fuzzy82

During training, normal voice. When cuddling them, baby voice.

I think a mock trial is a nice opportunity to teach the dog that it's possible to get rewards even though you're trialling. That way when you don't reward for a real trial the dog just shakes it off and goes "oh well, just one of those times" instead of learning that trial = no rewards ever. I haven't don't a mock trial, but that's what I would do.

Fuzzy82: this last one sounds great and I like the drop in idea. Do you remember the name of it? Or where it was? Thanks! Yep, it's the Canine Classroom, and they are based in Caloundra. They do use corrections for their obedience classes though. I think they only use verbal corrections for puppies and a lot of rewards, but the obedience classes are definitely not "reward based", and they use guiding/compulsion to get the dogs into position. That being said, I've met a few of the dogs that have been through the classes, and they are very stable, friendly and well mannered. For a class that uses a lot of corrections they are good, and they do know what they're doing as all the trainers are certified.

Congrats :) I personally like the puppy classes at PADS Agility club at Albany Creek. There is also one at Carseldine which isn't too bad, but I can't remember what it's called. Teamwork or something? The agility club doesn't do "ongoing" obedience, they do puppy classes and then basic obedience, but then move on to stuff that is more focused on getting into agility. But the place at Carseldine does obedience for adult dogs up to competition level. There is an obedience club at Lawnton too, but I personally don't think it's that great. Depends which instructor you get on the night, some are good, some are terrible.

I do this too. I generally have them under control, but if something does happen I will apologise and then state the reason why they behaved that way. It's not meant to blame the other person though.

I give mine apple as an occasional snack. I remove the core though.

Isn't there a law that says cats aren't allowed to leave the owner's property? There is here, which means it's the cat owner that is at fault if it's roaming and ends up getting hurt. Blaming the dog for it is like letting your dog off leash, it gets hit by a car and you blame the driver.

No, that's not acceptable. Mine always go onto the grass next to the footpath. But it doesn't matter where they go, it needs to be picked up.

When I got Obi I went to 3 different puppy classes with him. The one I liked the most was one where the puppies are off leash, but taught to focus on the owner and do as they are told, inbetween play break. Occasionally they get to run around with the other puppies, but most of it was about focusing on the owner. The other had some play time, then obedience stuff the rest of the time. It was alright, nothing special, focused a bit too much on obedience and very little on socialisation. Then the last one was so bad that I only went twice and got a refund for the remaining two sessions. It was bascially a free for all playgroup where we didn't interact with our puppies at all, they ran around and did whatever they wanted (= the big puppies ran around, the small ones stayed on their owners' laps because they were too scared to play) and the instructor held a monologue about really basic stuff. The first hour he talked about housetraining, the next he talked about diet. I didn't stick around for more. I have since visited, not attended, one where there is no off leash play, and there is a LOT of focus on general manners and habituation. They expose the puppies to different noises and sights, and when the puppies do meet they are on leash and the owner is actively supervising and teaching them to be polite. There is very little actual obedience, they do recalls and sits, but I think that's about it. It's also a drop in class, which I think is awesome. You pay a set fee and then attend as many classes as you want until your puppy is 5 months old.

If you keep putting the leash down every time the puppy flips over on its back he has trained you to let go of the leash. I would put the leash on, grab it as normal, puppy flips, and you just wait him out. Just sit there for as long as it takes the puppy to get over it. As soon as the puppy flips back the right way, give a treat and remove the leash. Repeat twice a day, gradually increasing the criteria for when you take the leash off. To begin with, any sign that the dog is giving up trying to manipulate you. Then the dog has to actually stand up wearing the leash, then take a step or two, etc.

Just go and grab the dog, remove it from the situation. Keep it on a long line for a while to see if it tends to want to do it again while under control. If it doesn't, assume it was a one time incident and return to normal. If the dog is often trying to rush at other dogs start training it.

I have a baby blue collar for one of mine, and the colour has never rubbed off. She's a cream colour, so I would know if it did. From what I understand some cheap leathers dyed in a specific way will let the colour rub off. I got mine from ellaslead.com, they specialise in coloured leather.

My dogs seem to think paper and cardboard are the greatest things ever, and they often get just as much enjoyment out of a random piece of plastic or empty bag of chips as they do any expensive dog toys... But, one of their favourite dog toys is the kong braidz. They also really like a lamb tug I got recently, but they only get that during training. The kong braidz is left out all the time, and they often mess around with it all on their own.

I'm on the northside of Brisbane, and both vets I've seen here charge $56 for a consult.

I picked out 4 books worth $19, but then they wanted $25 postage. So I decided against it.

I bought a dehydrator cheap off ebay and I've been dehydrating chicken and liver for my dogs. They love it. I used to do treats where I would mix eggs, tuna and flour, and then bake it until it was set, then cut up into little pieces. I can't remember the exact recipe, but it's pretty easy and you can use anything your dog likes. I replaced the tuna with cat food one time. You can also leave the flour out, and just experiment.

Yeah, people are just stupid. I was at the pet store with my poodle x one time, I was paying for something and couldn't watch her fully, so I had her on a tight leash behind me, so she wouldn't jump up on people. Then suddenly I hear very serious growling and snarling and turn around to find that a couple with a fluffy let their dog walk up to mine to "say hi". My dog was fine, she was just sniffing the air wondering what the fuss was about, but their dog was obviously vicious/terrified/aggressive etc. So they just assumed my dog was friendly and let their dog walk up to mine when I wasn't looking, which could have resulted in my dog biting theirs. They were lucky enough that mine is friendly, but their dog was aggressive, so their dog could have bitten mine too. Just rude. And stupid. Good on Brutus though, I would have been proud of that.

I have on occasion left my dog in the crate for 10 hours when he was young and I was away all day, and also miscalculated how long I would be gone. I've never left any water in his crate. I wouldn't be doing that on a regular basis if I could help it though. Now that he's grown up he's loose in the house whenever we're out, even if it's all day. Never had any accidents. I think I'd set up a play pen or secure room if you don't trust him loose in the house, rather than crating all day or leaving outside all day when you know he will most likely get out.

Hubby will take over, but I have told him that if he can't handle it they are to be put to sleep, not rehomed for any reason. Pixie will be fine of course, it's Obi I worry about, as he's quite high maintenance.

I don't see what good guard dogs are out in the yard anyway. The burglars just go in through the front door, or a front/side window. The dogs are stuck in the yard and can do nothing. I keep my dogs inside when I'm out. One of the barked out of boredom for an hour one time. A nice neighbour let us know, so now we close all windows, doors and blinds every time we go out, so that she can't see anything to bark at, and if she does bark no one can hear her. I do plan on getting a big serious guard dog one day, but it will also be kept in the house. Firstly because I don't see the point in having a dog that lives outside, if I'm getting a dog I want to enjoy it, and secondly it's no good as a guard dog out in the yard with no access to the house.

I wouldn't expect all that of the breeder, and personally, I would prefer to train my own dog. I would expect the breeder to have done some socialisation, e.g. meeting new people regularly, been handled by several people, play cd's with various noises. I would also expect the breeder to have started house training, which means the puppies should be able to go off somewhere to pee, preferably grass, and not have to pee where they play and sleep. A puppy should be happy and confident when you bring it home, and start exploring your house. If it's scared of people and wants to hide when you bring it home, something is very wrong.

Dunno if it's been mentioned, but noticed the other night that woolies at Westfield Chermside have a nice selection of raw food for dogs. They have brisket bones, beef tongues, kidneys, chicken livers, beef cheeks and something else I don't remember. Dunno how they compare for price because I only started feeding raw about a week ago, but I didn't think it was expensive...

Could have something to do with the prices of them. I'm from Norway and a purebred dog would usually go for $3-4000. Mixed breed dogs might be as little as $500, if you're lucky and they're a really big breed.

If the toy was left on the floor I wouldn't pay for it. What do they expect when they invite dogs in and leave toys lying around on the floor? It's like they set you up so you HAVE to buy it. If the dog picked it off the shelf then yeah, fair enough. I have taken my dogs to pet stores and asked to try stuff on, harnesses and head collars. Head collars potentially get saliva on them. I've also tried to find a toy they liked particularly well, by getting one off the shelf and squeaking it to see if they showed any interest. Any toy/collar/harness etc could have been on the floor of the pet store, where dogs have walked that have potentially stepped in poo, or dogs that aren't vaccinated. If you worry about the risk of infection from toys at the pet store, you should buy your stuff online instead. Everything at the pet store can be infected.

I don't quite understand how people can use the term "stubborn" when it comes to dogs. I don't believe dogs have an "attitude" and just choose not to come because they don't want to do as you say. They are selfish creatures and will do whatever they perceive to be the greatest advantage to themselves at any given time. That means working for a reward, or to avoid punishment (or both) or doing nothing when they think there is nothing in it for them. It's not stubbornness. Calling them stubborn indicates that they know they *should* come because "it's the right thing to do" but still choose not to because they want to be difficult. For an 11 week old puppy, you couldn't possibly be "struggling" to teach a recall because you haven't had enough time to actually work on it to get to the point where you're struggling to get the dog to understand. You need to work on it in low distraction environment, such as the backyard or inside the house. Make sure the dog knows what the command "come" means before taking it on the road and introducing additional distractions. When you do take it on the road you should make sure you're in control of the environment, which means having a helper and/or a long line.