**Super_Dogs**

I think I get what you are saying. It is important to build a relationship at a young age so fun is important. Tricks are fine, as they do help with the relationship but keep it fun. About a year ago I wads given a tip from a trainer as my dog was lacking a bit of motivation and it was the best advice. Keep training session fun and stop while the dogs is wanting more.

Yes, the games in susan's book. They are referee to as foundation as they are used as the starting point for other training, like agility. I did not train my previous dog like this (I did knot know about Susan then) so we will have to see if it makes a difference when we start agility. It has certainly made a different for obedience. Definitely recommend SG crate games. My girl had a solid stay and recall at a really young age and IMO this was from crate games.

I always have wondered why if they don't allow dogs why they would allow children.

My most recent pup who is now 10 months old I followed Susan Garrett's foundation exercises from her book shaping success and also used her method to crate train. Well I can say - what a success!!! My pup has been fantastic at obedience and we hardly practice (I prefer to practice the foundation exercises). The exercises taught her to think and i have found she learns things so quickly and things stick. Definetly recommend this book especially if you have an interest in agility.

I do have to agree with this. My last litter I was getting at least 1 enquiry a day. It takes time to respond! An like goldielover often not even an email reply to say thanks. However I still do reply to every email enquiry I receive. Personally I spend my time updating my website, this way I can refer people here which keeps the email responses shorter and therefore quicker to respond. Althought I have never known anyone personally that have had the same experience as freundhund I have had some interested puppy buyers tell me they have had a hard time getting information from some breeders.

I do think it is about time this breeder bashing stopped or please differenciate between the ethical breeders and the people that just breed for profit. I think you have misunderstood what I was saying - I was not breeder bashing (I am a breeder). You have confirmed the point I was making that good breeders socialise their dogs. I agree with Greymate - Breeding for Better goes beyond the health of the dog, it is the socialisation and life of the dogs at the breeders kennel.

I was going to suggest starting with a small amount of time in the pen and building up the time - but it sounds like you have done this. My other suggestion is to give her food dispencing toys so she has a positive association with the area. I use Kongs, plastic bottles with a few holes and teats inside and peanut butter cups (pastic cup with peanut butter smeared at the bottom). My girl loves it when I go to work!! I think the other important thing to remember is - she is a lab - so when you are home she want to be with you. I have a great articple on labs and it says " The things that people love the most about Labradors - their love of people - can also be their biggest problem." My pup at her age also would have cried if I had left her outside on her own. I would say she is crying because she is lonely. Do you have a neighbour you can ask to listen out if she is crying when you aer not home? If not, can you set up a recorder? Maybe she is fine when you are not home?

I also would not use a bark collar on a pup so young. Is she doing this when you are home? I am seen you in the lab forum - is this you lab pup?

No this is not the case. Three of my 4 dogs are entire. The one with the worst doggy social skills is the one desexed dog (this has nothing to do with her being desexed - it was just an example).

A dog could win BIS while affected with a disease like PRA in its early stages, mild CEA, CL before symptoms show, epilepsy, high hip and elbow scores with no lameness, a unilaterally deaf dog or numerous other diseases. The show ring does not test a dogs genetic health - it is down to the ethics of the person showing the dog. Or come off it some of those things are un detectable till the dog is is in middle age = PRA in my breed a certificate is not issued till the dog is 7 to show clear. So what do I do, I only use dogs that are clear by parentage like most others do. Science is now showing us may things in all walks of life that can be avoided or eradicated, but it doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and we don't have a magic wand to wave. Many things occur in dogs just like they do in people without any warning. We are breeders not mind readers. Are you also going condemn people who have a child that......lets say..... at 42 starts to suffer from epilepsy......so come on lets condemn the parents they produced a bad child. Look, crap happens in all walks of life. In many cases it is NOT always the fault of the breeder that dogs end up in rescue as the OP stated. Yes many of us do place dogs that need to be placed and I am one of them. To be able to produce a beautiful healthy pure bred dogs for you the public, many of us have to place older dogs in loving caring homes where we believe the dog will be forever. If things go wrong with that family and they place the dog in rescue and don't contact the breeder first, don't blame the breeder!!!!!. Many families that may get a dog through rescue often don't realise that some of these dogs are used to being looked after in a better manner than the way they are going to look after this dog. Yes you heard me right, looked after better than these new owner do. Is it any wonder after years of care and dedication to maintaining this animal and the new owners promising to do the same and never do, that the dog ends up in rescue. Then what happens, the process starts all over again. Yes OP you may get facts and figures but in many cases it not always the dogs fault. Always remember OP that many people that breed often re home but when they see posts like yours it may just encourage them to have the dog PTS when we know of many cases some of these wonderful dogs have lived great lives and given their new family's many hours of pleasure. Well honestly that would say a lot more about the breeder than about people like the OP wouldn't it? I suspect many of the large scale breeding establishments may do this anyway. I think this thread has raised a valid point in questioning how well ex show and breeding dogs who have been largely raised in kennels will fit into a home environment. As someone who was looking at acquiring an older dog it was not something I had really considered and I appreciate this point being discussed. Also agree it is a good point. I would not have thought it would be such as issue with ex-show dogs as there have to be socialised to be in the show environment with so many other dogs and people. I would suggest it would me more an an issue with ex-breeding dogs that have not ever been in shows or any dog sport competitions.

My tip is get a crate and crate train him before you leave. If you have time order Susan Garrett's DVD "Crate Games". her training method is gold - my pup LOVES the crate. Whe we are out and I have to pack up the crate I have to tie her up away from me and she keep running back in.

Wow - I am shocked with your experience. I know some places would be average - but this is pretty bad. I am confused as to why the vet nurse thinks the pups would be able to do a sit stay on the 2nd week. Alot of people go to these classes to learn this!! There are so many vets, pet stores and the like running puppy preschools for very young pups these days. People presume the trainers have some experience, but it seems this is not the case. I am alittle dubious about some of them as they take the pups from 8 weeks, so they have not had all their vacinations. I knew someone who was taking their pup to one at a pet store. I encouraged them to ask about where it was being held as this store allows shoppers to bring their dogs into the store. It seems you know how to train your dog so I think you would be better off orgaising play dates for your puppy if you have a suitable pup you can meet up with. I would suggest you book into an obedience club for the beginner/basic obedience class. They usually take pups at 16 weeks.

I agree with chrintina's approach. Calling the council could piss them off more (I know it annoyed me when my neighbor called the council before talking to us). Being your contact has been with her - talk to her. My guess is buddy use to sleep on the bed and the BF has said no! Poor buddy

I would be careful if you have alot of flies. This year, the first time ever, one of my dogs got fly bite on their ears. I have never even heard of this and did not realise flies bite! I had to clean it everyday and coat her ears in cream. To completely get rid of it I had to keep her inside.

I agree that this is the point originally raised. It is not about the health of the dog, it is the dogs ability to adapt from a kennel to life with a family, kids and other dogs. I understand why breeder rehome their dogs and believe it is sometime necessary to ensure breeding for better. I do think it is the responsibility of the breeder to socialise their dogs so they can be rehomed if required so that dog can have a wonderful life with a new family.

I am not offended by your comments but I think it is really sad that you feel this way. Like OSoSwift - I do breed to better my breed. You are absolutely correct that every breed has health problems. I do my very best breed healthy dogs so I health test my breeding bitches for all the common health problems in my breed. I think it is important to remember that no dog is perfect, like is no human, and there are going to be times a dog will get sick which could not be foreseen. It is very sad you lost a dog to a common health problem in the breed. If someone had a genetic health problem with a dog I breed I would definitely want to know and I would care. In fact I would be devastated.

I used frozen water bottles. However the puppies preferred a wet towel. We would rewet the towel a few times a day. On a hot day all the puppies would be in a pile on the towel.

I went with a lambs wool bed. I brought for my rotty who has arthritis since young. My other dogs love it so much I got another! I recommended it to my mum who has an older arthritic dog and her dog loves it - she spend most of her day on it. I got mine from ebay but I can't find the the ones I brought. There would have to be others though.

Over the break I watched a whole lot of Cesar Milan shows I had recorded - this reminds me of one of his shows. I would also so as Hez's as said. On lead, food rewards so the door is a positive experience and be patient!

Love the pics :rofl: Great idea!

This is the same as one of my girls. She does not "play" with them she just carries them around and then uses the toy as a pillow. It is very cute. She does not chew them and as the other dogs don't play with stuffed toys they last for years (one of my lot prefers balls and the others aren't really into toys. She is 3.5 years old and we still have the stuffed toy that the breeder put in the crate with her for her flight when she was 8 weeks old.

Oh and it's cheap, definitely getting some of those My lot also love Cuz toys and they last for years and year and years. We recently got the Hol-ee Cuz and the LOVE it even more than the original Cuz!!! I buy the large and medium, however for some reason we loose all our mediums in the yard. We have lost 2 medium in the last few month. Buggered if I know where they go?!?! However we do not seem to loose the large. Oh wow hol-ee cuz is awesome, I wish I'd seen that before I played my order... You know how sometimes you see a toy and you just know your dog would love it? Might have to make a 2nd order Maybe call them to add to your order so you don't have to pay postage again? I have done this before. The great thing about the Hol-ee Cuz is my dogs that love balls love it and because of the soft toy inside my dogs who love stuffed toys also love it! Everyone is happy :D

Oh and it's cheap, definitely getting some of those My lot also love Cuz toys and they last for years and year and years. We recently got the Hol-ee Cuz and the LOVE it even more than the original Cuz!!! I buy the large and medium, however for some reason we loose all our mediums in the yard. We have lost 2 medium in the last few month. Buggered if I know where they go?!?! However we do not seem to loose the large.

I hear your pain!!! My girl is 10 months has been a nightmare chewer and is not showing any signs of growing out of it. I only need to be gone for 10 minutes as she has pulled my handbag off the bench and scattered the contents around the house. I section off part of the house (she stays inside) and I find it helps to give her some things to work at while I am not here. When I go work I give her a plastic cup with peanut butter smeared over bottom, a kong with treats inside and I put small holes in a plastic soft drink bottle and put food treats in this also. These things have made HUGE difference. Good luck.

I have an idea for you - which is what I did with a puppy pen. I cut one panel so it was high enough to keep puppies in but low enough for mum to jump out. I cut it about approx 1/3 length mark. I used the 1/3 size bit when the pups where little and when they got bigger used bigger bit. Also very handy for me stepping in/out of pen.