Mason_Gibbs

I see in Canine News there are retrieving trials on 23rd, 24th and 25th April which is easter sat, sun and monday. Are you not doing the obedience trial on sat 23rd? I sent my entry off today

Hmm I dont think i really know enough to answer lol, he is my first gundog. He loves carrying stuff around in his mouth and is always bringing me things. He just wont do it when treats are around!! If he really loves retrieving - could you use that as a reward instead? What we call in retrieving, a "happy bumper". Yes myself and the lady I train with do do that and he loves it but just wont take things from my hand and hold them, or pick things up and hold them when we would like him to.

I cant remember now but for some reason I am thinking that it isn't.....

I have looked at Shirleys website and I think its great, but I am beginning to think that I am going to have to train him without food as a reward for teaching the hold exercise, he is too obsessed with food to even try and make an effort to hold the dummy.

Hmm I dont think i really know enough to answer lol, he is my first gundog. He loves carrying stuff around in his mouth and is always bringing me things. He just wont do it when treats are around!!

I have been told about the ear pinch method but will never use it. My dog is really soft and will just shut down if something like that was done to him. I think its cruel.

Its just going to be mas, phoebe, ruby, millie and a friends chihuahua that i know of so far, small chance of Masons 2 brothers coming too. Mas, phoebe and the chihuhua are the most ' in your face' of the group i would say. There were a few painful loose dogs there the last time, the one charged mason, barked and growled at him when mason was minding own business but doubt it will be there again. Ah ok. Not sure how Toby will go with Mille, he is a bit phobic of brown retrievers . Will see how we are going and let you know Friday. No worries. Maybe we can meet up sometime when you not at uni or work ;) mas will be fine with Toby on his own

Its just going to be mas, phoebe, ruby, millie and a friends chihuahua that i know of so far, small chance of Masons 2 brothers coming too. Mas, phoebe and the chihuhua are the most ' in your face' of the group i would say. There were a few painful loose dogs there the last time, the one charged mason, barked and growled at him when mason was minding own business but doubt it will be there again.

My friend has 9 huskys, all of them are terrible with cats, they have killed a few cats that have come into her yard, her 2 cats and her parrot.

Congratulations Sounds like a very successful day What a lovely girl btw your website looks good, a lot easier on the eye now Treat wise what is 'safe' for Mason and his allergies ;) That is a hard one, lamb, roo, goat or fish is good for him but i will bring treats for the dogs on saturday

My cat winks

Ok my present shopping for my spoilt dogs birthday is now complete Him and his best mate got the same things from me

Thanks Fetchingdawgs, i train with another lady who does retrieving and lives near me, we are working on his hold daily as its something he really needs to learn ( i feel) He just seems to not understand that i need him to hold it in his mluth and keep it there! I am going to persist with this as even if i dont compete in retrieving i will need to teach dumbell for open obedience soon anyway!!

Dumb question... how do you teach hold separately, without teaching a take? Asked by a newbie in ignorance. Was wondering the same thing...

Not obedience as I had a look at my K9 this Am, I will go and look for you at the agility and send you a mail.

I thought it was even hot here in Perth yesterday morning, after we had been at retrieving for an hour Mason was not keen to do anything and its either his antibiotics or the heat...

He likes to retrieve and we have no issue if its thrown he will go and get it, he will even come back to me but then just spits it at my feet. So what i have been working on is the hold as a seperate exercise. He is a low drive dog, very laid back. But he is off like lightening if he needs to retrieve and if we doing obedience he is very enthusiastic

I have been really trying the last 5 weeks or so to get my lab to take things from me and hold them, but I am having no success. I tried clicking and treating when he looked at dummy, then he started touching with his nose, click treat again and progressed to him taking it from me, holding it in his mouth for a split second. BUT now the trouble comes in where he won't hold it in his mouth for longer if he thinks he may get a treat, because every dog knows treats cannot be eaten with something in the mouth!! I really need some creative ideas here. If I dont treat him for holding the item then he just gives up and wont even show an interest in it at all. PS the item I am using he only gets to see/have when we are training.

Poor Zola... must say my ridgies were a bit like that, they were quite fussy eaters, Mason is the opposite he will eat ANYTHING!!!

Orbit doesn't get what I refer to as pyodermas, ie manky localised hot spots. He gets more of a generalised staph infection all over, so pustules, red bumps, hair loss etc and gets a bit stinky and flaky. I've only used it once (when we had to use up the last of the bottle before it expired ) and his coat was probably the best I'd seen it within a couple of days. But yes, we have used it for dogs with bad hot spots, deep pyodermas etc with success. Hmm my dog gets Pyoderma, what is convenia?

I picked mine up from the bargain bin Nah in all seriousness, my choc is a rescue so more than likely BYB. Chocs are cute but I definitely prefer the yellows. I don't own a choc because I wanted a choc, I actually wanted another yellow puppy, but Millie needed a home so the rest is history Awww poor Millie. I think something happened to her nose at her previous home to make her nose peel like that.

A good quality choc lab has a brown nose and not a pink or light colour nose

Rubyroo i train on a monday with a lady who competes in trials and she helps me quite a bit. My dog is on meds atm so i think thats half the issue plus he just has no drive so its a bit of a problem

Been taking my dog to retrieving classes for the last 4 weeks and i must say that he shows no potential at all. He will do it when we train on our own but not in the group. He will for his first turn and after that he is over it. Plus his hold is no better after 4 weeks of me training it. I blame myself as he obviously has no idea about what i want him to do.

Mason is bad with his tablets lately as well. Tbe only thi g that works is if i take some mince and make a meatball with the tablet inside and make a huge game of him eating it. We also using cephalexin atm