teekay

Hi, Hankodie . Sorry to hear about your Frenchie's health issues, it sure would complicate matters. Is there any way her normal food allowance could be used on walks, training etc? Not as good as some yummy stuff that would be bad for her, but may be better than nothing, especially as you say she loves her food. Oh and would love to see some photos of your 2 babies. :)

Priceless Persephone I have sent her that link Raineth, thanks for that. She says she has read everything I have sent her and I will go and see her next week. Problem is, I'm not a trainer so I do not have confidence in my abilities to help all that much, just to point her in the right direction. No problem teekay, I hope she finds it helpful :) Hopefully she'll try a different way and have no more broken bones! Pass on the "be a tree" method if you remember it, it is really good for those hyper dogs and doesn't require much co-ordination or anything :) Thanks Raineth, I will. That's what worked best for teaching Luka loose leasing walking too :D Trouble is, he is.a lot of dog to stand still with :laugh: I have recommended a front attach harness to give them more control. She wanted to use a halti but I am concerned with his lunging that he would injure himself.

Priceless Persephone I have sent her that link Raineth, thanks for that. She says she has read everything I have sent her and I will go and see her next week. Problem is, I'm not a trainer so I do not have confidence in my abilities to help all that much, just to point her in the right direction.

So our visit to the vet this morning went really well (Unlike the walk after, but I will get to that ) It was a different receptionist but she was great with him and it was his usual vet on duty so she came out after Lya's consult, to say hello to him and Luka was a little nervous, but copious treats were lapped up. While the vet was talking to OH about booking Mya in for a dental I went into the consulting room with Luka and he had a sniff around and a few treats. All good. We spoke about his desexing and she says, with the nervous dogs, they let the owners stay with them while they sedate them so they are relaxed by the time you leave. :) So I am going to bite the bullet and book him in. Another dog arrived and my vets is tiny so I didn't actually book him in there and then but I will definitely be popping back in next week. Another social visit can't hurt and I'll book him in then. Not looking forward to next months credit card bill We took Mya and Luka for a walk after, but unfortunately there was an off lead dog (isn't there always ) but there was absolutely no sign of an owner, I think this dog may have escaped it's yard, and it was flying. Really running fast and Luka lost the plot. Screamed like a banshee. He hasn't done that in a while On a plus though, we did walk past lots of people and, although at this point I had run out of treats, Luka was fine :) So a good but not great morning :D Oh and I have booked a one on one consultation with Steve Courtney when he is up here next month. I ummed and ahhed about the cost but If I don't try I will never know if he could have made a difference.

The fact they are calling them blonde labs says it all I'd be guessing Mum is actually a golden retriever or lab x Golden

Just booked and paid for a private consult. Excited and nervous now :)

Thanks both. LBD I did laugh at the thought of growling at her. Would probably get the point across :laugh: Have ordered that book Alkhe. Thanks for the recommendation. It is very sad that this is the trainer the shelter uses. I was really surprised.

Hi Teekay The venue we've hired out is at a school that has a big under cover area. I haven't actually been there before myself so I can't be certain how big it is, but I do know it is fairly open. There are only a limited number of handler spots available each day so there would be no more than say a dozen or so dogs there, but we do ask that all dogs are crated or at the very least, leashed and dogs won't be interacting with each other. Steve works one dog at a time, so it won't be a situation where there are lots of dogs on top of each other. Also how long are the sessions? Can't decide whether to book in for the Sunday or go for a one on one. Luka is a pretty focussed dog, doing well in his obedience training, but he still has stranger issues and slight reactivity around other dogs but this is much better than it was. What would you suggest would be the best for us?

Can I ask what kind of venue the Brisabane workshop is set in? And how many other dogs would be in a session. Contemplating whether Luka would cope with the new environment.

A friend of mine recently adopted a Great Dane x from an animal refuge. He is only about 12 months old so just a big puppy really. The refuge offered a free training session and, as they were having issues with walking a big dog they took up their offer. I am concerned about the advice this trainer gave. She seem to be very much of the 'be a dominant leader' brigade and said that if he doesn't do as he is told they are to growl at him to show him who is boss So now my friend is busy growling away at this dog and is proud when his ears go right back as he is being 'submissive' He has bowled her over a couple of times on walks, the most recent of which has resulted in a broken ankle and she posted on FB that she needs to get his dominance issues sorted out. Now I looked after this dog for a day and he is anything but dominant. He's a big dog with a tendency to get over excited, he is not dominant. I am trying to gently coax her more in the direction of positive reinforcement ( I asked her if she has any treats and she says, "yeah they are in the top of the cupboard, but I haven't really used them" ), so while she is laid up at the moment does anyone have any recommendation for her? Any books or dvd's, you tube videos? I have suggested she watch some Kikopup videos and have offered to go and talk to her but I think getting her to be more open to non dominance theory training could be an uphill battle.

And so you should be, Hankdog :D That is a great idea about the operating morning thing. I shall ask on Saturday.

Yep, I'd say leave it if possible. Wait till the hair has grown and then you may be able to snip around it, very carefully. When I tried gluing Luka's ears as a pup, I think the thing I did wrong was not use enough glue. We now have upsy daisy ears at 18 months. I recently posted pics in the Aussie thread. You should pop on over there. Lots of fellow Aussie lovers :D Oh and absolutely need some photos of the new addition :)

Yay BC bet you are both glad of some peace. Wish I could say the same. Not as bad as jack hammering but they have a digger on the go all day next door today. Luka has been great but it so getting on my nerves. They're still at it now and they arrived at 6am The muzzle training is going great Raineth, he is fine with it at home but it really is a last resort and I only want to use it if we really have to. I would rather try and build up his trust again. Mya is going to the vets Monday morning so I'm going to go with OH and take Luka along as well. Mya is pretty chilled so I am hoping her clamness rubs off on him. I had thought about gong to another vets and if we don't get any forward progress over the next couple of weeks I will give that a try.

Oh yes, Spotted devil, that second one looks very familiar. :laugh:

Oh god that would of been very funny raineth, NOT!! Maybe in reflection but not at the time I reckon. Geez, I could just imagine me in that situation with my 2. They would both be trying to herd it with me on the other end of the leash :laugh: Hope you got on OK & didn't get hurt. I am having the day from hell with my girl today as they have been jack hammering next door since 7 am this morning Stella is beside herself. So we have been out all morning & just come home. Thunder shirt, meds. Inside with a meaty bone atm I sympathise BC, we've had men working on next doors garden for weeks now. Mostly Luka hasn't been too bad but sometimes he will go off at them. I must admit, though, If it wasn't bad for him to get worked up I would be tempted to just let him bark at them because the idiots have decided to raise their garden so they are easily head and shoulders above our 6 foot fence.

And moooooooove on you did :laugh: Sorry couldn't resist

I've been trying to pluck up the courage to take Luka to be desexed but after the last disastrous trip to the vets I am scared. We tried to do a relaxed visit last week, just a pop in and lots of treats, like I did before his yearly vaccinations but he was obviously worried as we got near the vets so I didn't push it. We just hung around out the front for a while with me throwing treats on the ground. We'll try again this week. I wish the vets was nearer so i could pop by every day. Beginning to wish I had just got him desexed at 6 months. We wouldn't have had a problem then

That's a good idea Kelpiecuddles. There is an on lead only beach that often has still water around, I should take them there more often. Thanks SpottedDevil, that makes sense.

Thanks MUP, Jenna is a crossbreed before I knew better. She's a Golden Retriever x Samoyed. I often get asked if she is a Maremma but she is much smaller. She is a gorgeous girl though :D

Oh my goodness, Wolff is such a cute bundle of fluffy buttness. Looking forward to watching him grow..................................................... and grow.......................................... and grow :D

Thanks Mita, I actually didn't think to Google, that's very unlike me :laugh: Not sure where I could go to try and coax him into the shallow water. Will have to investigate and look for suitable areas.

Thanks Spotted Devil, do you think the life jacket actually held him in more of the right kind of position to swim, or just stopped him looking like he was struggling? If it actually trains him to pull under the water instead of on top of it I may get one, although as he doesn't like water usually I'm not sure how much use it would get. It would provide peace of mind though. I will look into it, thanks

Went for a walk this weekend with the dogs and, as no one was around, I let Jenna and Luka off lead. We were walking around a reservoir and I was totally shocked when Luka decided to go for a swim. I think the ducks were an incentive :laugh: Now, he didn't gently wade in though, he launched himself and then he panicked ( So did I, a little :) ) he really isn't the greatest of swimmers. Instead of paddling under the water like my other two, he paddles vertically like he is trying to climb out of the water. There is very slow forward progress. He did manage to get back to the bank but made me think about whether you can train a dog to swim better. Obligatory pictures of walk :D Fluffy butt :laugh: With Jenna

Oh yes, definitely T. I'd love a Newfoundland or two, without the slobber and with a longer life span and obviously no health issue at all please :) or a Bernese with the same requirements :) There is just something about huge dogs that I adore, especially the fluffy ones. In reality I would love a mix of Jenna and Luka. Jenna's easy going nature, stable, not the slightest bit reactive but not overly friendly, means we can go for a walk on the beach and she won't bother other people or dogs but not fussed if they approach her, BUT not the sharpest tool in the box. :D So can we just add Luka's fantastic focus and trainability and voila, we pretty much would have my perfect dog.

Snap :D