aussielover

I find talking to my puppy in a ridicoulsly high pitched and happy voice helps move her forward as well aqs keep her under control. I probably look and sound like an idiot though.

You should only breed excellent dogs that have been proven in the show ring OR as working dogs. If you are an ethical breeder, you will perform the relevant health tests for your breed. These can often be expensive. You will show successfully and title your dog (hopefully) to prove your dog is worthy of being bred from (as i'm not sure poms actually have a working purpose lol). The reason most ethical breeders have a litter is in the hope of producing an exceptional pup for themselves to show or title, or work. Having pups for the sake of it just because you can is not very good imo and you will be risking your beloved pet's health for no reason. Please think carfeully about this. If you do decide to do the right thing and show your dog and do all the necessary health tests, then I wish you the best of luck. Breeding can be very rewarding but can also be heartbreaking.

Personally I found this method to be the most effective with my dog.

I believe that while Cesar's methods may make the dog "submissive" to him, the dog may not naturally transfer that submission to anyone else. Dog are not stupid, they know what they can get away with- it may vary for different people. I see this almost everyday, even in my own home. If you subscribe to dominance theory- Top dog is not necessarily always top dog- subordinate animals may challenge if they sense a weakness in the leader. Whilst they may be unlikely to challenge Cesar himself, I think there is a fair chance that at some point, they are likely to challenge the owners. I am also interested to see figures of his long term sucess rates

KJS, I'm glad everything turned out ok for you (though it must have been very stressful) and your doggie was able to be saved. I don't know what i'd do if someone tried to take my dog and have it PTS for no reason

If she is still little, maybe just carry her in the area you want to walk to start with? I would take my puppy to busy areas/high traffic areas when she was a baby, but I would only carry her, so she felt quite secure (also not fully vaccinated). Now she is fine with traffic- it doesn't bother her at all, she won't even react if a siren goes off close to her or a motorcycle revs near her. my puppy did not start walking well until about 4 months of age, she was not timid as such, but would refuse to move if she didn;t feel like it. after a fair amount of work at home and only doing very short walks, she did learn to walk. Now we are having a slight issue with pulling because we encouraged her to go forward too much as a young pup and even encouraged tension on the lead. But personally i think pulling is a little easier to deal with than refusal to walk.

How long has been going on for? If it has just started could it be a UTI or incontinence issue? Make sure you clean the bedding, i've heard vinegar works well to eliminate smells etc. My puppy who hasn't had an accident for 2 months suddenly decided to pee on a rug we put down. She had previously peed on it when she was a baby (which was why we took it away), obviously we didn't get the smell out too well...

didn't he once use a shock collar on a dog and it turned around and bit the owner :D In the Shadow video (which im sure you have all seen) where he strangles the dog into "submission", he actually kicks the dog which provokes it into attacking him (imo) you can see at 2:10 and also again at 2:54 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh9YOyM2TAk At the end, you can see the dog had urinated. I also find it scary that at the end the owners were relieved that it was a dominace issue not an aggression issue????? Dominance and aggression are not mutually exclusive... (if there even was a dominance problem in the first place). The only thing in that episode i agreed with was getting rid of the prong collar because the owners were clearly not using it effectively or it was wrong tool for the situation. Although This video actually seems quite sensible!

Ok so for something already well established like a sit- if the dog is slow to respond, no reward, not even praise? I kind of feel bad not even giving verbal praise :D especially when she sits there looking up at me with those big puppy dog eyes and waggy tail... LOL I always use a food or toy reward for recall, but will use some dry food for a slower recall, but yummy chicken or cheese for a lightning fast recall. If she is in the mood, i will use a squeaky toy as a reward as well.

I like to teach useful things, such as an assistance dog might do. I have taught how to open and close draws and then added in getting items out and bringing to me (not game enough to teach opening the fridge door, i can only imagine where that would lead to...) My dog also brings in the paper every morning which people seem quite impressed by (but is not all that hard to teach, especially to a retriever). Also turning on lights (my dog is still a puppy so can't reach yet), getting stuff out of a dryer, getting the tv remote, getting a tissue or hanky, go get your food bowl, lead etc. It would be really cool to teach a dog to retrieve the telephone! I might actually try that. I wonder if you can stop them slobbering all over it though. If i had a smaller dog i would like to teach them to jump into my arms! (we would both be injured if mindy tried that with me lol) BTW what is "say your prayers"??

Just want to get others thoughts on this. I always give a reward if my dog obeys a command. It might not neccessarily be a high value reward such as food or a toy, but I do always give verbal praise at least. With recalls I always give a high value reward. I have been told that it is optimal to only reward intermittently. does this mean you can't use verbal praise somtimes?

I think for some dogs barking is a rewarding behaviour in itself for them ie. they like the sound of ther own voice and some smaller dogs are known to be more "yappy" Obviously we can't tell if this applies to your dog, but i would advise getting a professional as well. Often this sort of self-rewarding barking is best dealt with using some sort of correction (eg anti bark or ecollar) which you would need instruction on how to apply correctly to get the best results. Do you leave the pup outside? if you do, maybe you could try leaving her inside or vice versa? You could try leaving her for very short periods (a few minutes) and rewarding for silence.

Lottie looks so big hehe I agree you should steal her

IMO if the pup has a sound, solid temperament to start with getting it after 8 weeks does not make a lot of difference. Especially if the breeder has put in the hard yards and to be honest, if they have, it's much easier that taking on an 8 week old. +1

Haha I just saw a ferret bring walked on a leash

Daisy is just the cutest!

I wasn't aware until quite recently that in QLD pet pitties were seized and PTS just for being pitbulls :o I don't understand how that happened It is just so horrible that could happen a perfectly harmless pet. What was the basis used to justify this? They MAY turn aggressive??? I can see how banning of importing certain breeds/ new owners buying certain breeds (NOT that i agree with it) came about, but to kill innocent existing pets

Mine have excellent stays, but they jumped on the bed many times. Not because they don't understand - but they are very persistant and will try to break me, little buggers. Kiesha - your two sound a lot like mine. One bossy and one anxious. I'm not comfortable tethering them, I worry about them getting knotted up while I'm asleep. I like crates because they can't get on your bed but are 100% safe. I'd persist and be sleepy for the next couple of days. My girl made a noise all night on the first night, but after 3 nights she was fine. Mine tried to jump up once, i put her back down, she jumped up again i put her back down and she just went off and sulked on her bed and hasn't bothered since then. I guess I was lucky then

Do they have a good stay? How persistant are they with jumping up on the bed? Can you simply put them back down on the floor/their bed when they jump up? After a couple of gos they might get sick of it and give up?

This has been discussed a bit on GSD forums - apparently there have been a few breeders who have had puppy buyers call them in tears when the vet has seen them for vaccinations and told them they need to have JPS done. If the pup is a bit loose in its hocks or just because its a GSD, the vet says they're going to get HD and quick, do the op while they can. Yep the same thing was recommended to me for no other reason apart from the fact she was a labrador puppy :rolleyes:

These are two dog trainers/behaviourists that are often recommended by DOLers. I think they are located in Melbourne. I would try to contact one of them as I think this pup desperately needs help (I hope erny as cosmolo don't mind me posting this here :rolleyes:, please contact me if you want me to remove) http://www.prok9.com.au/ http://www.underdogtraining.com.au/

I don't think females are more dominant in general. I'd be a bit concerned if that was the breeders view. Though perhaps she meant that particular female? Generally speaking PF is right, you have better chances of the dogs getting on if you get male/female, however, a pup with a compatible temperament should be fine. I guess that is where it gets hard and you have to trust the breeder. Can you take Elbie to meet the pups?

How would your average vet know whether the xrays indicated a future problem (unless they were shockingly bad- in which case you should be seeing some clinical signs)? That is why i thought it would be necessary for a specialist to do it. I would certainly insist on getting a specialst to read them, as even things like positioning during radiographs can affect the score. I think its sad that some people may be scared into doing the surgery. I'm all for prevention, but i think orthopedic surgery is going to far.

I don't think it is acceptable to break a rule just because you don't like it or you think it is stupid.

Where does she live? perhaps we can recommend someone who might be able to come and better asses the situation