sidoney

I think my goal is just to get back into it after not doing it for a while (health reasons mainly).

101 things to do with a box: a no-error and fun way to start with clicker training. I remember reading or hearing about making a "pass the parcel" kind of thing for the dog to rip up. Layers and some treats the dog can get at as the layers are shed. Start the game by making an easy one that has lots of treats and is easy to rip up, say made of newspaper. Eventually you can make a rag bundle with treats in it. Treats make it more enticing than stuff you don't want it to rip up, and satisfies the desire to rip things up.

In NADAC you also get special classes that have no weaves like tunnelers and so on.

For agility, get the pup used to a variety of different surfaces, including unstable and raised surfaces. Playing with toys, tugging (gently with puppy teeth), recall. And all the other usual suspects.

This article reminds me of your post. This looks like another useful article.

Hey, glad to have been able to make a useful suggestion for you!

Depends on the size of the pup.

For a pup, I'd normally use something like this:

My take on it is that dogs are born with a tendency to be more or less reactive, including to noise. This can include temperament and also ear shape (drop ears muffle noise more). Then there is what the dog is exposed to, and how. Is noise associated with a positive or a negative? Is noise neutral? I raise my pups to not worry about noise - crash metal plates together, gently then more loudly bang the aluminium roofing while they are eating, and so on. Yesterday we had tennis and golf ball sized hail stones crashing down on the aluminium roofing. The noise was extremely loud. Happily the pups coped fine with it. I sat with them while it was occurring. I think this was a pretty extreme test of noise tolerance. There ARE individual differences. And then there is what you do about it.

Jumping up and off the steps is not good for him, you are correct. Can you block it off so he can't do that? Apart from that, pups will play and free run until they get tired, and then stop. Walking a pup on lead means that the pup will try to keep up with you even if it's had enough - you take the choice away. All my pups are going to their new families with the book "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey - this is a very good book for puppy owners - I think you would find it useful.

It's possible to bring her home in the back seat held by a person, but best to crate train her after that. If there are any questions about safety, just travel her in the crate.

Oh no, I just read this. I'm so sorry. I hope you and Ellie both heal up OK. Physically and emotionally.

Sometimes a dog will just vomit for no apparent reason. Keep an eye on her in case she does it more. If it's just one incident and she seems fine, I would not worry. Dogs actually vomit quite easily - it's how mothers bring back food to the den in the wild. Mine will occasionally do a clear vomit with just a few bits of grass in it. It's almost like they go eat the grass just so they can chuck it up again.

For my first litter, I had a breeding agreement with some people. The girl doggie in question had two phantom pregnancies when she came into season and her owners asked if they could desex her. Of course I said fine. And we finalised the agreement. I have not done it again. I think it's much simpler to just either own or not own a dog, outright, rather than having part ownership or some kind of agreement. There are so many things that can happen.

Yup, I think one needs to weigh up the situation and potential outcomes of the advice. Serious issues or ones that could have negative outcomes are most likely to need face to face advice (edit: from a reputable person). It's also good to talk about training theory and philosophy on forums.

Thanks for your input, sardog ... I was hoping you'd comment. :cool: If I was you ducky, I'd be working with my dog's strengths, not trying to get it to do something it's not suited for. Much more satisfying for you and the dog. Anything you do, it will be for fun ... you won't be doing any professional dogwork with your dog. So you may as well make it as fun as possible.

Scent training yes, tracking yes, what about search and rescue?

Mine just start to drink. I give them water at about the same time as I start to solid feed them. They drink when they want to, and have not needed help to get started. I remember when I was a kid (in the 60s) my mum would start to wean the goldies on farex with powdered milk. We'd dip our fingers, they would start to lick/suck, and then we would lower our fingers to the bowl, and they would start to drink. I've never needed to do that though, with the Vizslas ... maybe we never really needed to do it then, but that was the way that we did it. Here is a piccy of my first waterbowl setup: More pics.

For toilet training, take him out on a lead. Stand still and don't interact with him. If he's on lead he can't wander around sniffing. Just wait until he goes - it might be a while at first. Then praise, interact, and you could let him off the lead to explore too if you want. He learns that the boring bit is over sooner if he wees. He also needs to learn to wee on lead for showing so it's a useful thing to learn. Try saying the toilet word when you can see he's about to go. Otherwise the association is with not toileting. If you can, have the word in advance of the action - that makes the association, but fine to keep saying it when he does it. You can praise while he's doing it. "goooood toilet". Look up "bite inhibition" - there is plenty of info on it and how to train it. My Kelpie barks. Generally when excited or to get interaction. I remove attention when she barks - this can include removing myself. Definitely don't give attention to the barks - you may be doing that without realising it. If you tell him no, as soon as he stops the behaviour, you can call him to you and praise him for that, or just call him away from whatever he's doing. If he barks while making dinner, try removing him (without interacting, just clip a lead on and take him away). He learns that when he barks he goes somewhere boring. Or you can remove him before you make the dinner and let him in when you are ready. My working dogs get so excited when I make their dinner that they are prone to barking. Especially with Xia, reducing the barking is a lifetime project.

Yes, that looks interesting.

Good link, thanks. FHR(and now P) ... methinks you need a new siggy!

I think you have to keep in mind where the dog is going to live. For work, or for pet. Pet homes have different requirements in terms of drive. Especially since many people are novices. In a way, being successful pets is testing for pet type dogs. If people bred high drive GSDs only, there would be very few of them as they would be restricted to work homes. As to the morals of one course or another - that could be debated forever.

A dog mesh fence for one side of a suburban backyard would not be very expensive - when I last bought stuff to do it, might have been $100 for dog mesh and posts. And only because you have to buy a roll of dog mesh which is more than will be needed.

Yes, the release is essential.

Thanks for that - I've skimmed and saved for later perusal.