Just love my dogs!

Hmmm... I did email. Still no response

;) My lab has a huge boof head. His nickname is "Boofer" and he barely recognises his real name now!

Typical Labs! Mine would fail too. He just wants to lick everyone to death!

I think it really depends on the dog. I have a female Golden (16 months) and a black male lab (14 months). They are both SO different! Lol! Chalk and cheese really. My Golden is hyper and crazy and my Lab is placid and is basically a gentle giant. Both dogs were treated exactly the same! My Lab came from a litter of 10. 2 of them went to Guide Dogs Victoria. I don't think Jett would have been accepted because he's so big (nearly 40 kgs)!

Ashley's classes are held at his home in Clyde it's 5-10 past Cranbourne. thats good, cos i am 10 minutes away. So not too far! should i wait for AR or try Lea again? Want a good positive start into this environment! thanks scout I'm wondering the same thing Scouty I live far away so either way I'm going to have to travel.

I'm not sure if you're in the position to do this but have you considered getting another dog? My husband and I both work full time and we wanted a dog but we didn't want it to be bored during the day. So, we got out Golden pup and then 7 weeks later we got a Lab pup. They keep each other busy all day and they're best of friends. It's just a suggestion. Two dogs are not for everyone as they're hard work!

My two dogs (one Golden and one Lab) love the clam shell filled with water!

Re marrow bones: Is it true that too many marrow bones (too much marrow intake) can cause difficiencies or health problems in some dogs?? My mum knew a girl that fed her husky marrow bones every 1-2 days and he got an issue (not sure what!) and the vet said too much marrow We have given our Golden Retriever marrow bones since she was young. Our vet suggests one large bone per week. Great for keeping her teeth cleaned and keeps her busy for a long time!

Great! Thank you!

Thank you! I'll try Ashley. I've tried contacting Lea. I've left messages but haven't heard back from her?

Does anyone know of any dog show classes in Melbourne? I'm new to dog showing too! Thanks

What about in the Melbourne area?

Thanks so much to all the people who gave ideas or suggestions!

That would make the situation worse. He would be being rewarded for barking and it would continue. I certainly wouldn't be happy getting up at 5am because the dog wanted attention. Well, not necessarily. Steven Lindsay made the point at the NDTF conference that you can't reinforce something a dog is doing using a reward other than that they were wanting. So if the dog wants food and you reward with play, you're not necessarily rewarding the food-seeking behaviour. HOWEVER, IMO you have to be careful not to then create a new expectation for whatever reward you do use instead. I think the trick with these things is to keep moving. Don't let the dog learn a new routine until it's the routine that you want. You have to keep changing what happens until you've got him where you want him. If this were me, I'd do the thing where you bring him in before he starts barking and feed him then and gradually move it forward every day as well, only I'd be inclined to give him something like a Kong with peanut butter in it or a pigs ear rather than his meal and then give him his meal later when you want him to have it right from the start and inch the Kong towards the meal time. I would also be inclined to phase the Kong out as fast as possible. Depending on how bad he is, maybe not even every day. You could try a Kong some days and just a cookie on others, for example. Or give him a cardboard roll with a bit of vegemite or something smeared on it so it's only just barely food, but something to chew on and keep him busy. I'd prepare these things the night before so he's not hanging around watching me make them at 5am and we can get back to bed asap. I think it's important when you are trying to break a habit to just do whatever needs to be done to prevent the habit being practised and then shape the behaviour you want. I'm more comfortable distracting and rewarding before the problem behaviour starts and then fixing up anything I might have accidentally rewarded later than punishing or ignoring. Thank you for giving me some great ideas. I think the Kong plan could work. When he has a bone, he is busy for hours!

I think a crate does sound like a good idea. How do you think a 14 month old would go? Do you need to start using the crate from day 1?

We did obedience school with our Golden Retriever and have been applying the same principles with Jett. I'm beginning to think that this is not enough though and we will need to take him too.

Sorry! I did change my name! Since bringing both dogs inside, we are having a little bit of a break through! My husband's alarm went off at 5:30am and Jett barked once. My husband growled at him by saying "NO! Uh uh uh!" He was then quiet until 6:30am (when my alarm went off). He barked once again and I growled at him too. He was then quiet again. After he was quiet for about 10 minutes, I fed them. I'm hoping to try this again tomorrow morning.

No, I've never soaked his kibble. How much water do you need to put? This could work! I dont know exactly how much water I put in but I would say that I put the kibble in his bowl and put enough water so that the kibble just floats off the bottom slightly, I wait until all the water is absorbed and then feed. If labs eat too fast they can get bloat which is why I still soak my kibble. Thank you. Willing to give this a try!

When we bought our Golden Retriever we originally wanted a real 'golden' coloured girl. We ended up with a really light blond colour (almost white). She's a beautiful dog and so many people comment on her looks. Now we're really glad we have her!

It's that type of comment I find myself wondering about, the amount of people that I have heard in the vet clinic I volunteer at that say they want a blue staffy is incredible. --Lhok I know a lot of people who really want a blue staffy too! I must admit, they do look amazing!

I have a black male labrador. At first we were keen to get a chocolate, but couldn't because everyone else wanted one! We were on a waiting list for a long time but couldn't get one. We got a black one instead and now that I think about it I'm glad we did get black. Some of the older chocolate labs lose the nice colour in their coats.

At the moment someone else is showing him. I'm learning how to do it :S No I haven't had any experience breeding dogs.

I have gone into the training forum. I'll have to have a better look though because I couldn't find the Triangle of Temptation.

No, I've never soaked his kibble. How much water do you need to put? This could work!

Have you had this problem with your labs? I guess we can give this a try. It does sound difficult though! I havent had the problem of him barking for food but he went through a phase of when he was put outside when I was cleaning the floors or I had guests etc he used to bark loudly at the door to be let in. It was so annoying but I used to just let him bark and only when he stopped he was let back inside again. He hasnt done it since he was about 7 months old though, he is now almost 13 months. Off the topic (Sorry) but I'm guessing that's your dog in the picture? He is beautiful and looks very similiar to my boy Jett Yes that is my boy, he was naughty for the first time and chewed up the chair for my outdoor setting today Oh dear! Jett's done that before too!