fuzzy82

I shaped the front using a target in front of my feet. Rewarded for touching the target, also rewarded if he sat anywhere in front of me, then only for sitting and touching the target at the same time, and then only for sitting straight. Then remove the target, do a few reps, then start moving around and the dog has to come in straight. If he came in crooked I took a step back, or just waited it out and he would move his butt around and then I just clicked when he ended up straight. Now that it's on cue I keep my hands on my back when I call him, and he sits staring up at my face when he comes in.

Great suggestions, I think I like tidy and chuck it the best :) I will test them today and see which one I prefer when I'm actually training. Thanks:)

I've trained one of my dogs to put an object in a push pedal bin; pick up object from floor, go to bin, open bin using the pedal, put object in. I was going to use "bin", but when I tried it I realised it's too close to "spin". I've been telling him to "put it in", but it seems like a mouthful. So any suggestions for something short and sweet?

I use "down" for lying down without any issues, "drop it" for dropping objects, and "off" for getting off furniture.

My JRT x is "shy" too. We went to several puppy classes, and during the off leash play time he would either be sitting in front of me staring up at me, or sniffing something on the ground. He very rarely joined the other puppies. He wasn't scared either, just not interested. And he's fine with other dogs and people, he's friendly and appropriate when he meets new ones, he's just not that interested in meeting them. I often tell people that he's "shy" and I don't mean anything bad by it, but usually people take it the wrong way and they think he's very anti-social, but that's just something one has to live with when one's dog isn't a social butterfly. I think most people think all dogs should love to meet all people all the time, and that's not really going to happen.

Seems a bit weird to say you want the behaviourist to use a prong collar. Are you going to tell the behaviourist how to train your dog? Or are you getting a behaviourist in because you don't actually know how to deal with the problem? I don't get that, we get people who contact us for website design and logo design, and then proceed to just tell us how to design their website/logo, as if they know better than us what looks good. Same thing. Weird.

I agree that it's ridiculous to walk in 34 degrees. We usually don't walk if it's above 28, unless it's cloudy or windy. I don't agree with the barefoot comment though. Dogs are always barefoot, they develop thick skin on their paw pads. My dogs often walk on the footpath in the heat when they have a choice between footpath and grass, and it doesn't bother them. If humans were always barefoot we would be a lot more tolerant of hot footpaths too. Plus, the temperature at which you feel like your skin is burning varies between species. For humans it's usually in the 40s, for cats it's in the 50s. I don't know what it is for dogs, but skin doesn't actually burn below 65 degrees.

I think he looks silly, but each to their own. I also think a dog should be in good physical condition for full body shaving to look any good, and yours looks a little pudgy, so that doesn't really work for me at all. Personally I would have gone with a style cut for that dog, but if you like it's all that matters. The dog doesn't care.

I moved to Australia with two cats a few years ago, I just filled out a form with their number and sent it to one of the registries. You don't need to be in more than one, because if the animal is picked up they will check all of them anyway. Plus, some registries make you pay to register with them, and updating microchip details requires you to fill out a form and send to them, which is a pain. One of my dogs is with Petsafe, which lets you log in online and update the details whenever you want/need to.

For a puppy pen I prefer the idea of a kitty litter tray with some turf in it. That way they get used to peeing on grass even when they can't get outside. If you can't have turf, use newspaper, not puppy pads. I've heard puppy pads have a similar texture to carpet, and so dogs often get confused and think carpets and rugs are good to pee on.

Dog's don't need to be outside in fresh air all day long. In Europe most dogs live inside and are only outside to pee or be walked. If he behaves inside, and keeping him inside "isn't an issue", then I would just do that.

I don't have a problem crating for 7-8 hours once in a while either, but I don't think I would crate a puppy that long. It might not be able to hold it and have to lie in urine all day, which is not only uncomfortable and yuck, but it could also ruin the idea of not peeing in the crate and create and ongoing problem. For puppies I would use a playpen or the laundry/bathroom. I would have the crate in there, open, some newspaper, and some chew toys, kongs and water. I don't usually crate if I know I'm going to be gone a long time anymore. These days I just give them kongs and leave them loose in the house. That way they can stretch their legs, move to another room if they're hot/cold, have some stimulation from the kongs, and if they do need to pee (which hasn't happened yet) they don't have to lie in it. Yesterday they were home alone for about 10-11 hours, and we had no accidents and no damage to anything. I would have felt bad if I had left one of them in a crate all that time. (Obviously some dogs can't be trusted loose in the house, so for those crating is very useful even as adults).

This is up to you. My dog has beds and a crate, beds are for daytime use and the crate is used at night. I don't have a foldable crate. If you do, and you want to fold it, go for it. I have one crate in the bedroom. Again, if you find it more convenient to have more than one, go for it. I keep my crate in the bedroom. Personally I think puppies should sleep with their families in the bedroom, and if you want him to not sleep in the bedroom as an adult, just move the crate later on. But puppies feel safer closer to their families, plus it will be able to let you know if it needs to go out at night. I put my puppy in the crate at night from day 1. From the first moment I had him home everything fun happened in the crate, toys, attention, treats, etc. By the time it was bedtime, he was exhausted and went almost straight to sleep in the crate and slept through the night. Yep, perfectly good for naps and when you can't supervise 100%. I also found it useful just to get a break from thinking and breathing puppy 24/7, to get housework done or to walk the other dog etc. Nope, housetraining can be done without crates. Housetraining is basically just putting the puppy outside when you think he needs to go, and rewarding him for it. The reason the crate is useful is for when you can't supervise, the idea being that puppies won't soil their sleeping area, and will hold it until you can let it out. I always cover my crate with a blanket on two sides. As a little puppy he settled much quicker and slept longer in the morning that way, and these days he just prefers being covered while in his crate. I intended to stop using the crate as my dog got older, but as it turns out, he loves the crate. Some dogs only tolerate the crate, so for those I would get rid of it once they're housetrained and finished teething. I never put a water bowl in the crate. That's like asking for an accident. It should never be hot for the dog in the crate, which means it should be fine overnight without water. My dogs have never had access to water during the night.

I think the whole dog culture in Australia needs to change for off leash areas to work. As someone mentioned, the whole culture in Europe is different, dogs live inside and dog ownership is generally seen as a big responsibility. Where I'm from there isn't even a leash law, the law only says the dog has to be "under effective control", no mention of leashes. Leash laws apply for parts of the year in breeding areas for deer, but that's it. It's not unusual at all to come across someone walking their dog off leash in suburban and even urban areas, and the dogs walk perfectly and completely ignore people walking past. In Australia dogs are excluded from the family, they live outside most of the time, they're put outside if visitors come over, and even if the family is hanging out outside, the dog is put in a different area of the yard so it can't be around the family. Dogs aren't family members in Australia, people get dogs just because it's the thing to do, and then just stick it in the backyard and don't bother with it, other than maybe a walk every few days if it's lucky. (Of course this doesn't apply to everyone, but for most dogs I see around here, this is the case). I think education about dogs in school is a good idea, it should be a big deal.

So what is the issue here? Do people here object to a dog being proof using corrections or not? Many people here say that they do not object to a dog being proofed with corrections. If so, then again, what is the issue? Your post said you would expect any dog that has gone through the phases of teach, train, proof to be reliable. I pointed out that it doesn't matter which method you use, you would always go through the same phases. Even if you don't use corrections, the phases are the same. I personally don't think corrections are necessary for proofing.

I agree. K9Pro for instance uses a training methodology of teach, train, proof. Pretty much the same methodology in principle as Koehler, so it doesn't surprise me that he would achieve consistent reliability. Teach, train, proof are just the phases of training, which all dog trainer students would learn. They would be the same no matter what training method you use. You teach the dog the behaviour and cue, then train the dog using the cue until it performs the behaviour reliably every time you ask, then you proof the behaviour using distractions. It doesn't matter if you used luring or shaping or corrections, the phases of training are always the same.

We took in a stray cat a few years ago, found her up the road and she'd been wandering around the streets here for about a week when we decided she would get hit by a car if we didn't do anything. The very next morning we took her to the vet, but she wasn't microchipped. The vet said we could either keep her and try to locate the owner, or they could pass her on to the pound, "but then she might get put to sleep". She was a lovely, sociable cat, so we left our details with the vet in case anyone called, took her home and put up posters everywhere, and we also posted on every lost and found pet site we could find. One person called but didn't leave a number and we never heard from her again, other than that there was no interest. So it's not just bad people who keep pets. We didn't want her to be put to sleep, which is most likely what would have happened at the pound. We assumed she'd been dumped, because otherwise someone would have been looking for her. If my cat was missing I would check everywhere, call every vet etc. I might try the pound first, but if the cat wasn't at the pound I would try everywhere else.

I generally discourage it, and only one of them is a really bad licker, but I don't tell them off and I don't really care if they lick me, as long as it's not my face or hands. Arms and legs are fine, but because it's been discouraged it's not really an issue anymore.

Not if the dog has something more fun to do. This statement shows that you don't really know what reward based methods and clicker training is all about. This is very common with "traditional" trainers, they think that clicker training means the dog is free to do whatever it wants at all times and you just click and capture it whenever it happens to do something right. So for the record, that's not how it works.

I haven't read much of this thread past the first 2 pages but watched this video and have to agree with huski, that video was VERY unimpressive in regards to quality obedience work. What was with physically putting the dog back in position Each to their own. If someone wants to use that method and thinks they get quality work from it then let them live in their own little world! The woman looked completely miserable with her dog, not to mention her dog probably wanted to be anywhere but there. Why be there if it is that unenjoyable? Agreed, that was absolute rubbish, and they both looked unhappy.

I like cats. I was always a cat person before I had dogs. Since getting dogs I realise I prefer dogs as pets over cats, because they're more trainable and interactive. And we have too many cats at the moment, which means they're more annoying than enjoyable. I still think there's something really nice and special about cats though, and I can't see me ever not having at least one cat.

So to answer the original question, I paid with credit card, which converted $397CAD to $390AUD, but I was also charged an $11 conversion fee.

Couldn't you get one of those "in training" or "I need space" vests?

If you raise a dog properly and socialise and start basic training early, there should be no need for the "occasional hiding". Teaching commands like "off", "leave it" and "drop it" will go a long way in preventing the need for punishment. I'm not against training with corrections when there is a need, I just don't think there really is a need all that often.

We have a roomba and I used to love it. But it gets full and needs emptying every single day, and only lived for one year. Now it goes for 2 minutes and thinks it's full, even when it's not. Maybe it's the amount of hair around here that sent it to an early death. Very disappointed though, considering how much it cost us, and then broke a month after the warranty was up. Might try the Samsung one next time.