Keyarna

Thanks Crisovar, and yes GSD Fan I think that will be the case for me to, I will probably be stressing more than he will be

Phew! Maybe they misunderstood, I did mention he would be travelling with us as extra luggage - I will have to contact them again I really have no idea how transporting pets work - do Dogtainers even do what we require ie just the crate hire etc?

Just got a quote back from Dogtainers - $1500. Is that normal? Thats just for crate hire, and the 'standard' airline fees? We are dropping him off and picking him up from the airport aswell so there isn't even the cost of a home pickup? I'm not sure if it would be cheaper to organise ourselves, it's just we are stuck with the crate as obviously we can't use one of the standard collapable crates, and i'm worried we'll buy one that isn't airlined approved. EDIT: On a positive note, we just got back from a walk and it's one of the first times he's been really well behaved and not pulling so wildly! We are using a Black Dog halter, in conjunction with training and treating still - hopefully he gets the idea stuck in his brain so we can go back to just a choker!

Just found this thread and if it works it will be such a life saver! Ordered one just now so will report back when I start using it more. I have a GSP who has seperation anxiety, and gets way to overexicted when out and about, jumping up at strangers, extreme pulling etc even though we leash train him. Hopefully it does have a calming affect on him so I can use it to supplement his training - we are going away for 2 weeks in March and the only realistic option is to bring him with us to Perth on the plane. So hopefully we can get in some really good seperation anxiety training before then. If it does work on him, would it be alright to put use it for the 6 hour flight? He generally doesn't mind wearing coats / tshirts etc.

So it might be better to bring him with us then? We would drive down to Brisbane with him in the car, and meet Dogtainers at Brisbane aiport then straight to Perth - I think it's a 6 or 7 hour flight from there. I have no doubt he will whinge and whine for a while, but I think (hope) after a bit he would calm down and perhaps nap for a while. He is relatively crate trained, he sleeps in one all night but we never lock him in it during the day. Sigh just so stressed about him, if he was fine away from us I wouldn't have a problem boarding him for 2 weeks. There's noone close by that would be willing to have him either. We went on a weeks holiday back in December and we boarded him at Iveragh Kennels, they did seem like very nice people but when we picked him up he had lost a fair bit of weight and had lost his voice aswell - no doubt probably due to him stressing on not anything on their end I hope. Also they wouldn't let us feed him his own food and we had to agree to let them feed their homemade meals - is this usual for a kennel? Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Hi all, My partner and I are going on holiday for a fortnight to Perth (we live near Gladstone, QLD). We had a GSP who is a bit over a year old now, a very friendly boy but has seperation anxiety. We can't decide what to do with him, I think he would find the plane a terrible experience if we were to take him, but then again I don't know how he'd cope being away from us for 2 weeks either. Has anyone else flown a very anxious dog? I'm going to miss him terribly if we board him, but I think he would be safer there as i'm not even sure what type of fence my partner's parents have. They do have another dog (lab) but there's no guarantee they'd get along, and then i'd be stressing every time we went out if he's going to try and jump the fence and escape, he has no road sense. So does anyone have any tips or advice, and could someone recommend a good boarding kennel we can check out around the Central Queensland area? If need be we will drive down to Brisbane to board him there, and just take the plane from Brisbane -> Perth. We'd prefer somewhere near Gladstone though so incase anything happens my parents are nearby, plus then we don't have to drive 6 hours down to Brisbane, then 6 hours again when we fly back. Any help would be much appreciated! Keyarna

No specific order. Neapolitan Mastiff Mastiff Great Dane Bull Terrier Pharaoh Hound Golden Retriever Irish Wolfhound German Shepherd (german working lines) Greyhound Alaskan Malamute

We do have a proper long line now, that was while we were just waiting for it to arrive. I did get a nasty burn on the back of my leg though from the new one. ><

Here is the culprit!

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate your input and suggestions! I will make his mealtimes more goal orientated from now on, I do have a kong aswell but he seems to get bored of this pretty quickly. I have ordered another sort of toy that works on the same principal of batting it around for the food to fall out, hopefully it gets here next week! I will also try hiding his food, I don't think would be a good idea in the backyard though, he is already a bit of a digger and I think he would overdo it trying to find food that might not be there. We do have a very large enclosed verandah so I will try and find some good places to hide it there. I've also contacted our local obedience club again (I tried emailing a month ago but never got a reply), hopefully he can start his training first thing next month when the beginners course starts again! Does anyone know of any clubs or such that do Tracking around Gladstone? Or do any of you live around here and might be interested in some playdates? PS. He is also entire, so I know this can't be helping things any but I am determined to do anything I can do avoid having to neuter him, he is a show dog and we do show him every now and then. Surprisingly he is well behaved enough at shows!

Sorry Riley's Mum, I missed your post! I will take on what you said aswell. On the crate thing, I did realise this was a bad thing to be doing which is why i've stopped doing this now, and instead just leave him in the yard and ignore him. This is not the best either, I have to think of another area I can use as a time out zone.

Thanks Mrs Rusty, the more advice the better. On the issue of nipping and jumping, we have always taught him not to jump either. He is usually very good with the jumping part, it's when he gets in this mood that he starts nipping he gets very dominant and starts jumping too. We have crated him in the past when he displays this behaviour, it's getting him TO the crate that's the hard thing. He will nip, then run away if we go to him, rinse and repeat. (we've never made a habit of this either, when he stole things as a puppy we would walk away from him, and wait until he bought it back, not chase him so once again I don't know where he's picked this up either, perhaps my partner was teaching him naughty things when I wasnt there! Once we do manage to get a hold of him and his collar to lead him to the crate, he will use all of his bodyweight to pull backward against us, and gnaw/bite at our arms and hands. It doesn't quite hurt but it's not acceptable either way. Once again I just don't know what to do in this situation. My partner loves dogs but gets so frustrated during these episodes I have seen him smack Easton a few times, not hard, but I know it's not helping and i've told him many times not to do it. It's hard trying to train a dog and a partner at the same time, they fuel each others bad behaviours.

Thanks for your advice! We do try to do as many things with him as possible, we do obedience (at home) when we can, a game of fetch every day, walking and take him to the park on a long line when we can. Obviously this isnt enough though as he's still got so much energy! We have trouble teaching him to heel though, which I think is one of the main reasons I dislike taking him for walks and put it off. He's been to puppy school, i've read loads of different techniques for teaching him not to pull and nothing has worked. We've used a normal collar and lead, a choker, rewarding him with treats when he does heel, stopping or turning around when he pulls etc. He might do fine for 10 secs or though but he always get distracted and starts to pull again, either by his nose, other people, another dog etc. In the case of a person or dog we just ignore them, keep him close at our side and force him to keep walking, but he hasn't got the idea yet. We recently got a black dog head collar which does seem to help, I wanted to use it just as a base to get the idea of heeling into his brain. We reward with treats when he does heel etc, but even with this head collar I can feel him still wanting to pull, and he always pulls on a normal choker. When we leave or enter the yard, I always make sure it's me leading so he knows I'M the leader, it's very frustrating! We also want to get him into formal obedience soon, and would love to do field trials with him but he's just so hypo and out of control most of the time it puts us off bringing him anywhere, let alone to somewhere like field trials where they need alot of self control! I don't understand where this comes from as we have always acted as the pack leaders since he was a puppy. He eats after us, and has to wait until I say ok to eat when the bowl is on the ground, he sleeps in a crate at night, he never gets treats without first doing something for us and so much more. He has a terrible habit of whining, when he is in his crate during the day for small amounts of time, at family members when he can't get to them, and at visitors. He is also very hyperactive during these situations and almost refuses to listen to commands, and when he does he only holds them for 2 seconds at most. He also gets into this weird mood, I can't figure out if it's bordering on semi agressive or overly playful, he will jump up and nip and mouth at us. It has drawn blood quite a few times, and nothing seems to stop this behaviour either. We have tried turning and completely ignoring him (he will just keep nipping..) saying NO (he does know what this means), spraying him with a water bottle which he dislikes but will soon resume the biting, the only thing we can do is lock him in the yard and go back into the house. I do have a feeling this is somewhat of a playful behaviour, but once again no idea where it comes from as we have never let him mouth us when he was younger, we would tell him no and hold his mouth shut. Sorry for the massivly long post, he's really getting me down lately as I want to help him and our situation but nothing I do works!

That's the thing, our yard isn't quite big enough to give him lots of room to run, and the closest offleash dog park (the only one that is fenced anyway, I wouldn't trust his recall yet) is a 20 min drive away which discourages us from taking him there every day. Plus with my partner working he only gets home at 5:30 and it's getting quite dark by then, and I don't have my license so I can drive us to the park during the day. I certainly don't expect him to RUN beside me, just a fast walkers pace with a few minutes trotting every now and then?

Hi guys, i'm just after some advice about my GSP boy. I'm not excersising him nearly enough as I should be, he has loads of excess energy which i'm pretty sure is the root of the all the behavioural problems we are experiencing. I've decided it's about time to stop being lazy and do what's best for him, and in turn hopefully he calms down alot. I am going to buy a WalkyDog attachment for my bike soon, I figure this will be an excellent way for me to get some excersise, and better for him than just a slow walk. My question is, how long should I take him out for? Obviously I will let him set the pace, but since he's only 8 months old I want to know if there is a point I should stop him to avoid him overtiring himself, as I think he would just keep going and going!

Thanks, I think i'm all clear now. =) I'll study some groups before ours tomorrow then to make sure!

Thanks guys, that was a big help! So if he's the only Minor dog, he will automatically go in for Challenge, what happens in the Challenge ring? Assuming there are multiple dogs eligable, if another dog places Challenge do the rest of the dogs stay in for Reserve Challenge?

I've had a quick look over this thread and can't seem to find what i'm after, so i'll ask here. I SHOULD know this but I haven't been to a show for a while and i'm having a bit of a mind blank. My boy is in Minor Puppy now, so if for example, there is another Minor Puppy bitch, will it be judged dog, then bitch, then both go into the ring for best Minor? Or do they go in at the same time? Also, if he happens to place best Minor, will he be called back into the breed ring for anything? I'm not sure if he is eligable for Challenge yet, but he is over 6 months. Any help would be a blessing, the show is tomorrow and I forgot to ask beforehand, eek.

He is a 14 week old German Shorthaired Pointer. Has a lovely gait which we didnt need to work on at all, but he is very fidgety with the stack! We haven't had much success with that aspect so far, but we went to our first handling lesson tonight which helped a bit, we managed to actually stack him properly for a few seconds! It's 4am so off to bed, but I will post a pic tomorrow. I'll try and get a nice stack photo too, I haven't got one yet and I want one for his DOL profile. Showname is Heiderst Bite The Bullet 'Easton'.

The quails i'm talking about are the Japanese Quails, so theyre quite large as adults. If it is too small I could tie two together. I think there is a club up in Rockhampton that do trials (im in Gladstone), so I might contact them and see if they can help!

Awww, he is just gorgeous Keyarna!! You really must come and post pics in the GSP thread, hope I haven't missed them if you have already Have you had a wing on a string yet for him to point?? This should bring out a lovely point with him, most utility gundog babies are instantly on to this. I have tried a 'fake' wing to see if just the sight alone would get him to point, but obviously he needs the smell aswell. Where on earth do you get a real wing? I do know of quail breeders and I can buy them frozen for feed for my snakes. Perhaps one of those wings would be useful?

Is anyone going to the 3rd April Gladstone show? Will be my first show, so i'm very nervous, and it would be nice to meet another DOL'er for even a gram of support!

Just felt like updating you guys on our little GSP we got a few weeks ago. We did get to pick his showname aslong at is started with B, so I was very excited. I chose Heiderst Bite The Bullet, going for an old Clint Eastwood / Western feel! He's just over 14 weeks now, and a handful! Toilet training is going sort-of ok, he spends most of his time with me in the house (I don't work). In my bedroom, he hasn't had any accidents for about 2 weeks now, he knows to go to the door and scratch. However in the rest of the house, he hasn't seemed to grasp that I still expect him to scratch to go out, and he will just squat anywhere and go. He does this SO quick I don't have time to react and take him down. He also gets locked on the verandah for a few hours a day, it's a big verandah fully enclosed with a gate so he can't get out. I'm there to check in on him every so often, but again he doesn't grasp he has to go downstairs to do his business. I need to work with that more obviously, but it's hard as I can't be on the verandah with him every second to correct him when he needs to go. Everything else is going alright, I think we've bonded a bit more now which is good. We're enrolled in puppy prep classes now too, we went for the first time on Saturday, it's every weekend for 8 weeks. Half the lesson is socialising with the other dogs/owners, and the half is working on obedience. He already knows sit, lie down, come (some of the time, i'm waiting on a long line so I can correct him if need be) and he knows what AHH, and NO mean. He LOVES his food, so it was a challenge but he now knows to sit and wait when I put down his bowl, until I say 'wait.. ok'. He also knows to wait at the doors if I tell him when we go in and out. He sleeps in a crate at night no worries now, but always gets up to toilet at about 4am, and again at 5am when he wants a feed and he will stay awake then in my room out of the crate. There is one problem i'm trying to solve though. During the day he won't tolerate to be in his crate if he's not sleepy. He whinges and whines something terrible, I don't know why because I thought we'd been pretty good at ignoring him when he was younger when he was whinging. He's better when I leave the room now aswell, he will stay in there happily and not whine like he used to, same as the verandah. However he is terrible when he is locked on the verandah if I am downstairs (highset house). He will whinge and not stop, and pace around constantly if he cannot see me. I always ignore this, but it can go on for 30+ mins until it's time for me to come back upstairs anyway, and the only way to get back in the house is to go up on the verandah. I do wait until a break in the whining, so hopefully he's not associating the whining with me coming back. I think the worst of all though is if he's left alone in the backyard, it's terrible. If i'm there with him, even though I might be ignoring him, he will happily go off and amuse himself. But as soon as I leave (the backyard is fenced, so he can't get into the front yard etc) even if he can still see me, or if go upstairs, it starts. I guess I just need to leave him for shorter times and reward for quiet, until he gets used to being there longer? I really don't want him to develop separation anxiety. On a better note, i'm super happy as I found out there is handling classes here every two weeks. The next is tomorrow night, but it's the only one before our first show which is on April 3rd. He is just SO wiggly and doesn't hold still. What i've been doing every day is just standing him, waiting until he holds still for even a few seconds, and rewarding. I figure once the stand and 'hold' is down packed, we can start working on positioning of the legs and getting him to freestack. His gait is quite good, I didn't need to do to much with him for that. The only problem is sometimes he jumps around a bit or tries to bite the lead, but usually he is good. He keeps by my side most of the time, he just needs to learn to stick with me and not get under my feet when I u-turn, or do a triangle/circle. He's being fed 3 times daily, on Artemis Large Breed Puppy kibble, he also gets some Nature's Gift wet food in the morning. Every week he'll also get a whole raw egg or two, a bit of liver, heart, kidney, chicken wings/necks etc. When he's older I want to switch him completely over to a BARF diet, but while he's a puppy I want to make sure it's a balanced diet for him until I can learn more about nutrition. One thing i'm really dissapointed with is that he hasn't pointed yet. There's been a handful of 'wait, was that a little point?' but nothing else so far. I guess there's still time but reading about all the working dogs, they are usually showing this instinct by 8 weeks. I don't know what to do to encourage him, as I have no idea if there's even areas around here with wild fowl etc to get him going. We do have other birds around the house which he occasionally see's, but he's never pointed. So yeh, that's about it! Sorry, this turned out much longer than I had planned. I forget if I have posted some of these pics in a different thread, so forgive me if I have! No proper stack photo's yet as we haven't been able to get one, and I really want one for his DogzOnline profile! (ignore my unsightly PJ's )

I'll be showing my little pointer, look out for Heiderst Bite The Bullet in the ring!

Bit of a breakthrough with the crate tonight, he's going in and out by himself now but he still whinges when the door is shut, however very happy with that progress anyway. No toilet accidents in the house still! and here are some better photo's I promised. Everyone else needs to post pics when they get theirs, so exciting!