koalathebear

Haha - I remember that jinx post of yours well, aussielover! :D Congratulations to you and Mindy ;) Happy to say that Elbie's going well, too. He has been pretty solidly house-trained for a while now but his main problem was that during the rain and after the rain, he wasn't going to Poo Corner like he was supposed to. For the last few weeks now, even post-rain, he has been going to the right part of the yard so we're very happy with him. He stands by the backdoor to be let out and if we don't notice, then he'll give a little bark to let us know he wants out. We still haven't been able to teach him how to bark when his water runs out though. He usually just stands by his water dish looking sad until we notice :p

kavik: thanks He's a very funny little dog - he makes us laugh every day kyliegirl: thanks! Embarrassingly, Elbie was in our minds when choosing our house. When we were first looking (sans dog) we were looking for a very small yard, unfussed about carpet. Post-Elbie, we wanted a house with a yard and no carpet. So we're all happy now and it's awesome for playing hide and seek

I am very sorry for your loss. I don't think we ever really get over the loss of our beloved pets. My husband still mourns Sagi the cat he grew up with even though his cat died 20 years ago. I still cry whenever I think about our family dog who died when he was 11. Sometimes my husband and I wonder if our pets are lonely waiting for us for so long on the Rainbow Bridge but knowing how patient they are, I know they won't hold it against us My thoughts are with you.

Thanks to all for their kind thoughts. Our pets are with us for far too short a time

Heh heh, thanks guys. Elbie likes to hang out in whichever room we're in. Although he doesn't have free rein of the house, he's allowed to follow us into the different rooms if we're there.

Thanks. Elbie does both now. Originally he only did the dead cockroach one (paws in the air) which is quite funny to watch but he will now also plonk onto his side and try to look dead.

My husband's family cat, Keats died today back in Canada. We received the following email from my mother-in-law this morning: It got me crying at work and when I phoned him, I could tell he'd been crying, too. I know it wasn't easy for him being on the other side of the world when Keats passed so told him I'd 'send' Keats to the Rainbow Bridge for him.

Guest Room Entrance Here with pink squeaker toy Lounge Study. The blur is Elbie

Lazy Elbie Elbie and his wonky ears Elbie and one of his many, many squeaky toys Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's Elborino! Today, we were taking photos of our new house to send to my in-laws even though we still haven't finished unpacking our boxes yet. Elbie decided to cameo in quite a few of the photos Bathroom Spare room

Just thought I'd clarify just in case ... I posted the link because it was interesting and not because I purport to agree or disagree with it or the views espoused therein. My puppy's only six months old and I'm still learning how to be a dog owner so am not in a position to offer commentary on such matters yet.

Congratulations!

I've meant to say so before but this photo is just sooooooooo cute Both are so huggable.

An update on the bone situation ... marrow bones: So, Elbie has (in his short life) been given the opportunity to gnaw on two HUGE marrow bones. It gave him four doses of fun as the butcher cut them in half for us. He had them under supervision and scooped out the marrow, licked them to death and gnawed on them a little. They were taken away from him before he could try to bite down on them as I read that marrow bones can be bad for his teeth. As I've also read that the marrow is fatty and could also be bad for him, so we've decided to stop giving him marrow bones for now. Poor Elbie He loved those bones so much. lamb flaps: We sometimes got lamb flaps from the organic butchery at the Belconnen Markets, Elbie seemed to enjoy them a lot. Last week we went in and they had run out but the young guy told us to come back again the following week because he would put aside some lap flaps for Elbie. We came back yesterday, one guy said there were no flaps left but then the other guy said: "No no, I've been saving them flaps out the back!" Sure enough, he emerged carrying a ridiculously large number of lamb flaps which he gave to us for only $4. food for dog and food preparation for dog: We went home and I spent the afternoon cutting the flaps in half, cutting off the fat and putting them in little freezer bags to pop into the freezer so that we don't waste any flaps. In the past we've had some lamb flap wasteage because we didn't want to keep the flaps in the fridge too long in case they went off. Then at Aldi I'd bought a large roll of devon which I then cut into lots of little pieces and popped into freezer bags. A bit sad that devon for humans is cheaper than puppy roll for dogs? My family would be horrified that I spent far more time preparing Elbie's food than I did my own. Even more horrifying, our fridge and freezer are now filled with human food and food for the dog. I've labelled Elbie's food "for Elbie" - I didn't like writing 'Elbie' on the bags because it made it sound like it was pieces of Elbie or something. How gruesome. The lamb flaps are given to him under supervision because a girl at work recently gave her dog lamb flaps, it swallowed part of it whole and it ripped open part of his stomach resulting in major surgery Then again, we give Elbie rawhide bone chews all the time but we supervise him - taking them from him every now and then to investigate their condition and then we toss them out when they're too manky. dry kibble: I've read heaps of bad feedback about Hills Science Diet on here but Elbie's been on science diet (yes on our vet's recommendation) since he was tiny. When we first got him, we had him on supermarket Pedigree and he had the runniest poos ever. Since being on Science Diet, he has been super healthy with a very shiny coat and seems very happy. He gets one cup in the morning and one at night - we skip a cup of if he gets a bone and he gets a bit less if he's had a day of training with lots of treats. training treats: On Sundays when he goes to Dog School, we gave him a tiny bit of kibble in the morning but the rest of his brekky is used for training treats. On Dog School days, he also gets Aldi low fat cheese (very tiny pieces) and broken off bits of Supercoat dog biscuits. Our dog is so food-motivated, I swear he loves pretty much all food! We never have troubles giving him tablets - just pop it into his kibble and it's gone! The Tucker Ball has been good for slowing down his eating. Funnily enough the only thing he doesn't seem to like eating is broccoli!

Oh baykinz ... you've just brought back a horrible memory. When I was a little kid, I was out riding my bike when the street's savage German Shepherd (he had bitten several people before) knocked me off my bike and bit my thigh. Legs all bloody from the fall and the bite, I went racing down the road screaming my head off with the dog behind me - just as I got to my front yard, the aggressive maltese across the road joined in and bit me on the ankle before I managed to get inside the house! The story sounds funny now, but at the time it was very traumatic for Mini Koala ... Especially as I had to have tetanus shots that same morning :D

I really, really sympathise. Elbie was quite bad for about two weeks and people were telling us to see a behaviourist and all that sort of thing. We didn't end up needing a behaviourist (for that issue anyway . For us, it just came down to finding the right thing for our dog. Everyone's dog is so different 1. Yelping/ouching/yipping or making other sounds works for some but other people say that any response like that is rewarding the dog. it didn't work for Elbie. 2. Saying: "no" in a firm voice works for some but did not work for Elbie. 3. Ignoring him - sinbinning him. This worked for many people but did not work for us because he would just keep gnawing on our jeans. That being said, because Elbie is a big sook, these days ignoring him IS our most powerful punishment. When we shun him, he knows he's been bad. We also tether him to the kitchen-railing for about a minute (all within view) when he's naughty and that works well. It wasn't something that we tried when he was biting though - alas. 4. Stomping our foot on the ground did not work and some people said that that was bad anyway because it could make your dog fearful. 5. We tried holding his muzzle (which works for some people) but that just pissed him off more. 6. We tried leaving the room and 'shunning him' - again, not an easy task when you have a growling puppy dog dangling from your jeans Other people suggested biting his ear or nose but we just weren't even going to go there :D I really wish you the best of luck - it's always a bit freaky when your darling sweet little puppy goes all Gollum on you Our obedience instructor last term summed it up pretty well when she said that dogs came from wolves, we have brought a wolf into our house, a domesticated and modified wolf but still a wolf - it's always disconcerting when the dog displays some of those wolfish behaviours :p

hi jessie: I'm new to all this myself so don't presume to offer advice but about the biting issue, when our puppy was 11 weeks, he was also biting like crazy. Never drew blood because he had little puppy teeth but it was very annoying and it was upsetting to us. I received lots of advice in this thread from people who are more experienced. Maybe you can find something helpful there? I don't know about your puppy's breed sorry, so have on idea if that sort of nipping is normal for weims (Elbie only attacked our jeans, socks and toes) - I'm sure someone in the know can tell you :D There is a weimaraner thread so perhaps you could consider asking there? For us, we were at our wit's end because we really had tried sooooooooooo many things and we were getting frustrated because people kept telling us: "But it worked for us blah blah" Elbie's six months now and no longer bites our clothes/us. He occasionally still attacks towels and his leash but that's something we're working on :p Good luck ... having a puppy is such a challenging exercise! People keep saying it's like having a small child, for me it's like living with a strange little alien.

We were at the shops with our dog yesterday, had just got him calm and he was sitting there. Then a small off-lead maltese rushed at him and tried to attack him, Elbie then became irate. My husband picked up Elbie immediately and eventually the owner came along to retrieve his dog. I guess he thought it was fine for his dog to be offlead because it's small. Our neighbour also has a small terrier that's always escaping her house and running around on the road. As he frequently comes onto our lawn to poop, I'm in constant fear that we're going to run over the thing by accident when we reverse our car :D She seems very relaxed about his escapist ways which is weird given that we live very close to a main road!

corvus: I think you are right that Erik and Elbie have a lot in common. They both sound like very strong-minded dogs. I like that you seem to be intrigued and 'challenged' rather than frustrated by your dog's wilfulness It's interesting that I've read some other posts about people with dogs that have some of the same traits as Elbie - they seem quite frustrated and mention that none of their other dogs were like this and that sort of thing. It was only after I read DOL that I realised that so many people seem to have such perfectly dogs with such even temperaments and that our dog is a bit of a weirdo. :D The behaviourist that came to look at Elbie told us that Elbie was very high energy, very intelligent and not for all people. She said that she'd had one dog like Elbie before and only one of her dogs had ever been like that. She also told us to enjoy Elbie because we would probably never have another dog like him again and that while he was going to be a lot of hard work, he was also going to be a lot of fun. So far that has proved to be very true. After the session with the behaviourist, we worked on respect behaviours around meal times, food, doorways and that sort of thing. Elbie learned fast and it had an almost immediate effect on his behaviour - his conduct really did improve a lot. Sometimes we're very disconcerted by how smart he is - he was extremely easy to crate train, his toilet-training was also remarkably easy. He taught himself to open doors and he has learned many of his tricks in minutes. There are other tricks that take longer (eg "are you shy" took several days but in total probably no more than half an hour), but this mostly because we haven't found the appropriate teaching mechanism rather than his inability to learn. Once he figures out what he wants, he delivers it up very well. Most of the tricks you see on this page, he learned very quickly. He's also very motivated - works for food, works for toys, even works for his hot water bottle. Even before we started clicker training him, you could always see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to figure out what we wanted - delivering up a bunch of different tricks in case they were what we wanted. He'll stare at us in very profound concentration. He's also very stubborn. Now and then, he doesn't want to sit - for instance, we have a toy and he knows we're going to throw it so he doesn't want to sit for it because he wants to be standing so that he can chase it more easily. We'll say 'sit' and then just wait him out. Sometimes several minutes can pass as he stares us down before he slowly and reluctantly sits for the toy. He doesn't forget the original command, it's almost like he's trying to see if he can outlast us. The other interesting thing is that people always mentioned how it was important to get the timing of treat rewards right for tricks but with Elbie, he seems to know when he gets it right simply from the 'good boy' praise and it's not uncommon with a new trick for us to work through it with him, praise him and then walk into another room to get the treat to reward him. I know that dogs are supposed to have a short 'memory' as such so you have to be very immediate with corrections and praise, but it really isn't unusual with Elbie's new tricks for him to get it right and then have to wait for 5 minutes while I rummage around in a drawer for a treat :p He's very people-oriented, doesn't seem to want to jump fences even though he's entirely capable of jumping very high already, he has almost no destructive behaviours and still has all of his original baby toys (albeit in a battered state) - he also confines his digging to the "permitted dig zone" in the yard. On the down side, he is extremely over-stimulated by movement ... shake out a towel/pillow/blanket/plastic bag and he can easily go into a berserker trance and start attacking that item the way he attacks his leash. We spend a lot of time trying to desensitise him to things like that - shaking and waving them around his head and treating him when he sits quietly and ignores. He now ignores the door bell (doesn't bark) and mostly ignores the towel as long as we don't shake it in an abrupt motion but we are very conscious that it does trigger him and make him snarley. I was watching this counter-conditioning video last night and it occurred to me that with time and effort we should be able to overcome some of Elbie's triggers. Also, as mentioned above - the hyperactivity is quite a big challenge for us as he gets very excited in new situations and it's difficult to gain and retain his focus and attention. Nonetheless, my husband and I find Elbie extremely interesting and rewarding ... he is so quirky and filled with personality. From reading other posts, I can see that others would probably find Elbie quite frustrating and time-consuming and wish that they had another dog. I guess it was a matter of luck that he ended up with us - imperfect dog with imperfect but amused owners

I saw a link to this article at a US dog forum that I read from time to time. Dog psychology: The effect of adverse training methods by Diane Garrod

I wouldn't worry too much - toilet-training can take ages and it's possible your puppy just got a bit confused ... By going back to basics again, that'll get things back on track. When Elbie was younger, he occasionally had a few accidents in his crate but they really were accidents. As to housetraining generally, Elbie hadn't had an accident in AGES but the other night, he had a new toy and was playing with that with us and was clearly having such a good time he forgot to go to the kitchen and ask to be let out It resulted in a mini-accident. Sigh. Also, when it's raining, he gets pretty confused about where to go in the yard. Normally he goes to Poo Corner and is very good about it. After rain, we find little landmines everywhere so last time there was rain, we put him back on his leash and went with him to Poo Corner each time he had to go ... after a day or so, he was going in the right spot again.

Well it's reassuring to know. We'll keep working at it and finding ways to divert Elbie. Sometimes having a puppy feels like playing whackamole. As soon as we whack one problem on the head, another one rears up At present, we've managed to address all of Elbie's problems that have arisen but these ones remain for us to resolve: - sometimes attacks leash - sometimes will pull (working on this with obedience training and occasionally using the easy walk harness) - barks in car (working on this - he is having longer and longer bark-free periods, but is still highly stimulated by passing traffic and the sound of the indicators ) If we could drive in a straight line forever we would be largely fine. - sometimes naughty about having his collar/harness put on. We don't want to bribe him anymore so the collar is a: "too bad, it's going on" and he doesn't get his dinner until the harness is on - VERY hyperactive when meeting new people and going to new places. If people ignore him when they come here, he will usually calm down within 5 minutes. Going out though, there is constant new stimulation so at obedience class it sometimes takes him a good 10-15 minutes to calm down because all the movement, dogs and people make him all lungey and barkey. To our humiliation, this morning we were asked if he was in beginner puppy class and we were: "No - he's in bronze." The person said: "Oh, I thought he was a beginner because of all that excitement." Once he calms down, he is beautifully focussed and the other owners often say they envy how Elbie's attention is fixed on us during class ... no one would envy us before class though - still shy around other dogs and prefers to play with the humans (and their food) than other dogs. I don't mind if he doesn't want to play, I just want him to learn how to not be scared if a big boofer chases him

Hi: I also agree about going back to the alarm system. Some people's puppies slept through the night from 9 weeks or they used puppy pads but Elbie definitely couldn't hold his bladder through the night until very recently. We woke up every hours, then every 3, then 3 and 3.5 etc. We got it to six hours and these days he sleeps until 8 or 9am and we can even send him back to sleep if we want to sleep in Don't worry, your puppy definitely doesn't want to soil the crate and given the opportunity should be quite happy to elimlinate outside. We got into a routine and took turns to 'wee the dog'. Also - what a luxury crate! Elbie used to have a cushion/futon but he kept gnawing on it so we took it away and gave him a dog mat instead He DOES get a hot water bottle at night though.

Again I am so relieved someone else has this issue because it sounds like such bizarre behaviour to me. Out of curiosity - did your boys do it on the home stretch, too or was there a particular area of the walk that triggered them. The problem for us is that we can't vary our walk pattern because Elbie does it as we approach home so there aren't a lot of options left to us We're not using treats on walks anymore but I've been toying with the idea of bringing some devon for distraction purposes for the final stretch.

Oh. The way you described that was so evocative ... I am turning green just thinking about it.

Poop in the hole works for our dog, too - Elbie is very much deterred by his own poop. We have a section of the yard where Elbie is allowed to dig so he tends to concentrate his efforts there. If they get too deep, my husband fills them up again. I was reading on another thread about how environmentally bad it was that dog owners like us kept plastic bagging our dog poop and throwing it in the bin instead of burying it and told my husband about it. Today, it was his turn for Poo Pickin' and there was a LOT of it given that we hadn't done it in a few days because of the heavy rains in Canberra. He ended up with half a bag and was heading towards the front when he saw a very deep hole Elbie had dug in "Elbie's Corner" - given that Elbie had already done half of the hard work, he tipped the poop in there and covered it up again.