lick it all off… they LOVE it! So then I tried Chilli as suggested online… again they sit there licking it! I taped it up with packing tape only to find a puppy with tape on his ear and more of the frame missing.

As there are open door frames in the Sunroom we can’t block them off from that area during the day.

How can I get them to stop eating our house? Any suggestions would be fantastic..

That's where I'm taking my 2 toy poodle puppies as of next week