Dju

Lol, as if people would bother trying to seek out livestock variety of ducks (not wild ducks) in parks and then go to the trouble of hunting them through the water and risk drowning or getting attacked by the parents when simply breeding them is 100x easier. A place called Capalaba Produce breeds ducks and chickens and turkeys, they're awesome, they have a little farm-like place attached to the pet shop (which contains food for all sorts of animals, toys for all sorts of animals, medicine, toys, everything!) and there are horsies there and goats and sheep and it's fantastic, I want more pet shops like that, it's like a tourist site over there

Thundershirts here for $35: http://www.arcatapet.com/ Postage is $11, not bad ;) I love this site, my favorite overseas supplier of dog stuff

It's been raining here too and we chose today to worm Hugo so instead of pooping outside, he discretely left two soft, foamy piles of turd next to his crate and of course pretended that it wasn't his. "What, that's not mine, oh my god, where did that come from, geez, have you been entering my pen and making a mess when I try so hard to keep it clean?"

I might be alone on this one, but... Isn't Dogzonline is a forum created for the discussion of purebred dogs?

Oh, well, Hugo's journal, Hugo gets a say in it too

Thanks for all your help guys, we'll take some of the advice you've all given us and put it into good use, but for now, we have decided that we won't be posting Hugo's progress on this board anymore.

Having no idea how to clip a dog's nails, I sat Hugo in my lap and put my arms around him and leaned over to clip them. So basically I hugged Hugo from behind and tried to clip his nails while he was against my chest. Big mistake. He thrashed his head back and crack! Smacked me in the chin with his skull. Afterward while I sat there in a daze, he also clawed his way out of my arms with very sharp, freshly cut nails and soon I looked like I've been self-harming.

Hey, that's a good idea Thanks Minxy, I'll check it out!

Hugo was totally stressed out when we woke up this morning. As my mother says, "Wild, he's absolutely wild!". We think it may be the stress from the class yesterday. He was getting toilet training, finally getting the hang of it, but suddenly he starts peeing in his pen every fifteen minutes. We had also trained him to ring a bell when he wants to go potty but by the time we get there when he rings it, he's already peed! So maybe he's so stressed that he thinks that ringing the bell is something he should do AFTER he pees? I don't know . He's napping at the moment, hopefully the problem doesn't continue all day as my mother is in school and I need to go to work. Will definitely be socializing him a lot more before his next class to see whether it makes a difference or not. I called Cassie and chatted to her last night and she said that Vallhunds are just loud greeters and he just needed to meet all the puppies first and she's sure he'd be fine. So much conflicting advice! When he barks, take him away, or when he barks, bring him closer. Which one is it??

Yeaah I do get the feeling the trainer was right about this . And you are both right, my mother just wants to smother him and when I'm using the Ferber method to stop him from barking, she's paying attention to him and trying to make him stop that way, so neither of our ways work and Hugo just ends up hanging around my mother more because she's the "nicer" one! It's so hard to keep her away from inadvertently training Hugo though. She's got some misplaced nesting issues going on, and ever since he moved into the house, it's like Hugo is her firstborn (and sometimes only child lol), not me . That woman has more love than she knows what to do with! But yes, next time, she won't be attending, I made sure of that and she agreed--she said it stressed her out too much because all the other puppies were bullying Hugo!

Oohh, we mustn't be doing too bad then because he's actually done a good 80% of that list! We need to get him to eat from different surfaces too, but he did okay with the china bowl, the metal bowl, and ... a frisbee. Now that you mention it though, he is scared of the bathroom. Might be the cold tiles, not sure.

Good point. I'm well-intentioned, hopefully that'll get me somewhere.

I might be a bad dog owner for all I know, because with Hugo it's totally new turf, it's like an experienced dog handler trying to train a pigeon to send mail across the country! Just have to learn as I go, no other way about it. We will be learning "leave it" next week, among other things that I forget.. "Leave it" will hopefully be a good lesson as Hugo is constantly putting things in his mouth that he shouldn't be. I can relate to Corvus about Erik being like a gifted toddler--for Hugo though, it sometimes feels like more of a "special" toddler lol!

I am not going to burn $150 all because my ego was deflated and they taught one lesson that I didn't like. I'm not a Rockerfeller to be so picky with things like that, especially when I'm focused on the bigger picture (i.e. the other things the course has promised to teach us that I am very much so interested in) and not the smaller one (being my feelings). One lesson down, four to go. Ohh okay that makes more sense Corvus. I never quite realized socialization included things other than people + animals. We will go do some hardcore rock and tree socializing tomorrow (joking) Phew, there's lots to keep in mind when owning a dog.

I didn't say I was going to keep restraining him, I just said I was going to continue with the school because of the other things we're learning that is useful. Why would you assume that's how I would deal with the behavior too?

I would actually Sharon Children don't get enough bottom smacks in my opinion. But that was a bad comparison actually because dogs are not really comparable to children in regards to discipline methods. Besides that point, it's not like our trainer has the time to go around the classroom restraining naughty puppies. That was our first lesson--calming down uncontrollable puppies. I'm willing to bet he won't do it anymore because as they say 'the show must go on'. I'm sure that the whole school syllabus doesn't consist of different restraint holds you can give puppies, Sharon. I sure hope you're right, Corvus. Hugo is so difficult sometimes but we just think about the good doggie we'll have in a year's time (or so) and it makes it all worth it. With the socialization, just to get this clear, I just.. wander around the neighborhood with a puppy in my arms? I wish Hugo would walk alongside me, the nearest dog park is relatively close (20 minutes away) and I feel guilty sticking Hugo in a duffel bag, even though his head's sticking out, he's probably sweltering in there.

Sure, Peta. Just to clarify, she didn't say not to socialize him, just not to take him to puppy preschool (yet) ! The puppy preschool is non-refundable unfortunately and we are learning about things that we were doing wrong with his training (like giving him a 'menu' and letting him decide what he wants to eat--my mother is so scared he'll starve) so it's better than nothing at this point and it's good for my mother to come along and hear reasons why she shouldn't shush him when he's barking etc etc. I may book him in to a different school afterward though. We're definitely going to start training him a lot more though, we underestimated the amount of dedication that needed to be put into it, so no more slacking off for us.

I'm not making her sound like anything, Sharon, I'm saying that's the reason why he didn't go to puppy preschool earlier, end of conversation, change the subject, moving on now! I will never understand why breeders don't like to give out advice about things like food we can feed or toys we can give etc etc. Medical information I understand, but ideas for meals? I don't see the scandal. And the vet is the one who said leave it there all day. I was giving it as an example, we do remove the food after 15 minutes, but anyways..

I really don't think it's whooping cough, the cough is just a dry cough, there's no distinct sound to it.

Corvus, I hold your advice very highly when I see what a fantastic job you've done with Erik, so don't stress, we definitely will be taking him out much, much more often now that he's had his shots!

Hm not sure if it's a bug, there's no pain or drowsiness or anything like that.. Just every now and again get a tickle in my chest that compels me to cough. It's so freaking weird! It could be the shampoo I guess? We washed him the first time about two weeks after we got him which is around when the coughing started? I still think it's all that dander collecting up in my room, but it was oddly specific for the allergies to start not a day before two weeks after him being here.

How is Dju a dubious source? From what I understand, she had Hugo booked into puppy school for the week she bought him home but her breeder told her not to socialise him until he had all his vaccinations. What is there to assume about that? I'm not trashing anyone, I am simply stating that breeders need to be more careful with the advice they give. Huski, you have read Dju's mails for the last how long ? we Vallhund breeders have had even more contact with her, it isn't rocket science to work out ! From what you have heard from Dju ... you have heard one side , as I said your assumption maybe correct, but you DO NOT KNOW, you have not heard the other side ! I do not agree with not socialising early, but every breeder has a right to their opinion ! even if you and I do not agree, besides Dju was given advice from many more people to socialise Hugo. And I wasn't about to go upsetting Cassie, Sharon. When I asked Peta for advice (just general stuff I had already asked Cassie about with the feeding but just wanted to see a diverse range of opinions for comparison and contrast, different methods, curiosity etc etc), she told me it would be unethical to supply me with advice contrary to what Cassie has told me. All because I had advice from others, it shouldn't mean that I should scrap Cassie's opinions altogether. She has gotten me through problems with Hugo and she does know what she's doing. Why are you lingering in the past? What's done is done, Hugo is safe from Parvo now and constructive posts about how to deal with issues that have come about would be much nicer if you do indeed intend to contribute to the solution?Corvus, I'll take Hugo out tomorrow and have a walk around the neighborhood with him in my arms, I know there are a few dogwalkers around, just gotta find them

We really do have Hugo's best interests at heart but with so many different methods, it's hard to know which one is right. Our trainerl says take food away if Hugo hasn't touched it in 15 minutes, vet says to leave it there all day. Vet says not to touch the dog (other than when praising it) while training, but our trainer uses a hands-on approach and places puppies in restraint holds whenever they start to get boisterous or out of control, which is what Hugo was doing. I really wish I had more friends with dogs around my area who we can visit/would like to visit us :rolleyes:. We basically only know a Tenterfield Terrier called Holly who doesn't really like being other dogs and would just walk out of the room or ignore Hugo, and a grumpy old SWF called Snowy who is ancient and a little dog-aggressive. I'm not from your world guys, we don't do regular showing (yet) and we don't have friends who have up to three dogs each that we can just drop past for a visit!

I haven't gone to the doctor's yet. I was diagnosed at a very young age as having asthma but my mother refused to treat me for it and I just grew out of that stage and it never bothered me. Now ever since two weeks after I got Hugo, just coughing coughing coughing, stayed up until 2am last night just coughing! :rolleyes:

Yes, Huski is right, they are supposedly positive reinforcement trainers. Woahhh I was totally not expecting so many replies! Let me try and answer all your questions and comments; I had booked him in to puppy preschool initially the very weekend after I got him, 4 days from his eighth-week's birthday. I called Cassie to tell her and convey my excitement as I had never been before, but I was a bit surprised with her response and she told us it would be wise to cancel the lessons, that it was not safe because of the parvo threat and also that a few weeks worth of waiting for his shot wasn't going to kill him. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be going a bit earlier to get his shots but we had to postphone that a week because he had diarrhea and the vet basically refused to vaccinate him. Anyways yeah, I didn't want to upset Cassie. I will take your advice and try it the next time I'm at puppy preschool, Corvus. But about taking him to a place where there are dogs--There aren't really that many places around within walking's distance and I'm not sure mom would be all that agreeable taking daily trips in her car with her fragile back. tlc, I am nineteen, and Hugo only has one crate. One playpen with one crate inside it.